Milk Pail - Farms

Since the first settlers arrived in America at Plymouth Rock, apples have been a mainstay of the American diet. For the purpose of starting orchards in the New World, they brought apple seeds, seedlings, and cuttings with them. The Halsey family started farming in the 1640s in the Mecox neighborhood of Water Mill and Bridgehampton, so named after the lovely Mecox Bay. The Milk Pail Fresh Market & U-Pick’s owners and creators, John and Evelyn Halsey, along with their daughters Amy and Jennifer, are currently the 11th and 12th generations of the Halsey family to carry on a farming legacy that dates back more than 350 years. The same Mecox Bay that drew the original Halsey settlers is where their family’s farm and orchard are situated.

More than 30 years ago, The Milk Pail Fresh Market first opened. While Evelyn first experienced apple growing in her parent’s apple orchard in Vermont, John learnt about farming while growing up on his father’s Mecox potato farm. They started a small retail store in 1969 to sell their milk and market their vegetables. Since milk was their main selling item at the time, they gave the business the moniker The Milk Pail. They established their apple orchard the following spring and have been improving and introducing prize-winning cultivars ever since.