Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2013 - (Page 64)

FA M I LY T R AV E L A NEW LE AF From left: Azalea with her manure bucket; varieties of baby lettuce in the greenhouse. DOWN ON THE FARM WHAT’S A FAM ILY TO DO ON A S PRIN G DAY? PLA N T P OTATOES , NATUR A LLY. BETH AN Y S ALTM AN DIGS IN 64 W W W. R I T Z C A R LT O N . C O M T The night before our trip to Sisters Hill Farm, where we were heading to help plant onions, I laid out our outﬁts and checked the weather obsessively: 50s and windy. Could be worse. My husband, Thayer, tidied up loose ends from his psychotherapy practice so he could enjoy his day in the dirt, and Azalea, our 7-year-old daughter, set some Barbies aside, thinking they would like the trip. As for me, I was so focused on getting us all out the door in the morning, I didn’t even stop to consider what the day actually might be like. But during our morning drive through the gentle hills of Dutchess County, N.Y. — the beautifully restored farmhouses, legions of horses, and family homes with estate-like names such as “Blue Fence” — I relaxed and got the feeling we were in for a treat. I was right. When we turned onto Sisters Hill Road, we spotted the white farmhouse and the wide, empty ﬁelds. Not far off, a very tall guy rode an orange tractor against the pale sky. As we drove farther, I saw the tractor rider’s face and wondered who he was. He looked frankly too happy to be a guy who works in the dirt all day. And that pretty much deﬁned our experience of planting at Sisters Hill Farm: sweet, welcoming — and not at all what we expected. A stunning piece of property bequeathed to the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of New York by one Mrs. Mary Halloran in 1917, the nonproﬁt Sisters Hill Farm is supported by community members who, in return, share its weekly harvest. This is what is known as a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture. And it means that lots of people help out at the farm — including participants from the Community Footprints program at The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park (see sidebar), among them the hotel’s executive chef, Mark Arnao, who will use part of the bounty he’s planting here in his Auden Bistro & Bar. Passing the farmhouse, we drove closer to a little white outbuilding with big doors and pulled into the parking lot. As we got out of the car, Thayer, Azalea and I pulled up our hoods, bracing against what was, indeed, a windy day. The other farmers-for-a-day drove up, as did that happy tractor guy, whose name is David Hambleton, a farmer hired by the sisters in 1999 to cultivate their land. Smiling, he walked toward us and the others who had begun gathering and said, “The onions aren’t here yet!” The three of us looked at each other, http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2013

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2013
Contents
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
President’s Letter
Falling in Love With … New Orleans
Design
Technology
On the Boulevards
Shopping
Jewelry
Watches
Family
Local Knowledge
Sports
Cancun
Doha
Fashion
Culinary
Let Us Stay with You
Heritage

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Summer 2013