A Little Down Time...

Kids Unplugged is taking a brief blogging hiatus during the month of July. Join us for Saturdays at the Farm in Fishkill when we have our Adventures with Chickens and Eggs on July 11th or for our other upcoming farm dates.

The August calendar will be posted soon.

Until then!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Thanks to the unyielding support, in all kinds of weather, of our Kids Unplugged enthusiasts, our last Wacky Wednesday walk was a delight. Pulling into the parking lot at the Rockwood Hall trailhead this afternoon I was greeted by a sea of brightly colored slickers and large umbrellas tailgating in the pouring, pouring rain. Zoiks. It's been some June.

We waited a good 20-minutes for the deluge to clear and
capitalized on the spots of blue between the clouds to hit the trail.


The view of the Hudson as we crested the hill was spectacular as usual and though the swamp under the great beech tree made it a bit too mucky for climbing, the hemlocks were the star destination that they always are.

After a some solid climbing time, we headed for a quick loop around the eastern foundation trail for some nice puddle stomping and a hearty run-around. As we started back uphill toward the foundation, so did the rain, and we got a bit of a soaking as we made our way back down to the start of the trail, the Tappan Zee Bridge now hidden by clouds and fog.

Many thanks to all of your for your support and enthusiasm for Wacky Wednesdays this past 6 months. It's been great fun and we'll start up again in September.

Happy Summer!

Midsummer Fairies at the Farm

Today marked our first official Saturday on the Farm at Fishkill Farms and we spent it celebrating the summer solstice on this cloudy June morning.

There were several families who arrived to join us and the kids spent some time checking out the cherry trees and visiting the chickens while parents registered for the program and got situated. Our first activity was to make wildflower jewelry, namely daisy crowns and clover necklaces. The table was strewn with daisies and while the mommies spent a bit more time on this craft than did the children--splitting the daisy stems was a bit challenging for little fingers to negotiate--the results were lovely. In fact, some of the mommies set out on the trail with their own floral adornments! The children enjoyed collecting clover from the surrounding hillside to tie into necklaces and bracelets as well.

We then gathered together to listen to some midsummer folklore and history before heading out for our hike. We talked about the importance of the sun to farmers and folks depending on a successful harvest for their own livelihoods. We talked about buying vegetables in the grocery store versus growing them ourselves. We talked of bonfires and dancing in honor of the upcoming harvest. And we talked about the mystical energy of the solstice, the most magical night of the year, when Puck and his fellow fairy folk come out to frolic in the lingering midsummer sun.

With the kids' fairy pumps well-primed (with help from a fantastic flower fairy book by Cicely Mary Barker) and armed with baskets to collect items with which we would decorate our soon-to-be-built fairy houses, we set out for the magical fairy woodland. The kids were completely into the magic at this point and everything along the trail became a piece of something that a fairies or elves would be happy to have in their homes. They were wary of pixies, the tricky fairies who try to lead unsuspecting folks awry into the woods as they filled the baskets with wildflowers, leaves, berries, interesting sticks and a variety of stones.

A hush fell over the group as we got to the entrance to the magic woodland. They stepped gingerly along the trail, over the ankle-deep, fluffy ground cover that filled the little clearing. They quickly found their own special spots to build their own fairy houses, darting here and there to collect other items or retrieve things from the baskets to use in their construction. A bit hesitant at first, most of the kids quickly engaged themselves in the project while the parents were a bit giddy in their joining in. I sometimes wonder who enjoys building fairy houses more, myself or my girls, and these parents were no different. Abodes from the tiny to the more elaborate quickly emerged from the forest floor replete with thatched roofs and daisy entryways.

The children then spent a bit of time visiting the others' houses and then gathered together under the shelter of some trees for a story before hiking back through the
meadows to the farm.


It was a special morning for all.






Many thanks to Jamie Gehman, Kids Unplugged star graphic artist (see our great logos) for the great shot of our magical woodland.

Puddle Stomping at the Rye Nature Center

This past Friday for our Early Summer Stroll of the week, Kids Unplugged visited the Rye Nature Center. This is a spot that I've wanted to get to for some time and it is a lovely place. A series of unmarked trails traverse the 52-acre property. Many of of these are interconnecting, include two numbered nature trails, and travel through varied terrain including woodland, wetlands, streams, fields and a pond. There is a small nature center with a host of native and non-native animals to visit and seasonal displays to explore. There is also an evolving "nature's playground" where the kids can climb and play before and after a hike along the trails.

Our visit began, understandably, at the playground as we waited for folks to arrive before heading out on the trail. With all the wet weather as of late, the trails were peppered with puddles and mud, much to the children's delight. In fact, the highlight of the hike was when, on our search for the pond, we came upon an area of low-woodland that was largely flooded by rain water. The kids took to the lake-like puddle with fairly reckless abandon, and trudged through with soggy joy. In that vein, we encountered something today that we haven't had much of recently (and for which I was not prepared) mosquitoes. They started to nail us around the flood area and whenever we stood still for too long, causing us to make tracks back to the nature center for some time with the animals.

The kids saw and pet the corn snake, wondered about giant hissing cockroaches from Madagascar (sorry, yuck), cooed over the chinchilla, and watched the bees entering and leaving their hive with pollen stuck to their hairy legs. We then went outside to find a spot along the rocks for a story and a lunch picnic before heading back to the playground for another quick romp before heading out.

A nice time and a place to return to soon.

(My camera battery was dead today so we'll have to wait for Debbie's great shots!).

Navigating Our Way Through Hardscrabble

Our hike in the Hardscrabble Wilderness Area in Pleasantville was an exercise in navigational skills. The intention was to hike part of the way along the white trail (the longest trail in the park at 1.5 miles) to loop back around on the orange trail. I'm pretty sure we passed the orange trail thinking that it was red as the initial blaze seemed pretty bright though those we saw down trail from the turnoff looked decidedly red, so we stayed on the white trail. This was essentially fine, though it did make for a longer than anticipated hike. The kids did very well, better than some of us parents in fact, though they reached the trail's end pretty tired and hungry for an after school hike.

The park itself is very beautiful. Forested trails wend their ways through woodlands, crossing streams via stone, wood and stepping stone bridges, winding through an area of wetlands, and climbing up a decent hill. There were many spots for exploration, climbing and foraging. The kids spotted various fungi (after all the damp weather) on the forest floor. They were fascinated by a huge stone cairn along the trail. They spied a toad camoflauged among the leaves, peeked down into ravines and poked the bottom with sticks to measure its depth, scaled boulders, traversed streams, and snuggled with a couple of mini-dacshunds at trail's end (and I had very cute pictures of this and sadly they got lost in the download).

This is one of our last Wacky Wednesdays for a while (next Wednesday at Rockwood Hall will welcome summer vacation) and I must comment on how impressed I am with the kids in their abilities on the trail. In only six months many of our Wacky Wednesday regulars have learned how to read both maps and blazes, are more confident on tricky areas of the trail, have learned a bit of trail etiquette and have much greater stamina for the hike.

I'm so glad to have all of you joining us each week!

Opening Day at Fishkill Farms

This past Saturday marked the first day of the market season at Fishkill Farms. The farm was in full swing all day today--the beautifully renovated farm market was filled with customers, freshly picked produce and delicious local products. Visitors lingered to walk around the farm and listen to the Wahoo String Band on the terrace while enjoying the spectacular view of the farm and the lush green of its surrounding hills and meadows.


And, happily, the kickoff for Saturdays on the Farm was great fun. Throughout the day, Kids Unplugged at Fishkill Farms had a steady stream of children and parents delivering the findings from their farm quests, doing farm-inspired watercolor paintings, visiting with some very sweet chicks, and making hand-made wild flower presses. All of the activities were stationed at a couple of rustic picnic tables set high on the hill overlooking the orchards, fields, gardens and chickens below.

The response to our upcoming summer series was overwhelmingly positive. Many of the local parents enthusiastically proclaimed, "We've been waiting for something like this around here!" and proceeded to register for either several sessions or the entire series. At the same time, a solid contingent of supporters from Westchester were there sporting their Kids Unplugged t-shirts, helping care for the slighly nervous chicks, dancing along with the fiddler and eating omelettes and baked goodies and native strawberries from the farm market.

Josh and Hannah were beaming throughout the day. Their smiles were well-earned after the months of hard work that has gone into launching their incredible venture--transitioning the farm over to organic production, creating a 5-acre vegetable garden with the help of two seasoned organic growers, planting hundreds of new apple, peach and apricot trees including several heirloom varieties, and welcoming to the farm a new flock of sheep. All of this in the midst of losing the farm's 100-year old timber-peg barn and its adjacent workshed and cold-storage rooms only three weeks prior to opening day.

With this kind of energy and enthusiasm, the upcoming season holds infinite promise. It is very exciting to be joining the Fishkill Farms community and I look forward to the adventures of the coming months.

Early Summer Stroll at Halsey Pond

Finally after days and days and days of rain, the sky cleared just long enough for us to get a nice early afternoon hike in at the ever-charming Halsey Pond. This time we were here for the first in our June series of Early Summer Strolls and the demographic was decidedly toddler. Handfuls of gravel from the path flew from chubby hands with gleeful abandon into the pond. Baby ducks paddled quickly towards their mama much to our brood's delight. Tall grasses were great places to play hide and peek out.

And a little spigot of rushing water became an irresistible attraction for our hand-washing, sensory-loving crowd of preschoolers (hands that only moments before were squishing in the muddy puddles left behind by the recent rains).

We strolled and chatted and picnicked on the terrace of the Beltzhoover Teahouse while the kids ran and mooched and tormented us by trying to boost themselves up onto the Teahouse walls. The sun was warm and the path was steamy after the morning rain. We headed back down the trail, lots of dirty little kids ready for a nap.

It was wonderful to have new families join us today and I look forward to seeing everyone next time.

Cascades in Croton

Heading over the bridge as you enter Croton Gorge Park the first thing you see, depending upon the season and recent rainfall, is a rush of water coming out of a side opening in the New Croton Dam. If this is your first visit to this park you may think, "oh, that's cool," believing that gushing water to be the cascade through the dam from the New Croton Resevoir on the other side. Drive a two seconds further, and you will find yourself bursting fourth with, "Whoaa! Look at that!" Because when the entire dam comes into view, it is spectacular, awesome, breathtaking.

We were fortunate enough to visit Croton Gorge Park after several days of rainfall and the water roaring over the spillway was at its most impressive. Standing beside the dam you could feel the spray of the falls as you shouted to make yourself heard over the powerfully cascading water.

The dam itself stands 200-feet high and unless you notice the tiny picnic table beneath the tree, it is difficult to envision its massive scale from the title photo. The kids spent a good long while scaling the face of the dam, their first lesson in climbing rock face, while we waited for everyone to arrive.

The trail itself, aptly called the River Trail as it follows the Croton River for much of its length, was great for exploration and adventure, however, its blazing system is in need of some recovery. Fortunately, there was only one trail to follow, right along the river, and because it was narrow and curvy with lots of areas for side visits to the riverbank for log balancing and stone throwing, we moved at the pace of the kids and turned back before we needed to find the loop.

And explore they did. There was ample opportunity for poking around the rocks and sand and foam along the shores of the river. They hopped along stepping stones to reach tiny sandbar-like penninsula that jutted out into the river's shallow edges. Rocks and stones were gathered for tossing, sticks were collected and used to dig and pretend to fish. And one fascinating, prehistoric insect was found on the trail among the dark carpet of damp leaves. We still need to figure out what it was!

A little playground beyond the parking area and a visit with some friendly, wet doggies finished our visit for this Wacky Wednesday.

Debbie's pictures from today are fantastic. To view all of them visit her website:
http://debbieallanphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/8515620_uyqHi#560516859_tEu3U

Meet the Chicks!

Tuesday afternoon my girls and I headed up to spend some time at Fishkill Farms, learn the lay of the land a bit, and meet the new arrivals to the farm--a brand-new batch of baby, Rhode Island Red chicks--who would become the newest flock of laying hens at the farm.

First off, here's a bit of history about Fishkill Farms. In 1913, Henry Morgenthau Jr. (the U.S. Treasury Secretary from 1934-1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt) purchased land in East Fishkill, New York and started an apple orchard, dairy, and chicken farm. The farm was eventually passed down to Henry's son Robert Morgenthau, Manhattan's 9-term District Attorney, who kept it running for many years with the help of a farm manager. After the farm manager retired (about fifteen years ago), the land was leased to other area farmers. Until recently, that is. In 2007, Josh Morgenthau, Robert's son, a fine-arts graduate from Yale University, decided to take the helm, initiating a long-overdue revival of this beautiful, nearly 300-acre farm in southern Dutchess County.

Josh, who spent summers on the farm as a kid, has a passionate interest in farming and the environment. His biggest project this season has been planting a 5-acre organic vegetable garden in addition to the nearly 50-acres of fruit trees on the farm. The vegetables are grown completely without the use of either pesticides or herbicides and the garden is under the management of Fox and Julia, who are experienced organic growers.

To the orchard Josh has added several varieties of heirloom apples as he works toward minimizing the need for spraying pesticides on his trees. He currently utilizes a carefully monitored Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system. When plucking some baby apples off the trees for my girls to examine he mentioned that they'd been recently sprayed. He went on to say that he feels very strongly about the detrimental effects of pesticides on the ecosystems of the farm and beyond and that when he has to spray at all he chooses products with the lowest levels of toxicity available.

The farm also has a small flock of hair sheep (they shed rather than need to be sheared) and several new lambs were born this spring. The sheep will be used to help improve the pasture and maintain the grass in the orchard.

The girls and I had a lovely time exploring the farm with Josh and his girlfriend, Hannah Geller, who are very excited to have Kids Unplugged join the Fishkill Farms community. Josh and Hannah were generous in both time and spirit, helping the girls navigate their way through the tall meadow grass, pointing out the prickly nettles, and patiently waiting as they stopped to examine wildflowers and insects and roll around on the spongy woodland floor.

I think we're going to have some fun.

Not-so-Sunny Ridge Preserve!

Today's very rainy Wacky Wednesday was spent at the beautiful Sunny Ridge Preserve in Ossining. Slated to become a housing development in the late 1990s, the town of New Castle worked to acquire the land for open space wetland protection and just last spring turned it into a nature preserve. The land is home to a variety of wildlife habitats including fragile areas of wetlands. Visitors can explore some of the preserve's 77-acres along a 2.8-mile system of carefully blazed, well-maintained trails.

Our hike today followed along the southern red trail toward the pond and then wended its way up and over hills, along and across streams and through fern-filled woods. Throughout our entire hike, which lasted about an hour and a half, it was pouring. But we only knew that from the sound of the rain as it landed on the umbrella of leafy trees far over our heads. While we did emerge from the spongy forest trail rather soaked, we got slowly and happily soaked during our time in this spectacular woodland gem. It may not have been sunny there today but Sunny Ridge was a joyful place to be.

And besides, as our favorite photographer Debbie Allan noted, we've had so many sunny, flower-filled Wacky Wednesdays that maybe the pictures were getting just the tiniest bit boring.

Who's Who-Whooing in Your Backyard?

Welcome to the information post about the Mianus River Gorge Preserve's Citizen Science Project, Who's Who-Whooing in Your Backyard. This is a fantastic summer project for families throughout the next three months, June-August. It would be wonderful if many Kids Unplugged folks got involved.

MRGP is enlisting residents from Westchester, Putnam, and Fairfield Counties as "citizen scientists" this summer to determine the region-wide distribution of two common owl species--the eastern screech owl (Megascops asio) and the barred owl (Strix varia) along an urban-rural gradient north of New York City.

The project is also looking for evidence of two other species, the great-horned owl (Bubo virginianus) and the saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) though the saw-whet owl is migratory and will be surveyed in the fall-winter seasons.For more information about these owls visit http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

Participating in the study couldn't be easier. Simply email your name, address and phone number to owlcall@mianus.org. You will then receive a password that will enable you to access participant-only parts of the website.

After receiving your password, download the owl calls from the website, burn them onto a cd or an ipod and follow the study guidelines outlined on the Owl Call site (http://www.mianus.org/owlcall/guidelines.html) throughout the summer.

For more information visit http://www.mianus.org/owlcall/index.html

Please post below if you plan to participate and let us know your experiences in the coming months. I think this is going to be very cool!