Plant And Sing: Concert Field Days

Bennett Konesni loves garlic. And he plays a mean fiddle while singing farm tunes.

So when the 15th-generation Sylvester descendent inherited 243 acres of family-owned farmland on Shelter Island in 2007, he knew exactly how he could kick off a new era at Sylvester Manor, a landmark plantation estate.

Mr. Konesni created a non-profit, organic, working educational farm and, to get it off the ground, the inaugural “Plant & Sing” festival, where he and his friends—many of whom happen to be fel-

low musicians—gathered to plant the fields with garlic during the day and put on concerts at night.

Now, the fourth annual event has only grown in size by taking on a sweet potato harvest and holding a contra dance, literature and play readings, and two nights of concerts with headliners Rufus and Martha Wainwright.

“Our whole idea is to celebrate the culture of food and reconnect the creative arts with the agrarian arts—the food arts, essentially—because they used to be together,” Mr. Konesni said during a telephone interview last week. “It used to be that farmers had dances in their barns and sang in the fields and could recite poems from memory. The industrial food system has stripped that away, and our goal is to reunite it through this festival and daily practices on the farm.”

The festival starts off on Friday night with a family contra dance.

“Once we have so much energy from dancing, we shuck garlic and sing into the night,” Mr. Konesni said.

The next morning, there will be yoga in Windmill Field, followed by an 8 a.m. sweet potato harvest. Volunteers will use forks and shovels to loosen the soil while others pluck the vegetables out of the ground and put them into harvest baskets. On hand to help, and to sing, will be farm manager Creek Iversen and workers Max Godfrey, Nate Kraus-Malett and Cassie Woolhiser—all of whom are musicians.

“Farms attract musical types,” Mr. Kraus-Malett said last week while taking a break from building what he called a “highline,” a type of outbuilding, on the farm.

“We’re the most hard-core farm crew on Shelter Island,” Mr. Iversen added. “And the most talented.”

On Saturday afternoon, the crew will all take their spots on stage to sing work and farm songs while playing a variety of instruments, from guitar and banjo to fiddle and trumpet.

Taking a rest from farm labor, while sitting on the ground next to Mr. Kraus-Malett, Ms. Woolhiser explained that work songs are traditional tunes that people sing in fields and prison and work camps.

“It makes the time go more quickly,” she said.

“Farming here is hard, hard work,” Mr. Iversen said. “And sometimes, I think the only way to get through it with joy is to have somebody sing. That allows us to keep going that extra mile.”

During this year’s “Plant & Sing,” the music main stage will be paired with a literature stage—where poets, playwrights and authors will read from their works, Mr. Konesni said.

“The stages are on the interior fields of Sylvester Manor. You can’t see them from the road and not many people get to go back there,” he said. “It adds to the whole ‘Secret Garden’ feel of the manor, which has a real mystique to it.”

The day’s festivities end at 5 p.m., and the farmers will hit the hay early in order to be awake for another round of yoga and an 8 a.m. planting on Sunday. But this time, garlic will be the chosen crop.

Led by a farm crew member, pods of three or four volunteers will walk down one of the dozen 200-foot-long beds, planting garlic as they sing. A farm tour will follow, as well as a more adult-geared day of concerts headlined by the Wainwrights.

“Rufus and Martha both grew up, in the summers, on Shelter Island with their dad, Loudon, who is close to Sylvester Manor,” Mr. Konesni said. “They’re donating their performance because they believe in what we’re doing here.”

Before getting back to work on the farm, the four musicians explained that the “Plant & Sing” festival represents the best of the food, farm and musical worlds.

“It’s a unique American experience you can’t find anywhere else,” Mr. Iversen said. “If you like sustainable, healthy food and you like music, this is a no-brainer. This is the real deal. You’re actually going to be helping with farm tasks, your hands in the dirt, while we sing. It’s a little glimpse of our joyful lives.”

“Expect to sing, even if you haven’t done much singing before,” Mr. Godfrey added.

Just as the crew was getting back up to work, they paused in their places as they heard a loud, clucking sound approaching.

“Caroline!” Ms. Woolhiser exclaimed.

The group was suddenly surrounded by a group of more than two dozen chickens—all of whom are named Caroline, Ms. Woolhiser explained. On the ground, the crew was seated at perfect pecking level. Mr. Iversen scooped up a Caroline into his lap, who quickly wiggled free, and Ms. Woolhiser patted another chicken on her head.

“The rest are in the coop. These ones know how to get out,” she said. “They have their own Facebook page: Caroline Sylvester.”

The crew laughed and, several minutes later, pushed themselves off the ground. By now, the chickens had disappeared just as quickly as they arrived. The men continued to work in the field and Ms. Woolhiser walked back up to the front to run the farm stand.

“This is going to be a blissful combination of food and art, which I think are many people’s favorite things,” she said of the upcoming festival. “Plus, you might go home with another friend, another feathered friend, on Facebook.”

The fourth annual “Plant & Sing” festival will begin on Friday, October 7, at 7 p.m. with a family contra dance followed by a garlic “Shuck and Sing” at 9:30 p.m. at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island. Advance tickets are $10, or $5 for students and seniors. The next day, festivities start at 7 a.m. with yoga and continue through the day with a sweet potato harvest and family-oriented music and activities. Advance tickets are $25, or $20 for students and seniors. On Sunday, Rufus and Martha Wainwright will perform after garlic planting and a lineup of folk rock. Advance tickets are $35, or $30 for students and seniors. A full-festival pass is $60, or $50 for members. An additional $5 will be charged for same-day purchase. For more information about the festival, call 749-0626 or visit sylvestermanor.org.