Holy Dairy Cow! its August!

well it's been a whirl wind summer and I'm flying by the seat of my pants.
Just finished up at the NOFA (NorthEast Organic Farming Association) Conference for the weekend!

Next weekend maybe up through VT some? we shall see!

Sorry the updates have gotten so sparse. they follow my exhaustion.

Portland love affair

This week has been a whirlwind that started the end of last week. Saturday I got up early like always to harvest, and that all happened, but then I was released from my duties and sent on my way east. It’s a little less than a three hour drive from Keene to the coast of Maine. I arrived in Portland, ME around midday ready to be wowed and awed; it did not disappoint! I wandered and window shopped and as my sense were increasingly overwhelmed by the wonders around me, I also met a slew of wonderful people. Starting with the lovely shop worker from Waterlily (Milk Street), a global artisan boutique, this young lady could just tell I was eager to meet people. She chatted with me, recommended a place for dinner, and invited me to a music show that evening all in one fell swoop. I took her advice and number in case of emergency and headed down through town toward the harbor.

Along the way I found a number of delicious eating stops that I must admit I didn’t really try until Sunday. Once on the main tourist shopping road right along the harbor, I met a delightful woman from the Midwest! Two Minnesotan sisters who have now lived in NE for over 20 years had just opened their Cupcake stand the day before. Really it’s one sister’s business but they were working together to get things started. Aunt Kake’s (Commercial Rd) has a rainbow umbrella over their cart of baked goods and are lovely to chat with!

After some more wandering through the city’s shops, a TeaBerry ice cream from Beal’s, and finding a nice spot to park Beatrice on an afterhours parking meter, I headed to my recommended dinner spot to meet up with Lauren (Kzoo Roommate)’s cousin. Justin met me outside of Flatbread Wood-fired Pizzas (Commercial Rd). Flatbread is known for a variety of things, fresh deserts, a large brick oven you can sit by to watch your pizza, it’s location on the water, etc. My favorite aspect aside from the delicious pizza, good beer and better company was the fact that FlatBread Sources LOCAL INGREDIENTS from local farmers. And they had a list of the farms that they had gotten this week’s goodies from!!! That evening Justin gave me a walking tour of Portland’s EastEnd all the while convincing me that the EastEnd is far superior to the WestEnd as far as eating, living, and other fun and sights to see. Walking the East promenade at dusk was beautiful. Loads of green-space, quiet neighborhoods, a wonderful bike route into town, and blahblahblah it was great. After promptly passing out on his couch, the next morning we stopped to get coffee on the way back into town () and then I took him out to breakfast to thank him for his hospitality at Marcy’s (Free Street). Marcy’s Diner is in MidTown leaning towards the WestEnd (which might win me over only for its lack of tourists) it is a small diner with a big delicious breakfast menu. Finally after breakfast, we parted ways.

I headed into town to walk off my omelet, found a number of new great spots, and finally stopped at some of the food places I wanted to. I went to Mountain Desert Ice Creams and got Nectarine Sorbet with Basil Blueberry Sorbet…om nom nom.. it was delicious! Then I went to the Gourmet Popcorn Co and got some flavored PopCorn!

Alright, I ran out of journalistic energies…. more to come!

Tiki Night

Today I hiked Pack Monadnock, the smaller version of Mt Monadnock. It was a good not-too-hard hike.

And tomorrow Amanda, Sarah, and Tracey( Business Director) plus their significant others and I are going to go play some softball and then go out for drinks downtown!

2 July

The day after Lily was born, Rebecca the cow gave birth to twin girls! I just went over to check their ear tags, and they have been named Remmy and Rylie. You might be noticing a theme here; Stonewall tries to keep calves alphabetically named after their mother (Rebecca is the daughter of State Champ, Rachel).

Lily likes me more than the twins do. So, she got the photo shoot.




Also...
the farm got a llama?

Rabbit! Rabbit!

July 1st.
Mom got the latest issues of Cooks Illustrated and sent them on to me! So, naturally, I had to do some cooking; the other night I whipped up a batch of Hearty Bean Stew, as well as Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies! Delicious stuff!






Also, we harvested our first crop of carrots today! They are little gems!

Brattleboro, VT

I drove to Brattleboro, VT today. It’s just across the stateline from Keene. It’s again an adorable NE town. It has a rather large food co-op, good bookstores, nice restaurants and the list goes on. Some places to check out:
1. Ami’s Bakery Arts Café
2. Everyone’s Books
3. Dottie’s Discount Foods
4. Boomerang (Thrift Store)

Also, I’d like to comment on the incredibly friendly civil-worker, who is a walking cop. Unfortunately I forgot his name… but anyway, he looked friendly, so when he walked past me as I was getting out of my car in the parking lot I asked him if he knew of anywhere good to pick up lunch. He recommended a couple places on Main, then started chit-chatting, told me to be careful of my belongings, asked where I was from (turns out he had a great summer vacation at a friend’s house on a lake in Novi, MI a few years back) and then even got out his phone to check the day’s weather for me. Thanks for starting my Brattleboro tour off right Mr. CopMan!

Saturday 25th June

Market today was alright, a little slow, but the weather was warm.
I made some new market friends!
I love this area! I can’t help but wonder if there are this many friendly people in Kalamazoo, and I just need to be in this spending-time-with-people deprived state to start legit conversations or if there is actually something special about this community..?

Just another monday

Phoenix House (a local, adult addiction rehab) came out today, they come every Monday, and they are really a good group. Obviously they have their issues, or did at one point, but they are definitely taking steps to start over. And it’s such a range of people; formerly wealthy, raised in the slums, teachers, ex-military…etc.. I really like them.

At about 11 Wendy drove over to one of the garden fields to find me, Amanda told her to call if a calf was being delivered, because Lydia the cow was in labor! Since Phoenix House was there we all walked over to the Dairy Barn together. When we arrived there were two little feet poking out! To describe it best, calves are born in a superman position: front legs out first, and head/body to follow. Wendy waited until Lydia laid down (a sign that she’s really ready to get the show goin’) then she used ankle chains to help her deliver.

She jokingly (I thought) said, “Well maybe we ought ‘a name her Lily. Huh?” The best reply I could muster was a wide-eyed smile and nod.

Well I guess it wasn’t joking because two weeks old on the 4^th, here’s Lily Melayn.

Sunday: the day of rest

Well after I recovered from the cold of market yesterday, I decided to try some baking and went grocery shopping and made some delicious Carrot, Rainsin, Oatmeal cookies when I got home. I hope to make some granola/granola bars today!

Friday and Saturday,

Being the only intern at the farm this summer means I have this 3-bedroom apartment, the kitchen, living room, and large front porch to myself. This might sound large and empty, and well it is, but I’m so tired after work, that I hardly have time to notice the extra space.

The first market was today. And the weather was pretty awful to be honest.

It was raining when we woke up, it rained all during harvest, and then only rained harder all through market. It was pretty cold, and a terrible day for sales. So hopefully next week will be better.

Evening One

Sarah, one of the two garden managers, met me outside the farm house at about 6pm today.

The farm house is split into three apartments, one upstairs for Amanda (the head garden manager) and her husband Scott, the second apartment is Glenn’s (Stonewall Farm Manager), and the last is for summer interns.

I found out upon arrival that the other intern for the summer was cut loose because she just wasn’t farm material…anyway more apartment space for me?

Last night I stayed in Rochester, NY with a CouchSurfer named Kira. It was wicked fun; co-op dinner, bike rides, drum circle, and a beer at a bar in the bay! I hope I get to stop through here again someday, Rochester looks like a nice little NE town.

APPROVED!

This summer [June-August 2011] I will be interning at Stonewall Farm in Keene, NH as a Garden and Farmers Markets Intern. Along side this I will be researching and writing my Senior Individualized Project at Kalamazoo College (This is the equivalent of a senior thesis at other schools).

Today, my SIP proposal was approved by my SIP adviser!!!

I am studying Anthropology/Sociology and will be doing my SIP under that department, that in mind my current working title is Constructing Identity Through Consumer Choices: Farmers' Markets, CSAs, and Organics.

If you're interested in reading my SIP proposal or my current list of cited sources, just let me know and I'll post that here as well!

-Lily

Keene, NH!

First visit to the farm, March 2011