This is about. the Howe family. In 1939, Carolyn Howe got married. One of her wedding presents was a 16mm movie camera. She did exactly what a young mother should: took baby…
Category: Agriculture
We used to have many more farms in Pine Plains. But we still have the culture of agriculture — see our Ag Fair, visit some farms.
This Old Mill: In Honor and Memory of Bruce Humphries
His passing on December 26, 2021, was not just the loss to his family and friends, but leaves a gap in the core of our community. Because I know that many of the people who recently arrived by birth or choice to Pine Plains probably never heard of him and certainly did not know him, I am highlighting this film I made of him a few years ago as a way of introduction to not only Bruce but also to a part of Pine Plains that otherwise might not be known.
Burger Night at the Farm
Chaseholm Farm Creamery held its last “Burger Night” event of the 2015 season. Oh, how I wish there were more! It a great combination of “scrumptious” burgers, the cows, the people and the music by…
You Know It’s Spring When…
It’s time to shear the sheep! There are all sorts of signs of Spring, but I’ve picked this one to show on Pine Plains Views: the annual sheep shearing on Black Sheep…
Last Night at the Wild Hive
After a four-year run, the Wild Hive Farm, Store & Café Bakery closed. A few miles away, in Clinton Corners, not Pine Plains, but it could have been and I wish it…
The Man Who Made Pine Plains Tick
Once a week for many years Greg McEldowney would come and wind the Town Clock and keep it running. He passed on November 11, 2017. He was a keeper of Pine Plains…
Making History
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?“ If an event happens in the past and is not, in some…
Spinning Squash at the Ag Fair
It’s a yearly tradition that I’ve been going to for years: the 2015 Ag Fair hosted by the Future Farmers of America at the high school in Pine Plains. This year I was hoping…
Let’s Remember Sal….
Sal passed away in May, 2013, at the age of 77. Although I would run into Sal at one of his jobs in town, either at at Deuel’s hardware or at the…
Burgers with the Herd
Burgers with the cows at Chaseholm Farm. The first in what I hope will be an on-going event. We had a great time, hung out with our favorite herd of cows, some old…
A Halloween Story: Those Pumpkins on Patchin Mills Bridge
Every year, come Halloween, Jack O’ Lanterns, dozens of them, show up and glow on the bridge at Patchin Mills. This is the story behind them. If you have a good connection,…
A Farrier? What’s That?
Here in northeast Dutchess County, it was dairy farms and we were the Milk Bottle of New York City. But the dairy farms closed and different animals were brought to graze our…
The Culture of Agriculture
The farmers may be leaving their farms and the farmland, even if preserved, may be left only as viewscape. But a culture and tradition of agriculture remains. Each year the Agriculture Fair,…
Sheep and Alpacas and Llamas and Goats and Wool and Food Festival
Seems like they had everything! Particularly, a large crowd on a sunny October day at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.
Picking Pumpkins on a Fall Day
A fun way to get some fresh air, some good food, and get to know a local farmer — visit a local farm! Here, at Rocky Reef Farm, the public is welcome…
A Touch of Country: The Fall Fair
Every year the Stissing Mountain High School chapter of the Future Farmers of America runs an ag fair. I’ve filmed different parts of it before, but this year I’ve pretty much stuck…
Food For Thought
Field work — literally — when Vassar College students milked cows, fed turkeys, picked fruit, mucked stalls and wrote ethnographies as part of an anthropology course.
Farming the Future
The 4- H Club dairy cow competition was a proud event for Pine Plains at the Dutchess County Fair. Gina Brooks and her brother, Patrick, showed two of her cows, a Brown Swiss and a Holstein, which she has been keeping in Barry Chase’s barn.
The Family Farm
This is about a dairy farmer, Barry Chase, who is about to sell his herd of milking cows. I visited with him and his wife, Rosey, a few days before their herd leaves.