It has been a long time since the last farm report.
In 2008, Evan and Marilyn stayed very busy with their jobs, the Isle of Dog distributorship,
the house in Kingston, the dogs, the bird, the farm and a trip to England.
This December Evan stepped down as President and board member of the Trolley Museum so his schedule has more flexibility.
Evan remains as webmaster for TMNY.org as well as doing other odds and ends at the museum.
Corey, a partner in the Isle of Dog venture, now lives at the farm. With Corey there Marilyn and Evan have fewer worries about the place. The neighbors and others in the area now see a car going in and out of the driveway. The lights in the guest house are seen from the road with regularity but not a set schedule so people know someone is there.
As posted before there now is municipal water at the farm. That's a story in itself, but that story will wait for another day. It seems a bit strange to city people but the farm has 4 hydrants! Even the barn has a hydrant less than 100 feet away.
The municipal water, though heavy in mineral content, is welcome for its reliability in all seasons. Before when the farm drew water from shallow wells, it was prone to freezing in the winter and drying out in the summer.
This was the first year in many years the garden grew something other than weeds.
Last fall Marilyn decided to see if she could save the blueberry bushes Dale (Evan's Father) planted in the 1960's. In 1999, Marilyn noticed the bushes produced a very good crop of small but tasty blueberries. She wanted to see if the bushes were worth saving. Being from Oklahoma and Texas blueberries fresh off the bush is not an every day experience. Evan took her enthusiasm, multiplied it by his own and with the help of Evan's office mate at IBM, Matias, there was a garden.
The garden grew two kinds of squash, two kinds of tomatoes, corn, curly leaf parsley, scallions, pumpkins (not included in the squash count), beans and peas, as well as the aforementioned blueberries. To top off the garden, Evan planted the left over dahlia tubers to fill up the tilled space.
Evan and Marilyn had no idea how much the garden would produce after its long rest and even longer time with any attention at all. It surprised all involved with the quantities. There were plenty of fresh vegetables, enough for us, Matias, Corey as well as Marilyn's vet in Albany.
Over the years, more than half of the original blueberry patch died out, probably from the dense shade from the cedar trees directly to the east of the garden on the fence line. Along with working the old garden, Evan cleared out the cedar, other trees and brush around it. This is the first time Evan can remember a person can walk from the barn to the garden without going by the house.
The small field around the garden is now on the garden tractor mowing schedule along with the Swallow Field, Split Rail Field and the front yard. People who have not seen the farm since Marilyn got the garden tractor will not believe the difference. The fields now look well manicured, almost golf course like.
Marilyn & Evan work on other fields as well as those mentioned above. The hope is to use part of the farm for dog activities, lure coursing and field trial work for hunting dogs. Requirements for Lure coursing is a 10+ acre relatively clear open field. Field "B", as Evan calls it, meets that description. Field B is one of the flattest fields on the farm. And for those who know the farm, that is not saying much.
Field trial work requires brush hogging twice a year. Evan really likes that schedule.
The major equipment purchase for the farm this year was a PTO driven finish mower. Marilyn & Evan use the finish mower on 3 fields on the south side of Darrow Rd and on three major fields on the north side. Finally, in the war of the weeds, buckthorn, floribunda roses, honeysuckle and poison ivy, the humans finally gained ground! Funny how using the southern method of weed control works even in upstate New York. For those who have never heard Neil Sperry's radio garden shows in Dallas, he says to control weeds by mowing, mowing, mowing, the closer to the ground the better. That method works on the farm as well. No chemicals used at all, just the mowers.
At one point during the summer Marilyn was on the MF tractor, Evan on the IH both mowing opposite ends of field B. Yes, there was a tractor race. First Evan would swoop by on the IH pulling the brush hog, then Marilyn would come past pulling the new finish mower. The result of the tractor war was 10 mowed acres with all laughing.
Evan continues to empty the farm house. The house is full of mold, mildew and dust, we can only work in the house for short periods of time. The plan is to salvage what we can including the upstairs doors, hardware and those nice wide floor planks. Once empty and salvaged, the house will be demolished.
Finally, the picture at the top of this page is old, taken while Marge and Dale were still alive. Use the picture as a reference point and to define the fields mentioned above. That is what the farm looked like when Marilyn and Evan inherited the farm. If you are curious, google earth has a more recent picture of the farm. Type in the farm street address and look around. The google picture is at least 4 years old and does not show all the work but it does show some of the improvements.
This brings you up to date on the farm status. Evan and Marilyn hope to update you more often during 2009 but we will have to see if that actually happens.