Meadowman Visits Farmers in the Dell

I recently returned from a great weekend trip to a working farm in upstate New York, a mere 20 miles south of Albany in Greenville, NY.

It is a Shangra La location filled with a Noah’s Ark menagerie of ranchtype animals and plantation flora. These two sweet people keep and care for - four dogs, three cats, turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks, geese, swans, chickens, rabbits, alpacas and sheep on an amazing nine-acre plot of land near a town that resembles Mayberry RFD.

They are also visited by an assortment of other animals, like deer, frogs, foxes, raccoons, possums, coyotes, snakes, mice, moles, voles, skunks and a near sighted, love sick bull from down the road that keeps getting loose. They sell a variety of all natural ,super healthy local products like eggs, cheeses, meat, jams, honey, syrups and more.

Let me tell you, you have not lived till you had a Vicki Sticky Omelet made from four different kinds of range free eggs with cheddar cheese curds and raw honey. It is super fantastic. Besides that they sell a variety of other farm products, like fiber scarves, natural yarns and pot holders.

On top of all of this they run a Hospice Gift Shoppe chock full of original one of a kind works of art where the money goes to a great Catskill Hospice charity. It is one of the most quaint, heaven-on-earth places you’d ever want to visit run by two of the most sweetest people you’d ever want to meet.

If you want to check them out , see their products or read their interesting blog try http://www.cluckinacritterfarm.com/

But to say that many of these rural workers who rise before dawn do more before lunch than ten NYC workers put together do in a week and go to bed just after sunset are not up on the news that does not affect them directly is an understatement. They also possess the uncanny ability to sneak a supersized amount of sarcasm, naivety and wit into a happy meal-sized conversation, especially at their local farmer’s market which I visited with them.

People come from miles around to talk, jaw and shoot the breeze as they pick up farm fresh goods from the vendors.

And as a "City Feller" I had great enjoyment talking to these people who can crack me up better than a headliner at the Brokerage Comedy Club. For example, we were talking about unemployment and the closing of many big New York businesses when I said, “Borders Bookstores announced that it will be liquidating its stock and it’s stores. And that many workers will be out of jobs and might look to doing other work instead”. Someone there replied, “This is exactly what happens when the guys we elected in Washington do not use our resources to protect our Borders.”

Or when I asked if they felt that Congress was doing a bad job, they retorted, “They are equivalent of a raccoon with it’s head stuck in a jar of Skippy peanut butter and as helpful as a NASCAR racer with a GPS that keeps telling him to turn left in 1,500 feet.”

Or when we were talking about family I  said, “Donald Trump had a new grandchild as of a few weeks ago.” Someone there said, “So was the first thing he did was insist on seeing it’s birth certificate?”

Or when I said that gay marriage is now legal in New York and they responded with, ”That must drive the Manhattan ladies nuts! All the good men are gay and married...AND to each other now.”

Or when we were talking sports and I mentioned how disappointed I was that the US Women’s Soccer team lost to Japan and they said, “Which means that were are now losing to a place my grandfather helped rebuild after we bombed it the war in areas of economics, math, science...and penalty kicks?”

Or when we were discussing technology and I asked some rural toddler their what their daddy’s cell number was and they responded, “728 at Lompoc Prison”

However I did get them back at their own game when a small group there went on and on and on about the horrible politicians in Albany, abusing their power, getting new perks, taking piles of lobbyist money and siding with rich developers instead of protecting the hard working, patriotic little guys that work hard doing what they do.

I said, “if our Founding Fathers did not want money in governmental politics, why did they put their faces on our money?” And with that comment I was politely asked to take my smart alecky behind back to the city of concrete sidewalks, designer duds and housebound animals. Go Figure!