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The Work We Do: Stephanie Smith, Gabrielsen’s Country Farm

I’m Stephanie Smith. I work here at Gabrielsen’s Country Farm.

It’s my family-owned farm. I’ve been doing this pretty much for my whole life. So I help run and manage it. 

We do a lot depending on the season. Every season is definitely different. 

Now we’re kicking off the fall season so we grow all the hardy mums and then we get ready and once the season hits we bring it down.

When I come in around 7:30, eight o’clock, I start by getting everything situated, organized. Usually, I truck down the hardy mums that we sell, and also aster, cabbage and kale. We have all different-sized mums, all different colors. I see what we need and usually I truck down the hardy mums that we sell. All day, I’m taking the mums out and keeping the tables full because I want our customers to have a large variety to choose from.

I think the most rewarding part about this is when I keep it as stocked as possible because I want every customer to find what they’re looking for, so when customers come in and they acknowledge that. and they’re like ‘wow, you have so many to choose from and such a big variety and so many different sizes and colors.’

I have people coming in telling me they’ve been coming here the last five, 10, 15, 20 years.

It’s a great feeling because it makes me happy and it makes them happy.

The best part about the job is at the end of the day, you know. It’s a little bit tiring, but like I said before. it’s rewarding when you know everyone comes in, they’re happy and they find what they’re looking for and you know you’re never doing the same thing, and that’s what’s really exciting to. Everyday is different.

The most challenging part is sometimes keeping up with it.

When it gets really busy I try my hardest to keep up with it and keep it as stocked as possible, and sometimes there’s a lot going on at once but you’ve just got to stay focused.

We also do a fall festival, so we have train rides, hay rides, a kiddy maze, corn crib, snack shack, roasted corn, dairy cows and goats. We’ve got little bit of everything.

“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview