Queens County Farm Museum

This weekend I finally went out to the Queens Farm Museum, which I've been intending to do for ages.  I was trying to remember how on earth I'd heard about the museum, and then I remembered that I'd seen an article about it in the New York Times - it must have been this one, from June 2009.  How does time pass so quickly?

The museum partly interested me from a New York City history perspective.  It's strange to imagine now that so much of New York, including Manhattan, was farmland up into the 20th century.  And this city transforms itself so quickly that it's extremely rare to have something still standing that was around before the Revolutionary War - for the farm itself dates back to 1697, and the farmhouse there was dated 1760-something (sorry for my poor memory)!  So it was nice to be there if only for that reason.

The farm itself is quite small.  However, there is a very nice farm stand (not every day), vegetable fields where we saw eggplants, kale, leeks, peppers, and beets (and naturally lots and lots of weeds ) growing, chickens, and a big cornfield (above) with a nice view of a condo complex beyond it - we are still in NYC, after all.

The farm is definitely a fantastic opportunity for city kids to see how food actually grows.  It's just a bit hard to get to - by public transportation you take the F to Kew Gardens, and then a bus about seven miles further towards Long Island.  My friends and I ended up driving out there via Zipcar, and we only took two wrong turns, miraculous considering the fact that we were chatting the whole time.  And wrong turns just give me the chance to change direction by entering parking-lots via their exits and trying to do a three-point turn on a steep hill - so I can feel like a real action hero.  It doesn't take much to add a hint of adventure...

My only regret is not taking more (and better) pictures!  But here's what I've got:

Chickens...

... A vegetable field (set behind some sunflowers)

Cosmos and Horses...

Grapes...

Comments

[Amanda]

Love the condos in the background. And the fact that the farm is still there (even though it's probably not the most efficient use of the property).

Those look like some lazy chickens.