Moon, on the top tier, is Katrina's mother and both had two kids this spring. We live above the goats.
This blog is going to report on the cycles of the season and the activities at Ten Barn Farm, as well as lessons learned from the fields, the many farm animals, and living surrounded by 230 years of farmers’ handiwork. We will tell you what’s in season and what events are on the calendar as well as occasionally trying to channel the wisdom of the many generations who have worked this land before us.
When I look at the massive hand-hewn beams that were hoisted to build the biggest of the ten barns in the early part of the 19th century, it is inspiring to think of that family’s ambition building a barn that tall without the benefit of anything but horse and farmer-power. What were they thinking? In another barn they dug a well first, lined it with field stone and then built a barn on top of it for the draft horses. With the hay and the water both inside the barn, the care and feeding of the animals in winter became much easier for our predecessors. They had plans and dreams and so do we.
We bought this place in 2011 and have spent the last decade both farming the land and restoring the ten barns, turning some into multi-use spaces that we hope will make Ten Barn Farm a focal point for fresh food, lively conversation and the arts. The new Kitchen at Ten Barn Farm (inside that big old barn mentioned above) will allow us to create products from the beautiful produce coming out of the fields as well as hosting farm-to-table dinners, themed weekends, and it will be a cafe for breakfast and lunch several times a week. With the goat cheese, the chickens’ eggs, and the bakery, we hope there will be things happening year-round.
Rainbow over the chicken barn.
This blog will focus primarily on the present and what is happening on the farm, but we will also explore the past of this historic place and reflect on our responsibility to those who will follow. We certainly stand on the shoulders of the family who hoisted those huge beams to the heavens fastening them into place without any hardware. And with the increasing challenges of a changing climate balanced against a deepening understanding of sustainable farming practices, what we owe future generations who will be working this land one day is always in the back of our minds.
We will post once a week during the growing season and hope you will both enjoy what the land and the animals teach us, and be inspired to come to our events.
News: The Kitchen at Ten Barn Farm has been the film set for a twelve episode series, Cooking With Friends, put on by the Camphill Hudson Players and airing on cable stations around the country. Here is a link to the first six episodes. The official opening of our beautiful, new commercial kitchen (two years in the making) will be Saturday, September 11th when we put on our first farm-to-table dinner since 2019. This will be a French-themed evening—French food, wine and live music. To learn more and/or sign-up click here.
Until next week,
Roby Harrington
Mid 19th century smokehouse sits next to the three-seater outhouse. (We do now have indoor plumbing.)