Fable Dining – Stone & Thistle Farm

A great place to go away from the City life. We went their for Memorial Weekend. The drive up their was a great experience. We past a lot nature, mountains and lakes. Our GPS showed us the right way without any problems.
After we arrived we got a nice and warm
Hello from the family … We needed to wait a bit for the other tour members which wasn’t a big problem. Since a lot was going on this farm already. They have a lot dogs around which a mostly retired and just enjoy the Day and Sun out their. The owner let them enjoy the last days since they work so hard a life long for them…
At around 11.15am we started our Tour. We visit the chicken house and collected fresh (still warm) for our breakfast a short and intressting explaination about organic and free range inclusive. We saw baby rabbits, ducks, sheap, goats, pigs and chicken in different stages of life which wasn’t only a great experience for the Kids as well for us. The owner explained whit his paisson the farm life and how we get the food to the table.
After the Tour his wife already prepared a delicious Brunch for us which we enjoyed on a community Table with everyone. … And still listen to story’s around the life on a farm.
I would 100% recommended that experience to everyone I know. I think kids have a great Time and Adults just enjoy the nature.
They also have 2 rooms to rent out their so may a good opportunity to stay a night or 2!
And explore everything around … Like Cooperstown, the lakes …

Had an excellent time here for brunch on Sunday. A farm tour was from 11 – 12 and then brunch was at 12. The farm was alive with a lot of newborn baby chicks, ducklings, rabbits, a playful sheep and some mud playing pigs… oh, and several working and retired farm dogs. This city girl had a great time as we were able to speak with the farmers and chef themselves. They are a small family operation with a kind, teenage son helping them. I hope that everyone I know makes it up there one day to experience the serenity and a peek into a farmer’s life. The do wedding rehearsal dinners and the food was DELICIOUS!

If you’re up for a fabulous meal at a working farm, then Fable is a place to visit. A five-​course meal very reasonably priced, with the meats and many veggies coming from the farm itself — and everything else, from wine to cream used in the amazing flan, local.
The evening starts with a farm tour (bring your boots as the grass is long and free-​range animals abound), which is fascinating and provides insights into the life (good and bad) of managing and making a living from farming. It’s not easy, is all I can say!
The meal is served in a large, modern kitchen and dining area that has been added onto the old farmhouse. The space is as interesting as any NYC trendy restaurant!
As I said, the food was fabulous. We started with stuffed tomatillos and then a smooth gazpacho, which was deliciously heavy with garlic. The main fare was an amazing rubbed pork, grown on the farm, then salad and the best flan you’ve ever had to finish it off.
Fable is well-​worth the time it takes to get there. Congratulations to the Warren’s for their accomplishment!

MEMORABLY TERRIBLE.
For starters, you WILL get lost, and your GPS won’t work up there, and there are no signs. When we arrived, my companion and I said to the owners that a sign or two would not hurt, and then we got the serious stink-​eye. From then on out, it just got weirder and more awful.
This is supposed to be like having a big private dinner cooked for you in a beautiful farmhouse of a working farm. All of that is technically true. There’s just one problem: the owners are horrible jerks, and you’d never want to hang out with these people! Especially in the middle of nowhere!
The husband is the farmer and you have to listen in hushed silence to everything he says. Otherwise he will stop what he’s saying and scold you. This includes the farm tour (unless you are 5 minutes late from getting lost, and then, no farm tour for you), and the actual dinner itself. You just have to listen to him tell stories! One of them is about how their family was on the tv show WifeSwap, and he basically talks about what a jerk he was on the show, something about how he did not want his daughter to go to her prom and that was a plot line of the story. Ugh! Gross!
The wife is just stressed out and looks super down-​trodden (she does all the cooking), and I would be too if I were married to this guy.
My companion and I left early, the minute it was quasi polite to leave, muttering something about how we were nervous about driving out of there in the dark. It’s like the dinner party from hell. You’ll get lost getting out of there, but you’ll be happy to be gone!

This is an experince worth traveling for.
Stone&Thistle Farm is a livestock and poultry farm located in East Meredith, NY. On Sat nights Memorial Day through Thanksgiving, you can partake in a unique dining experience.
What an interesting experience! What a great idea!
First of all, I must say… you WILL get lost. Get good directions, because your GPS is useless there. My suggestion for them would be a sign at both ends of Kelso Road.
By the time we arrived, we were 3 minutes too late for the farm tour. I was disappointed that Farmer Tom wouldn’t wait 3 minutes for us when he knew we were down the block. Oh well. My husband wasn’t interested in a farm tour anyway… and it was dark anyway. So we stood back in the farmhouse and enjoyed a bottle of wine by the fireplace. It’s all good!
We were both surprised how good the local wine was. Usually wines from NY (upstate and Long Island are undrinkable, IMHO. but they must have took care to hand select a good selection, because they one we had was nice. However, we downed an entire bottle and neither of us felt even a little drunk… so I question the alcohol content on the label. After 2 glasses of wine, I am usually swinging… but I felt nothing. But it was tasty, so it is all good. And we did have to drive back through dirt roads swerving around cows, coyotes, deer, so even better!
The first course was a fantastic pâté. Amazing stuff.
I am not usually a big bread person, but this bread was amazing. Maybe even the best bread I had in my life. And it is served with a delicious butter, that I think they make right on the farm.
The second course was acorn squash. I love acorn squash, so I liked it. It was overcooked, and a little bland. I still enjoyed it.
The third course was an amazing beef stew. The ingredients were so fresh, and the preparation was very good. The chef was kind enough to sub lamb for my non-​beef-​eating husband, and veggie stew for the young vegetarian couple to my left. I did tell her ahead of time, and we appreciated her flexibility.
The fourth course was a simple lettuce salad with pear viniagrette. Maybe we were all stuffed by this point, but this seemed a little boring. It lacked pizzazz. It was refreshing to have the salad course AFTER dinner though. And the lettuce was incredibly fresh. I think it needed another ingredient… perhaps goat cheese from the farm?
The fifth course was apple tart with homemade ice cream and the strongest coffee I have ever had in my life. Smart. She knew lots of folks had to get back to their B&Bs, swerving around cows and coyotes on curving dirt roads in the total darkness.
For this 3 generation city girl… it was fun to meet real farmers. I couldn’t help but feel Denise was a little standoffish when we arrived, and obviously overwhelmed. but I couldn’t prepare a 5 course meal for 22 people, so I understood. She was very friendly afterwards, so I think she was just stressed. Our one other complaint was that the Farmer was doing his best to make folks comfortable by chatting with them, but he tended to monopolize every conversation. Also, I am very comfortable chatting with complete strangers, but some (like my husband) are shy and very uncomfortable with that. Despite that, he enjoyed himself a lot, as did I.
This was a fantastic experience that I would highly recommend. It is unique. It not mainstream. It is so interesting to meet the folks that grow our food. It is delightful to have organic food that is fresh and lacking steroids & pesticides… it DOES taste better. The experience would be reason enough to partake in this dining experience… the gourmet food is the cherry on top. I would recommend this is everyone, and I long to return!