Summer Lovin’

My dear farmily folks,

Welcome back to another curated note from your friends, Dan & Kimmy at Triple Green Jade Farm, the farm that was brought back to life with good bread.

The farm, that way back in 2016, first took their goods to the Westport Winter Farmers Market at the Heritage House.

Now, here’s a little known fact: it was based on that initial positive feedback from some of you in Westport which gave us the spark to say to ourselves, “ya know, this thing might actually work!”

And the momentum to build began…

First came the wood-fired oven. Then came a stone-mill and lots of local wheat was sourced. Soon after came the hens & eggs, and then the cows, which I did milk, but only for a few seasons because it’s tough to keep a bull and even tougher to do A.I. (no, not that one, Artificial Insemination)

Later on came some pigs and “il pastore” (the shepherd) got his sheep. And somewhere in those later stages came a pasta extruder to keep making good use of that local wheat from area farms.

The grape vines came as you know in late May and today the last of the trellis posts were placed. Once the vines are tall enough, wires will be sent along the posts to train the vines to run along and the trellis then shoulders the weight of the fruit as the vines produce it.

Thank you for indulging me in this little jaunt down memory lane. Thinking back a bit on what has transpired on this journey helps me to appreciate it even more and I love that we get to share all of this with you.

On the subject of appreciation, I wanted to tell you that while last summer was super hot and humid, for some reason this year’s heat, I’m finding much more tolerable.

Despite several 100 degree afternoons spent next to a hot oven in the Breadery, the sunny days have been gorgeous and I find that I am once again lovin’ summer like that little kid eager to break free from school for a few months.

Maybe the self-care mantras are starting to kick in or maybe we’re spending a little more time outside enjoying the blue bird skies with our morning coffee? Who knows.

Either way we hope that you are able to do some or more of the same!

Celebrating 20 years for the Wild Center

and the stroll down memory lane continues…

We were still living in Columbia County at the time, but as seasonal ADK vacationers, we were early donors and truly excited for this thing called “The Wild Center.”

As fate would have it, we were able to make it to their opening day back in 2006. Government officials were there giving speeches. Hillary Clinton called the animals of the Adirondacks “critters” and Martin Sexton played, whom we love.

We got to plant trees, add baby fish to the pond and it was a remarkable pleasure to be a part of what Betsy Lowe and all these folks envisioned and accomplished in Tupper Lake.

As it turns out the Wild Center remembered us and invited us to attend their 20th Anniversary Celebration.

It was again a beautiful day filled with that same spirit that we’ve come to love about this place called the Adirondacks. People coming together to build a better community that protects, educates and nurtures all the “critters,” plants, lakes, mountains, and humans in this place surrounded by a Blue Line.

And Martin Sexton returned to play to cap off the festivities.

Little known fact: Martin, or Marty, as he told me to call him, got married on Chapel Island and had his reception at the Wawbeek on Upper Saranac Lake. Remember the Wawbeek? We used to love going there!

Not only has the Wild Center become a world-class natural history museum that continues to provide deep and meaningful experiences, it has always been closely aligned with local food. It had a weekly farmers market there in the early days and has also hosted since 2018 numerous Food Justice Summits, bringing civic leaders, educators and farmers together to create strategies for local food resiliency.

And of course, having lived in Norway we know a little something about trolls. We’re excited for Trolls: Save the Humans and we’re saving that experience for the Fall.

The Wild Center is truly an amazing asset especially as it is so close to home.

Plus we know that so many of you have played active roles in the Wild Center’s leadership, development and programs, like the Youth Climate Summits for example.

So it’s a “big-happy-small-world” kind of family we got going on here and it just feels good to be a part of it.