Follow Alessandra on Instagram @Alessandra_Official
farm
some more regional magazine work
We picked up a stack of magazines from the studio over the weekend that included a note from my wonderful editor:
I was dispatched last month to meet a writer in Cecil County, MD to photograph farmer Robin Way and her circa 1700s cruelty-free, nonGMO, organic, grass fed, non pesticide working farm Rumbleway. Here are a few of the many images I took there that were published as part of a great profile written about Rumbleway.
Robin Way has run the farm with her husband since the 1990s.
Local artist Bill Dunlop painted this mural to greet visitors as they drive up to Rumbleway Farm.
An intern collects eggs from a mobile hen house.
The Ruins
a bit of the Emerald Isle in SoChesCo
catskills gravity
“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”
My pistol of a great aunt Freya from Amsterdam. She grew up in nazi occupied Holland. She makes award-winning dandelion wine, is a consummate storyteller, sharp wisecracker, and is a well-read, multi-lingual, vibrant, inspiring, formidable spirit. There really aren’t enough words to describe the All of her!
Great aunt Bunny, her twin sister (my paternal grandmother), their brother in front of the little chapel on the Karsch family farm in upstate NY, early 1930s)
The little chapel on the Karsch family farm today, 2015
<
It’s really cool inside, the family has Christmas Eve service annually and hold occasional memorial and wedding services there
Twins, their brother, and my great grandmother on the family farm I visited every summer growing up. Apparently, the twins worked the farm as their father preferred to play music and on any instrument around. My grandmother finally “escaped” the farm to go to Temple University in Philly to become a nurse. To this day she’s still a hard working woman and my favorite pen pal. Her “little” brother- my well-spoken great uncle Willard- and wife Freya reside on the land now. Willard rebuilt the house pictured, preserving many of its original elements.
Mural in Middleburgh, NY
My second great grandmother Dorothy (first one passed away before I met her and my great grandfather remarried) lived here in town for years and I stayed with her often as a young girl. It’s just ten minutes’ drive from the family farm up on the mountain.
Here’s lookin at you, Kid
—
Next- to make it full-circle to my birthplace of Stuttgart (when there was still a West Germany) to reconnect with the maternal side of my family.
My very first passport as a German import – ha!!
Me with my EU / German passport
MAWFF debrief
Two weeks ago 60+ chefs and 23 winemakers from around the world convened in seven counties in four states in the Midatlantic region on the U.S.’s east coast for the fourth annual MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival. I have had the privilege and honor of being one of a handful of photographers enlisted to help cover this marathon 4-day long festival since it began.
Here are a few humble snapshots from this photographer’s point of view:
(more images can be found on Instagram by following @Alessandra_Official)
a Night in Shangri-La in Nectar Restaurant, Berwyn PA
Von Buhl brut sparkling Riesling (Germany) started off the Night in Shangri-La dinner held as part of the 4th Annual MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival
MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival 2015 “A Night in Shangri-La” ::Third Course by Chef Laurent Leveque:: Seared New York strip and octopus carpaccio, Barolo star anise reduction, confit potato, poached shallots, morels. Paired with: 2014 Sula Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, 2013 Chateau Lagrezette Purple The Original Malbec
MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival 2015 “A Night in Shangri-La” ::Fourth Course by Chef Patrick Feury:: Tea-smoked squab, parsley and garlic sausage, rainbow Swiss chard, red beet dumplings. Paired with: 2006 Domaine Kikones Limnio, 2008 The Old Faithful Shiraz
MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival 2015 “A Night in Shangri-La” ::Fifth Course by Chef Douglas Hernandez:: Tiramisu, espresso-soaked biscuit, marscapone mousse, caramelized white chocolate, espresso sauce. Paired with: 2012 Savage White, 2013 Rioja Vega Red Tempranillo-Garnacha
Duncan Savage, Head Winemaker (CPV), Owner / Winemaker (SW) for Cape Point Vineyards and Savage Wines – South Africa
Eduardo Sáinz of Príncipe de Viana in Rioja, Spain and winemaker Duncan Savage of Cape Point Vineyards in Noordhoek, South Africa pose for me at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
::Second Course by Chef Gyanendra Gupta:: Fresh mozzarella and tomato salad with pine nut pesto. Paired with: 2013 Cape Point Isliedh, 2013 Hook & Ladder Chardonnay. The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
::Second Course by Chef Gyanendra Gupta:: Fresh mozzarella and tomato salad with pine nut pesto. Paired with: 2013 Cape Point Isliedh, 2013 Hook & Ladder Chardonnay. The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
::Third Course by Chef JD Morton:: English pea soup, lardo, charred ramp oil, shad roe bottarga. Paired with: 2013 Rioja Vega Red Tempranillo Garnacha, 2008 Kikones Ippeas. The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
South African winemaker Duncan Savage talks wine with the guests at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
Chefs enjoying a rosé break at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
Chef JD Morton plates the third course at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
A beautiful, wise old tree that deserved to be photographed 💕 The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
Chef Fabio Raiola of Italy at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
Chef Fabio Raiola of Italy at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
::Fourth Course by Chef Fabio Raiola:: Veal fillet with crust of beans and brown sauce with dried tomato pesto. Paired with: 2013 Chateau Lagrezette Purple The Original Malbec, 2013 [Ee’Z] Zinfandel. The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
Chef Fabio Raiola of Italy at The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
Chef Gérard Ménétrier of France treating the guests to the Fifth Course: Butter biscuit with caramel mousse, flambéed apples. It was paired with: 2006 Old Faithful Shiraz, 2013 Lagarde Malbec. The MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival’s Winemaker’s Dinner at a private residence in southern Chester County, PA
March Force
It is March 4th and this week in southeastern Pennsylvania we have been experiencing the strangest winter weather yet.
A 3-day storm is moving through and has brought us water in every form! Yesterday, everything was quickly encased in an inch of solid ice. Today brought temps in the 40s so the lingering snow from last week began to melt which caused a magical fog. Tonight it has been raining torrentially and after midnight the rain is forecast to turn to snow that will bring upwards of 6″ in accumulation.
View these images on Alessandra’s Instagram: Alessandra_Official
Dayfade
Watching another beautiful spring day fade away in southeastern Chester County, PA
Bailey’s Dairy Farm
Enjoying every moment so far of the second day of Autumn here in Chester County, PA. This is one of those places that breathes life back into me again. These cows always seem to be in perfect contentment! I just love to see them graze.
A breath away from this serenity is an atrocity that is a Toll Bros. housing development. It is one of the (many) great travesties in America “culture” that a land development company can knock down a bunch of trees, fill the acres with uninspired made-to-order houses, and further insult the region by calling this cramped new neighborhood “The Preserves”. “Cut down all the trees and name the streets after them…”
The dairy farm after “The Preserves” helps me believe in humanity again.
Alessandra Nicole | vividmorsels 