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contents 5 11 16 18 20 22 25 26 27 28 29 30 34 36 40 45 47 49 52 55 61 64 71 74 75 76

Oneida County Historical Society ADK Journal Little Falls Co-Op MV Music Downloads At the Market: Bread Bakers A Visit to the OCHS Did You Know: Herkimer MV History Spotlight CD: Diane Schnier MV Up Close: Little Falls MV Astronomical Society Collins Knoll Farm February Forest On the Farm with Suzie Artist Rebecca Petrie MV Garden Snow Tubing in Taberg Family Fun Factory Zeina’s in Utica A MV Forest Reborn Grace Paull Tales from Shawangunk Gallery Guide MV Comics Live & Local Music Advertiser Directory

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MV Family

by Sharry L. Whitney Here I am writing on deadline day again, but that’s okay. It’s been a busy month and we have accomplished a lot. And by “we” I mean our growing family. Our sons may be out of the house, but our MVL family is expanding. I guess our kids moved out just in time. Our little 20’ x 18’ home office has swallowed up another room of our house. We produced our TV show out of that little den for 10 years—Lance and I back to back with our office chairs (Lance’s yoga ball) bumping into each other.

We never thought we’d be doing print again, but it is our passion. It’s been more than 25 years since our college days and our Utica-Rome Living newspaper attempt and we’ve learned so much since then—perhaps the most important is asking for help.

My dear friend Susan Collea has now become our “Sales Rep Extraordinaire.” She’s good. I know this because people tell me so and she truly cares about local small businesses.

You can tell.

We also have the help of our good friend Debra Richardson, who was a part of our show way back in 2005. She was our “foodie” then and is now, as our liaison for Slow Food Mohawk Valley. This group is passionate about our local food culture and we’re thrilled to work with them.

We also welcome “MV Mom” Melinda Karastury, who is not only sharing her family’s fun adventures with our readers, but helping us with office work and distribution. She joins our great writing team. I mean, c’mon, Denise Szarek’s bread article alone this month has me chomping at the bit to get to the nearest, soonest farmer’s market!

How did we ever manage without these people?

I don’t know, but I do know this is our best issue yet, and we’re able to raise the bar higher with the help of our growing MVL family.

MOHAWK VALLEY LIVING MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2015

PUBLISHERS Lance and Sharry Whitney EDITOR Sharry L. Whitney DESIGN & LAYOUT Lance David Whitney ASSISTANT EDITOR Shelley Delosh ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Susan Collea (315) 292-3905 email: scolleamvl@gmail.com CONTRIBUTORS Peggy Spencer Behrendt, Jorge Hernandez, Brian Howard, Suzie Jones, John Keller, Melinda Karastury, Frank Page, Susan Perkins, Matt Perry, Cynthia Quackenbush, Denise Szarek, Gary VanRiper CONTACT US (315) 853-7133 30 Kellogg Street Clinton, NY 13323 www.MohawkValleyLiving.com mohawkvalleyliving@hotmail.com Mohawk Valley Living is a monthly magazine & television show exploring the area’s arts, culture, and heritage.

Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of Mohawk Valley Publishing.

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February is “Heart Month”.

February may be heart month, but here at Acacia Village we treat every month like heart month. According to the American Heart Association, being physically active is important to prevent heart disease and stroke, the nation’s No. 1and No. 4 killers. To improve your overall cardiovascular health, they suggest that you exercise thirty minutes a day, five times a week..

You can also divide your time into two or three segments of 10 to 15 minutes per day to spread out your workouts, especially if you are just starting to add exercise to your daily routine.

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It’s good to have a goal.

Start slowly. By making some small changes in your routine, you can be on the road to a healthier lifestyle in no time. If thirty or forty Physical activity is anything that makes you move your body and burn minutes of exercise a day seems an unattainable goal calories. for you at this time, set a There are probably many things that you smaller goal in the begindo each day that you may not even consider as ning. You can increase exercise. Things like climbing stairs or walking your time or type of exerwhile you shop. The aerobic exercises that can cise as you get stronger. benefit your heart include walking, jogging, We invite you to swimming or biking, all of which you can enjoy attend a complimentary Yoga or Tai Chi at Acacia Village in our wellness center, in the class and see if the Acacia Village “healthy” indoor pool or even walking to dinner. And lifestyle is right for you. To schedule your don’t forget that strength and stretching exerclass or a personal tour including lunch call cises are best for overall stamina and flexibility.

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“All the Live Long Day” The Unadilla Valley Railway work crew, 1938

Requiem for a Short Line part 2:

The Unadilla Valley Railroad from the Oneida County Historical Society

by Brian Howard, Executive Director

For nearly four decades, the Unadilla Valley Railway (UVRR) had shunted freight and agricultural products around the region before falling on hard times in the early 1930s. Following many years of prosperity, a changing society and one really bad investment nearly spelled the end of the “Buckwheat & Dandelion.”

Dr. Morris' Final Years

By 1901, Dr. Lewis Morris was the UVRR’s vice president. He bought the line in 1904, thus saving it from bankruptcy, but toward the end of his tenure the railroad was again in peril. This was due primarily to the construction and almost immediate abandonment of a gravel operation in 1931.

In 1930, New York implemented a new state highway numbering system that included what is now State Route 8. The

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UVRR line ran parallel to the newly designated road between New Berlin and Bridgewater; the ever-increasing use of motor vehicles mandated a better driving surface, and Albany listened.

Improved roads were the future of transportation. In today’s parlance, the opportunity for the UVRR to get involved in a state-funded infrastructure project seemed like a “no-brainer.” While the automobile was a direct competitor to the locomotive, even rail supporters realized that there was tremendous money to be made. Dr. Morris partnered with Burdett Peddleford to purchase a quarry between New Berlin and South Edmeston, and then financed the construction of a stone-crushing facility to the tune of $205,000. Part of the project included a rail spur into the site.

Unfortunately for Dr. Morris, this state-of-the-art operation closed almost as quickly as it was built. Remember that the pri-

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mary reason for its construction was to provide material for Route 8. The details are murky as to why, but before much of anything was mined, the road gravel specification was changed. In an instant, this brand-new facility was irrelevant. The remains of two huge quarry structures still stand next to Route 8, about two miles north of New Berlin. If you’ve ever driven past them and wondered what they were, there’s your answer.

This failed investment was almost too much for the railroad to bear. Dr. Morris reduced his involvement over the next few years and passed away in 1936. After 1931 the UVRR posted annual losses until Morris’s estate sold the line to a New York City-based firm, H.E. Salzburg, in the winter of 1937-38.

Salvation

The citizens of the Unadilla Valley greeted the railroad’s sale with a healthy dose of apprehension. The Salzburg Corporation was not known for operating railroads—their main business was dismantling them. While the railroad’s heyday had passed, the UVRR represented a tangible link between this little valley and

Background: The abondoned quarry in New Berlin, 1938. Right (from top): Then and Now, Bridgewater Depot; The Leonardsville Depot today; Sweet’s Station (near West Edmeston) is seen as it was when the UVRR shut down in 1960 and then in use as a florist’s shop (inset) prior to its destruction by fire in 2011.

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To many a citizen’s relief, Salzburg announced plans not only to operate the line, but to invest in its improvement. This was feasible due to a condition of the sale that absolved the buyer of the failed quarry debt. The line got serious about competing for the region’s dairy business, which by the late 1930s shipped almost exclusively by truck. Under Salzburg’s aggressive management the line won back a chunk of the milk-hauling contracts it had lost. Sheffield’s Dairy in West Edmeston, Kraft-Phenix in South Edmeston, and Dairymen’s League operations up and down the line began shipping again by rail.

A major change occurred in October 1941, when the UVRR acquired the part of the New York, Ontario & Western line that ran from New Berlin south to Sidney. A spur from New Berlin to Edmeston also came in the deal. This transaction more than doubled the railroad’s size and reinforced Salzburg’s commitment to the region. The UVRR gained access to numerous businesses, including dairies, feed stores, coal operations and small manufacturing concerns. For the next decade and a half, the line remained healthy, but by the middle 1950s, competition from the roadways could no longer be blunted.

Closure

In 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected to a second term as president of the United States. The year also witnessed passage of the Interstate Highway Act, which reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to the automobile in post-war America. It was then that the Dairymen’s League operation in Mount Upton announced its closure, spelling doom for the UVRR. The Mount Upton site was by that time the line’s biggest customer; its loss could not be overcome, especially with so many operators choosing to ship via truck.

The decline was rapid. In 1957, the New York, Ontario & Western line went bankrupt, cutting off the UVRR’s access to southern shipping routes.

The local railroad’s directors sought and received permission from the Interstate Commerce Com-

Engineer’s view from “Old #1”, 1938

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Top: DL&W depot at Bridgewater, ca. 1907. Track on left is DL&W to Richfield Springs and track on right is UV towards New Berlin. Bottom: The end of the line, dismantling the UVRR, 1960.

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mission to tear up its tracks south of Mount Upton. The Kraft-Phoenix plant in South Edmeston changed its heating system from coal to oil, which was easily transported by truck. Cattle businesses along the northern half of the line committed to road transport. The Babcock manufacturing concern in Leonardsville—a longtime customer—was sold and closed up shop.

In April 1960, the ICC approved the Unadilla Valley Railway’s request to cease operations.

By that fall, the line would be no more. Its last freight run occurred on September 14, and by November, the remaining tracks had been pulled.

For 65 years, the citizens of the Unadilla Valley enjoyed the benefit of their own little short line railroad. Bypassed by the canal boom, valley residents used the “Buckwheat & Dandelion” to bridge the age between the horse and buggy and the automobile. While the tracks are gone,

the Unadilla Valley Railway’s legacy of progress and entrepreneurship remains a source of pride for the residents of this region.

Sources This article would not have been possible without the work of Fred Pugh, who wrote the definitive UVRR history, “Days along the Buckwheat & Dandelion: the Unadilla Valley Railway,” in 1984. Other published sources include articles from Fortune magazine (“Baby Railroad” August 1938) and Courier (“Milk Run” July 1955).

Thanks especially to the Utica and Mohawk Valley Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society and to the O&W Railway Historical Society. Kudos also to Richard Palmer of East Syracuse, who provided scores of news clippings and images that were used in the production of this article.

Corrections to last month’s article: 1) New Berlin and Bridgewater are 21 miles apart, not 26; and 2) The photo of the Bridgewater depot identifies it as being used jointly by the UVRR and the New York, Ontario & Western. The Bridgewater depot was a joint UVRR and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western facility.

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Snow and the lack of leaves make it easy to see the old railbeds of the UVRR on a drive along Route 8, south of Bridgewater

The Tracks

A recollection by brian howard It’s hard to believe that it was forty years ago. Growing up in New Berlin, our property was bordered to the east by the old Unadilla Valley Railroad right of way. From the edge of our lot—which sat a level above the track bed—I could survey a good portion of the site. This was made easier after my brother and his friends built a tree fort there in the late 1970s, although I wasn’t sure which side of the property line it was on.

The rail yard had become a trailer park by the time we moved there in 1974; it still is today. Not one of us who played around those abandoned buildings displayed any appreciation for what it had been just a few years before. For decades, the yard was the hub of economic activity in the village, and likely the same could be said for all of the stops on the way up to Bridgewater.

In my youth, the depot, feed barn, engine house, and coal shed existed. All but one crumbling bay of the engine house are gone now.

I remember climbing through the busted out windows in the depot and looking through the floor to the earth below. After sitting derelict for two decades, it was too deteriorated to save. I don’t remember if it collapsed or if it burned down, but by the middle 1980s it was gone. The feed barn was a dark, musty place and I didn’t spend much time there; there was a rumor about snakes living in it, thus assuring that us kids would stay out! In hindsight, perhaps this rumor was the work of a well-meaning parent? Over three decades later the smell of feed and oil there still lingers in my mind.

This building, too, is now marked only by its foundation.

Heading north out of the yard, the rail line—the “tracks” as it was known—remained intact into the 1980s. This area was probably privately owned, but I don’t recall ever being admonished for trespassing. A nearby gravel bank was originally used to maintain the track bed; climbing to its top was quite a feat. Snowmobilers, hunters, and the occasional cross country skier used the trail during the winter. Bicycles, dirt bikes and four wheelers were a common site during the summer months, as were kids with BB guns, all too eager to take a shot at whatever wildlife happened to be in the area. Yes, those were different times, and yes, I feel bad about having plinked a squirrel or two off during my formative years. Mea culpa.

The tracks were also a conduit to the Unadilla River. We would

Remains of the rail yard, New Berlin Engine House

Leonardsville Depot today

9

sometimes swim there, oblivious to the herds of cows that were taking a dip upstream. How I got through youth without a serious septic infection remains a mystery…

As we grew older, spending time along the tracks lost its appeal.

High school, and all the trappings of post-pubescence, beckoned. I never gave much thought to the tracks after I left New Berlin in the late 1980s.

Until now, that is.

My parents still live in the house that they bought in 1974. Last summer, my father showed my brother, my two sons and myself some logs that he had cut from the old fort tree. Several contained nails which the tree had swallowed up in the decades since the fort was dismantled.

We spent a minute looking over the edge of the property, down at the tracks. A fence is at the end of the trailer park now, and probably has been for years. To the untrained eye, there is no sign that trains ever ran through there. The rail bed is completely overgrown. Incredibly, though, a few lengths of rail remain in the ground at the site of the old engine shed. These may very well be the last existing rails of this once vital line.

Driving on State Route 8 today, one can still see the path the old UVRR took up the valley, if he or she knows where to look for it. Raised, level beds traversing hilly fields, the Chobani plant in South Edmeston, the dilapidated depot in Leonardsville, an old foundation in Unadilla Forks; it doesn’t take much time to see all of these sites. Bridgewater and New Berlin aren’t that far apart. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon. •

Photos from top: You can still see signs of the old railbed to the east as you drive along Route 8, south of Bridgewater; New Berlin UVRR Depot; Track bed looking north, New Berlin; One of the UVRR diesels crossing the road next to the Kraft plant (now Chobani) in South Edmeston, c. mid 1950s; Route 8 crossing sign.

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ADK Journal

Snowbirds Story and Photos by Gary VanRiper

While we in the Mohawk Valley persevere through pounding winter storms and sub-zero temperatures, many of our softer (smarter?) neighbors have joined dozens of species of birds that have flown south to wait the bittersweet season out.

The movement of humans is fairly straightforward for us, but for centuries mankind had no idea what happened to the many missing birds. Their appearance and disappearance was observed and associated with the change in seasons, yet where did they go? Ancient Greeks thought birds vanishing in autumn spent the winter in the mud at the bottoms of lakes and ponds.

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Several years ago while walking along Surfside Beach in South Carolina during spring break, I noticed some people gathered around a large bird that was sitting in the sand. It was a common loon that was already dressed in its breeding plumage because it was April. I just happened to have a T-shirt on that sported a large graphic of a common loon, so the people thought I was some sort of Loon Ranger and began peppering me with questions. “What kind of a bird is this?” “Is it laying its eggs?” I answered their questions and told them I suspected there was something wrong with the bird. I spent the larger part of that first day of vacation sitting with the loon (there were some curious dogs around as well), waiting until the tide came

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in again to see if it would depart. It didn’t. The water tossed the bird around a bit and it washed right back up onto shore. Another bird lover who knew the area happened along and assisted me in dropping the loon off with a local rehabilitator.

Over the years, I have always wondered if that was one of our Adirondack loons. Engaged in some recent research for a new book I am working on, I think I now know. Thanks to the efforts of bird banders over the years, along with the amazing use of satellite transmitters, the daily movement of a number of loons from throughout the Northeast, upper mid-West and our Adirondack Park has been tracked and documented. According to the data gathered, it appears our Adirondack loons winter largely along the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and southern New Jersey. One bird was documented as far south as northern North Carolina. According to the range maps based on the available research, the common loon I saw on the beach in South Carolina was most likely from one of our upper mid-Western states.

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Our human snowbirds will continue traveling back and forth throughout the winter months, hitching rides in the bellies of those large silver birds flying at altitudes of some 30,000 feet. But March will be the time to watch for red-winged blackbirds and Eastern bluebirds to begin the parade of our feathered snowbirds returning to their breeding grounds. And then in April or May, flying at altitudes of some 3,000 to 5,000 feet, comes the return of our common loons.

Link to Loon Migration Study: www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/main.html For more information about common loons in the Adirondacks: BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation PO Box 195, Ray Brook, NY 12977 207-839-7600 ext. 145 www.briloon.org/adkloon www.facebook.com/adkloon BRI is a nonprofit ecological research group based in Gorham, Maine, and conducts innovative wildlife science worldwide.

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Get a price from the competition and we’ll beat them EVERY TIME!

R.A. Dudrak “The Window King”

(315) 794-9175 Rte. 365, Holland Patent

FREE IN HOME ESTIMATES - OVER 50 YEARS IN BUSINESS

The White House

ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES

The Window King and Eleanor welcome you to The White House featuring rare and unusual antiques from our years of collecting!

9200 Rt. 365, Holland Patent, NY 1 mile west of Holland Patent

CALL (315) 823-8822

24 Hour emergency services • HEAP customers welcome 441 West Main Street, Little Falls www.littlefallsfuel.com

Background: Located in the former St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, the Little Falls Co-op still retains the church’s architecture; Middle photo: Pooniel Bumsted checks inventory at the co-op.

The Everyday Adventures of Mohawk Valley Girl:

a visit to the

little falls community co-op My feeling is why just go shopping when you can go someplace interesting and distinctive? With this in mind, I recently went to check out the Community Co-op in Little Falls.

A sign on the building told me the Co-op was established in 1975. I’ve only lived in Herkimer since 2005.

Still, I feel it was remiss of me not to check it out sooner. I soon discovered that although the Co-op is new to me, many others have not been so remiss. The place was doing a booming business. I had to wait for a cashier to be free so I could ask if a membership is needed to shop there. I know some co-ops work that way and I did not want to get my heart set on a purchase I might not be able to make. The nice lady told me that there was no membership and that the co-op operated as a non-profit in association with the YMCA. I wandered around, mostly making mental notes of what I can purchase in the future. For example, they have an extensive selection of loose teas. I love tea and always have a selection of my own in the cupboard. Bulk spices are available as well. I’m sure that is a factor in the delightful aroma that pervades the Co-op. I’ve been in several co-ops over the years. They all have that won-

DEANSBORO SUPERETTE

Babying Babies Since 1985!

All Breeds Welcome!

Baths • Nails • De-Shedding • Day Care Cat Brush Outs • Teeth Brushing Pet Apparel & Supplies

Call (315) 736-7567 to schedule an appointment

Professional Pet Groomers 105 Main Street, Whitesboro 16

Since 1967

Home of the Monster Sub!

Middle Eastern Favorites!

Humous, Kibbie, Falafel, Babaghanoush , Taboulie, Grape leaves, Spinach pies.

Open 7 days a week!

Rt 12B, Deansboro (315) 841-4377 www.deansborosuperette.com

A comfortable sitting area invites children to sit and read while mom and dad shop.

derful, undefined smell that is obviously the combination of different, intriguing producst.

Many gluten-free and vegan items are available. I noted some vegetarian sausages I may purchase some time. I’m not currently vegetarian, but I am trying to moderate my meat consumption. Another purchase I’ll make is quinoa. My friend Tracy used to make a yummy quinoa salad. I’ll have to see if she will share the recipe.

I avoided all the dark-chocolate-covered choices–must drop that holiday weight–but I did indulge in a bag of sesame sticks. I love sesame sticks, and you can’t find them just anyplace. These

were “everything” flavored, which I also found unusual. I don’t remember seeing flavored ones before. These were very tasty.

Another interesting purchase I made was a handmade scrubby. I’m always looking for something gentler than steel wool for my dishwashing needs. This was locally made and included a poem listing some of the things you could scrub with it. When I checked out, the cashier said the scrubber would last forever.

“I’m wondering if I can use it on my Teflon,” I said. “I see I can use it on my feet…”

She thought that was not a good comparison. “I could use sandpaper on my

feet,” she said.

“Me too,” I admitted. “In fact, I do use a pumice stone, and I certainly wouldn’t use that on my Teflon.”

I think I’ll use this one for my dishes and purchase another for my feet!

Community Co-Op

589 Albany St., Little Falls Open Tues-Wed & Fri 9:30-5, Thurs til 8, Sat 9:30-1 (315) 823-0686 Cynthia M. Quackenbush, a.k.a. “Mohawk Valley Girl,” writes a daily blog about her everyday adventures in the Mohawk Valley. Follow her frugal fun at: mohawkvalleygirl.wordpress.com

Butter-Cup Flowers & Gifts (315) 896-5072

8151 Route 12, Barneveld www.buttercupflowersandgifts.com

MV Living Fans Save 10% off purchase!

Full service florist & delivery Gift shop with local vendors

MUSEUM & COUNTRY STORE

See Remington firearms and artifacts from the 1800s to today.

Shop for clothing, hats, and souvenirs in the Country Store.

14 Hoefler Avenue, Ilion (315) 895-3200 FREE! Mon-Fri. 8am-5pm (store closes 4:30pm)

In Clinton! New Treatment Shows Great Promise For People Who Suffer With Pain

february mvl music

downloads

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K-Laser Patient Benefits

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“Howling at the Moon” “Black-Eyed Susan”

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Benefits of K-Laser on the Body: Reduces symptoms of osteoarthritis

2 Songs from

john keller “Rain of Love” “One Drink Left” To download this month’s selection just go to:

wwww.mohawkvalleyliving.com/downloads.htm

Hurry, they are only on the site for 30 days!

18

Detoxifies and eliminates trigger points Improves and promotes healing Reduces pain and spasms Increases joint flexibility Advanced pain relief

Call for a No-Cost Consulation!

Dr. M. Tucciarone, D.C. 54 Dwight Ave., Clinton, NY 13323 (315) 381-2944 www.drtucciarone.com

Morrisville State College Experience Morrisville’s unique setting, programs, and facilities for yourself. Tours, visits, and faculty appointments can be scheduled online at www.morrisville.edu or register to attend our Spring Open House on March 28.

• Career Driven Education in more than 80 Majors

• Generous Scholarship Opportunities • Championship NCAA Division III Athletics • An Active and Vibrant Campus Life www.morrisville.edu facebook.com/morrisvillestatecollege twitter.com/MSCinMotion

at the market

mohawk valley breadbasket

By Denise A. Szarek

If thou tastes a crust of bread, thou tastest all of the stars and the heavens.

~ Robert Browning We have some amazing bakers at the farmers markets of the Mohawk Valley. This month we’d like to showcase a few for you.

The Kneady Baker – The ad on Craig’s List read “Wanted: talented baker to provide artisan bread for small retail cheese and gourmet shop,” which led Joe Silberlicht to establish the popular local bread bakery known as The Kneady Baker. He initially provided traditional baguettes and a sourdough rye to La Fromagerie in Clinton until the shop closed. Joe then expanded his offerings and headed to the Westmoreland Summer Farmers Market and now sells at the Westmoreland Winter Farmers Market and The Oneida County Public Market and is adding a bread share option. The Kneady Baker offers an assortment of hearty rustic flavors. A hop kiln sourdough is Joe’s signature loaf and is almost always available at market. Rye, whole wheat, and multigrain loaves fill his tables, covered with his trademark red-and-white checkered tablecloths. Special treats, such as warm soft pretzels and an onion flatbread called

pletzl, are customer favorites. He keeps his selection exciting by offering one new bread at market each week. “I bake for markets because I want to become a better baker,” Joe says. Organic ingredients dominate Joe’s recipes. New York State grown grains appear in most recipes, and others include locally sourced items, such as honey from Joe’s own bees. “My goal is to produce bread that tastes great, provides healthy whole grains and convinces people that there are wonderful alternatives to supermarket breads available in our area.”

Slate Creek Farm – Jenny Romer always enjoyed baking, but never planned on selling any of it. Then she moved and started homesteading in Upstate New York. Soon she had an abundance of eggs and found a lovely little farmers market near her home (Trenton Farmers Market), where she sold her eggs on Saturday mornings. As her farm grew, so did her market offerings. Much of what she brought to market was in coolers, so to attract folks to her booth, she started bringing breads and cookies to fill her table. Soon she added the Westmoreland Winter and Summer Markets to the Trenton Market. One of her big hits last summer was a bread called anadama bread. It’s a beautiful dark brown bread that has a taste of molasses and a

The Country Store with More!

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Snacks, Beer, Pizza, Wings, Subs, Gas, Diesel, Non-Ethanol Gas, Gifts and much, much more!

2114 Rte 29, Salisbury 315-429-3224 Open 7 Days a Week 20

bit of crunch from cornmeal. Now, depending on who tells the story, there are some variations of the bread’s origin. So, here is what Jenny read when she came across the recipe: “A Connecticut farmer had a lazy wife who didn’t like being a farmer’s wife. Well, one day he came home and she was gone and there was no dinner for him. So, as he was fixing something to eat, all he found was some cornmeal mush. He used it as the base for the bread, and as he was kneading the heavy dough he kept repeating to himself, “Anna, damn her.’” This is how a simple bread with frugal ingredients came to be! Jenny explains, “My bread recipes are from women who came before me and they are immortalized every time I make one of their soft, delicious loaves with farm fresh eggs, whole grain flour, grassfed butter, or home-rendered lard from grass-fed pigs.” Jenny is also offering a bread share.

Heirloom Meadows Farm – As for Martine Cook’s background, “I went to culinary school, a long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away, well before the age of celebrity chefs. Back then, there was Julia Child, and maybe people knew the name Wolfgang Puck.” Martine cooked for a while in a high-end French/Creole Restaurant, but it wasn’t quite right. She put cooking on a back-burner, and for a time she pursued teaching and a stint as a legal secretary, until she and her husband had their mid-life crisis and bought their farm in Central New York. She knew it was time to reconstitute her culinary skills and

comics!

Valentine's Storewide Sale!

February 11-14

735-3699 Big Apple Plaza, New Hartford

in 2010 debuted at winter farmers markets in the area. Her focus is all-butter, from scratch, old-school French pastries and breads. She offers plain and sesame seeded baguettes and a French version of foccaccia called fougasse aux herbes, flavored with lots of olive oil, herbes de Provence and sea salt. Her offerings at farmers markets always include a mix of chocolate and almond croissants, Ceylon cinnamon morning buns and scones in assorted flavors. Martine also rotates in-season fruit galettes from fruit picked locally, some as close as her husband’s garden, and specialty items such as brioche, madeleines and macaroons. You can find Martine at the Clinton Farmers Market, Poolville Winter Farmers Market, Sherburne Winter Farmers Market, Parry’s Farmers Market, and Hamilton Farmers Market.

Alambria Springs Farm – These bakers create naturally-fermented, all-natural extended fermentation wood-fired sourdough bread. Amy Yahna and Brian Musician started to make their bread in an outdoor mud oven a few years ago. It took a while to get the bread just right, but when they hit the farmers markets with it a couple of years ago, I doubt they had any idea how big a deal this bread really is. Made from locally-sourced organic flours, they are creating a low glycemic index bread that is easily digested with nutrients that are more easily absorbed. Research currently shows that fermented foods and non-GMO foods are better for our health, and Alambria Springs Farm is committed to providing the most nutritious and healthy food to its customers. Amy and Brian can be found at The Oneida County Public Market and the Poolville Winter Farmers Market in

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our area. They also offer a bread share.

Szarek Farms – In 1997, as I was cleaning out our family home after the death of my parents, I ran across a yellowed recipe captioned “Grammy Burke’s Scones.” Further cleaning rendered a cast iron scone pan. I don’t ever remember my mother making scones during my childhood, but I carefully kept the recipe and pan together and moved them with me several times over the next decade. Grammy was my great-grandmother who came to Syracuse from Nova Scotia via Ireland. In 2010 Bernie and I were looking for something else to fill our table at the farmer’s market, and out came the pan and the recipe.

The rest is history. Irish scones should be in the shape of a wedge, and differ from Scottish or English scones in that they often contain sugar and, in Grammy’s recipe, eggs. Grammy’s notes state: “Scones should be crumbly, but moist and dense, and never chewy.” We use organic local flour, eggs, butter and local fruit, wherever possible, in our scones. We seasonally vary the fruit. Our scones can be found at the Westmoreland Summer/Winter Market, Waterville Winter Market and the Oneida County Public Market.

There are lots of good bakers at the farmers markets all over the Mohawk Valley. Don’t leave a market without a loaf under your arm and a bag of baked treats in your hand!

Now, grab a round loaf of bread from one of these great market bakers and let’s make a stuffed sandwich: Muffalatta – Stuffed Sandwich

By Denise Szarek 1 round rustic bread loaf Sun-dried tomatoes, homemade or jarred in oil Capers

Jar of green olives Jar of black olives Garlic, minced fine Shallot, chopped 2 T. Olive oil, plus more for brushing 1 T. Red wine vinegar 1 tsp. Italian seasoning 4 Portobello mushrooms sliced and grilled Roasted red peppers, homemade or jarred Slice red onion Jar of marinated artichokes, chopped Mozzarella cheese, sliced.

Take the bread and cut a small opening in top (like you were carving a pumpkin). Now, hollow out the bread by removing the inside (set aside for making meatballs or bread crumbs). Brush inside of bread with olive oil and set aside. Next, make your olive tapenade – combine tomatoes, capers, olive, garlic, shallots, olive oil and red wine vinegar, and Italian seasoning in a food processor – rough chop and set aside.

Assemble the sandwich: Spread tapenade in bottom of sandwich hollow and top with slices of mozzarella cheese. Layer roasted red peppers, chopped marinated artichokes, red onion slices, and then grilled Portobello slices. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and top with another layer of mozzarella cheese. Cover with bread top. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. When ready to serve, cut into wedges. This makes a great addition to tailgating or a pot luck. When in season, we make this sandwich with fresh heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and onions–all fresh from the market–and oil and vinegar.

Denise A. Szarek and her husband, Bernard, own Szarek’s Greenhouses in Clinton.

Phoenician R E S TAU R A N T Enjoy authentic Lebanese Cuisine

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Open: Mon-Fri: 9-5, Thurs: ‘til 7, Sat: 9-1 5 Erie Boulevard, Canajoharie (518) 673-3066 21

The Everyday Adventures of Mohawk Valley Girl:

a visit to the

oneida county historical society

Sometimes I don’t know why it takes me so long to get to places. You know how there are local sites you have been meaning to get to and never get around to them? Well, on a recent winter day I braved the elements and my own lousy driving to check out the Oneida County Historical Society in Utica. I’m glad I did.

For me, it was something of an adventure just getting there because I am not used to driving on Genesee Street. Additionally, I was not sure where on Genesee Street the society was located or even on which side of the street. However, these mysteries were soon solved and I was walking into an historic building filled with local history.

The society is housed in the former First Church of Christ Scientist, which was built in 1914. I found an exhibit that told about the church, but it was obvious on walking into the main room what the building used to be. It is a beautiful, large room with a lofty ceiling, stained-glass windows, a choir loft in the back and a raised wooden platform in the front. I admired the polished hardwood floors and the ceiling. I later learned the ceiling has been restored after a collapse in recent years.

I learned a lot about the Historical Society and local history from George Abel, who manages the bookstore. When I told him who I was, he immediately took me to the office and introduced me to the director, Brian Howard. I had just read his article about the Unadilla Railroad in the January issue of Mohawk Valley Living. I was happy to have the opportunity to tell him how much I enjoyed it and how I was looking forward to reading Part 2 next (this) month.

Back in the museum, I wandered by exhibits of Union Station and Utica Free Academy. In the display on the Utica Zoo I was surprised to see a stuffed gray squirrel not in proportion to some other animals that were there. A sign told me his name was Seymour and said, “Wait a minute…Seymour, you’re not part of this exhibit!”

One display that I spent a bit of time looking at showed old

When plan “A” fails, go to...

PLAN B

“B” Prepared Emergency Preparedness • Camping Hiking • Self Reliance 8585 Turin Rd., Rome (315) 533-6335 WWW.PLANB-BPREPARED.COM Facebook: Plan B Emergency Preparedness

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Redmond’s

Red Deer Farm Locally raised venison:

Tenderloin • Roasts • Steaks Burgers • Snack Sticks Summer Sausage • Hot Dogs

Also antler gift products and dog chews

www.redmondsreddeer.com

9521 Steuben Valley Rd. Holland Patent (315) 865-8670

photos of Utica that were enlarged and colorized. They were wonderfully clear and the colors seemed true to what they must have been. Of course, that was the idea: to show “what the photographer saw.”

The society has more than 25,000 photographs available for reproduction in a variety of sizes, many more than are actually on display at any given time. I thought, what a wonderful gift idea, especially for a retirement or somebody leaving the area. I made a mental note to keep it in mind for future occasions.

Mr. Abel also took me downstairs so I could see the resources available for research. I met Janice Riley, who wrote the snowstorm story in MVL’s December issue. She was in the midst of preparing a two-part presentation called “Farmin’ It,” slated for the first and second Saturdays in March. However, she paused in her work to show me around and give me an overview of what’s available.

In addition to Family Files, the society has an almost complete set of City Directories, a collection of newspaper clippings and a roomful of scrapbooks people have donated. I saw the Map File and an even bigger file of pamphlets from businesses, New York State, Oneida County, and the City of Utica.

Locked rooms house artifacts, manuscripts and census books for 1835-1860. Other censuses are online. At the computer, Ms. Riley showed me the Finding Aid. She was looking for a pamphlet called “The Way to Wealth.” Then she typed in my name. A lot of Quackenbushes showed up.

“There are probably none related to me,” I said. “It’s my husband’s name, and he’s not from around here.”

She clicked on one anyway to show me how the computer would direct me to information they had on that person. I immediately thought of some friends who are tracking their family histories. I’ll be sure to tell them about this.

While downstairs I also met Carl Saporito, the man responsible for the colorized photos I had so admired. He was scanning in pictures for Ms. Riley’s upcoming presentation. I’ve already “liked” the Historical Society on Facebook. I’ll be watching for that and other presentations so I can write blog posts about them.

As I was leaving, Ms. Riley drew my attention to a photo of a woman and child near an airplane. A handwritten sign asked, “Can you help identify this woman?” I’m afraid I couldn’t. However, if anybody reading this is inspired to check out the Historical Society–and I hope people are–perhaps somebody will recognize her.

Oneida County Historical Society

1608 Genesee St., Utica • 315.735.3642 Open Mon-Fri 10-4, Sat 10-2 www.oneidacountyhistory.org

From top: George Abel is always ready and willing to help visitors to the Oneida Co. Historical Society; New Hartford residents Justin Hilborn and Bob Baines enjoy the Lionel Train display; Intern John LaDuke is researching Folklore for his Master’s degree; A photo posted on the wall in the research room asks, “Can you help identify this woman?”

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Shoppes at the Finish Line Nestled in the Revitalized Brewery District!

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Serving breakfast & lunch featuring local products. Let us cater your holiday party, event, or business meeting!

Cafe open Mon-Fri: 8am-2pm Sat: 9-2 and evenings during events. FREE wi-fi!

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170 Kenwood Avenue Oneida, New York 13421 Phone 315-363-0745 Fax 315-361-4580 www.oneidacommunity.org

Serving Rome & Utica Since 1946

WKAL

TALKRADIO 1450

did you know?

herkimer, ny from Sue Perkins and the Herkimer County Historical Society

Jones Store - Benjamin Jones bought the store in 1916 from George Richards. It was “a haven for East Herkimer youth, like a youth center”

The Trolley Bridge spans the West Canada Creek at the eastern edge of Herkimer, built of concrete in 1903

by Beckwith and Quackenbush.

Construction of the bridge from East Herkimer to Herkimer in 1913. It was imploded in 1999 once the new bridge on Route 5 was completed.

Cheese broker Simeon Osborne Jr. had this Gothic Revival house built before 1850 on the western side of Route 28.

Herkimer County Home was located on the west side of Route 28. Built in 1880, today it is Herkimer’s fire training site.

Donald J. Mitchell (1923-2003) lived on Shells Bush Road. He was an optometrist and served as Town of Herkimer Councilman, Mayor, Assemblyman, and Congressman.

SUNNYBROOK FARM

Elegant Catering Served throughout the Upstate region!

Parties, picnics, high tea, or an intimate dinner for two at home!

Daily lunch and dinner take-out Mon-Fri Call 768-7037 8411 Seneca Turnpike, New Hartford

And visit our NEW cafe at 116 Business Park Dr., Utica!

Take out M-F: 8am-3pm Visit us on facebook for daily specials

(315) 841-4910

Grass-fed Beef, Pastured Poultry & Pork Winter Hours: M-F 8-4, Weekend by appt. only.

Saturday Hours by Pick up at Williams Fence Appointment Only 2033 Brothertown Rd., Deansboro www.sunnybrookmeats.com

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MV history spotlight:

White Tower in south utica from the Oneida County Historical Society

Check out the Oneida County Historical Society’s current exhibit of colorized historical photographs!

For years a popular White Tower restaurant was located on the southern tip of the Devereux building just north of the Busy Corner in downtown Utica. This 1960 photo shows a second White Tower that was located at 1908 Genesee St. in the city’s uptown section. Its neighbors to the north were Uptown Shoppers City and Chester Sitrin furniture. To the south were the Uptown Liquor Store, the Kernan Station post office, Hemstrought Bakery, Circle Cleaners, and the King Cole Plaza, which featured the King Cole ice-cream establishment that always attracted long lines of customers on summer evenings. The original black and white photo was digitally colorized by Carl Saporito of the Oneida County Historical Society (available for sale at the OCHS).

BISTRO AND WINE BAR

Experience the inviting atmosphere and incredible edibles!

Extensive wine list, beer & specialty coffee

•Tapas, soups, salads, paninis & creative dinner menu •Available for catered private parties •Original art work displayed and for sale!

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All Breeds Welcome!

Bathing & Blowouts Grooming to breed standards Cat grooming • Ear cleaning Gland expression • Hand-stripping

ONE PAW AT A TIME 26

PET Salon

Over 20 Years Experience!

3 Main St., Whitesboro

315-725-6486

MON-FRI: 8-5 by appt.

new CD review

Diane Schnier

By John Keller

Diane Schnier is an extremely accomplished singer/songwriter/ instrumentalist. Her new album, Pebbles, Rocks & Boulders, is a breath of fresh air in a world of guitar-based rock and jam bands.

While this is not Schnier’s first release (her previous CDs, Before Cowboys, The History, The Fool & Unadorned are available on CDBaby), it is definitely her best.

Although this is a piano-based album, it is far from standard jazz/pop fare. This album rocks you where it should, soothes you where you need it to, and takes you to places you’ll want to go. “Howling at the Moon” must be played LOUD. It’s a great highway song as it ebbs and flows through its melodies. The country-ish tune “Mashed Potatoes” is fun and upbeat.

“Every Road Leads Home” is a quiet, sentimental ode to finding your past.

Schnier is a master at the written word. Her lyrics are thought-provoking, vivid, and oft-times dreamlike. “Lost” has a Beatlesque quality to it.

“Squirm & Stow” contains one of my favorite lines, “The sky is shifting

Pure Goat Milk Soap Each bar is made with care from the finest vegetable oils, therapeutic grade essential oils and pure goat milk providing the ultimate in fine skin care and repair.

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round with Venus coming up and etiquette’s a bore.”

Whether the songs are personal, or uniquely imaginative, they will draw you in. Fans of Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, and Norah Jones will fully appreciate this musical offering.

This album was recorded at Old Soul Studios in Catskill, NY. The studio has recorded projects by Neko Case, Langhorne Slim, Tears for Fears, and countless others, so it was little wonder that Schnier’s album would sound amazing. Her wonderful songs were augmented by a stable of great musicians, including Kenny Siegal of NYC’s Johnny Society and the incredible Marco Benevento.

Schnier’s Pebbles, Rocks & Boulders is one of those rare albums that call you back time and time again. It not only makes for a great rainy Sunday listen, but can turn the sunniest day even warmer.

You can find Pebbles, Rocks & Boulders at: http://dianeschnier.bandcamp.com and local music shops.

Turn to page 16 to learn how to download FREE mp3s from

Diane Schnier

Valentine’s Day Flowers Order early for best selection!

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27

MV up close:

little falls Story & Photos By Sharry L. Whitney

Do you recognize this new mural brightening up winter’s snowbanks? Locate it and you could win an MVL mug from A&P Master Images!

We are often so busy and in a hurry that we miss the interesting architecture and art that surrounds us. Take the time to look around and you might be surprised at what you find.

Clue: Brightening up grey snow banks this mural is thanks to Lutz Email your answer to: www.mohawkvalleyliving@hotmail.com or mail: MVL, 30 Kellogg St. Clinton, NY 13323 Deadline: 2/15/15

All correct answers will be entered in a random drawing for an MVL mug from A&P Master Images, located at: 205 Water Street, Utica Open Mon-Fri: 9-5, Sat: 10-3

5 mugs will be awarded. Answer next month.

Answer to last month’s MV Up Close: The tiles over the hearth at the Barneveld Free Library.

Congratulations to all those who emailed and called with the correct answer to last month’s MV Up Close! The tiles are believed to be from the Netherlands and have been a part of the library since its beginnings. The cornerstone of the building was laid July 27, 1877.

Brenda’s Natural Foods Something Good & a Lot of It!

www.brendasnaturalfoods.com

Natural Food Cafe Now Open!

Featuring: Gluten-free options and homemade soups!

Natural Groceries • Supplements • Local Foods Organic Produce & Plants

236 W. Dominick St., Rome (315) 337-0437 M-F 9:30-6, Sat 10-3

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NEW

Breakfast, Lunch, “Grab-and-Go!” 1st Floor Deliveries, 8am-2pm Take Out & Catering!

Check out our weekly specials on facebook and at www.rososcafe.com

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B&F Milk Center

Coffee, Cappucino, Milk, Lottery Tickets, Groceries and more!

Fresh bagels and donuts every Sunday!

Open 7 days a week (315) 736-6857 38 Roosevelt Dr., Whitesboro

Mohawk valley astronomical society

Below Europa’s icy and cracked surface is an ocean with twice as much water as in Earth’s oceans.

Image credit: NASA/JPL

Gigantic and Puzzling Jupiter

by Carol Higgins

I spy with my little eye, something that is… HUGE! Sometime after 8pm on February 6, go outside and look southeast for a large, bright white, star-like object. That’s gigantic planet Jupiter at its closest point to Earth all year.

Jupiter was revered by Greeks and Romans, but the first breakthrough was made by Galileo Galilei on January 7, 1610, when he spotted what he thought were stars next to the planet in his small telescope. Weeks later he noticed the stars moved, and concluded they were four moons. Named Ganymede, Io, Callisto, and Europa, you can see them with binoculars.

The largest planet in our Solar System, the gas giant is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. If you combine all planets together they’d fit inside Jupiter! The fastest spinning planet, a day is just under 10 hours long. At the equator, Jupiter spins at 28,273 miles per hour, while Earth spins 1,037 mph. It takes Jupiter about 12 Earth-years to orbit the Sun. Now for some perplexing questions. Did you know the famous Great Red Spot is shrinking? Comprised of swirling gas and clouds between two layers of moving bands like our jet stream, it was estimated at 25,000 miles across in the late 1800s. Recent Hubble observations measure it at 10,250 miles. What’s causing it to shrink?

Jupiter is about 90% hydrogen. As you plunge through the atmosphere, the immense pressure converts the hydrogen to a metallic liquid that scientists believe is responsible for creating a massive and unique magnetic field – more than 20,000 times more powerful than Earth’s. Is it produced by electrical currents generated by metallic hydrogen?

With 50 confirmed moons and 17 other satellites, Jupiter has interesting neighbors.

The best known are record-holders in the Solar System: Ganymede, the largest moon has an iron core and liquid saltwater ocean covered by a thick icy crust. Io has the most volcanic activity. Callisto has the most craters. Europa is believed to be the most likely place beyond Earth to support life. With 2 times more water than Earth, its icy surface has cracks where plumes of water blast out into space. Is there life in that ocean?

NASA’s JUNO spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter. Launched August 2011, it arrives July 2016 to study Jupiter’s powerful magnetic fields, mysterious atmosphere and interior, and determine how the planet formed and evolved.

Stay tuned!

For a fabulous view of Jupiter and its moons, come to a free stargazing event at Barton-Brown Observatory in Waterville on February 14, starting 7:30 pm. Visit www.mvas-ny. org or follow MVAS on Facebook for details.

This view of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, where winds rage between 270 and 425 miles per hour, was taken by Voyager 2 in 1979. The spot is shrinking, and scientists don’t know why.

Image credit: NASA/JPL

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Collins Knoll Farm

dairy family in chadwicks Story & photos by Sharry Whitney It’s a cold, dark, windy January morning. The thermometer reads 6° F. That’s a balmy 20 degrees “warmer” than the negative 12° yesterday morning.

I was planning to go cross-country skiing this morning—at least that was the plan when I went to bed last night. But it’s now snowing heavily...sideways. Too windy, I conclude, and I wuss out.

As I enjoy my morning coffee and watch the blue jays trying to navigate the gusts, I think about my interview with the Collins family scheduled for later this morning. They’re probably done with morning chores already. These dairy farmers in Chadwicks, like all dairy farmers in the Northeast, don’t have the “wuss out” option. Cows don’t take a day off, so farmers can’t either. When most people think of dairy farms they envision rolling green hills and blue skies, but this occupation also includes the dark, snowy months between December and March, not to mention the cold weekend mornings when many of us would rather listen to the howling wind curled up in our beds.

“It’s harder on people than the cows,” says Ed Collins. “We bundle up, lots of layers,” he says. “Cows like it cool.” He explains that cows have a body temperature of 102° and the barns stay warm with no added heat. Cows don’t like the heat of summer and he says they have to keep fans running to cool the barns in the summertime.

Ed and I walk cautiously over the icy road to the new barn. This last addition was raised at the end of 2013 and is now home to 250 more cows. Here we find his eldest son, Rob, cleaning out the barn with a tractor. The automatic barn scraper isn’t working today.

“Too cold,” Rob says. “It’s the wind, nothing can warm up.”

Rob is in charge of the farm’s accounting, computers and crops, and, like every farmer, anything else that needs to be done. He studied agricultural business at Cornell. His younger brothers, Alan and David, studied husbandry and farm mechanics, respectively, at SUNY Cobleskill. He and his brothers are now equal partners with their father.

“It just worked out that we all had different interests,” says Alan, who is the farm’s herdsman. David is the repairman keeping the equipment running. He

The Collins family of farmers, from left: David; dad, Ed Collins; Alan; eldest son, Rob

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checks the oil on a large tractor, something they do every day.

The farm as a whole runs like a well-oiled machine, everyone doing their part. Megan Fish of Litchfield, their assistant herdswoman, keeps track of the cows’ temperatures to monitor when they’re ready to breed. Computer chips on each cow’s ear tag track their activities and health from birth. In the calf barn, automatic feeders dispense food according to the number scanned when the calf enters the feeder. Megan says she can tell you how much each cow is eating and drinking and how much milk they’re producing at any given time.

Matt Wheelock of Chadwicks is their “mix master” and is in charge of the herd’s feed.

“He used to walk cross lots to work here when he was 14,” Ed says. “That was 13 or 14 years ago.

Now he drives his side by side ATV, but he could walk...or he drives his new pickup. Must be I’m paying him too much,” Ed says with a smile.

Ed never imagined that Collins Knoll Farm would grow this big or that all three of his boys

From top: Sherwood Boehlert tours Collins Knoll Farm in the 1970s with Ed, son Rob, and Alan (on tractor); Ed Collins, his daughter-in-law Jennifer, and wife, Candy at a appreciation dinner they held for the crew after a new barn was raised; Grandpa Collins (Ed) with grandsons Jackson and Justin.

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would be dairy farmers. In fact, he and his wife, Candy, were planning to sell their herd as a retirement. Then, halfway through Rob’s senior year at Cornell, he asked his dad if he could be a part of the family business. Alan and David soon followed and now they have a dozen employees, over 1,700 cows, over 2,000 acres and produce over 66,000 pounds of milk a day. Truckloads of milk come and go constantly.

“In the morning it could be going to Chobani or Queensboro,” says Alan. “In the afternoon Canastota or Albany. Wherever they need it.”

It’s a big change from the small 46-cow farm Ed bought from his parents back in 1976. Ed’s father, James, became a full-time dairy farmer when the bleachery he worked for as a foreman relocated to Georgia. He and his wife, Mary, wanted to stay in the area. They bought a small farm on Red Hill Road from a retired dairy farmer in 1954. Ed came back to work his parents’ 11-cow farm in 1971, renting it for five years before buying it.

It’s cold, so instead of walking we drive to the upper barn. We pass by a big Case tractor.

“Rob can drive down one row and then program it.

The GPS will guide it the rest of the rows,” Ed says, “so you can sit back in the warm cab and listen to music.”

We pass by an old Ford tractor. Ed kind of laughs and tells me to get a picture of “that old thing.”

“I wouldn’t go back,” he says.

Back in the warm calf barn Ed flips through a photo album of pictures of his children growing up on the farm. There’s a picture of their first bulk tank of 300 gallons overflowing for the first time. “That’s a big deal,” he says. There’s a picture of their daughter, Jill Slavney working atop a ladder—“Yes,” Ed laughs, “we have a daughter, too. She’ll be happy that I mentioned her.” She works as an executive principal at Rochester BOCES.

Photos from top: Rob Collins discusses the winter chores with his dad, Ed, in the new barn that was raised in 2013; Now and Then: Ed is happy with their “workhorse” 2011 Case 260 Magnum tractor with GPS to assist in planting crops and wouldn’t go back to the old days; Ed’s old tractor sits like a museum piece on a snowy hill; A newborn calf drinks a special nutrient-rich formula from an automatic feeder. Its ear tag will track its eating, drinking, and later, milk production.

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He also has many pictures of their 10 grandchildren. Their daughter has two sons, Justin and Jackson. They both like visiting the farm, but “Justin’s a farmer,” Ed says. “He’s seven and loves working with his grandpa.” Ed continues flipping through the pictures. “There’s that Ford tractor, stuck of course.

They had to use two or three tractors to pull it out.”

“Here’s my wife and my daughter-in-law Jennifer at an appreciation dinner we held for all the guys after we finished a new barn.” He points to a picture of a 4-year-old boy on a toy tractor. “That’s Carter, Rob’s son. He’s 17 now and he’s going to Cornell next year just like his dad.”

There are many more pages and many more pictures of tractors and machinery, ripping out of old equipment to be replaced with new, barns going up and fields being planted. At 68 years of age Ed Collins has a lot of life to look back over. He’s not yet retired, but the help of his three boys affords him some time to reminisce over the life of a dairy farmer he was busy living.

“My sister-in-law put this book together,” he says. “It’s really nice, isn’t it?” •

The view of Collins Knoll Farm from Route 8 on a cold, snowy January day.

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MV Nature

February: The Northern Cardinal’s Song Evokes Spring

by Matt Perry

Even as February’s landscape appears locked tight in winter’s grip, there are increasing signs of life in the forests and meadows of the Mohawk Valley, little glimpses here and there of impending spring. The leaf buds on many of the forest trees appear swollen and seem ready to burst – winter snows notwithstanding. Perhaps none look as keen as the crimson buds of the American basswood tree. While envisioning the large sail-like foliage that will expand from those neatly packed e n v e lopes, I hear the robust song of a cardinal

erupt with a break in the clouds.

It’s been some months since I’ve heard that song. The tone has a more biting quality than normal as it resonates in the cold air. I spot the singer. He’s a great distance away.

It’s a male, and his ruby color is barely discernible at first, until a wandering shaft of sunlight touches his podium and sets his plumage ablaze against the slate sky. In winter, his feathers are tipped with gray, but those tips are wearing thin now and they’re allowing his breeding colors to become a true beacon. Now he’s perched at the very top of a maple tree at the edge of the meadow where I stand. “Cheeeer, cheeeer, cheeeer, Birdie, birdie, birdie” is the popular representation of one of his most com-

m o n song variations, and it’s a fair depiction of his sweet whistled tones.

So far, the cardinal flock has maintained a sense of peaceful coexistence for the winter season, but now with spring edging ever nearer, the truce between the males begins to fray and tensions erupt with increasing regularity. There’s drama at the bird feeders and in the hedges as the males try to exert dominance over each other. Their chases are incited by the presence of the females and by the growing drive to define the boundaries of their prospective breeding territories. I wonder if one particular male is flying in their ranks today, the one who for the last two years has claimed

It’s a long way straight up to examine the crimson buds on this Basswood Tree

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a territory at the nature preserve’s trail head. That individual became notorious for relentlessly warring with his own reflection – wherever it appeared, and it most faithfully did in my car windows and side-view mirrors. It seemed that whenever I returned to my car, there he was dueling with his equally ardent foe, against whom he could never seem to achieve more than a draw.

Cardinals have a long breeding season that starts earlier in the spring than that of most birds, and in the Mohawk Val-

The male Northern Cardinal might be our country’s most appreciated songbirds

ley it comes to an end by mid-summer. Further south, the climate affords the species even more time for nesting.

Still, locally they can produce up to three broods in the course of the season. During courtship, besides his classic songs, the male produces a hearty trill call or “purr.” He emits this while vibrating his wings and swaying from side to side. Often the purr call is combined with other bright notes and whistles – all proclaimed in a frenzy of passion. After mating and while the territory is being established, the female might be heard singing, too.

Her song is very recognizable as a cardinal’s song, although it’s not usually performed with the same gusto as the male’s rendition.

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If you’re out and about in February or if you’re growing weary of the frozen landscape and of the short days and lengthy nights, then be sure to listen for the impatient harbinger of spring – the glorious northern cardinal. •

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Feb. 7

The Stanley’s “Saturday Night Fever” Dance Party and Movie Showing Saturday, February 7th, Dance Party 6:30pm, Movie 8pm

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Mar. 21

“Support The Stanley Fundraiser Event!”

Featuring The Todd Hobin Band, The Justice McBride Band & The Dust Devil Band Saturday, March 21st, 7:30pm

Apr. 3

Irish Night at The Stanley Featuring The Elders, Hair of The Dog & The Blarney Rebel Band Saturday, April 3rd, 7:30pm

Apr. 7&8

Beauty & The Beast Presented by Broadway Theatre League of Utica Tuesday, April 7th, 7pm Wednesday, April 8th, 7pm

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Anything Goes Presented by Broadway Theatre League of Utica Tuesday, April 21st, 7:30pm Wednesday, April 22nd, 7:30pm

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On the farm with Suzie:

Ode to a Good Farm Dog

by Suzie Jones

Before moving to our farm 10 years ago, I was a cat person. I have had dozens of cats over a lifetime. Since childhood, I’ve loved cats and still do to this day. I had never owned a dog; never really cared for them. They’re slobbery, smelly, and seem to need their humans far more than cats. Cats are on autopilot. They self-clean, they’re affectionate (at their convenience) and you certainly don’t have to walk them anywhere.

But dogs and farms just go together. Something about living in the quiet countryside and the general safety concerns of relative geographic isolation made me want one.

Woody is the first farm dog we ever got, and we couldn’t have gotten a better one. An Australian Shepherd, he wants nothing more than to please his owners. He’s incredibly intelligent, protective, loving and loyal to a fault. If I take him camping or anywhere off the farm, I have his leash at the ready.

But I don’t need it—he won’t leave my side and we both end up tripping over the silly leash. Although we had only a few dozen goats at the time, we wanted an Australian Shepherd because we were excited to find a breed known

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1895 1895

2015 2015

CELEBRATING CELEBRATING 120 120 YEARS YEARS

BREAK BREAK NEW NEW GROUND. GROUND.

Molly and Peter for their herding instincts. But this is where our inexperience as dog owners showed through. Although Woody has a strong, innate desire to herd animals, he would need instruction and training to perform whatever tasks I wanted him to do.

I, too, would need to learn how to communicate my desires to a willing, but otherwise completely confused, dog. Regardless, Woody is a happy and healthy farm dog, helping the best way he knows how.

As our goat and chicken numbers increased, we started to worry about predation—this area is filled with coyotes, foxes, mink, fishers and even the occasional wolf. Farmers often get a guardian animal to help protect their flocks. Alpacas, llamas, donkeys, and special breeds of dogs are all great options. It was then that we adopted Canute. He is a Maremma—an Italian dog breed very similar to the Great Pyrenees and used for centuries as guardians for goats and sheep. We adopted him as a young puppy and put him in with the goats. We limited our time socializing with him, which seems almost cruel, but this helped ensure that he bonded with the animals first and foremost. Now 7 years old, Canute is a formidable 140 pounds and a prime example of a good, working farm dog. He is loving and protective of us but will bark at anything or anyone that he doesn’t know. Although he is not constrained or fenced in, he never wanders. Fortunately for us, we did not have to train him to be a good guardian. His instincts are to face threats head-on. If he were human, he would be a firefighter. I sleep very well at night knowing Canute is on the job.

SPRING WILL BE HERE CELEBRATING 120 YEARS BEFORE YOU KNOW IT! 1895

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Molly watches over the herd When Canute was about a year old, we got Molly—a Maremma/ Great Pyrenees mix. Our farm operation was spreading out a bit as we fenced in additional pastures and our numbers continued to grow. Again, we put our new puppy in with the goats and limited our bonding time with her to just a few minutes each day. Molly quickly grew into an even better guardian than Canute. Perhaps it was her maternal instinct that made her better at her job. We always knew if a goat gave birth out on pasture because Molly wouldn’t leave her side. Molly genuinely preferred to be with the goats and the sheep, allowing babies to climb all over her. Molly and Canute eventually had two litters of puppies that couldn’t have been cuter.

All found loving homes, most of which were on other goat or sheep farms.

So, we have three working dogs on our farm. Or, at least we had three.

Molly died this past Thanksgiving, most likely from bloat. It’s a deadly condition that seems to strike mostly large breed dogs. If they eat a large meal or drink a lot of water and then vigorously run around, their stomachs can twist on themselves. If the dog’s owner doesn’t notice the symptoms and act immediately, the dog will die very quickly. We weren’t here to notice any symptoms—we were gone from the farm for two days for the holiday.

We’ve all been deeply affected by Molly’s absence. I miss her terribly; she was such an affectionate dog. I’ve found our daughter Margaret on several occasions sobbing uncontrollably. Although both our daughters love going on long walks and exploring, Margaret especially enjoys hiking with the dogs. All three dogs would go, but Canute and Woody would often tire out, opting to return home to eat, drink and sleep. But not Molly—she would always stay with our girls to the bitter end. Canute probably misses Molly most of all. He’s been spending a lot of time in our garage—and a lot of that time just sleeping. I dare say he’s depressed.

Worse yet, we’re only now just realizing how good Molly was at her job. She was often patrolling the property and her barks would alert Canute (the muscle) if help was needed. There hasn’t been any barking on Jones Family Farm since we lost our Molly. And as a farmer whose business depends on a good, working farm dog to protect her animals, I miss her all the more.

Just this week, we visited a litter of 5-week-old Great Pyrenees puppies and picked one out for ourselves. She’ll be coming home with us soon and will be put in with our goats and sheep to bond. She’ll be our newest “employee” and member of the family. I can’t tell you how much we are looking forward to her joining us!

Suzie Jones and her husband, Peter, own Jones Family Farm in Herkimer. Together, with their children, they produce specialty goat cheeses and gelato. Find them at local farmers’ markets and at: www.anotherjonesfamilyfarm.com

A final gift...

to celebrate and thank them for years of friendship and joy.

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Local Arts:

rebecca petrie Story and Photos by Sharry L. Whitney

The room shatters. Colorful fractured images of Rebecca Petrie’s studio dance disco-like on the walls and ceiling. She looks like a magician—or sorceress—in the mirrored jacket she is wearing. She created the garment for the short art film, “Psyche,” she is currently working on with other local artists and hopes to premiere it at her show in Rome later this month.

“When the main character puts on the jacket,” she explains, “he becomes his environment.”

Rebecca’s work is magical or—she’d probably prefer—mystical. This recent PrattMWP grad who majored in Graphic Design and minored in Painting is fluent and comfortable in many mediums: oil, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencils, sculpture, and now film. “Sometimes it’s whatever’s closest,” she says.

Her passion for art seems to inspire and influence her fellow artists and friends, even breaking some of them out of their shells, making them work big.

“I force them into that zone,” she says with a smile. They are currently working collectively on a series of paintings 7’ x 7’ in size.

Since graduating from art school in 2012, Rebecca has been a free-lance artist working out of her

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Rebecca Petrie models a mirrored jacket she created for the short film, “Psyche” Left: a bust of what appears to be a woodland spirit gazes from her living room

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9553 Pinnacle Rd., Sauquoit (315) 737-5560

Rebecaa Petrie prefers to work from life and know her subject.

She then enhances the work in her home studio in Rome. home studio in Rome. She’s had a show at the Rome Art and Community Center and in the summer does portrait work at the local Renaissance Faire in Rome and Mayfaire on the Green in Holland Patent. She prefers working from life and then enhancing the work back at her studio.

“I like to know about the person I’m painting,” she says. “Get a vibe off of them.”

She then interprets what she learns about them and incorporates it into the portrait.

“Sometimes it doesn’t look exactly like them, but it doesn’t really matter because they know [understand] why it’s them.”

Rebecca is motivated by events and adventures. Climbing a mountain in the Adirondacks or a mile swim in an icy lake leaves her eager to get back to her easel. “I get really inspired,” she says, “maybe it’s the hypothermia.”

She’s excited about where her art is taking her and she’s busy with multiple projects. There’s the hope that the film she’s working on will be shown at the new Cinema Capitol movie theater, but first she’s got to get it finished. Her new show goes up at Fusion Art Gallery in Rome February 7th and the film is supposed to be finished by then. She might need some of that magic!

Rebecca Petrie Opening reception: February 7, 4-6pm

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Old Forge McCauley Mountain Ski Area “New York’s Best Family Mountain”

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Rebecca Petrie’s favorite subjects are people. She is fluent and comfortable using many different mediums and switches deftly between them as inspiration moves her.

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ESTATE & HOUSE SALES APPRAISALS ALWAYS BUYING

Grand Opening of our NEW Expansion we call The Cabin Room! February 19-21 20% OFF Coins & Gold Jewelry• 40% OFF Everything Else!

Vintage Jewelry, Coins, Glass, China, Furniture, Americana, Advertising, Art, Lighting, and More!

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Carpet, hardwood, laminate, ceramic tile, and vinyl

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Deli • Bulk Foods & Cheese • Chocolate Items Coffee (ass’t. blends) • Baking Supplies & Much More!

Phone (315) 893-7437 Fax (315) 893-1854

Open M-F 8-5, Sat 8-4, Closed Sundays

Route 20 in Madison, New York www.earleyfarm.com

MOHAWK ANTIQUES MALL Over 40 vendors on 2 1/2 floors!

Architectural/Salvage Dept. located in the Gallery!

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www.mohawkantiquesmall.com

Find our sweet syrup and products at: Deansboro Superette, Clinton Tractor Sammy & Annie Foods, Utica Westmoreland Antiques, Oneida Commons Olde Village Merchantile, Sherburne, & our shop at 7945 Maxwell Rd., Clinton

See us at the Farmers’ Markets!

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mv gardens

sprouting

A packet of seeds costs less than one seedling.

By Denise A. Szarek

Keep on growing your seed, for you never know which will grow – perhaps it all will. ~ Albert Einstein About this time of year, I start to get desperate to get my hands dirty. It’s time to play in the dirt and start sprouting seeds. There are lots of great reasons to start your own plants from seeds. First of all, it saves you lots of cold hard cash. A packet of 20 to 80 seeds costs less than one seedling. Second, you get to choose from lots of heirloom varieties that you will never find in the local garden center. Finally, it always gives a sense of accomplishment to see those first little sprouts breaking through the soil. Ready to get started? You don’t need a lot of expertise or special equipment if you just follow these simple rules.

1. Choose your growing medium. I use an organic peat, perlite and vermiculite seed-starting mix. You can find it at your local garden center. Do not use potting soil – often it’s too rich and doesn’t drain well enough for seedlings.

2. Assemble your containers. Many of us start our seeds in leftover plastic “six packs” from the garden center (just make sure to clean them in a weak bleach solution and rinse thoroughly before using to prevent dis-

ease issues), empty milk cartons, yogurt containers or Styrofoam cups. Or make your own pots from newspaper – just be sure your containers drain well through holes in the bottom.

3. Let’s drink responsibly. Set your pots inside a tray so that you can water your seedlings from the bottom (by adding water to the tray) rather than disturbing them by watering from the top. You can buy seed-starting trays at garden centers and hardware stores.

4. Let there be light. Conveniently, most seeds like the same temperature we do: between 65 to 75 degrees. The tricky part is they require 12-14 hours of daylight. Fortunately, this can be accomplished by using an inexpensive fluorescent bulb placed two to three inches away from the light. When seedlings don’t get enough light, they grow long, weak stems. Fluorescent bulbs are only one-tenth as bright as sunlight, so seedlings will actually grow better if the lights are left on continuously. Contrary to popular belief, seedlings don’t require a period of darkness.

5. Study the seed packet. Consider it the owner’s manual for that particular seed. It holds valuable information, like when to

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start your seeds indoors. Later, when it’s time to plant outdoors, it will have info on sunlight and space of rows, etc.

6. Start your seeds. Moisten your seed-starting mix before planting your seeds. Plant at least two, but no more than three, seeds to a container. The seed packet will tell you how deep to plant. At 65 to 75 degrees, your seeds should sprout without supplemental heat. If the room temp is cooler, use either a heating mat under the tray or plastic over the tray.

Be patient. Some seeds can take up to three weeks to sprout.

7. Harden off. A week or so before your last frost date, start to acclimate your plants to the outdoors. Bring them outside for a few hours each day, returning them inside every evening. When you finally transplant your seedlings to the garden, be careful not to disturb the roots. Plant tomato plants deeply, but set other plants at about the same depth as they were in their pots.

8. Most important, relax! Don’t worry if you forget to do something or don’t follow all the “rules.” Except for hardening off, all of these rules are pretty flexible. Before long, you’ll learn what works best for you. •

Celebrating 30 Years!

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Mon-Sat: 7am-6pm, Sun: 7am-5pm Find us on Facebook!

Baking all natural breads – available throughout New York State

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Shop Little Falls, NY! Stocking Fine Alpaca Products The Largest Selection in Central NY!

Alpaca is Water, Odor, Stain and Wrinkle resistant. Plus, alpaca breathes better than other natural fibers!

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Known throughout The Valley for hearty homemade soups, traditional Italian and zesty Mexican dishes!

piccolo cafe

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Little Falls Antique Center

More than 50 vendors on 2 floors!

Canal Place, Little Falls Open Every Day 10-5 www.littlefallsantiquecenter.com

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MV family fun

taberg tower tubing

By Melinda Karastury

It is a bright sunny chilly Saturday. The family is all ready for our first-ever snow tubing excursion. We are all bundled up in snow pants, coats, gloves, and hats. The car ride is filled with excitement and anticipation en route to a fun-filled wintery weekend afternoon at Taberg Tower Tubing.

“Making winter slide by!” is the perfect slogan for this little gem just north of Rome. Follow the parking sign up the long driveway and before your eyes is a towering 650-foot-long snow-covered hill with four snow tube lanes and two luge runs. The kids stare wide-eyed out of the car window as we park and prepare to go into the quaint red lodge. We entered with a gust of wind and snowflakes following behind us. The warm heated lodge with flat screen TV, arcade, music, and snack bar is a nice retreat from the cold. We were then greeted with a smile and were quickly fitted with a bright purple $12 day pass and some quick instruction on tubing safety. The family had never been on a tubing excursion, so we were all full of wonderment and excitement for what came before us.

The sun is radiant and the snow sparkles as we admire the groomed hills with multiple runs of various challenge levels. We venture over to choose our tubes: green, blue, multi-colored, or even a double tube. We each choose a tube and decide to take advantage of the tow pull. The friendly attendant instructs you to sit in the tube and roll off the tube at the top before you get to the attendant at the top. Then the tow rope is hooked on a quickly moving rotating pulley system with rubber hooks. The tube jerks forward and you can sit back, relax, and take in the beautiful winter scenery as you travel up the smooth hill to the top. If you prefer the exercise, you can always walk up the trail with your tube in tow.

Upon arriving at the top we all take a moment to look down below, assess and decide which of the four lanes or two luge runs to take for our first adventure down the hill. The kids each choose a lane and the attendant lets us know to place the tow rope in the tube, scarves and long hair tucked, and you must sit down or go down on your stomach. We are sitting at the top of the hill with snow swirling around us and take a deep breath and push off the top.

Whoosh, and with lightning speed and adrenaline pumping through our veins, we descend in our tubes. I feel a chill against my face, some bumps, veering right, veering left, turning around, and around, and with a smile from ear to ear. We all couldn’t help but

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...before your eyes is a towering 650 foot long snow-covered hill!

Guests at Taberg Tower Tubing in Rome warm up at the outdoor fireplace; People line up to take the tow rope up to the top of the hill.

47

let out screams of joy and excitement! Again and again we all holler, and the fun continues, up the tow, down a different lane, the same one, the luge with the double tube--the fun is limitless.

The thrills continued for hours. Laughter, squeals of delight, and smiles abound! Also, wafting in the air, as you drag your tube to the tow, is the sweet campfire smell of burning pine. The kids rush over to the gazebo with its fire pit every few runs to warm their faces and hands by the flickering flame. After over a dozen or more exhilarating trips down the Taberg Tower Tubing hill we begin to tire and our stomachs begin to growl. We make our way to the heated lodge and our limbs begin to thaw.

The delicious smells of lip-smacking food weigh heavy in the air. A full menu is available to order from and would make any child or adult happy. We ordered nachos, with a very generous amount of cheese and jalapeños, and also hot crispy chicken fingers with fries. There is an excitement and murmur in the air as many other families warm themselves with hot cocoa and talk of all the fun they are having. We take a seat at a bench seat by a roaring pellet stove. The hungry kids gobble up the food quickly. We are all happy with satisfied bellies and tired out from an exciting day of snow tubing.

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We thank all the wonderful people at Taberg Tower Tubing and leave knowing that our family had an absolute blast together. A family that plays together, stays together.

These are moments to encapsulate and freeze in time. We make our journey home with the kids settled into the back seat and we laugh at the smoky smell of our coats from the fire pit.

The kids immediately ask, “When can we go back?” The family each wrote down a word or two to sum up the day: fast, exhilarating, action-packed, cabin-fever curing. Taberg Tower Tubing is truly fun for all ages. Mohawk Valley families bundle up and get outdoors and enjoy some wintry weekend family fun!

Taberg Tower Tubing

www.tabergtowertubing.com 7142 Julie Street, Taberg, NY 13471 • (315) 339-5842 Open for 2015 Season: Saturday & Sunday 10-5 Monday-Friday private parties by appointment Note: February Winter Recess: Open Monday-Friday 10-5

IRONWOOD Furniture

1212 Catherine St., Utica, NY 733-6603 Tues-Sun 6-2

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AMISH MADE

Fynmore’s

CUSTOM FRAMING Open Mon, Thurs, Fri: 10-6; Tues & Wed: 10-5; Sat: 10-3 New Hartford: 8502 Seneca Turnpike (315) 735-9066 Boonville: 143 Main Street (315) 942-4049 www.fynmorestudios.com

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10% OFF

t Centers n e m n i a t r Ente

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Best Fish Fry Around!

Put on your fat pants and head to Wendy’s Diner!

1717 Route 8, Cassville (315) 839-5000

Mon-Thurs 6am-2pm, Fri 6am-8pm Sat 6am-1pm, Sun 6am-12(breakfast only)

MV family fun

family fun factory

By Melinda Karastury

The blustery cold winds of winter blow outside as the snowflakes swirl by the window. Longing faces look outdoors but the chill keeps us in. The restless kids look to us for some indoor fun to run around and expend some energy.

Family Fun Factory in Hannaford Plaza, Washington Mills is the perfect place to bring family and friends for hours of fantastic high-energy fun.

The kids are so excited and are chattering away as we pull up. They talk of what they want to do while at The Family Fun Factory: the bounce house, the arcades, the playground area, make-believe town, etc. They are each dressed in layers and the essential socks to run around in. We enter and are immediately greeted by a friendly employee. Admission for children is $4 for ages 3 and under, and $7 for ages 3 -10, and adults are free. The employee at the reception desk gives us a quick overview of the fun activities and the package deals available to us. We notice you can reserve a private birthday party room, something to keep in mind.

I pick up a handy Family Fun Factory package deals postcard to bring home with us for reference. We also see a great deal for play groups, organized kids’ clubs, big families, and friends, moms/dads and kids get-togethers. Just get together 10 friends or family and take advantage of the Play Pass for just $39.99! We will be taking advantage of this deal very soon because this Mohawk Valley family comes from a very large extended family that loves to get all the cousins together.

The kids each find a cubby area and place their shoes/boots and coats in it. They are instantly off and running. I can barely keep track of them as they zig-zag from one play area to another. The bounce house shakes and laughter echoes from every corner. We “adults” can’t help but want to take off our boots and join in on the fun, and we do. We all hold hands together and bounce around, slide or maybe even a flip or cartwheel when no one is in the way.

Our hair bounces in the air and static electricity makes it stand up on end. Everyone’s face is lit up with smiles and joyful uninhibited childhood fun. We adults exit and admire the large seasonal snow-

Melinda’s daughter, Alana, age 10, with a “scarf” of remaining tickets after cashing some in for prizes, like a new fan. At right: Alana enjoys playing with her friends at Family Fun Factory. Her friend Bella Christian, age 9, emerges from a tunnel.

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flakes that appear suspended from

the ceiling.

Kid-friendly characters adorn every wall and play area; Super Mario Brothers, Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer, Mickey Mouse, Scooby Doo, Spider-Man, Batman, Disney princesses, Hello Kitty, etc. We take a seat at a table for four in the large cafe area. We settle in for a breather and a much needed mom/dad moment to catch up on life: conversation, texts, e-mails, Facebook, or reading a book on a tablet. After over an hour of wonderful energy-expending playtime the family is ready to refuel. We order a large cheese pizza and drinks at the Food Factory counter. The menu has so many options it was hard to choose between chicken fingers, fries, cheeseburgers, or hotdogs, etc. A cool drink at the water fountain

and some coins at the arcade keep them busy for the 15-minute wait.

With my back turned I can smell the aroma of the pizza approaching. I fetch the family to wash up for lunch and we all sit down and eat together. We each quickly devour two delicious slices of cheesy, garlic-seasoned pizza and quench our thirst with some raspberry iced tea. We all leave the table feeling satisfied and re-energized. Now, for some arcade fun! We get our coins in a small plastic cup at the front counter and disperse into the arcade section. Flashing bright lights and sounds from every direction fill the space. There’s the glee of children stretching their ticket winnings across the room as they run with excitement to the prize counter. The prize counter is filled with candy, rings, bouncy balls, balloons, etc... so many choices, so many tickets. We can’t keep up, 1 coin, 2 coins, on to the next game… My husband and I decide to stop the chase and enjoy some two-player basketball hoops. A couple of air balls, but otherwise swish, swish—the perks of a basketball hoop in your driveway. Then we move on to some friendly competition: air hockey, our favorite game to play at the arcade back when we were dating. We were equally matched this time.

The kids played in the arcade and had a blast. As the coins dwindled and the tickets piled up it was time to cash in the tickets for prizes; a fan, bouncy ball, Smarties, a lollipop, whistles, etc., all piled in pockets and mom’s purse. The afternoon at Family Fun Factory is coming to a close. We thanked all the staff at The Family Fun Factory and were given a goodbye salutation as we left. We look at each and are very pleased that our family is happy, laughing, tuckered out, and trying out all their cool prizes. We gather our belongings and search through the sea of coats and boots for our cubbies. We bundle up and prepare ourselves to go back into the wintery cold.

The Family Fun Factory is a very energetic, safe, kid-friendly, and family-friendly place.

During these long winter months and darker days, indoor family-friendly places are essential to the active Mohawk Valley family. Childhood is short and sweet. It is great to know that there is a place locally where kids can be active, playful, laugh, run, and just be kids!

The Family Fun Factory

40 Kellogg Rd, Hannaford Plaza, Washington Mills Monday through Thursday 11-8 Friday through Saturday 10-9, Sunday 10-8 Phone: (315) 790-5176 Fax: (315) 790-5177 www.thefamilyfunfactory.com

Shop Sharon Springs, NY Enjoy delicious treats at...

We offer an ever-changing array of gifts for you, your family, your friends, your home and your garden and all of your entertaining needs.

www.cobblerandcompany.com

Cobbler & Co.

2755 State Rt 8, Cold Brook, NY 13324 • 826-5050

Mon. 4 - 9pm • Tues. Closed • Wed. - Sun. 12 Noon - 9pm

www.ohiotavernny.com

Take-Out & Catering Available

Mon-Sun 10-6 189 Main St., Sharon Springs (518) 284-2067

It’s easy to join our email list! Just text BLACKCAT (all caps) to 42828 www.blackcat-ny.com

Black Cat Café Mon-Thurs 11-3 Fri-Sun 8-3 195 Main St. (518) 284-2575

For every $1 spent at a locally-owned business almost 70¢ stays here!

Compared to about 40¢ when you shop a big chain store.

Shopping local also increases local jobs and wages and lowers taxes!

Libbey’s Stitched with Prayer!

Sew Blessed

Also visit our Christian gift shop!

Sewing, mending, alterations, embroidery, custom work, upholstery, and sewing classes.

Quality work from first stitch to finish!

Weddings, proms, dance, skate, cheer & more!

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Regular Hours: Tues-Fri 10-5, Sat 10-3, Sun & Mon by Appt. (315)361-5323 www.mysewblessed.com

Serving Breakfast and Lunch M-F: 7am-2:30pm

Wood-fired Artisan Bakery

Old World breads

Wood-fired Pizza Hand-crafted Old World artisan breads & wood-fired all natural Neapolitan pizza.

European inspired all-natural sweet treats!

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MORGAN’S HARDWARE

FREE WI-FI

Let me create a culinary experience for you!

“At home” dinners our specialty!

by Chef Dominick Scalise

(315) 866-7669 122 W. Albany St., Herkimer 51

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Visit our 2nd floor furniture and mattress showroom!

108 Main St., Waterville www.truevalue.com/morgans Open: Mon-Fri: 8am-6pm, Sat: 8am-5pm, Sun: 10am-2pm

Zeina’s:

Lebanese Taste & Tradition at home in the Mohawk Valley

The Zeina family: from left: daughter Melissa; son Elias, Layla and Albert Zeina; son Sarkis

By Debra Richardson, Slow Food Mohawk Valley

“Slow Food believes that by understanding where our food comes from, how it was produced and by whom, adults and children can learn how to combine pleasure and responsibility in daily choices and appreciate the cultural and social importance of food.” -SF International website Everyday I, like you, make the decision of what to eat, where to eat and whether I will cook what I eat. When I decide to dine out, this is where Slow Food philosophy kicks in for me. I choose to spend my food dollars in a place of business that supports our local food economy because it really does matter. It’s important that the money I spend stays in the greater community and not in some corporate headquarters three states away. When I “eat local” at independent businesses, I support not only the owner and their family, but the family of the produce vendor, the sausage maker and the restaurant’s accountant. Think about it: We hold incredible power with that food dollar when we choose where to spend it.

One great place to spend your money to support a local business is Zeina’s, a small bustling Lebanese restaurant on Varick Street in Utica. Going there is like being a guest in a good friend’s home. Zeina’s isn’t just a restaurant: It’s Layla and Albert and their three young adult children, Melissa, Sarkis and Elias waiting on tables and hustling about, helping in the kitchen.

Of course, Lebanese food is not new to Utica. The

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Zeina’s menu has many familiar favorites like hummus, stuffed grape leaves, tabouleh, and baklava

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menu has many familiar favorites: hummus, stuffed grape leaves, tabouleh and baklava.

What jumps off Zeina’s menu and slaps me in the face is the house-made Ereesh cheese ($5). What? House-made cheese? Melissa arrives to greet me and take my order, and I learn the cheese is not only made by her mother, but it is served in a wonderful bath of olive oil – and not just any olive oil. It is olive oil brought over from the village of Bekarzala, Akkr, in northern Lebanon. The oil is then heavily infused w i t h

Za’atar, a spice blend traditionally made of wild thyme, sumac, sesame seeds and sea salt. Layla later tells me she also adds ground dried garbanzo beans to her blend.

I order the Ereesh cheese and the Turkish coffee to get the ball rolling. Zeina’s coffee is ground especially for them. Traditional Turkish coffee is prepared over an open flame in a rakweh, a long handled pot also called a cezve or a dzezva or an ibrik, depending on where you live. The coffee is dark and strong and delicious.

I ask Melissa what best reflects traditional Lebanese cuisine on the menu and she points to the kibbeh without hesitation, which is made by her mother. Melissa says that making kibbeh is an art – one she herself has yet to master. Layla’s day sometimes begins at 3 a.m. so she can begin the long process of preparing kibbeh, which is made with bulgur (cracked wheat), finely minced meat, onion and a host of spices.

I ordered a small $4 plate of kibbeh as I began building my mezze – the Middle Eastern tradition of a spread of small dishes served to

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What?

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accompany drinks before a main meal. It’s the Middle Eastern version of the appetizer. At Zeina’s they offer over 15 tempting mezze plates.

The dinner menu is loaded with affordably priced entrées from malfouf (seasoned rice and meat wrapped in a cabbage leaf for $7) to the $12 mixed grill (skewered meats over a bed of rice and salad). Specific daily/nightly specials run Wednesday-Saturday with outrageously affordable prices between $5 and $7. Friday’s special is m’jadra: a wonderful combination of rice, lentils, caramelized

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eating in a locally owned business is a great way of supporting their community. Zeina’s, Williams noted, has the element of old Utica: the whole family involved in the business from start to finish.

Albert keeps the Turkish coffee flowing in my cup as I stop at the counter after dinner. We chat about the restaurant business. He beams as he talks, knowing that he is among the few who has the opportunity to keep his immediate family around onhim while he works, even if the hours are ions and various spices. long and the work is hard. But, he notes, Saturday’s special is kibbeh nayyeh, prized “We are all family here in the Mohawk Valby true Lebanese cuisine fans: minced raw ley.” lamb, mixed with bulgur wheat and spices.

I ate that with gusto, brought the other half home and devoured it for breakfast this morning before writing this piece.

On my way out I spoke with the family 607 Varick Street, West Utica next to me, the Williamses, who were quick to share with me that as good Irish-Welsh 315.738.0297 Uticans they often dine twice a week at Ze- Serving lunch Wednesday – Saturday ina’s. Mr. Williams, a Utica police officer, Dinners Thursday – Saturday without any prompt stated that he and his fellow cops refer to Albert as the “Mayor of Check out Zeina’s Facebook page for photographs of all Varick Street.” He adds that one reason his the great food, notices of specials and to keep up with family eats at Zeina’s is that they believe that the family: www.facebook.com/zeinascafe

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a mohawk valley Forest Reborn

The White Pine/ Red Oak Reforestation Field after 14 years

Story and Photos by Matt Perry

I doubt that my first experiment with reforestation was unique, but for all I know it was. I certainly didn’t see anyone else doing anything like it in my neighborhood. It was the early 1980s, and I had taken over lawn-mowing duties from my father who, like most people’s fathers and most people in general, concentrated on mowing grass without concern for the innumerable other things that grew among the grass blades.

Most people seeing my “skillfully” executed lawn job likely thought I was just being lazy or even contemptuous, not mowing bits here and there and leaving straggly patches next to hedges and under trees. I think if we had lived in a more exclusive community – one with a neighborhood association that concerned itself with maintaining strict standards of lawn upkeep, we doubtless would’ve received a letter beginning with “Dear Mr. Perry, We’re a little disappointed….” Just for the record, a friend of mine who had lived under the watchful eye of one such association had gotten that letter after he neglected to mow his lawn for two weeks in a row. Oh, horror of horrors!

In my case, what people didn’t realize is that it actually takes much longer to mow the lawn if you are judiciously cutting around lots of individual plants and carefully avoiding interesting habitats. Just blitzing the place

and mowing out an even pattern would surely have been quicker and easier. If I did it the “right way,” the end result for me would have been unacceptable, as the yard would’ve become a featureless monoculture, tame and essentially useless in terms of providing habitat to wildlife. What did Dad think of my method of mowing the lawn? Honestly, he didn’t seem to notice. The truth is that his eyesight wasn’t great and also he went about much of his daily life preoccupied by something or other, and so the subtleties of lawn appearance were probably lost on him. He heard the mower going and he knew I was doing it, and that was good enough. Most fortunately, no one ever complained to him about it. I just had to make sure that he didn’t resume mowing the lawn himself or all of my efforts would be obliterated.

In the beginning, the plants I mowed around were perennial “weeds.” Things like buttercups, daisies, Queen Anne’s lace (a biennial) and hawkweeds. I distinctly recall preserving a nice little colony of peppergrass – surely a desirable accent for any yard. I also remember one particularly compelling colony of plants that grew only in one moist place in the front yard. The spot was like a pothole and was created when a heavy limb crashed to the ground after being cut from our elm tree. The massive patriarchal elm had died from Dutch

elm disease several years before, and all we had to remember it by were a half-dozen dents in the yard. Suddenly, however, one of those dents became far more interesting. It gave way to a profusion of lush foliage. It actually took more than a year for me to identify the plant. The problem was it didn’t produce any flowers in its first year, and as any novice botanist can tell you, it’s difficult to identify plants when you have no idea of what either their bloom or fruit looks like. Ultimately, it did bring forth flowers; it was fringed loosestrife, a native, non-invasive wetland species that features an abundance of nodding buttercup-like flowers when mature. One thing was for sure, I certainly wouldn’t have made that plant’s acquaintance had it not been for my selective mowing habits.

As interesting as the wildflowers were that manifested themselves on that lawn, it was the trees that really caught my attention. The deep, rich topsoil of that New Hartford neighborhood wanted to revert to forest in the worst way, and pretty much whenever I saw a nice seedling protrude above the grass, I spared it from the mower’s blades. One of the first trees to emerge was a black walnut. I didn’t even realize there was a parent walnut tree in the neighborhood, but evidently there was, and some gray squirrel was likely responsible for

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planting this one. By caching (or storing) nuts in the ground, squirrels are consummate tree planters. In fact, they are the prime disseminators of the seeds of beech, hickory, walnut and butternut trees. Squirrels are natural forest creators and their work ultimately assures a food supply for future legions of their bushy-tailed kinsmen. By attracting squirrels to that New Hartford yard (by way of having bird feeders), I inadvertently invited their caching behavior, and with that came the nut trees. Twelve more black walnut trees sprouted in that yard and in the deep loam soil they grew quickly – to the point where they were producing their own nuts after only 10 years. Other seedlings that I avoided with the mower included black cherry, quaking aspen, sugar maple, silver maple, white ash, box elder, Chinese chestnut (now, who expected that!) and Norway spruce. All of them essentially exploded from the soil and joined the yard’s already established sugar maples and red pines to create a diverse little woodlot. Some interesting volunteer shrubs that I neglected to destroy included gray dogwood and elderberry; both are all-time favorite fruit producers for wild birds. The yard had already been a haven for wildlife, but with all the new vertical habitat coming online, it was improving by leaps and bounds.

I’m sorry to say that my early experiment with reforestation on my parents’ property ended badly, as that little wooded enclave was obliterated by the whim of the next owner.

There are always reasons that suburbanites can find to remove trees: They’re too messy; they’re forever dropping limbs, leaves, seeds or pollen; nuts are pelting cars or sap is discoloring the house’s siding; or perhaps the tree casts too much shade on the house. The land always seems to revert to lawn in the end and to where one singularly uninteresting plant rules supreme.

You don’t plant a forest for yourself or for your own generation. You might even say that planting a forest is the ultimate act of optimism. To engage in planting one, you need to believe that future generations will respect it and that no blights, storms or fires will destroy it. You also need to believe that no develop-

Above: Clover Flowers like this clover gave butterflies a reason to visit my yard Left: The Fringed Loosestrife that grew in my old yard later found a home at our Nature Preserve

Right: Chipmunk. Like Squirrels, Chipmunks plant trees by caching nuts

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Top: Reforestation Starting a reforestation field at Spring Farm CARES Nature Sanctuary Bottom: Reforestation Volunteers plant trees at the Sanctuary

ment, road or industry will abolish it. Fifteen years ago when I began a reforestation project for Spring Farm CARES Nature Sanctuary, I had the idea that I was going to re-create a piece of the primeval forest, something like the one that existed in the Mohawk Valley prior to the colonial period – back about 225 years. I quickly realized that that objective was impossible. Yes, I could create a forest,

and it could be diverse, but it wouldn’t be much like the one that our settler ancestors first encountered. For one thing, this is a much different world with a much altered environment. There are so many endemic blights in the environment now – exotic diseases that came via international commerce (the chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease and beech bark disease, just to name three) and they remain as pervasive as ever. Such diseases make it impossible to replicate that original forest.

Any serious attempt at reforestation would require making substitutions for what were major constituent tree species of that long-gone

ecosystem. Another limiting factor had to do with the soil – or, more accurately, the lack of it. At Spring Farm, the undulating fields of the nature preserve had been farmed for two centuries. Overuse, coupled with erosion, left the soil exhausted and depleted of nutrients.

Even soil amendments seemed of little help in most cases. So, from the onset of the project, I needed to use trees that could tolerate harsh conditions. For the most part, trees that require deep soil would have to wait, perhaps half a century or more, until the soil was able to accommodate them.

Before I started planting, I brought in a state forester who was kind enough to look at our situation and to help me decide which trees were appropriate to plant and where. It was obvious that he was used to dealing with folks who planted solely for the purpose of creating stands of timber intended for harvest, but I could see that he was intrigued with the novelty of our project. I told him that I was planting a forest for wood thrushes. He paused for a moment, looked down at his boots and then with a bemused expression said, “Well, I never heard that one before.” There’s a good

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Our first reforestation field as it appeared 13 years after planting began reason for that, and since wood thrushes prefer mature forest to nest in, it would take over 100 years for any new planting to come close to meeting their needs. I’ve always considered the thrush to be an excellent indicator of healthy forest. Almost invariably, if you have multiple wood thrushes inhabiting a forest during their breeding season in late May through early August, you’d likely be looking at a mature forest complete with an entire cast of uncommon and interesting species – everything from Dutchman’s breeches to scarlet

tanagers could be there. Indeed, forests that cater to wood thrushes tend to be packed with biodiversity. They are also among the rarest habitat types in the region. In mature forest, the trees are more diverse – both in age and in species make-up, and there is typically a well-developed forest understory, which plays host to a great variety of shade-loving perennial wildflowers, shrubs and young trees. Birds and other wildlife are more varied as well, and they all take advantage of the numerous habitat niches that only mature forest can provide.

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To begin the actual planting at Spring Farm, I enlisted the help of longtime family friend Jim Bogan. Jim is an expert tree planter, as well as being an author, poet and historian, and the evidence of that was growing all around his own Waterville property. In those first couple of years of the project we planted a few thousand trees representing more than 50 different native species. We tried creating different distinct forest communities in each field. For example, one became primarily a red oak/white pine planting. In my own experience visiting habitats while surveying bird populations, I knew that each forest type had the potential to cater to a different set of wildlife species. Our plantings were meant to mimic those forest types and thereby create viable habitats for the greatest range of species.

The planting itself was not that easy. We experienced a series of moderate droughts during the first few planting seasons and that meant that we had to lug water into the fields, along with our hand tools and soil amendments. The drought caused the heavy clay soil to become nearly as hard as brick and so it was a real chore to dig into it. Much of the planting was done on hillsides, so there was a lot of climbing involved. We were constantly walking up and down one large hill in particular. Compounding our difficulties in that field

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Far left: Squirrel Corn is a perennial wildflower that grows in the forest’s shade Left: Reforestation Volunteers plant trees at Spring Farm CARES in Clinton

was the amount of rocks encountered in the soil. We’d dig a hole for a seedling, remove the stones and then find we only had enough dirt to fill the hole half way. This meant another trip down to retrieve dirt from a soil mine we started at the base of the hill. We’d fill our buckets and then trudge back up. Let me tell you, that was a hard-won field! Happily, it was also the one that paid off in the end with the greatest amount of leafy dividends.

It was usually just Jim and I working in the fields in those days, but for a short time there was another fella planting alongside us. For the purpose of this article I’ll refer to him as Karl (his name was Carl). Karl was not used

to the rigors of tree planting. One day he was looking particularly stressed by the work and by the unseasonably warm May temperatures.

I remember thinking that with his fretful expression, gray shirt and with a shovel and pickaxe at his side, he resembled a member of a prison chain-gang circa the 1920s. One morning Karl was literally attempting to count the minutes until quitting time, except he didn’t have a watch. Desperately, he turned to Jim (who also lacked a watch) and asked him if he could tell the time by looking at the sun. Without missing a beat, Jim gave a quick glance at the sky, turned back to Karl and in his most deadpan voice said, “Yep. It’s 10:56

a.m.”

It’s now 15 years into Spring Farm’s reforestation project and our overall results are mixed. Some of the tree fields have progressed much faster than others. The survival rates of the young trees are fantastic in some places and terrible in others. Replanting has sometimes been necessary, and when it has, we’ve used the opportunity to introduce additional native species. Diversity is the key to a healthy forest and it’s through its diversity that our young forest will survive blights and even some types of natural disasters.

For example, if diseases come through and kill off all of the beech trees and hemlocks, that would be devastating to our old standing forest where those two tree species together constitute about 50 percent of the forest trees.

However, if the same thing happened in one of our reforestation fields, if two species were taken out by disease, there would still be a dozen species left. There would be oaks, tulip trees and birches ready to seed in and fill the gaps. Though our fledgling forest is nowhere

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Right: The White Pine/Red Oak field as it appeared 8 years after planting near ready for wood thrushes, other birds are taking advantage of its transitional stage as a place to build their nests, find shelter and forage for food. When the foliage comes down in the fall, I finally get to see some of these nests, which had been so cleverly concealed often only an arm’s-length away from the trail.

If we look around us in the Mohawk Valley, we might assume that there is no shortage of good forest habitat. Indeed, trees are abundantly common organisms and a great proportion of our landscape is covered by what appears to be forestland. Arguably, with the decline of the region’s farms, there is more tree cover now than there has been in the last 200 years. However, the amount of healthy, mature forestland remains miniscule, and that’s where nearly all of the impressive species diversity resides. Virtually all of the fragments of forest and woodlots that you see along any road or highway are bankrupt as habitats and they are incapable of hosting many species. I refute the “common wisdom” as promulgated by foresters and even by people who should know better. They say that in order to keep a forest healthy, one needs to

thin it out and manage it. In reality, in most cases, thinning a mature forest is not in the interest of the myriad of species that require that habitat type for survival. A healthy forest is fully capable of managing itself, just like the original forest did for thousands of years before anyone arrived on these shores and presumed to offer such “help.” Whenever it’s possible to preserve mature forest, it should be done, but in those cases where logging is unavoidable, steps should be taken to see that damage is minimized. Selective logging done during the winter months when the ground is

Debby Quayle of Clinton tours one of the reforestation fields

Tulip Trees are one of many species of hardwoods planted

frozen tends to cause much less damage, at least to the forest floor and forest understory.

Fragmentation of a forest by over-cutting and by intersecting it with logging roads is known to decrease species diversity and should be avoided whenever possible.

To this day, when planting tree seedlings at the nature preserve, my mind returns to those hopeful little seedlings that peeked out of the grass in my parents’ backyard. If they’d been allowed to continue their evolution, how would they have looked today, 32 years later?

What creatures would be nesting there? How much of their bounty of walnuts, chestnuts and acorns would’ve been cached and then in turn would’ve grown into more trees and more habitat? These are questions that will never have an answer.

Matt Perry is Conservation Director and resident naturalist at Spring Farm CARES in Clinton. He manages a 260 acre nature preserve which is open for tours by appointment. Matt is also regional editor of “The Kingbird”, which is a quarterly publication put out by the New York State Ornithological Association. Matt writes a weekly blog about the nature preserve, which can be found at: talesfromthewilds.blogspot.com

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tags and wrapping paper. Grace decided she wanted to illustrate children’s books. Norcross Greeting Cards was in the same building as Doubleday, Doran and Company. What a perfect opportunity for her to get a foot in the door for illustrating and writing children’s books! Grace illustrated a little over 100 children’s books, mostly for preschoolers. Her work was published with many of the top publishing companies of the time. While living in Washington Square, Grace did a lithograph of the square that was later purchased by the Congressional Library.

She spent summer at the Cold Brook farm. Much of her writings and illustrations were drawn from her experience around the farm. She used her nieces and nephews for models. In 1954, she

moved from New York City to live at the art studio she had built at the farm. She began to work with watercolors and oils.

She also did lithographs of historic places in and around Utica. Her work was exhibited throughout the state.

Grace bought the Old Feed Mill and adjacent home in 1954. She operated a gift shop in the mill for many years, being careful to retain its original character. The mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Sue Perkins is the Executive Director of the Herkimer County Historical Society and historian for the town of Manheim.

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Misty Brook subdued by cold

TALES FROM

SHAWANGUNK

Shawangunk nature preserve, cold brook

by Peggy Spencer Behrendt

Chapter 5

In 1974, Tim and Peggy Spencer Behrendt set off on an adventure.

They began a new life in the woods of Cold Brook, NY, without modern conveniences like electricity or indoor plumbing. These are excerpts and reflections from Peggy’s journal chronicling their adventures. See issues 1-12 for her diaries from their first year.

Misty Brook is as fickle as a youth in her moods and excesses. One day she hides shyly under thick mantles of impenetrable ice and snow; the next, she’s babbling about with her belly full of freshly melted winter. The buckets in the root cellar are bobbing and tipping like corks, threatening to soak and rot our precious hoard of fruits and vegetables. They act like mischievous children as we lie on the floor with our arms reaching down to lift and stabilize them on hooks and ropes. Still, some make the fatal plunge.

Afterward, I feel completely stretched out.

Maybe I could start a new exercise fad called “Root Cellar Yoga.”

I decide we should make our own tofu. It’s good protein, and easier to digest than beans. We’ve been buying it in 12-pound buckets, which stores well in the winter root cellar but not in the summer. When it turns bad, it’s as slimy as a slug and just as gross. So, I study The Book of Tofu by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi.

First we make soy milk, and then it’s just

Peg, Tim, and Dave making music

Our son skiing with the Moosewood Beer jacket I embroidered for him 64

Top: Tim speaks to members of the Jain religion while Peg plays piano at Utica Unitarian Church.

Inset: Peggy at seventeen.

like making cottage cheese by adding a coagulant and draining out the whey. We buy a big stainless steel colander and bowls, and a special tofu pressing box.

My first attempts are a flop, but it eventually works and makes beautiful tofu. I try making burgers and soup with the left-over soybean mash called okara but it gives us too much gas. I don’t want to repeat the embarrassment I had in a 9th period high school French class after eating baked beans and ketchup sandwiches for lunch. I decide to just buy our tofu. The pressing box will make a good toilet paper holder.

We’re lying on the dry roof, enjoying the diminutive heat from the winter sun and hoping to put a little color in our pale faces. The forest looks like heaven. Wafts of nebulous clouds drift just above the snow, briefly embracing the spires of trees in gossamer chiffon like wildwood brides.

Tim tells me about his first weddings.

One was on a blissfully balmy summer day in a wildflower meadow. The bride and groom simply exchanged home-made necklaces of herbs and flowers, and then strolled off into the woods.

“Did they have a tent somewhere?” I ask.

“No one knew. They came back a few hours later. Meanwhile, it started to rain. All the people drinking martinis ran for shelter. The young folks, the hippies, just stood in the warm rain, with their arms out, dancing and laughing. I stood under a tree.”

“Then there was a church wedding where the groom was so nervous, he dropped the ring as he was putting it on the bride’s finger. There was a big register grate in the floor where we were standing and everyone froze in dismay when they heard the ‘chink, chink, tinkle” of the ring plummeting into the heat pipe below.”

“Oh, no! What did you do?”

“I had to stop the wedding while I pried up the grate to retrieve the ring. From then on, we always put a piece of carpet over it.”

I was 17 when I started dating, I tell Tim. Suddenly, boys weren’t just other people, they were like Hollywood stars. The Air Force fellow I met on my first double date asked for a kiss when he left. I had no experience, so I kissed him quickly, like kissing my folks goodnight. He said, “I’ll call you.”

I was smitten! I thought about him all evening. I looked in magazines, and switched channels on TV looking for pictures of people kissing, so I could learn how to do it properly. I practiced kissing my mirror with my eyes open or closed lips parted or together.

The next morning, I sat by the phone waiting for his call. At last, it rang! I picked it up quickly and said in my sweetest voice, “Hello, Harry?”

I heard a chuckle: “No, this is just your poor old dad.” I felt so embarrassed, and Harry never did call!

Since Tim’s a certified counselor, I ask his advice on a big problem I have. After a disagreement, even when it’s resolved in a meeting, I often sink into silent brooding,

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anger and self-pity that can sometimes linger for

days. I hate it, but can’t seem to stop. I know I’m wasting precious days of my life, and that it’s hard on my relationship with Tim. “I can’t change my feelings,” I whine.

“No, but you can change your behavior,” Tim suggests. “Have your feelings, but after ventilating and brooding for a little while, you have to try to forgive enough to act normally.” I’ve agreed to try, and it’s a huge emotional struggle for me. But it gets easier with time and practice, and probably saves our relationship. (I actually get quite good at it.) It also helps to focus on the wonderful things we mean to each other.

Feb. 14, 1976. We decided to get legally mar-

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Our wedding reception at the Utica church

ried on this day, exactly two years after our conditional marriage. Tim’s first wife has re-married and has a nice home with her new husband, and I want legal status with the children in case anything happens to their parents. I proposed, Tim accepted (that was easy!), and we had a quiet ceremony in Tim’s office at the Utica church with the Minister Emeritus. The congregation gave us a special Valentine cake-and-coffee hour, and a homemade quilt that I love. Our “song” is Joni Mitchell’s “What I’ll Give You Since You Asked – Is All My Time Together” and that describes our lives for decades to come.

The children at the New School where we teach gave us a little reception with the funniest little gifts. One was a tube of Preparation H. I was mystified as to what Preparation H had to do with marriage, but the children were actually rolling on the floor with laughter when we opened it.

In 1978, we formulate an eight-year financial plan that will make sure all the children get through school. Dave’s spending his senior year with us. Tim wants to make the Children’s Cottage as nice as our own, so that their mother and her husband could live there if they ever

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needed or wanted to. We buy essentials like laundry soap, dry gas, etc., in bulk and get extra sets of long underwear. We store oats, nuts, wheat berries and rice in jars under the couch.

Tim and I go for a walk in the woods with Dave to look for firewood. I see a very nice dead limb just over my head. I’m feeling too lazy to reach up to saw it off, so I decide to just swing up and sit on it while I cut. I’m sure I’ll hear it start to crack and be able to jump off before it breaks. Next thing I know, the broken limb and I are lying on the snow looking up at Tim and Dave, who look extremely surprised.

“What did you do that for?” they ask.

“Don’t ask,” I reply, wearily rising, knowing I looked like a comedic actor in a silent movie.

In the evenings, we play music together or Dave studies in the loft with a kerosene lantern while Tim and I sit below in the soft glow of candle and firelight, making popcorn, reminiscing, making plans, admiring our homemade cottage, reflecting on our lives or problem solving.

A big storm hit and now we have heaps of snow again. Tim took this morning’s mouse out and the snow was up to his hips.

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The mouse just ran on top of it all, and then dove through the snow. There are about 2½ feet on top of the wood piles and we have to look down into our cottage windows. Dave’s not sad to miss school today and plans to go skiing instead.

We all have to help shovel out. Besides the paths to the road, Uncle Grunt, the tool shed, and the creek to get water, the wood pile has to be cleared. One year, we buy a small snow blower, but it actually creates more work by the time we get it started in the cold and have to maneuver it around trees and wrestle it down the steps to the creek, so we go back to simple snow shovels.

One year, we find a VW Beetle modified with a truck bed. Tim has a plow put on the front and special tires so we’re hoping we can use it to keep our road clear. It’s useful, but not powerful enough for heavy snow plowing.

I want to take my daily shower before going to work, so I load wood on the fire to get the loft hot and heat a sprinkling can of hot water. Flushed with heat, I dash out with the can, hang it on the hook in the outdoor

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Showering outside with a chickadee

stall and quickly pull the delicious liquid warmth over me. I soap up and scrub quickly, very quickly, to the chatter of chickadees and the hollow wail of the Arctic wind tickling slumbering tree limbs. I feel a little smug that I can enter the pristine majesty and magic of this snow-mantled winter forest with such physical intimacy.

But before it can rudely remind me of my

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physical frailties, I rinse off in more hot water, dash into our toasty cottage and climb into the blissfully hot loft with a warm towel.

If it’s below zero and the wind is adding a chill factor, this technique doesn’t work so well, so we bring in a little tub to shower inside (it’s a lot of extra work).

We try hiking out in the wonderfully crafted snowshoes of ash and recycled inner tubes we bought from Harry Smith in Sauquoit, but there’s so much powder, we end up lifting a heavy mound of snow with each step. Maybe if we had cross-country skis they would work better?

Meanwhile, it’s easiest (if you can call it that), to trudge through the snow in boots, taking turns in the lead to break through.

Porky Porcupine comes out at night to check under the bird feeder where we leave apple cores. Sometimes we hear the rasping of his quills sliding along the beams under our cottage. When we begin to hear

the crunching and tearing of wood by his powerful jaws and rock hard, orange teeth, we issue an eviction notice. He could chew through a beam or go right through the floor! We’ll put fencing around the cottage this spring so he can’t get under it.

“...we are intimately interdependent in 1987. This Sunday’s service was a real high. ways we can only We had a group from the minimally ancient Jain religion of India visit the church with discern.” their leader, Muni-Ji. Like us, they believe in ahimsa

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up, cut down, drilled out…destroyed. But it is beneficial to ourselves and other lifeforms to minimize this because we are intimately interdependent in ways we can only minimally discern.

We didn’t agree on everything, but it was the gentlest, friendliest debate we ever experienced. Ahimsa is a guide, not a rule; a subjective concept with many interpretations in any given situation but, still, a powerful and beautiful beacon of guidance for all decisions, all acts and all that is said.

This becomes an important influence in our lives as we try to practice harmlessness, seek minimalism and accept pluralism.

Look for more from Peggy’s memoirs next month!

The Shawangunk Nature Preserve is a deep ecology, forever wild, 501©(3), learning and cultural center. Tim and Peggy still live there and can be contacted through their website.

www.shawangunknaturepreserve.com

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GAllery Guide

Purple Loosestrife by Phyllis Lapi

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Impressions: Watercolors by Sharon Burke

February 7- March 4, 2015 Opening Reception: Sat., February 7, 5-7pm

Through March 7, 2015

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Cherry Branch Gallery

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25 Main Street, Cherry Valley (607) 264-9530 www.cherrybranchgallery.com

Imaging Place: Paintings from the UC Collection

Cooperstown Art Association Fenimore Quilt Club 2015

Through March 7, 2015

February 7 - 22, 2015

Barrett Fine Art Gallery

Cooperstown Art Association 22 Main Street, Cooperstown, NY (607) 547-9777 www.cooperstownart.com

Library Concourse, Utica College 1600 Burrstone Road, Utica, NY (315) 792-5289 www.utica.edu/gallery

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Featuring work by New York State artists including Elizabeth Agar Smith, Denise Allen, Joan Bader Cook, Kathy VanLoan, and Phyllis Lapi.

Student Art Show

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Morgan Craig Solo Show Through February 27, 2015

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MV Comics Featuring Rome artist & “Bob the Squirrel” creator, Frank Page!

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GENESEE JOE’S LIVE & LOCAL:

How to Get Gigs in the mohawk valley You know I have been in radio and in bands for many years. I also spent about 10 years in the bar business. I have seen all three sides of the coin regarding local bands.

I often hear, “How does a band get hired?” Well, that’s tricky, but perhaps I can help.

I have talked to some people in the business of booking music and live events and the sum is that you need to have Electronic Press Kits, or EPKs. When I asked Stacey Waterman of DMR Booking, she said, “It’s all electronic now; links to everything like ReverbNation websites and social media like Facebook.” Stacey has been at this game a long time and she knows her business, so if she says it’s EPKs, so it is.

Joe Sweet, who puts on the UMAF every year, concurs. Joe says, “I really enjoy online press kits. It’s easier to press play and saves the band a ton of money on shipping and printing. I listen to all the submissions online now. It really helps when they have videos, as well as full-length songs. Of course, there should be links to all their social media channels to see how well they promote themselves, and a well written ‘About Us.’” My experience has been in order to keep a good EPK you have to keep current: current photos, music, set lists, etc. Always update. There’s no reason to send out a photo of a group with two different members.

Also, recording is no longer the huge money project it was previously.

Ryan Abbott is one live-recording guy who is available to contact via Facebook. Recording studios are not the overwhelming cost they once were, either. I can personally vouch for Jim Inman at Shack #9 Studios in Holland Patent. We do all of our work with Thunderwatt there, the recordings are brilliant and Jim is quite affordable. See the links to these recording studios below.

Photos are important, and social media is “...you have a great place to find someone to get a decent to keep current: picture of your band relatively inexpensivecurrent photos, ly. Remember during photos, you are lookmusic, set lists, ing to get hired. Think of album covers and press photos of the big bands. Dress right, etc. Always look good (okay, I know that’s me saying update!” that!). Lining up in some basement or garage looks terrible. Put some effort and thought into your photos. Using Photoshop and some creativity with a logo makes things all the better. Everybody has an artistic friend who can make a logo for you.

Facebook or ReverbNation pages are essential to get the recordings and all your contact info up there. Have your current dates listed and make sure you have likes on your page as well. Work the social media and it will work for you. Have events made up for every gig in a timely matter.

Making an event or sending me a listing for the 92.7 The Drive website won’t help the day before or the same day of the show.

Be thorough with your information. If that isn’t readily available the guy looking at it won’t go searching for your contact info.

So, remember to be thorough, be prepared and have everything ready to be clicked on and viewed or listened to. Use social media and remember you are looking to get hired—it’s just like a resume. Good luck and rock on! www.facebook.com/pages/Shack-9-Studios www.facebook.com/RyanAbbottMobileRecording Listen to Genesee Joe live on 92.7FM, The DRIVE.

75

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Awards & Engraving Speedy Awards, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Animal Sanctuary Spring Farm CARES, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Bakeries & Pastry Shops Bazan Bakery, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Cafe Divino, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Caruso’s Pastry Shoppe, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Florentine Pastry Shop, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Heidelberg Baking Company, Herkimer . . . . 45 Remsen Country Bakery, Remsen . . . . . . . . . . 56 Star Bakery, Whitesboro and Utica . . . . . . . . . 48

Antiques Back of the Barn, Remsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Bittersweet Pines, Westmoreland . . . . . . . . . 76 Black Cat Antiques, Earlville . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Country Emporium,Whitesboro . . . . . . . . . 57 Foothills Mercantile, Barneveld . . . . . . . . . . 74 Fort Plain Antiques, Fort Plain . . . . . . . . . 40 Little Falls Antique Center, Little Falls . . . . . . 46 Mohawk Antiques Mall, Mohawk . . . . . . . . . 44 Newport Marketplace, Newport . . . . . . . . . . 37 Oneida Commons Vendor Mall, Oneida . . . . 59 The Potting Shed Antiques, Whitesboro . . . . . 44 Treasures Lost & Found, New Hartford . . . . . 10 Vernon Variety Shoppes, Vernon . . . . . . . . . 45 Vintage Furnishings & Collectibles, Utica . . . 10 Weeden’s Mini Mall, Blossvale . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Westmoreland Antiques Ctr., Westmoreland . . . . 78 The White House, Holland Patent . . . . . . . . . . 15 Art Galleries Fusion Art Gallery, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Picture Perfect, Canajoharie . . . . . . . . . . 21 View, Old Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Art and Picture Framing Fusion Art Gallery, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Fynmore Studios, New Hartford/Boonville . . 48 Auto Dealerships Steet Ponte Auto Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Automotive Repair Clinton Collision, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Maugeri’s, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Precision Unlimited Car Care, Kirkland . . . . 77

Cheese Jake’s Gouda Cheese, Deansboro . . . . . . . . . . 37 Three Village Cheese, Newport . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Cleaning Supplies Norwex with Nicole, All-Natural Products . . . 68 Clothing Paca Gardens, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 The Village Crossing, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Bike Shops Dick’s Wheel Shop, Herkimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Coffee Shops Cafe Divino, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Utica Brews, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Bowling State Bowl featuring Cosmic Bowling, Ilion . . . . . 68

Colleges and Schools Morrisville College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Books Berry Hill Book Shop, Deansboro . . . . . . . . . . 10 Life Discovery, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Comics Ravenswood Comics, New Hartford . . . . . . 20

Cabinets and Kitchens Custom Woodcraft, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Knotty By Nature, Bridgewater . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Camping and Hiking Supply Plan B, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Catering A Movable Feast, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . 25 Cafe Crete, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Club Monarch, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 DiCastro’s Too, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Dominick’s Deli & Catering, Herkimer . . . . . 51 Kikko’s Bistro and Wine Bar, Rome . . . . . . . . 26 Knuckleheads Brewhouse, Westmoreland . . . 29 Maria’s Pasta Shop, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Papa Joe’s, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Rosa’s Trattoria, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Roso’s Cafe & Catering, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Consignment The Queen’s Closet, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Treasures Lost & Found, New Hartford . . . . 10 The Village Basement, New Hartford . . . . . . 59 Delis Kountry Kupboard, Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Olde Kountry Market, Vernon . . . . . . . . . . 71 Diners Charlie’s Place, CLinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Liz’s Mohawk Diner, Mohawk . . . . . . . . . . 12 Riverside Diner, Marcy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Village Diner, Barneveld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Wendy’s Diner, Cassville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Dry Cleaners M & M Cleaners, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Estate Sales Attic Addicts, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Potting Shed Antiques, Whitesboro . . . . 44

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Events and Entertainment & Open Houses The Capitol Theatre, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Hamilton College Performing Arts, Clinton . . 37 Ilion Theater, Busybody, Jan 31, Feb 1, 6, 7, 8 . . 34 Spring Thaw Scale Model Show, March 1 . . . 8 The Stanley, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 White Begonia, Open House: Feb. 28 . . . . 74 Farm Equipment Clinton Tractor, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 White’s Farm Supply, Waterville/Canastota . . 80 Farm Produce and Meats Jones Family Farm, Herkimer . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Redmond’s Red Deer Farm, Holland Patent . . . . 22 Szarek Farm & Greenhouses, Westmoreland . . 65 Stoltzfus Family Dairy, Vernon Center . . . . . 62 Sunnybrook Farm, Deansboro . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Financial Services Turnbull Insurance, New Hartford . . . . . . . . 13 Van Meter & Van Meter, Little Falls . . . . . . . . 59 Flooring D&D Carpets of Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Enjem’s Carpet, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Tru-Line Hardwood Flooring, Whitesboro . . 41 Florists Clinton Florist, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Buttercup Florist, Barneveld . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Michael’s Greenhouse, Sauquoit . . . . . . . . . . 73 Village Floral, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Forest Equipment Hud-son Forest Equipment, Barneveld . . . . 31 Funeral Services Nunn & McGrath, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Furniture Adirondack Furniture, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Country Emporium,Whitesboro . . . . . . . . . 57 Ironwood Furniture, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Jeff ’s Amish Furniture, Jordanville . . . . . . . . . 33

Furniture Makers Custom Woodcraft, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Morgan’s Hardware, Waterville . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Turner Lumber, Barneveld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Garden Centers and Greenhouses Michael’s Greenhouse, Sauquoit . . . . . . . . . 73 Szarek Greenhouses, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Heating Oil Little Falls Fuel, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Gift Shop s Artisans’ Corner, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Between Us Sisters, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Butternut Barn, Richfield Springs . . . . . . . . 66 Cobbler and Company, Sharon Springs . . . . . 50 Country Connections, Boonville . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Crafty Hand Craft Mall, Rome . . . . . . 57 Fusion Art Gallery, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Hummingbird Kreations, Rome . . . . . . . . . 60 Life Discovery, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Little Falls Antique Center, Little Falls . . . . . . 46 Newport Marketplace, Newport . . . . . . . . . . 37 Oneida Commons Vendor Mall, Oneida . . . . 59 Oneida Community Mansion House . . . . . 24 Paca Gardens, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Pathway of Pearls, Schuyler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Remington Country Store, Ilion . . . . . . . . . 37 Signature 81, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Shoppes at the Finish Line, Utica . . . . . . . . 24 Sticks n Stones, Waterville . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 White Begonia, Sherrill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Golf and Recreation Twin Ponds Golf & Country Club, NY Mills . . 62 Grocery/Convenience Stores B & F Milk Center, Whitesboro. . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Country Store, Dolgeville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Deansboro Superette, Deansboro . . . . . . . . . . 16 Meelan’s Market, Clark Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Mohawk Village Market, Mohawk . . . . . . . . .14 Olde Kountry Market, Vernon . . . . . . . . . . 71 Reilly’s Dairy, Inc., Sauquoit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Guitar Shops Utica Classic Guitars, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Hardware/Farm & Home Earley Farm and Hardware, Inc., Madison . . . 63 Lincoln Davies, Sauquoit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Hobby Shops Locomotion Hobby, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Hot Air Balloon Trips Royalty Ballooning, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . . 24 Independent Living Acacia Village, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Insurance Turnbull Insurance, New Hartford . . . . . . . . 13 Iron Work - Architectural & Ornamental Raulli’s Iron Works, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Jewelry Clinton Jewelers, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Fall Hill Bead & Gem, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . 46 Lighting Mills Electrical Supply, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Liquor Stores and Wine Lotto Liquors, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Seneca Liquor, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Trenton Station Liquor & Wine, Barneveld . . . 60 Manufactured and Modular Home Builders G & I Homes, Utica/Vernon/Oneonta . . . . . 33 Maple Syrup Ben & Judy’s Sugarhouse, West Edmeston . . . . 12 Shaw’s Maple Products, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . 44 Media 1420AM The Fox WNRS, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . 39 1450 WKAL, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 92.7 The Drive WXUR, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Clinton Courier, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Weekly Adirondack, Old Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

NYS INSPECTIONS • OIL CHANGES • TUNE UPS • COLLISION WORK • AC

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FOX33/WUTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Butternut Barn, Richfield Springs . . . . . . . . . 66

Monuments Yorkville Memorials, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Quilt and Yarn Shops Stash Away Quilt Shoppe, Rome . . . . . . . . 32 Tiger Lily Quilt Co, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Museums Goodsell Museum, Old Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Oneida Community Mansion House . . . . . 24 Remington Arms Museum, Ilion . . . . . . . . . 37 View, Old Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Natural Food Stores Brenda’s Natural Foods, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Cooperstown Naturals, Cooperstown . . . . . . 17 Peter’s Cornucopia, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . 69 Sunflower Naturals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Tom’s Natural Foods, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Opticians Colonial Optical, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Pet Memorialization and Cremation Forget-Me-Not Pet Memorialization . . . . . . 39 Pet Services Deb’s Dog D-Tails, Vernon . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 One Paw at a Time Pet Salon, Whitesboro . . . 26 Not Just Poodles Pet Salon, Whitesboro . . . 16 Pet Shops Wild Things, New York Mills . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Pharmacies Garro Drugs, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Physical Therapy Inertia Physical Therapy, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Northern Physical Therapy, Utica . . . . . . . . 50 Photography Fusion Art/The Photo Shoppe, Rome . . . . . 50 Pizzerias Bazan Bakery, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 DiCastro’s Brick Oven, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Primo Pizzeria, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Portable Restrooms Mohawk Ltd., Chadwicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Primitives Between Us Sisters, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . 71

Record Stores Off-Center Records, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ReImagine Records, New Hartford . . . . . . . . 5 Restaurants and Cafés Acropolis, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Across the Row Bistro, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . 42 Ann St. Deli, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Black Cat, Sharon Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Cafe Crete, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Club Monarch, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Copper Moose Ale House, Little Falls . . . . . . 61 DiCastro’s Brick Oven, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Dominick’s Deli, Herkimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Georgio’s, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Heidelberg Baking Co., Herkimer . . . . . . . . 45 Hotel Solsville, Solsville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Karam’s Middle East Bakery, NY Mills . . . . 10 The Knight Spot, Frankfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Knuckleheads Brewhouse, Westmoreland . . 29 Michael T’s, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Mitsuba Hibachi, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . 35 Ohio Tavern, Cold Brook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Papa Joe’s Restaurant, New Hartford . . . . . . 32 Phoenician Restaurant, New Hartford . . . . . 21 Piccolo Cafe, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Quack’s Village Inn, Madison . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Rosa’s Trattoria, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Roso’s Cafe & Catering, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sammy & Annie Foods, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Spaghetti Kettle, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Recreational Vehicles CJ Motor Sports, Boonville . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Seamstress & Tailors Libbey’s Sew Blessed, Sherrill . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Shoes Karaz Shoes, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 The Village Crossing, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . 70

Snow Ridge Ski Resort, Turin . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Small Engine Repair J.B.’s Small Engine Works, Utica . . . . . . . . 66 Stiefvater Outdoor Power, New Hartford . . . 57 Soap Cranberry Ridge Goat Milk Soap . . . . . . . . . 27 Support Groups Obsessive Compulsive, Utica, Mon: 6:30pm . . . 21

Tax Services Briggs Tax Service, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Tourism Lewis County Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Towing Services Clinton Collision, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Trailers, Custom Blizzard Manufacturing, Inc., Boonville . . . . 54 Travel Agencies The Cruise Wizards, Whitesboro . . . . . . . . 14 Websites Utica Remember When . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Utica Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Weddings and Banquets Club Monarch, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 DiCastro’s Too, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Twin Ponds Golf & Country Club, NY Mills . . . 62 Wellness Centers Pathway of Pearls, Schuyler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Windows RA Dudrak, Holland Patent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Wine Bars and Ale Houses Copper Moose Ale House, Little Falls . . . . . 61 Kikko’s Bistro and Wine Bar, Rome . . . . . . . . 26

Ski Resorts McCauley Mountain Ski Center, Old Forge . . . 42

A Multi Dealer Shop

Featuring 60 Dealers displaying a diverse array of antiques and collectibles.

315-337-3509

A New Year, A New Floor!

Open Daily 10-5, Closed Tuesdays

Come Spend the Day With Us! Route 233 Westmoreland, NY 1/4 mile North of NYS Thruway Exit 32 www.westmorelandantiquecenter.com

2010 Oriskany St. West Utica, NY (315) 733-0421

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3036 State Route 28 Herkimer, NY 13350 (315) 866-5080

5074 Commercial Drive Yorkville, NY 13495 (315) 736-3381

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5046 Commercial Drive Yorkville, NY 13495 (315) 736-8291

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Steet-Ponte auto group

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Kubota

Kubota More Power to You! More Power to You!

Sales Event Sales Event

Power your projects with Kubota’s B Series compact tractors.

Power your projects with Kubota’s B Series compact tractors.

% Financing for 60 Months 0 Down , 0.99 $ 0 Down, 0.99% Financing for 60 Months $

*

A.P.R.

A.P.R.

*

Offer ends 3/31/15.

Offer ends 3/31/15.

White’s Farm Supply, Inc.

4154 Route 31 Canastota (315) 697-2214

962 Route 12 Waterville (315) 841-4181

8207 Route 26 Lowville (315) 376-0300

www.whitesfarmsupply.com *$0 down, 0.99% A.P.R. financing for up to 60 months on purchases of new Kubota ZP, BX, B, L, M, DM, DMC, RB, RA, TE, K008, KX, U, TLB, SVL and R Series equipment available to qualified purchasers from participating dealers’ in-stock inventory through 3/31/2015. Example: A 60-month monthly installment repayment term at 0.99% A.P.R. requires 60 payments of $17.09 per $1,000 financed. 0.99% A.P.R. interest is available to customers if no dealer documentation preparation fee is charged. Dealer charge for document preparation fee shall be in accordance with state laws. Inclusion of ineligible equipment may result in a higher blended A.P.R.0.99% Not available Rental,for National Accounts Governmental customers.

0.99% andL,low-rate nancingRB, may notTE, be available with *$0 down, A.P.R. fifor nancing up to 60 monthsoron purchases of new Kubota ZP,A.P.R. BX, B, M, DM,fiDMC, RA, K008, KX, U,customer TLB, SVLinstant and Rrebate Series offers. Financing is available through Kubota Credit Corporation, U.S.A., 3401 Del Amo Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503; subject to credit approval. Some exceptions apply. equipment available to qualified purchasers from participating dealers’ in-stock inventory through 3/31/2015. Example: A 60-month monthly installment repayment Offer expires 3/31/2015. See us for details on these and other low-rate options or go to www.kubota.com for more information. Optional equipment may be shown.

kubota.com term at 0.99% A.P.R. requires 60 payments of $17.09 per $1,000 financed. 0.99% A.P.R. interest is available to customers if no dealer documentation preparation

fee is charged. Dealer charge for document preparation fee shall be in accordance with state laws. Inclusion of ineligible equipment may result in a higher blended

© Kubota Tractor Corporation, 2015