A Visit To A New York Farm

by David Farley on

The campers next to us were singing cheerily about crucifixion. About The Crucifixion, I gathered. Something about a large cross they’d erected on their campsite with a live dwarf-like man affixed to it gave me this impression. When a few friends invited me to go camping recently, I jumped at the opportunity to do something I’d never really do. “You? Camping?” my sister said when I announced my weekend plans. Her reaction was as if I’d said I was changing my name to Cletus and moving to Appalachia.

When the campers next to our site broke out the drum kit and plugged in the electric guitars for a Christian rock concert, I knew that my sister (and most people) were right. Camping isn’t for me. But I did have access to a car. And what does one do with a car in Westchester County? According to a set of food-loving friends, the answer is to visit the Blue Hill at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.Whenever I leave New York City I usually end up flying over an ocean or two. I rarely explore what’s just outside the city. But here I was driving up to Blue Hill, a restaurant that recently won the James Beard Award for restaurant of the year. Sadly, I wouldn’t be eating there but just exploring the complex, a vast farm.

The parking lot was full and families and paramours were gawking at chickens and pigs and strolling through the herb garden. I have to admit: I wasn’t exactly sure why people would come here. Besides eating at one of the most lauded restaurants in the country, what’s the appeal?

I watched lazy pigs sleep, curious but shy turkeys gobble. I snatched small tomatoes from the vine and popped them in my mouth. They were some of the best tasting tomatoes I’d ever had. I went to the café and ate a tuna fish sandwich and it was superlative in its freshness and deliciousness. I was starting to see the appeal of this place.

But it wasn’t until I randomly encountered Farmer Jack (that’s how he introduced himself) that my answer was revealed. We began talking about what he does there at the farm and how they farm in a way that makes it all totally self sustainable and that they’re goal is to have zero “inputs,” as he called it; nothing from the outside that they bring in. “We don’t even want to use any fossil fuels,” he said.

And then without me having to ask, he said: “The reason why people should visit this complex is not just to eat at one of the best restaurant’s in the country but to see how real produce is grown and taken care of. We’re so detached from it. And we end up buying the 99-cent head of broccoli and have no idea why that’s bad and what it does (and doesn’t do) to our environment and food systems. Coming here,” he added, “you can reconnect with how your food is grown.”

It all made sense. He was preaching to the converted. If people didn’t leave here feeling different about produce or feeling like they got something out if it, I know of a good campsite they could spend the weekend at.

[Photo by David Farley]

British Cyclist Chris Froome Wins 2013 Tour De France

by Kraig Becker on

The 100th edition of the Tour de France will come to a dramatic end today when the riders arrive in Paris at last. For the past three weeks the best cyclists in the world have been battling it out on the roads of France for the right to wear the famed maillot jaune – better known as the “yellow jersey” – that designates the current leader of the race. As the peloton turns toward the finish line later today it will be Chris Froome, captain of the Sky Procycling team, who will be in yellow, and since the final stage of the race is uncontested, he’ll head for home knowing that he is already the winner.

Froome, who was born in Kenya but carries a British passport, took control of the race early on with a stunning ride in the early mountain stages of the Pyrenees. His impressive climbing skills left all other contenders in the dust, including former champs Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck. Later he was able to widen his lead by dominating two individual time trials and although he looked a bit more vulnerable in the Alps, he still managed to gain time on his closest rivals.

While today’s ride is technically the final stage, there is an unwritten rule in the peloton that you don’t attack the yellow jersey on the ride to Paris. With more than a five-minute advantage on the next closest rider, it would be impossible for a competitor to actually make up that much ground anyway. Instead, Froome will enjoy a leisurely ride into Paris where the sprinters will take center stage on the Champs Élysées. That will prove to be a fast and furious scene that the race winner is generally happy to stay well clear of.

Since this was the 100th anniversary of the Tour, the organizers of the event went out of their way to make things special. In the opening days, the race visited the island of Corsica for the first time ever. Later, they punished the riders with some of the toughest stages that have ever been a part of the race, including a double ascent of the famed mountain stage of Alpe d’Huez, on the same day no less. Today may be the best day of all, however, as the riders will embark late in the afternoon from the gardens at Versailles and will arrive in Paris as the sun is going down. They’ll then pedal through the courtyard at the Louvre before making their way to the Champs Élysées, where they’ll race around the Arc de Triomphe for the first time. It should make for a very memorable finish that will leave fans of the race counting the days until its return next year.

‘Phantom Menace’ Set Getting Buried By Tunisian Desert

by Sean McLachlan on

Darth Vader’s childhood home will soon be covered by a giant sand dune, the BBC reports.

The collection of buildings in the Tunisian desert was used to portray Mos Espa, a spaceport on Tatooine that was home to Anakin Skywalker, later Darth Vader, in “The Phantom Menace.” Unfortunately they were built on a dune field, a large open area where windblown dunes called barchans gradually migrate over the desert.

Scientists studying the movement of the crescent-shaped dunes, slowly pushed in the direction of the prevailing wind, have used the buildings as a marker point. One barchan is now approaching the set and will eventually bury it. Of course, the dune will move on and the buildings will be revealed once again, but the massive weight of the sand may crush the roofs, while the moving sands will abrade the surfaces.

This isn’t the first Star Wars set to be under threat from the harsh terrain of Tunisia. Last year we reported how the childhood home of Luke Skywalker was saved by a group of fans after it was found to be in a state of disrepair.

Who knows? Maybe a small army of science fiction fans, armed with shovels, will descend on Mos Espa and defy nature by moving the barchan in a different direction. May the Force be with them.

(And by the Force I mean the original concept of the Force as a metaphor for the eternal struggle of good vs. evil in all of us, not the lame-ass subatomic virus it became in the later films. Yeah, give me a shovel. I’ll be there.)

An Octogenarian’s Himalayan Adventure (VIDEO)

by Kraig Becker on

Who says you have to give up an adventurous life just because you get a little older? Certainly not Simon Gandolfi, an 80-year-old writer who just so happens to be on a journey from Delhi to London aboard a 125 CC TVS Phoenix motorcycle. In the video below we get a chance to experience part of Simon’s adventure as he rides up the Rohtang Pass in India and into the Himalayan State of Himachal Pradesh. To call the roads he rides treacherous would be an understatement but the views along the way look absolutely spectacular.

I hope I’m still taking on adventures like this when I’m in my 80s. Simon is an inspiration, even if he does look absolutely exhausted at the end.