"Honestly...Natural Northeast Family Farmed"

"Honestly... Natural Northeast Family Farmed"
Keeping Northeast Family Farms in NY Metro area Consciousness!

"There is so much lying going on out there and so little integrity and stretching of the truth - an honest label seems appropriate for our times." 

What our label represents -


As Advisors for Northeast Family Farms we advocate on their behalf - propelling consumers in the Metropolitan areas to connect with farmers in a wholesome way.

Northeast States of NY, NJ, PA, WV, VA, DL, MD, ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT

Consumers that buy directly from family farmers help them stay in business.  Family farmers preserve open space in rural areas, and provide nutritious food.

We provide farmers and consumers information and educational assistance in the creation and packaging of food products.  We schedule Educational workshops on American homesteading, artisan, and farming traditions for generations.


We preserve cultural and horticultural traditions linked to a specific region, ethnicity or traditional production practice.  Heirloom seeds are saved and exchanged.  Our products are produced in small batch processing centers.

We are Caregivers of Animals promoting Heritage Breeds

We are Protectors of Natural Ecosystems and Wildlife

We invite Agritourism through "Family Farm Week", farm picnics and festivals, and Featherdown Farm Days!

We go beyond the "organic" label supporting small instead of commercial and industrial feedlots.

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