Summer 2014

For July and August You-pick is open Thursdays through Mondays from 7:30am to 3:00pm.  We hope to have blueberries through the second week of August and a little beyond.  Expect lavender Spring through Fall along with many of the flowers and herbs.  Pumpkins and gourds will be ready in the pumpkin patch some time in September and through October.  It is always best to call ahead to make sure the crop you want is currently abundant.  (518)285-9039

Flowers, flowers, flowers … both fresh and dried.

Calendula blossoms – our you-pick flowers are now easy to reach near the shop.

2014 U-Pick Opening

Oh, we are so glad to get beyond the winter protections (snow fencing and rolling up the bird netting), the pruning (which started early this year with a long cold winter), the spring weeding and worry about late frosts, the hope that hail won’t find us with all these thunder storms, the relief that finally we got the bird net up and the holes patched, the irrigating and fertigating and chipping and matting, and figuring out how to redirect a little ground hog back across the street, the mowing and mowing and, wait don’t get in the way of that little Killdeer and her nest!!!   … Anyway that’s enough worry, because the killdeer have hatched and the blueberries are beautiful and ripening and we are opening on Friday, July 11 at 7:30 am for pickers.  It’s supposed to be a beautiful day – and this is the fun part for us. 

Thank you to all the pickers in the past who are so appreciative of the summer berries.  It makes a year’s worth of blood, sweat and tears worth the trouble.
Here is a photo taken today (Thursday, July 10) of a cluster of Reka berries, showing all stages of ripening.  Come and enjoy the harvest.Reka5141

And for those who love lavender, all eight varieties of lavender that we planted last year have done very well for a difficult winter and are ready for those who would like to pick their own lavender.  We can show you how to do it so that you help the plant thrive and also harvest the best stems for whatever use you plan for the lavender.  Some people use the flowers in tea, some use the buds for fragrant sachets, some dry the stems for flower arrangements, some may use the buds for making soap or other crafts.  
5074Lavender
As long as we’re talking about new things, we also are amazed at the Shiitake harvest.  Here are some growing on logs in the woods.  If you are interested in these mushrooms, we do need a few days notice.  They seem to be quite content growing under the moist but airy hemlock trees.
5086Shiitake

For July and August we are open Thursday through Monday from 7:30am to 3:00 pm (and until 5 on Fridays).  Come and enjoy the fun part.

October 26, 2013 Hoosick Falls High School Fall Festival

Some of our field flowers

Field flowers drying


Join us at Hoosick Falls High School this Saturday from 9am – 3pm for the annual Fall Festival. 

Fall Festival has fun activities and games for kids including an old-fashioned cake walk, the popular Animaland, Haunted Hall, many vendors selling their wares including crafts and homemade products, and fabulous door prizes and raffle items. 

Hay Berry Farm will feature our dried flowers, dried flower arrangements, wool products from our sheep, farmer-made baskets and more. 

Hope to see you there.

Holiday Wreath

Holiday Wreath

Lavender, sage, rosemary, and … more lavender

LavenderPixabay

Lavender and more lavender

It has taken a lot of time, but I’m pleased to say today we’ve found some excellent sources for herbs that have the qualities we want for You-Snip customers.   Many of the larger growers concentrate on producing plants that are strictly visually exciting.  Some lavenders, for example, are incredibly beautiful in the garden and as a hedge.

But we seek varieties that are also excellent for cooking and baking, that smell wonderfully fragrant and that dry well for use in crafts such as wreathes and sachets.  We expect to transplant our first eight varieties of lavender this spring in the You-Snip part of the field.

We also found several different sage varieties that will also be versatile for cooking, their unusual fragrance as well as great for crafts.  Rosemary, one of my favorite herbs in the kitchen, will also be part of the You-Snip field.  I’ve recently made a deliciously fragrant hair treatment using both rosemary from my garden and rosemary essential oil.

So much fun!