CARLTON – This picture was taken in September 1888 at the Two Bridges in the Town of Carlton. It shows the delivery wagon for the country store in the background. Stenciled on the wagon is advertising including “General Merchandise” and “G.D. Fowler Carlton, NY.”
Country stores often ran a delivery service to rural people living on the back roads years ago, perhaps going over the route twice a week. A housewife could order something from the grocer and it would be delivered the next time around.
We notice the horse pictured here is wearing a fly net to keep the horse flies from landing on its body. The Fowler store is currently Narby’s Superette and Tackle at the Bridges.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Josh Trexler, right, and Jules Bonafede feed some goats at their farm on Gaines Basin Road. They would like to use goat milk to make soap. Right now, the goats are a “hobby.”
Jules Bonafede refills the water for a group of chickens on a 90-degree day.
ALBION – When Jules Bonafede saw the forecast for scorching temperatures this week, his chief worry was his flock of month-old chickens.
Bonafede, 29, didn’t want the animals to overheat. He set up a canopy over the birds, and placed fans on the ground to try to keep them cool. He thinks the contraptions have been working during this week’s heat wave.
Bonafede and Josh Trexler, 26, this year started Our Good Life Farm on Gaines Basin Road in Albion. The partners had been raising chickens, about 15 a year, for themselves and their friends the past three years. This year they decided to offer chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese to the general public.
They have had a huge response. They expect to raise 1,000 chickens this year.
“We thought we’d grow a larger batch,” Bonafede said at the farm on Tuesday afternoon. “But it quickly turned into more than that.”
Josh Trexler holds a frozen duck, one of the meat products available through Our Good Life Farm in Albion.
The animals are fed organic feed and they are pasture-raised. At least once a day, the caged chickens are moved to a new patch of grass.
Our Good Life is part of a trend of new small farms that are cropping up in New York. The number of farms in New York with revenue between $10,000 and $99,999 annually increased by 500 last year, going from 10,800 in 2011 to 11,300, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Trexler and Bonafede invite people to the farm to see the chickens and animals, and pick up the finished frozen product.
“People want to know where their food is coming from,” Trexler said. “They want a relationship with their farm.”
Our Good Life has taken a pledge to treat the animals as humanely as possible. They feed the animals grain that is grown without pesticides or genetically modified corn. Bonafede and Trexler butcher the animals, and they do it as quickly and painlessly as possible, they said.
Chickens are their top seller right now. The birds sell for $3.25 dressed. That compares to about $1 a pound when chicken is on sale in the grocery stores. Our Good Life has a waiting list of customers willing to pay the premium.
“They want the better-tasting chicken,” Bonafede said. “Our chicken has a different taste.”
Josh Trexler, right, and Jules Bonafede prepare to move a cage of chickens to fresh patch of grass at the farm on Gaines Basin Road.
Our Good Life has developed a local following in the Albion area. The farm saw demand really take off when it was invited to the Pittsford Farmers Market. Our Good Life expects to raise four cycles of chickens a year.
It takes about two months to grow a mature Cornish Cross chicken and 12 to 14 weeks to raise a Kosher, a heritage chicken.
Trexler and Bonafede expect to have their turkeys ready for Thanksgiving.
They are also juggling the Sports & Graphics business, a screen-printing and embroidery business.
Photos courtesy of Adam Tabelski – This barn on Route 104 is believed to be the oldest structure in Orleans County.
By Adam Tabelski
RIDGEWAY – The oldest man-made structure in Orleans County that can be documented is not made of stone or brick. Rather, it is a wood-frame barn that dates to the early pioneer era, even before the construction of the Erie Canal.
This fact came to light during the recent bicentennial ceremony in the Town of Ridgeway, as several of the proclamations read during the affair mentioned the longevity of a barn on Ridge Road built for Seymour Murdock about the time of the town’s inception.
Sources agree that Murdock, his wife, and their many children settled on the Ridge in 1810, but they differ on whether the barn in question was built in 1813 or 1814. The latter year would seem to be correct if the story told in Landmarks of Orleans County (published in 1894) about General George Izard’s troops helping the Murdock family to raise the timbers is true.
It was in the fall of 1814 that Izard’s army moved through our section of Western New York on its way to participate in the tumultuous conflict along the Niagara River during the War of 1812.
One of Seymour’s daughters, Betsey, is reported to have taught school in the barn soon after it was built.Over the years many of the exterior boards have no doubt been replaced and many trimmings added, but the skeleton of the structure is believed to be original.
The Ridge Road Improvement Association erected a roadside monument in 1941, consisting of a bronze plaque affixed to a boulder. Keep your eyes peeled when driving along Route 104 just west of Marshall Road.
(Tabelski is a member of the Medina Historical Society.)
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Tom Zangerle created this painting of a canal bridge in Medina.
MEDINA – Orleans County artists and businesses have responded in a big way for a debut project, the Palettes of Orleans.
There are 73 painted palettes of local scenes. The palettes are on display in businesses throughout the county.
I was in Della’s Chocolates in Medina this morning and saw the palette painted of a canal bridge in Medina by Tom Zangerle.
The project is organized by the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber has put a poster in each business window to indicate a palette on display. Shoppers can submit bids to buy the artwork and they can vote on their favorite one.
The project will run until Oct. 6. There will be a celebration Oct. 13 at Hickory Ridge, where final bids will be accepted for the artwork. Some of the proceeds will be used to fund art scholarships at each school district in the county.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – Lissa Stewart-Jones, left, and Lori Brien opened The Bread Basket in Medina on Monday.
MEDINA – Two friends since the third grade have joined together to pursue a life-long passion: baking and Medina.
Lissa Stewart-Jones and Lori Brien, both accountants, on Monday opened The Bread Basket at 513 Main St., the site of Reigle’s Market.
The Bread Basket continues to offer produce from the Reigle family farm and has kept many of their popular baked goods, especially the cinnamon rolls.
“We liked them and everybody else liked them,” Stewart-Jones said about the rolls. “Little by little we will add our own recipes.”
They praised the Reigle family for showing the site can be a success as a bakery with fresh produce. Some of the Reigle fruit and vegetables will be used in the baked goods, including blueberry streusel that was available today.
The Reigles closed in June so the family could follow their full-time passion: farming.
Stewart-Jones and Brien saw an opportunity to keep the business going. They are among the first to open on the street each morning. They arrive at 5:30 a.m. and open the doors at 7:30. They will stay open to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on Saturdays.
They are pleased to be part of a vibrant Main Street and downtown business district.
“Medina is in a good place right now with this charming downtown,” Brien said. “We’re just happy to be a part of it.”
The two business partners want to put an awning on the building and add outdoor seating.
They will have a grand opening on July 27, offering free coffee and tastings of the baked goods.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Peter Loran of Kent submitted several designs for the bench-painting project, including this one of Albion native Grace Bedell and President Abraham Lincoln. Bedell wrote a letter to Lincoln, encouraging him to grow a beard.
ALBION – What do a tugboat, a Chinook salmon, Santa Claus, Abe Lincoln and a quarryman all have in common?
They will be painted on benches in downtown Albion as part of public art project.
The Albion Main Street Alliance is coordinating the project that calls for at least 10 benches to be painted with Albion heritage themes. We may do as many as 12 benches.
A $50,000 Main Street grant, which is paying for several street-scape improvements, is funding the bench project. This fall there should be bike racks, a historical marker, trees and other upgrades to the street scape.
The grant paid to swap out the benches and some of us on the street-scape committee thought it would be a good idea to paint the new benches as a mini-murals. We wanted to celebrate our history and highlight the canal, Santa Claus School founder Charles Howard, the quarrymen and other prominent residents and features of the community.
The artists – all Orleans County residents – came through with many nice designs. I’m real excited about this project.
The Downtown Albion Neighborhood Advisory Committee, a group that has been reviewing all the grant projects through the bigger $477,000 Main Street grant, will pick the bench designs. The winning entries will be submitted to state historic preservation officials to make sure they are OK with everything.
I don’t know the exact time frame for the project due to the review process, but I anticipate the painted benches may not be ready until late fall. At that point, maybe they will be inside businesses where they would stay for the winter. In the spring we will unleash them on Main Street and East Bank.
I think they will draw folks to the downtown, giving the businesses a lift and stirring community pride.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2013 at 12:00 am
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted today to delay implementing some pieces of Obamacare, including the individual mandate, a requirement on individuals to buy health insurance.
That would be delayed until 2015, according to the House legislation. The House also voted to delay a requirement that businesses with 50 or more workers provide insurance or pay a penalty. The Obama Administration already said it was delaying that provision until 2015.
“The votes today to delay both the employer and individual mandates required under Obamacare were about what is fair to the American people,” U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, said in a statement. “By choosing to delay only the employer mandate, President Obama is selectively deciding which portions of the law he is going to enforce, and that is not fair to America’s hardworking men and women.”
Collins noted some Democrats supported the delays in some components of Obamacare.
“Today, both Republicans and Democrats agreed that individuals and families deserved the same break given to businesses,” Collins said. “However, this legislation only delays the enforcement of the employer and individual mandates, and the next step must be a full repeal of Obamacare.”
Collins said Obamacare is damaging the economy.
“Workers are having their hours cut, and businesses are afraid to expand and hire new employees due to the uncertainty created by Obamacare,” he said.
The votes marked the 38th time the GOP majority has tried to scale back Obamacare since Republicans took control of the House in January 2011.The House bills are unlikely to advance in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
The votes came on a day when New York reported a 50 percent reduction in insurance premiums for people obtaining insurance through the individual market.
“Today’s announcement is fantastic news for New York families and confirms what I have been saying all along – that the Affordable Care Act will result in lower health care costs and better coverage,” said U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport.
She said the new health care law has added competition to market, resulting in a drop in premiums.
“Given the widespread success the law has had already, it’s easy to see why Republicans in Congress have been so hell-bent on obstructing Obamacare and have voted to repeal it dozens of times: they don’t want the American people to see the law in action,” Slaughter said in a statement.
“They know the result will be better care at a lower cost and a system where doctors and patients – not big insurance companies – are in charge of medical decisions. It’s time for the House GOP to abandon their attempts to take away the benefits in the Affordable Care Act, and instead get to work on the American people’s number one priority: creating jobs and improving our economy.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Matthew Witte, a Medina DPW summer worker, waters flowers on Main Street this morning. Witte and the DPW are making sure the flowers and trees in the downtown get enough water during this week’s heat wave.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 July 2013 at 12:00 am
HOLLEY – After nearly a decade of leadership from John Heise as Holley Board of Education president, the district has a new leader.
Brenda Swanger was unanimously picked by her fellow board members to lead the district on Monday. Heise opted against seeking re-election in May. He continues as Holley’s representative on the Monroe II-Orleans BOCES board.
Swanger has served nine years on the board. She works as a real estate agent and for the town of Clarendon in accounts payable, water billing and with the budget.
“I have a passion for the school and I think we have a great community,” Swanger said this morning.
The Holley district is on an upswing, she said, citing the near-completion of a $27 million capitol project that is revamping the junior-senior high school, athletic fields, the bus garage and making other improvements.
Crews this summer are giving a makeover to the junior-senior high school foyer, library, some classrooms, and the chorus and band rooms. Swanger also said the district is committed to raising the educational performance of students.
The board is in its first year of shrinking from nine to seven members. That reduction was approved in a referendum about a year ago. Kellie Spychalski, the executive director of The Arc of Orleans County, was picked by the board as vice president.
“I like working with people and so does Kellie,” Swanger said. “We’re both proud of where we live and want to keep the district moving forward.”
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 July 2013 at 12:00 am
Company captured CO2 in ethanol production
MEDINA – A company that captures CO2 discharged in the production of ethanol has been sold.
EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products has had a presence in Medina for about five years. The company set up a plant to capture CO2 from Western New York Energy’s plant in Medina. The captured CO2 has been sold to food companies. EPCO owned 12 CO2 purification and liquefaction plants.
EPCO last month was bought by Air Products, a publicly traded company. EPCO is based in Monroe, La. The acquisition also includes Louisiana Leasing, Ltd. of Illinois, an affiliated company that owns liquid CO2 distribution assets that are solely leased to EPCO. Air Products said the acquisition vaults the company among the leaders in the North American liquid CO2 market.
“We are pleased to be acquiring a company that demonstrated continued growth through the economic challenges of the past several years,” said Nelson Squires, vice president and general manager – North America Merchant Gases at Air Products. “EPCO’s geographic footprint overlaps nicely with our existing infrastructure such that we expect both cost and revenue synergy benefits.”
Air Products currently serves with other merchant industrial gases including the food, beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, oil field services, and metals fabrication markets.
Air Products employs more than 20,000 people in 50 countries. In fiscal 2012, Air Products had sales approaching $10 billion. For more information about Air Products, click here.
