Message from the Executive Director

Happy harvest, friends of Extension!

I hope this note finds you well. On Wednesday, October 26 at 5:30pm at the Seminary Hill Cidery in Callicoon, CCE Sullivan will host its 108th Annual Meeting. There is currently a waiting list for attendance. If you are interested in being placed on the waiting list, please call Erin at 845-292-6180 or email sullivan@cornell.edu. As seats open up, we will contact folks on the waiting list in the order in which they were received. Our guest speaker is Director of New York State Integrated Pest Management at Cornell University, Dr. Alejandro Calixto. Dr. Calixto will give a talk about invasive species in the Hudson Valley Catskills region and what we can do as individuals and organizations to mitigate local agricultural and community impacts. We will also celebrate our annual Friends of Extension awardees.

This summer, CCE Sullivan hosted the fourth Sullivan Fresh Farmers’ Market on the Move season. Since it’s inception in 2019, the Sullivan Fresh markets have grown from three sites across the county, to eight stops, making local, fresh produce accessible and affordable to our friends and neighbors in Liberty, Fallsburg, Monticello, Loch Sheldrake, Harris, Woodridge, Wurtsboro, and Woodbourne. Thank you to our host sites, and local funders and partners including the Sullivan County Rural Health Network and Public Health Services, Sullivan County Office for the Aging, Sullivan Renaissance, Garnet Health, Hudson Valley SNAP-Ed, and all the local community-based organizations and market vendors who provided public outreach at the markets, for working with the Sullivan Fresh team to make it happen!

While our outward education and outreach efforts continue, during fall and winter the CCE Sullivan board and staff also take this time to look inward. Over the next few months, we’ll be working on annual reporting to our “mother ships”, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, Cornell University, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and Sullivan County Government. In addition, we’ll work to button up our next five-year strategic plan, and to develop 2023 plans of work across program areas.

As always, we’re here for you and are looking forward to continuing Extension work in Sullivan County as the new year approaches.

My very best, My very best,

Colleen Monaghan Executive Director, cm638@cornell.edu