I like local food. I like to eat it, I like to read about it and I like to sell it. Every Saturday morning I am lucky enough to talk about and sell local vegetables for Michael Kilpatrick (Kilpatrick Family Farm) at the farmers market in Saratoga Springs. Working at the market is so much fun for me,…
Category: Farming
{recap} When Joel Salatin Came to the Farm
For a few years now I’ve wanted to see Joel Salatin speak (see endnote for bio). I always assumed it would be in an auditorium and very impersonal. The best I could hope for was maybe one day I’d be able to go to Polyface Farm and have a tour and maybe I’d be lucky…
{how to} Cold Storage 101
I’ve pretty much wrapped up harvesting crops on Silly Goose Farm. Apples are done, tomatoes are done, and all that’s left to put-up is a couple of cabbages, a few rows of rainbow carrots, and a whole bunch of pears. The pear trees on our farm are over 100 years old and positively drip with fruit….
{Know Your Farmer} Quincy Farm: Easton, NY
On Wednesday, Christina and I had the opportunity to visit a relatively new farm in the Capital District farm scene: Quincy Farm. This farm has a particular significance and sentimentality for me. You see, when the property (formerly Battleview Farm, previously owned for over 200 years by the Wright family) went on the market for sale in…
{August 28th} the day that changed lives.
Sunday, August 28th, 2011. Irene came to upstate NY as a Tropic Storm and left her mark. A gigantic mark. I’m not sure we even know how big a mark as everyday, updated news comes across the wire and there is more & more devastation. Roads, sidewalks, trees, electric poles, street lights, covered bridges, foot…
{COMMUNITY SHARECROPPING} Home Grown Wheat
Our rabbi, Jonathan Rubenstein of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, runs a non-profit bakery out of the temple. Most Friday mornings he is there, baking challah and babka, plus his kick-ass granola. When we sold our house and garden in Argyle, New York three years ago and were moaning about where we would go to garden, Jonathan’s…
{competition} Brown Betty Farm at The Altamont Fair
FSC Contributor, Liz and her flock of five lambs, sheep and a ram, as Brown Betty Farm took the Altamont Fair’s Sheep Shows by storm by snatching multiple blue and yellow ribbons on her Altamont Fair debut. Its been a week-long affair, in the fair’s sheep barn, where she’s managed taking care of and showing…
{Guest Contributor} Frozen Yogurt Popsicles
Editor’s Note: I am pleased to introduce Hanna, Michael’s sister (my farmer and boss) and now our newest and youngest contributor! While working in heatwaves and downpours at the various Wednesday and Saturday markets in Saratoga, I would hear rave reviews about a frozen yogurt pops making the rounds on the farm in Granville. I…
{Behind the Scenes} at a working farm
This is the second summer I’ve had the chance to go out and work at Kilpatrick Family Farm. I usually only go out once a week since it’s about an hour from my house. When I started working there I really didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted to get as much experience as…
{Hello} I’m Liz
Hey there readers! This is Liz, from Brown Betty Farm. First of all, a big thanks to Chris for inviting me to share something with you here… especially considering the perpetual ‘construction’ state of my humble little homemade web page and the less-than-frequent posts that occasionally show up on my blog, {semi}veggie sisters. I am utterly…
{Know Your Farmer} Strawberry Fest 2011
The lucky CSA members of Kilpatrick Family Farm were invited to head up to Middle Granville, NY this week for some strawberry picking, farm touring, baby animal petting and picnicking. The weather was perfect, cute little kids were out in full force and I spent every dime I had on strawberries. It was a good…
{Simple} Homemade Yogurt Cheese
When we moved to upstate New York around twenty-five years ago, we became friends with Martha and Seth from Slack Hollow Farm in Argyle. The first time we went over to their house for dinner, Martha gave us some soft goat cheese she had made. I was so impressed and enthusiastic about their advanced state…
{weekend reading} farmers market edition
Hoping for a good weather day at the markets tomorrow is an understatement. Its been on & off raining here all week. Rain or shine your local veg/fruit, meat, cheese, milk, plants and value-added producers will be out there with their goodies. Have a great weekend everyone! -Christina SATURDAY Albany Central Avenue Farmers Market, Parking…
{COMMUNITY SHARECROPPING} May is the Time to Plant Your Garden
May is planting season in the community share cropping gardens. We already planted cover crops (more on those in a future post), winter wheat and garlic last fall; those are all coming in now. We had a wet, late spring in upstate New York, so didn’t get much going in April. Usually we have peas…
{photo diary} CSA FAIR, Troy, NY
I had a lot of fun at NOFA-NY‘s first annual CSA Fair with Michael at the Kilpatrick Family Farm table. I answered basic questions from a share holder’s perspective; what is a CSA? How does it really work? Is the produce good? How is the selection? What if I can’t make it to pick up…
