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INSIDE: SPECIALIST DIRECTORY/B4

OTSEGO.life

Farmers of the Future

THURSDAY-FRIDAY, FEB. 27-28, 2014

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Couple Embraces Romance, Adventure In Cheesemaking

HAPPENIN’ OTSEGO

BEST BETS

Painted Goat Farm Thrives After Ilyssa, Javier’s Years Of Toil

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‘Snommegang’ Aims To Bring Cheer To Downtown Oneonta

By JIM KEVLIN

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rewery Ommegang takes over downtown Oneonta for a festival of beer. Enjoy music and entertainment under a tent in Muller Plaza, then head over to tastings of beers from around the country and world. $50. 2-6 p.m., Saturday, March 1, Main St., Oneonta. Info, (607) 544-1800, X-813.

GARRATTSVILLE ho says the American Frontier is closed? In October 2006, Ilyssa Berg and Javier Flores, most recently of New York City, arrived “with a tent and a chainsaw� on 100 acres of untended hillside north of Garrattsville and began building their dream, a life of hard work and freedom

DINE FOR A CAUSE: Empty Bowls luncheon serves a delicious lunch to benefit local food pantries. Noon-2 p.m., Saturday, March 1, Christ Parish Hall, 69 Fair St., Cooperstown. Info, Teresa Drerup, (607) 435-8257. SUGAR STARTS: Enjoy a hearty pancake breakfast, try your hand at making old-fashioned maple candy and tour through the historic village. 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Sunday, March 2, The Farmers’ Museum, 5775 NY 80, Cooperstown. Info, www.farmersmuseum.org

Today, the Painted Goat flock includes 68 Alpines and Nubians, and two of the La Mancha breed.

they believed the Painted Goat Farm could provide them. They were soon joined by 26 pregnant goats. “We kind of had blinkers on, “ Ilyssa reflected the other day as she showed a visitor around an operation that’s become Otsego County’s poster child for artisanal farm products, a niche many see as the future of local agriculture. “We look at pictures from that time. Wow! We were so happy and innocent.� First, the pioneers built a simple shed; when the snow fell, a small heater kept Jim Kevlin/ OTSEGO.life them warm. They – the two of them, fitting A heat lamp in the “baby barn� casts a warm glow on Javier Flores and Ilyssa beams with handsaws – built what’s now the Berg, who pitched a tent on a Town of Burlington hillside seven years ago “baby barn� that will be filled with 130 kids Please See GOATS, B3 to begin building a 70-goat cheesemaking operation that today is the poster

GET GROOVY: The Phakers play the Grateful Dead, Phish and original tunes. 9 p.m., Friday, Feb. 28, B-Side Ballroom, 1 Clinton Plaza, Oneonta. Info, www.bsideballroom.com LOVELY ART: The drawings of R.C. Oster and the watercolors of Sherry Holmes open for display. 5-7 p.m., Saturday, March 1, Cherry Branch Gallery, 25 Main St., Cherry Valley. Info, (607) 264-9530.

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MOVIE NIGHT: Take a trip to Madagascar with missionary Kelly Segit and the cast of “Madagascar 3,� complete with banana fritters and themed snacks. 6 p.m., Saturday, March 1, Parish Hall, Christ Church, 69 Fair St., Cooperstown. Info, 607) 547-9555.

child of the growing value-added farm products industry in Otsego County.

‘I Just Had To Write It – For Amy,’ Says Cancer Survivor By LIBBY CUDMORE ONEONTA

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rowing up on Normal Avenue, Sara O’Brien and Amy Arnold were “more like sisters.� “We’d compare what our moms were making for dinner,� said Sara. “We’d eat at whoever’s mom was making better food.� So in 2012, when Amy was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, Sara, then an LPN with ARC Otsego, hopped a plane and flew out to California to be with

WORLD CUISINE: Taste of India dinner brings ethnic cuisine to Fly Creek. $20 suggested donation. Seating at 6 and 8 p.m., Saturday, March 1, Fly Creek Methodist Church, 852 Cty. Hwy. 26, Fly Creek. Info, reservations, megk@oecblue.com.

her. “I’d had experience with end-of-life care, but I never thought I’d have to go through it with my best friend.� After three months with her friend by her side, Amy was regaining her strength and her doctors declared that she was in partial remission. “We’d set goals – one day to make it Dairy Queen for Peanut Butter Parfaits, another day, a trip to IKEA,� said Sara. “It was a two-hour trip, but she bought a big lounge chair. It was her victory tour.� But after Sara returned home, she began to feel symptoms herself, and her doctor confirmed that she Please See BOOK, B2

NATURE CALLS: Take a winter walk and observe animal tracks, then relax by the fireplace. Free. 2 p.m., Sunday, March 2, SUNY Oneonta College Camp,1.25 miles north of campus on East St. Info, (607) 436-3455.

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