Seen on Heirloom Meadows Farm

The ancient apple trees on the property didn't do much last year, but this year they are resplendent in blossoms, thanks to a very wet spring.

One of their beautiful chickens. I love the black and white varieties. Many of them have names, but I don't remember who this is.

Now they have a rooster, this gorgeous guy. He's very protective of the hens, but not obnoxiously so.

The goose from across the street often comes over to visit.

There is a bunch of new chicks in the brooder.

Their booth at the farmer's market in Hamilton is thriving.

Ever heard of ramp? It's an oniony, garlicky plant that grows wild. We went up the hill to the woods, where patches of it grow this time of year. They had it for sale at market, and we had some with the dinners that our daughter cooked for us.

A piece of freshly-cut rhubarb, one of several which went into a rhubarb pie.

Here's Sammy sitting in front of the rhubarb patch.

Ready to put in the oven.

It really was tasty.

I had brought a small bag of kumquats from our back yard in Irvine, and Martine is making candied kumquats here.

She sliced and cooked the kumquats in a sugary syrup, and then rolled them in sugar. Yum. She was thinking of putting them in her scones.

chickens

Bear with me, I have a few more photos from my recent NY visit. This post is for those wondering how the chicks are faring. I'm referring to the 20 chicks that arrived in late April, when we were there before.

This is the chicken coop where they've been living. It's in a space at the end of their barn. Maybe you can make out the little row of boxes along the wall. That's where they will be laying their eggs, when they are ready.

There's a door to the outside. They've been coming outside in the daytime and noshing on the bugs in the nearby grass. They like to follow Jack around.

They are not full-grown yet, but they look more like chickens now. They're sort of like teenagers. You can make out one of them flying a little ways in this photo.

All original twenty chicks have survived. There are Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orphingtons, Dominiques, and Silver Wyandots. (I had mistakenly called them Silver Turandots)

The Dominiques and Silver Wyandots are both mostly black. I still get them mixed up.

This Buff Orphington is strutting his stuff. This variety seemed more confident and self assured than the others.

Amazingly, they stay close to the door and seem to know they're supposed to go back indoors before nightfall. I want to make a chicken quilt someday.... The black ones speak to me.

Notleymere Cottage

I finally got around to organizing photos taken at the end of our Upstate NY trip. Most of the time during our visit we stayed at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, but one night we stayed at a unique B&B called the Notleymere Cottage in Cazenovia. It was very fun and quirky, so I took a lot of photos. The current owner bought the place in 2006 and decorated it herself.

We stayed in the Teddy Roosevelt Suite. TR actually stayed here, and the current owner was obviously very inspired by the theme. Here is just one detail of the desk. It's hard to see, but there is a pair of glasses that look something like Teddy's on top of the stack of books.

This cow was right outside our door. There are playful details everywhere.

I thought these chairs were interesting.

The windows are original to the house. They're located in front by a grand staircase.

This is one of the many sitting areas in the house. There was lots of taxidermy, sadly.

There were quirky little collections around. I thought this was very playful. These might be toys, I'm not sure.

This painted gourd caught my eye. It was about 12" across. I have a small one at home that is much less ornate.

The house is on a lake. I was quite taken by this sheep sculpture.

Here's the house as seen from the back. We were on the third floor, on the right. The house was built by a parson, and the caretaker told us that he either received a large inheritance, or his flock was very generous to him!

My daughter brought this lovely raspberry pie from Eddie & Zinna's Cafe. The four of us enjoyed it at the Notleymere after dinner. Yum!

Before we left the area, we visited the farm for the last time. The chicks had grown. Jack had them literally eating out of his hand.

Lots of cherry blossoms in view at Cold Spring.

the chicks are here!

Twenty chicks arrived at the farm during our visit. They are so cute and fun to watch. I didn't know that chicks can be other colors besides yellow! There are four varieties: Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orphingtons (doesn't that sound like the name of a 50's movie star?), Silver Turandots and Dominicks. According to photos I've seen, they will grow up to be beautiful chickens.

All twenty chicks came in this small box. They were shipped at one day's old and arrived the next day.

Here they are lined up at their handy-dandy feeder.
They drink water out of a hanging water bottle dripper thingy for rabbits. There's also a hanging light to keep them warm.

They will all lay eggs in beautiful shades of brown.

There are a few really old apple trees around the farm. (from Johnny Appleseed?) This one has a very big hole in the trunk. My daughter and her husband hope they will still bear fruit. They have already planted many newer fruit trees - cherries, pears, and I forget what else.

Here is their vegetable garden. Can't see much yet! While we were there, the asparagus crowns arrived (same day as the chicks), and Jack has already planted them.

We saw daffodils everywhere we went, and there's a lovely bed of them by the farmhouse. They have tulips, too, and there will be peonies in June. I'm jealous!

Here is Martine pushing a wheelbarrow full of firewood down from the woods. Jack has been cutting down dead trees and chopping them up. You can see their house and one barn below.

This is an outdoor furnace they use to heat their house and their water. Martine's adding more firewood to the fire. They keep the firewood in the second barn, which seems more like a large shed to me. The second barn was originally used to cure hops; the hops kiln is still in there.

Here Jack is working on a pump. I think it's for the pond? It's funny because it's made by Jacuzzi. ;-)

This is the rear view of the pond. There are dried up cat tails around the sides of it, which will be removed. There are frogs in and around the pond which "sing." I think there are also little fishies. We'll have to check it out this summer.