Part 2 - St. Lawrence Nursery

I continued walking the grounds of St. Lawrence Nursery and found friendly barn cats here, there and everywhere:

There were free range chickens, safely confined in a fenced but very large pasture:

And once I'd moved off to the side, I got a nice view of the greenhouse, home and windmill:

This picture doesn't signify anything. I just thought it made for an attractive tableau, an interesting mix of colors, shapes and textures:

There were many fields with nice rows of carefully marked fruit trees, grape vines and what they call "edible landscaping." The giant white bales seemed to be compost, imported from Canada:

A collection of workers' tools, including compost, pallets, hoses, buckets and a specialized wheelbarrow:

A shed full of tools:

And another greenhouse, this one also used for storage instead of plants:

This gray cat was so friendly that I tried to take his picture. But whenever I'd back up to snap a photo, he'd rush forward to stay close to me. In the end, I was hunched over, holding my camera and trying to jog backwards, laughing giddily. It's a good thing no one saw me doing it:

The old Lab was friendly, but shied away whenever I'd point my camera at him. So I had to snap his picture from a distance:

This cat looked and acted so much like my Rocky that at times it seemed like I'd known him for years:

All in all, I found St. Lawrence Nursery a friendly place with relaxed people in spite of their busy work schedule this time of year. I'll let you know in a year or two how my four new fruit trees survived. I found not one, but two cats lounging around my car when it came time to leave. I had to rev the motor and make sure they'd cleared the area before I pulled away:

Part 1 - St. Lawrence Nursery

I posted earlier about planting my four new fruit trees. Well, this is where they came from. St. Lawrence Nursery, located on the outskirts of Potsdam, specializes in cold climate fruit trees and what they call "edible landscaping." This is how it appears from the road and I realized that I'd driven by previously, just thinking this was someone's farm:

There is a small sign at the road, but I'd missed that on previous trips:

I drove in and parked. A worker directed me to the office, where I asked if I could walk around and take pictures for my blog. Unlike some others of whom I've asked that question, they seemed happy with idea and gave me the freedom to walk anywhere I'd like:

I began at the base of a giant windmill, just outside the office:

And yes, I do mean giant. This is flat country with lots of wind which is where I got the title for this blog:

A man and his toddler were petting a friendly barn cat, while an old Lab lounged lazily behind them:

Out back I began to see sapling trees planted:

There was a greenhouse of sorts, but I suspected that was for the owners' pleasure and not a part of the business:

There was a Buddha statue:

I could tell that the snow cover hadn't been gone for long as evidenced by the overturned lawn chairs and other debris:

I found large plots of carefully marked tree saplings planted in neat rows:

And a real greenhouse, though it seemed to have been used mostly for storage. But there was still more to St. Lawrence Nursery, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: