Meet the Farmer: Ivy of Manor Rock Farm on Lard Love, Ethical Meat, and Feeding the Hudson Valley

Next up: Ivy from Manor Rock Farm. Ivy started in fashion and beauty supply chains and somehow ended up co-owning a farm and one of Hudson’s dreamiest restaurants with her partner Zack. We talk about pandemic pivots, raising heritage pigs, and the truth behind “farm-to-table.”

Harri: Hey, I'm Harri, founder of My Neighbor’s Tallow. This is Meet the Farmer. So Ivy, what brought you to the Hudson Valley?

Ivy: Originally I was at Bard College about ten or fifteen years ago. Then I’d moved to the city, but when Zack and I started dating, we started coming up here to look at areas where we could start gardening. During the pandemic, we found this house that just kind of spoke to us. It was a little bit beaten down and hadn't been lived in for over five years, but it had these great gardens.

Harri: I love it! Sounds like a money pit, ha – just like ours, a 1770s farmhouse. So what got you interested in livestock and veggies? I know you mentioned WWOOFing before this.

Ivy: Yeah, it really started because I was interested in sourcing and knowing where things come from. Visiting greenmarkets in the city made me want to grow my own food—to know the soil, the water, everything from seed to harvest. I was in procurement in the fashion and beauty world, so thinking about supply chains and sourcing just translated into food for me.

Harri: So was it like a homestead vibe at first?

Ivy: Not quite. We weren’t trying to go off-grid. We started with a kitchen garden, but then friends kept coming up and we started doing pop-up dinners. We always knew we wanted to be sharing the produce out with friends and chefs, then ultimately have something hospitality or restaurant based.

Harri: Okay, let’s talk pigs. I know pigs are pretty fatty animals and you use a lot of the fat with charcuterie – just like I use a lot of the fat from the cow, at least the suet, for my tallow. What’s the fat-to-meat ratio you’re dealing with?

Ivy: Our large pigs are about 70% lard, 30% meat.

Harri: That’s wild. Cows only give me about 18 pounds of fat for my tallow. Pigs are next-level!

Ivy: Totally. And we use all of it—the leaf lard from around the organs, the back fat. We make sausages, pancetta, lardo, and render cooking lard. Cracklings too, but those are mostly snacks for us and our team.

Harri: I hope I can get in on that snack situation sometime.

Ivy: Ha, definitely!

Harri: I mean, I've been to your restaurant and I literally licked the plate. It's amazing.

Ivy: We actually get that feedback a lot. People are like. . . “Can I just lick this???”

Harri: You’ve talked about how you separate animals raised for meat from pets emotionally. How do you handle that?

Ivy: All animals deserve respect and consideration, whether they’re pets or livestock. People think farmers who raise animals for meat don’t care. . . but we spend all day with them, keeping records, making sure they’re healthy. Even if they don’t have names, they’re still known to us. Plus, in the U.S., I think there are only about five companies that own all of the genetics of pork and chicken. Bringing in these heritage breeds that almost went extinct for the purpose of livestock gives them a purpose and ensures we’re diversifying the livestock and meat industry. We’re providing something that would otherwise be lost.

Harri: There’s so much greenwashing in meat. What advice would you give people trying to buy more ethically?

Ivy: Meet your farmer. Go to farmers markets, ask questions, even DM farmers online. There’s no excuse not to connect these days with all the touchpoints we have available. And pay attention to labels. For example, when pork says “vegetarian-fed,” it’s actually a pretty big deal—because for a long time pigs were fed ground-up animal byproducts. Small changes can mean a lot.

Harri: A lot of people really do care about what they’re consuming. I mean, there’s a whole seed oil revolution going on. And one of my things with my company is we have very, very few ingredients – you don't need 160 ingredients for your fucking moisturizer. Now, it seems like there's kind of a lack of community in terms of a network for farmers, thoughts? 

Ivy: We’ve got groups like the Hudson Valley Young Farmers Coalition trying to make that space, Cornell Extension, pop-up events, and open farm days. I’ve also found farmers are just generous with their time. They want each other to thrive. I think that there's this attitude of additive energy and trying to support people that are invested in creating a small farm.

Harri: The Hudson Valley really feels like the mecca of regenerative farming right now.

Ivy: It’s definitely becoming that. There’s large investment firms that are pushing to make the Hudson Valley into the “Silicon Valley” of regenerative agriculture. It’s exciting to be here at the beginning.

Harri: Let’s talk about “farm-to-table.” Does it still mean anything to you?

Ivy: I actually really hate the term; it makes my skin crawl. It’s become so generic. All food technically goes from a farm to a table. I think that it's just lost. . . maybe the tenacity that it once had when it was so revolutionary that it actually caught attention. Today there's a lot of farm-to-table restaurants in Hudson, but you're kind of like, what farms are you working with? 

Harri: Yeah, it’s like they’re all just getting their ingredients from Baldor. 

Ivy: Baldor does try to support small farms — which is great — but scale is a huge challenge for small farms. We’re tiny. Like, when I cut a bed of mizuna, it’s gone for four weeks. We’re growing first for our restaurant, then for a few markets and direct customers. We’re not big enough to supply everyone.

Harri: Speaking of Manor Rock, I've had the pleasure of eating there twice, and I'm actually going tomorrow night, so I'm really excited to lick my plate again. What’s your favorite kind of synergy between your relationship here with the earth and with the pigs, and then also getting to enjoy a lovely cocktail at your restaurant for example?

Ivy: Obviously, it’s my favorite restaurant. I think, though, the synergy that you're speaking about comes to be both from the team and getting to work with such incredibly talented individuals from both the kitchen side to my front of house team. Growing something special and watching the kitchen treat it with reverence is incredible. And then getting immediate feedback from guests—it’s the dream. I love introducing people to weird herbs or heirloom veggies they’ve never tried. It creates a conversation, which is what Zack and I are most interested in creating. 

Harri: So what’s next for Manor Rock?

Ivy: This is our first full spring and summer with the restaurant open. We’re hosting guest chefs, doing test nights, reopening the garden. Mostly, we’re just settling into our scale and figuring out what it truly means to have a farm supporting a restaurant.

Harri: Your restaurant interior is gorgeous. Who did the design?

Ivy: We worked with Adam Charlap Hyman of Charlap Hyman and Herrero and his team. They’re excellent.

Harri: I mean, it's like, literally, Chef's kiss. Even the red tile in the bathroom is next level. 

Ivy: That was all Zack. He doesn’t chime in much, but when he does, he’s usually right. We were trying to go turquoise, and he was like, no, red.

Harri: It’s so moody. I felt like a glamorous vampire in there.

Ivy: That’s exactly the vibe we wanted!

Harri: Thanks for chatting with me— let’s definitely make that lard soap sometime so you can give it to your friends if you have people over for dinner.

Ivy: I think getting people excited about what's seen as a waste product is such a noble cause, and I'm really glad that you're working to make it luxurious.