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Owner Steve McMenamin drives along the grounds of Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Versailles Farms owner Steve McMenamin shows a chunk of biochar, a form of charcoal used to improve soil functions, at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows slabs of oak that are being used to make charcoal at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows lump charcoal for sale at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows a container of activated charcoal for sale at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin walks along the grounds of Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

A bee buzzes on a dill plant at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Shiitake mushrooms grow at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows slabs of oak that are being used to make charcoal at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows a bag of hookah tobacco at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows slabs of oak that are being used to make charcoal at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

Owner Steve McMenamin shows chunks of biochar, a form of charcoal used to improve soil functions, at Versailles Farms in Greenwich, Conn. Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Apart from growing dozens of varieties of produce, the farm has an operation that produces high-quality, organic charcoal from old-growth oak trees. Versailles Farms sells lump charcoal, activated charcoal, hookah charcoal, and biochar.

GREENWICH — The town has a long tradition of farming and agriculture, and Steve and Ingrid McMenamin are doing their best to keep that tradition going in Greenwich.

At Versailles Farms up in the northwest corner of town, Steve McMenamin is constantly looking for new products to make the most from their 15-acre farm. He and his wife have become the largest producer of shitake mushrooms in the state, and in recent times, he has been turning his attention to producing high-end charcoal, all of its locally sourced.

Their operation has been harvesting old-growth oak trees on the farm site off Locust Road, and McMenamin has imported a special kiln form Exeter, England, which he believes to be the only one of its kind in the U.S. The special device, known as a retort kiln and developed by scientists in England, is a two-chambered oven that turns large sheets of oak into pure lump charcoal, over the course of a three-day burn.

“It’s one of a kind, you can’t beat this kiln. It’s truly as good as it gets,” he says. While commercial charcoal briquettes contain paraffin, wax or other additives, he says, the Versailles Farm product is nothing but pure charcoal. It’s perfect for what is known as a “caveman steak,” with a cut of meat heated directly on top of the charcoal lumps.

It helps that McMenamin enjoys using a chain-saw, and he proudly shows off the saw that he uses to bring down trees on the farm and slice them into thin blocks. The blade is about as tall as he is.

“I’ve been using chain saws for 50 years — I love it,” he says.

McMenamin does nothing in half-measures. He’s had a successful career as an investment advisory and finance executive, and he’s still active in the Greenwich hedge-fund and investment circle, as executive director of Greenwich Roundtable.

He and his wife have a love of travel and good food, leading to their interest in the farm-to-table world of food production. The Versailles restaurant on Greenwich Avenue, which they previously owned, was noted for pastries and baked goods that took days to prepare in the true French style.

“You gotta do it right,” McMenamin joked as he drove around the property on his farming ATV.

Beside the grilling charcoal lumps, McMenamin has also produced charcoal that can be used as a dietary supplement, known as activated charcoal. Many believe that charcoal powder can be beneficial to digestion, and pill forms can be found in the vitamin section of a supermarket. He also sells a charcoal that can be used as an additive to soil, improving its nutrient quality. And for smokers who enjoy a water pipe known as a hookah, a favorite in the Middle East and elsewhere, he also sells hookah-grade charcoal.

Since he got into farming full time about a decade ago, McMenamin has been looking for every opportunity to develop new products, all of it sourced in Greenwich.

“We were once the breadbasket of New York City,” he says, “And we look at everything as a New England farmer would. What is the land going to provide to us? I’ve got all this wood — what can I do with it? I try to play the hand based on the cards that were dealt to me.”

The Versailles operation provides firewood to customers, as well as over 50 kinds of produce ranging from cabbages, carrots, kale, beets, tomatoes and garlic, as well as flowers. The operation uses “natural farming” methods, avoiding pesticides and other commercial farming practices, and McMenamin says it’s the only operation of its kind in Greenwich. He sells to local country clubs and a high-end senior living facility in Scarsdale, N.Y.

McMenamin, who developed most of his knowledge of farming thanks to YouTube, says what he and his wife are doing is far from a hobby or a passion project. He insists firmly that it’s a money-making operation, and he intends to show other prospective farmers that it can be a way of life, not a sideline.

“There’s nothing wrong with making a profit, an ethical profit,” he says while driving farm vehicle past the long lines of vegetables. “This is not a ‘gentleman’s farm,’ or a ‘hobby farm.’ I already have a passion — my passion is skiing in Switzerland — and this is not it.”

He doesn’t miss his full-time work in the investment world, and the farm work has rewards that are intensely immediate.

“It’s gratifying work, you’re working with your hands,” McMenamin said, “For 30 years, I worked with my mind. Now I’m working with my mind and my hands. And it’s the most complexity I’ve dealt with in my life — biology, chemistry, botany, agronomy.” Though he and his wife put in 12-hour days during the height of the operation, he says, “it’s gratifying work.”

Ingrid McMenamin, who runs the honey and beehive operation along with the other farm-related work, says she feels like she’s doing something special at the little farm across from a golf course.

“It’s hard to find something local like this,” she said, “I love the customers we have, and I like keeping my community healthy, and inspiring people to make healthier choices.”

The farmstand at 56 Locust Road operated by Versailles Farms is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in the summer. A 6-pound bag of lump charcoal sells for $15. For more information, visit www.versaillesfarms.com.

Robert Marchant is a veteran newsman who covers public safety and public policy in Greenwich. Marchant holds a master's degree in history from Columbia University and is the author of a book on urban history.