People don’t usually associate Queens with idyllic rural landscapes. Honestly, for us, a trip to Queens usually means we’re going to the airport. Also, once we went to the Target on Queens Boulevard (never again!). Queens is a great place for Chinese and Indian food and cuisines from countries you’re only vaguely aware of–what do they eat in Tajikistan, anyway? Most parts are hard to get to by subway, so we usually stick to Brooklyn. But a few weekends ago, we discovered a new reason to make the drive out to Queens–the Queens County Farm Museum.
The Queens County Farm Museum is the oldest farm in continuous use in the city. That may not sound like much of an honor since there really aren’t that many farms in the city to begin with, but it’s been around since 1697 and still has a colonial Dutch farmhouse, so get off your high horse. It was farmed by various owners until the 1920s and really wasn’t that unusual, a lot of Queens was rural then. But in 1927, the farm was sold to Creedmoor psychiatric hospital while the surrounding farms were sold to developers. The hospital used farm work to rehabilitate patients until 1975 when it was sold to the city, which kept it as a working farm.
We went on a recent weekend for the museum’s Spring Fest. Unfortunately, the rain that day meant no hayrides and other events. Fortunately, the rain that day meant they waived the $5 admission fee. The thing that struck us first was that once you start walking down the drive, you really leave the city behind. You’re in the middle of Queens, but the farm is bordered by trees that shield it from city sights and sounds so that you feel like you’re in the country.
While there are rows of vegetables, the main attraction is the animals. On the day we went they were shearing sheep. On the one hand, that probably felt good for the sheep, on the other hand the sheep are so docile you feel embarrassed for them. Show some spine, sheep! Don’t just let that guy drag you around. They should take a page from the llamas who repeatedly tried to kick people. Besides the sheep, there were pigs, geese, ponies, horses, goats, geese, and chickens. If you have a kid or someone with kids is visiting, the farm animals make this a great place for day trip.
The other highlight for me was the vineyard. The museum operates a small vineyard and sells the wine in the gift shop. We got a bottle of chardonnay (they also have merlot), and I am pleased to report, it was pretty good. We also picked up some excellent fresh eggs. And any day you can feed some goats and come home with fresh eggs and a decent bottle of wine grown inside the city limits is a pretty good day. Head over to the Queens County Farm Museum website for more information about the farm.
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