Lambs & Greenhorns

This weekend, the day and night paced an even twelve hours each, and I drove upstate with four friends to celebrate the equinox in Kinderhook, New York.  The event was dinner with the Greenhorns; the setting was Kinderhook Farm.

Kinderhook Farms supplies several NYC area eateries with meat; among them, Marlow and Sons (to whom I sell tomatoes and greens).  I'm no carnivore, but am always interested to see the animals I so often see listed on menus in the city.  With little prodding, Lee happily drove us out to visit his cattle on the archipelago'd acres of his shared land.  With well-deserved pride, too--they were hearty, huge, healthy and pastured on beautiful land.

Lee mixes the grasses he grows, both for the animals' better diets and the diversity of the ecosystem he farms.  The cows are pastured on large fields with wooded borders, so that the animals have a windbreak to stand in during the winter months. As we rolled up and down in his huge truck, the cattle responded ("They think we have food," Lee admited), and, a wonderful motion in an animal so big, broke into a leaping run not unlike a skip.  It made me think of the pigs I'd seen at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture earlier this month--and how, when animals are healthy, they do skip around quite a bit.

The next stop of the day was McEnroe Farm near Millerton, New York.  There I went for a morning run up to the composting facility.  Erich later graciously showed us around, introducing us to his new animals, as well.  Like Lee, Erich has an enormous pride in his work, land and farm.

Spring is a magical time to be outside in its own right (the tease of buds and blossoms everywhere you look)--when you add animals, the ante is upped to an almost unbearable level of promise and beauty.  Not to hyperbolize, but life is just so, well, alive! and amazing! at this time of year in New York.  After visiting Kinderhook, we meandered over towards Old Chatham Sheepherding Company.  There, baby lambs were in abundance.  A pair of donkeys stood guard over the older sheep.  Apparently they make good companions, protecting the sheep from coyotes, and provide a good fellow because they eat the same food (as opposed to a carnivorous guard dog).