March 2023 – Fruition

March 23, 2023Laurel Balog

Celebrating the Transition to Spring with Local Foods

Anyone who’s lived in the North Country knows the winters here can be challenging. I’ll be the first to admit the -30 degree Fahrenheit wind chill days and long periods of darkness were not easy for me to adjust to when my partner and I moved here seven years ago. I found myself dreaming of long sunny days, fresh foods, and humid, hot nights. But over the years, I’ve grown to appreciate the dark, cold winter and all that it offers: the slower pace of life that winter requires, the opportunity to cross country ski and snowshoe, warm nights by the wood stove, and intentional cooking.

A dog walking on a paved trail in a wooded landscape. — We enjoy sunny days during the winter and walk our dogs on trails.

Now, in March, as we shift from winter to spring, the transition takes some time, and I again get impatient for warmer weather. In doing so, I sometimes miss the small changes and processes our natural world is undergoing. So as a way to stay present and honor the earth reawakening during the spring transition, I look to our local foods and cooking as a ritual to celebrate these changes. March is hard on local foods. Root cellar food and freezer stocks start to dwindle before fresh produce is abundant again, but there are delicious upsides to this season as well. Maple syrup is being boiled and chickens are laying more eggs.

A rooster and hen eat grain from a tray on the ground outside. — A local chicken flock enjoying their breakfast on a spring-like morning.

One recipe that is perfect for this time of year is a Sausage Egg bake. We make it for special occasions, or just because. Its main ingredients are all foods you can find locally either from stored and preserved foods or produced fresh. These ingredients include eggs, sausage, potatoes, milk, cheese, frozen spinach (or any type of dark leafy green), garlic, and onion. Mixed with spices, or maybe even a drizzle of fresh maple syrup, and baked in the oven, you now have yourself one tasty and easy dish to serve and welcome spring back to our region.

March 15, 2023Flip

Developing Skills with New Food Entrepreneurs

Every business owner comes to their work with unique strengths. Some folks start with a solid background in planning and business, while others know kitchens and food safety well. One business owner might have building and design experience, while others are proficient at developing marketing materials and outreach. Each one of these skills and many more are required when running a food business. One aspect of my job as manager of the shared-use Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm is offering technical assistance to food entrepreneurs. Part of the technical assistance equation is understanding a person’s strongest foundational skills and filling in with supportive information and resources where needed.

This winter, based on the most common questions I was fielding throughout the year, I designed a 3-week class called Creating or Renting a Commercial Kitchen for Your Food Business for the Ag and Food Producers Academy. In January, the group met together online in the evenings for three sessions, and we all came together for a field trip at the close of the course. 19 businesses participated and had wide ranging business ideas including dehydrated products, baked goods, prepared foods, and more.

At the close of our month together, Extension asked the class participants which aspects of the course were most valuable for them as they move forward in diversifying an existing business or starting fresh with a new idea. We had so much fun together unraveling this important and complicated topic, I wanted to share some of their comments below alongside photos of the course experience.

1. Making Connections
“I gained some new friends and I learned what others are doing locally with commercial kitchens.”

group picture — During the field trip participants toured three different facilities of varying scale and use including Kent Family Growers in Lisbon, the Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm in Canton, and Big Spoon Kitchen in Potsdam.

2. Learning about Recipe Approvals
“It really demystified the scheduled process for me and the whole process is much less daunting than I originally imagined.”

picture of sauerkraut — Many food products require approval before being produced for sale to the public. One aspect of the course was walking through that process, and the course participants got a chance to learn directly from a process authority at the Cornell Food Venture Center.

March 14, 2023Erica LaFountain

Grafting apple trees with St. Lawrence Nurseries

It was a joy to partner with St. Lawrence Nursery (SLN) of Potsdam for the first time to offer an apple tree grafting workshop at the Extension Learning Farm. This year St. Lawrence Nurseries is celebrating its 100th anniversary of propagating and selling cold hardy fruit and nut trees.

During the workshop nursery owners, Conner and Alyssa Hardiman walked the eager participants through the “whip and tongue” grafting technique including photos from the nursery, a live demo, plenty of time to practice on twigs, and then the real thing!

Connor Hardiman demonstrates the "whip and tongue" grafting technique — Connor Hardiman demonstrates the “whip and tongue” grafting technique

Grafting is a propagation method that entails joining a scion (which becomes the fruiting part, or top of the tree) to a rootstock (which becomes the root of the tree). Grafting aligns the vascular tissue which allows the two parts to grow together and function as a single plant. While the rootstock influences the ultimate size and hardiness of the tree, the scion determines what kind of fruit the tree will yield.

Scion wood from St. Lawrence Nursery — This scion wood from St. Lawrence Nursery will form the fruiting portion of the apple tree.

Workshop participants left with five grafted trees of their own making. Each included the hardy rootstock Antonovka (originally from Russia) paired with the scion wood of their choice from the SLN orchard. Apple varieties on offer included Liberty, Rhuby, Atlas, Beacon, and MN-1734 (a russet cider apple). Read more Grafting apple trees with St. Lawrence Nurseries