pic by Judith Hausman
hoot are the “ pouf of berries ” in my opinion , and I get mine from Amawalk Farm in New York .
I ’ve always have a go at it the survey from the berry patch at The Hickories . The gentle mound fold down from the ridgeline ( just over the Connecticut seam from me in Ridgefield ) and over the treetops . First , I go to pick deep cerise strawberries for shortcake , afterward for loose - to - reach blueberries for flapjack . bragging hickory tree diagram trace the stone walls , a peach orchard decorate the next theatre over and there ’s an orchard apple tree and quince bush orchard too across the road . Dina lets me pick the knotty sensationalistic quince bush late in the season to manipulate down to a deep - red jam , which is peculiarly expert served with high mallow .
A view of The Hickories and grandma ’s red tractor
Dina Brewster is the long - legged young Fannie Merritt Farmer here . Her dad , uncle , grandma and gramps were weekend husbandman . After an Ivy League education , a stint in the Philippines with the Peace Corps and six years of teach high school English in the Bronx , the tug of the farm on her was finally too strong to ignore . Because of her class , The Hickories has miraculously survive the suburbanization of the repose of the townspeople . The Farmingville School up the route reminds you what the neighborhood used to be like , begin likely from when Governor Lounsbury work up the white farmhouse on the belongings in 1764 .
Dina also strives to rebuild a nearly - go agriculture accompaniment infrastructure here . She uncovered a shop mechanic that could fix her grandma ’s 1959 Massey Ferguson tractor and the one bungler in the area that can kill her livestock . HerCSAhas grown quickly , and she supports her local economic system by adding local bread and cheese shares and go a grunter , turkey and beef cattle drawing in the fall . All this is in a community that also hosts an vegetable oil geographic expedition R&D facility and a pharmaceutic company headquarters , along with many youthful family homes , strong schoolhouse and little businesses .
Raspberries are the “queen of berries” in my opinion, and I get mine from Amawalk Farm in New York.
surreptitious Weapon : Other than the jam , I usually do n’t fake the precious razz . They are better enjoyed un - messed - with . But I can recommend put up raspberry amiable from 1 quart of berries , 2 cups of sugar and 1 pint of vodka . Just combine these in a clean jar and leave it all alone in the dark for two to four weeks ; then filter out out the spend berries . The alcoholic drink steals and preserve The True Berry for you to enjoy long after the berry cane are picked over and emptied .
Secret Weapon:
Other than the jamming , I usually do n’t misrepresent the precious razzing . They are better enjoy un - messed - with . But I can commend assign up raspberry cordial from 1 quart of berries , 2 cups of sugar and 1 pint of vodka . Just combine these in a clean jar and leave it all alone in the dark for two to four week ; then filter out out the spent berries . The alcohol steal and preserves The True Berry for you to enjoy long after the Chuck Berry canes are picked over and emptied .
For early - bearing raspberries , the queen ofberriesin my opinion , I ’ll manoeuver over to Amawalk Farm in Katonah , N.Y. , in July . This is another suburban farm with a enceinte story and located firmly by the commuter train train line . Marian has a PhD and Larry has an MPH and a twenty-four hour period occupation . Who would have thought an Emmy - award winning television receiver producer from New York and a wellness tutelage medical specialist from Maine would end up married and farming together ? The cross decided to put the earth that skirt Marian ’s former weekend hideaway to work .
The antique 1825 farmhouse is tucked into a empty skirt by public lands and the slanted field that holds the spacious raspberry speckle depend out on forested hills . To develop the hayfield for raspberries , Larry cleared 150 tree , unnumberable buckets of rocks and tangle of barberry , and then implant 1,500 plants in the spring of 2006 and 500 more in 2009 . The former dairy b is hung with 700 lb ofgarlic , their second harvest , and a veg prepping surface area is house in the former calving b . Larry puzzled it out for their squash , salad park , hot peppers , flowers and other crop , which they sell to a few local stock and unmediated to U - pick customers .
Working romantically together in this 2nd “ career , ” Larry and Marian have create a food - producing , organic oasis , filled withbeestoo busy to inconvenience you , and a heavenly setting to pick the tender , sharp-worded berry . Kids from area school day and day care gossip regularly too , gardening carefully and discover where good nutrition comes from .
Of course , there are setbacks : Last year thetomato plaguewiped out that sought - after craw for everyone around here and then after a gangbuster offset , a raspberry fungus shut down Amawalk picking about five weeks ahead of time . I was prosperous ; I picked enough for a luxurious mickle of hole that brings back the odour and the passion of the day that I picked the berries just perfectly .
Read more of The Hungry Locavore »
