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Our Mission

An ocean-side farm, Amber Waves unites food and community with the mission to provide rich educational opportunities in agriculture for aspiring growers, thoughtful cooks, and eaters of all ages.

Our Apprenticeship Program

We began our Apprenticeship Program in 2012 and since then, we have trained 30 new farmers, many of whom remain actively involved in food and agriculture locally and around the world. Our goal is to grow new farmers and informed eaters through hands-on training, mentorship and additional educational opportunities. We are wholly committed to training new farmers in order to strengthen our national food system and security and to providing careers for talented young people eager to enter the field of agriculture.

Our Apprenticeship Program trains new farmers in the art of sustainable agriculture over a season-long, hands-on work experience. Over several seasons of working with apprentices, we have developed an intensive Apprenticeship Program Curriculum, which is a thorough informational resource for farm apprentices to study throughout the course of the season. The curriculum covers more than 20 key topics ranging from soil science to whole farm planning, each of which is integral to understanding a small, diversified farm operation.

Season after season, our energetic and driven crew is the lifeblood of daily life at the farm, and it has been exciting and rewarding for us to act as mentors to the next generation of American farmers. We believe that these beginning farmers are the most important crop we grow at our farm.

Our Farm Roots

Sustainability

From farming practices to human connection, Amber Waves prizes the value of sustainability. Regenerative and environmentally-sound methods nourish the land and local community with healthy food that supports a total ecosystem of wellbeing, from soil to root to eater. The Amber Waves Market sources local ingredients and foods, and is dedicated to limiting waste and reducing the use of natural resources. Upholding the organic practice of seasonal eating, the farm grows over 300 varieties of vegetables and a diverse feast of perennial and annual herbs, each honoring the natural growing seasons of Long Island.

Community

A vibrant sense of place is the living, breathing core of Amber Waves. It animates each day, as the playful, carefree energy of kinship radiates across the open land. Whether it’s children romping through the fields or CSA members marveling at their weekly baskets, apprentices harvesting thriving crops or shoppers refueling at the market, visitors immediately know that they belong. This rich, participatory environment creates a connective spirit of community and fosters a joyful space to replenish, nourish, and relax.

Exploration

Farms should be active, curious, adventurous spaces, which is why the Amber Waves experience is steeped in exploration and education. Dynamic programming is designed to encourage free-form discovery, including DIY pizza nights, participatory farm chores, intimate outdoor dinners, and interactive workshops that invite children to delve into their local ecosystem. By connecting eaters of every generation to their food and the farmers who grow it, Amber Waves empowers healthy eating and an understanding of local food systems, while bringing joy and creativity back to agriculture.

Stewardship

Stewardship is the intentional well from which Amber Waves draws. It guided Amanda and Katie’s desire to bring wheat back to the Long Island foodshed and preserve it as a native crop of the region. It inspired their intensive Apprenticeship Program and a commitment to cultivating the next generation of farmers. It was celebrated in the acquisition of the farm’s market when they reunited the farm stand with the farmland. And it lives on in the farm’s preservation of local soil and biodiversity, now a legacy in Long Island agriculture.

Our Story

Amber Waves began by way of apprenticeship that forged a friendship, which inspired a dream to nourish the local community. In 2008, Amanda Merrow and Katie Baldwin met in an apprenticeship program helmed by poet farmer Scott Chaskey. While they were learning to plant and harvest, they marveled at the fact that Long Island’s diverse foodshed was missing a key ingredient. No one was growing artisanal, culinary grains for baking or dough-making. After considering the intoxicating allure of unlimited locally-grown dough, the two women responded to a request by the Peconic Land Trust for agricultural business plans. Their plan was to utilize the newly conserved farmland behind the iconic Amagansett Farmers Market, and in 2009 they were awarded a three-year lease on those 7.7 acres.

Their new farm was just a mile from the ocean. Enamored with its unique location, and the water’s influence on the soil and terroir, the rich flavor it imparted in the grains, they named their newly acquired dream Amber Waves Farm. A nod to community and grit, togetherness and the beauty of the land, fields of grain grown with the support of the sea. In founding Amber Waves, Katie and Amanda revived wheat production in the area and sought to carve out their singular niche in Long Island’s agricultural history. But they soon realized they were growing more than just grain. Amber Waves was cultivating an unprecedented, and much-needed, community.

Moved by their own experience meeting as young apprentices, Katie and Amanda launched their very own Apprenticeship Program in 2012 with the mission to grow the next generation of farmers and teach them the art of sustainable agriculture. They’ve since sent more than 30 new farmers (mostly women!) out into the world, the most important crop they’ve ever grown.

In 2016, Amanda and Katie led Amber Waves to become the official owners of the farmland in which they had fallen in love in 2009. They were aided by a passionate community of members, neighbors, and donors who joined together to help them secure the future of the farm, and the collective of visionary women who came before them. It began in 1956 with Pat Struck, who devoted decades of her life to growing the Amagansett Farmers Market from its humble beginnings to a legendary East End mainstay. It continued in 2008 with Maggie de Cuevas, who was the farmland’s ultimate protector, having ensured its agricultural use in perpetuity. It lives on with Amanda and Katie, who reunited the farmstand with the farmland after years of separation, launching the next chapter of Amber Waves’ role as an institution in the community.

After achieving the long-coveted milestone of property ownership, Katie and Amanda reopened the Amagansett Farmers Market in 2017 as the Amber Waves Market & Cafe. They infused it with their own produce, artisanal foods from local purveyors, and a full-service kitchen that serves up meals with field-to-plate ingredients harvested just a few steps away. Together, these two icons of Long Island agriculture finally exist as Katie and Amanda envisioned: in harmonious support of one another and in the service of their local community.

Now, nearly 30 acres across a patchwork of fields in Amagansett and East Hampton, Amber Waves embarks on its second decade with unlimited potential, on track to become one of the premier educational farm operations in the country. It has grown from a staff of two to more than 50 farmers and employees, boasts a CSA membership of nearly 200 families, hosts innumerable workshops and events, and features a flourishing market, kitchen, and cafe in a signature location right on Main Street. Katie, Amanda, and Amber Waves have reinvigorated the Long Island foodshed and transformed the community, educating, empowering, and connecting growers, cooks, and eaters seed by seed.