Open for the Season!

My very creative friend, Abby, wrote this jingle we used in our recent radio ad to describe what awaits you at Hickory Dell Farm this season. It is to be sung to the tune from "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.





Tea pots, gourmet teas, and decorative dishes,


Giftware that speaks of your love and best wishes,

Bright colored posters your teens will love so,

Just some of our finds from the New York Gift Show.

Local cheeses, fudge, candy, and handmade gift baskets,

Charms and bright earrings, and pewter cuff bracelets,

Puzzles, plush animals, kids games and toys,

For birthdays and mitzvahs for good girls and boys.



French soaps and candles in every fragrance,

Our hardy perennials need almost no maintenance,
Baskets of flowers for your Mother in May,

Wind chimes or a gift card to brighten her day.

When spring snows fly,

Your tax bill's high,

Winter's left you blue,

At Hickory Dell Farm off of Route 66,

Happy llamas awaiting you!

Click on this link to see photos of the gift shop.

http://www.photoworks.com/albums/pictures.jsp;jsessionid=5C89D000D40CDBD8BC665A98083BC53F?id=56543697&cb=PW&toh=&svr=pw-web10

Mint

Yesterday I noticed that the huge pot of mint I grew last year (and harvested at the end of the season) was again filling out nicely in the greenhouse. This got me excited about the idea of enjoying Mojitos again. Yes, summer is right around the corner! My friend, Michele, makes the best Mojitos, but then, come to think of it, so does Allie. In any case, I love the traditional recipe that I found on Taste of Cuba htthttp://www.tasteofcuba.com/mojito.htmlp://. To make a Mojito, all you need is mint, rum, a bit of sugar, lime juice and club soda. Mash the mint with the lime juice and sugar in the bottom of the glass. Add ice, then rum. Finish with the club soda. Enjoy!
Another cool and cooling thing to do with mint is to make infused water. Use about 2 cups of mint to a gallon of water. Refrigerate for at least a day and up to a week. Strain and pour over ice. You can also use this water to make couscous or rice dishes. Very delicious!!!

Spring has Sprung

Spring, 2009. Day One. Friday was the first day of spring, but we started our spring cleaning and greenhouse growing weeks ago. John placed an ad on Craigslist for a plant nurturer and has been dealing with the deluge of applicants for the part-time, minimum wage job. The job does come with some perks, though, like getting to spend the day in the greenhouse with wonderful, fragrant, growing things. We found someone who seems to be a perfect fit and she will be starting on Wednesday. I made a video of everything in the greenhouse on Friday. I am not a cinematographer but the Flip Video that Selene gave me for Christmas is a lot of fun and so easy to use. The video came out pretty well, but I have been struggling for the last few days to upload it, without success. I am guessing it may be too big. So, instead, I am inserting a link to the Proven Winners web site, where you can see photos of many of the plants we are growing, sign up for the 'winner's circle' and get a free idea book. If I ever discover how to post the video, I will.

Here's the link:

http://www.provenwinners.com/winnerscircle/ce_winnerscircle.cfm?winnerscircle

Time to Start Seeds!

I just read a great article about this for the home gardener, and am adding the link here, so you can read it as well.



http://www.garden.org/regional/report/arch/inmygarden/3049



John has completed over 100 basket combinations this week, potted 350 geranium cuttings, started a variety of early, slow growing seeds, and transplanted hundreds of Proven Winners. His hip is holding out, though his knees are giving him some trouble. The greenhouse already smells green again. So yummy on a cold day in February. Unfortunately, I am mainly still stuck in the house on the computer and trying to get my office cleaned out so that I can have some serenity in my work space. I can't believe the amount of crap (and some precious momentos) I am able to accumulate in a year! I have been steeling myself to get rid of stuff that I don't NEED and/or no longer really care about. I have been delivering piles to Goodwill and Salvation Army on a weekly basis and have another batch of stuff to go tomorrow. John is a believer in never getting rid of anything - an old farmer habit that he shares with his dad (although I have to say that "Grampy" got rid of a dumptruck load of stuff after his wife, Eva, died).

We are excited about the variety of plants we will be offering folks in the spring, and plan to open our business on April 1st. Keep an eye out for more info on April Fool's Specials in our gift shop.

I'm Back!

I can't believe it has been 4 months since my last entry, on October 12. Where did the time go?????

We sold almost all of our pumpkins but could feel the effects of the softening of the ecomony in that people did not buy as many pumpkins, skipped some of the other decorative items like hay, corn stalks and Indian corn, and ignored the scary decorative items for the most part. 2008 was not a year that people reveled in gore and we noticed very few front yards filled with gravestones, ghosts and headless ghouls. We did sell some huge, $100 creatures for $25 - $40 to regular customers with tweenage kids still in to Halloween magic.

In early November we closed the store for a few days and John and I drove to Myrtle Beach where we enjoyed an incredible week on the beach (and on the golf course for John). Our friends, Selene and Ron from Johnson City, TN joined us toward the end of the week. They brought me a Flip Video (which I hope they don't live to regret) so now you can enjoy a taste of our resort and location.

When John and I returned to Northampton after our trip, we launched full-speed ahead in to the Christmas Holiday Season - cutting greens and making wreaths, setting workshop schedules, and getting the gift shop dressed for the season. Eve, Abby and Brenda all helped to create some amazing fresh green decorations. The photos below do not do them justice, but will give you an idea of what we were up to.

We had several private parties for groups to make their own wreaths, kissing balls, centerpieces, etc. These workshops and parties are among the highlights of the season for me. I love it when participants come in thinking they have no skill and can't do it and leave with a gorgeous piece they have created themselves!

Growing up, my family always celebrated holidays in a big way, and Christmas was the biggest. I still love the food, the eggnog, the presents, the good spirit, the gatherings of friends and family. And, I also love the feeling of being crazy-busy at the farm. Major snowstorms on two of the three weekends between Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas most definitely impacted our sales, but we did sell all of our Christmas Trees and hold our own in the gift shop. This was not a big year for holiday decoration sales, even ornaments, which are usually a good item. We got the sense that people were simplifying this year and perhaps didn't have the energy to put everything out and then pack it up again. It also seems that we have all become desesitized to sales in the last couple of years, and in fact, seem to expect them. We don't mark our products up 200% so that we can put them on sale shortly after we put them out like many of the bigger stores, so a 50% off sale for us means we are selling items below cost. Used to be that we would do some pretty good business in the week after Christmas before we closed for the season but this year we saw only a very few of our regulars show up for eggnog and good deals.

After working 7 days/week for over 9 months, we were somewhat sad, but also relieved to close on December 31st. Since then, John had his right hip replaced on 1/5 (and has been pretty much out of commission for the last 5 weeks), we have ordered greenhouse supplies, seeds and starter plugs (and even gotten some planted), attended New England Grows, cleaned the greenhouse, done a physical inventory at the store, paid the bills, updated our bookeeping for year end and helped Maxx apply to two colleges. Maxx has taken over llama-care duties and was in charge of snow plowing until the transmission died on the truck. In late January, Faye and Abby spent 3 days at the New York Gift Show, scouring the market for fun, functional, unique, sustainable, useful, creative, enduring, meaningful, thoughtful, delicious, sensual new items for the gift shop. Stay tuned for more on that.

Pumpkin Carving (and seed eating)

We all know that when choosing pumpkins to carve, the face is the most important thing! Some people like tall faces, others like perfectly round ones. People that like to carve really scary pumpkins often will chose those that have bumps or scars on their skin (as long as the scars are healed over) to add to the creepy appearance. Some folks think that you can only make jack-o-lanterns out of the larger pumpkins, but I have seem some of the cutest ones made from little sugar pumpkins. The trick there is to make the candle hole in the bottom of the pumpkin and not take off the top. I actually prefer to make cut a bottom hole in all of my jack-o-lanterns, and just place it over the candle or light. Then, I never have to worry about the top caving in.

Pumpkins for carving do not have to be perfect. You can often get a discount on a pumpkin that has a bad spot and work that part in to your design. Speaking of design, there are a variety of patterns available in kits or on-line that allow you to create amazing designs. If you prefer to “free-style”, pick up a pumpkin carving knife. They are small and flexible, and have great teeth for cutting the pumpkin, but not the carver! Don’t forget to save the seeds from your pumpkin!! One of the best things about carving a pumpkin is baking the seeds! Check out the recipe below.

Hickory Dell Farm is holding a pumpkin decorating contest on Sunday, October 19 from 1 - 3. Click here for more info http://www.hickorydell.com/seasonalspecials_specialevents.html

Baked Pumpkin Seeds
Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter
The seeds from your pumpkin
Optional: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, or other seasoning of choice
PREPARATION:
Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain seeds and discard pulp. Spread out on paper towels on a cookie sheet to dry overnight. Preheat oven to 250 F.
Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil. Toss seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat. Bake about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool pumpkin seeds before eating. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months or refrigerate up to 1 year.

Llamas and Pumpkins and Gourds, Oh My!

The air has been crisping recently, though, thankfully, we have not yet had a killing frost. We are entering one of our top three favorite months here at the farm. October is the month for llama photos, for pumpkin decorating, and for glorious color. Sunny, warm days and cool, clear nights. Leaves turning red, gold and every shade in between. And Halloween! We love it all.

We will save most of the Halloween photos for later, but for now, enjoy the current bounty.

Mums are huge and colorful this year.

This is a Long Island Cheese Squash. Looks like the pumpkin Cinderella's fairy godmother turned in to a coach, but it is more of a tan color. These not only look great, but make a delicious pie when your seasonal decor turns to things more wintry.

The best decorations include pumpkins of many colors and sizes, and gourds in amazingly crazy and fun shapes and colors.

If you want to do something really creative, arrange your flowers in a carved-out pumpkin. We line the inside with some tin foil to keep the pumpkin fresh longer. For best results, change the water daily. The arrangements above were made during an afternoon workshop at our farm last fall.

Our scary Halloween decorations will be coming out shortly. I know they have been in the stores since July, but we will hold out for at least another week. In the meantime, some of our cute decorations are on display, like these very cool painted rocks by Westhampton artist Kate Fontaine.

Check out our website to learn more about our llama photo day, and pumpkin decorating contest.http://www.hickorydell.com/seasonalspecials_specialevents.html