No Lions, No Tigers, No Bears, but Oh My: The Prospect Park Zoo, Brooklyn, NY

Prospect Park Zoo

450 Flatbush Ave

New York, NY 11225

It is no understatement to say that we moved back to the Slope for the Park.  We spend every nice weekend day there, and often a sunny weekday afternoon too.  The boys have gone to CBE day camp there, played SFX little league on the fields and both of us worked there for Brooklyn Heights Montessori summer back in the day.  But the highlight by far is the Prospect Park Zoo.

A member of the Wildlife Conservation Society, it is smaller than it's more famous partners the Bronx and Central Park Zoos.  It has fewer Sea Lion shows than it's other partner the New York Aquarium, but it is the perfect way to spend a beautiful afternoon with your two fav boys.  

We rode over with my new Father's day bike.  We hit the Farm animals first off, because who doesn't want to fee a Jacob four-horned sheep?  I then lost Sydney to the Peahen (wife of the more colorful peacock), her little chicks and the amazing employee who filled my sons head with so many facts Liji and I couldn't retain them all.  

But when push comes to shove, the Lewis Levin boys are primate fans.  I love the Marmosets, Sydney wanted to take home the Golden Lion Tamarins, but Liji was smitten with the Hamadryas Baboons and their big pink tushies!  But, just as we were leaving the red pandas behind we hit one of three daily Sea Lion shows.  Now this is nothing compared to our backstage passes to the seals with Aunt Kathy at the New England Aquarium, but it was a great way to wrap up a perfect day.  So bike on over or take the B61, but whatever you do, don't miss the best show in Brooklyn!

Horticultural Paradise; Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA

Garden in the Woods

180 Hemenway Road

Framingham, MA

We spent a lot of time in the garden this summer.  We started with the season buying plants at Russell's and ended it when the tomatoes ran out at Verrils'.  But sometime we just need some inspiration for our green thumbs.  The diversity and density of species at Garden in the Woods just blows away rivals like the Mass. Horticultural Society's Elm Bank.

The New England Wildflower Society has really put together an amazing display, from the lily pond to the Western woods.  You can catch a glimpse of turtles on floating islands full of flowers and run through the meadows with wildflowers taller than the kids.  The Invasive Plant Jail is one of my favorites because it inspires me every spring to rip out all those annoying berry bushes that take over my side yard.

But the most amazing highlight of a visit is the art.  We walked through a beautiful twig house, and followed the wooden mazes through the trees.  But our highlight to date has to have been the Insects installation a couple of years ago featuring artist David Rogers.  His installation of giant spiders, ants, butterflies and more was spectacular.  You can still catch a giant walking stick (pun intended I think, 'cause it is made from sticks) off amongst the trees.  So enjoy the flowers, take the kids on a scavenger hunt and end your day at Sichuan Gourmet, our fav "real" Chinese in Metrowest and make it a day in Framingham.

Ummm People's Republic: The Taste of Cambridge, Cambridge, MA

Taste of Cambridge

Charles Hotel

1 Bennet Street

Cambridge, MA

Alright.  In case you haven't already guessed we both work in Cambridge.  And while we love it with all of our hearts, the People's Republic just ain't NYC.  Now that wasn't true when I was at NNHS and we hit the square every summer evening cruising like Coloradans revvin' their pickup engines down Main Street.  For all intents and purposes, this event was the a late twenty-something version of the same thing, but this time it was for a gerat cause.  CitySprouts.  And we were ready to eat.

Now my best friend Foodie Mommy might argue that Cambridge got it going on in the culinary world, but you'll notice she sneaks off to the Apple every chance she gets.  There was some good stuff here at the Taste, but it was point in case why being a Foodie in Beantown is tough.  The boys?  They didn't mind.  They stuffed their faces. The girls?  They didn't mind either, each ticket came with four glasses of beverage included.

For $50 (free for the kiddos) we got to surf Boston's finest.  Lij particularly liked the fruit gazpacho.  The higlight of the evening though was the message.  The fine folks at City Sprouts have made an amazing garden with the staff, families and kids at my school.  You should check them out.  Even better throw them a few bucks (yeah, that cutie with the tomatoe is one of my boys). The evening reflected their excellent work all the way down to the compostable silverware.  So if you are single and surfing and wanna help some kids get fresh veggies, check out the Taste of Cambridge and bring my boys for free.

What Lovely Horsies: Undermountain Farm, Lenox, MA

Undermountain Farm

400 Undermountain Farm Rd.

Lenox, MA

I like to think of myself as a bit of a risk taker.  I pride myself on the fact that my boys are willing to try anything.  I also love horses. Like with most large animals, some urge comes over me to scratch their ears, pat them, smile at them.  But, my last real experience riding was not a good one.  With little training I was at a cantor with a friend ahead of me who trained horses.  We started to race up a hill at camp and my horse shot ahead of hers.  As she tried to catch me to settle my horse, her ride threw her head first at a tree.  An hour later an ambulance made it to the rural spot in Maine with her eyes closed and slow breathing.  Thankfully a neck brace for her, but not a lot of riding for me after that.

So, the boys seem to share my love of large farm animals.  We hit the pony rides at Belkin and Davis, but that was just a tease.  Today, we met the coolest horse trainer I've ever seen.  She managed our party of five and two others, while calming gearing up the horses, directing her staff and generally holding court with kids ages two to fifteen.  "If he's over six months old and can sit up on his own, he can ride."  So as our two closest girlfriends (or 3rd grade super heros as the boys like to see them) led the horses, the boys took the mounts.  For thirty minutes they replayed every fantasy I had since watching Black Stallion in the seventies and reading the entire series (I know, I know, I was the only boy doing this, but at least the main character was a boy too).

This place is more than just rides though.  It is set over Tanglewood admist the mountains and trees.  It was a perfectly clear day with a bit of heat, and they were full up.  Some kids were getting ready for jumps, others like ours were on their first real outing. They run everything from trail rides to day camps.  They have it all.  But in the end, the have one most important factor to my boys; a love of animals.

Bovine Heaven by the Sea; Appleton Farms, Ipswich, MA

Appleton Farms

Route 1A

Ipswich, MA

Ok, we all know that I am indoctrinating my sons in my bizarre passion for cows.  I am not ashamed to admit it.  I remember falling in love with those husky, deer-like critters those blissful summers in Union, ME.  I was the same age as Sydney was now, and I was obsessed with the dairy farm across the street from my uncle's house on Seven Tree Pond.  Well, these apples won't be falling far from the tree.  We ventured out to Appleton last Father's Day on a wet and wiley day.  That trip made me decide to start the blog.  What other out-of-the way, uniquely New England adventures for dads just lay waiting?  I began with one of my favorites, the Cape Cod Baseball League.  Now, we are coming up on summer two (and post 100), and what better way to launch a season of fun than a tromp through the cow manure?

There is nothing out-of-the ordinary about Appleton.  There is the requisite CSA Farm with a waiting list of over 900 northshore residents.  There is the obligatory Farm Field School.  I know you say, been there, done that.  There are even quaintly Brahmin barns and stables over two centuries old.  Soooo dime a dozen!  But what you don't get anywhere else, (particularly so close you can smell the sea), are the rolling green pastures, and wide-open expanses  that make this farm one of the most beautiful in all of the Trustees of Reservations laundry-list of gems.

Alright, as long as I am admitting things, I did have ulterior motives.  Woodman's.  This isn't any old clam shack mind you.  This is THE clamshack.  Now, I know clamshacks.  From Red's Eats in Wiscasset to Arnold's in Eastham, I have tried them all.  I have sat for hours in bumper to bumper on Route One up and down the coast.  I would even do the 20 hour drive to O'Steen's in St. Augustines for their shrimp.  But, I digress.  Clams.  Since 1914 Woodman's, in picturesquewww.woodmans.com little Essex, has been just a hop, skip and a jump from the cows.  You can even imagine them sneaking out at night to hit the stuff.  My man Sydney is a clam chowderhound.  Lij loves the fries.  But me, a straight fried clam man.  So after a hard day on the farm, hit Woodman's on the way home and try not to doze off on 128. 

Happy Mother's Day at Russell's, Wayland, MA

Russell's Garden Center

397 Boston Post Road (Route 20)

Wayland, MA

My mom and I have a tradition dating back at least thirty years (yes people I am THAT old, or THAT young, however you want to look at it).  Every mother's day we would go to Volante's or Mahoney's and crank up the garden.  This was a tough tradition to live up to when I lived in Oregon, Washington, Colorado and even NYC.   This Mother's Day tradition was one of the many reasons we moved was to be closer to family.  Now the boys have joined the dadventure.

I chose Russells because it is the Disney World of garden centers.  The boys love this place.  It is everything living in Brooklyn was not.  We now own 3/4's of an acre and have been slowly filling it up one spring, summer and fall dadventure at a time.  Last summer, Liji spent most of it picking peas and eating them straight from the vine.  Now we had already hit Russells en route to Codman Farms for early plantings this spring because of the quality and accesibility that make all of that outdoor fun possible.

Mom and I like to find those crazy varieties of tomatoes, the boys of course refuse to eat them.  She hung out in the petunias and annuals while I took the boys over to the pond fish supplies.  As if having Lake Cochituate in the backyard wasn't enough, the boys want a pond (read, dad wants a coi farm).  So, we grab two bullfrog tadpoles and hope they don't end up in the fish tank filter like last year.  We just added "Froggy Learns to Swim," to the library, thus completing the "Froggy" series just in the nick of time.   Finally, we made sure to rustle up a few bags of MooDoo, cause the boys love to say "cow poop" about as much as I love spreading it. And we're out.  Two hundred bucks down, piles of poop,  months of organic produce and man-labor ahead, how better to spend Mother's Day appreciating mom.

Coral Castles and Strawberries Fields Forever, Redlands, FL

Coral Castle

28665 South Dixie Highway

Redlands, Fl.

Miami.  You're thinking blue waters, South Beach clubbin' it with Jay Z, long stretches of beach with infinity pools.  That is so last year people.  Come on, hit the Redlands with the locals.  Now I know rural Florida isn't what makes us Beantowners fly south for spring break, but it sure is fun for the kids.  Back in the 80's when everyone else was runnin' drugs (or runnin' from drugs) on the beach, I was heading down to farm country with my grandparents.  What no beach first thing in Miami?  Please people, first sign of sun and we hit our fav seaside kiddie spot at Matheson Hammock.  But when the beach gets hot, nothing hits the spot like a strawberry shake at Knaus Berry Farm.

The Dunkers, a sect of German Baptist who dress suspiciously like Amish run a great You Pick'em down here.  Why wait till July for Land's Sake Strawberry Festival in Weston when you can hit the season in Miami in April.  Plus, the cinnamon buns are out of this world.  We asked for a rec for lunch, they suggested our old haunt the Fruit and Spice Park's cafe.  This place is a trip unto itself, with 37 acres of fruit bearing trees, many of which you have never heard of.  We came for the shrimp tacos of all things, but the fruit sampler with mulberries was certainly the highlight.

A trip south of miami is certainly a waste though without a stop off at the Coral Castle.  This place is a roadtrip institution to the tune of the World's Largest Twine Ball in Darwin, Minnesota.  Latvian immigrant (alright, my people were Lithuanian, but close) Ed Leedskainin spent the Depression and beyond hauling hundreds of tons of coral around south Florida to make one of the creepiest palaces we've ever seen.  This guy even inspired Billy Idol to write the track "Sweet Sixteen" about his long lost love.  So, if the beach has you bored or burning, head south on Tourista Route One for a little tour of rural south Florida, the Redlands await!

Guest Blog: Author Kim Foley MacKinnon: Meadow Stone Farm, Brooklyn, CT

Guest Blog: Author Kim Foley MacKinnon

Boston Baby: A Field Guide for Urban Parents

Meadow Stone Farm

Brooklyn, CT

We are delighted to be joined by author Kim Foley MacKinnon.  The generous folks at Union Park Press were nice enough to send us an advance copy of her new book.  It is a wonderful addition to our dadventure library.  Please check it out.

Spring fever is upon us and, despite the horrible rain and the up and down weather, it can’t be stopped, not after a taste of a couple of days reaching almost 70 degrees and the time change giving us more daylight. So, as soon as possible, I start planning outdoor adventures for my family.

We have explored so much of New England, and I never pick favorites, but I will admit to being utterly charmed by the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut, the northeastern section of the state framed by Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which is just an hour from Boston.

 

I’ve been thinking of a return visit this year, where we can check out the baby alpacas at the Safe Haven Alpaca Farm (860-455-0054; www.safehavenalpaca.com) and visit the Creamery Brook Bison Farm in Brooklyn (860-779-0837; www.creamerybrookbison.com). It is home to more than 100 bison and you can take a wagon ride and toss grain to huge beasts. A cooler in the back of the car is a must because besides stocking up on bison steaks, you can get fresh goat cheese at the nearby Meadow Stone Farm (860-617-2982; www.meadowstonefarm.com). And make sure to ask to visit with the adorable baby goats. If you decide to make an overnight of it, the Inn at Tonmar in Pomfet is a perfect base. The B&B has just two cozy rooms for visitors (and welcomes kids!) and is owned by Martha and Tony Emilio (860-974-1583), who make everyone feel like family.

The last time we went, it was hard to tear my daughter away from all the animals we encountered at these real working farms. I was glad she got to see where at least some types of food come from, which can be tricky to teach to an urban kid. And it is amazing to me that such a bucolic setting is so close to Boston, completely easy to visit do in a day trip. So next time your little one is singing ee-i-ee-i-o, get in the car and head for some quiet time.

Maple Days at the Natick Community Organic Farm; Natick, MA

Natick Community Organic Farm

117 Elliot Street

Natick, MA

It snowed all week, and then it didn't.  Out of the snow peaked the first crocus bud and robins literaly covered the yard this morning.  More importantly, the sap began to run at the Natick Community Organic Farm.  It's Maple Days, and evidently they couldn't have timed it better with 30 degree temps last night and fifty degrees today, (thanks for the mini-lesson on sapping, Farmer Katie).  

So we packed up the family at 8AM, convinced my mother-in-law from Miami that, yes, we New Englanders are not totally insane for heading outside, voluntarily, in temps near freezing and headed to the farm.  We hadn't been there since Sydney's last Chore Time class in the fall.  The ground was barren, the goats shivered, but the fire was delightful.  After watching sap run from the trees, Sydney and Liji danced around the warm embers designed to show how Native Americans discovered the art of making maple sugar candy, (my personal all-time favorite).  Then we watched colonial pots boil, celebrating our pilgrim past at the farm.

 

But let's be honest, the tour was great, but we came for the pancakes.  Memorial School next store is host to the Maple Days breakfast.  Pancakes dripping in syrup so heavy your kids are covered.  The Clambake Five kickin' the banjo and trombone so loud you can't help but kick up your heels.  As we exited the cafeteria out into the parking lot, bellies full, brows sweaty, we realized we didn't even need out coats.  Spring was in the air.

Enchanted New England: Drumlin Farm, Lincoln, MA

Drumlin Farm
208 South Great Road
Lincoln, MA


Warning! There will be no trace of objectivity in this post. I have been traipsing the paths of Drumlin Farm since I was Sydney's age. I am convinced that the Great Horned Owl there is the same one who haunted me in 1976. I am also pretty sure that Sydney finds going below the fox's den almost as cool as the hayrides, just as I did a generation ago.

If all of the beauty of the flora and fauna wasn't enough for you, admission is included in your Mass Audubon membership. The same group that has single-handedly saved our Bay state's wilds has created one of the best working farms in the nation. We can't wait for Sydney to be old enough for their Summer Camp. What better way to spend a week in your fourth July then gardening and feeding goats? We'll maybe reading Punk Farm by Jarret Krosoczka for homework.




Today, my wife discovered why New England is not just magic in the summer and fall, but how the winter really changes the paradigm of a place. Drumlin is transformed in a blanket of white and is a great place to bring the cross-country skis in a new snow fall. In true Audubon fashion they have a million programs to suit the season. So winter, spring, summer or fall make the trek to Drumlin and maybe next time you'll be tasting some of Sydney's summer produce from his class at their CSA farm.

Chickens, Chickens, Everywhere: Farm Class at the Natick Organic Community Farm, Natick, MA

Chickens, Chickens, Everywhere: Farm Class @
The Natick Organic Community Farm
117 Elliot Street
Natick, MA

Reasons to venture:

• What chores could possibly be more fun than feeding chickens and "borrowing" their eggs?
• The produce is great, and your kids can help learn to grow it.
• Pretend you live in rural Vermont, tap your own syrup and eat it up with pancakes at the Maple Magic Days in March.

Does your MetroWest suburb have a working organic farm?

Follow Us to Emus and Apples: Belkin Lookout Farm, Natick, MA

Follow us to Emus and Apple
Belkin Lookout Farm
89 Pleasan Street
Natick, MA

Reasons to venture:

• Trains, trains, everywhere. Lij was in heaven with a train to the orchards and a caterpillar kiddie train when you get there.
• Emus, really. I mean emus, and cows, goats, and donkeys. Don't forget the poney rides too.
  
• Ok, it's gonna be $52 for the four of us next fall when he turns 2, WITHOUT APPLES!!! but, they did throw in free pumpkins.

When did picking apples become an international event?

How 'Bout Dem Apples: Honey Pot Hill Orchards, Stow, MA

How 'Bout Dem Apples: Honey Pot Hill Orchards
144 Sudbury Road
Stow, MA

Reasons to venture:

• Homemade cider doughnuts, really do you need two more reasons?
• Expansive pick your own: it's blueberry season, but the peaches are in and the macs are on their way.
• Goats, Hedge maze and hayrides completes the tri-fecta.

Where is your fav pick your own in metro west?

Beautiful Miami: Fairchild Tropical Gardens

Beautiful Miami: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens
10901 Old Cutler Road
Coral Gables, FL

Reasons to venture:

• Florida softshell turtle fights are so cool


• The Richard H. Simons rain forest is 20 degrees cooler. This matters when you're here in August and it's 95 with 100% humidity. I wanted to move the kids in there.


• Tropical Fruit market. Jack fruit. So smelly and disgusting.

Where do you go for floral fun?

Yes, We Have Some Tomatoes: Verril Farms Tomato and Corn Festival, Concord, MA

Guest Blogger: Foodie Mommy
Yes, We Have Some Tomatoes: Verrill Farms Tomato and Corn Fest
11 Wheeler Road
Concord, MA 01742

Reasons to venture:
1. How often can you try 30 different TYPES of tomatoes?
2. Because Verrill has some of the best scones around.
3. Top it all of with the sweetest corn-in 5 varieties.
4. And you can dance, too!

Check out one of my fav bloggers: Foodie Mommy for the best eats in beantown with kiddies