Julio’s Musings Around Columbia County, New York

How to deal with the high and rising cost of food? Well here at the Miyares Farm already starting to eat what we sow! Arugula, Spinach, Tomatoes , Corn, Blueberries and more.
This year only planted a small patch but expect to increase to an acre or more by 2009. The plans also call for a hen house for fresh eggs.
The photo was taken early in the day , June 14th 2008 to be exact to the day. The land looked parched and it was but had a deluge late in the afternoon which brought much needed relief for what has been a dry late spring.
Rasputin, the guard dog at the Miyares Farm poses defiantly for the camera in the photo to the left next to a row of Tomato plantings.

Tags: Miyares Farm, Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Columbia County

Lonely stretch of road in Claverack, New York on raw, wintry day in February. In the thick of winter here in Columbia County over 100 miles north of Times Square but a universe away. Was returning to the Miyares Farm from having brunch at the Swoon Restaurant in Hudson, New York.
Had to deal with a somewhat obnoxious waitress but the food was good and I got my revenge leaving a less then charitable tip. Though Hudson is in Columbia County which is full of very friendly country folks, the actual city of Hudson is full of New York City types which feel that being obnoxious is how to be polite. Nevertheless, the choice is Nice and McDonalds or Obnoxious and good , sometimes experimental food but always compelling.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Columbia County

Renowned Cuban Folk artist Maria Victoria de Bernard is quietly (until now) making plans for a Cuban Cuisine service in the bucolic town of Gallatin, New York . Gallatin is a few miles South/East of the hip artist centric city of Hudson, New York and 20 miles West of Millerton, New York.
Come back for further details. What I can say right now is it will be simple fare revolving around Cuban sandwiches, Media Noches, Sandwich de Croquetta. Plans for a kiosk or home cooking and delivery service have not yet been decided.

Tags: Gallatin, Columbia County, Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Maria Victoria de Bernard

Wishing I could jump into this picture. Right now I am sitting in a square box with a view of a parking lot in Anywhere, USA (Dulles,Virginia to be exact).

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Columbia County

On a sunny summer afternoon, took this rustic photo of a large farm on Route 82 on the road to Hudson, New York.

Most of the route to Hudson , New York from the Miyares Farm is full of these types of vistages. Makes for a trip that feels I am going through a bygone era of family farms and a place where not much changes over time.

Tags: Columbia County, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

Looking west towards the Catskill Mountains on the way back from Hudson, New York one lazy Saturday summer afternoon.

The city slickers have been flocking up here for the 4th of July holidays. SUVs galore but this site and the road leading to it are off the “beaten path” .

Tags: Columbia County, Catskills, Miyares Farm

Resting after a hard day of working the farm, 93 year old “Apita” relaxes
at Web 2.0 fields at the Miyares Farm.
A farmer in her native land of Cuba, Apita is right at home in the rustic setting of Columbia County, New York. One of the factors in her longevity is clearly staying active including at her ripe age.

Tags: Miyares Farm, Apita, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

Nothing cuter then two dogs roughing it out especially when there is a large discrepancy in size.
This action took place at the Miyares Farm on a late spring afternoon.

Tags: Miyares Farm, Columbia County, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

For my fans’ viewing pleasure, I have put a link to photos that represent the sights on a regular trek of mine from Columbia County, New York to West Hartford, CT. Except for a small segment on a 4 lane divided highway near my New York house, and the portion near West Hartford, its all on rural roads. The trek takes you on winding 2 lane rural roads
through typical Connecticut small towns and large stretches of nothingness in New York.

The set is not complete. I was able to take a few pictures on my last journey but being in a rush, not close to as many as I wanted.

The journey itself takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes and that is for 72 miles which gives you an idea of the challenged roads along the way. Further challenging are the numerous slow poke Connecticut drivers who take the speed limit signs literally. No one ever told then that is the speed which to exceed.

Along the way, I pass through Pine Plains, Millerton both in New York as well as Canaan, Norfolk and Winster in Connecticut and sundry other 1 traffic light towns.

Tags: Columbia County, West Hartford, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

Fooling around with a Wordpress plugin named GeoPress The post photo is a shot of the Miyares Farm on a recent spring day after cutting the grass. This plugin makes it trivial to associate maps in my case Google Maps within Wordpress blog posts. The plugin is trivial to install and configure as it is with all plugins I have experimented with for WordPress. The actual documentation though informative and easy to follow leaves a lot to experimentation to actually figure out the simple steps to instrument a relevant map with your post. If you select the GeoPress option to have a map show up on each post, both the editing and viewing of the map as you edit the post and its appearance on the post when published works with little to no thought required.
Figuring out how to get the map to show up (what markup) is required when you don’t have the option of a map on each post is what I am struggling with right now.

INSERT_MAP

Tags: GeoPress, Miyares Farm, Julio Hernandez-Miyares