wild mushrooms!

let me start off by saying that looking for wild mushrooms is thrilling. there may be some, there may not. there may be major trespassing, and there may be not. my eyes, this time of year are fully in tune with the shape of trees, the magic of edible mushrooms, and the flavor of my favorite dish that i have ever made. simple, fresh, and so delicious. keep your eye out for my cookbook next year, as i group up with the other brains and taste buds at the hive to educate our community about the wild edibles available to them. right now, floods of maitake, sulfer shelves, nettles, mint, and........get ideas, and let us hear them. amy

dinner at the hive

oh boy, let me just say that i sure wish that i could go to the thursday night dinners at the hive. for less than $16.00 per person, tonight, we served all the bread and butter you could eat, a mixed greens salad with apple cider vinaigrette, roast beef with wild mushroom gravy, potato and cauliflower au gratin, sauteed garlic and onion kale, and pear cobbler with vanilla ice cream. as far as i am concerned, there should have been a wait at the door. next week we will serve roast pork in a sweet barbecue sauce, creamy polenta, bacony collards, and apple and cabbage slaw, i think. tomorrow i will be making a menu for the entire month of october, although nothing is set in stone. i am thinking...maybe a pumpkin custard??? also, we have a pretty major plan in the near future for a mill tour/fundraiser/grand opening/slow foods/wood fired dinner/educational/family friendly event. oh boy, an event!!! let me know if you would like to get involved. signing off...eat cauliflower. amy

P.S.this rain is awesome. the mushrooms are demanding it, and the cafe is rich with wild mushrooms right now.

let us support one another

well hello...i am appealing to those that will listen. we are having a delightful family style dinner this thursday, and for the thursdays following. we will need you to come to us and eat our reasonably priced dinner of fresh, local mixed greens salad, our own fresh chickens, paul wigstens freshly dug roasted red potatoes, ethel's sauteed green beans, and grandma florences' apple cake. frankly, we need people to come and eat this delicious dinner, as we are planning on serving dinners all winter, and we will only do this if you want it. there are so many exciting ideas and foods that we will bring to you, if we feel the support. the plan is to serve dinner thurs through sunday with much pleasure and freshness. did i mention that we are staffing up to serve some thrilling thing things? Don and I (Amy) have been brainstorming up some wild things. Stop in for a flier! Come one, come all. Hungry.

dinner has arrived at the hive

well, well. we ar on our way. with the simple realization that we need to be open for dinner in order to keep our community happy, we are doing it. slowly, like we do everything. slow and steady. we are starting this coming thursday, with a simple family style menu, come one, come all, and perhaps you will sit next to your neighbor. we hope you like them. thursday night family style starts this thursday night, 5:30-9:00 seatings. we hope to add sundays in two more weeks, with your live music, and a casua menu, and then friday and saturday two weeks later, along with the menu of beer and wine that we have been working on. give us a call for reservations 845-266-5863 and remember, we need your support and enthusiasm to show up in order to keep the doors open, so we hope to see you out here. call or email with any questions.

And fall is coming to blanket us with it's cool hands.

Today we prepare for the fall. Mentally. And physically we remain in summer, chilly but with tomatoes still on our plates. The short window that we have in which we can have wild mushrooms, squash, tomatoes, and hot peppers all at the same time. A special time, when we all begin to think about the upcoming frost, fall kale, and firewood. A time when community is growing closer for the winter, ready to share our body heat and a glass of wine and share our memories of sweaty summer swims and farmers market impromptu picnics. Don't read me wrong, I am not hurrying summer, it just happens to be a cool mid September day, and I didn't have my blankets last night, and I am constantly living in fear of the dreaded "fall back" when someone evil, obviously evil, takes away my normal schedule and replaces it with a different, darker one. The real losers here are the people in which I feed. They will now miss out on the mushrooms that I was previously able to strain my eyes to see in the evening, where now I will simply give up, as the head lamp just does not seem to give me the width of light that I need. As sad as it always is to see summer go, the bright orange squash and hot pink watermelon radishes are coming in, dressed to the nines, making themselves seen, and eaten. Let me just mention that I did not take these images, but my camera is not with me today.