M is for…

May 2025 - edition 16

M is for May, one of our favorite months. So many things happen in May. The calendar reminds us to celebrate mothers and honor our fallen, and our farm has a few birthdays as well. It’s a turning point month, when spring sheds her more temperamental skin and summer begins to shimmer on the horizon. It’s a confident month, and it’s full of activity her on the farm.

M is for Mother

Mother is a word that holds true power, as do the maternal forces that create and nurture our planet. We would not be here without them, and they certainly deserve more than a calendar holiday as a reminder of their worth. Mothers come in many forms - not all biological - and not all benign. There are some pretty impressive moms in the animal kingdom.

For example, did you know that the moment a female octopus lays her eggs, her body begins a slow, deliberate process of self-destruction, resulting in her death? Like Pacific Salmon, octopuses are semelparous, meaning they reproduce just once before they die. After laying thousands of eggs, a mother octopus stops eating and hunting and turns her attention exclusively to guarding and protecting her eggs. She remains on them for several months, cleaning and fanning them with her arms and siphons to keep them oxygenated and free from debris or predators. Scientists have been able to trace this biological phenomenon to the two tiny optic glands sitting just behind the octopus’ eyes. Similar to our pituitary gland, these glands release a surge of hormones and steroid compounds that begin, quite deliberately, to shut her body down. The babies she mothered enter the world as orphans.

Or take elephants, whose mothers are the cornerstones of their matriarchal female-led herds. Calves are raised collectively through a system called allomothering, where aunts, sisters, and grandmothers assist in caring for the young, ensuring their safety and social development. Elephants have the longest gestation period of any land mammal, lasting nearly 22 months. While calves can feed independently by age two, they often continue suckling until they are between 5 and 10 years old. This extended period of maternal care allows calves to learn complex behaviors and survival skills.

Sea turtle mothers never actually meet their young. After laying her eggs, a mother turtle returns to the sea, leaving her offspring to navigate the world entirely on their own. After hatchlings emerge from their nests, they instinctively make their way to the ocean, guided by the moonlight and the horizon. Their ability to survive depends on instinct and adaptability, not maternal guidance. The opposite of helicopter parenting!

And a special shout out to North America’s marsupial supermom, the humble opossum. After a brief gestation period of only 11-13 days, opossums give birth to jellybean sized offspring called joeys. These newborns will continue to develop inside their mother’s pouch, called a marsupium, latching on to one of her thirteen nipples and snuggling up for the next 2 months. When they emerge, they don’t stray far from mom, hitching rides on her back with the help of their sharp claws and prehensile tails. Mom’s back provides the ideal vantage point for learning about their environment-its risks and its rewards.

M is for Makers

We really enjoyed hosting FEMMERGY, a celebration of female creativity here on May 10th (aka Mothers Day). We mixed up Bloody Marys and raised $500 for Planned Parenthood of Greater New York Action Fund. Northern Dutchess Botanical Gardens popped up with a gorgeous array of plants and flowers. Diane Moroff brought a selection of her beautiful collages. Judy Canham joined us with linens and one-of-a-kind garments under her new label Off the Vine. Jade Craven and her daughter Adele were here with an alluring array of Cats’ View Farm soaps and lotions. Jessica Bard was printing out photos for guests from their phones’ photo libraries, and Morag Benepe brought some of her gift-wrap papers and designs on silk. Our crafty friend Jacqui Rose led an embroidery workshop, and Catarina of Little Rye Bakehouse brought an irresistible assortment of quiches and baked goods.

Craft. Community. They’re good for us!

M is for Memorial

Memorial Day was a gorgeous day here, on the heels of a very rainy weekend. We made headway on cleaning out our garage, following a 14-month home renovation in which it served as a makeshift kitchen, laundry room and ICU unit for injured birds, in addition to its intended use as a place to park cars and store bicycles and other miscellaneous items. It felt good to power through a project and see results in real time. Sadly, the same cannot be said for our family garden, which has been overrun by thistle and seems beyond reclamation at this point.

Memorial Day is the day we honor American service members who died in combat. According to Merriam-Webster, when used as an adjective memorial means “serving to preserve remembrance: commemorative” or “of or relating to memory.” When used as a noun it means “something that keeps remembrance alive, such as a monument, a speech or a ceremony that commemorates, a keepsake or memento.”

How do we properly honor the people and beings we loved and cherished in life once they are gone? This question has accompanied us through a spring heavy with loss - both on farm and off. How do we keep the remembrance of someone or somebeing alive? There is obviously no single answer to this, but it seems the desire to do so unites us as humans.

Robin attended the memorial of a close friend’s husband in Vermont at the beginning of May. In life, Jeff was a dedicated environmentalist, an impactful professor, a committed husband and a devoted father. The friends, colleagues, and students who stood up to share their memories of him all illuminated the meaningful impact one life can have on so many others — whether intended or not. One of Jeff’s favorite stories to read his children was Miss Rumphius, featuring a lupine-loving woman who plants their seeds in the wild. The narrator of the story tells his granddaughter "You must do something to make the world more beautiful." Upon leaving Jeff’s celebration of life, guests were handed small bags of lupine seeds. Although our garden isn’t the most hospitable place this year, we will find a special spot to make the world more beautiful in his honor.

A few days ago, we received the news that we had been both expecting and dreading: the beloved mother of one of our closest friends had passed in the night. Although we didn’t know Sally for very long, we had the good fortune to spend some quality time together in her final years. She and Robin bonded over shared interests and experiences, and they exchanged recommendations of books to read, and shows and movies to watch. Last year, Sally learned about a book on NPR that made her think of Robin, and asked if she’d heard of The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherds Life by Helen Whybrow. Robin hadn’t, and decided to pick it up earlier this month. It is beautiful, and timely, and Robin is savoring every word of it. She discovered that the author taught at the same college as Jeff, whose memorial she had attended earlier this month, and that a friend of his had given him a copy of the book when he was sick. Sally was a dedicated reader of our newsletters and would often send us encouraging little notes after receiving them. She won’t be reading this month’s newsletter, but she is very much still with us.

What We’ve Been Up To Lately

We have been bizzzzzzzy little bees. Popping up here and there to cross-pollinate and share our wares, running our farm store, keeping up on spirit production, managing the health of our flocks, delivering orders, and plotting some fun events for the future, all while maintaining a healthy work/life balance (insert a resounding HA HA HA! here)

We served up forage-inspired cocktails at Forage Fest hosted by Creative Legion in Hudson

Our friend Rachael invited us to join the trunk sale at her interior design and architecture studio Stollar Fearins Welch in NYC

We moved our flock of Freedom Rangers onto pasture when warmer temps finally arrived earlier this month

With some helping hands, we finished labeling our 2nd bottling of Rye

Looking Ahead… some dates of note for on-farm and off-farm fun

Fridays at the Farm: British Invasion / Jam Fest Edition! Friday, May 29 (4-7pm)

Our May FATF comes with a theme! We will be joined by two very talented UK-born artists now living in New York State - one who expresses her creativity through amazing culinary creations, and one who does so through vinyl.

Mimi Beaven: baker and maker of extraordinary skill will be popping up with her otherwordly jams and baked goods.

DJ Misbehaviour-passionate collector of vinyl with eclectic taste will be putting us in the mood to groove with disco, soul and hip hop tunes.

And of course we’ll be here too-serving up cocktails and offering a selection of wines, ciders, beers, NA options and specialty food boards!

Slow Food Hudson Valley Summer Farm Walk at Branchwater Farms - Saturday, June 6 (3-5pm) Join us on a farm walk to benefit Slow Food Hudson Valley. We will take you on a tour of our fields, chatting grain and cover crops, and visiting the many heartbeats who call Branchwater home along the way. A tasting will follow the walk for those interested. Tickets and info here

Pine Plains Community Day - Saturday, June 13 (10am-3pm) We will be joining our neighbors in Pine Plains for their annual event that connects residents with the local farms, businesses, and non-profits serving our region.

On-Farm Dinner - Saturday, June 20 (6pm) We are excited to host our first on-farm dinner, featuring Branchwater chickens and the in-the-moment abundance of Hudson Valley produce. It will be a welcoming family-style meal for 25 guests created by culinary wizard Gina Citarella, with wine pairings from Schatzi Wines and who knows? maybe a spirit or two from Branchwater, the distillery in our backyard. Sounds fun, right? Tickets will be available soon so stay tuned!

Fridays at the Farm - Friday, June 26 (4-7pm) Join us for Fridays at the Farm, an evening celebrating craft and community. Enjoy cocktails featuring Branchwater spirits, or choose from a rotating selection of New York State wines, ciders, and beers. Plenty of nonalcoholic options too! We offer a selection of specialty food boards and you can shop our farm store for local provisions as well. Pull up a chair and meet your neighbors or chill in the lower field with our flock of ducks. Bring a book or your current knitting project. It's Friday - enjoy your time at our farm!

*Pets are not permitted inside the distillery and must be leashed at all times when at the farm.

Hope