A yoga retreat is scheduled this summer at Better Farm from Aug. 12-14.
Activities are scheduled from Friday evening through mid-day Sunday, and are available to people who wish to stay on-site (or for locals who would like to participate in the activities but sleep at home). One-day and half-day passes are also available.
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Image from Harbor Freight
Better Farm will offer a beginner's solar workshop from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, June 12.
The class will cover the basics of how solar energy works, introduce basic hardware for setting up your own solar kit (including information on inverters, wires, panels, and more), hands-on experience actually installing a kit on Better Farm's Tiny Home, and take-home packets so you can do it yourself on any small cabin, shed, work room or barn.
Cost is $15/person and includes all materials, take-home packets, and light refreshments. Pre-registration is required -- you can register online here or email info@betterfarm.org.
Better Festival is right around the corner! Join us on the grounds of Better Farm for live music by local and visiting bands, a betterArts gallery pavilion with an instrument-building workshop, auctions and art on display, farm tours, vendors, bouncy house, farm-to-table concessions, and a live DJ booth presented by Better Radio.
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"Orgy", mixed media, Yikui Gu
Philadelphia-based artist Yikui Gu has come to the North Country for the betterArts Residency Program held at Better Farm in Redwood.
Yikui, who goes by Coy, has spent his time in Redwood working on drawings that are part of a larger series called "Lovers Melt." In the works, the artist seeks to subvert staunchly patriarchal institutions by "re-contextualizing the charged facial expressions" found there into the erotic. His drawings at the farm have been of screaming soldiers. "I hope the viewer finds these works to be both horrifying and hilarious," Yikui said of his work.
Yikui has worked since 2011 as an associate professor of art at the College of Southern Maryland. He grew up in Albany, and has degrees from Long Island University and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He lives in South Philly, PA.
"Last summer I was awarded a residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York City," Yikui said. "I was given a private studio in Chelsea, Manhattan, met many interesting artists from around the world, received studio visits from the likes of Jerry Saltz, and immersed myself in the arts of NYC. It was an amazing, life-changing experience and I've kept in touch with many people I met while there."
Seeking a change of pace, Yikui chose Redwood because of the nature surrounding it. "I'm excited by how the natural surroundings will inspire me and influence my studio practice, and I look forward to meeting, getting to know, and possibly collaborating with the cohort of artists."
See more of Yikui's work at yikuigu.com. To learn more about the betterArts Residency Program, visit www.betterarts.org.
Well hello there, gorgeous!
We're very excited to introduce Matilda, the newest addition to Better Farm's cast of characters. This little pot-bellied piglet is just 5 weeks old, and joins us because an injury to her back leg soon after she was born means she needs to live in a forever home where she'll get lots of attention and physical therapy.
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One-man band The Suitcase Junket will be a featured artist at this year's Better Festival Saturday, June 18, at Better Farm in Redwood.
The Suitcase Junket is Matt Lorenz, a Vermont-born musician, visual artist, and tinkerer. His artistic vision is one of salvaged and repurposed objects, throat-singing, and original music.
"I'm interested in the hidden voices that reside within things: the songs stuck inside instruments, the story behind the object, the mysterious weight of a word, the harmonic sequence that's in every note waiting to be broken as light through a prism."
Lorenz tours The Suitcase Junket nationally playing on festival stages and city street corners, in concert halls and dive bars, in living rooms and listening rooms. The sound isn't easy to pin into a genre, but The Suitcase Junket is often likened to Tom Waits, The Black Keys and Andrew Bird.
His instruments include a resurrected dumpster-diamond guitar, an old oversized suitcase, a hi-hat, a gas-can baby-shoe foot-drum, a cookpot-soupcan-tambourine foot-drum, a circular-saw-blade bell and a box of bones and silverware that operate much like a hi-hat. He pounds out rhythms with his feet and his twang-and-buzz guitar growls through a couple of old tube amps. On top of all this is the ethereal edge of his overtone throat-singing.
In support of Lorenz's unusual instrumentation, betterArts will host a free workshop during the afternoon of Better Festival helping people of all ages upcycle everyday objects to make instruments.
The Suitcase Junket will perform at Better Festival from 4:30-6 p.m. The band's latest album, Dying Star, was released in March and is available here. Also be sure to check out The Suitcase Junket On Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @suitcasejunket.
For more information about Better Festival and to Order tickets, click here.
NO TENTS. NO SLEEPING BAGS. NO EXCUSES.
Test your toughness at an overnight survival camping excursion Saturday, July 30, that will test your might as you utilize primitive fire-building techniques, construct a shelter, learn navigation skills, forage for edible wild plants, field-dressing and prepare wild game, and much much more!
Course instructor is Scott Smith, a seasoned Army veteran with 27 years experience in the infantry and more than four years serving as a US Army ranger instructor.
Course starts at 10 am Saturday, July 30. Extraction from the wilderness will be 10 am Sunday, July 31, with a celebratory, farm-to-table breakfast at Better Farm. COST: $73, includes Army-issued survival manual and Survivor T-Shirt. All skill levels welcome!
This workshop is limited to 15 students. To register, click here. To see our full list of upcoming events, click here.
Photo by International Fund for Animal Welfare
On May 7, children and adults are invited to join us on our mission to plant 100 trees on the Better Farm property in 2016.
Each year since 2010, Better Farm has committed to planting at least 100 trees on the property. Varietals include fruit trees to evergreens, oaks, maples, and much more.
On Saturday, we'll be planting 50 white spruces throughout the Better Farm property. We will have some shovels here, but you are encouraged to bring your own -- along with sensible shoes or hiking boots. Refreshments will be served!
Following the tree-planting, a group of us will be heading over to Macsherry Library in Alexandria Bay for their annual Garden Day celebration, featuring free seeds, gardening magazines, refreshments, a beekeeping demo and much more. All are welcome!
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Cost: FREE. Please pre-register by emailing: info@betterfarm.org
We are ecstatic to introduce you to our latest adopted family members, six huacaya alpacas rescued from a local neglect case.
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betterArts presents the next installment in its adult paint 'n' sip series, "Vino & Van Gogh", from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, April 14, at Better Farm.
This class will feature a Vincent Van Gogh theme playing on an image of a tree with swirls, texture and movement. Instructor Maria VanPelt (LaFargeville Central School) will guide students from start to completion using acrylics on canvas.
As always, all materials will be provided and students will be able to enjoy bottomless wine and finger foods.
Cost for this class is $30. To sign up, CLICK HERE.
This class will be held in the betterArts Art Barn at Better Farm, 31060 Cottage Hill Road, Redwood, NY, 13679. For further information, email info@betterarts.org or call (315) 482-2536.
Think of hoop houses, row covers, and cold frames as small, unheated greenhouses that can extend growing seasons in either direction; imagine earlier springs and later summers.
(originally published at Fix.comOriginally published at Fix.com by Christine McLaughlin, reprinted here with permission))
Read MoreBetter Farm's Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program offers local residents weekly shares of fresh, organic produce at a fraction of the cost of store-bought fruits, veggies, breads and eggs.
Read MoreIt's been a little more than two months since we adopted Riddler and Storm, two beautiful, senior male horses who were starved for a little TLC. Severely underweight and lacking the attention they deserved, the Arabian and Tennessee Walking Horse were welcomed to the Better Farm family and subsequently spoiled absolutely rotten.
Here's the update.
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