Open Farm Day 2012

We had so much fun at last year's Open Farm Day in Madison County that we made plans to attend again this year, which was held on Saturday. I added the event to my calendar probably six months ago and last weekend, I printed the list of participating farms. We narrowed down the list of 43 to eight and got out the map of Madison County to plan our route. We learned a few lessons from last year: take a cooler, take plenty of cash, and take a lunch in case there are no places to eat when hunger pangs strike.

The day started off with a lot of rain, but that did not deter us. Our first stop was Grunen Aue Farm, an Amish farm in Canastota. Grunen Aue is a certified organic grass based dairy and we purchased some delicious fresh butter there; Aidan enjoyed playing with their kittens. Our next stop, G&M Farms in Morrisville, turned out to be more of a farmstand amidst a large vegetable garden. Their specialty is hot peppers and they produce a line of salsas and pepper jams/jellies, which James braved the heavy rain to sample. We left with a jar of hot pepper jelly.

Next stop was Foothill Hops Farm in Munnsville, where they grow hops for local breweries. We saw the hops plants, learned about the harvesting and drying of hops, and visited the brew shop. James learned how to add hops to the home brewing process and bought a small amount for us to try. Foothill Hops Farm also inexplicably has reindeer and we learned that reindeer grow and shed their antlers each year. Here is the female reindeer:

What a fine rack!

Aidan and I were especially interested in our fourth stop, Johnston's Honeybee Farm in Eaton. We peered at bees in a glass sided hive, saw honey being extracted and asked a lot of questions about bees and bee keeping. We were given a small sample jar of honey but we also bought a larger amount of honey and some beeswax candles.

We stopped in Hamilton to eat our sandwiches. Hamilton is home to Colgate University and is a rather nice village with many places to eat. Note for next year: plan lunch stop for Hamilton. We found a covered place to eat in one of the village squares but the rain came to a stop as we ate.

From Hamilton, we drove further south to Shale Springs Stock Farm, where beef cattle, hogs and sheep are raised, primarily for other livestock farms. We were given a tour of the barn where we saw hogs - big hogs and little piglets. Their farm also has a guard llama to watch over the other livestock, but the llama did not cooperate with my photo session. Aidan was very interested in the almost wild farm cats and did not succeed in getting one to come close to him. The couple who runs the farm were very nice, answered our many questions and seemed surprised that we would drive "all the way from Syracuse".

Our next stop was one of their customers, Drover Hill Farm in Earlville. We did not get to see much there because they limited foot traffic to the front porch of their bed and breakfast. We did get to sample meats and strawberry-rhubarb jam - delicious - and purchased bacon, beef and jam. Aidan tried out the tire swing:

The swing was too close to the tree to swing much.

We drove north then west to Cazenovia, where we stopped at Amore Mini Donkeys. Donkeys! Little bitty donkeys! There were numerous mother/baby duos available to pet:

Both Aidan and I were quite taken with the donkeys. I am surprised that we didn't hear "can I keep one?" from Aidan:

One little guy had a serious case of the yayas and was running around the pen, kicking up his heels:

The farm also had a mini horse, who was clearly bored by the activity going on around him:

Our last scheduled stop was Empire Buffalo in Fenner, but we did not stay long. They did not have any buffalo close up for viewing and seemed to be only interested in soliciting tips for the musicians that were playing and in selling buffalo meat, although there weren't any samples.

There was still time left in the open farm hours, so we drove back into Cazenovia to visit Meadows Farm, which we visited last year. They raise Wagyu cattle, the source of delicious Kobe beef. We ate Kobe beef sliders - yum - and purchased several pounds of the beef to bring home. Meadows also had some piglets, which were adorable:

Another fun day at the farms!

Patio complete!

The "before" photos, taken on August 14, 2011:

And the "after" photos, taken just a few days ago:

What a difference a year, sore muscles, lots of sweat and some cash makes!

When we returned from the Adirondacks last week, James devoted the rest of his time off to getting the rest of the stone in place. And he finished it on Saturday, with just a little help from me. The finished product is beautiful and just what we wanted; or, from my perspective, more than I anticipated. So if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and we'll enjoy a cold one on our lovely patio.

Loons on the lake

Although James and I found much to do (and not do) at The Hedges, we did venture off property during our stay. We knew that we wanted to take a boat cruise on one of the lakes, having enjoyed a boat tour during our visit to Lake Placid. We drove down to Racquette Lake to look at the W.W. Durant, but quickly decided that was not the type of cruise that we had in mind. Too many people, we weren't interested in eating lunch on board so we would have been on the top deck with no shade, and did I mention there were too many people? As James said, we weren't interested in a Greyhound tour of the lake.

We drove back to the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake to look at what the Blue Mountain Lake Boat Livery offered and we found this beauty:

 

She is the Towahloondah, built in 1919 or 1920. We were ready to go out on the 11 am cruise, but we were the only customers and the captain said he didn't take her out for only two people. We had the choice of going on a pontoon boat or waiting for the 2 pm cruise, when he said he would take out the Towahloondah regardless of the number of passengers. Of course we opted to return at 2 pm!

When we returned, we found that we were still the only customers and the captain lived up to his earlier promise, so we had the entire boat and tour to ourselves. Our cruise started in Blue Mountain Lake and our captain told us history and stories of the area, and showed old photos of early development on the lake. While on the backside of one of the islands, he pointed out an osprey nest at the top of a tree; we could just barely make out the silhouette of a bird feeding its chicks.

We also came upon a family of loons, whom we had been hearing throughout our stay. We saw this adult and two chicks:

The other adult got agitated at our proximity and soon uttered the famous loon sound, which I find to be beautiful.

We passed under this beautiful bridge as we motored from Blue Mountain Lake into Eagle Lake:

 

On Eagle Lake, we saw another adult loon and a chick that was older than the two on Blue Mountain Lake, but I was unable to get a clear photo of them. After Eagle Lake came Utowana Lake, which is mainly undeveloped. The cruise lasted almost two hours and we so enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, hearing the captain's narration and being able to chat with him about any subject we liked. If you ever have the good fortune to visit Blue Mountain Lake, stop by the boat livery and take a tour.

We also did some hiking during our stay. We had the kitchen staff at The Hedges pack a picnic lunch for us and we hiked about 1.5 miles to the summit of Castle Rock, which provides stunning views of Blue Mountain Lake:

 

Sitting on the rock face at the top, we ate our lunch and almost participated in a medical emergency. It was windy and another hiker's paper napkin started to blow away. He lunged for it, and we thought he was going to roll right off the rock. There were about 6-8 people there at the time and we all said "Let it go!" Better to litter than become litter.

It is hard to see in this photo that I took from the swimming dock at The Hedges, but there is a rock face at the top of middle mountain and that is Castle Rock:

For some reason, standing on Castle Rock and looking down at the lake seemed much higher than seeing Castle Rock from the lake.

The Hedges

While Aidan was visiting Aunt Tammie, Uncle Mike and Grandma in Michigan, James and I went on holiday to an Adirondack Great Camp called The Hedges. Located on the shores of beautiful Blue Mountain Lake, The Hedges calls itself a "casual, rustic and historically unique Adirondack camp". We call it the perfect getaway.

The Hedges is open from Memorial weekend through Columbus Day weekend and offers accommodations in cabins and lodge rooms. Included in the daily room rate is a full cooked to order breakfast, a four course dinner and evening snacks. Canoes and kayaks are available to take out on the lake, plus there is a fishing dock, a swimming dock and a little sandy beach.

When I inquired about availability in March, just after I booked Aidan's flights to/from Michigan, there were only two rooms available for our requested dates. We settled in a room in the Main Lodge that looked out on Blue Mountain Lake. Here is the Main Lodge:

The front window in our room is at the top left of the building. The canoe/kayak dock is on the right side of the Main Lodge:

This is the view from the porch of the Main Lodge, which is conveniently outfitted with Adirondack chairs and rocking chairs:

Gorgeous, isn't it? You can do as much or as little as you like at The Hedges. James did a lot of fishing and even caught a few little guys:

I did a lot of reading, knitting and gazing at the gorgeous scenery. We also took kayaks out on the water several times, including the morning that we went out before 7 am and paddled around the lake for over an hour. It was so quiet and peaceful, with just a bit of mist hovering over the water. The lake was so calm that we could stop paddling and our kayaks would almost stay still as we looked at our surroundings.

At The Hedges, you can be as sociable as you like or don't like; although everyone eats in the dining room, each party has their own table. And while we did talk with other guests, it wasn't too intrusive and we still had plenty of solitude. There were both families and couples, and we learned that many people have been coming every summer for five, eight, ten and even thirteen years.

It was, by far, the most relaxing vacation that we have had in a very long time. The rooms were comfortable and spotless, the staff was friendly and efficient, and the food was delicious. We liked The Hedges so much that we extended our stay by one day! We were originally booked from Sunday to Wednesday morning but on Tuesday afternoon as we enjoyed a glass of wine on the porch, we decided that we just weren't ready to go home. We immediately went to the office to see if there was availability and learned that while our Main Lodge was booked, we could move to one of the small cabins for one additional night. That turned out to be an excellent move because it allowed us to experience both a lodge room and a cabin.

We are already planning to visit The Hedges again next summer, this time with Aidan. We think he will love the freedom to run around the grounds with other children, to jump off the dock into the cold, clear water of Blue Mountain Lake, to make s'mores by the evening campfire, and to paddle around the lake. We will submit our accommodation request form and hope that sometime in January we will receive confirmation that the cabin and dates we want are available.

Taking flight

Our baby bird ventured out of the nest when he flew to Michigan all by himself to spend a week with Grandma, Aunt Tammie and Uncle Mike. They met him in Detroit so it was a nonstop flight, the only way we would consider letting him travel alone.

Aidan left last Saturday, July 14, and returned yesterday. He flew on Delta as an "unaccompanied minor", which means that we were able to go with him through security and to the gate, he was escorted on and off the airplane by a Delta employee, and that Tammie was able to meet him at the gate in Detroit, after she produced identification proving that she was the specified person to meet him.

I was a wreck. My head logically knew that everything would be fine; my nerves and stomach, however, were not logical at all. Until we received that telephone call saying "He's here!", I was a messed up mix of emotions. Aidan told us last evening that he was having a difficult time, too, and almost left the airplane (prior to takeoff) because he was a bit scared to travel alone!

He drew this picture for us, which arrived in the mail on Thursday:

But we are all glad that he didn't leave that airplane, because he had a wonderful week. He slept at Grandma's house a few nights and spent the other nights at Mike and Tammie's house. He went to the East Lansing Sunday Farmer's Market, heard Grandma sing with her choral group, made Star Wars cookies, churned homemade ice cream, played racquetball and swam with Mike at the Michigan Athletic Club, went to Michigan's Adventure amusement park, went to Impression 5 science center, and generally was spoiled rotten. Or is that rottenER?

Tammie and Mike even stayed up late and/or got up early to finish a photo album of his week to bring home, which he has looked through many times already.

We enjoyed having him gone and having some time to ourselves, but we were more than ready to have him return home yesterday. I was once again a mess of nerves once he boarded the airplane in Detroit until I saw his smiling face emerge in Syracuse. And he was smiling:

 

We won't mention that t-shirt he was wearing...

Patio progress

Not long after we moved into our house in November of 2010, I looked at the space between the house and the garage and said, "We should put in a patio." I did not have any specific style or material in mind, so James took my basic idea and came up with a plan: a stone floor with a cedar pergola overhead. We started digging out the area last summer and James even put up some of the framing for the pergola, and we put down gravel and stone dust before the snow fell.

James finished the pergola in May - gorgeous! - and then we outlined the space using bricks reclaimed from the partially deconstructed chimney in the attic. We finally picked out the stone that we wanted and it was delivered on Saturday morning.

We started laying the stone yesterday. The space is not a regular shape, there are the support posts on the pergola to work around and, of course, there is a learning curve, so it was slow go as we cut and fit the stone. After about four hours, we had four rows in place:

Putting down stone is much harder than it looks! But we are liking the results so far:

Here is how the patio looks right now, from the office window upstairs:

We eat dinner out there almost every evening; the sun is on the other side of the garage by the time we sit down to eat so we are in shade, and there is usually a breeze to keep us comfortable. We also enjoy sitting out by the fire pit on cool evenings. So although we have much work ahead to finish the patio floor, we are already enjoying the new "room".

New grill in the neighborhood

We welcomed a new grill into the family over the weekend:

Isn't she a beauty? As you might know from past blog posts and Facebook updates, we like to grill. Well, James likes to grill, and Aidan and I like to eat what James prepares on the grill. After many years of faithful service and two moves, our old grill was falling apart and not working so well. As near as we can determine, we owned the old grill for thirteen years, maybe even fourteen, so we definitely made a good investment when we purchased it. But it was time to bid it fond adieu and see it start a new life with someone else:

Yesterday was the inaugrill dinner on the new Weber:

Those are ribeye steaks, corn on the cob (in foil), pierogies and a twice baked potato for Aidan, who does not yet appreciate the goodness of pierogies. Although almost all of the credit goes to the grillmaster, the new grill made a successful debut. And a good meal was had by all!