By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 December 2013 at 12:00 am
KENDALL – Kludt Brothers, a past state champ in an annual corn contest, was close to the title this year, but didn’t have enough bushels to top Henry Everman, a Dansville farmer.
The National Corn Growers Association earlier today announced the state and national winners in the 49th annual corn contest.
Kludt won the state title in 2009 and 2010, and finished fourth in the country in 2009 with 295.9 bushel yield. The farm based in Kendall didn’t reach the leaderboard for 2013.
In the state contest, Henry Everman of Dansville won the New York title for non-irrigated land with a 293.98 bushel per acre yield. Everman was followed by JA-RY Properties of Pavilion at 293.48 bushels and Swede Farms of Pavilion at 289.59.
Kludt Brothers came in eighth out of 15 NY entrants with a yield of 261.86 bushels.
In the no-till/non-irrigated category, Gary Swede Farms of Pavilion took the top three spots with yields of 322.14, 295.93 and 286.27 bushels per acre.
Kludt came in seventh out of the 11 NY entries with a 261.19 yield in the category.
Kevin Kalb of Dubois, Ind., had the top yield in the country for non-irrigated land with a 374.62 yield. David Hula of Charles City, Va., had the biggest yield of all entries – 454.98 bushels per acre – in the no till/irrigated category.
That 454.98 yield is a new all-time record. The national average for corn in 2013 is projected to be 160.4 bushels per acre.
MEDINA – Farm Credit East’s Batavia branch recently presented the Medina FFA Chapter with a $5,000 donation to help support the 89th annual New York State FFA Convention.
The three-day event will be at Medina High School in May and will draw over 1,000 FFA members, advisors and officials from around the state. During the convention, students will have the opportunity to attend workshops, network with agriculture professionals and compete in career development events. The event also showcases local agricultural businesses and the surrounding area.
Supporting young farmers and youth agricultural organizations is an area of special focus for Farm Credit East. In addition to providing financing and business services to Northeast farmers, Farm Credit maintains special programs for young, beginning and small farmers and also helps to provide and encourage their participation in activities that improve farm and financial management skills.
Provided photo – Medina FFA students, pictured from left, include Kalvin Packer, Ashlee Dow, Kelsey Cody, Chantelle Kidney, Addy Zavitz, Charlie Enderby and Cassidy Albone.
Press release, Medina FFA
MEDINA – The Medina FFA has its annual Farm Store open for business. Running in conjunction with the citrus sale, the students set up a small store offering Medina FFA apparel, beef jerky, homemade dog treats and bird feed, apples, and many other products.
New this year is the opportunity to build-a-box. Visitors can select either a handmade crate or tray and fill it with local made products and goods. Customers can peruse the wares while waiting for their fruit to be carried to their vehicle.
The store is located in the greenhouse behind the high school. It is open Tuesday through Thursday this week from 9:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. and on Friday from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. On Friday after 2 p.m. all extra fruit will be available for sale.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Albion FFA members Brian Bentley, front left, and Riley Kelly, unload a tractor trailer full of produce this morning at Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.
The Albion FFA worked with several local farmers to give 19,000 pounds of produce to Community Action. The agency in Albion then shared the produce with food pantries in Albion, Medina, Lyndonville and Holley.
FFA member Kyle Smith hauls a box of eggs to van for PathStone, which has a food pantry in Albion.
This is the fourth year the FFA has teamed with farmers for the food collection and distribution. The output has grown from 3,000 pounds in 2010 to 9,000, 17,000 and now 19,000.
Orleans Hub will have more on this year’s effort later today.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Members of the Albion FFA pause briefly for a group photo by a tractor trailer loaded with 19,000 poinds of food donated by farmers in Genesee, Monroe and Orleans counties.
ALBION – Sara Millspaugh and Kellie O’Hearn, both Albion FFA members, made the phone calls, asking local farmers if they wanted to donate produce to Community Action and local food pantries.
The farmers eagerly accepted, and gave 19,000 pounds of produce – apples, onions, cabbage, potatoes and other fruits and vegetables. The farmers also gave beef, eggs and juice, and the Orleans County Farm Bureau chipped in with $1,000 to buy ham at a discount from Pawlak’s Save-A-Lot.
“They were willing to help,” Millspaugh, the FFA president, said about the food donations.
This is the fourth year the FFA has collected food for Community Action. This year’s effort topped the 17,000 pounds last year, 9,000 pounds in 2011 and 3,000 pounds the first year.
Riley Kelly reaches for a bag of potatoes from Brian Bentley. The two FFA members were busy this morning loading and then unpacking a tractor trailer of food.
Many of the farmers have donated since the first food drive. They set aside some of their harvest for the local food pantries. The FFA connected with some new donors this food drive, and is trying harder to get a variety of fruits and vegetables, Millspaugh said.
This morning the big bounty was dropped off at Community Action on East State Street. The agency will use a lot of the food for its pantry that assists needy families. Many other churches and organizations with food pantries also collected food from the FFA harvest.
“It’s very, very helpful,” said Bonnie Eaton, who works with the food pantry at Calvary Tabernacle Church in Medina. “A lot of people can’t afford to buy apples and fresh produce because it’s expensive.”
Two other churches in Medina – Glad Tidings and St. Peters Lutheran Church – also picked up food for their pantries. Three churches in Lyndonville, the Eastern Orleans Community Center in Holley, two other pantries in Albion and the Lord’s House in Waterport all stopped by this morning to bolster their pantries.
Community Action volunteers and representatives from local food pantries worked with the FFA to unload the truck.
“It will help us to get more fresh food to the community,” said Antonio Duenas, a placement and career services developer for PathStone in Albion. “When the food is fresh, it’s always better.”
The following farms contributed food: Bannisters (Excelsior Farms), Brown’s Berry Patch, CY Farms, Kludt Brothers, Jim Kirby, Kreher’s, Martin Farms, Panek, Patryka Farms, Root Brothers, Steve Nesbitt, Steve Starowitz, Torrey Farms, Triple G and Poverty Hill (the Neal family.)
Photo by Adam Krenning, Albion FFA advisor – Albion FFA members pose for a photo at their leadership retreat this past weekend. The group includes, from left: Sara Millspaugh, Kellie O’Hearn, Megan Rosato, Logan London, Kyle Smith, Dominic DiCureia, Brian Bentley, Brianna Caldwell, Mackenzie Luft, Vivian Rivers, Abigail Maines, Mikayla Yaskulski, Riley Kelly, Kelsee Soule and Jayne Bannister.
By Logan London and Vivian Rivers, Albion FFA members
This weekend 15 members of the Albion FFA earned the privilege to attend a Leadership Retreat at Oswegatchie Educational Center in Croghan, NY.
These dedicated students spent 48 hours working and living together in the middle of the snowy Adirondacks Mountains. With this experience they learned to trust each other, communicate with one another, and to step outside of each of their individual comfort zones.
From frustrating challenges (being lost and blind folded) to the more enjoyable games (having everyone write with one marker attached to 15 strings) this brought the group of kids together as a team. To challenge themselves, every student climbed 30 feet up a pine tree and zip lined across a pond on the camp’s property.
While avoiding the cold in the lodge, the members worked on a FFA informational project to bring home to present to the chapter. Overall, this experience allowed FFA members to spark new friendships, bring the kids together, and broaden their leadership skills.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 December 2013 at 12:00 am
Provided photos – Theresa Bowick models the dress she made of collard greens during a stop at the Rochester Public Market in October.
HOLLEY – A dress made from collard greens grown at a Holley farm will be featured on national television on Friday.
Theresa Bowick, a nurse and author of “Collard Green Curves,” will appear on the Steve Harvey Show. She filmed her segment in Chicago about three weeks ago. The show on Friday begins at 10 a.m. on channel 8 in Rochester, WROC TV.
Bowick of Rochester connected with Wally and Carol Liese at the Rochester Public Market, where the Holley farm has been a long-time vendor.
“Their greens were so big and pretty,” Bowick said. “They hand-picked them and I’m truly grateful.”
Randy, Carol, Wally and Colleen Liese grew and hand-picked the collard greens that Bowick used to make a dress for the Steve Harvey Show that will air 10 a.m. on Friday.
Bowick shares a message about healthy eating. Collard greens are popular in the African American community. The vegetable is very nutritious.
Bowick has become a collard green ambassador, urging people to give it a try. She shares ways to prepare the greens.
In her book, Bowick writes about losing 75 pounds and embracing a more physically active lifestyle. For more information on her book, click here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 December 2013 at 12:00 am
John Long has witnessed changes on the farm landscape
John Long holds the 18-pound horse weight that has been in his family for generations.
GAINES – For the many years John Long and his father Frank milked cows on Zig Zag Road, they used an old horse weight as a door stop in the milk house.
Frank Long started the farm in 1937 at Zig Zag Road. John Long sold the cows in 1988, when he turned the farm’s focus on crops. He also had a retail straw and hay business.
He kept the old horse weight, which weighs 18 pounds and has a ring. It is a relic from the horse and buggy era. Orleans Hub has posted many articles about the rather incredible collection of hitching posts, mounting blocks and carriage steps that remain on many properties in the area. Albion and Gaines, in particular, have many of these. There are also quite a few in Medina.
Long wanted me to see the horse weight, which his father referred to as a horse block.
John Long treasures the horse weight. He scrubbed it and gave it a new coating of black paint.
Horse weights were movable blocks, made of iron or stone, that were carried in carriages. Not every place had a hitching post to tie up a horse. So people brought along a horse weight to tie up their horse and keep it in place.
I had never seen a horse weight before until Long showed it to me on Thursday. He takes pride in the relic. He has it scrubbed up and painted black. It’s been in his family for many, many years.
Long, 79, remembers when horses were a bigger part of Albion. He can recall hitching posts along Caroline Street and a drinking fountain for horses on the Courthouse Lawn.
I asked County Historian Bill Lattin if he thinks there are many surviving horse weights these days. Lattin has two, including a heavy sandstone weight that he suspects was used to hitch a team of horses. He also has a smaller one, similar to Long’s.
But Lattin hasn’t seen too many of the weights.
Long likes the history of the area. He lives outside the eastern end of the village of Albion. Long and his wife Loretta raised two sons – Jeff and Doug – out in the country.
John Long said almost every farmer in the area used to grow tomatoes to feed the processing plants in Albion.
Many of the roads near him – Kietel, Densmore, Lattin and Sawyer – are named for pioneer settlers. Zig Zag Road used to be call Wickham Road, named for another pioneer. Long doesn’t know why the name was changed.
He’s seen a lot of changes in local agriculture. Long’s farm and almost every other farm oepration in the area grew a lot of tomatoes to feed the processing plants in Albion.
Lipton’s (across from McDonalds) stopped buying local tomatoes in 1961 and then Hunt’s took its last local crop in 1969. Hunt’s had an enormous facility, the former Chase site in Albion plus more space on East Avenue going to Platt Street, where Helena Chemical is currently located.
“In the fall you could smell the ketchup cooking in Albion,” Long said.
Many local farmers grew tomatoes for Lipton’s and Hunt’s. These days you don’t see much acreage for tomatoes.
Instead, Long said it feels like corn is everywhere. He rents out his land and two farmers who use it for corn.
“Corn is king now because of the ethanol,” Long said.
Most of the corn has been harvested next to Long’s former dairy farm on Zig Zag Road. Long sold much of equipment from the barn in an auction in October.
Trolley Building could be transformed into Culinary Institute
Press release, Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension
KNOWLESVILLE – Horticulture in Orleans County is expanding into new horizons.
On Nov. 21, the Orleans County Cornell Cooperative Extension Board of Directors voted in favor of transitioning its current part-time Horticulture Educator position to a full-time Garden-to-Table Educator. This new role will link horticulture with food and nutrition education to better serve the needs of Orleans County residents.
The Garden-to-Table Educator will provide daily support to the Master Gardener program and will advocate for garden-based learning and garden-to-table programs to further horticulture education in OCCCE youth and family programming. OCCCE’s non-profit and government agency partners, such as those in the county health department, see tremendous need for emphasizing backyard gardening and linking it with food choices to help community members lead healthier, better lives.
Growing your own food is a natural link with food preservation and the culinary arts, and it emphasizes horticulture’s important role in our community. As one board member stated, “I really look forward to more education on food preparation and preservation coming from the new Garden-to-Table Educator position. I think it will help address issues of rural poverty as well as childhood obesity and nutrition.”
The transition to a Garden-to-Table Educator coincides with OCCCE’s efforts to revitalize the Trolley Building at the 4-H Fairgrounds, which currently houses a large kitchen with a 50’ x 70’ event space.
In January 2014, community members will meet to establish a vision for the Trolley Building to guide renovation efforts, and ideas of hosting a Culinary Institute within the building with a sizeable teaching kitchen have been proposed.
The OCCCE Board of Directors wants the space to meet community needs and be available for use by other agencies to host educational workshops and events. OCCCE’s focus on agriculture, horticulture, and youth development naturally extends to food science and the culinary arts, and county community members are excited about the potential benefits of such a facility.
OCCCE is actively pursuing grant funds for horticulture education, and the Garden-to-Table Educator position provides a wide-range of grant options. Recently, a proposal requesting about $60,000 was submitted to The Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation in Washington, DC, to conduct The Well-Stocked Pantry Project.
This project is designed to provide families with a “how-to” guide for starting a garden and incorporating its tending; along with cooking, preserving, and enjoying its bounty; into their daily lives for learning, enrichment, and enjoyment.
Gardening with children can yield strong families, improve nutrition, combat obesity, and promote lifelong learning. If funded, this project could bring national attention to Orleans County horticulture and make a significant, positive impact.
OCCCE is currently seeking applications for the Garden-to-Table position now through Jan. 15, 2014. For details, see the OCCCE website by clicking here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 29 November 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Katie Klotzbach opened County House Christmas Trees today at 13420 West County House Rd. She worked for her grandparents, Hugh and Eleni Dudley, at their Christmas tree farm before moving the site down the road this holiday season.
Klotzbach has about 300 trees available, including Fraser Fir, Concolor, Douglas Fir and Potted Blue Spruce.
ALBION – After nearly a half century selling Christmas trees, Hugh and Eleni Dudley have retired from the business on West Countyhouse Road.
But the operation will continue down the road, and Mr. Dudley said the business is in good hands. His granddaughter, Katie Klotzbach, has taken it over. She has given it a new name, County House Christmas Trees. She opened today, selling trees from her parents’ property at 13420 Countyhouse Rd. Jim and Kerry Panek have been selling pumpkins and strawberries from the site for years.
“There is more space here and people know the location,” Klotzbach, 28, said this morning.
Klotzbach grew up helping her grandparents sell Christmas trees in Albion. The past five seasons she worked alongside them.
“She’s worked with us and she understands the business,” Mr. Dudley said. “She will do a good job.”
Klotzbach has recruited 20 vendors for the new site, artisans who sell jam, jewelry, stained-glass, pottery and custom masonry products.
She has about 300 trees for sale, including Fraser Fir, Concolor, Douglas Fir and Potted Blue Spruce. She also has hundreds of wreaths, including many made by her grandmother.
Those products are better than artificial ones, Klotzbach said. “They smell really good.”
Klotzbach is a graduate of Morrisville State College and Cornell Unviersity. She has run her own business, Flower Fields Forever, since 2007. She also worked eight years as a program assistant for the Cornell Vegetable Program.
County House Christmas Trees is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
