History, Natural History & the Arts
The stock market may be down, but maple syrup production is up.
New York produced 845 thousand gallons of maple syrup in 2022, breaking the state’s own 75-year-old record from 2019, when its maple industry produced 820,000 gallons of syrup. [Read more…] about Banner Year for Northeast Maple Syrup Makers
Not that they’re boasting, but lots of Saratoga County people like the ring of the “health, history and horses” theme used by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. But 150 years ago, the thoroughbreds didn’t yet run at Saratoga Race Course on Union Avenue, and the county motto could have been “homesteads, harvests and hogs.” [Read more…] about Saratoga County Was Once A Leading Pork Producer
Genesee Country Village & Museum, located in Mumford, in the town of Wheatland, Monroe County, has a historical connection with Rochester’s rich brewing scene. The Museum’s founder, John L. “Jack” Wehle, also served as Chairman of the family business, Genesee Brewing, which his father Louis Wehle purchased in 1932. Today, the Museum’s President & CEO is Becky Wehle, granddaughter of Jack Wehle.
Museum visitors interested in learning more about the history of brewing in the region can visit Grieve’s Brewery on the Museum grounds, a reconstruction of a ca. 1803 Geneva, NY brewery. Genesee Country Village & Museum is the only museum in the United States to showcase a working 19th-century brewery. [Read more…] about A Monroe County 19th Century Brewery Offers Great Beer & An Old Time Experience
You may have noticed that “Since 1842” appears on the label of all Mott’s apple products. That was the year Samuel Mott began selling apple cider and vinegar to his neighbors in Halfmoon, Saratoga County, NY. The Mott’s apple processing empire we know today grew from that humble beginning. [Read more…] about Mott’s Apple Empire Began in Saratoga County in 1842
Exploding urban populations during the nineteenth century demanded new solutions towards burying the dead. Traditional congregational graveyards were either full or overcrowded. A combination of practical thinking and the wish to commune with nature (inspired by Romantic poetry) led to the development of serene burial grounds outside the city boundaries.
Founded as a “rural” or “garden” cemetery in 1838, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery is famous for its picturesque landscape features with evocative names such as Camellia Path, Halcyon Lake, Oaken Bluff, or Vista Hill. Elaborate monuments and mausoleums, designed in an array of architectural styles, honor the Lispenard dynasty (Norman), William Niblo (Gothic), the Steinway family (Classical), and others.
And then there is the Feltman mausoleum, the columns of which feature Corinthian capitals. On each side of the doorway stands a trio of mourning figures. Those on the left hold symbols of faith (cross and doves); those on the right show grief and sorrow. The pediment features two cherubs holding a wreath with the initial F in the center. On top of the temple is a cupola with the Archangel Michael standing guard, sword at the ready. The building serves to celebrate the memory of just one man. Who was this person? A Founding Father maybe? A respected politician (if that is not a contradiction in terms)? A celebrated artist? [Read more…] about A Dog’s Tale: Dachshunds, Hot Dogs, Coney Island & Greenwood Cemetery
At least since Roman times oysters were associated with sex. The most obvious reason for this association is the oyster’s resemblance to the pudendum. Raw oyster was praised as an aphrodisiac. Giacomo Casanova boasted to have eaten fifty at breakfast together with a lady of his fancy.
European painters used oyster as a symbol of fertility and sexual pleasure. Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love and lust, was blown over sea on an oyster shell landing at either Cythera of Cyprus (both islands were regarded by the Greeks as territories of Venus). In “The Birth of Venus” Botticelli painted her approaching the shore on a giant oyster (clam) shell. By then, the associations with female beauty and physical love were well established. [Read more…] about Jonathan Swift’s Oyster Test: Oysters, Sex and Culture
First domesticated in Central Asia some six-thousand years ago by ancient cultures looking for the best way to ruin shirts, mustard has evolved from zesty warm to blistering hot to the point that it’s now being developed as an ultra-low emission jet fuel.
Given the large size of the mustard or Brassica family – some 3,000 strong, according to Cornell University – it’s no surprise that it comprises historic food crops, showy flowers, noxious invasive weeds, and more. [Read more…] about Mustard Power: An Historic Food Crop
Precocious, blanket-toting Linus from the Peanuts comic strip awaited the Great Pumpkin each Halloween night from 1950 to 1999. If anyone else had been stood-up that many times, they’d have thrown in the blanket for sure.
Perhaps Linus’ resolute faith that the mythical pumpkin would show up was because every year brings the world a greater pumpkin. [Read more…] about Great Pumpkins: A Ton Of Fun
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has adopted final regulations to implement New York’s Food Donation and Food Scraps Recycling Law.
The law and implementing regulations are part of the state’s addressing contributors to climate change and assisting those in need by supporting the donation of quality food. [Read more…] about New Food Scrap Recycling Regulations Adopted
One of the first crops to emerge from the ground in New York State is asparagus (scientific name: asparagus officinalis). The vegetable is an integral part of America’s colonial history. It must have been a taste of nostalgia that prompted New Netherland settlers to try and cultivate asparagus in unfamiliar surroundings. [Read more…] about Asparagus Officinalis: A Spear of Transatlantic History