Wild Hive Farm

Not too far off the Taconic Parkway, Clifton Corners is barely a corner. The old country store is a quaint restaurant with micro-milled flour and local produce for sale up front. There's a case full of baked goods. The menu is varied and difficult to choose from - everything looks good. The place was busy and we waited 10 minutes for a table during the lunch hour. There was fresh brewed iced tea. The squash soup was perfect with a wholesome bread on the side. The hardiness of the bread made for excellent French toast.

Wild Hive Farm
2411 Salt Point Turnpike
Clifton Corners, NY 12514

Meadowbrook Farm

Living in NYC makes this view noteworthy.I've always focused on the smell of the outdoors, especially those times of year when change is evident, spring and fall. Apple picking journeys offer fall colors and scents. It didn't take long to gather 36 pounds of apples, mostly green delicious.Meadowbrook Farm has the apple orchards, friendly staff, and barn full of other goods: vegetables, preserves, and homemade doughnuts. It seems that homemade donuts are part of the playbook for family run U-pick apple orchards. There were even goats and chickens. The Farm is in Wappinger Falls, northeast of Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County.

Meadowbrook Farm
29 Old Myers Corners Road
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
845-297-3002

Peppers

This is the output of four pepper plants so far this summer, two peppers, and some bonus tomatoes. I added one of the peppers to curry and tonight we had pizza with homemade dough, pesto (garden basil), tomato slices and the other pepper. They were mild to moderate in spiciness.

As for the poor pepper output, from my limited research it could be because of the high temperatures over the last month and the excessive rain in July. I'm hoping that September will be better for production. The eggplant has a flower so maybe we'll get one of those yet, this from a garden started at the end of June.

181st Street Subway Station

This old tunnel collapsed the night after we were in it on the way home from the cloisters. I took these shots before the cave-in.
There are plenty of other photos of the 181 at this neurotic website.

The Waterpod

The Waterpod is trademarked, which seems to subtract from its renegade image. Nevertheless, this is a great concept: take a barge and fill it with a miniature farm and a lot of innovative irrigation devices. There's even a couple chickens and there might be a hive of pollinators. There certainly were a bunch buzzing about.

The Cloisters

At the northern end of Manhattan along the Hudson, the Cloisters is truly not like the rest of the boisterous island. The Pallisades are directly across the immense channel. With four medieval cloisters incorporated into its structure, this branch of the Met is unique among US museums. The collection is mostly medieval, most of the art religious from around 1000 to 1600. There are a collection of sarcophagi in the Gothic chapel, with many of the monks lying with dogs at their feet. From my research, this is a symbol of fidelity, most likely to God in this case. The dogs, or lion as in the case of a knight, are not foot warmers.
Here's a statue of Saint Roch, closet hipster and patron saint of those suffering from disease. That's why he has a sore on his left thigh. It's a good thing his dog is bringing him a bagel.
To get home we took the bus that leaves outside the cloisters to the 1 stop at 181st Street.

Underground Train Tunnel

After seeing this scene a month ago, I was intrigued. What could induce people to climb down a manhole in the middle of Atlantic Avenue? In this well-organized adventure into an underground train tunnel, two rent-a-cops control traffic around the open manhole. A generator roars above ground to light a string of lights within the tunnel.This is the line for the first tour. A second line for the second tour was lined up when we left.
Information about the tunnel is available at the website. In short it was built in the 1800s to haul goods under Atlantic Avenue. It was then abandoned for other routes and eventually sealed off. The tour guide found the tunnel in the early 80's and has spent his life since talking about it. The history is fascinating but the tale of the tunnel's discovery was just as long and not that exciting. I could have had more history. The tunnel is cool, since it's always sealed off. It was a welcome difference in temperature from subway platforms in August. It's uniform and straight, running for half a mile. The walls are lined with rock dug from Manhattan and the arched ceiling is made of brick. Flashlights came in handy. Honestly, there isn't much to see after five minutes, except more darkness. At $15 it's a little expensive, but the novelty of climbing down into an old tunnel in the middle of Atlantic Avenue will keep the crowds coming.