Edwards Farm Day Sunday, June 3, 2018

It's that time again! Summer starts on Edwards Farm Day. Come on down to the farm on the corner of Edwards Street and Foster Avenue in Sayville, NY for a great day of family fun.

"An afternoon on the Edwards Farm . . . will feature hands-on activities including quilting, grinding corn, making ice cream, and seed planting along with baby farm animals, spinning and weaving demonstrations as well as music by The Homegrown String Band. To help defray expenses, admission is $4.00 per person, $15 for a family of four, $2.00 each additional person over 2 years of age."

Homegrown String Band @ Sayville Library Nov. 8, 2015

Homegrown Three at The Sayville Library May 18, 2014

Golden Mouldies

Come on down to the Sayville Library, Sunday afternoon, to get your fill of blues, ballads, and breakdowns in an intimate concert setting. Rick, Georgianne, and Annalee will be performing some of Rick's original music as well as some examples of the rural American music that was recorded before and during the time that record companies were just beginning to establish well defined genres and musical categories. Pre-bluegrass and pre-blues music performed on guitar, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, ukulele, jawharp and percussion.

Sayville Celebrates its 250th Anniversary!

In 1761 John Edwards settled in Sayville and built a house at what is now the corner of Foster Avenue and Edwards Street. On Sunday, June 5th, 2011, from 1:00 - 4:00 the Homegrown String Band will be performing two sets of acoustic string band music on the grounds of the old Edwards homestead as part of the annual Edwards Farm Day celebration. Come on down to the farm and help us celebrate the 250th anniversary of Sayville. 

"An afternoon on the Edwards Farm . . . will feature hands-on activities including quilting, grinding corn, making ice cream, and seed planting along with baby farm animals, spinning and weaving demonstrations as well as the Homegrown String Band. To help defray expenses, admission is $4.00 per person, $15 for a family of four, $2.00 each additional person over 2 years of age."

National Trail Running Day

Bet you didn't know today was National Trail Running Day. I celebrated with a 12 mile run on the trails in Brookhaven State Park. The weather was great and wildlife was active. I saw several deer and a flock of wild turkeys. At one point I nearly ran into a young fawn—I turned a corner and the little guy ran right across the trail only inches away from me, a surprise for both of us! The trails in BSP are pretty typical of what you find in the Long Island Pine Barrens. I ran a couple miles of rolling, winding, pine needle covered single track, but mostly it's relatively flat sandy trails winding through pitch pine and scrub oak. The night before the Richmond Blueberry Fiddle Festival in New Hampshire we treated ourselves to dinner at The Newfane Cafe and Creamery and a night in a cool little bed and breakfast, Red Wing Farm, in Vermont. This was quite a treat for the road weary Homies. After driving 4,000 miles, eating lots of fast food, and staying in cookie cutter budget motels over the past 6 weeks, it was nice to get off the highway (through a covered bridge!) and enjoy the natural beauty and friendly folks in rural Vermont. The inn was just down the road from Townshend State Park. Before we hit the road for the festival, I ran down the dirt road to the State Forest Rd and into the park where I enjoyed a nice trail run up to the top of Bald Mountain. This was bit different than Long Island trail running. The 1.7 mile trail up the mountain was a rocky, rooty, twisting trail with one shallow stream crossing, fun, fun, fun! The festival was great, too. This festival is a fund raiser for The Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Richmond VT. The IHM school is run by a group of "fiddlin'" Catholic sisters, though the student body only numbers 35 they have plenty of talent that has been nurtured by the sisters. At various times during the festival I would say most of the student body appeared on stage, either performing with the BFF Fiddlers or playing a part in The New England Melodrama.

Next week we will be doing another day trip down to Somerset NJ for a free show at The Franklin Township Public Libray on Wednesday, August 25, at 7 pm.

We'll be closing out the month with a local performance at The Sayville Seafood, Crafts and Music Festival. Our set is at 1:20 on Saturday the 28th. Come early to see the opening set at 12 by our buddies, The Tobacco Roadies, and stay late to catch the closing act, Donna Jean Godchaux and Jeff Matson, at 4:20 pm.

Photo by Erica Jackofsky