This autumn we built a sandbox under the shady maples for kids to play in while they visit the Mansion on family vacation.  It’s been quite a hit.  The kids usually discover the sandbox before their parents have even finished unloading the car.   Fresh air, imaginary play, and sunshine mixed with a good dose of sand and laughter can be just the ticket for hours of fun.

Lettuce from the Winthrop Estate Garden (photo from the summer of 2010)

Last summer when I was sitting on the verandah, savoring a Winthrop Estate salad that was picked moments earlier, I felt like I knew what heaven must be like.  I fell in love with that bite as it was such an intense, fully engaged, ‘all-senses on’ experience.  I can hardly wait for the harvest!

A farmer?  I never thought I’d be a farmer.  But, based on our bountiful harvest the last two years and our unbounded enthusiasm for organic, locally grown, high quality vegetables, and the fact that my kids eat them right off ‘the vine’, we have expanded the Winthrop Estate farm this year.  We added more space for beds and completed the cultivation in late May, and we are now a small CSA with a handful of lucky, near by families and one restaurant as members (the shares sold out within a few phone calls).

We have planted tomatoes, beans, peppers, lettuces, carrots, corn, parsley, basil, and more…  (the full list can be seen in this <Winthrop Estate’s Organic Farm> post) and just last week we completed the beds with some plants from Left Field Farm.  Within a few weeks we will be ready to harvest the new crops.  We already have plenty of chives, scallions (quite strong and flavorful), spearmint and chocolate mint, and all have wonderfully intense flavors unlike we find in most grocery stores. We distribute the produce each week to the participating farm members, the guests of the Winthrop Estate, and a wonderful local restaurant, Nudel.

Because I love the organic fresh vegetables, in addition to being an enthusiastic farmer, I am a fan of the farmer’s markets and CSAs and am always looking for places to eat locally-grown, organic produce.  I am so pleased that there are many opportunities to get Berkshire produce at local restaurants and stores. See the Berkshire Grown site for more information on the farm to table week they have created in early June.

Parsley from the Winthrop Estate garden

This summer the Winthrop Estate staff have been working hard on cultivating a new organic garden patch. After a few weeks of water and sunshine, the employees and guests of Winthrop are beginning to reap the benefits. What could be better than local, organic vegetables grown a few yards from your own kitchen? Not much, especially when eating a tasty home-grown salad means being environmentally conscious. Just today a guest asked where we bought our tomatoes as they were some of the best she had tasted. I guess when the produce is picked from the garden only minutes before it’s added to a salad, such reactions can be expected.

The mark of a great respite, be it a week or weekend, is the sense of renewal you achieve. The Winthrop Estate is a place you will recharge your life batteries, rediscover your love for each other; it’s a place where you can suspend judgment and live in a dreamy state without interruption, where the most that is asked of you is to choose which entertainment you wish to enjoy.  Here you are not itinerant tourists, but pampered guests of the mansion.  Imagine having no interruptions, tasks, dishes, or lists– just the joy of vacation.

Things have definitely changed this week. Flowerbeds and trees are showing bits of green. The animals around the property are waking up from their winter slumber and the birds are singing in the morning. The view from the West Wing gets prettier and prettier by the day.  As spring flowers emerge, it makes me think about weddings. I can hardly wait for summer and our wedding season.  The Berkshire region is such a beautiful place to get married. I am still captivated by its magic.