The Queens County Farm Museum will be celebrating National Dairy Month and National Pollinator Month with the debut of Milk and Honey Month, offering several new farm-fresh programs throughout June.
The museum has partnered with the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition, Cornell University’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies, Queens Public Library, Lower East Side Ecology Center, Lifeway Foods and Andrew’s Honey for these programs.
Among some of the activities that will be taking place this June at the museum in celebration of Milk and Honey Month are butter churning demos, pollinator talks, storytime and milk and cookies and the all-new Celebrate the Strawberry Moon evening program. The latter program involves a sunset guided farm tour, strawberry sampling and wine pairing under June’s full moon.
Used by several Native American tribes, including the Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota, June’s full moon is also known as the strawberry moon to mark the ripening of “June-bearing” strawberries ready for harvest.
Among the free programs occurring throughout the month are the milk and cookie hour on Fridays for an after-school treat, storytime at the Con Edison Reading Room on Saturdays, apiary talks on Sundays, historic farmhouse tours featuring butter churning and honey tasting on Sundays and milk and honey facial mask demos on Sunday, June 26.
Fee-based programs will include sunset yoga on Wednesdays, June 1, 8, 15 and 22; a cheesemaking 101 workshop on Thursday, June 9; the cycle of composting workshop presented by the Lower East Side Ecology Center on Saturday, June 11; celebrating the strawberry moon on Tuesday, June 14; an urban beekeeping class on Saturday, June 18; art on the farm classes on June 23 and 30; and a plant sale featuring pollinator-friendly annuals and perennials.
“Milk & Honey is delicious,” Queens County Farm Museum Executive Director Jennifer Walden Weprin said. “We are thrilled to showcase our pollinators and the New York state dairy industry at Queens County Farm Museum with this monthlong celebration.”
Dating as far back as 1697, the Queens County Farm Museum is one of New York state’s longest continually farmed sites. Unique public programs like Milk and Honey Month are part of the farm’s largest expansion in more than 50 years as it celebrates its 325th anniversary. Programs like this are meant to connect visitors to agriculture and the environment through the lens of the historic farm site.
The museum works with Cornell University’s Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies in hive research. The farm is home to the largest single apiary in New York City, making it a leader in the ecological well-being of the city. Research could help inform work to support pollinators in an urban environment. Additionally, the museum has also partnered with the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition to educate the public on the state’s dairy industry and connect New Yorkers to New York state dairy farmers and producers.
“The New York Animal Agriculture Coalition is proud to be a program sponsor of Milk and Honey Month at the Queens County Farm Museum,” Executive Director of the New York Animal Agricultural Coalition Eileen Jensen said. “With a mission of helping others understand and appreciate animal agriculture, we look forward to helping visitors understand more about the New York dairy industry and the importance of dairy farming, along with why everyone should include dairy in their daily diet.”
