The Work We Do: Nicole Orens-Williams, Herricks Lane Farm

My name is Nicole Orens-Williams and I am the owner here at Herricks Herbs and Heirlooms and Herricks Lane Farm, along with my husband, Tom. 

We’re a certified organic nursery and medicinal herb farm. We specialize in medicinal and culinary herbs and veggie starts for home gardeners and other people looking for quality plants for their yards.

Our first year with the greenhouse was 2017. We purchased the land next door to our horse farm. My plan for it was to put a nursery on it and to grow all plants … that I couldn’t find at other nurseries, ones that I couldn’t source. 

We’ve had a horse farm and I’ve lived on that property for almost 20 years. 

I always wanted to live on a farm; I always wanted to live with my horses and my animals. Every year it got a little bit bigger, and when the opportunity came to buy the property next door, this was what I wanted to do with it — put a greenhouse on it, make a nursery and provide the plants and compost to my community. 

I’m an outside person … and I’m happy to be outside all day, whether it’s taking care of our animals, growing plants, working in the garden or on the farm, helping customers with gardening questions — anything that comes along, I’m happy to do. 

Sure, it’s quiet in the wintertime, but it gears up in February and it’s very busy right now, between this time and May. Mostly all I have time to do is grow plants, take care of them and prepare. 

The varieties we have — they’re delicious, good for you and not necessarily ones that bigger farms can successfully farm fields of, but it’s more appropriate for a backyard or at-home gardeners.

We also offer horse manure compost and vermicompost.

We pay very close attention to where we source our seeds because we’re certified organic. Everything is traceable and non-GMO.

For people that are worried about what they’re putting in the ground, their bodies and their families’ bodies — as they should be — they can come here and know that … no corners were cut in growing this little plant for them.

“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town.