Seed & Spoon Culinary Farm Stay: A Taste Of The Farming Life
The website says “All our visitors leave with something quite beautiful. Whether it’s produce. Or memories.”
To that I would add connection. In a hands-on, two-day culinary farm stay in Husky Meadows Farm in Norfolk, Conn., connection was the through-line as we experienced the farm-to-table cycle. It was peppering the farmer with questions as he walked us around the two-acre organic CSA garden; talking food with Tracy Hayhurst, farmer, chef, and food educator; and sharing it all — particularly the magnificent meals — with the other guests. And because there was a mindfulness portion to the weekend’s activities, the connection was inward, too, as we used our five senses to explore the landscape and take some quiet moments to appreciate all the encounters.
The Sustainability and Mindfulness Weekends at Husky Farms are the brainchild of Hayhurst, who had been the farm’s manager. A few years ago, she approached the owners, David and Dominique Low, about building a kitchen and adding an educational component in which to share the farm-to-table philosophy. That germ of an idea grew into an airy, timber-framed barn with plenty of space for group cooking, dining and relaxing. There are two spacious and well-appointed suites above and behind the kitchen. Additional lodgings include the “chicken coop,” now an elegant two-story cottage, and rooms above the garage that are currently under renovation.
Guests gathering peas for for a meal
Hayhurst named the barn and program Seed & Spoon and began to develop the culinary farm stay programming. Her goal was to encourage guests to get a behind-the scenes view of the inner working of an organic farm, and to consider the intersection of farming, food and culture. Although the farm stay offering is a new venture, Hayhurst has designed a schedule of activities that provide a well-rounded perspective of small-scale farming and the practices of a sustainable table. Just as important, she has factored in many opportunities to engage in insightful discussions with the other guests. On this weekend, there was a core group of three, along with several friends of the farm who dropped in for meals and good conversation.
A welcome dinner on Friday evening, beginning with the pea and mint soup, was the first sign this would be an extraordinary weekend. Saturday morning we were greeted with a breakfast of quiche, scones and muffins, and fruit. Hayhurst, bustling about before heading to the Norfolk farmers market to sell Husky Meadows produce, introduced us to Adam Buggy, who brought us up to the two-acre vegetable-flower-herb garden and chicken coop.
The land, he told us, was formerly a dairy farm that had left the soil depleted. In the past several years, Husky Meadows farmers have been working the soil with organic, no-till methods, and it’s been a trial-and-error process. Each year they accrue knowledge of what works, and the rows of growing vegetables are testament to that. On orders from Hayhurst, we all picked peas, turnips, radishes and lemon balm for the evening’s meal. We also met the 50 chickens (whose coop is so nice the owner often sits inside to work on his laptop) and observed CSA members picking up their weekly shares.
“This is why we do it,” Buggy said. “It’s all for the harvest.” Despite the challenges involved in farming — weather, insects, soil conditions, the endless weeding — Buggy said he loves the work and would do it for the rest of his life, if he can.
What's for dinner, picked fresh by the guests
Following lunch, we had “baking with Steve.” That’s Steve Archaski, the head baker and prepared foods chef. We helped with the preparation of choux au craquelin with lemon cream and berries, which would be our dessert at dinner. It sounds fancy — and it is — but it’s not complicated, a valuable lesson for someone who might be leery of taking on a French dessert.
Midafternoon’s activity brought us Sandrine Harris, a mindfulness, Feldenkrais and Somatic Experience trainer, who brought us to the owners’ landscaped garden. She encouraged us to slow down and use all our senses as we took ourselves on a private 15-minute exploration of the environment — its nooks and crannies, fountains, plantings, sculptures, and birdsong. Harris took us through a gentle movement sequence and, back inside the sunroom, we gazed out the picture window at the trees and sky in silence. She ended the practice with a meditation in a relaxing Shraavana. It was helpful to have those moments to process all we’d learned and observed, and to consider the connections between the land, our senses, the food, and, now, our new friends.
We three eager beavers were happy to help Hayhurst prepare dinner using the produce we’d picked in the morning. The menu: risotto with sugar snap peas, halibut with chervil (from her kitchen garden steps from the cooking barn), butter-braised radishes and turnips with tarragon, and shaved fennel salad with chervil and lemon balm dressing. And, of course, our choux for dessert.
Firepit patio overlooking the wildflower native plant meadow
With Sunday brunch called for 10:30, we could take a hike on the trails through the woods, visit Norfolk or just wander the property. Having developed an easy rapport, however, the three of us opted to hang out with each other and Hayhurst as she prepared yet another excellent meal. Joining us was Marleen VanGulick of nearby Beavertides Farm, who told us her story: how she pivoted from living in Queens and working at the United Nations, to beekeeping and raising goats (and children) in Norfolk with her husband, Dan Carr, sharing another example of the lived farming experience.
The conversations were stimulating, leaving our minds filled with new thoughts and appreciation for the work of all the people we met, and with the gifts of nature. On Saturday, Harris had shared a poem with us that encompassed the entire weekend and set the intention for this story.
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
― Mary Oliver
from Red Bird: Poems
Private groups looking to arrange a Seed and Spoon Culinary Stay at Husky Meadows Farm are encouraged to contact Tracy Hayhurst by phone (860) 540-4757 or email.
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