Stone Barns and Blue Hill Cafe

Last weekend, while driving home from a family wedding in New York's Hudson Valley, we decided to take a short detour to Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture. It was a bit of a struggle to get there, battling heavy rains and low visibility on the Taconic State Parkway, but as we pulled up to the farm, the rain magically stopped and we even saw a hint of blue skies.


Stone Barns is a non-profit farm, an education center, and home to Blue Hill Restaurant and Cafe (the farm's biggest customer). Through public programs, the education center seeks to increase awareness of sustainable agriculture and to teach us where our food actually comes from.


We arrived in time to sign up for a livestock tour ($10 per adult), an hour-long walking tour through the pastures and barns, allowing you to get up close with the farm's animals. As we were waiting for our tour to begin, we watched the young participants from the morning's egg gathering program skip happily on by, their guide holding an enormous basket of freshly collected brown eggs.

Our livestock tour began with a visit to the laying hens. Did you know that you can tell what color their eggs will be from looking at their earlobes? This breed of chicken lays brown eggs:


A group of naughty hens had escaped the fenced-in area (now that's what you call 'free range') and uncharacteristically followed us for part of our tour:



A flock of teenage Bourbon Red turkeys (known for their juicy rich-tasting meat and their fondness for roosting in trees):


A proud Broad-Breasted White turkey:


A 600 lb Berkshire pig rooting around in the woods:


Grazing lambs:


We also saw geese, rams, wild turkeys, and some beehives.

According to Stone Barn's philosophy, their animals live humane lives on the farm. And though I'm not an expert in animal psychology, all the animals we met that day seemed genuinely happy, healthy, and good-natured.

From the egg mobiles to the oxygenated compost pile (which didn't smell bad at all), Stone Barns was everything I'd imagined after reading about the symbiosis of pasture-based farming in The Omnivore's Dilemma (specifically the chapters on Polyface Farm). It was pretty amazing, actually.

After our tour we stopped at the farmer's market at the Dooryard Garden:


And checked out the 2 old silos:


Cleverly converted on the inside to a lounge and coat room:


We also snuck upstairs to for a peak at the Hayloft (an old haybarn converted to a gorgeous catering hall).


And as we were walking through the silo lobby, we unexpectedly ran into Chef Dan Barber (turning me into a stuttering starstruck fool, of course). Unphased by my ridiculous behavior, Chef Barber graciously invited us into the kitchen to take a photo with him:


As this was an impromptu visit, we tried not to lament too much about the fact that we were dressed far too casually in our t-shirts and shorts to dine in the main restaurant (never mind that we didn't have a reservation either), and instead enjoyed a light lunch at the Blue Hill Cafe:


Vegetarian quiche:


A sampling of salads (heirloom tomato, green bean, and couscous):


Open-faced tomato and goat cheese sandwich:


The food was simply prepared but delicious, featuring quality ingredients from the farm. We especially loved the different varieties of sweet heirloom tomatoes.

After lunch, we walked through their impressive half-acre greenhouse:


The hi-tech roof automatically opens to cool the greenhouse when it reaches a certain temperature:


We plan on taking the greenhouse tour on our next visit, especially after spotting several seedlings we'd never heard of before:



All in all, a fabulous afternoon at Stone Barns. We're already planning a trip back to dine in the main restaurant (and next time, we'll be dressed to the nines). Highly recommended for foodies, families, and anyone interested in learning more about sustainable agriculture.

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture
630 Bedford Road
Pocantico Hills, NY 10591
(914) 366-6200
http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
630 Bedford Road
Pocantico Hills, NY 10591
(914) 366-9600
http://bluehillfarm.com/food/blue-hill-stone-barns

Stone Barns and Blue Hill Cafe