Hawthorne Valley Farm

Just about every Wednesday, on my way to work, I swing by my favorite farmstand at the green market in Union Square to stock up on my dairy for the week. It's my sole dairy source for raw milk yogurt and rennet-free cheese and the occasional zucchini turnover (when they are in stock). I have been supporting the farm for years and share their mission of "biodynamic farming practices that reflect a commitment to protecting the health of the earth and all who live on it". Up until 2 weekends ago, I had never actually visited the farm to see with my own eyes where the cheese (my guilty pleasure) was coming from.

So on the way back from Lake George we made another pit stop at Hawthorne Valley Farm.

We arrived in the late afternoon, just as all the moo cows were getting ready to be milked! We watched the farmers finishing up and the cows, very relaxed—a handful actually laying down in there—hanging out in their stalls.

There was even a little calf trying to catch some zzz's in the shade of her pen.

We roamed the grounds a bit, passed the barn where the cheese is made, waved to the kids enrolled in farm camp, perused the greenhouse and herb gardens, and stumbled upon the highlight of the visit...

the silly pigs!

A few of the young piggies immediately trotted over towards us, curious and hungry.

The weather was pretty unbearable so most of the young pigs were resting under shelters.

Once we disturbed them though, and they discovered we were foodless, they wasted no time and all came running out of everywhere, snorting, to feed on big momma who was passed out like the pile of dirt behind her!
And of course after a nice warm treat, what do pigs do (just like us)... they relieve themselves.

and some more... no shame, no shame.

and cool off and cuddle in the mud.

Even gigantic dad needed to cool off. I have never seen such a huge pig! He was bigger than the bathtub and completely not interested in us.

Although the regular farming hours were way past and we didn't get to see the daily workings of the farm, the experience was one I will not forget. The peacefulness of a small farm is sublime.

And I will continue to eat Hawthorne Valley cheese with utter joy!

what girl friends do when they are together...

they french braid each other's hair in pigtails!

Yes!... and we've been doing it for over 20 years nows.

Here's how Nicki does it:

1. Start by parting the hair down the middle of the head for pigtails. Take side section, from the top of the head and separate into 3 strands.

2. Cross right over middle and then left over middle, as if you were doing a basic braid.

3. Switch all of the strands over to your left hand, but keep strands separated.

4. Now gather a small, even section from the right side with your right hand and add it to the right strand.

5. Bring the strand you have just added to, over to the middle and bring the middle strand to the right.

6. Now switch hands keeping all strands separate, so your left hand will be free.

7. Gather a section of hair from the left side of the head and add this to the left strand.

8. Bring the left strand over to the middle and bring the middle section to the left.

9. Repeat until there is no more hair available to add.

10. Finish off the rest of hair with a basic braid.

11. Repeat entire process on opposite side of head.

12. Result: Pigtail French Braids.

Nicki did this in under 5 minutes—will take a lot longer to wrap your head around the directions!

Go ahead, practice on your best friend...

adirondack antiques & taxidermy

After a nonstop weekend with friends, we took a many stops trip home to the city. First, for iced coffee, and second, to a ramshackle antique store on Tongue Mountain. The dusty shop was full of many treasures—we all went home with something—but I was quite enamored with the amount of wildlife trophies scattered around the place. My love for animals extends to those passed and I appreciate them utterly in their preserved form. Although I wouldn't hunt and be proud to mount what I've slaughtered, I have considered cherishing roadkill forever for sure. Funny the person who discovered taxidermy was also vegetarian. Enjoy some of the creatures that were creeping in the aisles of this musty store that once roamed the paths of upstate New York.

I just love animals to death.

Here are a few blogs I follow that seem to like dead animals as well:

crappy taxidermy

finder maker

melissa dixson

morbid anatomy

reid peppard

Ticonderoga

Sometimes all you need is a long weekend with great friends, a little fresh water up your nose, red wine when the sun is going down, an uncontrollable laughing fit, a hard bed to sleep on and the great outdoors. Our annual few days in Lake George does it for me every time. A bonus this year was coming home to internet access and finding out I had 500 followers on my blog—the royal icing on the cake! Thanks guys!!!

oxox

living

The living pavilion on Governors Island in NYC—a perfect shelter from the unbearable summer city heat that is earthy, green, fresh and whimsical. I enjoyed it last week.

Happy 4th

Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!

feather printing with Pico

I've been saving all the feathers Pico sheds in two jars—one for body feathers and the other for tail and wing feathers. After working on 2 feather printing projects at work, I decided to try one with Pico's feathers. So I picked out a couple different sizes from my collection to experiment with.

It turns out the tail and wing feathers work much better than the softer, fluffier body feathers.

The process for printing onto paper is fairly simple. All you need is a brayer, an ink pad, scrap paper, tweezers and of course the paper or stationary you are printing on. Here's how you do it:

1. Place a feather face down on an ink pad. Cover the feather and entire ink pad with a scrap piece of paper. Use the brayer to press and roll over the scrap paper, evenly distributing the ink.

2. Remove the paper and lift the feather up with tweezers by the feather's shaft.

3. Place the feather ink side down on a piece of paper and cover it with a clean piece of scrap paper. Use the brayer to transfer the feather ink to paper by rolling over it a couple times.

note: I find you get better results when you print with the same feather a couple times before printing on your final paper. You can use the same feather a dozen times and get good results, so practice before you print on stationary or whatnot.

4. Remove the paper and feather carefully and you should have a lovely transfer!

5. Let the ink completely dry and add stamped words to personalize it.

I finally completely all my birthday thank you cards. I am embarrassed to say that my birthday was about 3 months ago! oops!

I am about to stuff all the envelopes with the thank you cards and some photos of Pico and off in the mail they go!

neon nails

I rarely get my nails done, maybe 3 times a year. It is impossible to keep them nice when I work with my hands all day, you know? They are already chipped one day later! Anyway, I decided to treat myself and went for a mani/pedi. I always go for the neon orange in the summer, it glows and I love it. It even matches the button lights in the elevator too. ;)

T for touch.