La Basse Cour

We have been getting inquiries about when we plan to re-open our bed and breakfast, host farm tours and hold events in our carriage house. We're thinking a lot about that question since we also look forward to seeing our guests and visitors again one day soon. Our top, over-riding concern is your safety and ours. Scientists continue to learn more each day about Covid-19, so it's not as if we have all the facts in yet. Our bed and breakfast is in our home, so social distancin...g is not possible. This suggests that we and all our guests need to be vaccinated, and that we need to be able to assure each other that this is in fact true. This includes children, as we know children can be asymptomatic carriers and are more susceptible to the new variants that are emerging. Trials of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in children in some age groups are underway and this article suggests that the vaccines are safe and effective. This is good news overall, and it is helpful to us as we continue to think about the question of re-opening. We'll be updating our New York Covid 19 Reopening Plan to address bed and breakfast guests, farm tours, and events once we have more clarity. We will post it on our website and pin it at the top of our FB page. Until then, you are welcome to stop by our farm for fresh organic eggs from our lovely pastured hens. The eggs are in the milk house, come down the driveway nearest our farm house. It is self-serve so you needn't come in contact with anyone else. A big squirt bottle of hand sanitizer is on the table next to the fridge for your use. Thanks for keeping us in your hearts and minds, and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

How wonderful to remember what has almost been forgotten. Nature's persistence in the face of our attempts at re-making the world to suit us nudges us toward appreciating all the good she has to offer - if we only listen.

A wonderful place!

I this! We're striving to be 'insect farmers' too! Pollinators rule!

How about it New York? We are leaders in many things, let's be among the leaders in this. It signals a shift in conservation thinking toward ecological restoration and biodiversity, so crucial in this time of climate disruption. Governor Andrew Cuomo, will you make this a priority in your administration this year? Thank you.

A photograph of our farm around the time it was built, in 1847. Many thanks to Ruth Dibble for sharing this with me!

The 607 CSA weekly a` la carte local delivery and pick up is up and running! Our eggs are in there!

Arbor Day is this Friday! To celebrate trees and all the ways they benefit our world, we’ve got a tree-rific () lineup of virtual events for you this week. ...Tonight (4/27) at 7 pm Join us on Webex for a live question/answer session with certified arborists. Register at https://on.ny.gov/2uNw5op. Wednesday (4/28) at 11:30 am Tune in to the Village of Liverpool’s Facebook page for a community tree planting celebration with DEC and Cornell Cooperative Extension on Facebook Live (Hint: Join the event to get a reminder- https://on.ny.gov/32RyM5B) Friday (4/29) at 10 am Meet us here for a Facebook LIVE with DEC Forester Dan Gaidasz and a Capital Region homeowner, where they’ll discuss how to pick the right tree for the right planting location. #ArborDay2021 See more

Order on-line by Thursday at noon for pick up or delivery on Tuesday. Your choice from a fantastic selection of products from local farms, order occasionally or every week, it's up to you! The 607 CSA www.the607csa.com PS. Our are in there too!

Imagine waking up to the smell of pancakes and syrup wafting from the kitchen. That’s how bears feel when they come out of their winter dens and catch a whiff o...f bird seed, pet food, garbage, or your camp meal on the wind. You can’t blame them for taking advantage of an easy meal, but these food sources can also harm them. Bears that are rewarded with food from human sources can begin relying on it for survival, get sick from eating something less-than-gourmet, and become more assertive or even aggressive toward humans over time. The best way to help a bear is to Leave No Trace of the buffet. At home, take down bird feeders, store garbage inside secure buildings, and feed pets indoors. When camping, store food properly in bear-resistant storage and keep your cooking, sleeping, and eating areas all about 100 yards away from each other to minimize smells at tent and lean-to sites. By encouraging bears to find food naturally, you protect people, property, and the bears themselves. #LeaveNoTraceTuesday Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics

If you build landscapes without these powerhouse native plants that support caterpillars, the food web is doomed. Quote from Dr. Doug Tallamy Add in a... lot flowering natives along with these woody plants on your property and you've planted a great habitat! LINK TO ARTICLE: https://www.udel.edu//doug-tallamy-native-plants-food-web/ #powerhousenativeplants See more

This sweet video has opened my eyes to our pigeons. Someone 'dropped off' a bunch of pigeons here that they did not want anymore , they did not ask us, the pigeons were just here one day. Needless to say they made themselves at home with lots of places to roost and find shelter and eat here on the farm. Pigeons can be very messy, so we needed to cover the hay in our mow and patch our woodshed to keep them out of that building. Mostly we just tolerated them. I'd like to bui...ld a dove cote for them in a re-purposed chicken house, hoping if they had a place of their own they would move out of our barn. As I have lived with them here, observed them, I have come to see how beautiful they are. I recently read that they eat lots and lots of flies, which is a good thing for a farm, that the Amish would seek out wild pigeons to keep in their barns for that very purpose. So here I am, enjoying this sweet video, appreciating our pigeons a bit more.

The 607 CSA spring season for weekly local pick up and delivery is open! Our farm fresh organic brown eggs from our pastured hens are one of the many local food items available!

Please take a few moments to read Marguerite's post about ramps - their health benefits and how to responsibly harvest. As in all things, moderation. Balance and harmony.

You might wonder why, as a farmer who raises sheep and goats for fiber and chickens for eggs, I would be so supportive of protecting coyotes. It's because I understand their important to the health of our overall ecosystem, an ecosystem we strive each day to be more a part of. It is not difficult for us to co-exist with coyotes, a few common sense practices put in place years ago did the trick. We hear their songs often and are happy knowing that we are playing our part in the harmony of nature.

We beavers! They are known as a 'keystone' species because their presence provides some stability to wetlands allowing for more biodiversity and therefore a healthier ecosystem. Happy International Beaver Day!

I have recently completed the coursework for the Master Gardener program through the Cornell Cooperative Extensions of Herkimer, Otsego, Schoharie and Delaware counties. Thank you Carla and everyone involved in developing and delivering this program. I am now an apprentice. While the training is broad and our volunteer hours can run the gamut from answering gardening questions to making displays and presentations to working with community gardens, we are encouraged to develop... an area of interest upon which to focus that will serve the community. I have decided to work with native plants at the intersection of food, fiber, soil and ecosystem health, and human health. Big topic, I know. Important for biodiversity and for climate change. It fits well with what we have been doing on our farm, finding ways to live more in balance with nature. We have many resources to offer here, including our pastures and farm garden that can be brought in as living laboratories as well as our carriage house for workshops and presentations. Not to mention Larry is a soil scientist and an agronomist . To get myself started, I am inventorying the native plants in our pastures, our wetland, and our woodland. This is helping me get a better understanding of the grazing potential for our fiber animals in terms of their total nutrition and what they return to the soil. It also helps me better understand the support that native plants provide to native bees, butterflies, birds, and beneficial insects in this rather small farm-ecosystem we call La Basse Cour. As I wrap my mind around this initiative, I hope to host field days on our farm for those who are interested in learning as well. It will surely be an ongoing work in progress, and most definitely a labor of love. Stay tuned!

Winter snow in the evening is so magical!

We'll be watching the data, such as vaccination rate and positivity rate, to determine when, what and how we will re-open for guests and events. It's not looking too good right now. I'd like to see this data by country also. A hot spot anywhere can soon become hot everywhere when people are the vectors.

Bonnie loves the snow...Buddy isn't quite sure!

Our house twinkled like the stars in last evening's snow.

After deep reflection, we have decided to cancel all 2020 gatherings at La Basse Cour, including events, workshops, farm tours and bed&breakfast stays. We are sad for the plans not coming to fruition as we had intended, but believe that our best response to these uncertain pandemic times is to observe a "Quiet Year" at the farm. We will be none the less busy, working toward our food and fiber production goals while tending the land and animals entrusted to our care. Our egg...s will be for sale as always in our milk house, and our vegetables in season on our farm stand. Please practice social distancing and wear your mask if you come to the farm. You can see what we're up to by following us on Facebook, subscribing to our newsletter, and reading our blog posts. You are all in our thoughts daily and we look forward to sharing many joyful events at La Basse Cour, at Kortright Handworks @ La Basse Cour, and in The Carriage House @ La Basse Cour.

Organic feed. Compassionate care. Delicious flavor. Stop in our milk house for a dozen or two and taste for yourself. Self-serve, or beep and I'll bring them to your car. I'll be wearing my 'winter birds' mask yet you will see my smile in my eyes

I so love baby chicks! Planning ahead for next season, these little ones will be laying delicious brown eggs in late spring. They are enjoying organic chick starter from Cold Springs Farm Organics in Sharon Springs. I am amazed at the improvement in the health of our chickens and the quality and taste of our eggs since we switched to this organic feed. Our hens have such luxurious feathers and shorter molts; they are more content and much less flighty and are actually producing longer. Our eggs have firmer shells so much less breakage and loss, and the flavor is sublime. It is true: quality in means quality out, not just in our eggs but even more importantly in the well being of our hens.

Our beautiful hens are loving this weather and are laying like crazy! Stop by for a dozen of our delicious farm fresh organic brown eggs. No-contact self-service in our milk house. Stay safe and healthy.

Happy New Year!

Peace, love and joy to all.

...Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting over and over announcing your place in the family of things.