Bald Eagles and dairy farmers exist in a mutually beneficial relationship in parts of northwestern Washington State. According to a new study, this “win-win” relationship has been a more recent development, driven by the impact of climate change on eagles’ traditional winter diet of salmon carcasses, as well as by increased eagle abundance following decades of conservation efforts. The research is published in the journal Ecosphere. [Read more…] about Study: Climate Change Has Altered Human-Raptor Relationships
Dairy
Crimes Against Butter: The Oleomargarine Controversy
The butter trade was once so important to dairy farmers in Orange County, NY that the bank in Goshen, the county seat, printed its currency on yellow paper. Popularly known as “butter money,” this currency symbolized how significant the trade in butter was to dairy farmers in dairy regions across the state prior to the introduction of refrigerated railroad cars to ship raw milk, first using blocks of ice and then mechanical cooling.
The original shipment of milk from Orange County to New York City is believed to have taken place in the spring of 1842 via the New York & Erie Railroad. Prior to this raw milk could be transported only short distances by farm wagon.
Butter, however, could be transported to markets many miles from the farm or factory where it was produced. As symbolized by “butter money,” blocks of butter were once as good as gold. [Read more…] about Crimes Against Butter: The Oleomargarine Controversy
The Daniel Parrish Witter Agricultural Museum: A History
The Daniel Parrish Witter Agricultural Museum at what is now known as the Great New York State Fair opened officially on April 30th, 1928. Daniel Parrish Witter, a long-time New York State Assemblyman representing Tioga County was born in 1852 at Richford. Witter assumed the greater responsibility for working the family farm after his father became disabled, one of his older brothers was killed in the Civil War, and two others were seriously wounded in the same conflict. [Read more…] about The Daniel Parrish Witter Agricultural Museum: A History
Wall Street History: The Great Depression & A New Deal For Working People
In 1933, during Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s first year as President, the Democrats launched a number of New Deal social welfare and economic recovery efforts to combat the Great Depression.
Among the more popular and successful of these was the creation of the Public Works Administration (PWA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), jobs programs which were modeled on similar programs in New York State. [Read more…] about Wall Street History: The Great Depression & A New Deal For Working People
‘Cradle of the Breed’: Gerrit Smith Miller & His Kriemhild Holsteins
On August 17th, 1929, the German airship Graf Zeppelin was attempting to encircle the world. Baseball fans were still marveling about how Babe Ruth had reached the 500 mark in home runs the previous Sunday at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio. The Great Bull Market of the 1920s was yet to crash.
None of these matters preoccupied Henry A. Strohmeyer, Jr., animal photographer, as he positioned himself and his camera to capture a picture of the man of the hour. Son of a famed expert in stereoscopic photography who made a career in capturing images of the estates of the wealthy, Strohmeyer had built his own reputation largely by taking pictures of cows and bulls. He was about to photograph Gerrit Smith Miller who at eighty-four was the oldest and most respected Holstein cowman in the country. [Read more…] about ‘Cradle of the Breed’: Gerrit Smith Miller & His Kriemhild Holsteins
Donald Stewart: The Man Who Founded The First Stewart’s Shop
This summer Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa, NY, opened an exhibit: “Century of Ice Cream! The Dake Family and Stewart’s.”
One might wonder why this successful business, with almost 350 convenience stores is named “Stewart’s” and not “Dake’s.”
Actually, the original founder of Stewart’s had a strong reputation for high-quality dairy products, long before the Dake family purchased the business. [Read more…] about Donald Stewart: The Man Who Founded The First Stewart’s Shop
Stewart’s Shops 19th Century Patriarch Starks Dake’s Saratoga Lake Canal Plan
Starks Desivigna Dake was born May 9,1852. He died on November 10, 1937, at the family homestead in Middle Grove after a long illness. The Saratogian reported on November 11, 1937 that he was “Courageous to the last, he voted in the November 2 election at a polling place near his home.”
Starks was a member of one of the oldest families to settle in Saratoga County. He was the son of Benjamin C. and Mary Jane Carmen Dake. He attended school in Daketown and, in the winter of 1869-70, attended the prominent Fort Edward Collegiate Institute. In 1870 he won a scholarship to Cornell University, where he studied civil engineering. He left college early to teach school in Eddy’s Corners, South Corinth, Greenfield Center, Middle Grove, and Chatfield Corners in Saratoga County. In 1872 the enterprising Starks took up land surveying while still teaching. He would continue that occupation for the next 60 years. [Read more…] about Stewart’s Shops 19th Century Patriarch Starks Dake’s Saratoga Lake Canal Plan
Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake
On June 22, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Vermont State Dairy Festival in Rutland. The Festival held a barbecue that day in the President’s honor. When it was over, they presented the President and his Presidential Party with a 150-pound ice cream cake. The cake represented a day’s work for twenty cows.
It was a gift from the Stewart’s Shop on North Main Street in Rutland. “Hap” Haapala was the store manager at the time. Plant Manager Paul “Perky” Robinson made the cake at the Stewart’s Ice Cream Plant in Greenfield, Saratoga County. Melvin Tuttle, the owner of Tuttle’s Bakery on Church Street in Saratoga Springs, was responsible for the decorations. Bob Gailor told me that his father, Wally Gailor, was a baker at Tuttle’s and that he decorated the cake. [Read more…] about Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake
Everyone Knows Elsie: A Short Borden Company History
When you enter the hamlet of Wallkill, you are greeted by the happy face of the Borden Company’s mascot, Elsie the Cow. The company’s website states that this mascot dates to the 1930s.
Underneath Elsie is a sign stating that the Hamlet of Wallkill was the location the “Home Farm” of John G. Borden. Thus, many commonly believe that Borden Condensed Milk was in fact invented in the Hamlet of Wallkill; however, its origins can be traced to Burrville, Connecticut and Gail Borden, Jr. Actually, the business was not originally called Borden at all – that title would come later. [Read more…] about Everyone Knows Elsie: A Short Borden Company History
Jesse Williams’ Cheese Factory Revolutionized Modern Cheesemaking
Just North of Rome, at the site of the current New York State Fish Hatchery, the modern cheese industry is said to have been born in 1851. Jesse Williams was a successful farmer and cheese maker but believed by working together as cooperative dairies, farmers could maximize their profits.
This led him to start what is believed to be the first cheese factory in the United States, a move that revolutionized agriculture not only locally, but across the nation. [Read more…] about Jesse Williams’ Cheese Factory Revolutionized Modern Cheesemaking