Camille-Beau

Anyone going to Palena or Dino tonight? (we haven't decided which one yet...)

We'll be at the new farm in Trappe tomorrow. If you want to help put up the frame on the next greenhouse, please PM me or DonRocks. Thanks!

You should try The Capital restaurant [replaced by Outlaw's in 2013] located in The Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge -- very near Harrod's & several museums. The restaurant has two Michelin stars under chef Eric Chavot and is excellent! Also recommend staying at the hotel itself. Not much beats room service from a 2-star chef

Michelin rates NY restaurants

Perhaps we need to revisit since our first (and only) visit yielded surprisingly few selections in most areas (meat & veggies specifically), particularly for the cost.

Perfect weather on Sunday (Oct 30) at the new farm. The remaining plastic was pulled over the roof and the doors were completed on the first 200' greenhouse, with most of the fragile plants now inside: the Thyme! micro mint for Zaytinya: David ask that we post his heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone for all of your hard work and support in helping him get to this point in the move. Without the volunteer effort, all of the plants currently in the greenhouse would have been lost -- they were actually moved in the day of the first frost!! There are a number of somewhat hardier plants still outside waiting for their house to be completed. So, the work on Sunday consisted of turning this: into this: Took a few hours for two of us to connect just 20 of the 50 total support beams for the 300' greenhouse slated for construction: David spent the day leveling the field for the new greenhouse: Plastic pull next weekend perhaps??? AND -- your donations have provided funds to cover 130 hours of labor!! Many many thanks to all of you for your generosity -- 130 hours will supply a significant amount of work toward the completion of the move. You guys are awesome! Heading home (behind David on the tractor): 'Til next week... -Camille & Beau

This just reminded me of why I hate buying cars. Can't imaging making such a large purchase from a guy who reminds me of "Crazy Eddie"

And the hammering continues.... Beau and I will not be at the farm tomorrow (Saturday) but will venture out on Sunday, arriving by 10am. Anyone is welcome to go either day, though, so if you want to work on setting up greenhouse #2, please contact me or DonRocks for directions to the new (Trappe) farm. Thanks!

This sounds good: Pumpkin Pot de Crème

Email message from The American Institute of Wine and Food ( AIWF):

Cleveland Park, perhaps?

So if one of us opened a bakery specializing in really good cupcakes, would you all become patrons?

From AIWF:

We're now rolling toward today's 6pm deadline for collecting donations that will be matched by our generous and anonymous donor. The magic number is $500 so please follow hillvalley's Paypal info to make your donation. Many thanks going out to those of you who have done so. Along with everyone who has worked at the farm, your generosity is overwhelming!

We've been to Bouchon in Napa Valley twice -- the first time because it was the only place open past 11pm in Yountville and the second because the food and service were awesome. Based upon the reports of the Vegas clone, it sounds like they've successfully replicated a very good restaurant. If we're going to get another McRestaurant, then this would be one of the better choices.

Very sorry that Beau and I had to miss this (home to feed the dogs...), but thanks again you guys for coming out on such a crappy day. Saturday, Oct 22 -- GREAT TURNOUT!! Saturday dawned bright and sunny..... oh, wait... that was my DREAM about Saturday, not the reality. Since the weather forecast was, unfortunately, correct (rain, wind, etc.) the old farm (Hurlock), was the place to be Saturday morning. Beau worked on gutter removal: while Babka and Beth Cover dove headfirst into the dill gutters (along with Pete, a member of the Lankford's farm team), cleaning out the old plants & soil destined for the compost heap: Some progress made by Beau and David: Reinforcements arrived! Crackers, Jacques Gastreaux and Tweaked joined in the fun just as David decided the rain had ceased enough for us to work on the new greenhouse at the Trappe location. During lunch David regaled us with interesting stories about his time in Alaska while in the Air Force. Afterward, we caravaned to the new site with Beth demonstrating impressive automobile maneuvering while navigating the rugged driveway out of the farm!! At the Trappe location, the framework was up on the first greenhouse: but still needed additional parts like support pipes in the roof and boards added to the frame for connecting the plastic sheeting. I somehow ended up with the easy (and rather fun) job of driving Chuck up and down the length of the greenhouse frame to install the support pipes: The rest of the team had the difficult job of accurately placing the boards on the outside of the frame. Every bracket needed to be placed in precisely the right location (and with the right power tool!): Saturday ended with the support pipes installed on one side of the roof and a row of boards along the other. Great progress towards getting the greenhouse ready for the plastic! Sunday, Oct 23 -- what a difference 12 hours can make! Ok, so the dream was right about the weather, but for the wrong day. Sunday was beautiful - sunny, blue skies and WINDY in the morning (luckily no wind later in the day.) David and Pete started early to complete the installation of the boards along the other side of the frame. I hopped onto my now favorite farm implement, the 'trusty' John Deere, to start working with Chuck on hooking up the piping along the other side of the frame. Turned the key and.... nothing. So David to the rescue. After some creative 'fixing' of the battery, the tractor started and the work began: Side note: As much as I liked driving the tractor, my lack of skill was sadly evident later in the day when I hit the control lever used for raising/lowering the basket and accidently dumped poor Chuck out on the ground -- again, very sorry about that Chuck! (apology number 1,001). To his credit, he laughed and jumped right back on the tractor so we could finish the job. Meantime, Beau and David added the metal rail to the wooden boards where the brackets would be placed to hold the plastic: tying sections of the plastic to one end of the ropes: that were tossed 'cowboy-style' over the top of the greenhouse, then pulling the plastic up and over the roof to the other side (who knew plastic could be so heavy!!): Headin' home: David planned to finish installing the plastic Monday just in time to protect most of the plants. Good timing, considering the weather report for this week (down in the 30's at night!). He said they'll lose the plants that won't fit in the first house, but most of them can now be saved. This was a MAJOR milestone in the project and many many thanks to everyone for your help in getting to this point! Obviously there is still a massive amount of work to do, but reaching this significant goal shows that it can be done. Thanks for reading the post and THANKS FOR SUPPORTING THIS EFFORT!!! -Camille & Beau (Pat & Barry)

The gauntlet has been tossed: Beginning at 6:01pm today through Wed., October 26 at 6pm, any donation made to hillvalley's Paypal address will be matched, DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR, by an anonymous (and very generous!!!) donor, up to a total of $500!! Please log into Paypal.com and follow Hillvalley's instructions for donating to the farm. How's that for a challenge?

Ok, the plan for Saturday is as follows: Since it will likely be raining tomorrow, we will work on the large greenhouse at the old farm (Hurlock location -- PM if you need directions and telephone numbers) with target arrival by 10am (earlier is totally fine!) If anyone other than Babka needs transportation, please let us know. The work (if raining) will include clearing plants from gutters, removing gutters from the wooden stands, cutting the gutters into 16' sections, removing and stacking the wooden stands on pallets. This is a continuation of the work we've been doing in the large greenhouse. Recommended items/clothing: Change of clothes (you'll be wet and dirty at the end of the day) Work boots - waterproof if you have them Work gloves (although we have PLENTY of them if you don't) Earplugs (have those as well) Safety goggles for anyone cutting gutters (we have about 4 pairs available) Cordless drills (also have 3 of those) Hammer or sledgehammer Ratchet/socket wrenches, etc. We have a lot of these tools already, but feel free to bring along your own if you prefer. We'll have two chop saws available (David, I have a new 14" blade sitting here on my desk!) for cutting the gutters. Bring a sandwich if you like. We'll have everything else, including lots of bottled water and sodas. If it isn't raining, then there may be other work at the old farm such as taking apart other greenhouse frames and removing anchor posts. The most important work to do, again if not raining, will be at the new farm near Trappe - construction of the greenhouses that are so desperately needed to protect the plants. Therefore we may start out at the old farm and travel to the new farm, weather permitting. As many of you already know, the long driveway into the old farm is very rutted in several places, particularly when it's been raining so be careful. If you don't feel that you can get down the drive, then feel free to park out at the entrance and call me or the farm for an SUV pickup PM me if you need those contact numbers. Can't say it often enough -- thank you all SO MUCH for generously giving up your Saturday to work at the farm (ditto on the generosity for those of you contributing financially!). Here is the tentative list of volunteers for tomorrow: Babka Beth Cover (and friend!) Black Sheep Crackers CrescentFresh Jacques Gastreaux Tweaked (only coming for the hash brownies) Please don't let the rain be a deterrent from working at the farm. It'll make for an interesting drive out to the Eastern Shore and the ground will be wet in places inside the greenhouse, but the majority of the roof is still covered in plastic (with only a few spots open to the rain) so it won't be raining on you. Also, Sunday is another workday option so if you prefer to work that day instead, please PM me. Since the weather will be MUCH better (partly cloudy - no rain currently in the forecast) that would be the best day to get the greenhouses setup at the new farm, something that concerns David the most at this point. See ya tomorrow! -Pat & Barry

A woman walked up to Cathal Armstrong at the Share Our Strength charity event this past Monday and wrote a check on the spot for $250 based upon the story in the Sun and on this website. Very cool.

Why do you think we keep going back?

Yeah, yeah I know, lame bribe (did I mention they were hash brownies?)

and -- I promise to make the Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies again for this weekend

The fun you missed last weekend: Saturday - 15th, sunny, warm, WINDY: THYME'S UP!! Beth Cover (new "Farmer Rockwellian" (FR)) pulled up the last of the now-dead thyme (still smells great though, unlike most dead things...) at the Old Farm (Hurlock) to be added to the compost heap for use in planting gutters at the New Farm (Trappe). Meanwhile, Porcupine (back for more!) worked with Beau to take apart the 50 frames from one 300' greenhouse so that it could be moved to Trappe. IMPORTANT DISCOVERY: Sledgehammers (even when the head keeps falling off the handle) -- way easier for separating stubborn pipes that somehow mysteriously welded themselves together over time than the original plan of picking up the pipes and dropping them 'til they separate... Mission accomplished! Yep, still there: View on the roadtrip between farms: Sunday - 16th - Sunny, not-so-warm, still WINDY !: PROJECT GREENHOUSE at Trappe: (with the exception of Monique DC (new FR!) who started at Hurlock cleaning out the last of the tomato plants, then joined us at Trappe) Objective today: Complete the setup of one greenhouse - unfortunately mission NOT accomplished but the anchor pipes were put into place. Took us all afternoon to pound 100 pipes into two rows using the laser-thingy mentioned before to help with the alignment and depth. David, as always, available to help with the transfer of knowledge: (So who's whistling?? -- oh it's the wind through the holes in the pipes -- the only sound at the Trappe location to be heard other than sledgehammering and the honking of ducks/geese flying overhead. Did I mention they have a bald eagle family as new neighbors??) John switching from Hurlock to help: Just a reminder of what needs to be protected and what has been moved by everyone working so hard on this project: End of the day at the farm.... or so you think Hey, a full moon rising -- hammering by moonlight!! Ok, so NOW it's the end of the day (for us volunteers, at least): Gettin' rather chilly out on the peninsula -- just a reminder that the first FROST is very very close, so this weekend is the drop-dead date to get at least one greenhouse frame up and covered in plastic. Unfortunately with rain forecast for Saturday, it looks like the work that day will be back at Hurlock, working in the large greenhouse (see photo above ) to remove plants/soil from the gutters, taking down the gutters, cutting the gutters, oh -- did I mention that there were a lot of GUTTERS??!!! David has decided to sacrifice the strawberries since they cannot easily be moved to Trappe. They are taking runners from the plants but once that is completed, the strawberries will be joining the compost heap for reincarnation as soil for new plants. Lots of work to do in the large greenhouse. Since Sunday is supposed to be less-rainy than Saturday, then that may be the new Project Greenhouse COMPLETION Day. So any and all willing participants, both veterans and new recruits, who have prior experience working on the railroad or in a chain gang (or who just want to pound the living daylights out of heavy metal pipes - 100 down, about 1,400 left to go), please let me or DonRocks know if you can help and for which day (Saturday 22 or Sunday 23). We'll send directions to both Hurlock and Trappe locations. As always, donations are greatly appreciated - see hillvalley's post for more info on that. Thanks!! -Camille (Pat)

Yeah, doesn't seem to be a issue for the lounge. Have been rather casual there myself. -Camille

No jackets or ties required. Beau usually wears business casual. - nice slacks/shirt. All Eve asks via their sign out front that you not wear jeans. -Camille