Endless Knots

Bradley Farm, Irene, and the best meal I've ever had...

 
© Etienne Frossard - David Bouley speaking after the meal (read on)

This is one of those posts that I've been meaning to write for nearly two weeks but life trumped every attempt and now I'm in the position of having heard that the hurricane has caused flooding and...

What am I talking about?

Earlier this summer, Farmer Extraordinaire Ray Bradley of Bradley Farm in New Paltz, NY, started hosting Farm-to-Table dinners in his barn. My daughter and son-in-law went to the first, raved about it, and invited me along to the third, which took place on August 21.

Ray sells his wares at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market in Brooklyn, which I've blogged about many times. It is indeed a grand farmers market and the Bradley Farm stand is a de rigeur stop for us...which is how my family knew about these extraordinary dinners.

The August 21 meal was one apart - incredibly, David Bouley, chef of great renown (viz. Bouley, brushstroke, Bouley Test Kitchen, etc), who's known Ray  since they were 14 and growing up together near Storrs, CT, collaborated on this event. David was the chef, Ray was in the kitchen, Iris Kimberg was the producer...along with a very large staff, including many volunteers, and the result was pure wonder. When I properly blog this event, the post will be called "Carrot dust and heaven in a barn."

But alas, I've learned just a few hours ago via Etienne Frossard, who took the pictures on the Bradley Farm site, and who has sent me a bunch to share here, including the one at the top of this post, that Bradley Farm was flooded by Hurricane Irene and that Ray finally was able to reach his precious land - by canoe.

We wonder who really gets touched by this wild weather. A number of people I know have lost power; a friend couldn't drive from Vermont to Boston today due to roads being washed out. And now we know that there's so much water at Bradley Farm that Ray is moving around in a canoe.

I'll still do the post about the best meal I've ever had but tonight there is only this report and the hope that the animals are OK and that the harvest is not lost. Thinking of you, Ray and Iris.

Walk your dog even if you don't have one

The old adage* is true, according to researchers from Michigan State University.

Thanks to Tara Parker-Pope's post in today's NY Times, "Forget the Treadmill. Get a Dog:"

[A]mong dog owners who took their pets for regular walks, 60 percent met federal criteria for regular moderate or vigorous exercise. Nearly half of dog walkers exercised an average of 30 minutes a day at least five days a week. By comparison, only about a third of those without dogs got that much regular exercise.

The researchers tracked the exercise habits of 5,900 people in Michigan, including 2,170 who owned dogs. They found that about two-thirds of dog owners took their pets for regular walks, defined as lasting at least 10 minutes.

And it turns out, if you walk your dog, you're likely to be otherwise physically active in sports and gardening.

On average, [dog walkers] exercised about 30 minutes a week more than people who didn’t have dogs.

*Cursory search suggests that Dr. William Osler, one of founders of Johns Hopkins, was first to say this.

 

 

The bzzzzness of collaboration

It had to happen. "Interspecies Collaboration:"

Three young London based designers are “collaborating” with honey bees to create an Edwardian-inspired baby crib from cast metal and honeycomb. Their inaugural project is called “Built by” and will symbolize the hope of a future pairing between humankind and our environment.

 

Olivia's Magic Garden

Swan song at Purgatory Cove

Maybe everyone is as smitten with where they live as I am...and as surprised as I at the nearby places they've never been.

Case in point yesterday when we altered our walking routine, which often leads to a trek to the woody-leafy conservation areas west of Boston (Concord, Lincoln, Weston, Wayland and the like) and simply went to "The Cove," another of Newton's many delights in the village of Auburndale, just a long walk from our house.

I've been to the Cove many times but my trusty trail guide always can be counted on to have discovered a path I've never seen. Thus, our approach through nearby Waltham past Purgatory Cove. Who knew? Not me. An isolated baylette along the Charles where we spotted a family of swans.

I thought we'd only be able to see them from a distance but, as we sat in silence on the bank, a chipmunk running back and forth in front of us, they came closer.

 

And closer

 

Still closer until their reflections were as clear as their silhouettes

And then the mother decided to show us her stuff ...and float away

Five points and a birthday for Taste

These things don't really belong together but alas the joy of blogging.

Although we live mere moments from Boston (eight miles by the odometer), we're also blessed with many woods nearby--Hamlin in Wayland, Paine in Weston, Lincoln Conservation Land near the DeCordova Museum, Elm Bank Reservation in South Natick, and, of course, Cold Spring Park right here in Newton, just to name a few whose paths we tred on a regular basis.

Should you ever come across something like this in any of those woods, know that someone near and dear to me, one celebrating a birthday today, marks the woods in which he runs when many paths converge. On Sunday, we found that this one for five paths had survived yet another winter at Paine.

Belle, at 14, still can make the trek, with a bit of huffing and puffing, so here she is too, surveying the snow, even as we were just in our shirtsleeves.

And now on to Taste, which celebrated its first birthday this past week. Packed, as you can see, when we were there on Saturday, no less because there was a trio playing - percussion, voice, and keyboard. Very nice - and the cappuccino was great too. Congrats to Taste!

Foto of phox

Remember the fox?

And that I reported seeing it a second time a couple of weeks ago?

I'd be hard pressed to prove it with this photo but I was just sitting here, watching the snow, and reading a nice email that had just come in to a friend, when suddenly I screamed at him, "There's the fox! I gotta go!" And this is what I ended up with. See him/her? (The phox, not the phriend):

Ducks (or loon?) in a row

Anyone know whether they are in fact loon?

UPDATED: Neither. Mergansers.

A university of fish

From a distance, it looked like a stingray but in Lake Winnipesaukee? On closer inspection, hundreds and hundreds of newborn fish swirling in the water just a few feet off shore. After a few minutes, a group hived off in one direction, another in a different direction until there were three or four pods swimming apart. After a few moments, the mother appeared and shepherded first this group, then that back together, until only one errant swarm had not joined the others. The two young men in the bottom photo then patiently and gently shooed them back to the larger group - and they all swam away. Have never seen anything like it. Thanks to my hubby for first observing then watching all this transpire over half an hour or so...before taking off on his sailboard.

 

A bear but not on the island

Bear in Alaska - Steve Teicher photo