away in poughkeepsie

it got to be too much for hhh to commute back and forth to work (it's about 85 miles each way), so we decided to get a place on campus. we now have a cozy little one-bedroom where we can all stay. willa is super happy about that, since her love of vassar grass knows no bounds. this love is communicated through howling and incessant barking anytime we are within poughkeepsie city limits ("why can't we be outside ALL THE TIME?" she wants to know), which has probably (definitely) made us the bane of our neighbor's existence. 

a view towards the back of the room. the sofa came from our home office and faces a really lovely but non-working fireplace.

we moved up a few weeks ago, and the place is coming together. i'm of the belief that one should unpack ASAP, i.e., on the day you move. (boxes are the worst.)  we were able to bring a lot of the furniture from carroll street, and got a couple things from a friend's moving sale. that plus a trip to the poughkeepsie target (leaps beyond than the one at atlantic terminal...it's like they aren't even the same store) has us pretty much set up. the only thing left to do is to hang the photos! 

i am incredibly excited about this conran console, which came from a clearance sale at jcpenny's. 

i was actually going for a minimalist look, but have had to resign myself to being just an aspiring minimalist (as long as i live with hhh anyway. he loves his clutter.).

a little black pig, some books, a projector (aka tv!), a philodendron. 

this is phil the philodendron. we got him at the greenhouse at adam's fairacre farms.

these cast iron windows are beautiful but don't really keep out the bugs. it's still a lovely view of trees and the lake.

art, which has yet to go up. and the fireplace! grafitti by jon naar, "despair" by yuji yamada.

willa is sulking because i am taking photos of the apartment instead of romping through the great outdoors with her.

that's it for now. i'll be back eventually with the bedroom and kitchen. xoxo

rooftop farming in long island city

last weekend, i finally visited brooklyn grange, a farm that sits atop a sprawling office building in long island city, queens. it's actually not too far from where i used to live in astoria! too bad i didn't know about it then...volunteer farming would have been a good way to spend weekends. 

there's something really incredible about all that produce growing in an industrial landscape. they have tomatoes (dozens of varieties!), eggplants, peppers, okra (which have lovely yellow blooms, did you know?), and big ol' sunflowers at the end of every bed. 

they keep chickens in this coop, as well as a bee apiary down at the edge of roof. i also learned that it's nyc honey week soon! looks like there are some fun events, including a honey-themed dinner at the giant 50-ft long picnic table at the grange.  

there are open visiting and volunteer hours every saturday from 11am to 4pm, and you can buy their vegetables and honey. we were big fans of the ground cherries, which are related to tomatoes. totally delicious. 

and there was this little guy, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his visit. 

brooklyn grange now has a location at the brooklyn navy yard. there's a pretty cool video of that space by christopher st. john. you can check it out below.

A 7-month time lapse documenting the first full growing season at the Brooklyn Grange's farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. At 65,000 square feet, it's the largest rooftop farm in the world. For more info, check out www.brooklyngrangefarm.com Shot and edited by Christopher St. John A big thanks to Ratatat for the music! Song: Montanita - https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/classics/id354003618

back to brooklyn...

i'll get to sleep in my own bed tonight. (not to diss our exceedingly comfortable poughkeepsie futon.)  can't wait!

summertime in the hudson valley

this summer has been full of trips to the hudson valley for me. after a year in china, it's hard to believe that i'm back in new york for good, so i haven't had the urge to stray too far. plus now that we're going to be in poughkeepsie part of the week, it's basically my new (second) neighborhood. it's been great exploring more of new york state. 

as a last hurrah before the semester starts, hhh and i rented a place in copake with some friends. the town is teeny tiny - the town center consists of a diner and the front porch market. there's not much else! but it's equidistant between hudson and great barrington, ma, so there's plenty to do. the copake hillsdale farmers market is nearby for some great local produce, flowers, eggs, and meats. the house was this incredibly picturesque and very rustic lodge (too rustic! i killed about 15 spiders while we were there). 

i lounged by the pool, read books, watched numerous episodes of a really bad (but very engrossing) canadian sci-fi show, took long walks with willa, and ate really good home-cooked meals by my friend sarah, aka our resident chef. (she even made hand-cut pasta!) 

the more ambitious among us played tennis and biked on the harlem rail trail, but i was happy to just squeeze in a leisurely stroll up to bash bish falls. (well, we did have to walk all the way to massachusetts.) on the way there, we walked past the historic site of copake iron works, which is housed in this adorable white cabin. 

there were a lot of people at the falls, but it was still pretty glorious. nature! 

we made it to great barrington mid-week, and had some reeallly delicious breakfast sandwiches at rubi's as well as a cinnamon donut muffin and some coffee cake. rubi's is actually right behind rubiners, a cheese place with a nice selection of cheeses from all over.

i'm looking forward to spending more time out of the city. but i'm going on four days now here in the poughkeepsie apartment, and find myself missing nyc. good thing i'm going home tomorrow! 

sprout creek farm

last week, we moved some furniture up to the campus apartment. on the way out of town, we stopped at sprout creek farm. apparently, hhh drives past it all the time and has seen its cheeses in brooklyn markets, but we've never actually visited. 

there is a main complex that houses the market as well as a cow barn, it seems, and a couple other barns. 

sprout creek farm is a working farm and educational center. prior to this, the only farm i'd visited in the hudson valley was stone barns, which is probably way too fancy an establishment to call a farm anyhow. also, i think it's in westchester county, which maybe isn't technically in the hudson valley? anyway. on our visit, there was a group of campers looking like they were learning useful lessons about the earth. there were also other people on tractors, tending to cows, doing generally farmer-eque things. 

i just noticed that those benches are made out of pallets. 

apparently you can stay at a cottage they have on the grounds! they will pair it with meals as well, and if you have kids they can go to camp. i was trying to figure out if they have adult farm classes, but it didn't look like it. (too bad. learning to farm sounds like an excellent way to procrastinate on my dissertation.) 

the porch in front of the market, where i waited with willa while hhh bought some cheese.

the craft barn and a silo.

these goats were awesome! they just kept staring at us as we approached. it sort of looked like they were about to put on some kind of performance. or maybe they expected us to? 

it was a nice little detour on the way back to brooklyn. you should stop by if you have a chance!