Blenheim Hill Farm (©photos courtesy of Smörgås Chef Restaurant Group)

Along with farmers markets, farm-to-table dining is one of our favorite trends. So kudos to pioneers like Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill in Greenwich Village and thank you to all those joining the movement to serve the freshest, healthiest and most flavorfull food to be found.

That would of course be the freshly harvested produce and other foods raised on local, sustainble farms, made convenient to we urban dwellers, for whom enjoying the talent of a great restaurant chef is far easier than visiting a a great farm.

Blenheim Hill Farm

We’ve just learned that Smörgås Chef Restaurant Group has launched Blenheim Hill Farm-a 150-acre eco-farm located about 150 miles north of Manhattan in New York's Catskill Mountains. The farm will supply the group's Smörgås Chef restaurants and Crepes du Nord creperie and wine bar with naturally grown produce and meats.

Featuring large maple tree forests, rolling pastures and a large spring-fed lake, the farm will produce hydroponic salads, legumes, and heirloom tomatoes-grown year-round in a state-of-the-art greenhouse-as well as herbs, mushrooms, fruit and lingonberries, a Scandinavian staple. The farm will also supply eggs, chicken, beef, pork, and lamb. Heritage animal breeds that produce improved flavor and composition will be pasture-raised to promote animal welfare and proper meat production processes.

A Model for Small-Scale Local Farming

"Our mission is to develop a financially viable model for small-scale local farming, while remaining good stewards of the land and its resources," said Morten Sohlberg, who founded Smörgås Chef Restaurant Group and Blenheim Hill Farm with his wife, Min Ye. "We will adopt, develop and promote innovative ideas and new agricultural technologies that will invigorate a disappearing segment of small businesses in America-the small, sustainable commercial farm."

Mr. Sohlberg and Ms. Ye are not traditional farmers. The entrepreneurial duo-who founded Sessions.edu, the world's largest online design school with over 10,000 students from over 140 countries-have diverse professional backgrounds that span fine cuisine, design, finance, business administration and education.

Mr. Sohlberg, who oversees the creative aspects of Smörgås Chef Restaurant Group's operations, was born and raised in Norway. He has worked as a designer in Milan and an educator at Parsons School of Design. He is as guest lecturer at The Institute of Culinary Education in New York-one of the most acclaimed cooking schools in the nation.

Ms. Ye, who manages Smörgås Chef's financial, operational and business development activities, is a native of China. She worked as a Wall Street investment banker for several years before attending the French Culinary Institute in SOHO, where she obtained her certificate in La Technique training in French classic cuisine.

Diversity Breeds Innovation

"Collectively, we speak over a dozen languages," said Ms. Ye. "It is our varied and non-traditional experience that will help us innovate, compete and thrive as a new breed of farmers. In addition, we will be aided by top experts in the field of sustainable farming and agriculture who will assist us in further developing our vision."

"We are looking forward to the next step, which include providing advanced educational training programs on the farm for agriculture students at various upstate universities," said Mr. Sohlberg, who noted that maple syrup from Blenheim Hill Farm has already been introduced into the group's restaurants.

To learn more about the latest from these dynamic eco-entrepreneurs, go to: Blenheim Hill Farm

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