farms (rather playgrounds for wealthy folk)

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Yesterday was the staff/ intern field trip to Shelburne farms: 1,400 acres of former Vanderbilt/ Webb
property that features barns as large as football fields nicer than any
house I will ever live in, a woodworking shop, farmstead cheese making
facility, beautiful gardens, and lots of Yestermorrow building projects-
all on the edge of the exquisite lake Champlain. One of the heirs of the families is connected to YM, so we were able to go up in to all of these cool spires, the clock tower, and see all kinds of unfinished and off limits parts of the old barns. most were built in the late 1800's and took crews of 500 men 2 years to build. In one photo you'll see a giant model of the old horse barn. The guy who made it went to the barn with his dad to sell horses when he was 10 years old, then went back when he was in his 60's and, never having made a model before, made a complete to scale (1" = 3') model of the barn- complete with hand cut shingles, and underneath you could stick your head inside to get a full 360 view...it took him 10 years and $8,000 to complete. wow!

also, images of the YM built projects on the property- a writer's cabin and an outdoor shelter overlooking the lake. Overall a fun day, not quite relaxing but full of really cool things to see and history.
It has been raining like crazy here..
I have been having some plant problems, what I think may be early blight on the tomatoes and leaf miners on the spinach, chard and now beet greens...boo!!!! I picked off all of the damaged leaves, put them in a bucket to burn, and sprayed copper spray on the tomatoes and neem oil for the leaf miners (both organic gardening approved) I hate to spray anything, but it makes the most sense... Tonight- intern fun night complete with Ice cream sundays, hot chocolate with pepermint schnapps and cozy blankets...funny how it sounds like a winter night and not summer...