The Many Heartbeats of Branchwater
June 2025
Welcome to the 3rd installment of our farming deep dive, which will focus on livestock. For those of you who follow us on social media, you are probably already familiar with some of the animals that call Branchwater home. In fact, Kevin is constantly reminding Robin (who handles our social media) that we are a distillery as well as a farm and that we should post about our spirits as much as we do our chickens. Robin firmly believes that people come for the animals and stay for the spirits!
Robin’s paternal grandfather, Gilbert Touchet
Robin was stupified to learn - from this photo - that her grandfather also raised Muscovy ducks
Cutting hay at Kevin’s mother’s family farm
Kevin’s maternal grandfather Harold and his uncles Ken & Paul as young boys in a soybean field
Dirt in our DNA?
Both of us had one parent that grew up on a farm, so maybe the call to steward a slice of land came from somewhere deep within us both. Maybe so, but that doesn’t change the fact that we were both equally unprepared for what this farm would require of us and also equally committed to diving in and finding out.
Kevin’s mother Karen was raised on a multiuse farm in Iowa, on the South Dakota border. The family grew corn, beans, and small grains and raised cows and chickens. As time progressed, the farm moved over to corn and soy for animal feed, as did much of the surrounding farmland. Kevin spent many summers and holidays at the farm, where he developed an appreciation for sweeping landscapes and learned to drive on his grandfather’s cherry red 1955 International. Big Red now resides at Branchwater, a beloved piece of the Johnson’s farm history. Our farm’s logo can also be traced back to this farm, as Kevin’s grandmother had a healthy trivet collection and the tree of life trivet was prominent among them. We love the way it lends itself to the concept of growth and renewal and how the shape of the tree also resembles a grain head.
Robin’s father Paul was the son of sharecroppers in rural Louisiana. While his father was serving in WWII, his mother saved every penny and managed to buy 25 acres. Here they grew cotton, sugar cane, peppers, sweet potatoes and onions for themselves and their community. They worked the land with a set of mules until they were able to buy a tractor. They raised pigs for themselves and a few families who helped with the butchering. They also had a small herd of cattle and pigeons and ducks for meat, as well as chickens and guineas whose eggs they traded for other goods from an itinerant merchant. Growing up, Robin adored her grandfather, who was known as Pop Pop Gob, and some of her favorite childhood memories involve chasing him and the farm animals around on summer visits to Louisiana. Robin’s aunt still lives on the farm and leases the land to sugar cane and soybean growers.
We often lament the fact that our grandparents are no longer around to share their experiences with us. We would love nothing more than to have them see what we are attempting to do here — and hopefully give their blessings. When we told Robin’s father about our farming plan he definitely thought we might be a little crazy, but over the years he’s seen us work hard, struggle some, succeed as well, and has been a huge source of support. His father had worked hard so that he could escape the farming cycle, and it must have seemed weird that we would choose to move closer to that way of life. Maybe farming skips a generation.
Big Red, the 1955 International that Kevin learned to drive on
Tree of Life trivets that inspired our farm’s logo
How it Started
Once upon a time, we were both busy wine professionals who traveled the globe for work and for pleasure and relished new stamps in the old passport. Fast forward to our current lives where only one of us retains the busy wine professional title (in addition to farmer and distiller). The other barely leaves the driveway anymore, and that can be credited to the small ark of creatures we have amassed here over the past few years. Animals certainly put a wrench in your travel plans. So - why animals?
Nearly every regenerative agricultural system involves the rotation of animals. As we discussed in last month’s post, our fields benefit from the increase of organic matter in the soil via animal manure and bedding and it improves productivity over time. Animals also help keep weed pressure down as well as harmful insect populations. But, if we’re being really honest, Robin has always been drawn to animals and so she ended up carving out a new career path for herself here, working with them. Granted, this job doesn’t pay quite as well as wine sales did, but it’s a job that is endlessly rewarding and enriching in different ways.
Some of Robin’s mentors at Kinderhook Farm
Old Macdonald
In the summer of 2019 and through the fall, Robin interned at Kinderhook Farm in Valatie, about 45 minutes north of Branchwater. This internship was also inspired by Mimi Casteel’s visit in May of 2019, and her discussions with us about how animals helped her work in the vineyard. Robin interviewed at several farms in the area, but Kinderhook was the right choice and our relationship with Lee and Georgia Ranney and the extended farm family has only strengthened in the years since.
Robin left for Kinderhook before the sun came up and worked with chickens, cattle, pigs and sheep. She learned about fencing and rotational grazing, livestock guardian dogs, and how to process chickens, castrate pigs and sort and vaccinate cattle and sheep. She loved the work and came away with an even stronger desire to integrate animals into Branchwater.
In January 2020, just before Covid wreaked havoc on the world, Robin was able to transfer up to the farm full-time, leaving her apartment and sales territory in NYC to work for the same company doing wine sales in the Hudson Valley. This allowed her to begin carving out a more permanent role for herself at the farm, which meant she could start giving more serious thought to adding animals. While Kevin is more comfortable with a “dive in and do” approach, Robin experienced some cold feet about plunging into animal husbandry right away. The stakes are high when heartbeats are involved, and she was afraid that failure resulting in deaths would weigh too heavily on her. So, another year came and went and then Hans Reisetbauer came to town…
If you don’t already know Hans, he is our dear friend and consultant for the distillery. He’s a very particular individual and it’s hard to sum him up in a few words but if we had to: Hans is an energizer bunny, exacting perfectionist who does not waste time or suffer fools. He can be incredibly intimidating and brutally honest. He visited us in April, 2021 and after dinner one night we were discussing how we were considering raising ducks here because of our farm’s wealth of water and Robin was explaining why she wasn’t quite ready to do so just yet. Hans looked at her with a confused expression and said “It sounds like…” then Hans entered some German words into google translate on his phone and came back with “excuses.” Robin placed an order for 23 ducklings the very next day and the rest is history.
Some of the human mentors at Kinderhook Farm
With a quack quack here
We started with ducks because we thought it made the most sense from our farm’s perspective. The Little Wappinger Creek bisects our farm and our lower field often floods. Ducks are waterfowl – emphasis on WATER. We chose a variety of domesticated “mallard-derived” breeds that would become our egg layers and we bought a mother Muscovy and her 16 ducklings from a friend Robin made from her time at Kinderhook Farm, which would form the basis of our meat program.
Although we keep both groups in the same enclosure and they share a coop, the similarities do not extend much further than that. Muscovy ducks are wilder and have retained more of their natural instincts. They are incredible mothers and will do all the work themselves if allowed to breed and incubate their own eggs. When a female goes broody, she will form a clutch of 8-16 eggs and then incubate them for 35 days, leaving the nest only for brief moments to eat, drink and poop. We allow our Muscovy mothers to fulfill their natural instincts and as a result the Muscovy ducks we raise for meat are a completely on-farm product. Sadly, we lost Thor, our Muscovy drake over the winter and will need to find a suitable replacement to continue our Muscovy meat program. This was on the heels of losing 80+ eggs that were only days away from hatching last year when a team of highly intelligent, ill-intentioned crows made off with every single one of them. Farming, right?!
We like offering Muscovy as our meat breed because it is a leaner and healthier option than Pekins, as well as being more sustainable with an entirely on-farm breeding program. We have raised both breeds and have had equal success, but we would prefer to specialize in Muscovy moving forward. They are relatively low maintenance to work with, and they aren’t as water-loving (and hence mud-creating) as domesticated ducks. And we enjoy their calm, quiet, easy-going nature.
Ducks are great for pest management and can even be run through established gardens, orchards, or vineyards to help with slugs and other pest management. Additionally, their manure can be used directly on plants as a fertilizer and does not need to be composted first, unlike chicken poop which is “hot” and contains so much nitrogen it needs to be composted with carbon-rich materials before being applied. It can be argued that much of animal farming is becoming an expert in animal poop.
Where it all started - Momma Muscovy and her 16 ducklings
Some of the OGs of our egg laying flock
Pekins, who we have raised for meat
Robin with a Duclair duck
And a cluck cluck there
Kevin had a small flock of backyard chickens when he lived on Long Island and had been eager to get chickens again. After starting with ducks in the spring of 2021, we introduced a small flock of seven hens in late summer of that year and - as anyone with chickens can attest - it escalated quickly! Today we have just under 90 adult laying hens (and 2 amazing roosters), 82 chicks still in the brooder destined to become Branchwater laying hens and 100 meat chickens growing out on grass for mid-July harvest.
We make no secret of the fact that chickens are by far our favorite farm animal. They are curious, clever, resourceful and endlessly entertaining and interesting. We find ourselves spending lots of time with them - just observing their behaviors. We love how these small dinos interact with their natural surroundings. Because they’re so much closer to the ground than we are, they are so tuned in to what’s happening on the ground floor. They dig around for insects we would never see, and they carve out dust baths in the ground for themselves (and dangerous craters for us unsuspecting caretakers!). They are such individuals too - with their own unique sounds, preferences and even quirks!
Take Bella, for instance. Bella is one of our four “yard birds,” laying hens that live in a coop in our backyard and completely free range around the farm. They are more like pets, and they are a daily reminder of why we chose this way of life. Despite the fact that Bella is much larger than the other three hens, she is at the bottom of their little pecking order hierarchy and so she often goes her own way and does her own thing. This is especially true in the spring, when Bella inevitably goes broody and gets very moody. Even though she has never met a rooster and her eggs are not fertilized, she will seek out a safe spot to hunker down and lay a little clutch of eggs that she hopes to incubate and hatch. This year, Bella took a small hiatus from being a chicken and went to live with the ducks for an entire month. Ducks are much more accommodating to new girls than chickens, we’ll give them that but still – interesting choice. Bella is now back to being a chicken but still visits the duck yard in the morning to raid their grain stash, despite it being the very same feed she receives. Grass is always greener on the other side?
In addition to loving chickens as farm animals, they are also the most versatile when it comes to feeding our family and community. People are familiar with and love chicken eggs (unlike duck eggs, which have been more challenging to find a market for) and raising meat chickens is very rewarding, especially on the small scale we practice here. We are incredibly proud of the chickens we raise and are honored when customers and friends tell us they’re the best eggs or roast chicken they’ve ever had. Would it be bragging if we said we agree?
We work with many different breeds of laying hens because we like the variety it provides both in our flock and in our eggs. Eggs come in a wide range of colors and life is too short for just white eggs! For meat, we raise Freedom Rangers, a slower growing breed than your average grocery store broiler chicken, with more succulent meat and higher levels of omega-3 fats and lower levels of saturated fat. They are active and robust and do extremely well as free-ranging, pasture-raised birds. Next year, we would like to start a breeding program with our Bielefelder chickens, a wonderful dual-purpose bird originating in Germany. We are always looking for ways to become more sustainable and on-farm breeding is one way to achieve that.
We process our meat chickens and ducks here on the farm, and it’s a special day, spent in community. Heavy but grateful hearts and busy hands followed by a communal meal under the generous canopy of an old Maple tree. We provide our birds with the best, most natural lives possible during their time here. And when it comes time to turn that work into healthy nourishment, we offer them a humane and respectful goodbye.
Bella
Our ladies are always down for a good gossip sesh
The precious offerings from our flock of laying hens
Robin with a Freedom Ranger chick
Here a bleat
Goats. Certainly, many of you have also fallen victim to internet goats. You know, all the cute videos your friends send you of little jumping goats, doing ridiculously cute things. (Yes, Juliette & Ralf – I’m pointing at YOU!) Sometimes the goats are in adorable little sweaters, sometimes they’re storming someone’s living room, making silly little click clock sounds with their naughty little hooves, sometimes they’re playing king of the hill with another goat. Always cute, always naughty. Because goats are naughty. And we’re cool with that. Not here to judge, just observe.
Robin has always had a soft spot for goats, with their crazy rectangular pupils, and even before getting ducks had flirted with the idea of starting with a small flock of Cashmere goats. Fans of fiber already know this, but cashmere is a natural fiber celebrated for its incredibly soft feel and insulating properties, and it comes from the soft undercoat of Cashmere goats, which is combed out by hand. It is a lot of work for little yield and that’s why it’s the most expensive fiber out there.
In January 2020, before Covid changed our routines and travel, we participated in a Cashmere Goat Conference at Cornell University in Ithaca. We attended seminars on “Flock and Herd Management,” “Innovations in Goat and Sheep Parasite Management,” “Basic Genetics of Cashmere Goats and Sheep,” and “Effects of Nutrition on Fiber and Follicle Development.” We divided and hit as many hands-on programs as we could. Robin focused on the particular things like hoof conformation and trimming exercises and kidding and lambing issues, where she pulled baby lambs preserved in formaldehyde through a sheep pelvic bone—blindfolded. Kevin focused on genetics, hay nutrition and fiber evaluation.
Robin had been networking before the conference with breeders she met at the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival in nearby Rhinebeck; in fact, her inquiries were the reason we even knew of the conference. Along the way, we made connections with breeders in Maine and visited their operation in the summer of 2020. Robin had also become friendly with Sister Mary from St. Mary’s on-the-Hill. The Sisters of St. Mary live a contemplative expression of the monastic life, grounded in the Benedictine principle of prayer and work, and, well, . . . also goats! If there is anything that requires prayer and work, it is certainly goats.
Our lack of solid perimeter fencing kept us from diving into the whole Cashmere goat Ponzi scheme, but we did end up taking on some goats in February 2022 because we’re suckers for hard luck stories. Kevin came across a message on one of the many farming listservs we subscribe to, from a farmer looking to rehome four bonded pet goats on behalf of an elderly gentlemen who could no longer care for them. They came to us with Lord of the Rings inspired names: Frodo, Sam, Daisy and Rosie, and we were told they were five years of age (later to learn they were actually ten). The goats were delivered to us by a very kind young man from the cab of his truck during an awful ice storm. He had had to stop along the way to service his truck and he laughed as he told us how the goats got to go up, up, up when they lifted the truck to work on it at the service station. We should have known then that living with goats was going to be a crazy adventure!
Jokes aside, we love our goats and we’ve grown quite attached. They are good at clearing brushy areas of the farm (and also great at escaping fencing). But mostly we have the goats for our own enjoyment. They are entering the elder care years, and we find ourselves administering arthritis meds, having their impacted molars filed down so they can continue eating hay, and providing them with specialty feed. We work for the goats, it seems.
The picture from their former owner that sealed the deal. From left: Frodo, Daisy, Rosie, Sam
Kevin with the goats a few days after their arrival in an ice storm
Love those crazy pupils
The goats hanging out in their cozy shed on a blustery winter day this year
There a woof
People talk about chicken math. Well, there’s such a thing as general animal math on a farm as well. We had ducks, then we had chickens. And we ended up with a few goats, too. And then we needed something to protect them. There are many types of livestock guardians, but we didn’t think we were ready for the donkey or llama learning curve, so we started considering investing in a livestock guardian dog.
Robin had fallen in love with the Maremma Sheepdogs during her time at Kinderhook and was pretty set on the breed. She liked that - while intimidating if they sensed a threat - they were also very affectionate. Maremmas have been used by Italian shepherds as livestock guardian dogs for centuries to protect their sheep from wolves. While we don’t have wolves here, we certainly have plenty of other predators who would happily make a meal out of our ducks and chickens. Our animals are enclosed in electric fencing and they get closed in coops at night, but predators come in all shapes and sizes and we needed an additional deterrent.
We contacted the same breeder Kinderhook has used, Stoneybrook in Minnesota and in July 2022 Dante Wolfgang came to us as a puppy eager to become a working dog. Because of rigorous selection by early shepherds, Maremmas have retained their natural guarding instincts as well as their independent nature. Unlike shepherd breeds, livestock guardian dogs have a low prey drive and are not employed for herding, but for protection. They develop very strong attachments to their livestock, but in the case of ducks and chickens it’s a little challenging as this bond isn’t reciprocated. Ducks are very excitable and when afraid will flap about, which can be an irresistible signal to a puppy to engage in play behavior. And Dante was an exuberant puppy.
The ducks really weren’t adjusting to the rambunctious puppy we had unleashed on their peaceful existence so after some failed attempts at cohabitation we decided to fence Dante around the ducks instead of inside the same enclosure and this set up worked brilliantly for a time, but as flawed humans projecting our own insecurities onto other species, we felt Dante deserved more. So we moved him over to the goats to see how he would do with four-leggeds. And he did pretty well.
But the goats – being old and instinctively afraid of things that look like giant wolves – didn’t really take to Dante’s arrival so well. They tolerated him, but mostly hunkered down in their shed and avoided going outside. Our vet told us it was unlikely they would adapt to his presence so we knew there was only one thing we could do to make everyone happy once and for all.
The breed’s namesake is Maremma SHEEPdog afterall…
And we mentioned the whole animal math thing already, right?
Farm boys
Dante with the goats, being a very good boy
There’s age old wisdom behind those gorgeous eyes
A happy dog under rainbow sherbet skies
Everywhere a baa baa
Arriving at sheep wasn’t really all that haphazard. In truth, we have always wanted them. But the practical aspect of raising livestock is there should ideally be a financial benefit to the species you raise. We had sworn we would never do dairy – that’s a level of commitment we are not prepared for. At least with our current set up we can still bribe our friends Ralf and Juliette or Lisbeth to farmsit for us on occasion but add a double duty of milking to each day and it’s too much to ask of anyone. So, for sheep that leaves raising them for meat and/or fiber and we decided to investigate the fiber route.
Robin approached this with a longer-term approach in mind. She talked to breeders at Sheep & Wool each year, researched breeds, visited farms, talked to her vet, and joined a few associations. Ultimately, she knew she wanted to work with a hardy breed, one with good mothering instincts and one that would be small enough for a middle-aged, middle-statured woman to handle. She kept returning to the Shetland breed.
Shetlands are a unique and colorful heritage breed originating in the Shetland Islands more than 1,000 years ago. Their wool is soft, fine, silky and durable and a favorite for spinners, knitters and fiber enthusiasts. Shetlands are considered a primitive or “unimproved” breed, which means they are small and relatively slow-growing, they maintain their natural hardiness, easy lambing, adaptability and resilience. Perfect for a sheep newbie!
In the spring and summer of 2024, Robin ramped up her researching skills and started looking through association listings until she discovered that a small breeder of Fine Fleece Shetlands was just down the road from us. She contacted Karen at Quarry Hill Farm in the fall, went to visit her farm, loved what she saw and sent her deposit for a small flock of five shortly thereafter.
We brought Gracie, Havana, Dandelion, Pipkin and Fauvio here at the end of February 2025. We wanted to bring them here during the winter, so they would become accustomed to us as we brought them their hay and water every day. And it worked. We have been able to create a routine with them and develop their trust. They are such a welcome and calming presence – we wish we’d taken the sheep plunge years ago!
We moved them over to pasture in May and they were delighted. Our first introductions with Dante have gone smoothly and we’re taking things one day at a time. Ultimately, we hope to move them to the Secret Field, four acres on our southern border, abutting a large swamp, with a natural water source from the creek along the western edge and forest to the north and east. We need to build a bridge to make this field accessible and have been exploring grants to do so. Once we can secure more pasture, we can consider breeding. Kevin says he wants sheep on every available space here now.
When we had the sheep sheared back in April, the shearer was very impressed with how fine their fleeces were. Gracie and Havana are both registered with the Fine Fleece Shetland Sheep Association, and Pipkin and Dandelion are expected to qualify when they are 22 months and eligible for a fleece sample submission. We are holding onto this year’s fleeces until we decide what we want to do with the wool. Robin plans to go down the fiber rabbit hole at some point when she has a little more free time. For the moment, she teeters on the edge, finding joy in improving her knitting skills and deepening friendships with other crafty sorts along the way.
Fauvio, our shy guy and Gracie, the matriarch. Gracie is a direct descendant of one of the first Shetland ewe imports from Canada.
Havana, momma to Dandelion.
Dandelion, the spunkiest and most affectionate of the flock.
Pipkin. Her brown color is known as moorit.
And a honk, meow, buzz here for good measure
We would be remiss in not mentioning the other heartbeats here at Branchwater. In addition to our 32 ducks, 4 yard birds, 85 laying hens, 2 roosters, 4 goats, 5 sheep, 1 dog, 100 Freedom Ranger chicks and 82 chicks destined to be laying hens, we also care for 2 geese, 5 cats and provide fields for 30 honeybee hives.
Turns out geese are great guardians for ducks. We decided to get a pair of French Toulouse Geese back in 2022 because, as we mentioned earlier, we’re building an ark here. Sadly, our female Lucy died suddenly at around a year, leaving Hugo a bachelor. Geese need something to do, and Hugo turned his focus to his duck companions, but we decided he really needed a goose companion and so we brought home a rescue goose back in March. Nessy, as we’ve come to call her, was one of ten Chinese Geese who had been abandoned in a cemetery. Ella at Great and Small Rescue in Spencertown took them in and we made a donation to her amazing work in exchange for Nessy. It took a while for Hugo to figure out what she was, but they’ve made progress and are now the guardians of the duck yard.
In addition to our 2 house cats (one of which was a former Branchwater barn cat), we also provide shelter and dinner for 3 barn cats. Our friends Marty & Maria Clarke up the road had several litters from a momma who they were finally able to catch and neuter, but she left one final legacy litter and we are happy to have them here. With grain bins full of feed and grain bins full of grain for the distillery, we had become a magnet for rodents. The barn cats are doing their job very, very well as we haven’t had any issues since their arrival.
We had our own apiary here for several years and Kevin really enjoyed looking after the bees. We lost all 3 of our hives one winter and just didn’t have the time or bandwidth to continue beekeeping anymore. Luckily, we now benefit from the presence of bees on our farm without having to manage any of it. Brian Moon of Moon’s Gold Apiary tends around 30 hives here. In exchange we receive a hive’s worth of honey. It’s getting more and more difficult for bees to survive the challenges of our modern environment, so we are happy to provide a healthy habitat for these essential workers.
Call of the Wild
So what does animal husbandry actually entail? There is the obvious physical aspect of the chores associated with caring for livestock: hauling feed, water, hay and stray, setting up fencing, and mucking out coops, doing regular heath checks and providing the necessary care in the case of illness. It requires you to be outside every day, regardless of the temperature or weather conditions, even when you’re tired and even when you’re sick. It tells you to leave your nice clothes inside and get ready for some mud puddles. It requires patience and calm under often stressful situations. It asks that you step outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis, sometimes learning veterinary skills or how to operate machinery. It demands sacrifice. It’s a long-term commitment. It encourages you to lean in to what makes us animals too and teaches you to learn other languages.
And it teaches you many other things as well. In our limited time working with our animals, we have become better observers of nature. Because we spend so much time outside, we see the subtle shifts of each season, we know when to expect the first crocus or red winged blackbird. We are deeply attuned to changes in the weather. We appreciate these things so much more and have a better understanding of our connection to the wild world and our place within it. It's grounding and it’s humbling. It has taught us not to take ourselves too seriously, and to be willing to change and adapt. And it has taught us to confront our deepest fears, like suffering and loss.
Banding Bandit - we put color-coded leg bands on our laying hens by year. It’s an exercise best performed at night.
Peg getting a foot soak before being treated for bumblefoot, a common bacterial infection that can lead to uncomfortable abscesses on the pads of birds’ feet. Some days, Robin really wishes she’d pursued a veterinary degree instead of majoring in art history.
The reason there is straw in every nook and cranny here
Mucking coops, the most dreaded of all farm chores
What We’ve Been Up To Lately
The farm is ALIVE! We’ve got meat chickens and layers-to-be on grass, growing fast. Our established flock of laying hens are on pasture too, moving every day. And our tiny flock of sheep and goats are happily grazing, getting rotated onto new pasture every few days.
Our wheat and rye fields are coming along happily after a very rainy spring. We are crossing our fingers for seasonally appropriate weather from now until harvest time in early July. No whammies!
On the distillery side of things, Kevin has been busy with wheat fermentations and distillations for our Gin and Wheat Whiskey, as well as checking in on some of the brandies resting in stainless steel tanks. And folks - we have a winner! The Cherry Brandy we made last year from Fix Brothers English Morello cherries is strutting its stuff and ready to bottle. It’s another very limited relesae so stay tuned. We hope to have it bottled and ready for you by the end of the month and of course we are plotting a celebration of cherry sometime soon - likely in July.
Spring and summer are pedal to the metal seasons on a farm and we find ourselves apologizing to our friends and family for missing so many fun events. We don’t regret the choices we’ve made but they are choices that put a damper on our social lives for much of the year. Luckily, we are married to a gorgeous slice of earth. So, if you want to see us before 2026, you’ll just have to come visit the farm!
What we’ve been mixing up lately
We love gimlets. They’re simple. They’re delicious. They’re green. What’s not to love? We also love a generous garden and our herb garden came back to life with vigor this spring. Lemon balm, oregano, thyme, chives, sage and a whole lotta lovage returned. We’ve been having fun incorporating fresh herbs back into our meals after a very long winter, and we have also been switching out some ingredients in classic cocktails with seasonal accents like this twist on the classic gimlet.
Whole Lotta Love
2.5oz Branchwater Gin
0.5oz Fresh Lime Juice
0.5oz Lovage Simple Syrup*
Combine with ice, shake and strain into chilled coupe while singing Led Zeppelin at the top of your lungs. Garnish with lovage leaf.
*in a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water and 1 cup white granulated sugar to a simmer, stirring until the mixture is clear and the sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from the heat, add 1/2 cup chopped lovage leaves and stalks and gently stir. Let steep 2-4 hours depending on how intense you want it. Unless you plan on making a whole lotta Whole Lotta Loves, you can scale down the syrup recipe as needed, keeping the 1:1 proportions for water and sugar and adjusting your quantity of lovage.
Intro to English Paper Piecing, the first in local crafter Jacqui Rose’s Travel-Ready Sewing Series was a lot of fun!
Looking ahead…
Crafting in Community If you are interested in hosting something creative here, please reach out. We are committed to making our space available for creativity and for community.
Introduction to Sashiko with Jacqui Rose Sun, June 8th 11am-1pm SOLD OUT
Introduction to Embroidery with Jacqui Rose Sun, July 13th 11am-1pm Information and tickets here
(Final) Fridays at the Farm - Fridays at the Farm is our way to showcase the spirits we make here, serving up cocktails and specialty food boards against the farm’s casual and calming backdrop. We’ll be hosting Fridays at the Farm the final Friday of every month from May through October, so mark your calendars! Next one is June 27th. Service is 4-7pm.
North Salem Farmers Market - for friends further south, you can find us at the historic hamlet of Croton Falls in Westchester a few Saturdays this season. We will be there on July 12th and Sept 13th. The market runs from 9am-2pm and showcases quality foods, organic produce, flowers, and handmade goods from local farms and artisans.
MX Morningstar Pop-up - come see us in Hudson for a series of First Friday pop-ups at one of our favorite farm stores in the area. We will be sampling our spirits and selling some of our farm products from 3-6pm on June 6th, July 4th and August 1st. Come say hi!
Farm Feast at Stissing House - Join us for a Branchwater-themed evening at Stissing House, with a dinner highlighting our products on Saturday, July 19th at 6pm. Courses will incorporate honey, duck eggs and chicken from our farm and wine pairings from Kevin’s wine portfolio Schatzi Wines. Information and tickets here