The grounds of Stone Quarry House are ready for exploring – though you might meet Lucy, our shaggy, friendly border collie/poodle mix.  She’s a great jumper and very tough to fence!  Free-ranging, curious chickens are likly to come right over – don’t worry about the roosters, they are incredibly mild mannered! You can look for frogs and grass-eating carp in the pond and hike up to the hillside ridge to take in the stunning views of our upstate NY countryside.

If you are interested in organic gardening, we have 3 gardens and an orchard to explore. The large vegetable garden is enclosed in a stone wall, reached through a dry-laid stone archway. There, a grape-covered arbor shades a flagstone paved patio while flagstone paths stretch out between the vegetable beds. This year we are growing organic lettuce, tomatoes, peas,  onions, strawberries, garlic, herbs, as well as our annual crops of Concord grapes, rhubarb, horseradish and asparagus.  Fortunately, there is enough water in the pond to provide seep irrigation to the gardens, helping them through dry spells.

The garden by the pond ihas strawberries and flowers and lettuces and a gooseberry bush that needs to be replanted! The walled flower garden on the north side of the main house tends to be at its best in the spring – probably all of the gardens are actually best in the spring!  Weeding can get away from me when we are super busy in the summer!

The charming main house garden is walled in fieldstone, and reached through two wrought iron gates made for us by Duran Van Doren, a local blacksmith/artist. The flower-edged stepping stone path leads you to a quiet stone bench under the rambling rose vines, the perfect spot for a close-up view of the birds visiting our feeders.

Our flock of hens is living mostly in our fenced backyard as foxes and other predators were taking too high a toll when they were out of sight of the house and the dogs. But they seem quite content, and we are fortunate to have a really calm rooster, so if you are curious to look for eggs in the nest boxes, let me know and we can take a trip out to visit them.

Planted in 2011, the orchard covers the lower potion of the slope. Here you’ll find pears, apples, cherries, peach and quince trees, as well as various berry bushes.  The little trees are doing their best in a changing environment, sometimes blossoming out, only to endure a week of hard frosts and lose any possibility of fruit that year!  Organic growing may not result in perfect fruit, but it is tasty!

Those who take the hike up to the hillside ridge are rewarded with an amazing view of our upstate NY hills, and the best spot to watch the sunset in Ithaca NY.

We hope you find lots to enjoy at the Stone Quarry House, both inside and out! Contact us any time with questions or to make a reservation.