Fresh Poultry For The Freezer

Thursday I left the Cape just after 9 am for upstate New York. This was to be the trip to pick up our grass fed, truly free range chickens and turkey. I stopped a few times along the way to finish up three geocaches that I missed on my last trip in October of 2007. There is a series along the Mass Turnpike and New York Thruway at rest areas. It makes for a longer trip, but I am glad to have the west-bound caches off my list. I was able to do all the east-bound rest area caches last year.

It rained in western Mass. but no real travel problems. I arrived in Forestport after 4 pm. A definite chill in the air.

I've been visiting this particular place, always known as "The Barn", since the mid-1980s. Back then it was more of a camp. I love this place and always have. I've been here in all seasons, winter being the most difficult but fun. Back then we would have to dig in through feet of snow left by plows and whatever happened to be on the ground. Usually we would just dig in enough to get the car off the road. Now it's a full-time home with some changes inside. Outside is mostly gardens that help get the owners through the winter. Cold comes early here. Severe killing frost this year occurred on September 24th. A little late, really.

My room for the night was in a small outbuilding dubbed "The Chapel". One of the best night's sleep I have had this year. There is a small space heater inside, but I shut it down for the night. It was a little chilly by the morning and my host was kind enough to bring my first morning coffee out and we visited for a little while.

The Chapel from the driveway.

A couple days before my arrival the owners got a new addition to the family. Jester is a 12 week old Samoyed and is a good little dog. Fun to be around a little fur ball puppy again.

Sadly, I was going to miss the Moose River Kayak Festival this year. I've been the last couple years to watch at least some of the white-water kayakers run various sections of the Moose River near Old Forge. Jeff (one of the owners) usually runs at least some of the river. He had not been out in a while so we took a trip down to White Lake so he could do a couple quick practice rolls in his boat. Here he is coming back up out of one.

We had some lunch then made our way to Winters Grass Farm to pick up our meat. I brought three good sized coolers and was able to get 20 broilers, one 14 1/2 pound turkey and two dozen eggs. 6 of the chickens are going to my father-in-law and his wife.

Once I had the coolers packed into the Matrix, we said our good-byes and I headed down the road back to the Cape. Literally 24 hours in the upstate and a complete drag to have to leave. I took the scenic route to the Thruway like I always do and stopped along the way on Rt 169 to take in the sights, smells and get some photos. A bittersweet trip.

I arrived home after a quick stop for some Long Trail around 9:30 pm. I unloaded the birds, put all but six of them in the freezer and then but up five of them. We set one aside in the fridge for supper on Saturday.