local farms

‘How We Poison Our Children’: The 1850s Swill Milk Scandal

April 25, 2025 by Alan J. Singer 1 Comment

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend drinking only pasteurized milk and eating dairy products made with pasteurized milk. Even organic milk is only safe to drink if it was pasteurized.

The safety of drinking unpasteurized milk and dairy products made from unpasteurized milk is in the news because Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. advocates drinking raw milk and is critical of federal regulations. [Read more…] about ‘How We Poison Our Children’: The 1850s Swill Milk Scandal

The Man that Caught Ben Franklin’s Lightning in a Milk Pail

January 29, 2025 by Joseph W. Zarzynski 2 Comments

In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) invented the lightning rod to catch lightning and make it harmless to buildings. Two centuries later in 1947, a northern Lake George, New York-area man did one better.

One day while working on the family farm, he “caught” lightning in a milk pail. [Read more…] about The Man that Caught Ben Franklin’s Lightning in a Milk Pail

Clinton County’s 19th Century Potato Starch Industry

January 6, 2025 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

In the 1870s, the starch mill owned by Nicholas Bullis in the hamlet of Suckertown on the Little Chazy River was noted for the profusion and cheapness of its starch. Local lore said the young men in the area had their shirt collars starched to an unusual stiffness, and they became known as “Stiff Collars.”

If you wanted to know whether an someone was a resident of Suckertown, you only had to look at their shirt collar, and the question would be answered. [Read more…] about Clinton County’s 19th Century Potato Starch Industry

Manhattan Breakfast: Cream Cheese, Bagels & Lox

December 24, 2024 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

Friends and strangers eating together offers an appealing image of togetherness. “Let us build a table where everyone is invited,” is an inspiring mantra. At the same time, food is a religious symbol that creates exclusion.

Food taboos appear in almost all societies, either self-imposed or enforced by authorities on minority groups. In medieval Europe, Christian authorities forbade Jews from baking “sacred” bread. [Read more…] about Manhattan Breakfast: Cream Cheese, Bagels & Lox

Thanksgiving Dinner News Collected from Historic Newspapers

November 26, 2024 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

The rule at a wedding is don’t show up the bride. The rule at Thanksgiving dinner is don’t show up the bird.

“The Thanksgiving Dinner should always be plain and plentiful,” The Granville Sentinel suggested on Nov. 30, 1894. “The turkey is so grand a dish that it should not be obscured by its surroundings.”

In other Thanksgiving dinner news collected from historic newspapers in Northern New York: [Read more…] about Thanksgiving Dinner News Collected from Historic Newspapers

Farming Sullivan County: Some History & Statistics

October 13, 2024 by John Conway 1 Comment

Cushetunk, the first permanent European settlement in the Upper Delaware River region, part of which would later become Sullivan County, was established in the 1750s by a group of farmers from Eastern Connecticut who wanted to own their own farmland and traveled here to find it.

But those Connecticut settlers were not the first farmers in the region by a long shot. The Native American Lenape tribe, which spent the warm weather months here for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, depended upon farming, along with hunting and fishing, for survival. [Read more…] about Farming Sullivan County: Some History & Statistics

Digger Wasps: Benefits and Misconceptions

September 29, 2024 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

On warm days through early fall, you can find two large species of “digger” wasps flitting about late-blooming flowers. Like many wasps, these species elicit strong, often negative reactions in humans. But digger wasps inhabit a critical niche in invertebrate communities – and can lend a natural hand in pest control.

Two of the most common digger wasps in the Northeast are the great golden digger wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus) and great black digger wasp (S. pensylvanicus). These hefty wasps first appear in July in the Northeast and persist into fall for as long as daytime temperatures remain elevated. [Read more…] about Digger Wasps: Benefits and Misconceptions

19th Century Chicken and Egg Oddities Reported in New York Newspapers

September 24, 2024 by Maury Thompson 1 Comment

You’ve heard of bad jokes. How about fowl tales? Here is a collection of 19th century chicken and egg oddities collected from Northern New York historic newspapers:

Are drumsticks that come from a four-legged chicken half-price at the grocer? “A curiosity in the shape of a four-legged chicken, five days old, is exhibited in one of the windows of I.N. Scott & Sons grocery store, Ridge Street [in Glens Falls],” The Morning Star reported on May 25, 1894. “It is the property of Alexander Bovair, Coffin Street.” [Read more…] about 19th Century Chicken and Egg Oddities Reported in New York Newspapers

When ⁠Catskills Cauliflower Was King

September 17, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In the early 20th century, ⁠cauliflower was king⁠ in the Western Catskills, and – especially in the good years – farmers called it “white gold.” On the latest episode of the Kaatscast podcast historian Diane Galusha describes the origins of cauliflower farming in Margaretville, in Delaware County, NY; the rise and fall of the industry from the 1890s to the 1950s (and beyond); and the notable contribution of the Van Benschoten family. [Read more…] about When ⁠Catskills Cauliflower Was King

Charges Filed in Sale of Wild Canada Geese

August 30, 2024 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

On August 15, a concerned hobby farmer in Wayne County, NY contacted New York State Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) John Rich and explained that he was in possession of a dozen wild Canada geese mistakenly purchased as goslings, thinking they were domestic geese. The geese later became aggressive to the farmer’s established chicken, duck, and goose flock, injuring some of them. [Read more…] about Charges Filed in Sale of Wild Canada Geese

A Cultural & Ecological Field Guide to Columbia County, NY

August 16, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

From the Hudson to the Taconics: An Ecological and Cultural Field Guide to Columbia County, New York (Black Dome Press, 2024) written by Anna Duhon, Gretchen Stevens, Claudia Knab-Vispo and Conrad Vispo with the support of The Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program and Hudsonia features 36 discreet natural habitats in the Hudson Valley’s Columbia County and is beautifully illustrated with over 750 full-color photographs, maps, graphs, tables, and charts. [Read more…] about A Cultural & Ecological Field Guide to Columbia County, NY

How To Plan A Halloween Pumpkin Smash Event

August 9, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Instead of throwing your leftover Halloween pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns into the garbage, some local governments and community groups host pumpkin smashes or pumpkin drop-off events where residents are invited to continue the family fun by smashing and/or dropping off their pumpkins for composting or feeding farm animals. [Read more…] about How To Plan A Halloween Pumpkin Smash Event

A History of Agricultural Fairs in New York State

August 2, 2024 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

As New York State prepares to host the oldest state fair in the nation in Syracuse, the latest episode of the A New York Minute in History podcast tells the history of the summertime tradition of agricultural fairs and how they developed from gatherings of learned societies into the popular attractions that we all know today. [Read more…] about A History of Agricultural Fairs in New York State

The Fulton Montgomery Quilt Barn Trail

July 30, 2024 by Wendy Hobday Haugh 1 Comment

If you’ve ever wondered about the colorfully painted, often intricately-designed squares affixed to rural barns, outbuildings, homes, and businesses, wonder no more.

These eye-catching barn quilts are part of an ever-growing barn quilt trail movement that is currently thriving in almost every State in the Union. [Read more…] about The Fulton Montgomery Quilt Barn Trail

Johnson’s Family Farm Store & Café in Northville

July 25, 2024 by Wendy Hobday Haugh Leave a Comment

The Johnson’s Family Farm Store and Café in Northville, NY, on Great Sacandaga Lake in Northern Fulton County, is the place to go for an impressive selection of fresh, homegrown produce, nutritious home-cooked foods, a delectable bakery, distinctive merchandise, rustic charm, and friendly service. [Read more…] about Johnson’s Family Farm Store & Café in Northville

19th Century Tales of Agricultural Oddities

June 17, 2024 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Fact or fiction, tales of agriculture oddities make great newspaper copy. “Old stories of mammoth squashes and cucumbers should now be dug about and heavily mulched, in readiness for transplanting in the newspapers in the fall,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel quipped on April 11, 1879. [Read more…] about 19th Century Tales of Agricultural Oddities

The Hitching Post & Kemp Sanctuary at Nettle Meadow Farm

June 2, 2024 by Wendy Hobday Haugh 3 Comments

About 18 years ago, Lorraine Lambiase and Sheila Flanagan left corporate law careers in California to pursue their two true passions — cheese-making and animals — on a rustic farm in Upstate New York.

Upon arriving at Nettle Meadow Farm in Adirondack town of Thurman (in northern Warren County) with their four dogs and four goats, the women never imagined that their new home would so quickly evolve into a rescue facility for elderly, neglected, and differently-abled animals. [Read more…] about The Hitching Post & Kemp Sanctuary at Nettle Meadow Farm

Hello, Operator? The Galway Telephone Company 1903-1932

April 23, 2024 by Dave Waite 2 Comments

On December 13, 1882, Nicholas Shaul’s store in Barkersville, Town of Providence, Saratoga County was destroyed by fire. While the contents were a total loss, it was noted in the Daily Saratogian that 20-year-old Charlie Steele took time away from fighting the fire to save the store’s telephone.

Today we would scratch our heads if this made the news, but 140 years ago it was vital information as this was the only telephone for miles around this isolated hamlet. [Read more…] about Hello, Operator? The Galway Telephone Company 1903-1932

Saratoga’s Goat Dairy: Behind the Scenes at Putnam Place

April 8, 2024 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

In July of 1940, Harry and Eunice VanAlst Brower and Eunice’s twelve-year-old son Carleton Chadbourne, left their home in Mount Kisco, Westchester County, New York, to reside for the summer season in Saratoga Springs. The family stayed at Putnam Place, Mrs. Brower’s ancestral home, a three-story, 25-room mansion that sat on a parcel of land that is now Saratoga Hospital’s Myrtle Street Park complex. [Read more…] about Saratoga’s Goat Dairy: Behind the Scenes at Putnam Place

New Grant Program Supports Historic Revitalization in Herkimer, Montgomery Counties

April 8, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has launched the Mohawk Valley Historic Revitalization Grant Program to support capital improvements for historic properties in rural communities within the Mohawk Valley in Herkimer and Montgomery counties. Funding is available to private, public, and nonprofit owners of National Register listed historic properties and properties that contribute to a listed historic district. [Read more…] about New Grant Program Supports Historic Revitalization in Herkimer, Montgomery Counties

local farms

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