Joseph Giangrande, affectionately known in the Beekman area as “Joe The Grower,” knows how to battle.

He has proved it in the past as a world class weightlifter who nearly made the 1988 Olympic team, and as the owner of a successful farm. After heartbreak in his business life and in his personal life, Giangrande finds himself at the end of his line, battling for his livelihood.

The latest misfortune: the plastic tarps over his final two greenhouses were torn off during storms last week. When Spectrum News visited the farm Monday morning, Giangrande was in the destroyed front greenhouse improvising, spreading another tarp directly over piles of firewood to protect it from possible rain later this week.

He cannot afford to replace crops that were ruined earlier this summer. The wood has been his only revenue generator. “This is something [new] I’m trying to create now,” Giangrande said about using the greenhouse for wood storage, “because we’ve had all nine greenhouses come down.”

He might apply for government assistance to cover the recent losses, but added that he has still been trying to get federal aid he applied for after Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. “Mother Nature is trying everything, just trying to slap me in the face,” he said, “and I don’t know if I can take much more of it.”

Storm damage has been the topper, but Giangrande said a falling out with his business partner and legal issues with a competitor also contributed to his downslide.

While touring Spectrum News around the property Giangrande walked by several reminders of a once-popular farm with a large customer base and strong support system: photos of smiling friends and family by a neatly kept garden, a deflated bouncy house, and a faded cafe sign. “It was beautiful looking,” he said, approaching tears. “What once was 50 people everyday, is now one person every other week, if that.”

Giangrande is optimistic he can claw his way back into the black, even though the support system that helped him succeed the first time is missing some important members. His father, who inspired him to open a farm, died unexpectedly just before Hurricane Irene hit the property. His mother died the following year.

Giangrande also shared that two years ago, his partner suffered a miscarriage weeks before their daughter was due. He said he finds motivation in promises he has made, in spirit, to both his father and daughter that the farm will succeed. “I don’t know which one’s worse: my father or my daughter,” he said.

Giangrande said he has received minimal legal assistance to slow down the foreclosure process and keep the farm from being sold at auction, for the time being, while he tries to revive the business. He said he hopes to receive a small legal settlement a past competitor agreed to pay a year ago, which would be enough to repair some broken equipment and fix his greenhouses. It would not save the farm, but would give him a shot. “I’m a fighter,” he said. “I’m going to fight right until the end.”