New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Food

Hudson Valley Restaurant Week Set For November

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hudson valley restaurant weekThe 2020 Hudson Valley Restaurant Week has been set for November 9th through 22nd.

Local restaurants spanning more than 115 miles in eight counties including Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester will offer specially priced pre-fixed lunch ($25.95) and dinner ($35.95) menus throughout the two-week event. Restaurants will be offering pre-fixed menus and their restaurant menus for both dine-in or take-out meals. [Read more…] about Hudson Valley Restaurant Week Set For November

Warren County Farms Highlighted in Video Series

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buy local logoWarren County is home to 117 agricultural businesses ranging from vegetable and fruit farms, to livestock farms, and non-traditional farms such as maple production and Christmas tree farms.

In an effort to showcase these farms Cornell Cooperative Extension’s program educators, Jessica Holms, Annie Mills, and John Bowe have teamed up to create a series of video showcases. [Read more…] about Warren County Farms Highlighted in Video Series

Adirondack Harvest Festival Goes Free-Range

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adk harvest festAdirondack Harvest, a program of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County, has announced this year’s Free Range Adirondack Harvest Festival is set for September 19th.

The festival, usually held at the Essex County Fairgrounds, will be scattered throughout the community and virtually. There will be a Scavenger Hunt that includes all the activities in the field and online. [Read more…] about Adirondack Harvest Festival Goes Free-Range

In Pursuit of Giant Puffballs

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puffball mushrooms courtesy University of Wisconsin Green BayPuffball is the generic name for a large group of mushrooms with similar characteristics. They come in many sizes and are usually spherical or globular in shape.

Puffballs are distinguished from other mushroom groups by the fact that they lack many of the features or characteristics that other common mushrooms possess. A puffball has no stem. It has no cap. And no external gills. All of the spores are produced inside of the fruiting body. The most common way in which they release their spores is through impact; the external force of rain or falling debris landing upon them or of animals stepping on or brushing against them, thereby compressing and/or breaking the peridium; the protective layer that encloses the spore mass inside the fungus. When that happens, as the name puffball implies, the spores are ejected in a large puff. [Read more…] about In Pursuit of Giant Puffballs

Fishing and Food Security: From Stream To Table

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Brook Trout provided by DECCornell Cooperative Extension is set to host a webinar on fishing and food security on Wednesday, September 16th, at 2:30 pm.

In these difficult financial times, many people are expanding their options for putting food on the table (or in the freezer). One of the most abundant sources of food has been, and continues to be, in the lakes, ponds, and streams near our homes. [Read more…] about Fishing and Food Security: From Stream To Table

Weekly Online Cooking Parties Continue

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Ashkenazi-style Charoset made from apples, walnuts, red wine and cinnamon courtesy Wikimedia user YoninahCornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County has announced that four free cooking workshops will be presented online during the month of September.

The workshops will feature energy balls, hummus, charoset (a cold spiced apple dish), and chunky applesauce. Registrants will have the option of receiving an ingredient list ahead of time, so that they can cook along with CCE Warren’s nutrition educator, MB Mitcham, and receive live-time instruction in how to prepare each of these recipes. [Read more…] about Weekly Online Cooking Parties Continue

An Age of Opulence In London and New York

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cafe de l'operaIn economic terms, the Western world made its fortune after the Industrial Revolution(s). Money became the deity of the age. But in the words of John Ruskin, “wise consumption is far more difficult than wise production.”

In the race for material prosperity, the idea of social purpose was lost or forgotten. By the beginning of the twentieth century, both in Europe and America, collective aimlessness deteriorated into vulgarities of excess. [Read more…] about An Age of Opulence In London and New York

Hub on the Hill Delivery Food Program Expanding

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Hub on the Hill truck provided by Jen ZahorchakWith support from the Johnson & Johnson Foundation and the Saranac Lake Rotary Foundation, the Hub on the Hill has launched a fundraising campaign for new vehicles to deliver emergency food packages & local food from the Canadian Border to NYC.

Resulting from a successful partnership with AdkAction, The Hub on the Hill in the Champlain Valley is expected to deliver approximately 80,000 meals by October 1, 2020. [Read more…] about Hub on the Hill Delivery Food Program Expanding

Farmers Markets: An Alternative to a Food System in Flux

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Sign seen during curbside pick-up at the Saranac Lake Farmers’ Park It - Adirondack HarvestIn March, when Governor Cuomo signed the New York State on PAUSE executive order, which mandated that all non-essential businesses in New York State had to close, farmer’s markets were exempted as essential retail businesses and, as such, allowed to open or remain open.

But, as concerns about the spread of COVID-19 grew, farmers market growers, gardeners, and managers, like other small business operators, found themselves rushing to come up with innovative contingency plans to modify their operations and employ solutions that would protect their livelihoods, as well as the health and well-being of their customers, market workers, and the community at large. [Read more…] about Farmers Markets: An Alternative to a Food System in Flux