SPAFFORD COUNTRY GARDEN TOUR  -  JUNE  20 and 21 - 10 AM to 4 PM

On June 20 and 21, six of the most accomplished gardeners in the Spafford area will open their private gardens to the public. Tour starts at the Borodino Grange Building, Rt. 41 (8 miles south of Skaneateles). Advance sale tickets are available at Anna's Green House on Rose Hill Road, off of Route 20 East in Skaneateles and at the Country Cabin in the village of Skaneateles. Gourmet box lunches for $8 may be ordered. For additional information or to reserve lunch, call Joyce Barnett at 315-673-9161 or e-mail.

A featured site this year is Schoolhouse Farms, the flower, gourmet vegetable and fruit gardens of Becky Muir. 

After traveling and experiencing life throughout the US and Europe, Becky Muir and her husband Richard Malcolm knew that what they really wanted, was to return to the Skaneateles area to raise their young family. We wanted a healthy country life for our children and we wanted them to understand and cherish the simplicity and beauty of living in this wonderful countryside," explains Becky as she strolls through her beds of colorful perennials, herbs and vegetables. 

For the past few years Becky Muir has worked diligently to establish Schoolhouse Farms. She maintains one of the more unusual and creative roadside stands in the area and will soon be ready to offer her produce and homegrown products in local markets. "We have worked very hard on this old house, but somehow I have also found the time to plant several acres of gardens. The gardens are my children's playground." Clustered around her home and the one-room schoolhouse next door are cutting and perennial flower gardens, herb gardens, fruit gardens and gourmet vegetable gardens. Trellis and teepees are set up for the beans. Handmade trellises are ready for vines. 

She pauses near trays containing hundreds of gourmet and heirloom tomatoes and eggplants plants. "We have many varieties of vegetables and herbs not often found in this part of the world," she explains. "We have relatives living in Tuscany and others in Switzerland. We are delighted when they send us seeds from those areas. Visitors to our farm stand have come to expect the unexpected here! Foods are not just nutrients – food can also be art." 

"We are looking forward to renovating this schoolhouse, says Richard. There is a lot of history on this property and we absolutely love that. One of our dreams is to restore the schoolhouse bell to the bell tower and have our children ring it – perhaps for a family picnic or for a community event. This property and the way we live here is very special. We used to dream about how we wanted our life to be --and then one day as we gardened with family who had come for a weekend escape from New York City, we realized that we have a very special lifestyle here. We are living our dream!" 

Tickets as well as maps, directions and descriptions of all the garden stops will be available on the days of the tour for $8 at the Borodino Grange, Route 41 (East Lake Road) -- approximately 8 miles south of Skaneateles. Advance sale tickets are available at Anna's Green House on Rose Hill Road, off of Route 20 East in Skaneateles and at the Country Cabin in the village of Skaneateles. Gourmet box lunches for $8 may be ordered. There will be places to picnic and relax. For additional information or to reserve lunch, call Joyce Barnett at 315-673-9161. 

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Spafford Area Historical Society
P.O. Box 250
Marietta, New York 13110