Blog Posts

  • 12 July 2024: Insects of Rose Hill

    by Conrad (with some photos and field assistance from Laura & Meg). First of all, I’m not trying to ‘back date my check’ by associating this with a date of 9 days ago – that is when we visited Rose Hill, not the date on which this was written. Because phenology changes rapidly, it seems…

  • 15 July 2024: Blue Star Farm’s Wild-growing Plants

    Blue Star Farm produces a variety of vegetables and the core of the farm is composed of a mosaic of intensively-managed beds, cover crops, fallow fields, and mowed drive strips. Towards the surrounding tree lines and forest patches, there are also less frequently-mowed meadow areas and narrow bands of “soft edges”, where low woody plants…

  • 11 July 2024: Blue Star Farm & Surroundings.

    by Conrad. As this LiDAR image shows, the western portion of Blue Star Farm, run by Sue Decker, is located in Stuyvesant NY on terrace land above the Hudson River (seen on the left). A seasonal waterway drains north out of this farm, joining up with Mill Creek shortly before entering the Hudson. Sue’s “home…

  • 5 July 2024: Little Seed Farm

    by Conrad & Claudia. Today, we visited Little Seed Gardens on a hot, heavy midday with hazy, overcast skies. Little Seed is located on the west bank of the Stony Kill, and that stream unites with Kinderhook Creek in the northeast corner of the farm. They grow organic veggies and raise Randall Cattle (a rare…

  • 21 June 2024: Visit to Rose Hill Orchard, Treadlight Farm, Hudson Valley Seed Co., and Transgenerational Farms.

    posted by Conrad. A day of preliminary farm visits to a quartet of collaborating farms: Rose Hill Orchard (Red Hook, NY), Treadlight Farm (Kerhonkson, NY), Hudson Valley Seed Company (Accord, NY) and Transgenerational Farm (Accord, NY). Rose Hill is a pick-your-own orchard and cidery with 190 apple varieties, plus peaches, plums, blueberries, and cherries. They…