Shakespeare’s joyful pastoral romp through the Forest of Arden comes alive in this free, 90-minute performance at our very own Churchtown Dairy Globe! Love runs wild, disguises and discoveries abound in this comedy of banter, freedom, and falling headfirst into the unexpected.

Set in the heart of Columbia County farmland, this magical evening of theater is not to be missed!

Whether you're a Shakespeare enthusiast or a newcomer to his works, this performance is perfect for a date night, family outing, or an evening with friends.

Event Details:

• Dates: Thursday, August 21, 2025 - Sunday, August 24, 2025

• Doors Open: 7:00 PM

• Show Starts: 7:30 PM

• Ticket Price: Free but space is limited - please reserve tickets HERE.

Shakespeare’s joyful pastoral romp through the Forest of Arden comes alive in this free, 90-minute performance at our very own Churchtown Dairy Globe! Love runs wild, disguises and discoveries abound in this comedy of banter, freedom, and falling headfirst into the unexpected.

Set in the heart of Columbia County farmland, this magical evening of theater is not to be missed!

Whether you're a Shakespeare enthusiast or a newcomer to his works, this performance is perfect for a date night, family outing, or an evening with friends.

Event Details:

• Dates: Thursday, August 21, 2025 - Sunday, August 24, 2025

• Doors Open: 7:00 PM

• Show Starts: 7:30 PM

• Ticket Price: Free but space is limited - please reserve tickets HERE.

Shakespeare’s joyful pastoral romp through the Forest of Arden comes alive in this free, 90-minute performance at our very own Churchtown Dairy Globe! Love runs wild, disguises and discoveries abound in this comedy of banter, freedom, and falling headfirst into the unexpected.

Set in the heart of Columbia County farmland, this magical evening of theater is not to be missed!

Whether you're a Shakespeare enthusiast or a newcomer to his works, this performance is perfect for a date night, family outing, or an evening with friends.

Event Details:

• Dates: Thursday, August 21, 2025 - Sunday, August 24, 2025

• Doors Open: 7:00 PM

• Show Starts: 7:30 PM

• Ticket Price: Free but space is limited - please reserve tickets HERE.

Shakespeare’s joyful pastoral romp through the Forest of Arden comes alive in this free, 90-minute performance at our very own Churchtown Dairy Globe! Love runs wild, disguises and discoveries abound in this comedy of banter, freedom, and falling headfirst into the unexpected.

Set in the heart of Columbia County farmland, this magical evening of theater is not to be missed!

Whether you're a Shakespeare enthusiast or a newcomer to his works, this performance is perfect for a date night, family outing, or an evening with friends.

Event Details:

• Dates: Thursday, August 21, 2025 - Sunday, August 24, 2025

• Doors Open: 7:00 PM

• Show Starts: 7:30 PM

• Ticket Price: Free but space is limited - please reserve tickets HERE.

Book Club meets on the last Wednesday of the month (unless otherwise noted) to discuss topics surrounding land, history, ecology, and community.

Love, Nature, Magic: Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden by Maria Rodale

In Love, Nature, Magic, organic advocate and former CEO of a global health and wellness company Maria Rodale combines her love of nature and gardening with her experience in shamanic journeying, embarking on an epic adventure to learn from plants, animals, and insects―including some of the most misunderstood beings in nature. Maria asks them their purpose and listens as they show and declare what they want us humans to know. From Thistles to Snakes, Poison Ivy to Mosquitoes, these nature beings convey messages that are relevant to every human, showing us how to live in balance and harmony on this Earth.

Please email caitlin@churchtowndairy.org with any questions or to be added to the club’s mailing list.

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new chamber music series at Churchtown Dairy, beginning this August. Curated by renowned cellist Wendy Sutter, the inaugural season brings world-class musicians to the iconic Round Barn for intimate performances that celebrate the intersection of art, nature, and community.

Concert I

• Friday, August 29, 2025

• 6:00 PM 8:00 PM

August 29th, 2025  | 6:00–8:00 PM | Round Barn at the Churchtown Dairy
357 Co. Rd. 12, Hudson, NY 12534

Click here to purchase tickets

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)

String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, “American”

Violin I — Jesse Mills

Violin II — Alex Fortes

Viola — Milan Milisavljević

Cello — Matthew Christakos

– Intermission –

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Souvenir de Florence, String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70

Violin I — Catherine Cho

Violin II — Todd Phillips

Viola I — Milan Milisavljević

Viola II —Alex Fortes

Cello I — Wendy Sutter

Cello II — Matthew Christakos

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new chamber music series at Churchtown Dairy, beginning this August. Curated by renowned cellist Wendy Sutter, the inaugural season brings world-class musicians to the iconic Round Barn for intimate performances that celebrate the intersection of art, nature, and community.

Concert II

• Saturday, August 30, 2025

• 6:00 PM 8:00 PM

August 30, 2025 | 6:00-8:00 PM | Round Barn at the Churchtown Dairy
357 Co. Rd. 12, Hudson, NY 12534

Click here to purchase tickets

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36

Violin I — Jesse Mills

Violin II — Alex Fortes

Viola I — Milan Milisavljević

Viola II — Todd Phillips

Cello I — Matthew Christakos

Cello II — Wendy Sutter

– Intermission –

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)

String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 (Op. posth. 163)

Violin I— Todd Phillips

Violin II- Catherine Cho

Viola — Milan Milisavljević

Cello I — Wendy Sutter

Cello II — Matthew Christakos

Join us on the first Saturday of each month from June through October & tour the Medicinal Gardens at Churchtown. Learn directly from our team of gardeners about the plants and methods that make it special.

~ 10am-noon ~

Susan Chiappini of Arrow Maker Quilts leads a monthly handwork get-together on the first Saturday of every month from 10am-12pm at the farm. Together, we’ll work on sewing projects and troubleshoot new techniques. A Churchtown cheese board will be served for attendees to enjoy as they work.

Participants need to bring their own handwork projects with all necessary tools and materials. Please RSVP for this free event via email: arrowmakerquilts@gmail.com

New Dance Series Conceived and Curated by Richard Colton

Produced by Churchtown Dairy

Taiji Dao, Dance, Calligraphy, & Sound

An Afternoon of Taiji, Qigong and Bagua dance celebrating the mystery of the Dao through a living mandala of movement, music, calligraphy, and sound. Taiji Dao is a journey from the silence of Hundun (混沌)—the primordial chaos before creation—into the unfolding of Wuji (無極), infinite stillness, where all potential sleeps. Movement becomes brushwork. Ink becomes breath. The stage becomes a place of transformation. Dance, music, calligraphy, and listening, are magically integrated into the nature and architecture of Churchtown Dairy.

Conceived for Churchtown Dairy and Performed by Lorelei Chang

Music Created and Performed by Joseph Getter

Narration Created and Performed by Nini Melvin

Costumes by Mai Nakanisha

* Suggested Donation at Door ($25 General Admission, $15 Senior and Under Eighteen)

Lorelei Chang is a pioneering modern dancer from China whose 40-year artistic journey bridges continents and cultures. She is renowned for integrating Qigong, dance, Chinese calligraphy, and healing arts into unique works of embodied expression. As the co-founder of DancEnlight—a cross-cultural dance company dedicated to artistic collaboration and spiritual enrichment—Lorelei has performed and taught internationally, from the U.S. and Japan to New Zealand and China. Her work has been featured at institutions such as Trinity College, the Kripalu Center, Omega Institute, and the National Qigong Association. A professional member of the National Qigong Association, Lorelei is a Shiatsu practitioner trained by Nini Melvin and a certified Radiant Lotus Women’s Qigong instructor founded by Daisy Lee. Lorelei currently studies Hun Yuan Tai Chi and Bagua with a renowned martial artist and teacher, Zhang Qilong. She holds deep reverence for her many teachers—especially her mother, who introduced her and her twin sister to Qigong in their early teens. Lorelei’s teachers’ influence permeates every aspect of her work. Through her own presence and teachings, she honors their light, and hopes that anyone she encounters benefits from her guidance and passion.

Joseph Getter is a creative world musician, multi-instrumentalist, improvisor, composer, and teacher. He has decades of experience in call-and-response kirtan, Javanese gamelan of Indonesia,Carnatic classical music of southern India, experimental music, drumming, and Jazz. Joseph creates music for theater, dance, sound meditations, yoga, and the circus arts. Joseph accompanies dance classes at Wesleyan University, and at Educational Center for the Arts high school. He teaches music at Southern Connecticut State University, University of New Haven, Independent Day School, and Oddfellows Playhouse. 

Nini Melvin created a nature-based healing art, HUMANATURE, blending Shiatsu, Chinese Medicine, Dance, Qigong and Five Element Meridian Movement. She wrote a book, HUMANATURE, made a divination deck and many shiatsu charts, all featuring Lorelei Chang. Nini has a Master’s Degree in Dance from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. She studied and taught shiatsu at the Ohashi Institute in NYC from 1981-1994. Since 1985, Nini has trained shiatsu and Qigong teachers and practitioners locally and internationally. She teaches classes online and in person. Nini and Lorelei have been collaborating and co-creating for a decade.

New Dance Series Conceived and Curated by Richard Colton

Produced by Churchtown Dairy

jakob & imani present: all you see is cows in the city

A surreal, site-responsive performance exploring rebellion, ecology, and urban decay.

In this new work, NYC-based art duo imani & jakob (imani,a dancer from New Orleans, and jakob, a visual artist from the Bronx) imagine a world where cows reclaim the city—not as livestock, but as agents of revolt. Inspired by graffiti artist Skeme’s phrase “all you see is crime in the city,” the duo subverts that line to ask what it means when nature fights back.

Through dance, painting, and sound, all you see is cows in the city becomes a metaphor for systemic collapse and ecological grief. It examines humanity’s relationship to the land, to animals, and to one another—particularly how habitants of nature and underserved communities alike are the first and most deeply impacted by environmental degradation as a result of urban development.

Set in the Round Barn at Churchtown Dairy, the performance becomes an act of reclamation: of space, of breath, of balance. What does it mean to see cows in the city? Maybe it’s a warning. Maybe it’s a dream. Maybe it’s already happening.

Created for Churchtown Dairy and Performed by imani & jakob

Sound Mix by imani & jakob

* Suggested Donation at Door ($25 General Admission, $15 Senior and Under Eighteen)

Imani Gaudin is a choreographer, multidisciplinary performance artist, and the founder of gaudanse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to promoting accessibility and sustainable practices for underserved communities of artists. She received a Certificate of Artistry in dance and was awarded the Rose Jackson Moye Award from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). She then graduated with honors from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase, where she studied abroad at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Imani has trained at esteemed institutions, including The Juilliard School and The Ailey School, and has performed works by notable choreographers such as Ohad Naharin and Alethea Pace. As a movement artist with TRIBE under the direction of Shamel Pitts, she continues to push artistic boundaries. Imani was recently commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts and the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance to premiere her work in collaboration with visual artist Jakob Vitale, jakob & imani.

Jakob Vitale a New York and Los Angeles-based artist, seeks to educate and evoke change in society (or at least increase the possibilities of such), as art has the incredible power of impacting people, especially artwork seeking change/acknowledgement/reform/or response to topics such as war, unrest, social and political conflicts. Within his artistic discipline, Jakob has fully propelled himself into this goal, putting aside simple and aesthetically pleasing imagery for complex scenes, allegories, and narrations on urban environments of New York City and Los Angeles. Born in Bronx, New York in 1999, Jakob absorbed the environment and experience of urban life of the East coast. Later spending 3 years, beginning in 2015, in the affluent urban society of Santa Monica, California, ultimately returning to New York to study Painting and Drawing at Purchase College, School of Art and Design (BFA, 2021), Jakob instills the troubling matters of varying urban experiences (of the United States) into his artwork. Jakob was recently commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts and the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance to premiere his work in collaboration with choreographer Imani Gaudin, jakob & imani.

New Dance Series Conceived and Curated by Richard Colton

Produced by Churchtown Dairy

Cage & Cunningham @ Churchtown Dairy

This music and dance program features a MinEvent comprising solos and duets from Suite for Two, Signals, Antic Meet and other works by Merce Cunningham performed by a select group of professional dancers who regularly participate in Merce Cunningham Trust activities and projects. The MinEvent, arranged by MCT authorized stager Brandon Collwes, will be performed with music by John Cage curated by Jeffrey Lependorf, executive director of the John Cage Trust. The program will also include excerpts from Cunningham’s repertory taught in a community workshop, additional music by Cage performed by Lependorf and students from Bard College Conservatory, along with a music & dance realization of Cage’s iconic 4’33”.

*Suggested Donation at Door ($25 General Admission, $15 Senior and Under Eighteen)

Merce Cunningham Community Workshop

Brandon Collwes, MCT authorized stager and former Merce Cunningham dancer, will conduct a two-day workshop teaching phrase material from Cunningham’s repertory. The workshop, which will take place in the Round Barn at Churchtown Dairy, is free to the public and is open to intermediate and advanced level dancers. The workshop will culminate in a public showing as part of a program of music & dance at the Round Barn. Participation in the showing is optional.

Schedule:

Thursday, September 18. 12:00-4:00

Friday, September 19. 10:00-1:00

For those choosing to participate in the showing:

Saturday, September 20

10:00-1:00 warm-up and rehearsal

3:00 program begins

** To register for the workshop portion, please email: rcolton5678@gmail.com

Brandon Collwes joined the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in January 2006, where he danced until the close of the Company in 2011 in the final Legacy World Tour. He has been a member of the Liz Gerring Dance Company since 2012 and is currently rehearsal director. He also has performed with Sally Silvers Dance and the Stephen Petronio Dance Company. Brandon has staged MCTrust “MinEvents” for the Student Company of the Mark Morris Dance Center (2019), Connecticut College (2019), the Greater Hartford Academy of The Arts (2019) and at Northwestern State University of Louisiana (2024). He also co-staged Changing Steps at the University of Arts in Philadelphia (2023), staged the central duet from XOVER (2024) and currently teaches Cunningham Technique at DeWitt Clinton High School. Since April 2020, he has collaborated as a choreographer/dancer with composer John King on “Sonic Gathering,” which began during the pandemic as a weekly live music and dance performance on Zoom, and has since been presented in-person in NYC by CultureHub, Roulette Intermedium and the Coffey Street Studio. Additionally, his choreography has been presented via augmented reality by Unstumm in Berlin and by Korda Art In Motion in Stigsbo, Sweden. He is also an abstract painter.

Jeffrey Lependorf is a composer, musician, and visual artist, as well as a certified master of the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese bamboo flute. His music has been performed around the globe—literally, in fact: a recording of his Night Pond for solo shakuhachi was launched into space when the shuttle Atlantis took off on May 15, 1997 and remained for a year aboard the Russian space station Mir. His “Masterpieces of Western Music” audio-course is available through Barnes & Noble’s “Portable Professor” series, as well as for download through audible.com. Music recordings can be found on Ayler, Albany, Sachimay, and other labels. A nationally recognized arts leader, he currently serves as Executive Director of the John Cage Trust, following serving as Executive Director of The Flow Chart Foundation (devoted to the legacy of John Ashbery), and also directs the Art Omi: Music international musicians residency program, a collaborative music-making residency he created.

Join us for an intimate, day-long gathering that features short, moving talks on the Main Stage from voices of the Organic Movement, as well as two sessions of focused breakout groups, a delicious lunch, and plenty of time to mingle and connect.

Speakers include farmers, journalists, and policy experts, such as: Eliot Coleman, Austin Frerick, Zephyr Teachout, JM Fortier, Emily Oakley, Linley Dixon, and Dave Chapman.

Time: 9am-4pm

Tickets: $35-$90

More information and tickets - HERE.

Join us on the first Saturday of each month from June through October & tour the Medicinal Gardens at Churchtown. Learn directly from our team of gardeners about the plants and methods that make it special.

~ 10am-noon ~

Susan Chiappini of Arrow Maker Quilts leads a monthly handwork get-together on the first Saturday of every month from 10am-12pm at the farm. Together, we’ll work on sewing projects and troubleshoot new techniques. A Churchtown cheese board will be served for attendees to enjoy as they work.

Participants need to bring their own handwork projects with all necessary tools and materials. Please RSVP for this free event via email: arrowmakerquilts@gmail.com

Join us in the Churchtown farm kitchen for a fun and informative afternoon learning how to make and preserve strawberry jam. Susan will lead you through best practices in:

• selecting and preparing your fruit

• low sugar jam recipes

• necessary kitchen supplies for successful home canning.

The principles and techniques learned will easily apply to most home canning of other fruit jams as well as tomatoes.

Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite - HERE.

Susan Chiappini is certified through the Cornell Cooperative Extension to teach home canning and makes thousands of jars of jam yearly in her work as the farm kitchen supervisor at Montgomery Place Orchards. She holds a PhD in human physiology and has studied science and nutrition at the Medical College of Virginia and Columbia University.

Susan Chiappini of Arrow Maker Quilts leads a monthly handwork get-together on the first Saturday of every month from 10am-12pm at the farm. Together, we’ll work on sewing projects and troubleshoot new techniques. A Churchtown cheese board will be served for attendees to enjoy as they work.

Participants need to bring their own handwork projects with all necessary tools and materials. Please RSVP for this free event via email: arrowmakerquilts@gmail.com

Susan Chiappini of Arrow Maker Quilts leads a monthly handwork get-together on the first Saturday of every month from 10am-12pm at the farm. Together, we’ll work on sewing projects and troubleshoot new techniques. A Churchtown cheese board will be served for attendees to enjoy as they work.

Participants need to bring their own handwork projects with all necessary tools and materials. Please RSVP for this free event via email: arrowmakerquilts@gmail.com