North Fork Horizons Afternoon To Evening

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Early Morning Sunlight Bathes Wickham's Fruit Farm

While having a cup of coffee Sunday morning my eyelids opened enough to realize that the early low light seemed special in the way it was illuminating the orchard behind our yard.  I gazed at it as I sipped, then thought, "Why don't I just put on shoes, go out and take a couple of shots, it's already in the low 40s!".  So, I did that.  Here are a few photos of the early light on the Wickham's Fruit Farm taken from our back yard and a little beyond.

Looking South

Three rows of apple trees have been cut down

Zooming In

The Wickham's Homestead established

in the mid 1600s

The white poles support electrified deer wire

Stacked apple wood...

I plan to glean some small pieces to use

to make a mild smoke for blue fish caught down at the inlet
as I did when other trees were cut down last year,

delicious!

Looking north to a barn situated

on MainRoad now a real estate office

...........

Three photos of the Wickham's Farm Stand

taken earlier

Closed for the Winter

From last Summer

A fine selection of honeys from hives in the apple, peach

and berry sections of the farm

One doesn't want to leave without at least

 one bag of fresh warm donuts

cinnamon sugar donuts are my favorite with a cup of tea

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Rock at the End of Depot Lane

  We inherited an oil painting depicting the rock at the end of Depot Lane from my wife's grandmother years ago and today it hangs on our dining room wall.   During my years of blogging I've photographed this rock many times.  I find it a fascinating subject as it remains solid, seemingly unmovable, and immutable since it was dropped off here by the Wisconsin glacier some 21,000 years ago.  What does change is everything else... day, night, the seasons, the tide.  In the summer sun it is very warm to the touch and remains so into the night.  In the winter it is sometimes completely covered with a glaze of ice from salt water spray.  During a low, or neap tide, it can be high and dry as in the painting but when a high tide is in it can be pretty far into the water, with a depth difference of more than six feet.

Here from much further away I have a day time photo
 at a higher tide followed by an evening shot
at lower tide.

This same evening, August 14,  produced a nice late sunset over the Sound.

Here is a photo of the sky over a Depot Lane sod farm from the same evening.

Foggy Morning

When the sky is low enough to walk in it...

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Irrigation Rig

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Catapano Dairy Farm

The Catapano's make the best goat cheese we've ever tasted and all our friends agree! Our favorite is the Honey Lavender Chevre, a subtly flavored cheese. A bit of this on fresh baked, crusty sour dough bread is heavenly. ( For your sour dough starter go to: Fermented Treasures)

Catapano Dairy's soft chevre, a soft cheese, has been awarded first place at the American Cheese Society's annual "Festival of Cheese" conference and competition held this year in Louisville, KY. The groups membership includes over 1,000 makers of farmstead, limited production and specialty cheese, marketers and academics, and is the largest advocacy and trade group of the US quality cheese industry. --- New York Times August 2005

Many other products are made from the goat's milk as well and can be seen and purchased at: www.catapanodairyfarm.com/

Be sure you join their mailing list!

Why the Chevre is Sweet and Has Such Character

They Love being Petted

The shop

My World Tuesday

Fog on the corn stubs

The Peconic Herb Farm and other photos

We took a short drive, 15 miles, to the Peconic Herb Farm in Riverhead. Riverhead is so named as it's location is at the head of the Peconic River, where it runs into and becomes the bay. The Herb Farm is a quaint place kept rustic, restful and informal. There are places to picnic on the grounds. There used to be places to get poison ivy there too but I didn't see any this year. The shop has some snacks, and there are sodas in the cooler that I thought no longer existed. We liked the fact that no one was in a hurry, there was plenty of business but not what you'd call "brisk". A most pleasant afternoon.

old seed showcases

barn on the north road

sweetening the soil with lime

this is how an apple pie begins

the youngest of grapes

"The fog comes on little cat feet... " -- Carl Sandburg

Early Morning

After days of rain a beautiful early morning. Clear blue skies overhead and all things are tinged with the glow that comes when it's "magic hour". The sun stretches it's golden fingers across the tops of the apple trees in the Wickham's Fruit Farm orchard. It's budding time.

Orchard