Harvest pace
ALIX BECKER • Farmstead Hudson Valley
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
ALIX BECKER • grower & owner • Farmstead Hudson Valley
Neighborhood you live in: Hudson, NY
It’s Friday afternoon. How are you rolling into the weekend?
We grow specialty produce and flowers on our Upstate farm, and we’re right in the middle of the harvest season. Friday is defined by the pace of the harvest. I’m usually out in the field early in the morning picking with the team; then supervising order preparation and delivery to our restaurant and farm share customers. By Friday afternoon, as the relentless pace begins to slow, I’m looking forward to a quiet dinner at home, usually centered around what we harvested that morning.
Any restaurant plans?
We’re fortunate to live somewhere good food is accessible, and where restaurants value and support local farms like ours. We have our favorites, like The Aviary in Kinderhook, and the list keeps growing. I’m recently obsessed with the excellent, meat-forward menu at Cafe Mutton in Hudson. The head cheese is absolutely out of this world. Via Cassia, also in Hudson, serves cozy Italian fare in a warm trattoria-like space that feels transportive.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Upstate is a hot spot for art and performance, and my husband David is a painter, so we spend a lot of free time out and about at galleries and art venues. There’s always something to see here, both on and off the well-beaten path. Close to our home in Columbia County, there are a host of new and established contemporary art venues and galleries showing world-class work, including The Campus, The School, and Art Omi. I loved Sky High Farm’s Biennial last summer, staged in a cavernous industrial space on the Hudson River just south of us.
Any weekend getaways?
When the season quiets, we tend to head to NYC for the weekends. We’ll take in the Chelsea galleries or a couple of museums. I love to wander around the West Village, perhaps for a light lunch at Via Carota or a late-night burger at Buvette. I love Officina 1397, a little jewel box of a shop on Grove Street. There’s something to discover around every corner.
What was your last great vacation?
We took an epic road trip in Morocco last fall, starting in Tangier and then to Fez where we stayed at the beautiful Riad Laaroussa. From there, we went to Marrakech for a few days at the incredibly sensual El Fenn. Their rooftop bar was an evening oasis after days spent shopping and sightseeing around the city. From Marrakech, we drove to the Atlas Mountains, where we stayed at the restored Kasbah du Toubkal, a rustic hostel set high in the mountains. Finally, over our last few days we drove to the desert cities of Taroudant and Essaouira, where we took in views of the sea and ate fish on the ramparts of the city’s ancient port.