In mid September, a group of 10 people set out on a journey to become Master Gardener Volunteers (MGV). Upon completion, this extraordinary group will represent CCE in the community and use their gardening knowledge and resources to help residents thrive.
The MGV training can be executed in many ways and this year’s training is a hybrid course, with outside readings, videos, and homework as well as weekly in-person sessions where trainees dive deeper into one or two topics with an expert. The training continues through November, and will culminate with each person presenting an Action Project, which will address a need in their community.
To bring the wide world of tending plants to life in the classroom, we’ve enlisted the knowledge and expertise of people from across New York State. We’ve been grateful to welcome local guest speakers like Carlene Doane, Executive Director of GardenShare, a non profit that tackles food insecurity in our county. We also learned from Dr. Aswini Pai, an ecologist and ethnobotanist at St. Lawrence University, who shared her knowledge about plant biology for gardeners, including what plants need and what processes occur within them.Read more Germinating a new crop of Master Gardener Volunteers
Extension regularly reflects on ways to create meaningful connections between our northern NY producers and customers. Our first-ever Local Foods Weekend was in early September and farmers and food producers from across the region had unique offerings for the public to enjoy. Extension organized the event, and each producer had free reign to choose how they would participate. The result was a full events calendar across three days featuring over 40 farm and food businesses at 30 locations.
After the whirlwind of activity, we called each participating business to hear how the event was for them. As a complex web of activities across multiple locations and times, it was invaluable to hear their feedback on aspects that went smoothly and input for improvements.
Read on to learn more about the diversity of offerings paired with quotes from a half dozen producers. Check out the bonus gallery of images at the close of the post. The creativity and passion of the producers was evident everywhere we visited and community members were engaged and enjoying themselves at the various events.
For many farmers, the improvements to their farm are multi-year efforts. The Tuckers, of Tuckers Black Angus Ranch in North Lawrence have been working hard to expand their on-farm infrastructure and they planned the grand opening of their new farm store for Local Food Weekend. They offered tours of the farm, hosted the food truck Mac’s Mobile Diner and offered a full line of meat products and other artisan products.
“It was awesome, we had at least 300 people come that day. If this becomes an annual event, I’d love to participate and I’ll organize more staffing and signage.”
The Blue House in Madrid, specializes in seasonal rotating menus. During Local Foods Weekend they had a diverse offering that included Wood Fired Ruby Red Trout, Portuguese Sausage Kale Soup, Mexican Street Corn and much more. Sourcing for the menu featured ingredients from many local producers including Birchland Farm, Brandy View Farms, Cedar Hedge Farm, C&M Farm, Kent Family Growers, Martin’s Farmstand, M&M Farm, Meier’s Cheese, Squeak Creek Apiaries, Village Veggies, and Whitten Family Farm.
Co-owner and chef Josh Taillon shares, “I thought it was great. It was one of our busier weekends, for sure. People took fliers and went to other spots. The exposure was good, CCE did an awesome job getting the word out.”
Cedar Hedge Farm of Lowville traveled up to St. Lawrence County to be a day vendor at the Canton Farmers Market, selling their soft goat cheeses, breads and jams.
Jeff was surprised at the great reception he got and said, “People came out of the woodwork expecting me to be there. It was about twice my normal farm market proceeds for one day. I sold all the cheese I brought with me and I could have sold more.”
A whirlwind of sights, flavors and new skills were learned in the past 2 weeks in the Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm. For the first time, North Wind Farm Day Camp and the Harvest Kitchen paired up to offer a special theme, Farm to Table Chef Training Camp. Three Extension Educators pulled together the curriculum, Flip Filippi-Local Food Program Leader and Harvest Kitchen Manager, Erica LaFountain-Community Horticulture Educator, and Leslie Schwartz-our newest arrival to the team as a Food System Program Assistant.
There’s much potential on the Learning Farm and this was an excellent union of growing, cooking and youth education. The Harvest Kitchen is already used for many purposes preservation and cooking programs for the public, including workshops with the onsite BOCES Agricultural Academy, and rental by local food entrepreneurs.
We started planning for this camp back in the winter. We decided that the foundational ideas to guide our planning are exposure to preparing whole foods, tying ingredients back to what can be grown or produced in northern NY, and getting hands-on experience in a fun, safe environment.
Campers harvesting the ingredients for their springrolls
The two week camp included a cooking session every day and sometimes two for a group of 12 youth aged 8-12 years old. They were an incredibly fun and curious bunch. All the campers got to bring home a binder full of the recipes they made as well as a Harvest Kitchen apron to accompany them on future kitchen adventures. They harvested ingredients from the onsite high tunnel multiple times a week, and even ventured to the farmers market and a local farm to hunt down more ingredients for upcoming recipes.
The campers visited the photo exhibit In Season: Our Rural Food System in Photos, curated by Cornell Cooperative Extension and on display at the TAUNY Center in Canton.
So what did we make together? Over the course of 2-weeks the campers made 28 different recipes! It was a wide diversity of preparations, some were foundational, simple skills such as during the sessions “All About Eggs” or “Baked Goods with Herbs”. Other sessions were more aspirational such as making handmade pasta and fresh mozzarella. They even experienced the longstanding north country tradition of canning, making a batch of dilly beans. On the last day, they plated and served the whole camp and their families fresh snacks including caprese kebabs, mixed berry fruit leather and three kinds of homemade popsicles.
Water bath canning dilly beans
One of my favorite parts was experiencing the enthusiasm and creativity of the group. One session, they made oven fries and homemade ketchup. Campers decorated their own ketchup bottle to bring home, and the names and designs were bright and beautiful. Each morning, they rushed into the kitchen to wash their hands and don their aprons for the day. Many excitedly took notes in their recipes binders, marking up their favorite dishes and reminders for what they might change when they try the recipe again. Read more Fresh Flavors with Farm Day Camp
