Long Island Adventures: Raspberry Patches

Oh, how I long for acres and acres of farmland, rotating my crops in different fields year after year. People think I'm insane when I tell them I'd love to be a farmer, but if it was possible, I absolutely would. Every time William and I drive out east to Lewin's Farms, I envy the amount of fields that family owns. I wish I owned that much land and had enough help to run you-pick farms each season and a small marketplace for the locals.

Strawberry picking was not successful this summer because New York/Long Island never had a proper spring season. Instead, we had unseasonably cold weeks followed by immediate warming of the weather. When we made our trip out towards Riverhead in June, we opted to just buy whatever strawberries Lewin's had for sale in their market.

Last week, we decided to go back and pick peaches, seeing as the peach season normally begins in the middle of July. However, our lack of a spring halted this season, too, and we found ourselves picking raspberries, instead. Raspberries are my absolute favorite fruit, so of course this wasn't a problem, but I found myself dreaming of owning my own raspberry patch, complete with rows and rows that seem to trail on forever.

That evening, I went to visit William's parents down at the docks. They were crabbing, but it wasn't a very successful night. The weather was perfect, though, and it was a great way to end the day.

Garden Update

Everything has gotten much bigger since I took these photos, and lately I've had an abundance of cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, broccoli and cherry tomatoes. Can't wait for the watermelon, cantaloupe, brussells sprouts, eggplant and the rest of my tomatoes to start ripening.

When I took this picture, my watermelon was about the size of a baseball. Now it's almost the size of a volleyball and I have three of them. 

I laugh at how puny and pathetic baby cucumbers are, but don't mind me.

Last summer, the heat really took a toll on my celery and I didn't get anything. Now, they're all a bright green and are almost ready to be picked.

A watermelon sprout, which is now the size of a baseball.

I plan on making a new eggplant recipe once these guys are ready to be picked. Will post more about that later...

Long Island Adventures: Maritime Museum

Last week, (before New York was hit with a heat wave), William took me to the Long Island Maritime Museum. The weather was cloudy, but it was cool out, especially out on the water, but we still had a wonderful time.

The museum was very informative and it was really interesting to see old clamming and fishing tools and photographs. It was on a big piece of property, with many buildings, some of which were donated by Long Island families in the 1800's.

 

The main building contains all of the artifacts and tools. We got to see photographs and remains of ship wrecks in the Bay. Thinking about shipwrecks in the Great South Bay was funny to me because our town is right on the bay and it seems like such a small body of water, I can't fathom a ship sinking in it!

 This was a life boat from an old ship from the 1800's. The inside of this thing looked terrifying! I don't think I'd be able to handle staying inside one in an emergency situation.

 I'd love to own an old sewing machine like this one!

And of course, this was the only good picture I got from him.

The museum also offers boat tours, where you can sail out on the Bay in groups. We walked around the docks and there were dragonflies all over the place, swarming around by the marsh. The marshlands were so beautiful, but after reading signs posted around the dock, we learned that the marshes on Long Island aren't supposed to look the way they currently do. Unfortunately, pollution and development are destroying the wildlife and plants that grow in our marshes.Despite this fact, it was still so cool to think about how diverse the Long Island landscape is; we have beaches on the North and South shores, deserts out by Montauk, wetlands, marshlands, and more.

I look so awkward because the sun was in my eyes.

The next building was an oyster house, set up just as it would be in the 1800's. It was really neat to see how they fished for oysters and we were astonished at how many they managed to catch.

The property is located right on the bay, and we eventually made our way down to the water. The waves were rough because a storm was approaching, and it was very windy.

The next building housed a ton of old sailboats and fishing boats. They were so beautiful, and very old. I would love to own a sailboat one day...

The last building we visited was a house donated by a Long Island fishing family. I didn't take any pictures inside of the house because it was very dark and a tour group was inside.

When we stumbled upon the outhouse, we just had to take some photos inside.

Such a silly boy...