On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, New York State Environmental Conservation Officer Jarecki received a call reporting a black bear cub in the cab of an excavator in the town of Wilna, Jefferson County. [Read more…] about Bear Cub Rescued After Den Accidentally Destroyed
local farms
Biogas Energy: A Primer
Even if its precise definition isn’t at the tip of your tongue, most everyone gets the drift of what’s meant by the term “biogas.” There is biology involved, and the result is gas. [Read more…] about Biogas Energy: A Primer
Chip’s Hall: A Saratoga County Polish Immigrant Community Center
Development in northern Halfmoon in Saratoga County, NY, is rapidly transforming this once expansive area of productive farmland into an area of winding streets and attractive homes, where landscaped lawns are replacing the hay fields, pastures and woodlands of years gone by.
In the middle of new neighborhoods called Fairway Meadows, Adams Pointe and Howland Park, at the corner of Johnson and Staniak Roads, is an old building, a remnant of the town’s farming days known as Chip’s Hall. [Read more…] about Chip’s Hall: A Saratoga County Polish Immigrant Community Center
Think Snow – Gardens and Forests Need It
In her poem “It Sifts from Leaden Sieves,” Emily Dickinson lauds the sublime beauty of snow – gossamer flakes that garnish a forest, wispy grains that infiltrate nooks and crannies, and wind-sculpted rings of snow around fence posts.
Given that the poet lived in a time before cars and stayed in her bedroom for 20 years, she never had to shovel snow, trudge through it, or drive in it. One is less apt to admire “alabaster wool” when the plow wings a mountain of it onto the driveway you just shoveled. [Read more…] about Think Snow – Gardens and Forests Need It
Groundhog Day, Again: A Woodcuck & Whistle-Pig Primer
I watched the 1993 film Groundhog Day featuring Bill Murray at least a dozen times. Or maybe it just felt that way. Just as February 2 was on a nonstop loop in the film, this year’s iteration of Groundhog Day is likely to feel roughly the same as all the previous ones.
I think it’s a good metaphor for this time of year, as we stumble out each morning in the semi-dark to defrost the car, not even sure what day of the week it is. We probably don’t have the energy for an exciting holiday right now. [Read more…] about Groundhog Day, Again: A Woodcuck & Whistle-Pig Primer
‘Frog Legs Is Our Business’: The Champlain Frog Farm
In 1936 Emil and Marguarite Kegly Neuenfeldt bought five acres of marshland near the Whiteside Dam in Perry’s Mills on the Chazy River, just west of the Village of Champlain. It would be the home of Emil’s second, and apparently Clinton County’s first – and only – frog farm. The area was chosen because it was near water and near sources of frogs. But why frogs? [Read more…] about ‘Frog Legs Is Our Business’: The Champlain Frog Farm
The Borden Company’s Milk Condensing Plant in 1893
The following essay, “‘Crazy Uncle Gail’s’ Idea and What Came of It,” by Eliza Archard Conner, appeared in the June 10, 1893 Northern Star of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer George A. Thompson and annotated by John Warren.
About forty years ago Gail Borden, a civil engineer of New England ancestry, conceived the idea that milk could be boiled down in a vacuum till from the liquid condition it became substantially solid, and in that state, preserved by means of another Yankee invention — the sealed tin can — it could be kept for any length of time. [Read more…] about The Borden Company’s Milk Condensing Plant in 1893
Cranberry Bogs of Long Island: Some History & Natural History
Nearly everyone has enjoyed the several products derived from the fruit of the cranberry, but few people are familiar with the ecology of this interesting plant or the role it has played in many local economies and histories.
Today the cranberry industry is an important. part of the agricultural economy only in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. But many other parts of the country were at one time involved in cranberry production. [Read more…] about Cranberry Bogs of Long Island: Some History & Natural History
Livestock & Animal Breeds in Early America
In this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Undra Jeter, the Bill and Jean Lane Director of Coach and Livestock at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, joins us to explore the animals English and British colonists brought with them to North America and used to build, run, and sustain their colonial farms and cities. [Read more…] about Livestock & Animal Breeds in Early America
Boquet River Farm Easement Protects Salmon Fishery
294 acres of farmland with more than two miles of natural forest along the Boquet River and associated tributaries, have been brought under a permanent conservation easement in a deal between the Adirondack Land Trust and the landowners, the Gillilland family.
The Boquet River, a major tributary of Lake Champlain that drops 2,700 feet over its 47-mile course from the Adirondack High Peaks to the lake, provides critical spawning habitat for salmon and other native fish. [Read more…] about Boquet River Farm Easement Protects Salmon Fishery
4-H Clubs & Victory Gardens During World War Two
First promoted during World War One, War Gardens or Victory Gardens provided American citizens an opportunity to assist with the war effort. Americans were encouraged to produce their own food by planting vegetable gardens in their backyards, churchyards, city parks, and playgrounds.
According to the 1919 pamphlet War Gardening and Home Storage of Vegetables, the War Gardens of America produced food “which helped establish the balance of power between starvation and abundance” in Europe during the final two years of the war. [Read more…] about 4-H Clubs & Victory Gardens During World War Two
1820s Literary Rivalry: Manhattan Versus Boston
On November 2, 1820, the city of New York‘s Chamber of Commerce placed an advertisement in the Commercial Advertiser and other newspapers inviting merchant clerks to meet in Tontine Coffee House at 82 Wall Street and discuss forming of an organization that would be similar to Boston’s Mercantile Library (founded earlier that same year).
Nearly two hundred and fifty young men responded to the notice and joined the meeting which led to the creation of Manhattan’s Mercantile Library Association. [Read more…] about 1820s Literary Rivalry: Manhattan Versus Boston
The Story of Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
Many people have heard of and enjoyed Haagen-Dazs ice cream, but the story of its beginning is equally cool. A headline in JGirls+ Magazine from 2022 says it all: “Haagen-Dazs: A Jewish Story of Immigration, Entrepreneurship, and Ice Cream.” The story began with Reuben Mattus (originally Nifka Matus), born in Grodna, Poland in 1913 who arrived in New York City in 1921 with his widowed mother and older sister. [Read more…] about The Story of Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
Saratoga County Granges: The Patrons of Husbandry
The Grange, formally known as “The Patrons of Husbandry,” was introduced to Saratoga County in 1890, twenty-three years after the agricultural organization’s founding and twenty-two years after the nation’s first local chapter was established in Fredonia, Chautauqua County, NY. In the 1880s and into 1890, New York State Grange sent organizers in the field to build up membership. [Read more…] about Saratoga County Granges: The Patrons of Husbandry
Potato Farming: A Four Generation Story
Clinton County, NY is noted for its extensive and influential military history – we helped save the United States from invasion in the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War just off Lake Champlain’s Valcour Island, and we help end the War of 1812 with Macdonough’s victory off the lake’s Cumberland Head. But there is more. Clinton County is also noted for its agricultural history – apples, maple syrup, milk production, and potatoes. [Read more…] about Potato Farming: A Four Generation Story
Adirondack Micro-Grants Bolster Sustainable Farm Projects
The Adirondack Council has awarded 12 micro-grants totaling $26,000 to local farmers and value-added food/beverage/fiber producers. The initiative is an effort to support climate-friendly economic activity in the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Adirondack Micro-Grants Bolster Sustainable Farm Projects
Clover: A Widely Naturalized Non-Native
Call it a flower or call it a weed – clover is a plant everyone knows. Who hasn’t idled away an hour hunting for a four-leaf clover, hoping for good luck? [Read more…] about Clover: A Widely Naturalized Non-Native
Study: Climate Change Has Altered Human-Raptor Relationships
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
Theophilus Roessle: From Celery King To Hotelier
Theophilus Gottlieb Roessle was born in Stuttgart in the Kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, on March 19th, 1811. His father was a successful market farmer and builder in the community. Like many of the children in his homeland, Theophilus received a good quality education that his father supplemented with a solid training in agriculture.
While still a young boy, Theophilus learned the peculiarities inherent in the cultivation of plants. [Read more…] about Theophilus Roessle: From Celery King To Hotelier
Pig Tales From Historic New York Newspapers
This little piggy was not impressed with being invited to the reception.
H.W. Kathan gave a “unique” wedding gift to Anna, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ottis Ellithorp of Conklingville, in Saratoga County: a Sandy Suffolk pig. [Read more…] about Pig Tales From Historic New York Newspapers