Ag Board Report August 2016
Agriculture Program Area Board Report – August 2016 Dirt magazine Hosts Kitchen Garden Tour Awards-Maire Ullrich Maire Ullrich was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies for the Dirt magazine. Some 90 gardeners attended to hear the winners of the multi-county competition that had entries from New York and New Jersey. The categories spanned the novice and the experienced as well as the community. The evening represented the ways, large and small, individuals are striving to be closer to their food.
Solar Farming-Rose Baglia On Monday August 1st, Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County Collaborated with the Orange County Planning Department of Planning to deliver a program on Solar Farming. Many of our farmers and land owners have been approached by solar companies that want to install solar energy arrays on their farms and properties. The Solar Farming program was attended by 90 participants on this subject. Speakers at the conference included Bob Somers, NYS Ag & Markets; Steve Mogel Esq, Sullivan County Lawyers; Dennis Ketcham, Assessor NYS Assessors Association (Mount Hope and Montgomery); Max Joel, NYSERDA and NY Sun; Energize NY; Betta Broad, New Yorkers for Clean Power; and Colleen Osterhout, Farm Credit East.
Cornell Cooperative Extension is an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, Protected Veterans, and Individuals with Disabilities and provides equal program and employment opportunities. Please contact our office if you have any special needs.
Gleaning-Stiles Najac As part of the Newburgh Urban Farming effort, a new, city specific, gleaning program began in August. Starting with several community gardens, excess produce will be directly distributed to two soup kitchens and one pantry in Newburgh. So far, over 150 pounds has been distributed in the first three weeks. All involved are happy with these results. The donation season is in FULL swing. Regular pickups and deliveries happen weekly, with 10 farms. Two of those farms are new to the program this year! With two field gleanings already under our belts and two possible regular weekly field gleanings waiting to start, volunteers will have plenty to do this season. Most of those gleanings have been, or will be tomatoes, a much needed addition to the offerings of the GleanMobile. Keep an eye out for the cover story in the next issue of Dirt magazine! Wink wink, nudge nudge. Above: Tomato gleaning at sycamore farms on July 29th
Gaps Certification-Erik Schellenberg Recently the GAPS program has had a major success in helping Hepworth Farms obtain GAPS certification. Hepworth Farms is one of the largest organic vegetable operations in New York, with 500 acres of production in the Hudson Valley. Work on the food safety program began over a year ago and has involved numerous people in the operation working with the GAPS program resource educator from Orange County over a number of meetings. The food safety plan was more involved than many other plans due to the complexity of hundreds of varieties of crops, organic management systems, and complicated packing, storage, transportation, and distribution systems. The GAPS certification allows the Farm to access markets that were previously unavailable, and stay on the cutting edge of food safety.
Nature Prints-Debbie Lester On August 4th the Master Gardeners offered a new program to the community called Creating Nature Prints. The participants went through 4 stations where they created their own unique Pressed Flower Cards, Solar Prints, painted Leaf Prints and decoupage Pressed Fern Art using plant parts and flowers. Participants went home with their art creations to either frame or use as personal note cards.
Healthy Fields-Rachel Moody On July 7th Orange County and Ulster County CCE held a joint program called Soil Testing & Grass ID with special guest State Grazinglands Specialist Dave Roberts from NRCS. This was located at Watswyck Ranch in Pine Bush and started at 5:30 pm and wrapped up around 8:30 pm. They wanted this to be for beginner livestock and equine folks but open to seasoned farmers as a refresher course. Dave started with an introduction of himself and materials that he uses. The farm owner, Richard Blazeski told a little about his operation and how he uses soil testing to help with his management. Since Dave is the grass and weed expert and had a 3 hour drive, they started out with the grass identification which also turned into a weed identification pasture walk. Then after Dave handed out grazing sticks and left, Rachel, Jason and Rich took the remaining participants into a nearby field with buckets and soil probes and discussed the how’s and whys of soils sampling. The program had a decent turnout of about 15 people on a hot, humid evening. Their goal was to have this as a hands on learning environment where there could be some one-on-one and Q & A and that was definitely a success. Also, on August 23rd at 11:30 am until 2 pm Rachel will be having a Corn Rootworm IPM Program with Ken Wise at a Dean Ford & Sons Farm field in New Hampton. This is a 2 credit class and will have seed companies there as vendors that also are sponsoring lunch. Rachel had a pesticide credit class offered in March at the Dairy and Livestock Trade Show and decided to have another one in the field again with a more hands-on approach. There will be an expected 30 people to show up to this meeting.
Upcoming Events August 23rd- 11:30am-2pm IPM Program with Ken Wise at Dean Ford & Sons Farm field in New Hampton. August 25th- 9am-1pm Freezing Fruit Workshop at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. September 10th- Pickling. 10am-2pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. September 17th & 24th-Plant Dye: Shibori Folding (2 part series) 10 am-1 pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. September 21st & 23rd-Dehydrating (2 part series). 6 - 9 pm Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. October 1st-Infusing Oils & Vinegars 10am-1pm Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. October 8th-Grape Jelly Workshop 9am-1pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension Call to make reservations. October 15th-Applesauce Workshop 9am-1pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. October 15th-Open House on the Farm @ Sprucegate Holsteins, 302 Wallkill Road, Walden, NY. 10am-3pm October 22nd-Soup-Making Workshop 9am-1pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations.
Solar Farming-Rose Baglia On Monday August 1st, Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County Collaborated with the Orange County Planning Department of Planning to deliver a program on Solar Farming. Many of our farmers and land owners have been approached by solar companies that want to install solar energy arrays on their farms and properties. The Solar Farming program was attended by 90 participants on this subject. Speakers at the conference included Bob Somers, NYS Ag & Markets; Steve Mogel Esq, Sullivan County Lawyers; Dennis Ketcham, Assessor NYS Assessors Association (Mount Hope and Montgomery); Max Joel, NYSERDA and NY Sun; Energize NY; Betta Broad, New Yorkers for Clean Power; and Colleen Osterhout, Farm Credit East.
Cornell Cooperative Extension is an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, Protected Veterans, and Individuals with Disabilities and provides equal program and employment opportunities. Please contact our office if you have any special needs.
Gleaning-Stiles Najac As part of the Newburgh Urban Farming effort, a new, city specific, gleaning program began in August. Starting with several community gardens, excess produce will be directly distributed to two soup kitchens and one pantry in Newburgh. So far, over 150 pounds has been distributed in the first three weeks. All involved are happy with these results. The donation season is in FULL swing. Regular pickups and deliveries happen weekly, with 10 farms. Two of those farms are new to the program this year! With two field gleanings already under our belts and two possible regular weekly field gleanings waiting to start, volunteers will have plenty to do this season. Most of those gleanings have been, or will be tomatoes, a much needed addition to the offerings of the GleanMobile. Keep an eye out for the cover story in the next issue of Dirt magazine! Wink wink, nudge nudge. Above: Tomato gleaning at sycamore farms on July 29th
Gaps Certification-Erik Schellenberg Recently the GAPS program has had a major success in helping Hepworth Farms obtain GAPS certification. Hepworth Farms is one of the largest organic vegetable operations in New York, with 500 acres of production in the Hudson Valley. Work on the food safety program began over a year ago and has involved numerous people in the operation working with the GAPS program resource educator from Orange County over a number of meetings. The food safety plan was more involved than many other plans due to the complexity of hundreds of varieties of crops, organic management systems, and complicated packing, storage, transportation, and distribution systems. The GAPS certification allows the Farm to access markets that were previously unavailable, and stay on the cutting edge of food safety.
Nature Prints-Debbie Lester On August 4th the Master Gardeners offered a new program to the community called Creating Nature Prints. The participants went through 4 stations where they created their own unique Pressed Flower Cards, Solar Prints, painted Leaf Prints and decoupage Pressed Fern Art using plant parts and flowers. Participants went home with their art creations to either frame or use as personal note cards.
Healthy Fields-Rachel Moody On July 7th Orange County and Ulster County CCE held a joint program called Soil Testing & Grass ID with special guest State Grazinglands Specialist Dave Roberts from NRCS. This was located at Watswyck Ranch in Pine Bush and started at 5:30 pm and wrapped up around 8:30 pm. They wanted this to be for beginner livestock and equine folks but open to seasoned farmers as a refresher course. Dave started with an introduction of himself and materials that he uses. The farm owner, Richard Blazeski told a little about his operation and how he uses soil testing to help with his management. Since Dave is the grass and weed expert and had a 3 hour drive, they started out with the grass identification which also turned into a weed identification pasture walk. Then after Dave handed out grazing sticks and left, Rachel, Jason and Rich took the remaining participants into a nearby field with buckets and soil probes and discussed the how’s and whys of soils sampling. The program had a decent turnout of about 15 people on a hot, humid evening. Their goal was to have this as a hands on learning environment where there could be some one-on-one and Q & A and that was definitely a success. Also, on August 23rd at 11:30 am until 2 pm Rachel will be having a Corn Rootworm IPM Program with Ken Wise at a Dean Ford & Sons Farm field in New Hampton. This is a 2 credit class and will have seed companies there as vendors that also are sponsoring lunch. Rachel had a pesticide credit class offered in March at the Dairy and Livestock Trade Show and decided to have another one in the field again with a more hands-on approach. There will be an expected 30 people to show up to this meeting.
Upcoming Events August 23rd- 11:30am-2pm IPM Program with Ken Wise at Dean Ford & Sons Farm field in New Hampton. August 25th- 9am-1pm Freezing Fruit Workshop at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. September 10th- Pickling. 10am-2pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. September 17th & 24th-Plant Dye: Shibori Folding (2 part series) 10 am-1 pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. September 21st & 23rd-Dehydrating (2 part series). 6 - 9 pm Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. October 1st-Infusing Oils & Vinegars 10am-1pm Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. October 8th-Grape Jelly Workshop 9am-1pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension Call to make reservations. October 15th-Applesauce Workshop 9am-1pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations. October 15th-Open House on the Farm @ Sprucegate Holsteins, 302 Wallkill Road, Walden, NY. 10am-3pm October 22nd-Soup-Making Workshop 9am-1pm at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Call to make reservations.
