Looking Forward to a New Year - Unloading our Burdens - Accepting the Good with the Bad

The Year 2010

Year in REVEIW
Hello New YEAR!
~ we enjoyed our year of agritourism - Featherdown 2010!
The company was featured in the following publications:
nytimes.com
thenydailynews.com
country living magazine
nycitymama.com
http://www.allaboutyou.com
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.springwise.com
wellandgoodnyc.com
www.farmstayus.com
www.shelterpop.com
thefamilytravelfiles.com
www.tripadvisor.com
www.concierge.com/
tastingtable.com
www.youtube.com/
sleepinthehay.com
blogs.villagevoice.com
wholelivingdaily.wholeliving.com
www.americantowns.com
nymag.com
traveltips.usatoday.com
www.redbookmag.com
lancasterfarming.blogspot.com
artful4home.info
farmstays.blogspot.com


Well -  that's not the whole story!  We met people from NYC, Wahington DC, Brittany, France, Amsterdam, Dutchess County, New Jersey North and Long Island, Connecticut, Texas, and all over the USA, and abroad!  Our farm is naturally home to many people, especially children.  Why?  Have you ever shown a child a running stream? running horses? Jumping goats? Happy hound dogs? Fresh food?  Fresh eggs?  Home made Brick oven Pizza.  We are a unique farm stay!
That is life on the farm!  Children just love it and we do too!


The Year 2009
Last Year in Review, Goodbye 2009, Hello New Year!

We welcomed featherdownfarmdays as part of our farm life, which includes being gracious hosts, making new friends, enjoying children, children enjoying our farm animals, and making brick oven pizza for everyone! This idea from Luite Moraal, his brilliant agritourism concept and facilities make camping and farm stays so much better! Thank you Luite!

We also welcomed 2 new goats, Sorrelina and Further, white Saneen breed from Switzerland. I can't say enough about what a wonderful addition these goats have been to Ambrosia Farms - they complete Ambrosia Farms.

We became part of The Bounty - an online farmers market for CNY - another introduction to your local farmers!

We adopted a dog. a black Chow Chow from a friend in need, renamed Magic, and 3 kittens from an adopted cat, renamed Blue Cloud. Caring for animals comes easiest to us, and sharing this great farm, and free animals into such a great and vast nature reserve, is rewarding. We try to live together in harmony with the peace and quiet of rural America, and the wildlife around us!

I started a new job to supplement our farm income - in health care - and I highly recommend anyone that needs more work - or is looking for a new occupation - consider joining the many dedicated professionals needed to care for the sick, post surgical patients, trauma patients, and the elderly - in a world where much of the work we do is frivolous - this industry is anything but!

Gene began his retirement from carpentry and framing, to farming full time! He is a master haymaker - of square bales and many customers feel that their horses only eat ours. The truth is that Gene's hay has much of the nutrients preserved and it is always green as the day it was cut. Gene is a wood turner and artisan - and I will show a seperate blog with some of the things he made this year and in the future available for sale. These include wood bowls - some for salads - and one of the biggest 48 inches round - I will post the photo of these when we get a camera...cupula, chicken coop, gate to FDF, cat loft. and much more!

Farmers Frozen Foods gets 2 more articles published! This is a company that will flourish in the years ahead, protect more farmland from development and drilling, and provide great food locally grown in the winter. I hope you support it at
http://www.natlnutrients.blogspot.com/
Thanks to those that already have joined our CSA membership.

Lastly, we have had numerous setbacks and personal losses. As we all have had over the years. As my cousin reports, we can be mush, like the carrot in boiling water; hard, like the egg in boiling water; or transforming, like the coffee bean in boiling water. So rather than lament the bad, let us try and show forebearance, compassion, and truthfulness in the New Year.

Best wishes to Everyone!

At What Price Development?

Save this beautiful Earth from more structures that encroach on open space.


Marcellus Shale exploration - at what price?

http://www.un-naturalgas.org/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/science/earth/28drill.html?pagewanted=1&hpw

Loss of this pristine valley, waterways, old growth forests, and gourges? Can we farmers afford to say NO to royalties from this drilling? The money is a bonanza for some at $6,000 per acre up front plus 20% royalties! Beverly Hill Billies - Water, laced with chemicals, is blasted down gas wells at high pressure to break the rock and allow gas to flow out more easily. "Some of the methods of getting at the gas — fragmentation, for instance, which breaks up the shale to get to gas pockets — can also pollute water supplies, critics say.", this according to a recent NYTimes article. Well, it really happened in our UpState hamlet - wells were polluted! On October 27th, "the Chesapeake Energy Corporation says it will not drill for natural gas within the upstate New York watershed." Ecosystems, watersheds, waterways - these are critical to survival of all species on Earth? The answer is not raising corn for fuel because this is burning one fuel - and lots of herbicides - to make another fuel - without a reduction in energy use. The answer can't be to implode rock with thousands of gallons of chemicals in the Earth's Core...

This photo shows a land drawing from 3,000 years ago. Europe has preserved open land and the USA is gobbling everything up in less than 200 years. Quite a contrast.

The Millenium Ecosystem Report - minimize disruption to existing ecosystems - a hands off policy. It is much better to keep development in major cities - do more with what we already have developed - and leave pristine areas untouched. Restore what we can, as we've begun with the Hudson River, and should do for other waterways, by cleaning them up and stop polluting.
The greatest contribution the human race can make to save the Planet from gross consumption is reversing population growth numbers in the future. That is a significant part of this problem. The other is the level of consumption per person.

I believe that as each person changes - individual effort will create the whole dynamic and a better future for the planet. Baby Boomers (all people born between 1946-1964) can't continue to pummel through resources! We need to conserve resources through sacrifice. The Flower Child will create a bright future for all!

Caring for Goat Babies

Our new additions to the farm, 2 new mouths to feed, some very sweet Saneen Dairy Goat babies. We have been thinking of getting these animals for a very long time. They seem like a natural addition to be sheltered in our wonderful show dairy barn. I think they will enjoy the pasture as much as we will enjoy watching them eat and be in the fresh air. I am learning mostly as I go. I had read so much about horses before I ever got them. But goats are different. They are caprine, part of the bovine family. Selenium is a mineral necessary to goats that is lacking in NY soils and, thus, lacking in our hay and grain. Kids are usually given about 1 cc of a BoSe shot shortly after birth or a loose salt or feed daily that contains Selenium and vitamin E. We try to learn as much as we can about proper feeding - for example, goats need 1kg (2.2 lbs) per day. We provide a good home with wholesome living for all our animals. We also get to introduce children to different animals. Now we'll get to see kids enjoying kids!

Year of Crop Losses 2009

The Northeast summer rainstorms have brought our haymaking to a halt - one day of sunshine and it is off to the clouds again and again. Hay is not only important as a source of income for our farm, but it is integral to keeping cattle and horses in these parts. When the snow comes there is nothing else for these animals to eat except hay. I am feeling real stressed right now at the thought of these animals lacking for food this winter. I had the unfortunate exposure just last week to a pony who had been starved by some real cruel people, and the animal had to be put down by it's new owners. Starvation is a scary thing. With the recession on, people are abandoning horses regularly because they can't afford the upkeep any longer. Add to that the shortage of hay because of this summer of rain, and we could end up with a very bad situation. It is unfortunate that in our capitalist society people with hay will likely up the price for those without. Paying through the nose for items where supply is less than demand really takes advantage of a bad situation. We saw that with the price of oil and the rising profits of oil companies during the same period.

Second to our hay shortage in the Northeast is the tomato late blight that has swept across here. We grow thousands of heirloom tomato plants with wonderful harvests every year, so to have this crop fail is another surprise setback. Just last week we saw the first signs of it devastate healthy plants more rapidly than anything I've ever seen. We are not likely to get any tomatoes. Since this is one of the loveliest of fruits, it is hard to believe still. And yet even with all the greenhouse and labor costs and my own 2 months of nonstop work into it, the thousands of stakes pounded into the ground, and resulting bursitis - even with this major setback it is nothing in the scheme of things. No one will starve because we don't have tomatoes this year. It's not the same as the potato famine because we have so much else to eat these days. But certainly we will remember the summer of 2009 without the sweat flavor of our pomme amore!

Love is Never Ending

Love is never ending - Love of a newborn to love of a lover. Passion. Devotion. Dedication. Witness to many strong forms of love including my own parents who raised a family with love at the core. When tragedy strikes - you witness real love. Crushed by the death of her son, my mother never recovered. The years spent to nurture and love and grow a newborn into a strong loving young man abruptly ended at 15. Thrown from a car in an accident, his head struck a tree and he was killed instantly. Thirty years later, I am witness to another strong loving young man who was struck by a fallen tree. So far, he has survived and is being cared for vigilantly by his loved ones. They are never home - constantly by his side in hospitals with healthcare workers responsible for his care - all of part of this network of caring individuals striving to impart their goodness to the recovery of their charge. Caring for a parent, my sisters love is never ending as she visits the nursing home each day to feed and care for our mother. People with long term or terminal illnesses need care. In all of this, I see the strength in people that is never ending - you know it must be for love. I see that it motivates and provides strength of will and endurance, uncharacteristic of normal human behavior. It is "super human", beyond mere mortal capability. It is the most admirable thing of all.

For Diana, who loved elvis music, one of the most beautiful women

HEIRLOOM TOMATO PLANTS GROWN SUSTAINABLY

Our farm grows only heirloom tomatoes and this year we are offering heirloom tomato plants custom grown for us in Oneida, Madison, and Chenango Counties from heirloom seeds we provide them. This year our varieties include:

Marmande- Popular old French variety developed by the Vilmorin Seed Co. Scarlet, lightly ribbed fruit, have the full rich flavor
Pantano Romanesco -Roman heirloom The fruit are large and are deep red. The flesh is very rich, flavorful & juicy.
Rutgers -Determinate large red 8 oz. globes. Good yields and flavor, large vines. A fine New Jersey heirloom.
Tonadose Des Conores -heirloom cherry tomato from France, the very red fruit have an orange tinge inside,lingering flavor.
Striped Roman - Stunning and unique. These long, pointed red fruit have wavy orange stripes! It’s a specialty grower’s dream
Cherokee Purple - pre-1890 variety; beautiful deep dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very large sized fruit.
Black Krim Dark -red-purple fruit, rich sweet flavor. winner in tomato taste trials. It’s very juicy. An heirloom from Russia

We have limited supply and will sell on a first come reserved basis - you will pickup at points in NJ and NYS
please email us to reserve yours and schedule a pickup: ambrosiafarmsny@yahoo.com or phone 1.800.221.9755

About Ambrosia Farms

Ambrosia Farms is located in the Central Valley of NYS bordering the counties of Otsego, Oneida, Chenango, and Madison. This area of UpState New York is largely agricultural - dairy farms and Holstein cows dot the hillsides. Known as the Leatherstocking region, evoking memories of historic settlers to Native American lands of Oneida Indians. You'll live for a time in the Leatherstocking tales of James Fenimore Cooper. There is a richness of nature and vast blue sky panoramas where children and adults become one with the Earth.

The landscape is defined by ice age glaciers. The quiet and spaciousness of these rural hamlets are unaffected by modernization. There is a time passage back to the early 1900s. Farmers appear in tractors to plant cornfields and later in small parades of antique cars on Sunday drives through the winding roads. Elsewhere, riders on horseback enjoy miles of beautifully preserved bridal paths. Freshly grown food - great tasting to appetites stimulated by country air and activity. Children quickly participate in the chores of the farm for the opportunity to care for the vast array of animals. Yours too will ask "When can we go back to Ambrosia Farms?"

Ambrosia Farms is building a network of small farmers growing for Farmers Frozen Foods, a regionally processed frozen foods product of sustainable heirloom flash frozen vegetables. In 2005, we were awarded a SARE (sustainable agriculture research and education) grant.

Articles on this work have appeared in Cornell Small Farms Quarterly, Fruit Growers News, Vegetable Growers News. We are a unique agritourism destination, and have grown and raised heirloom vegetables and heritage breeds for over 20 years.
Our work has a very large philanthropic purpose - dedicated to saving small family farms in the Northeast, genetic diversity through seed saving and cultural traditions, natural nutrients, fine arts, and preservation of natural ecosystems including land, water, and wildlife.

The Man Who Planted Trees

Better Days, Baby!

GENE & I

We've enjoyed our lives together for a decade...and still! The first thing he did for me was build a tepee on the "land between two rivers" - designing, selecting and cutting the trees, and raising the structure which towered over us.

He has been an inspiration to watch from the beginning. I have learned more of his multifaceted skills including building, haying, engineering everything, and ingenuity surpassing a mere mortal. I bestow praise on Gene for the pleasure of witnessing his creative virtue and resourcefulness. He is an enclyclopedia of strength, work, and judgement. A true Renaissance Man!

In Memory of Our Brother, Anthony

Art in Nature

Our farm holds this view interpreted by the painter, the photographer, the writer, the musician - we all share a space and preserve a moment in that which we create by living. Creative people share an affinity with nature that is powerfully moving. Wonderfully uplifting moments in my life have happened in the mist of this natural and spiritual beauty of the farm. Similarly, artists have inspired me as I admire their work and boldly create my own in words and photos! Thank you to all who have shared their creative work on Ambrosia Farms!

Farm Maps and Lists

Working together to preserve:

small family farms
panoramic views
glacial formations, streams, and rivers
open land
old growth forests
plush pastures and bales of hay
heirloom vegetables
heritage breeds
wild mustangs adopted from BLM
the running of the hounds, treeing walker hound rescue
sustainable agriculture
on farm small batch processing, the homesteader way
authentic food and natural nutrients
hunter gatherer foraging
wildlife and wild plants
dandelions, ramps, mustard greens, mushrooms, berries, apples. pears
campfires
rivers and lakes
13,000 acres Beaver Creek/Brookfield State Forest, 130-mile horse and snowmobile trail system
antique cars
land lines
hammocks
kayak and canoe
mountain bike and hike

When you arrive you will feel like you stepped into the 1950's...

Ambrosia Farms Italian Farmhouse Meals

The rewards of hard and continual farm work are the priceless meals easily prepared from the harvest bounty. Ask anyone who visits our farm what they give - labor of love - and what they receive - great food and fun! We always hear, "that was the best meal, or the hottest shower, or the most quiet sleep!" We're pretty sure it stems from the simple rewards of fresh air and hard work! Take it from the contadini - they sure know how to live!

http://natlnutrients.blogspot.com/
see my post on "Healthy Lifestyles"

Agritourism

I had first heard of "agritourism" on our visit to Tuscany in 1994, where signs were posted along country roads - "agritourismo" - this indicated a farmer with overnight lodging, a cheaper alternative to hotels and a notch or two above hostels. Accomodations vary depending upon the farm. This is a great way to give farmers alternative income. Everyone knows how difficult it is for small farmers to make a decent income for all the time involved, not many people go into farming for the money!

Agritourism underlies the values of stewardship to the land and the support of small farmers who care for the land sustainably.

read also this article
http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/englands-new-country-retreats

I am very excited at the prospect of sharing this beautiful land and getting more people interested in buying small farms to preserve the open space and the old style of life - designed perfectly for outdoor guys and gals and FDFD!

Open Land & Open Seas

As a preservationist of open land and open seas, I have a great sense of personal stewardship- small farms like our own preserve what is rural in America. Taking lessons from animals in nature, seeking shelter in forests, caves, burrows under the earth, without destruction to the environment. People have set about to sprawl so rapidly from the first suburbs of the 1890's - people moved further apart - automobile and airplane traffic became heavier and heavier - industrialized became populated. Marine and land ecosystems have collapsed under the weight - as internal mechanisms malfunction, homeostasis is lost.

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, "The composition of the atmosphere and soil, the cycling of nutrients through waterways, and many other ecological assets are all the result of living processes—and all are maintained and replenished by living ecosystems... For example, where farmlands under irrigation become saline, crop yields are reduced; this in turn may affect human nutritional security, child growth and development, and susceptibility to infectious diseases."

A return to the inner cities - rejuvenating old neighborhoods - parks created. Studies indicate that the more people relate to nature, the more they are likely to foster awareness and mitigate destruction of the natural environment.

Children are happiest when they are flapping in water, running across fields, caring for animals...I've seen it time and again. I've seen it with adults. Nature is part of us, and we part of it. While monetary goods and services can be uplifting, Nature touches the deepest part of us, and lifts us toward the sun!

Horses & Wild Mustangs, so very splendid!

I enjoy my gift of horses everyday, even when I have to do chores in subzero temperatures, even when I get kicked (1998) or trampled (2008), even when making hay is necesssary in the hottest part of the summer and it is hard, hard work. Saving wild horses from the BLM roundup and auctions is its own reward. Giving horses back a "wild life" combined with all the luxuries of domestic life. Just being a good animal caretaker is its own reward. Especially if there is no self gain, just doing it for the sake of giving - giving animals a natural life- one that is becoming harder and harder to attain at a time of tremendous human population and sprawl.

In November of 2008, Madeleine Pickens, wife of Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, announced she would dedicate 1 million acres for a wild horse refuge. She did a great thing. One in which we can all do a small part. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has been pressured for years by cattlemen to reduce the herd population thereby instituting this adoption program. Every year auctions are held for these horses, at under $200, and the right facilities, you can adopt. I encourage more horse people to give these horses a good home!

Our mustangs are named Blackfoot, and Blossom, they are within a year of each other born in 2003 and 2004, and they are great pals for oneanother. They also fit in great with our Quarterhorse herd. In fact, they all think they are wild horses now! This is Blackfoot shown in the photo on our land - her land!