Driftwood back in stock!

After waiting for the ice volcanos to melt along the shores of the lakes, we've been busy collecting freshwater driftwood for your craft and hobby needs! Of course, this time of the year, it takes a lot longer to dry on our outdoor racks, and we're REALLY limited on indoor drying space, so it took about a week from when we brought the first batch home to when we made it live on the site ( http://www.scenicnewyorkstate.com/driftwoodmainpage/ ). We have a lot of really nice pieces qued up and drying right now too, the lakes outdid themselves this season. The weather can be somewhat unpredictable this time of the year, so we try to gather as much as possible as soon as it's warm enough because it might be snowing again any time (there were a few flakes in the air today). While it probably won't cover the ground again, it can certainly make it cold enough to make it really uncomfortable along the lakeshore with the winds blowing! Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow and it will reach into the high 40s or 50s so we can collect even more beautiful pieces for you!

Ok, so, long time no blog. Can you believe that that little farm is still in limbo land?! Of course, we still want it! But it's still probably impossible. Pretty soon we'll know if our test lavender from last year worked out anyway-just in case!

We've been busy here at Scenic New York! We've started our own website, and it can be found here at http://www.scenicnewyorkstate.com . Currently only our natural supplies are housed there, but it will grow to include our photography!

We were out this evening collecting our first batch of driftwood for the season and have it set up and drying already. It should be available for purchase soon. It was a bit chilly at 38 degrees! We decided to shoot a quick video to show how we collect the driftwood and added it to our youtube and will have it up on Scenic New York State soon too. We'll be doing that for all the supplies as we come to the right seasons. We think it's important for everyone to see that we really do collect everything by hand in reusable, ecofriendly totes.

Random thoughts about owning a farm

I think if you tell a random selection of people that you own a farm, a large number will picture cows or chickens-or both. We don't plan on having a livestock farm, but I was perusing the blogs of farms around the country and found a number of livestock farms that made me ponder this. IF we were going to have livestock, what would we have?

I'll admit, at this point, I do plan on having a few chickens and possibly geese or goats (I'll talk more about them later, but they came up as good natural weeders as I read up on organic weed control). I've always liked chickens, and have narrowed down my breeds of choice to Rhode Island Reds and Ameraucanas (they lay blue eggs). I think blue egg laying chickens are cool, and I like the looks of the Rhode Island Reds.

As far as the goats and geese, breeds remain to be seen, but I'm betting on Boer for the goats and Toulouse for the Geese. I'm leaning more towards geese than goats if we go this way for weeding, geese are great farm guards. If you've ever been chased by a hissing, angry goose (well, more likely actually a gander), you know this already.

Now, I'm pretty sure we won't have cows, or even A cow. BUT, if we did, I'm torn between two breeds. My personal long time favorite, the Jerseys, and my newer favorite, Highlands. If you don't know, Jerseys are what most people probably picture when you say "chocolate milk cow". They are lovely shades of brown and have such pretty faces. Highlands have long coats and are reddish colored. Very unique looking when you're used to pastures full of Holsteins (the black and white ones). Not that there's anything wrong with Holsteins! I am leaning more towards Jerseys though, I just love their faces. Hypothetically speaking of course.

I'm not a big fan of pigs, so I can't say that I would have any, even if we were given to having a livestock farm. There's nothing wrong with pigs, they just aren't among my favorite farm animals.

I'd love a couple horses, and there's no way I could settle on one breed. I have a soft spot for Percherons, and really, any draft breed. Appys are beautiful, as are Morgans. A Mustang would be a nice fit, and a mini would be adorable. I think if there's ANY remote possibility of a critter of the equine variety on our potential future farm, it's probably a mini. Given the eco friendly and organic bent we're going for, we could use a little horse power to lug the harvest in from the fields. I still plan on getting a tractor to plow the driveway and mow the yard though!

Naming the farm

Or really, not naming the farm! Since we haven't actually found and bought the land or farm yet, it seems premature to name it. I've kicked around some names anyway, from silly ones like "The Funny Farm" (because I figure once we tell most people we know what we're planning, they'll likely think we're a bit crazy) to ones more related to our current business name. Truthfully, I'd like to name it "A Peaceful Place" because right before we found the farm that started us on the path (the one the mortgage company wouldn't write a mortgage for), I got a fortune cookie that said "find a peaceful place to live your life" or something like it. Despite all that was wrong with that farm (and there's a LONG list), the one thing that struck us as we stood in the fields was how peaceful it was. I figure that someone, somewhere, already has a farm named that though. So I decided that no matter what it is officially named, I'll call it that when I think of it.

It's been a while

Boy did life ever happen! We're still looking for that farm, and still taking photos. We scrapped the Etsy shop for now, and are working on building our own website. I was going to just start up a new blog for our new directions, but figured I would just keep this one going.

Here was what was meant to be the first post in the new blog, some of this rehashes what followers already know (ah yes, that same old farm we couldn't buy):

Of farms and photographs

Welcome to our little corner of the web! Right now, this blog is meant to chronical our plans to buy a small farm as well as our photography. Hopefully one day it will chronical our life on our farm and what's selling in our photography shop! Currently, we do sell our photos through several PODs (print on demand), but we are hoping that in addition to buying and or starting a small farm, we will be selling our photos on our own site. Both of these ventures will take time and money, but stick with us if you want to read about the adventures in both!

First, let me tell you a little about the photography. We've both been interested in photography since childhood, and have been selling our work on everything from prints to mousepads to greeting cards through several outlets. While this has been a great way to "stick a toe in the water" so to speak, it takes a lot of the control over the final product away from us. We will continue to offer what we already have up on those sites, but we will only be adding new things to the greeting card site (http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/picturethis). Building our own site is going to take time, so I can't say we have an ETA on a release of that. We're looking at vendors for printing right now, and researching shipping options.

Now, the part that has us pretty excited (not that photography isn't exciting): the farm. I have farming in my blood-my grandparents both grew up on farms, and a great, great aunt and uncle were popcorn farmers. Sounds fun, huh? About a year ago, while we were house hunting, we came across a little farm for sale. At the time, we hadn't discussed actually starting to farm on the acreage, we were just enamored with the property. Why, I can't really say. I guess it was one of those "love at first sight" moments that you can't explain. It really didn't make much sense really. We wanted a three bedroom, two bath ranch with a basement that didn't need any work (been there, done that with our current place). This was a two bedroom, one bath house with no basement that needed a LOT of work. In fact, it was abandoned, even the yard looked like a field because it hadn't been mown in years. But we loved it. So we looked at it, called a mortgage agent and dreams of a farm began floating in our heads. And the mortgage agent quickly put the kibosh on that-the house wasn't mortgagable (we tried more than one mortgage company and more than one way to get that farm). So much for that place. But, it planted the seed for the idea of beginning a farm.

While we wait for the right place to "crop up" (sorry, couldn't help it), we're researching all the aspects of owning and running a farm, from fun stuff like tractors to serious stuff like business structures and taxes. We'll check in as we look at the aspects and as we shoot new photos.

REAL Shoe Trees

Veering off the Adirondacks for a moment. I mentioned shoe trees in a previous comment when explaining why I didn't want to give the location for the Wilderness Lodge in the north country. That got me thinking that I never blogged about the shoe trees that are right here in Western New York. The photo is of a bookmark I made from a picture we took of them, in black and white.

First-what are shoe trees? Well, they are exactly what you'd think-trees with shes hung in them. Second-why? Well, that's a good question. And I don't have all of the answers. These trees were supposedly started back in the late 60's or early 70's depending on who you believe. Now legend has it that if you make a wish, then throw your shoes up into the trees and they stay on the first try, your wish will come true. It's not as easy as it sounds, we tried.

Many shoe trees are just one tree, this happens to be multiple trees. I'm not sure why or when it became more than one, or if it always was.


Anyway, we thought we'd share the shoe trees of Western New York with everyone.

Wilderness Lodge AKA Pete's place

When I, the wife half of Scenic New York, was younger, my mother and I used to come to the Adirondacks as much as possible. We camped at Lake Durant and also stayed in the cabins (motel?) at the Wilderness Lodge. I remember going there in the winter and cross country skiing on the property up to the right of the main building (to the left is a pond and stream).

I really can't say much about the history of the place or even when it closed. I do know that about 20 years ago, they had REALLY great food (I especially remember the biscuits) , the owners were a husband and wife, she cooked and his name was Pete, hers was Deb. There were always plenty of people there when we were there, and when I asked a woman that had lived in the area for a number of years about the place, the first thing she said was "oh, that had such great food there" (followed by a sad look and "you know it's defunct now, right?"). I believe the upstairs was an apartment where the owners lived, and the bottom was (and I know this for certain) the dining room/bar and kitchen. There were two smaller buildings that remind one of older hotels, one with two rooms and one with three or four. Those are in a bit worse shape than the main lodge, as is the old garage. The lodge itself has broken windows and people have obviously been in the place since it closed. I've tried poking around the internet for more information on the place, such as when it was built and when it went out of business to no avail. All I can really say about it is that it is just one of countless disused camps and buildings strewn about the park, reminders of times past. I have tried to contact some people local to the area and familiar with Adirondack history, so I might have more to report on the building and property later.

I am not giving a specific location for this place, and I'm quite certain unless you know of it's existence already you won't find it based on the information I'm giving (I can't find one single reference to it online, via Yahoo, Google or Bing) . This is strictly because it really isn't in terrible shape and I want to hold onto the idea that someone might come along and rescue it-and sometimes people learning of an empty building can do things that aren't very good. I'd hate to hear it burnt down or something (a la what happened to the barn at Santanoni). The places I'll discuss later are a bit easier to find, and are rather well known anyway, especially Tahawus (aka Adirondac or The Upper Works or the McIntyre Mine).