Mohawk Valley Living #30 March 2016

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Oneida County Historical Society MV Astronomy Club ADK Journal Fall Hill Bead & Gem Shaw’s Maple Products Local Maple Syrup Guide Local CD Review Local Artist Classical MV March Forest On the Farm with Suzie MV Gardens & Recipes MV Restaurant Spotlight MV Nature Restaurant Guide Antiques Shopping Guide Herkimer Co. Historical Society Tales from Shawangunk, Part 18 Gallery Guide MV Music MV Comics Live & Local Advertiser Directory

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Roar!

by Sharry L. Whitney

They say March comes in like a lion, I’m not sure what the forecast holds, but our writers certainly came in with a roar! What a source of inspiration they are this month.

Suzie Jones writes about opening up her farm last month to the community to continue her mission of connecting people to their farmers. On that same note, Denise Szarek of Szarek Greenhouses encourages us to consider signing up for a CSA. She gives us the pros and cons. Artist Brenda Antonowicz inspires us with her story of overcoming personal tragedies and creating dynamic artwork. Adirondack 46er Gary VanRiper tells us about the arctic plants of the high peaks region that persevere (and thrive) despite winter’s bitter assault. Janice Reilly shares timely stories about two Lebanese immigrant families who settled in Utica in the early 1900s, which kicks off an Ethnic Heritage Series programming schedule this month at the Oneida County Historical Society. The series focuses on the Syrian, Bosnian, and Lebanese communities in the Mohawk Valley.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Check out our 3rd Annual Maple Syrup Guide. With spring’s thaw, we enter the sweet season of maple syrup. Naturalist Matt Perry brings us the birds, and Peggy at the Shawangunk Nature Preserve is starting her seeds. All sure signs that spring is just around the corner! •

MOHAWK VALLEY LIVING MAGAZINE MARCH 2016

PUBLISHERS Lance and Sharry Whitney EDITOR Sharry L. Whitney DESIGN & LAYOUT Lance David Whitney ASSISTANT EDITORS Shelley Delosh Jorge L. Hernández ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES Susan Collea CONTRIBUTORS Peggy Spencer Behrendt, Carol Higgins, Jorge L. Hernández, 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.

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immigrant tales:

The Lebanese Experience in the Mohawk Valley from the Oneida County Historical Society

by Janice Reilly

The Oneida County Historical Society is pleased to introduce its Ethnic Heritage Series See next page for more info.

Dr. Eugene Nassar: Life in Old Utica Dr. Eugene Nassar, Professor of English Emeritus at Utica College, will be speaking at the Oneida County Historical Society on March 19 at 1:00PM. He earned a master’s degree from Oxford University and his doctorate from Cornell University. Dr. Nassar was founder and Director of the Ethnic Heritage Studies at Utica College. His book, Wind of the Land, tells of growing up in a Lebanese Christian family in the East Utica Italian neighborhood.

His father, Michael Nassar, was 14 years old in 1912 when he emigrated here from Zahle, Lebanon to join his brother Louis. The Ottoman Empire was responsible for the poverty and a brutal feudalistic life he left behind in Lebanon. Sadly he also left behind his parents and family that he never saw again.

Michael thrived in America. He worked at the American Hardwall plant, which provided a good living that ‘enabled Michael and his wife, Mintaha Kassouf, to buy a two-family home on Lansing Street where they raised their family. “My father never missed a day of work,” said Dr. Nassar. “Back then immigrants were afraid to miss work–someone else might show up and take your place! My father got along with everybody, every race, every nationality.”

Home was rich in ethnic traditions. Strong religious faith was the Nassar family’s foundation and an extremely high value was placed on education as witnessed by the successful careers of not only Dr. Nassar, but his brothers as well. Fred Nassar, a Harvard graduate, was a leader in convincing the state to build SUNY at Marcy. Michael Nassar Jr. received three advanced degrees in Social Work, in Education and in Counseling from Syracuse University. Michael became Commissioner of Social Services in Utica. Dr. Nassar founded the Ethnic Heritage Studies Center in 1981.

Wadih Zogby: A Lebanese Immigrant’s Journey The following are excerpts from the oral history of Wadih Zogby recorded for the Ethnic Heritage Studies Center in 1994.

Wadih Zogby left Lebanon and arrived in America in 1923. Just as they are today, economic poverty, political oppression and religious persecution were the major causes of Syro/Lebanese emigration.

A locust invasion had stripped the country of wheat, barley, fruits and vegetables. “We woke up one morning and after we had tilled the land and planted the seeds, we saw swarms of locusts that came from nowhere and pounced on everything that was green and beginning to grow, leaving the land completely bare. I distinctly remember how they shielded the sun like clouds.”

“Every family had a plot of land surrounding their home.” On the side

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of a sloping hill the ancestors broke rocks, built walls, filled spaces with soil and created terraces. They planted mulberry trees on the edges of these terraces. The leaves of the mulberry trees were used to feed the silk worms.

The silkworm industry was the major industry in Lebanon. With the locust invasion, the mulberry leaves were eaten.

Turkey blockaded Lebanon during World War I. Turkey needed to run the trains so they cut our trees for wood to burn for the trains. They needed metal “so they confiscated our cooking utensils. We would bury ours so they wouldn’t take them.” When the war started, the Turks closed the schools. “My teacher was the priest at our church. I learned to read and write Arabic language.”

People were starving. They were hungry; some found orange peels and old bones in the garbage to eat. One third of the Lebanese population died of starvation or disease. Wadih’s father was among them. He died in 1916.

Fortunately Wadih’s brother Habib lived in the U.S. since 1910. His brother Joseph stowed away on a ship and arrived in the U.S. earlier also.

The two saved their money and sent tickets for their mother, Barbara Tanoury Zogby, and five siblings to emigrate. From their small village of Kafertay, the Zogbys walked quite a distance to reach a taxi to go to Beirut.

“We didn’t have an automobile road in our village and everybody in town left their homes and followed us to say goodbye.”

Setting sail aboard the steamship, Braga, the Zogbys had a cabin with three cots. No one got sick. They had animals on the ship that they slaughtered and we had either ground meat or steaks that were small but not tender. We had potatoes and rice, French bread all the time. There were no different classes–this was a touring ship and everyone was in the same situation, all in the dining room together.”

“We stayed six days on the boat when we got to New York. Nobody knew why,” wrote Wadih. The reason? The August quota of immigrants had been filled; the ships were waiting for September 1st to arrive. At midnight a race of ocean liners to be the first to reach shores began. Six ships

pulled into the New York harbor within minutes of each other. They carried 9000 immigrants from Europe, seeking admittance. Thorough inspection at Ellis Island was mandatory before the immigrants would be allowed to continue and in two days, September 3, Ellis Island would be closed for the Labor Day holiday.

The passengers were held until word was received from Washington.

Habib Zogby waited nine days in New York for his family. The immigrants saw the Statue of Liberty. They felt the thrill of exultation after reaching the promised land. Since the beginning of the war, the eyes of millions turned toward America as a land of peace. “We were American by choice because we loved America as if we were born here. We were Americans to our credit because we chose to become Americans,” remembered Wadih.

The Zogbys opened a grocery store on Park Ave in 1917 and in 1935 another, at 1640 Oneida Street. Five delivery trucks catered to prominent families in South Utica. The Zogby Brothers Grocery remained in business until 1970.

Wadih Zogby died at the age of 98 in 2006. One of his greatest contributions to society was organizing a group to look after the orphanages, the handicapped and the refugees in Lebanon who through no fault of their own, became victims. Mr. Zogby was a founder of the American Lebanese League and “personally assisted fourteen U.S. families in the adoption of Lebanese children whose parents had been killed.” •

Oneida County Historical Society

1608 Genesee Street, Utica (315) 735-3642 Open Tues.-Fri. 10-4, Sat 10-2 www.oneidacountyhistory.org

Ethnic Heritage Series programming for March 2016 Saturdays at 1pm, OCHS Building, FREE and Open to Public Visit www.oneidacountyhistory.com for complete schedule of events

Panel discussions, guest lecturers, and meetings with luminaries including John Zogby (March 12th) and Dr. Eugene Nassar (March 19th) are all a part of this series, which focuses on the Syrian, Bosnian, and Lebanese communities in the Mohawk Valley. Additionally, producer Abe Kasbo will be on hand for a screening of his film, A Thousand and One Journeys: The Arab Americans, on March 12.

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Mohawk valley astronomical society

galaxy zoo by carol higgins

If you study the universe, the numbers you see for the distance, size, speed, and quantities of various objects are mind boggling. Consider galaxies. There are at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Want to join a research team that helps scientists investigate those galaxies? You can ... just visit the zoo – the Galaxy Zoo, that is!

Over the past century, a number of discoveries have solved some mysteries about how galaxies formed, but there is still a long way to go. That’s where Galaxy Zoo and you come to the rescue. Galaxy Zoo is an Internet-based project that anyone can join, no experience or special background needed. The purpose is for volunteers to look at images of galaxies and classify them by their shape. It’s fun and addictive, and is a great family project.

First some basics. A galaxy is a huge structure containing dust, gases, and billions of stars held together by gravity. They vary greatly in size, shape, age, and composition.

There are three main types: spiral, elliptical and irregular. Our Milky Way is a spiral galaxy, a spinning disk like a pinwheel with more than 200 billion stars. Here’s another fun factoid by the Institute of Physics: “If you hold up a grain of sand, the patch of sky it covers contains 10,000 galaxies”.

Galaxy Zoo had a familiar start: a couple of people discussing a problem. The problem Kevin Schawinski and Chris Lintott were talking about in July 2007 was related to volume – one million photos in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Schawinski was faced with searching the database for

specific galaxy patterns to prove his theory about how stars form. So far he had spent a week of 12hour days and only finished 50,000 galaxies.

Hanny’s Voorwerp. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel, Galaxy Zoo Team One idea led to another, and the vision of putting the images on the internet took shape along with a dream of a few vol- ject). So how do you become a Galaxy Zoo unteers to help classify the galaxies. Over volunteer? Just go to www.GalaxyZoo.org the next few days Lintott, Schawinski, and and click “Begin Classifying.” You’ll see some programmers worked on the website. a picture of a galaxy, and are asked a few Then the day of reckoning came--the web- simple questions about the shape – make a selection from a list. If you have questions, site went live. Talk about surprise!

In the first 24 hours, volunteers were press “Examples” and a help screen shows classifying 70,000 galaxies an hour, and you samples to help you make up your by the end of the first year had submitted mind. Press “Restart” to start over. There’s more than 50 million classifications. You also a comment area to “discuss” an obmay think that work done by amateur vol- ject if you see something unusual. It’s best unteers wouldn’t be very helpful, but over if you create an account so you’ll receive the years the results have been transformed credit for your work. Who knows, you may into many significant scientific findings. be the next Rock Star “Zooite” with PhDs The most famous contribution happened around the world investigating your discovery! barely a month after the site went online.

New volunteer Hanny van Arkel, a Wishing you clear skies! • 28-year-old Dutch school teacher, was looking at an image and noticed a bright blue wispy region below the galaxy. She Join MVAS members at added a comment with her classification Barton-Brown Observatory asking, “What’s the blue stuff below?” but Waterville Public Library no one knew the answer. After a lengthy investigation by scientists, it was announced Friday, March 5th, 7:30pm van Arkel had discovered an object never for a fun evening of stargazing. seen before – a gas cloud illuminated by a Visit mvas-ny.org for information. quasar at the center of the galaxy. It is now named “Hanny’s Voorwerp” (Hanny’s Ob-

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The Adirondack high peaks horizon is so alluring it is easy to miss the wonder of an alpine summit at your feet.

46er Mark Lowell ascending Skylight Mountain, one of 16 Adirondack high peak summits that host arctic plants.

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Surviving 100 Below Zer0

Strategically placed signs on alpine summits alert hikers to areas of revegetation.­

Story and Photos by Gary VanRiper March. In like a lamb? A lion?

We certainly heard the lion’s roar in February with wind-chill factors mid-month hovering around 100 below in the high peaks region of the Adirondacks. As chilling reports were coming in from winter hikers during that window of time, it occurred to me to wonder again how anything can survive in such conditions.

And yet, there they are. Trees and plant life not only surviving, but thriving on some 85 acres of the highest mountains in New York State through the harshest weather the winter has to throw at them.

Actually, there are over 100 flowering plants and mosses and lichens in the region, arctic plants normally found in Canada and Greenland and Alaska. According to experts in the field, there are actually over 200 different species of lichens can be found between the trailhead and the summit of Algonquin alone.

More often than any other I have hiked up1 Algonquin, the region’s second highest peak at 5,100 feet. The 360-degree view is irresistible with options to catch Wright, and/or Iroquois and

Summit stewards can be found on several Adirondack high peaks summits between May and October.

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Boundary along the way. All of these mountains, along with Marcy, Colden, Skylight, Haystack, Dix, Gothics, Saddleback and Whiteface, host many of these hardy plants, including some that are “rare, threatened, or truly endangered.”

I confess I have yet to truly appreciate the view at my 2 feet while hiking these mountains. I am always struck by the stubby sentries standing as gnarled guards, the last of the tree-line known as the ‘krummholz,’ before entering the final ascent of a balding rock face on one of the highest peaks. Hikers are led up popular Algonquin by a series of cairns and small patches of yellow paint, the route designed to cause the least amount of impact to the year-round residents – the plant life –­­­­ at one’s feet there. While these natives were designed to cope with the harsh winter weather, the relentless shock of wandering and careless boots, at one time, threatened the entire ecosystem. Thanks to conservation efforts initiated in 1971 by the Adirondack 46ers, under the leadership of then 46er president Ed Ketchledge and the launch in 1972 of an ADK Conservation Committee led by Orra Phelps,

Small rocks and stones are used to surround sensitive areas of restoration on the Adirondacks 85 acres of alpine summits.

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For locations visit: www.threevillagecheese.com Also see us every Saturday at the Oneida Co. Market at Utica’s Union Station!

46ers Jack Coleman and Sarah Birmingham begin the descent down Algonquin over Boundary toward Iroquois – all part of the unique alpine zone of the Adirondack high peaks region.

that sad era is over. Conservation efforts are ongoing with cooperation and help from everyday hikers during the decades since. You can observe strategically placed signage and spots where small stones carried by the committed have been used to create borders around sensitive areas warning and steering hikers away.

I have photographed and always appreciated the beauty at the top of these mountains, but have yet to be able to identify and call out a single plant or moss or lichen by name. The horizon itself is simply so alluring, and on day trips there is not a lot of time to linger. But one fair-weather day I do hope to spend time with a summit steward stationed on one of these mountains between May and October – camera and field guide in hand – with focus on this intimate and so uniquely accessible alpine landscape so near our own backyard. • 1 & 2 - Nancy G. Slack & Allison W. Bell in "85 Acres: A Field Guide t the Adirondack Alpine Summits" Gary VanRiper is an author, photographer, and pastor at the Camden Wesleyan Church. He has written 15 children’s books with his son, Justin. Find out more at: www.adirondackkids.com

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Fall Hill Bead & Gem is a popular destination on West Main Street in little Falls.

The Everyday Adventures of Mohawk Valley Girl

fall hill bead &gem in little falls

A new favorite store, on my list of places I just like to stop and look around in, is Fall Hill Bead & Gem in Little Falls. What a fun place! It is a small place and a little difficult to get around if there are many customers, but well worth the effort.

Jewelry is one of my magnets, as a friend once observed. I especially like unusual pieces. At Fall Hill, not only do you find unusual pieces, but they sell all the materials you need to make your own jewelry. I have personally never made my own jewelry, but looking at all the different beads available, I’m wondering if I ought to give it a try.

As Steven and I walked around admiringly, I started thinking about all my family and friends who would love this store: This one loves jewelry, that one is interested in the healing properties of gemstones, another one makes jewelry. I mentioned a few of them to Kim Hergert, the proprietor. She asked which category I was in.

“I like unusual stores,” I said.

“I just like cool stuff,” Kim said. I asked if I could quote her, and

Owner, Kim Hergert, likes to collect “cool stuff.”

Fall Hill Bead and Gem sells beads from all over the world made of stone, wood, bone, ceramic, glass and Little Falls Diamonds, too.

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she graciously gave permission.

The first time Steven and I visited, we purchased a small gift bag made out of some unusual material and a rough Little Falls Diamond. For anyone who doesn’t know, a Little Falls Diamond is pretty much the same thing as a Herkimer Diamond, only not as famous. There are many Little Falls Diamonds on display in the Little Falls Historical Society, another favorite stop of mine.

Kim told us the bag was half silk and half paper.

“I don’t know if they feed the silk worms paper pulp and they poop it out or what,” she said. Full disclosure: I didn’t have a gift-giving occasion in mind to use the bag or even a gift small enough to put in it... yet!

For now, the bag resides on a shelf of cool stuff in our dining room, where I can feel its unusual texture any time I like.

Another time we visited, I saw a father and his little girl stringing beads of different shapes onto a string. “How fun is that!”

I said, admiringly. Some of the beads were in the shape of animals; all were different colors. What a great place this would be to make a gift for someone! Let’s see, what birthdays do I have coming up?

Fall Hill Bead & Gem

32 W. Main St., Little Falls (315) 823-0454 www.fallhillbeadandgem.com Find them on Facebook 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

Fall Hill Bead & Gem in Little Falls has all the materials and tools (and assitance) needed for customers to design their own jewelry.

shaw’s maple products Story and photos

by Melida Karastury

March in the Mohawk Valley is maple syrup season.

Sap starts to flow when the daytime temperatures rise above freezing (32º F) and nighttime temperatures fall below freezing. The rising temperature creates pressure in the tree generating the sap flow. The sap generally flows for 4 to 6 weeks, with the best sap produced early in the season. This month we visit Shaw’s Maple Products at 7945 Maxwell Rd., Clinton. Shaw’s Maple Products is a family owned and operated sugarhouse established in 2007. The Shaw’s began making maple syrup after attending “Maple Weekend” at V.V.S. High School.

To tap a maple tree it must be mature, healthy, exposed to sunlight, and at least 6 inches in diameter. The term “tree hugger” can be applied here by giving the tree a nice hug: if your hands touch it is a one tap tree, if your hands do not touch it is a two tap tree.

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We follow the blue tubing down the hill to the collection site of two 700 gallon tubs. Alana Karastury, Josh Karastury, Eliana Crissey, Dan Crissey, and Kaydence Crissey (below left) look into the quickly filling tubs and we each get a taste of the clear sweet sap. The tubes are carefully monitored and when the barrels are full they are hauled back to Clinton and boiled in a wood-fired evaporator in the sugarhouse.

Easter

March 27th

Fresh Arrangements Easter Lilies & Bulb Plants

St. Patrick’s Day March 17th

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Lilian Crissey is lifted up by Curt Shaw (below) to look at the sap boiling and smell the delicious aromas of the wood fire and sweet syrup. Carol Shaw (right) hands out samples to Alana Karastury, Lilian Crissey, Eliana Crissey, and Kylea Palmer from recently boiled medium amber syrup. The girls all ask for second and third helpings of what we call “liquid gold.”

(Pictured left, back row, l-r): Curt Shaw, Carol Shaw, Nancy Shaw, and Alana Karastury; (front row): Kylea Palmer, Lilian Crissey, and Eliana Crisssey.

The Shaws sell their maple syrup and convections, such as maple popcorn, maple fudge, soft molded maple sugar, granulated maple sugar, maple cotton candy, maple coated nuts and more at local winter farmer’s markets (Westmoreland and Whitesboro). Also at:Vernon Variety Store, Rydzy’s Market, Clinton Tractor, Deansboro Superette, Olde Village Mercantile, Sammy & Annie’s, Signature 81, The Mustard Seed, and Westmoreland Antique Center Gift Shops. Visit them Maple Weekends (see following pages for info).

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Shop Boonville! Bulk food, honey, alpaca products, woodcrafted items, clocks, furniture & more!

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mohawk valley

Guide to maple producers

One of the very first signs of spring in the Mohawk Valley is the appearance of maple syrup buckets hanging from the sides of sugar maples. Increasingly common are the blue tubes zig-zagging from tree to tree carrying sap to collection barrels.

The cooking of tree sap is a truly American tradition.

Maple syrup was first introduced to Europeans by the indigenous peoples of North America. An old Iroquois legend tells the story of how a hunter pierced a maple with his tomahawk and while he was away the sap dripped into a vessel that was then used to boil venison. He returned home to the sweet smell of meat cooking in syrup!

Maple Weekends 2016 March 19th & 20th and April 2nd & 3rd

ALP Farms

Open year round Saturdays 1-5pm 383 Murray Hill Road, St Johnsville (518) 762-1182 www.alpfarms.com

Ben & Judy’s Sugarhouse

Open Saturday March 12 & 19, Pancake breakfast 8am-2pm. Products available at several locations including Peter’s Cornucopia, New Hartford.

770 Beaver Creek Road, West Edmeston (315) 899-5864

Burt Homestead Farm

Please call ahead. Will host tours for groups/schools.

200 Burt Road, Cold Brook (315) 826-3949 www.burthomesteadfarm.com

Cook’s Maple Syrup

Maple Weekends 10am-4pm, Maple doughnuts, popcorn, cotton candy, syrup!

247 County Rd 20, Sherburne (607) 674-9593 www.cooksmaple.com

Frasier’s Sugar Shack

Open Maple Weekends 10am-4pm 144 Church Street, St. Johnsville (518) 568-7438 www.frasierssugarshack.com

& Judy’s SHAW’S BenSugarhouse MAPLE PRODUCTS

Come see us for Maple Weekends!

March 19th & 20th, 10-4 April 2nd & 3rd, 10-4 8874 Tibbitts Rd., New Hartford 315-793-3114 www.facebook.com/tibbittsmaple www.tibbittsmaple.wordpress.com

Find our sweet syrup and products at: Deansboro Superette, Clinton Tractor, Sammy & Annie Foodsin Utica, Tom’s Natural Foods in Clinton, The Mustard Seed in Little Falls, Westmoreland Antiques, Oneida Commons & our shop at 7945 Maxwell Rd., Clinton

See us at the Farmers’ Markets! www.shawsmapleproducts.com

315-725-0547

The Cat’s got your tongue!

James Beard’s French Toast served with warm maple syrup from Stone House Farm.

Mon-Thurs 11-3, Fri-Sun 8-3 195 Main St., Sharon Springs (518) 284-2575 www.blackcat-ny.com

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Pure maple products.

We can ship anywhere!

Call (315) 899-5864 to purchase products or schedule a tour!

Mark Your Calendars!

Our Pancake Breakfasts

Sat., March 12th & Sat., March 19th Pancake Breakfast 8am-2pm (No Sundays this year)

Offering Free Tours & Maple Samples!

We will be boiling, weather permitting

Also available at: Peter’s Cornucopia, Twin Orchards, and Stoltzfus Family Dairy

770 Beaver Creek Rd., West Edmeston • Find us on Facebook!

Grant’s Maple

Available at local craft shows and on site. Please call ahead.

3784 Mohawk Street, New Hartford (315) 737-5014

Grimm’s Maple Products

3546 Fishcreek Landing Rd, Blossvale Please call ahead. (315) 571-5151

Ingles Maple Products

GREAT FAMILY FUN! Discover the pure taste of maple!

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School 5275 State Route 21, Verona

Open Maple Weekends: 8:30am-3pm and weekdays: 9am-5pm.

382 State Highway 28, Richfield Springs Please call ahead. (315) 858-0368 www.inglesmapleproducts.com

Lincoln Davies

Maple syrup making supplies Open Mon-Fri: 7-5, Sat: 7-4, Closed Sunday 8689 Summit Road, Sauquoit (315) 839-5740 www.lincolndavies.com

Link Maple Farm

Open maple season through April 2 Mon-Thur: 2:30-5, Fri: 9-5, Sat: 9-1 Open year round, 4045 MacFarland Road, Taberg (315) 336-3030 www.linkmaplefarm.com

Meadow View Farm

Maple products sold at Mohawk and Richfield Springs Farmer’s Market 126 Meckler Road, Frankfort (315) 797-0860

Mill Creek Maple Supply

All the supplies you need to make maple syrup.

Open Mon-Fri: 8am-4:30pm 1551 County Highway 20, Edmeston (607) 965-6920

Millers Mills Maple

955 Richfield Hill Road, Richfield Springs Please call ahead. (315) 858-2855

Mud Road Sugar House

Open Maple Weekends, Free tours, complimentary silver pancakes (1st wknd), corn fritters (2nd wknd) & maple samples. Call ahead, open year round.

278 Mud Road, Ephratah (518) 863-6313 www.mudroadsugarhouse.com

Murcray Sugar Shack

155 East Elwood Road, Fort Plain Please call ahead. (315) 868-8219

V.V.S. FFA

Maple Weekend 2016

Saturday & Sunday, March 19, 20 & April 2, 3 “A statewide event devoted to the recognition of the New York State Maple industry”

Schedule of Daily Activities:

7:30 AM – 12:00 PM- Pancake Breakfast with Fresh, Real Maple Syrup served in the V.V.S. High School Cafeteria.

Adult $ 8.00, Senior Citizens and children under 12 $6, Pre-schoolers -- free.

9:00 AM – 3:00 PM- Maple Sap House Tour and Open House, V.V.S. FFA Sap House 10:00 AM- Maple Queen and Princess Presentation V.V.S. H.S. Cafeteria Cooking with Maple

Free Wagon Rides to the Maple Sugarbush! Free tours!

9:00 AM – 3:00 PM- Sale of Maple Syrup and Maple Products

Sunday, April 3rd Only:

11:00 AM- Official New York Maple Sunday Syrup Season, V.V.S. H.S. Lawn 2016 Maple Tree Tapping Ceremony 11:15 AM- Maple Coloring Contest Award Winners 20

Triple Pane Window Sale!

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Paradise Maple

Open Maple Weekends. Will host tours for groups/schools.

Available at local farmers markets and shows.

291 Newville Road, Little Falls (315) 823-3436 or (315) 717-8595

Renodin’s Produce

Open weekends. Please call ahead.

847 Hall Road, Cold Brook (315) 826-7873

Ringwood Farms Maple

A 3rd generation farm operated by the Bartlett family for 80 years.

Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm. Please call ahead.

147 Bartlett Road, Cooperstown (607) 435-5701 www.ringwoodfarmsmaplesyrup.com

Shaw’s Maple Products

Open Maple Weekends. Available at local farmers markets including Westmoreland Winter Market (1st Sat. of month 9am-Noon), Whitesboro Market (1st and 3rd Mondays, 3-7pm) nd at Clinton Tractor and Deansboro Superette.

7945 Maxwell Road Clinton (315) 853-7798 www.shawsmapleproducts.com

Stannard’s Maple Farm

Try their maple jelly.

166 Stannard Hill Road, Cherry Valley (607) 264-3090

Stone House Farm

Pancake breakfasts Maple Weekends and Sat & Sun through April, 8am-1pm.

All you can eat pancakes, waffles, sausage, and beverage.

305 Lynk Road, Sharon Springs (518) 284-2476 www.thesaphouseatstonehousefarm.com

Tibbitts Maple

Open Maple Weekends 10am-4pm. 4 generations and growing.

8874 Tibbitts Road, New Hartford (315) 793-3114 or (315) 794-2752 www.tibbittsmaple.wordpress.com

V.V.S. FFA Maple Market

Open Maple Weekends. Free student-guided wagon rides to sugarbush woodlot and tours of maple sap house 9am-3pm. Maple store open 7:30am-3pm, pancake breakfast 7:30am-noon.

5275 State Route 31 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, Verona (315) 829-2520 or (315) 335-0887 22

Visit the American Maple Museum Winter hours: Mon, Fri, and Sat: 11am-4pm 175th Anniversary of Croghan Pancake Breakfast, Sun, Feb 28: 7-11am (315) 346-1107 • 9756 State Route 812, Croghan, NY americanmaplemuseum.org

Maple on the Menu!

More than ever, local restaurants are featuring locally produced maple syrup in their recipes and on their menus! These are just some of the places you can find local syrup.

Bagel Grove

Features Tibbits Maple Cream on their popular maple bacon sandwich created from their 25th anniversary facebook contest 7 Burrstone Road, Utica (315) 724-8015 www.bagelgrove.com

Black Cat Café & Bakery

Use Stone House Farm Maple Syrup on their James Beard’s French Toast, buttermilk pancakes, and even in their Sugar Plums!

195 Main Street, Sharon Springs (518) 284 2575 www.blackcat-ny.com

Heidelberg Bread

Serves maple syrup from Ingles Maple Products in Richfield Springs on their signature French toast!

3056 State Route 28N, Herkimer

Lakeview Restaurant

Chicken and waffles VVS school FFA program 1017 Golf Lane, Oneida (315) 361-6113 www.lakeviewrestaurantandbar.com

Ohio Tavern

Serves their homemade Maple Garlic salad dressing made with maple syrup from Roberts Family farm in Remsen 2755 State Route 8, Cold Brook (315) 826-5050 www.ohiotavernandrestaurant.com

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local CD review

Life on a saturn moon

Download Free MP3s from The Distant End

By John Keller

If you’re looking for an atmospheric listen, then let me recommend Life on a Saturn Moon by The Distant End. Dan Phillips, bassist for Casanova Frankenstein & the Voodoo Machine, has released a solo EP of original, moody, thinking music. His dark, deep, brooding vocals are reminiscent of those of Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen, but with a difference that makes it fresh. The minimalist guitar adds to the ambiance in each song, building upon the mood. The four vocal pieces and one instrumental linger on the ears like a fine wine on the palate, with a longing for more.

The disc starts with the title song, a tale told about a wandering space traveler, lost without communication. A great line is “Having no enemies is like having no friends.” The song’s feel is continually lonely, bringing you tightly close to the protagonist’s plight.

More upbeat musically is the next track, “Drinks Out With Your Friends.” Though it still travels through the melancholy, the song does bounce along, merrily. It gives us an insight to what could be a special night or date night gone wrong. The ending leaves us to let our imagination determine the facts. Well done, sir!

“Hollywood Lullaby” is a rags-to-riches-to-tragedy kind of tale. Girl dreams of being a star, moves to the bright lights, only to find that the road is paved with unsavory trials and tribulations. The guitar strums by as a lonely tambourine keeps the beat. It’s quiet and serene.

The last vocal track is “428 (Interceptor’s Lament).” This is a story of the Old West. It is a saga of a bandit making his way from the law. Another of my favorite lines is “Swaying on the dance floor, like flowers on a grave.”

The final track is a brief instrumental return on the title.

Dan is aided musically on this venture by the album’s producer, Brian Premo. Brian has done a superb job bringing Dan’s project to light.

Dan’s songwriting is on par with many of the greats. His grasp of language and visuals bring these songs to life. The sparse guitar, and light accompaniment, only enhances the mood and sensations within each piece.

Life on a Saturn Moon is a thinking person’s album. It is one of those rare slices of art where the whole truly is the sum of its parts. Listen to this while studying or working on the computer or while sitting as you contemplate the world. It will bring a new focus to the project at hand.

You can pick up a copy of The Distant End album at Off-Center Records, The Tramontane Café or by contacting Dan at The Distant End Facebook page. •

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local arts

Brenda J. Antonowicz story and photos by sharry l. whitney

It’s an unseasonably cold February day, but the home of artist Brenda J. Antonowicz, located north of Delta Lake in the town of Western, is warm and inviting. I am greeted by an exceedingly affectionate, large, old dog named Carter (a rescue) and invited to sit at the kitchen table. Carter, after attempting to be a lap dog, heads into the living room and perches over the back of a sofa to survey the backyard lest a squirrel or deer dare trespass.

The sofa is covered with a rose-colored floral sofa cover that is accentuated by the room’s cheery yellow walls. I compliment Brenda on the beautifully painted walls of her home and discover she painted them herself and obviously has a knack for interior design.

“What you surround yourself with has an effect on your being,” she says.

Sensing my interest, she gives me a tour of her home. The rooms are filled with the many treasures Brenda has found over the years at garage sales and by the side of the road. She opens a drawer of a beautiful cabinet filled with art supplies and on the inside is a tag marked $7.

“I enjoy taking something that is old and well built and giving it a new life and purpose,” she says. She shows me a painting effect she achieved on a wall using a feather duster and gold paint. She points out where she had to hide the opening of a former window when she and her husband, Peter, decided to add an addition to their family home. After Brenda had painted all the spaces of their home and many of the homes of friends and relative, they decided to build a studio for Brenda.

“I ran out of walls,” she says. “So I moved to canvas.” After outgrowing her designated studio area of their basement, coupled with her need for better lighting and access to water, the result was an addition of a studio they named “Studio B.” On the wall is a sign to that effect made out of the top of a stool and a necklace of her sister’s. The studio is big enough to serve as a second living room and as a classroom, too. Although the “B” is for Brenda, her husband of-

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Brenda spends much time in her home studio, “Studio B.” She is currently challenging herself to paint in two dimensions.

Although Brenda has a plethora of painting supplies, she prefers using unconventional tools and mediums.

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ten works there as well, creating lino carvings and block prints. “I’m in the studio a lot, so in order to spend time with me, he has to do art,” she teases.

Brenda’s artwork is abstract and dynamic. When I notice and point out that most of her paintings are vertical, she is surprised to discover that it’s true. I tell her a vertical layout creates tension and joke that she must be stressed. She says her art has helped her cope with pressures in her life. She raised three children while working for nearly 20 years as a legal assistant, first for the Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, and then she joined her husband’s law practice in the 1990s. She retired in 1999 to care for elderly parents. Soon after, Brenda experienced some tragic losses in her family, including the death of her father in 2005, and it affected her health.

“Pursuing art helped me through it,” she says.

“Creating art became an integral means of therapy and was fundamental to healing.”

After all the walls in their home and her husband’s office were filled, and with the support of friends, she showed a piece of her artwork for the first time in 2007 in a juried show at the Rome Art and Community Center. With the encouragement of artists from that show, she entered her work in other local and regional exhibitions and received honorable mentions and awards. In 2008, she was asked to do a solo show at the RACC. “It’s difficult to be vulnerable and exposed.

Much of my work is personal to me,” she says of exhibiting her work. “It’s like being naked.”

Brenda is a self-taught artist. She has al-

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ways been creative, but only recently started painting. She has attended many workshops, classes, and demonstrations and “buys books on everything,” she says. Although Brenda has collected an overwhelming supply of art books, paint brushes, and art supplies, she still prefers using “junk,” implementing unconventional tools and mediums such as plastic wrap, bottle caps, cork, and newspaper. She creates texture and dimension with non-traditional items and recycled materials such as newspapers, eggshells, rice, coffee grounds, and sand. Her studio is surprisingly neat-as-a-pin and organized, not what you’d expect from her abstract expressionistic painting style.

She has continued to show her work to support the local art community and to encourage others by showing what you can do with “nothing.” One of her pieces incorporates the paper towel she used to clean her brushes. “It was too pretty to throw away,” she says. She works with adults and children and especially enjoys showing kids how to be creative using common every-day items.

The last couple of years have been especially challenging for Brenda as she cared for her mother until she passed away in 2014. After her mother’s death, while tending to her estate, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, she discovered it early through a self-exam, but has undergone multiple surgeries, including a mastectomy, with more surgeries scheduled this year. “For a while, when I really needed my art, I physically couldn’t do it,” she says.

Now she’s back at her easel and challenging herself again. She’s creating abstract paintings without texture, something she’s finding difficult but inspiring. She’s been through a lot, but seems rejuvenated and excited to be back in “Studio B.” As I get ready to leave I see another of Brenda’s “treasures.” In the backyard, parked next to the pool with a protective roof to ward off the elements, is a round, little vintage 1965 blue and white Scotty camper, happily serving as a pool house. She bought it for a couple hundred dollars at a garage sale.

“Isn’t it cute? My husband and I fixed it up,” she says. “It has a new life!” •

Attend the opening of Brenda J. Antonowicz’s exhibit Friday, March 4, 2016, 6-8pm Fusion Art Gallery 8485 Turin Road, Rome

Brenda J. Antonowicz’s artwork is dynamic, often vertical, and textural. She uses recycled, and unconventional mediums like newspaper, eggs shells, rice, and even joint compound.

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Education: Bachelor of Music Performance-Bowling Green State University; Graduate Studies at Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard/ American Opera Theater, Doctor of Musical Arts Bowling Green State University, 100 Most Prestigious Persons in 100 Years of Bowling Green State University Current employment/position: Music Faculty, Voice Teacher at Hamilton College Collaborations: Performed with the Metropolitan Opera; Chicago Lyric Opera; San Francisco Opera; Teatro alla Scala, Milano; Teatro dell’ Opera, Rome; The Royal Opera at Covent Garden; Bayerische Staatsoper; Wiener Staatsoper; Deutscher Oper Berlin; Dresden’s Semperoper; Theatre du Chatelet; Opera de Nice; Theatre Champs Elysee; Staatsoper Stuttgart; Frankfurt Oper; NHK and the Bunka Keikan in Japan; Opera de Santiago, Chile; Teatro de Opera Colombia; Opera de Oviedo; and Teatro Royal de Madrid.

Influences: My wife and teacher and coach, Sharon; Jim Wilson, Voice Teacher; and every note of music that I have been blessed to see and hear!

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MV Nature

march in the forest

Skunk Cabbage is among the earliest plants to bloom

story and photos by Matt Perry March in the forest is a time of profound change. Typically, it’s when winter starts to release its grip on the land. All of the water that has been locked up in the form of ice and snow is only now becoming available to a vast network of thirsty roots. Imperceptible life within trees and plants begins reasserting itself in tangible ways. The leaf buds are swollen, seemingly on the verge of bursting, but still the trees must hold off or risk damage from ice or heavy snows. The ground is beginning to settle back down now after being heaved up in some places by a deep penetrating frost. I walk through one area where the subterranean frost has grown into stout shards of ice. They make tenuous supports for the fractured top soil. The earth gives way with every step and it feels like I’m walking on loose pie crust.

A Crow body impression or a “crow angel”

Since the beginning of the month, migrant birds have been pouring in from their winter havens in the south. It’s too early for the birds that spent the winter in tropical regions to return, but not for the Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles that winter over much farther north. Now large flocks of them fly over the leafless tree canopy without stopping. They’re heading for the wetlands, though some portion of them will spend time at the nature preserve’s feeding stations. Canada Geese fly over as well, but mostly not in flocks. Now it’s mated pairs that are on route to their prospective breeding territories. Two fly over low, just above the tree line. Their course is direct and their relatively soft honk calls confirm their bond and sense of purpose. I can tell when they reach the beaver ponds because their arrival initiates an argument between them and geese that were already on the water. In the coming days, a succession of splashy skirmishes between males will determine which pair wins the right to breed there.

In the forest, birds are preparing for their spring concert. The musicians have been tuning up their instruments for a few weeks

Large flocks of Common Grackles show up at the feeders

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and some have already begun singing their songs in earnest. The Black-capped Chickadees are producing their plaintive three-note whistled songs. To many people, it sounds like the song is comprised of just two notes of equal duration – the first one high and the second, lower pitched.

The latter note is actually two notes separated by a semi-perceptible gap, which is made obvious if you record the song and then replay it at a slower speed. Also in the forest, the woodpeckers have started drumming on the most resonant trees. Their aim is to broadcast their territorial claim to the widest possible audience. The rapid machine- gun-style rapping of a male Hairy Woodpecker carries at least a half-mile through the forest and is no doubt heard by several potential rivals and mates alike. The mixed foraging flocks that chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, and the woodpeckers comprised for the winter are breaking up now. The relationship between flock-mates had been cordial, but as February came to a close, there grew an increasing amount of dissension in the ranks. Territoriality always begins to assert itself with the approach of the breeding season. A male White-breasted Nuthatch suddenly decides that he can’t tolerate the presence of another male nuthatch in

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the flock. Instead of spending all of his time and energy foraging for food, he concentrates more and more on driving rivals away, claiming a territory and securing a mate. A similar dynamic occurs with the other bird species in the flock. The snow is barely gone from the ground and virtually all of the forest birds are thinking about breeding.

The large winter crow roost in Utica starts to break up in mid-March. Since the roost formed last fall, thousands of crows had been spending the night in the crowns of the large shade trees that grow around neighborhoods and businesses in the city. It seems an unlikely refuge for what are typically con-

The simple whistled song of the Chickadee is heard throughout the woods

sidered committed “country” birds, but they are drawn in by the city’s relative warmth and the ever-present ambient light that allows them to see predators at night. Up until this point, every morning, right before dawn, the flocks would siphon off into long streamers that meander for miles and convey the birds deep Pairs of Canada Geese arrive at the beaver ponds into the suburbs and beyond, to distant hills and valleys. In midMarch the daily commute stops and individual crow families mobbing, chasing, and harassment. Typically, disperse from the flock and return to their own they are noisily escorted out of each claimed traditional breeding grounds. Family groups territory. The crows reacted quite strongly to are comprised of a mated pair and usually a a pair of Common Ravens that flew over the few offspring from the previous nesting seawoods the other day. Raven sightings in the son. I watched one of our local crows fly over Mohawk Valley have been increasing over with a branch in its bill. It’s headed for its famthe last decade as that species’ breeding range ily’s usual nesting site in a grove of tall Norexpands. Their low and guttural “waak” calls way Spruce trees. As the month progresses the and other odd vocalizations conjure up a preserve’s resident crow families are becoming more boreal or mountainous setting, but our increasingly intolerant of “foreign” crows that region’s patches of deciduous upland forest pass through or try to stop at the bird feedseem to suit them, too. The resident crows are ers. These former roost mates have now been not so appreciative of their large cousins, and deemed “intruders” and they are subjected to just the sight or sound of them elicits rage. I

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doubt have their mowatch as the whole family of crows takes turns ment in April. For now, diving at the ravens and the forest floor is the dodriving them off and main of mosses and othwell beyond the bounds er innocuous moss-like of their territory. plants. Little patches and The male White-breasted Nuthatch Spring Peepers denser carpets of green have already been callmoss go almost unnoing from the wetlands. They mostly call at ticed in the forest for much of the year, but in night, but this morning, in broad daylight, a late fall and early spring, when there is little or few grew impatient for the spawning season no snow cover, these humble plants become and let loose their remarkably loud calls. Their strikingly obvious and provide real evidence high pitched “peek” notes are synonymous that all is not as dormant as it seems in the with early spring wetlands, but even in the up- woods. While examining the forest’s diversiland forest, far from any standing water, a few ty of moss species, I chanced upon an exotic peepers can be heard calling. One would think looking variety of liverwort, called Thallose that locating such a loud-mouth frog would Liverwort. Unlike moss, the liverwort’s simbe a simple task, but zeroing in on the exact ple leaf-like structures are wide and flat and source of the sound is virtually impossible. In- resemble rough-textured tongues that are invariably, the amphibians fall silent when their tertwined. This plant acts like a ground cover unintended audience gets too close. in a damp depression that makes a half-circle Only the very earliest of the spring wild- around a small forested bluff. I’d been to the flowers have begun to push up from the forest same spot at other times of the year to check leaf litter. One of the first to show is the skunk on a group of Cinnamon Ferns and an out-ofcabbage, another is coltsfoot. It’s still too ear- place grove of spicebush, but I’d never before ly for bloodroot and Sharp-lobed Hepatica. noticed the lime-green liverwort.

Those two eager spring ephemerals will no When it comes time to leave the woods I

think of how each of the living organisms encountered on my walk is completely in tune with the season. Their physiology and behavior has been sculpted by time and the environment to fit perfectly into nature’s scheme.

Everything, from the trees to the Spring Peepers and from the mosses to the nuthatch, all instinctively know what to do and how to survive a new season’s challenges; their individual survival ensures that their species will persevere. Our understanding of their needs is a crucial element, just as our responsible stewardship of their habitats and of the greater ecosystem will help guarantee a future rich with subjects of boundless fascination. •

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On the farm with Suzie

Open Farm Day

Last month, I wrote about opening our home to an exchange student from India and how much I appreciated the experience and its many facets (“Our Life through a Very Different Lens,” Mohawk Valley Living February 2016).

There’s truly no better way to gain insight into a completely different culture than to share your life and open yourself to the opportunity to learn something completely “foreign.”

This past January and February, our farm (the Jones Family Farm) held two Open Farm Days in which we invited the general public to visit, pet baby goats and lambs, and have some hot cocoa—all free of charge, no strings attached. This is our fifth year doing so, and the event seems to grow every year in popularity.

Why would we want to invite the public onto our farm?

In many ways, I feel the same way about Open Farm Day as I did about opening our home to an exchange student: Visitors learn and ask questions about what we do and we

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have the opportunity to gain even more in return.

But what could we possibly gain? I’ve seen more grown men kiss baby lambs right on the lips than I can count. I’ve witnessed toddlers’ faces light up when they get to feel a newborn goat’s silky Master your workload the SMART way—with a WORKMASTER™ tractor from soft ears. I’ve chuckled with fellow mothers and New Holland. Available in 45, 51, and 62 PTO hp and in 2WD or FWD, WORKMASTER grandmothers when they see for the first time what tractors deliver dependable power, versatility, and simple operation. Smartest of all, a nursing lamb does to its mother. Even the hardthey’re easy to afford.

Upgraded bring farming comfort and efficiency to a to-impress teen crowd PowerStar™ gets a thrill when theytractors feel the tiny horns starting to form atop a kid goat’s completely new level. Both the 64-hp T4.65 PowerStar™ and 75-hp T4.75 are head. No matter what their age or profession, peo• New Tier 4B Final emissions compliant built Holland SMART ple just adoreNew hugging baby animals!

You couldwith: engines. say I’m addicted to the thrill of sharing something • Optional 540e PTO. so new and so precious. I’m a very lucky gal!

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• XL COMFORT: VisionView™ cab provides Of course, our Open Farm Day has its ulterior • 8 X 8 and synchronized transmission with industry-leading comfort, visibility motives, too. It is good for business. We open a shuttle. ™ convenience two doors, a small store stocked with ourwith products and wide-opening allow • Cast iron axle construction. people flat-deck to shop, if theyplatform, are interested.aBut more 10-vent climate system, • 2,700-lb 3-point lift capacity. importantly, our farm business isconsole, based on a re-left-hand CommandArc™ power lationship with the community. We sell our farm shuttle more. products primarilylever in the and Mohawk Valley and Master your workload the SMART way—with a WORKMASTER™ tractor from little•elsewhere, so we had better cultivate warm, XS OPERATING COSTS: Tier 4B engines with New Holland.

Available in 45, 51, and 62 PTO hp and in 2WD or FWD, WORKMASTER fuzzy feelings amongst our friends and neighbors! tractors deliver dependable power, versatility, and simple operation. Smartest of all, advanced common rail technology deliver Allowing the community open access to our operthey’re easy to afford. precise fueling optimal ation and meeting each memberfor of our farm fam- response and fuel ily faceefficiency to face reinforces that relationship and in with industry-leading, 600-hour • New Tier 4B Final emissions compliant many ways is simple, good-old-fashioned sales. service interval. engines.

But more than anything, I feel a deep-seated • Optional 540e PTO. responsibility to agriculture.

Open Farm to Daysave is • Choose New Holland you money, CLINTON TRACTOR & IMPL CO • Choice of R1(Ag) or R4(Ind) tires. our opportunity to remind people that farms are environment. downtime and protect the • 8 X 8 synchronized transmission with 31 Meadow St, CLINTON, NY 13323 important. Few people realize that in the last 20 shuttle. www.clintontractor.net • Cast iron axle construction. short years, New York State lost half of its dairy 315-853-6151 • 2,700-lb 3-point lift capacity. farms. Where did they go? Many were consolidated, but just as many sit empty and fallow. From our farm, one can look across the West Canada Creek and see farms dotted up and down the valley. Very © 2016 CNH Industrial America LLC. All rights reserved. New Holland is a trademark registered in the United States and many other countries, owned by or few of them are still in the business of farming. licensed to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates. New Holland is a trademark in the United States and many other countries, owned by or licensed Most barns sit empty. Quite frankly, I’m afraid of to CNH Industrial N.V., its subsidiaries or affiliates. the “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” reality that farmers face every day. For example, few people know that dairy farmers are facing the longest run of low CLINTON TRACTOR & IMPL CO milk prices seen in recent memory. How could 31 Meadow St, CLINTON, NY 13323 you know? Unless you are in a business that caters www.clintontractor.net to dairy farmers, are a dairy farmer or are related 315-853-6151 to one, you would never know. Your first inkling of trouble may be seeing the “For Sale” sign in the yard. And by then, it is simply too late.

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I also worry about the general public becoming disconnected from agriculture, leaving them vulnerable to misinformation. Farmer friends across this country are constantly amazed at what the public doesn’t know. Sadly, it is rare that someone sharing food or agricultural news has an actual basis in farming. So what do you do if you are worried about pesticides or herbicides? Ask a farmer what they do.

Are you worried about antibiotic use in farm animals? Ask a farmer what her protocols are. Do you hear disturbing stories about tainted milk, animal abuse, or hormones in meat? For the love of Pete, ask a farmer! One specific area, biotechnology, is regularly demonized because the vast majority knows so little about it. In fact, Stiefvater Distributors, Inc. it seems those most against genetic modification don’t want to hear 225 Clinton Rd., New Hartford from farmers that have 20+ years direct experience. My personal 225 Clinton Rd., Rt. 12B, New Hartford, NY • Call 315-853-5581 knowledge in the subject is purely academic since we are not crop 315-853-5581 Mon. 8am-7pm; Tue. thru Fri. 8am-5pm; Sat 8am-2pm • www.sdoutdoorpower.com farmers, but I understand that farmers need tools and seeds that work.

Store Hours: If I have a question about such a complex issue, you can bet I’ll ask a Mon 8-7; Tue-Fri 8-5; Sat 8-2 farmer familiar with the subject.

We Service What We Sell www.sdoutdoorpower.com The unsettling truth is farmers have never felt so disconnected Promoting a long, from those they feed. Very real conversations meant to direct food Stiefvater Distributors, Inc. production rarely include the voice of the farmer. But every farm225 Clinton Rd., New Hartford healthy relationship er has something valuable to say! So, this is where I’ll get a little 315-853-5581 between you and preachy: It’s our fault. It’s the fault of us farmers because we rarely Store Hours: want anything to do with the public. We farm because we like to work Mon 8-7; Tue-Fri 8-5; Sat 8-2 your four-legged with animals, in the fields or with equipment…not because we enjoy www.sdoutdoorpower.com companions. talking to people. But that is our downfall. It is our own fault that we are “out of sight, out of mind.” Farmers need to step out of their comfort zones and host their own version of an “Open Farm Day.” Leatherstocking 607-847-9990 It could be as simple as giving a talk to the lady’s group at church; 117 CoHwy 17, New Berlin Veterinary Services volunteering to talk to your kids’ class at school; or inviting the local Service for all your large animal needs.

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why join a csa?

By Denise A. Szarek

Spring has almost sprung, and around the Mohawk Valley, its last call to sign up for a CSA for the coming growing season. An acronym for “Community Supported Agriculture,” CSA commonly refers to a group whose members receive weekly shares of food from a certain farm (or group of farms) in the area. Each member is supporting their local agriculture, not through a retailer or farmers market, but by supporting the farm directly.

In 2010, my husband Bernie and I transitioned our 7 greenhouse nursery plant operation into a CSA called Three Goat Farm-CSA, for economic reasons and to be able to stay on the farm. We started with 11 members the first year, and in 2015 reached 68 members. This year we are scaling back to 50 members and will cap our shares at that number to better serve our members. We strive for ecological diversity and a wide variety of crop production on

the farm. We have been a NOFA-NY “Farmer Pledge” farm since 2014. Over the years we have partnered with other farms in the area to bring our members a dairy share from Kriemhild Dairy, Stoltzfus Family Dairy, and Oliver’s Organic Eggs. A cheese, chicken and gelato share from Jones Family Farm. A meat share from Sidehill Farmers and a monthly meat order from the Piggery in Ithaca, NY. We added a bi-weekly fruit share last season with the help of Farmshed Harvest in Syracuse and new this year will be a bi-annual seafood share from Wild For Salmon which will offer wild caught seafood from Alaska and New England.

Local Harvest.org refers to a CSA as “relational agriculture,” a fitting moniker in my book.

As a farmer we have a relationship with the soil, the plants, and the members. In turn the members get to share in that relationship with us.

Simply Blue-tiful!

But is a CSA right for you? Let’s look at the pros and cons: PRO: You know where your food comes from.

With a CSA share your produce comes directly from your farmer so you know who’s growing your food and how. With this level of transparency, you can rest assured knowing your farmer cares about what matters to you.

CON: You’re limited to that farm. And what if that farm gets tomato blight? Maybe you don’t care about their bumper crop of kohlrabi, or wish there were more cucumbers. Unfortunately, you’re beholden to the offerings that the farm

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sets out for you.

PRO: The food is fresh. This is farm to table in real time. Not only will the food always be fresh, but the pressure of a fridge full of produce will encourage you to be more adventurous in the kitchen. Signing up for a CSA forces you to be more creative and pushes you to try new things. Many CSA’s offer a weekly newsletter with info on new veggies and recipes. When confronted by a new or unfamiliar veggie, my advice to share members is – make soup!

CON: You must be ready to use it. Do you load up your fridge with perishables and forget about them? Joining a CSA is also a commitment to cook and if you eat out a lot and want to continue to, a CSA may not be for you. Of course, you could always split a share with a friend. Or my solution – throw more parties in the summer!

PRO: Its inexpensive. A typical share in the Mohawk Valley runs from $300-$600 and runs from June to the end of October, so its roughly $13- 25 weekly. While the offering typically contains 5-7 items each week, scouting the farmers market for the same items will quickly add up over the season to more than your share fee.

CON: Can I afford to pay my share upfront? Most CSA’s require you to pay for your share ahead of time, which can range anywhere from $250-$650. Some require payment in full, others have payment plans, sliding scale prices for low income families, and in NYS many will soon will be able to accept weekly payments using Snap/EBT benefits.

PRO: It’s Interactive. Many farms offer ways to be more involved. Often a CSA Farm is run by a small family, with one or more farmers also working off the farm. So help at pick up time is often a welcome relief. There are also opportunities to interact with other members at pot lucks and harvest suppers, and you’ll get to chat with you neighbors and meet many of them at pick up times.

CON: There are requirements. Some CSAs actually don’t require your volunteer work, but you should be prepared for this request. It’s a time requirement, many CSA’s require a certain amount of work hours from you depending on what share type you purchased.

PRO: The Surprises. Do you want to brag about your garlic scapes, or the different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, Asian greens and other veggies you can’t find in the grocery store?

Are you up for the challenge of discovering heirloom veggies you didn’t know existed and learning how to cook with them. Then joining a CSA might be right for you. You won’t always know what foods the season will bring you, and that’s exciting, especially when the unexpected becomes a favorite in your kitchen. It happens all the time! • Now it’s time to visit the many CSA Farms in the Mohawk Valley to see if joining a CSA is the right food buying choice for you. Three Goat Farm-CSA, Clinton; Common Thread-CSA, Madison; Szarek Greenhouses (Plant Start-CSA), Clinton; Down Dog Farm, Westmoreland; MAWS Farm, Newport; Quarry Brook Farm, Sherburne; Hughes Farm, Deansboro; Sidehill Farmers – Meat CSA, Manlius (pick up at Three Goat Farm-CSA); Takacs & Daughter Produce, Palatine Bridge; Jones Family Farm, Herkimer; Wormont Woolies, Cassville; Cold Brook Farm, Westmoreland; Sunset View Garlic & Veggies, Holland Patent; Slate Creek Farm, Holland Patent; Iron Hoof Farm, Lee Center; Old Path Farm, New Hartford.

You will also find many listed on www.localharvest.org

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CSA farmers also have the best recipes for veggies and I have a really good one to share with you. In the spring many farms have an abundance of greens, chard and kale. So here’s a great spring kale recipe:

Spring Kale Salad

By Denise Szarek 1 large bunch Tuscan Kale, torn into bit size pieces 1 clementine, sliced thin 1 C fresh strawberries 1 C pumpkin seeds, roasted, salted 4 oz feta or blue cheese 1 C fresh squeezed lime juice 1/3 C local honey 2 T minced shallots 1/3-1/2 C good olive oil Salt & pepper to taste To make the dressing, combine lime juice, minced shallots, honey and a pinch of salt & pepper in a blender. Blend until all ingredients are combined.

While the blender is still on slowly pour in the olive oil until it emulsifies. Set aside.

For the salad, wash the greens, pat dry and tear into bite size pieces, discard the stems. Put all the greens in a large salad bowl and toss with a little bit of the dressing, just until coated. Top the greens with the clementine, strawberries, pumpkin seeds, and feta.

Drizzle a little more dressing on top.

Serves 4.

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mi casa

By Jorge L. Hernández

If you feel you can’t go home again, step into Mi Casa at 1315 Genesee St. in Utica.

While it may not be your idea of home, the new Caribbean restaurant whose name means “My House” harkens back to a spot on a palm-fringed beach in the Dominican Republic. All that’s missing is the sand under your feet.

Owner Humberto Martinez of Utica says his menu goes beyond the traditional plantain and protein fare. “We wanted to open a restaurant that didn’t serve the typical buffet-steam table offerings,” Humberto says. “We wanted the food made to order, to our tastes.”

That includes a freshly made seafood salad, Ensalada de Marisco, elegantly pierced by a trio of fried length-wide plantain chips perched atop like masts on the fruits of the sea.

Humberto normally speaks through his interpreter, the chic blackclad Joanna Polanco, who also works as the restaurant’s waitress. But the day of the visit he spoke freely to this writer in his native Spanish.

His wife, Luisa, is the chef and creator of Mi Casa’s plentiful yet reasonably-priced food. “She’s been cooking for 22 years and knows all about presentation.” He says that Luisa is very much in charge of the whole operation.

The Martinez couple, along with four children who also work off and on at the restaurant, emigrated from the DR to New York City before being coaxed by friends to settle in Utica.

“We wanted to start a restaurant in New York City, but didn’t feel comfortable opening one there,” Humberto says. “We liked what we saw in Utica and came here. Utica is a place with many opportunities to start a business and a family life for those who want to work hard.”

Mi Casa opened in mid January after several months of renovations. Humberto proudly points to his handcrafted roughhewn wood tables and chairs. “I saw them once in a restaurant and decided if I ever opened my own I would make them myself,” he says.

Humberto says that favorites so far at the restaurant include a chicken breast entrée (Pechuga del Valle) stuffed with sweet plantains and mozzarella, topped by a cheese sauce, and accompanied by a yucca purée that’s so smooth and silky

40

Waitress, Joanna Polanco, is both server and interpretor for the Spanish speaking owners.

Chef Luisa Martinez prepares traditional Caribbean dishes made to order.

A favorite dish at Mi Casa is Pechuga del Valle (chicken breast stuffed with sweet plantains).

The owner of Mi Casa restaurant, Humberto Martinez, wants people to experience the taste of the Caribbean and features dishes like Palomita de Mi Tierra on the menu.

that it makes one forget all about mashed potatoes forever.

Meals start with a basket of cassava chips with an eggplant dip. The ordered appetizer Palomita de Mi Tierra arrives thus: a slab of fried plantain, lathered with guacamole with a jumbo shrimp floating on top. The three or four portions each give name to this delicacy named bird of my land.

Humberto says he recently noticed some customers photographing the restaurant’s seafood paella in its wide-mouth handled pan and the picture appeared some time later on the diners’ Facebook page.

Joanna also recalls a table of customers where one wife said her husband was a very picky eater and difficult to take out to eat—but he loved his meal at Mi Casa.

The restaurant serves traditional rice and beans and fried, mashed, and smashed plantains of every type, regular and sweet, along with meats and seafood.

Humberto says he shops locally and in Albany and New York City for the Caribbean products and produce that are the restaurant’s staples.

Also on the menu are the expected flans and ice cream concoctions, but the star of the desserts is the tiramisu, presented on a platter smeared with chocolate and caramel sauce that would be the envy of any restaurant.

All that’s missing at Mi Casa: if only Humberto would sell those chunky tables and chairs on the side to make anyone’s home feel as cozy! •

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Blue Birds and Bluebirds story & photos by matt perry

The Blue Jay is by far our most common blue bird

My typical answer for people that ask if we have Bluebirds at the nature preserve is, “Which blue birds did you have in mind?” The Mohawk Valley has quite a few blue birds in residence. In fact, the list is surprisingly long and varied. In just a couple of minutes, I was able to come up with 22 birds that were blue or at least showed a fair amount of blue in their plumage.

Everything from the stately Great Blue Heron to the tiny (but far from insignificant) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is eligible to be counted. Among the area’s best anglers, the Belted Kingfisher, is about as blue as they come. As is the species most commonly mistaken for a “true” bluebird; I refer to the male Indigo Bunting, which of all the songbirds in our region is the only one that is entirely blue. Several of the region’s warbler species have blue plumage, including the Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Myrtle Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, and Cerulean Warbler. The latter bird, which is the bluest of the warbler tribe, also has the distinction of being the rarest. Though the Cerulean is indisputably blue, this is not the case for all warbler species that include the word “blue” in their common names. One would be hard pressed to find anything close to a blue hue in the wing of the Blue-winged Warbler. It seems that in

warbler parlance, “blue” often means gray. As for the Cerulean Warbler, the species has been in serious decline for decades and now is probably lost to the Mohawk Valley as a breeding species, although I will occasionally encounter one during spring migration. The last known local breeding grounds for Cerulean Warblers were in a few miles of riparian (or riverside) woodlands in the Verona area. On the flip side, our most common blue bird is the irrepressible Blue Jay, a species that, like the American Robin and Black-capped Chickadee, is known to virtually everyone.

Perhaps to some of us this kind of familiarity leads to contempt, but I for one can never overlook the great beauty of our common Blue Jays. Interestingly, most of our blue birds, including the jay, have no blue pigment in their feathers, but only appear blue because of structures in their plumage that reflect blue light.

Blue is a rare color for raptors, with the notable exception of those that specialize on taking bird prey. All three bird-hunting hawks in the accipiter family, including the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and Northern Goshawk, are blue backed when in adult plumage. The same could be said of all three of our region’s resident falcon species, though in the case of the Amer-

ican Kestrel only the adult male shows blue on its back. Some insist that the blue-gray color of the adult Peregrine Falcon is much more gray than blue, but to many of us the Peregrine is indisputably a blue bird or a “Blue Meany” as some have affectionately dubbed it.

In the rural countryside, the true blue bird is the Eastern Bluebird and, fortunately, in modern times they have become one of the more likely blue birds you’re apt to encounter in meadows, fields, and old orchards. Two other bird species that are blue and share a similar preference for open habitat are the Barn Swallow and the Tree Swallow. While the former species relies mostly on barns and other large man-made structures for nesting, the latter species prefers to use nest boxes. Of course, this naturally leads to competition between Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds as they vie for same housing.

In the pre-Colonial period, little is known about how common Bluebirds were in the region, but since much of the Mohawk Valley was heavily forested, it’s doubtful the species had a significant presence. In that wooded landscape, it’s assumed that Bluebirds relied on blow downs and fires to create clearings for their habitat, and that they also utilized wood-

43

ed swamps and beaver wetlands as they do to- along highways and in green spaces throughout day. It’s likely that clearings made by Native the rural countryside. Volunteers meticulously Americans also enabled Bluebirds to prosper. monitored the nesting progress of the birds that According to the early naturalists of the region, bred in the boxes, and over the course of a few in the decades immediately before and after decades they literally charted the Bluebird’s 1900, Bluebirds were comeback. At the same time the common in the partial recovery of beaver populations in the Northeast helped to open countryside increase the acreage of wetlands and they readily rich in tree cavities. Surveys of nested in abandoned woodpecker breeding Bluebirds conducted Eastern Bluebird holes as well as in in New York State from 1980 are not the only natural tree cavities.

– 2005 showed an encouraging “blue” birds However, by the 3.2 % annual increase. mid-20th century

In 1999, when I first began their population working at the nature preserve had considerably at Spring Farm, one of my goals dwindled in the was to set up Bluebird nest box Mohawk Valley and trails in our fields and meadows. throughout the Northeastern U.S. Their decline In a few years we had constructed and mounted was primarily due to competition for nesting well over one hundred cavities with non-native House Sparrows and boxes. It was amazEuropean Starlings. These two highly success- ing how popular they ful and aggressive species had no trouble taking were right from the over the Bluebirds’ traditional breeding areas onset. In particular, around farm yards and fields. Another problem Tree Swallows were that led to the Bluebird’s decline was the lack quick to discover and of natural tree cavities in the largely deforested use them. They took rural environment. Removal of dead trees and over most of the boxthe pruning of dead branches from living trees es and created nesting contributed to the species’ housing shortage. colonies in places the The loss of wetland habitat also played a role in species never bothdepressing Bluebird numbers, since woodland ered with before. It Belted Kingfishers swamps with their abundance of dead standing was quite a transforare about as blue trees historically provided abundant nesting op- mation: instant habas they come portunities. When the swamps and beaver wet- itat – just add boxes. lands disappeared, so did most of the nesting House Wrens too were options for Bluebirds. great beneficiaries of The North American Bluebird Society the nest boxes, utiliz(NABS) came into being in 1978 and the New ing up to a fourth of York State Bluebird Society (NYSBS) was them and, unlike the established in 1982. The aim of both organi- swallows, they would zations was to provide Bluebirds with breed- use them for multiple broods in a single season. ing habitat, which they did by promoting the The boxes placed closest to Spring Farm Cares’ creation of Bluebird nest box trails in New active horse barns were monopolized by House York State and throughout the country. Many Sparrows. Starlings weren’t able to use the boxthousands of well-designed boxes were placed es since the 1½ inch diameter entrance holes

effectively excluded them. Bluebirds were only the fourth most common nesting species using the boxes, but that wasn’t too bad. Typically, each field that held a nest box trail hosted one family of Bluebirds, which would usually nest more than once in a season. Other occasional users of the boxes were Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and White-footed Mice.

Fortunately, the mice limited their use of the boxes to wintertime, which meant they weren’t in direct competition with the songbirds.

I tend to have a high regard for all birds, but the singular charm of the Bluebird is impossible to overlook. I know that it’s the gorgeous plumage of the adult male that usually draws the admiration of the masses, but there is so much more to the species. Bluebirds are in the thrush family and they share many of the behavioral traits associated with the primarily forest dwelling members of that clan. A Bluebird, like the other thrushes, is an accomplished insect hunter – the equivalent of predatory dinosaurs to their prey, which are for the most part, caterpillars, and beetles, and just about anything else that crawls or wriggles in the soil.

The Bluebird, being a denizen of meadows and clearings, uses a different technique to secure its prey. Instead of using the Wood Thrush’s method of turning over leaves and stabbing at something freshly uncovered on the ground, the Bluebird borrows a page from the American Kestrel’s playbook. He takes a high perch and surveys the ground below for movement. When he detects motion from prey on the ground he plunges down and grabs it with his bill. This method of hunting is quite successful and, in ideal conditions, it results in prey being captured more often than not.

Of all the songbirds in the Northeast,

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The Indigo Bunting is our only bird that is entirely blue

thrushes are generally thought of as the finest singers. In the Mohawk Valley, the Wood Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Veery provide the most compelling part of the orchestration in healthy forest habitat. These thrushes have the ability to produce more than one flute-like tone at a time and in effect are able to harmonize with themselves. In the open woods and forest edges, our most common thrush – the American Robin, produces barrages of cheery phrases in a manner commonly referred to as caroling.

In contrast to its relatives, the Bluebird’s voice is a soft and somewhat garbled whistle; it’s also flute-like but not double toned. Usually the song is broken up into distinct phrases, but occasionally the male’s warblings are long and more contiguous. The overall effect is pleasant and is a perfect complement to a newly awakening spring meadow. The soft tones also fit the Bluebird’s temperament, which is indisputably mild. Bluebirds have the advantage of being on the breeding grounds at the nature preserve before most of their serious competition arrives from the south. During a warm spell in the middle of winter, even when there is still snow on the ground, it’s not that unusual to see a pair of Bluebirds checking out a nest box. Establishing their nest early is really one of the only advantages the Bluebirds have on their rivals.

Nest box or tree cavity selection is an extremely enjoyable process to observe with

Bluebirds. Typically a mated pair will a tug-of-war. The domestic disagreement lastfind a few prospective sites and then ed for about 20 seconds, that’s when the male make a show of flying back and forth seemingly remembered his part of the nuptial between them. The male will enter bargain. He let go of the tribute and the female the nest hole, have a look around, and flew off with it in order to enjoy it at a safe disif it meets with his approval he will tance. That was a wise precaution just in case perch over it and begin singing. Al- he changed his mind again. No hard feelings ternately, he may give rapid “chirp” resulted and later that day the pair was seen notes. He sometimes emphasizes his mating on the roof of their chosen abode. The vocalizations by quivering his wings next day the female was observed collecting and even bouncing with excitement. nesting material. She began with small sticks, With this display he hopes to entice ferrying them over to the nest box one by one. the female over so she can render a Over a period of three days, she made hundreds verdict on the dwelling. She seems of trips to the box, which resulted in a sturdy to possess the more important vote in cup shaped nest. The inner part of the nest was approving which home the pair will lined with fine grasses. During the construction ultimately raise their brood in, and that’s fitting period, the male kept watch over the territory since the nest building and incubation duties and occasionally sang from high perches at the will entirely fall to her. She comes and looks periphery of the meadow. He would continue to over the exterior of the box; she then cautious- bring food to the female during the egg laying ly peeks into the hole and if all looks right she period and through the 12 to 14 day incubation squeezes in and checks out the interior. During process. this “run-through” the male is barely able to By this point in mid-April, our resident contain his excitement. He leans forward over Tree Swallows were returning from the south the roof and peers at the hole, waiting for his and beginning to engage in their own nest box mate to reemerge. selection process.

The female As the swalThe male Black-throated Blue Warbler is one lows made their Bluebird is courtof several blue warblers ed with gifts of way to the Bluebirds’ immediate caterpillars and neighborhood, other insects. The it seemed likely male will often there was going pass these to the to be trouble in female while paradise. The nest she perches on box the Bluebirds the roof of the picked was one nest box. I once of a pair placed recall seeing a close together on male trying to either side of a offer a June bug trail. Their box to his mate. She was on the west took hold of the side of the trail, plump beetle in her bill, but at the moment of gifting, the male but they used the east box as a perching place seemed to have second thoughts about parting and they seemed poised to defend it. Of course, with something so extravagant. He held on Bluebirds aren’t known for their spirited detight to his side of the insect, thereby instigating fense of territory. Typically, they are conflict

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the swallows’ flight show the female Bluebird emerged from the box and stationed herself on the peak of the roof. It sounds implausible for a member of her gentle tribe, but she looked quite formidable and like the ultimate immovable object. In an audacious move, one of the swallows put down directly on the roof only inches away from where the female Bluebird was making a stand.

With gapping bill and wings flaring, she charged at the swallow and cast it back into the air. No bird can rival the flying abilities of swallows and the Bluebirds didn’t try. Their only tactical advantage lay with their superior size and their parental tenacity. The swallows tested the resolve of the Bluebirds for a little while longer before moving off to check out some uncontested boxes further up the trail.

Within the week, though, there would be a pair of Tree Swallows occupying the Bluebirds’ “guesthouse.”

As close neighbors, the two families were largely indifferent to each other, but no doubt both gleaned benefits by cooperating in a kind of neighborhood watch, and alerting each other (however inadvertently) to approaching nest predators. Part of the reason Bluebirds and Tree Swallows make good neighbors is that they aren’t in competition for the same food. Tree Swallows almost entirely feed on flying insects captured on the wing, while Bluebirds primarily rely on ambushing insect prey on the ground. The Bluebirds also eat fruit, which is something swallows never do.

The dangers to cavity nesting birds aren’t

Peregrine Falcons are sometimes referred to as “Blue Meanies”

averse, and in many cases they will readily cede their ground when pressed. However, even Bluebirds will fight harder if they’ve invested enough effort in their nesting, and especially when they have hatchlings. This particular pair of Bluebirds didn’t appreciate one of the Tree Swallows landing on the roof of their “guesthouse.” The male dove from his lookout post on a locust tree branch and swooped at the intruder. He emitted harsh scolding notes as he skimmed the air above the swallow. Without The Great Blue being struck, but apparHeron is our ently caught by surprise, largest blue Bird the swallow zoomed off and began flying in tight circles around the nest box area. He was soon joined by a second swallow, presumably his mate. They were like a two-bird swarm of bees – zipping through the air at high speed and showing off their trademark agility. One of them landed on the guesthouse again, but was instantly displaced by the male Bluebird.

I was not sure how far advanced the Bluebird nest was at this time or whether or not there were hatchlings inside the box, but during

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precisely the same as those facing birds that build open-cup nests in the branches of trees. In many ways, nests in cavities are more secure.

Brood parasites like Brown-headed Cowbirds, rarely invade nest cavities in order to deposit their own eggs and/or evict the eggs of the nest’s owner. In fact, I’ve never personally seen any cavity nesting species, including Bluebirds, Chickadees, or Tree Swallows raising cowbird chicks. Jays, grackles, and other birds that have a proclivity for robbing eggs and nestling are normally unable to infiltrate cavity nests. Though egg-robbing snakes are an issue in other parts of the country, in the Mohawk Valley it’s primarily mammalian predators that manage to get their paws in the cookie jar and deprive female Bluebirds of their broods and sometimes of their lives. More than once I’ve checked a box to find only a handful of blue feathers, when only the day before it held an adult female and her brood. Red Squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, and weasels such as mink and ermine will destroy nests when they can, and all of these creatures are impossible for a songbird to repel. In properly fashioned Bluebird nest boxes, with entrance holes a standard 1½ inches in diameter, at least most of the large predators can be successfully excluded.

Competition for a finite amount of tree cavities (or man-made boxes) in the environment forces some songbirds into what some would consider antisocial behavior. Probably the most

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The Hermit Thrush is closely related to Bluebirds serious threats to Bluebirds actually come from other cavity-nesting songbirds. Both the alien House Sparrow and the native House Wren are known to destroy the eggs of Bluebirds as a prelude to taking over their nest boxes. The sight of a punctured blue egg on the ground beneath a Bluebird’s nest box could be evidence of this “crime.” Male House Wrens are notorious for this behavior as they go about claiming multiple boxes within their territories. The wren isn’t always a terrible neighbor, though, and I know of many cases in which they’ve lived side-byside Bluebirds for entire breeding cycles – all apparently without incident.

Though the male Bluebird doesn’t participate in the incubation of the eggs, once the

young hatch, he springs into action and begins hunting, the harrier flies low (only 6 – 20 feet) bringing food back to the box. The female, who over the ground, weaving back and forth, and has up to this point been largely sequestered by flying in long arcs over the terrain -- all the her in-house duties, will begin hunting to help while looking and listening for mice, voles, feed the hungry clutch. On some days – par- any active bird nest, or recently fledged chick. ticularly cold or rainy days -- hunting can be Upon leaving the nest, young Bluebirds may difficult as insects effectively hide themselves spend some time on or near the ground and, from the elements. The frequency of feedings is despite their somewhat camouflaged plumage, ratcheted down by bad weather, and the female they can be an obvious target for a harrier on its is forced to do more brooding and less hunting. morning rounds. I recall once watching a harIt can take as little as 14 days or as long as 20 rier meticulously work a field that four Bluedays before the young are ready to leave the bird chicks had just fledged into. I don’t know nest. Recent spring seasons have been relative- for sure that she nabbed any of them, but they ly good for Bluebirds. Less rain and warmer would have been easy targets as they lay in the temperatures tend to increase their chances of open clinging to stems of blackberry bramble or to the base of a young breeding success. goldenrod plant. As for Raptors can the kestrel, his hunting be an issue for A pair of Bluebirds perch on their box’s roof technique was quite meadow nesting novel – at least to me. birds. The NorthHe would work three ern Harrier and the different Bluebird box American Kestrel trails, targeting the boxes are two species themselves. The kestrel that are normally would arrive at a nest considered rodent box entrance in much hunters, but I’ve the same manner as a seen them both parent swallow returning hunt in the fields with food, but instead of where the Bluefeeding the nestling that birds nest. When

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These Bluebird eggs were punctured by a wren or a House Sparrow

first pokes out its head, the young bird is taken as prey. After carrying out a few raids like this, the kestrel becomes public enemy number one and wherever it goes it travels amid a swarm of angry swallows.

After successfully fledging from the nest box, the Bluebird family moves to the periphery of the meadow or even into another type of habitat altogether – somewhere safer and less exposed. One family moved into the forest and for a short time joined its woodland cousins,

the Wood Thrushes.

There they spend some time thrashing through the forest leaf litter looking for grubs and even feeding on the early ripening fruits of Red-berried Elder.

Another Bluebird family, post-fledging, moved to a young beaver meadow where new grass grew sparsely on the silty soil and the movements of insects were obvious.

If it’s early enough in the season the parent Bluebirds will try to re-nest, and their attention will necessarily be drawn away from their first brood – but not completely. During the nest building, egg laying and incubation period, the male Bluebird is still able to keep track of the fledglings, at least until the new clutch hatches and then all of his devotion will be transferred to them and the adolescent Bluebirds will become independent. Sometimes fledglings from the first nesting pitch in to help raise the new

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Just a day ago, I saw a small flock of Bluebirds at the beaver pond. Two males in their full finery came down into a Witch-Hazel bush only 20 feet away from where I stood. Their bright colors made for a stark contrast against the gray and browns of the (snowless) February landscape. Their white bellies, orange chests, and especially their blue heads and backs were set aglow by the mid-morning sun. At first I despaired at not having my camera, but then it occurred to me to simply appreciate the moment.

In only a few short months, these amazing birds will be back in their fields and meadows, raising new broods and filling the air with their songs, and that’s always something worth waiting for. •

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Get Your Irish on at Killabrew!

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Locally Owned & Operated

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Oneida/sHERRILL Enjoy clams and sea bass in nori ginger broth at the Lakeview in Sherrill!

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ROME

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56

mv living

antique shopping guide Businesses Est. 1998 - Mary T. Gearhart, sole proprietor

BlackCat

Attic Addicts The Queen’s Closet

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ANTIQUES

We’re letting the cat out of the bag!

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Black Cat Antiques is the destination for Antique Furnishings, Vintage Clothing, Jewelry, Accessories, and Primitive Handmade Gifts!

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Canal House Antiques

14 East Main St. Earlville (315) 691-5721

Open Tues-Fri: 9-4, Sat: 9-2, Closed Sun & Mon

A pretty selection of Hull Pottery at the Canal House Antiques!

Multi-Dealer Shop

Specializing in antique furniture, glassware, jewelry, books, linens, and primitive rug hooking accesories

Winter: Open by Request

Butternut Barn may be closed for the winter, but we’ve been busy antique shopping for new items for our March 12th “Offerings” show and our April 9th & 10th opening for our “40th Year At The Barn!” (and our booth at Showcase Antiques!)

58

(315) 893-7737

Winter Hours: Open in March, Sat & Sun 10-4

6737 Route 20, Bouckville, NY

Foothills

Mercantile The BIG RED BARN filled with antiques & vintage pieces, collectibles, glassware, furniture, accessories. New items arriving daily. Visit our gift shop!

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ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES

Antique Center

Rt. 12, Waterville, NY

(315) 316-7791 Seasonal Hours

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NEWPORT MARKETPLACE

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Top Notch Garden Center

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Herkimer county historical society

the lady aeronaut of frankfort

By Susan Perkins, Town of Manheim Historian Mary Breed Hawley Myers (1849-1932) aka “Charlotta the Lady Aeronaut” was born in Horenllsville, (now named Hornell) New York. She married Carl Edgar Myers (1842-1923) in November 1871 in Hornellsville, NY where Carl was working as a photographer. He was born at Fort Herkimer, NY and moved to Mohawk, NY as a young child. A few years after their marriage they moved to Mohawk. The couple had one daughter whose name was Elizabeth Aerial Myers Wing (1881-1960). Mary and Carl moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1919 to live with their daughter Elizabeth Wing.

In 1889, Carl and Mary bought the Gates Mansion in Frankfort.

The mansion had been built in 1878 at a cost of $35,000 by Fred Gates (1847-1938) who was the son of William Gates (1809-1877) who was the founder of the Gates Match Factory. The first two floors were used for family living and the third floor was the factory with a chemical laboratory, machine, carpentry, and sewing shops. Mary and Carl invented and manufactured aeronautical equipment and instruments for carrying balloons used in meteorological experiments.

Mary aka Carlotta became well known in Frankfort and around the country for her daring hot air balloon ascensions at various events. Her first public balloon ascension took place on July 4, 1880 before a crowd of 15,000 people at Little Falls.

Mary worked right alongside Carl working on the many experiments. She wrote down data, did the record keeping, and did the cutting and sewing together fabric segments to form balloons and doping the seams.

Carl invented new or improved systems for generating gases and constructor airships in addition to hydrogen balloons, including aerial velocipede, gas kite sky cycle and electrical aerial torpedo.

In 1886, Carlotta made her most notable ascensions from Franklin, Pennsylvania. It was a test flight to see if Carl’s latest lightweight balloon would perform with natural gas instead of hydrogen.

The balloon was inflated directly by a pipeline from the natural gas well. The balloon carried Carlotta to a great height. She was over four miles high in the sky. Carlotta had set a world record or al-

The Myers Mansion became known as the Balloon Farm

Carlotta Myers, the Lady Aeronaunt

Professor Carl Myers

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Quality Work at Reasonable Prices Tour our outdoor display anytime and explore our large selection of monuments, vases, benches, mausoleums, portraits and pet markers. We also offer cemetery lettering services, restoration, cleaning, maintenance, and veteran marker attachments.

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62

titude with a natural gas balloon. She no ill effects from this altitude.

In 1994, Joann and Theresa Maneen purchased the Balloon Farm. The Balloon Farm is on the State and National Register of Historic Places. •

Balloon on the ground with group of people to the right.

All photographs used in this article are courtesy of Joann and Theresa Maneen.

The Herkimer County Historical Society has for sale the Arcadia Book “Images of America Frankfort” for sale for $10.00 plus tax and $4.00 for shipping and handling. To purchase a book call the Society at 315-866-6414 or email to order at herkimerhistory@yahoo.com.

Balloon basket hanging on the side porch of the Balloon Farm

Hydrogen pump placed in front of the balloon.

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

Open Mon.-Fri. 8-5pm Saturday 8-2pm Closed Sunday

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CHAPTER 18

TALES FROM

SHAWANGUNK Shawangunk nature preserve, cold brook

by Peggy Spencer Behrendt 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.

1977: Tim is writing in my diary while I press tiny tomato seeds into little trays of dirt, proof of my confidence that spring is coming soon and time to return to the soil to work and play. I lay a piece of waxed paper on top to keep them moist, place the trays in the south window of the loft, then return to mending the wool blankets I bought at a garage sale last fall.

Tim chats with son Dave in our Cottage

64

I try to weave my cotton threads neatly, over and under each other with the needle, to mimic the weave and weft of the wool fabric. To me, patches are an art form and beautiful in their rendering and function…if I can just keep track of the pattern!

I read what he wrote: “Clear darkened blue is the sky – still the trees, silent the stars. I am with it as a spectator in the garden, now deep in snow, covering memories of summer growth and autumn harvest. The lamps are filled, the children are safe, the water jug full, the meal finished, the cottage warm with plenty of wood in the rack.

Mixed feelings beckon me to memories of other times -- gone forever, yet still so close in mind.”

I remember the wonderful homemade dresses, coats, hats, shirts, and vests my mother made for us when we were young.

She was an avid homemaker; On Sunday mornings, after making sure we were all dressed for church and had breakfast, she’d put potatoes, casserole, and a roast into the oven for a big family dinner with relatives after church. Dad enjoyed a well-deserved quiet morning with the paper, or went to the little Methodist church he grew up in only a few miles away in Clark Mills. Our ride to church could sometimes be a little frenetic. Seat belts were not yet invented, but we had Mom’s right arm if there was a quick stop. It whipped out like a benevolent rocket, giving

Peg, on the far right, with her Mom and siblings dressed in homemade outfits for Easter us a relatively soft impact and intimate view of her coat sleeve and white gloves.

I often spent the ride to church sliding around in the back seat as we turned corners, attempting to catch up on my Sunday school lesson, eyes shifting madly between the various religious texts. Preparing ahead of time was evidently too practical an idea for my adolescent mind.

Tim begins to tell me how he had to wear itchy wool knickers to church, but our reminiscence is disturbed by a low rumble and a dramatic crash outside our cottage, jarring the peaceful slumber of frozen forest. The ice over Misty Brook has cracked and shattered, falling into the empty space below in a jumble of jagged geometry. Winter has unclenched its frigid grip. The forest creatures, run, squawk and flutter away.

But soon, finches are chattering again, and the chickadees are singing their special spring melodies: one high note followed by two quick tones at a lower pitch, interspersed with conferences of excited twitter and chitchat. Tim and I imitate their song quite often, calling each other as we do our chores outside. Sometimes, we are able to call chickadees themselves, who come to take seed from our hands.

Rain pours down for several days. Masses of alabaster snow disintegrate into aqueous amber, and Misty Brook becomes a discombobulated effusion of water in all its forms: ice, slush, snow, water. We are warm and dry inside, but one of us will soon have to brave the frigid drizzle and take the chamber pot out to the compost bin. Tomorrow morning when we go to church,

should we wear hip boots or will barn boots be high enough to wade across the expanse of icy snow melt between us and the road? Then, of course, there’s the possibility that a foot might push through a soft spot in the ice on the path, with the consequence of a boot full of heavy, sopping, glacial ice water to add an element of misery for the rest of the day.

Our eldest, Dave, spends his senior year of high school full time with us. He sleeps in the Children’s Cottage until it gets too cold, then moves to our cottage for the winter. He studies by kerosene lantern in the loft, and heads to ski slopes as often as he can. He has already skipped a grade, but is tempted to drop out, because he is bored and would prefer to work, and earn money. We offer him $5 per day to continue to attend until graduation and he accepts.

I pack lunches for him of unleavened, whole wheat chapati with dried fruit and nuts, baked on my kerosene hot plate in a cast iron skillet.

They’re spread with peanut butter and wild apple butter, then wrapped in wax paper. A substantial bag of popcorn, a handful of carrots from the root cellar, and a wild apple or two with a jar of mint tea fills out his lunch bag. He always accepts our alternative diet very graciously, and we all understand that he can purchase more traditional American fare when he’s out.

He’s really quite easy to get along with and we have many, amiable conversations in the long winter evenings.

Late March -- Easter Sunday. I wear a new skirt and blouse, stitched on my treadle sewing machine. The church is a hubbub of happy chaos: the euphonic ambiance of choir rehearsal, the dusky aroma of coffee, cinnamon and sweets from the kitchen, prepared by good-hearted, stalwart women for an ample fellowship hour.

There’s a table of home-baked breads to raise money for Unicef and children in new, spring outfits shyly peeking out from behind Mom or Dad’s legs, others running about with excited, pink cheeks. And don’t forget the scent of daffodils, hyacinths, and lilies from the altar.

Tim rings the chimes and quiet descends as extra chairs are opened and everyone is settled. His voice reverberates throughout the overflowing sanctuary with words of inspiration, but he notices an anxious parent in the back, looking for his

Peg’s Grandmother Ethel Huck Renew

t h e daughters, who signals Tim with pulpit. shrugged shoulders. Concerned, Tim scans the As the girls are dragged off by their exasperated but relieved dad, one of them loudly sanctuary for them as he continues.

Something heavy falls on his foot behind the and sarcastically calls back, “Thanks a lot, Tim!” large, wooden pulpit and he can barely suppress and the whole congregation cracks up. a grimace and sharp yelp of pain. His black cot- Finally home and pleasantly tired after a ton deck shoes offer little protection. He figures busy Sunday, Tim and I talk about our religious that a book or something just fell off the shelf roots. My maternal foremothers, Grandma Ethel below, so continues, but then something else hits Renew and Great Grandmother Amelia Huck, his foot! His eyes widen in shock. Something were part of the seed congregation that built the is hitting his foot repeatedly and it really hurts huge, dignified, Greco-Roman style Christian because it is right on the nerve point he teaches Science church on Genesee Street in Utica (now students to hit in self-defense class. It stops, but the Oneida County Historical Society). They and Great Aunt Marion also served as practithen it starts again on his other foot. tioners and readers, their kindly voices filling Unable to pretend well-being any longer, the quiet church with the he looks under the pulpit and melodic cadence of rethere beholds two, ligious texts, devoting well dressed, much of their time to Our son Dave studies by kerosene adorable little prayerful healing. In lamp in the loft imps grinning the early 1900s, when up at him in total the founder, Mary delight, clenched Baker Eddy, was fists ready to redescribed in newssume attack on papers as the most his feet. He gives influential woman in them a wry smile America, the sanctuas he steps out of ary overflowed with harm’s way, gets devotees. Readers eye contact with the and soloist dressed frantic father and formally; the ladies points down toward

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in subdued floor-length gowns with long sleeves and discreet necklines, male ushers in formal morning coats with tails and white gloves that opened the massive, castle-like doors for congregants as they entered.

I loved my benevolent Sunday school teachers, but my favorite part was visiting with people after the service. In spring, there were tiny windflowers in the yard I’d pick, making wee bouquets to pass among the groups of kindly congregants and relatives, sometimes eye-to-eye with the petrified faces on fox scarves, feet, and tails dangling down from the shoulders of gentle women. At that time, we did not make the connection of fashion with the suffering of fellow creatures tortured in leg-hold traps. Later, in my teens, I led the hymns on piano in Sunday school, and became soloist in the sanctuary for Sunday services as a young adult.

Tim’s grandfather William Hume became a Methodist minister in the early 1900s after being a potter at the Roseville Pottery works in Zanesville, Ohio. A husky man, he was an experienced boxer and athlete, sometimes swimming across the Ohio River with his tiny daughter, Mary (Tim’s mother), clinging to his neck. At first, he served as an itinerant minister, singing hymns in his mellifluous tenor voice as he rode his horse, Preacher, from parish to parish through the rolling farmlands of southern Ohio. His sweet wife, Goldie, was a popular elementary school teacher, and they sang harmony in church, or outside saloons occasionally to try to dissuade men from the temptations of drink. Goldie did not like it when William went inside to visit with the men, but he was comfortable in the raw atmosphere of male camaraderie. He was evidently also outspoken about the equality of men, because one day the local Klu Klux Klan came to church, dressed in long white robes, faces hidden behind tall white hoods with holes cut out for eyes. They sat ostentatiously in the front pews, creating an electrifying tension.

William’s young daughter, (Tim’s mother) simply thought it was quite a curious outfit for church, and tried to guess who they were by their size and shoes: “That looks like the hardware man and…hmm…could that be the grocer?”

Peg contemplates how to wade through the flooded trail home.

Photo (right): Peg’s Grandma Ethel Renew on the right, with friends outside of church.

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Tim and Peg at church

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But this was not a friendly visit to a philosophical comrade, but an overt warning of dangerous disapproval by these bullies. When the Rev. Hume was re-assigned temporarily to a parish in the semi-arid Plains of North Dakota, it may have been to prevent further confrontation but, eventually, he was assigned an elegant, large edifice with a manse, provided by the congregation in Bellaire, Ohio.

Tim tells me about an equation he’s devised that describes an insight he’s had: “E + M = LM. ( “ Enough + More = Loss of Meaning.”)

“Having ‘Enough’” is subjective and different for each person, according to their life situation” he says, “But when you go beyond having Enough, everything is diminished in importance and meaning; i.e., one pink dress may be a treasure, but 20 pink dresses are redundant.”

“Yes,” I interject, with an edge. “But not having enough can be life-threatening. Sometimes, because of buying land to protect, we’ve cut back too much on our grocery budget or warm clothes and it hurts our health. ” “Absolutely,” Tim continues. “This can be a fine line. But having more than enough means more maintenance, more expense, more storage space, and more attention, resulting in less freedom, mentally and physically.”

“I certainly love to have free time, to dream, and putter,” I muse.

“But I also appreciate the personal motivation of doing chores necessary for survival, to get water because I’m thirsty, to cut wood because I’m cold, and to grow food because I’m hungry.”

We resolve to try to maintain that delicate balance of having what we need for well-being, without excess, without want – to have just “Enough,” so we can fully savor the essence of life – to smell spring in a late winter breeze, to get excited about planting seeds in soil. •

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(Additional contact information) MVILR Office Campus Center (Suite 221) Phone: 315-792-7192 & 792-7292 Fax: 315-792-7278 Visit our website: www.sunyit.edu/mvilr MVILR is a 501(C)(3), organized and facilitated by volunteers, with support services by SUNY Poly.

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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.

68

www.shawangunknaturepreserve.com

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Detail of Eruption by Rome native Brenda J. Antonowicz. An exhibit of her work opens March 4th with a reception from 6-8pm at Fusion Art Gallery in Rome. Read about her on page 25.

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Blended Threads

Elemental: The 64th Exhibition of CNY Artists

Through March 30, 2016 Opening: Sunday, March 6 , 4- 6pm

February 27 - May 1, 2016 Through Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015

A national survey of fiber based artists featuring: Jane Bartlett, Betty Busby, Anne M. Fischer, Valerie Goodwin, Susan Martin Maffei, and Nelda Warkentin

Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute

Kirkland Art Center

9 1/2 East Park Row, Clinton, NY (315) 853-8871 www.kacny.org

310 Genesee Street, Utica, NY (315) 797-0000 www.mwpai.org

NEW WORK

The work of Photographer, Rita Lombardi and Painter, Jon Petro

Basket Making Workshop

March 4 - 26, 2016 Reception: Fri., March 4, 6-8pm

Saturday, March 12, 10am-4pm

Spend a relaxing day making a basket for Easter with Linda Scherz Allen of Adirondack Baskets. $55 workshop fee includes all materials.

Participants should bring a bag lunch.

Call 315-363-0745 to register.

The Other Side

2011 Genesee St. Utica, NY www.theothersideutica.org

Oneida Community Mansion House Oneida Community Mansion House 170 Kenwood Ave., Oneida, NY www.oneidacommunity.org

RITA LOMBARDI – PHOTOGRAPHY JON PETRO – PAINTING MARCH 4 – 26. 2016 OPENING RECEPTION: MARCH 4. 2016 6 – 8 PM GALLERY HOURS: Thurs 5 –7; Sat 11 –2 PM

Sculpture Space Works in Progress Reception

The Smithy Clay Studio Planter Sale March 18 - 20, 1-6pm

Tuesday, March 22, 5-7pm

The Smithy Clay Studio artists have handcrafted a variety of beautiful ceramic planters to compliment your favorite plant or as a gift for the stylish gardener.

Sculpture Space, Inc.

The Smithy

THE OTHER SIDE 2011 GENESEE STREET UTICA 13501

12 Gates Street, Utica, NY (315) 724-8381 www.sculpturespace.org

Calls for Entry, 2016 Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors Submission Deadline April 4, 2016 For info and to apply:

viewarts.org/exhibitions/calls-for-entry

View

3273 Route 28, Old Forge, NY (315) 369-6411 www.viewarts.org

55 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY www.smithyarts.org

Yun-Fei Ji: The Intimate Universe Through July 2, 2016

Pure Pulp: Contemporary Artists Working in Paper at Dieu Donné Through April 10, 2016

Wellin Museum of Art

Hamilton College, 198 College Hill Rd., Clinton, NY (315) 859-4396 www.hamilton.edu/wellin

Having an art opening? Let us know. Email: mohawkvalleyliving@hotmail.com

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Upcoming Free Events: Curatorial Tour of Pure Pulp Tuesday, March 8, 4:15pm Wellin Kids: Magazine Madness Friday, March 18, 2-3pm Artists in Conversation: Yun-Fei Ji Wednesday, March 30, 4:15pm

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anthony bianco by john keller Every now and then, a talent crosses your path that cannot be ignored. Anthony Bianco is such a talent. He’s an amazing powerhouse vocally and musically. Once you hear the mighty voice, and the hairs on your neck stand straight up and salute, you know you’ve been sanctified. The keyboard work rivals that of many of the greats--jazz, pop, and classical. Anthony has been performing in the area for several years and has gone from a wonderful soloist in Waails and Anthony and the Mountain, to exquisite bandleader in Draculatron, with a stage act and persona rarely encountered elsewhere.

No matter what the configuration, the power is undeniable. Big and bold, sweet and sassy, Anthony Bianco can bring it all to the stage. His passion for music is infectious. He pours himself completely into whatever project he puts himself into. The songwriting is extremely visual. To watch any performance is exciting. Anthony is a rare breed of entertainer, an undeniable music commander.

I recently spoke with Anthony on his career: his past, present, and future.

How long have you been performing?

I have been performing in front of audiences for nearly 10 years or so, in one fashion or another. I’ve been performing in front of my bathroom mirror for far, far longer than that.

When did you decide on a music career?

I don’t know that I ever “decided” on a music career. I knew I had a passion for making music, and wanted to spend as much of my time on this planet as possible doing that.

Have you any formal music education?

I do not. In the past I’ve been told by some that that’s to my benefit, but then sometimes I wish I could actually read sheet music.

Who have been your biggest influences?

David Bowie, Tori Amos, and Kate Bush have left the biggest marks on me. Their songwriting and performing have helped shape the way I approach my own music.

Do you come from a musical family?

I do. My mother, Patricia Houghton, sings.

Some of your songwriting is very ethereal. Some is full-out explosive. Where do you draw your inspirations from?

PAGE 10from DAILY N.Y., If romesentinel.com, ThuRSDAY, Mostly mySENTINEL, life and myROME, experiences.

I can turn a horrible feeling JANuARY 2 into something people can plug in to, whether I’m just at the piano, or full on electronic, that’s wonderful. That’s how I connect. I often wish I could be more of a storyteller when I’m writing, but music is always such a visceral, personal thing for me. I use it to get things inside of me out.

Las Vegas taxis take tourists to cleaners

LAS VEGAS (AP) — If the visiting Las Vegas from Raleigh, the most stand-out quality North Carolina, saidisayour taxi ride cash you doled Undoubtedly, out for a Las from isthe airportand to awe-inthe Bellagio Vegas cab ride hurtvoice. yourYour wallet, projection immense it’s not all in your head — audi- casino-hotel was $21 with tip on spiring. Have you had vocal training and tors in Nevada also think taxi Wednesday. come from?in there and “Once you’re rates are outrageous. where does that voice driving, else Las Vegas-area cabsThank are overyou! I you’re get asked this a what lot but, no,are I you going to training. do but pay it?” like she said, charging customers tohave the not tune had any vocal I do feel of $47 million a year, according adding that she will probably use my voiceofhas Uber only gotten next stronger time. over time, to an audit released Tuesday practiceDenver and experimentation.

As I resident Dominick the Nevada Taxicab through AuthoriLovely, 37, to said heon paid $9 for a ty, which regulates thegetrides older,inthough, I’d like focus proper of 5tominutes less from Clark County. training, morecab so inride order keep myorvoice Auditors for the governor’s the Sands convention center to and wellthe takenBellagio, care of. calling the cost a finance office blamed strong a $3 credit card processing fee that they say rip-off.

“Three doesn’t is much higher thanI first in other saw cityou in the earlydollars 2000s. You weresound ies and probably shouldn’t exist. like a lot, but aggregated over doing solo shows for a long while.

Then you apThey also criticized a decision to an entire population of people in peared in abouteven 2009 with Las Draculatron.

Vegas takingWere cabs,there it’s not a increase a fuel surcharge as gas prices tanking, say- fair deal,” he said, referring to the bandsare in between? fee. The Counter ing Yes.having Oh, yes.the Mysurcharge best friendsat andall I hadcredit a bandcard we called Representatives of a union for is unique among the 12 major Clockwise.

We wrote wacky, scary songs about celebrities and other said they Western cities that the taxi board many area taxi drivers inside jokes we had. We used to rehearse in my garage.

I loved it. We have long fought to end the fee, tracks. arguing the cab com“Thetwo board’s decision is a played shows our entire time together, but itourenriches sheer raw power pany but hurts drivers. For examwindfall for the to industry,” thea shooting was just too intense last. We were star. audit says. “These are mostly ple, some passengers mistakenly tourist/visitor dollars that would believe it is a tip for the driver Draculatronlikely was be a full on visual/audio assault.

Lights, sound, the gratuity. otherwise spent else- and skip is absolutely, utterly where in and the local economy.” dancers, you. How did Draculatron“It come about and who was ridicThe criticism comes a few ulous to have a credit card fee involved? months after ride-hailing compa- of $3. That’s absurd,” said Sam Draculatron started as astarted joke, really.

A persona, rather than aorganizer band. I wasrepreMoffitt, a union nies Uber and Lyft opersenting driverstoof large taxi ating in toNevada with promises listening a lot of electronic rap at the time and wanted trythe my hand company Yellow-Checker-Star. of cheaper and more convenient at it, so I recorded a couple of crude tracks and wound up performing rides. The taxi industry, which “The drivers do not get any porlive once andbucks really taking enjoyingtourists it. It was the wasn’t stuck betionfirst of time that Imoney.” makes big hinda a5-mile piano trip or synth andthe could really perform for people.

My the friends The audit panned fee, sayon from airport to the Strip, fought hard against ing it far exceeds the cost of cab allowing the companies before companies accepting cards. State losing its battle in the Legislature agencies pay 8.5 cents to Wells Fargo per credit card transaclast spring.

Cynthia Kulak, 43, who was tion, auditors said.

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Vincent Roach and Harley Jones were the first permanent members of the troupe as the “dance-bots,” and shows consisted of just the three of us for a while. Eventually, I felt like I wanted to write more sophisticated songs and was lucky enough to be introduced to Erica Zalatan after one of our shows. She played guitar and we clicked immediately, so she joined us onstage as well. I’d known Brian Premo long before he ever joined but he was the last piece of our puzzle. He’d been to a couple performances and offered his services and, eventually, as I started writing new material for what would become the We Are Dead Ocean EP, he started playing with us, too. We played our very first show as an entire band in January 2009.

What do you feel were your best performances with Draculatron?

There are a few. Our Utica Music Fest performance in 2009 immediately jumps to mind. We wore white and played to projections of NASA images, at the Tramontane. The first time we played That Place in Utica. Our series of acoustic shows at Hot Topic. Our “The End” performance. What’s amazing is the documentation that’s happened over the years. You can probably find most, if not all, of these performances on YouTube. And more! At this point, YouTube has to be my memory at times.

For a while, Draculatron faded from the stage. What happened there?

It was a deliberate end. We were losing Vincent to NYC, Brian to Buffalo, and I was at a point where I really wanted to try new things musically.

Ending it just seemed like the most logical thing to do, in a way that would honor what we had accomplished together. So we played our last show, and said goodbye.

A couple of years ago you moved to the Baltimore area. How was it away from your home base?

A challenge. I learned a lot about myself, about relationships, and grew up a lot. In so many ways it was life changing, but it absolutely was not easy.

While there you wrote a musical that took off quite well. Tell us about that. What was it? What inspired that?

The piece is entitled The Consumables. I partnered with a director, and Utica native named Julie Lewis, an old friend and teacher of mine, who lived down there. She was working on a theater piece about the working poor with a group of her students and approached me about potentially adding music to it. It wasn’t originally supposed to have full-blown songs, but they quickly started to take shape and the show grew in that direction.

During our original run, we were invited to perform the piece at the National College Theater’s Fringe Festival.

You also toured with it, as well, correct?

Indeed. We had an original run of it in Baltimore, then performed it in Cleveland. Then we performed an additional run of it in Baltimore, including our final performance at Baltimore’s Artscape festival in the summer

of 2015.

Download Free MP3’s featuring Anthony Bianco!

You recently moved back to Utica and reformed Draculatron. Is it the same incarLimited time only! nation or are there changes?

Draculatron has been reincarnated as a stompwww.mohawkvalleyliving.com ing, roaring beast of a band. Brian is still playing bass, Doyal Gilman has joined us as our new guitarist, and Harley Jones is playing synth. The biggest change is that Erica Zalatan has become our drummer.

It’s completely changed our dynamic and I love it. Something feels unleashed. We have never sounded better.

You have another project, Anthony and the Mountain. Tell us about this.

Anthony and the Mountain (formerly Waails) is my solo project. It’s all over the place, musically. I’m constantly trying to marry the organic and the electronic. I’ve recorded and released a couple of albums and EPs of material over the past few years. I’m currently working on a new batch of songs.

The Newlywed Records label recently signed you. Who are they and how did that come about?

Zeno Pittarelli approached me about releasing music through his Newlywed Records label a few months ago. They are focused on finding new and interesting ways to release music, specifically using objects or other physical ephemera, as opposed to just CDs, for example. It’s a really exciting prospect and I’m looking forward to working with them.

What is on the near and distant horizons for Anthony Bianco?

Lots of recording, and hopefully lots of performing.

Where can we find recordings of your varied selves? anthonyandthemountain.bandcamp.com and draculatron.bandcamp. com, respectively Do you have any advice for up-and-coming musicians following your footsteps?

Be honest. Be brave. Be passionate. And if you think there isn’t a space for you, you go get a chainsaw and you carve one out for yourself.

Excellent! Do you have anything else to add?

I don’t think I can top the chainsaw thing. More chainsaws?

I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Anthony! • John Keller is a local musician and owns Off Center Records in Utica.

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live & local March comes in like a lion and out like a trip to Key West … well, we’ll see later on. One of the great bands currently packing the clubs is Simple Props. The band consists of Mike Sales on lead vocals and guitar; Billy Carmen on bass guitar/ and vocals; Patrick Orlowski on drums and percussion; and Barney Vanderwood on lead guitar and vocals.

I remember way back in 2000 the band started as an acoustic duo; things and members have changed over the years. I recently asked drummer Pat Orlowski to give me a little background on Simple Props. He says, “We began in 2000 as an acoustic act; over the years we turned more toward a rock pop band but played very little. I joined four years ago, Billy Carmen joined in August 2015. We have since been putting together a unique set of music from classic to ’80s and ’90s and modern music, often combining songs in medleys, wild in your face guitar from Barney, excellent vocals, and a powerful rhythm section really keeps people’s interest.”

Look for Simple Props at The Gig at Exit 33 and Varick Street clubs and more. Check out the band and info here: www. facebook.com/simpleprops.

A new band on the scene is Rome’s Midnight Riders. I had the great opportunity to spend many years playing with keyboardist Mike Finley in Slug. Mike has put together a great Southern rock/classic rock band with a solid line up consisting of Michael Finley on keyboards, guitar and vocals; Bob Willman on gui-

tar and vocals; Larry Daniello on guitar; The band Simple Props is packing the local clubs Gabe Ciotti on bass and vocals; and Jeff Mosher on drums, percussion, and vocals. So far they have played from Rome to the Valley. Check them out and get more info here: www.facebook.com/Midnight-Riders.

Meet Jocko the Giant! Take some Southern rock, gritty vocals, funky hip twisting rhythms, a little jazz improv/fusion, and some screaming rock guitar. Add that all together, a pinch of salt, and some lime in your coconut, and you have the hairy monster called Jocko the Giant doing a fun grooving mix of originals and covers. They will leave a look on your face as if you saw Big Foot himself do the moon walk! The band is Anthony Consiglio on guitar, keys, and vocals; Jeremy Kozak on bass and vocals; Michael Griffin on drums; and Michael Phoenix Heart on guitar and vocals.

And now for the March going out like a trip to Key West thing: 92.7 The Drive is proud to announce that Key West Fest is back. Let’s get our mojo working together and usher out Ol’ Man Winter on Friday, April 1st at The Radisson in Utica. Margaritaville favorites Jimmy and the Parrots are back to jam, too!

Get all the info at www.927thedrive.net. •

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Manufactured and Modular Home Builders Leisure Village, Taberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Great for the whole family!

Cranberry Ridge Farm www.cranberryridgefarmny.com

315.964.9900

Lodging Overlook Mansion, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Harley Davidson Speed/Service Center Hillside Motorcycle & Machine, Munnsville . . 9

Maple Syrup Ben & Judy’s Sugarhouse, West Edmeston . . .

Farmers’ Musem, Cooperstown . . . . . . . . . .

Shaw’s Maple Products, Clinton . . . . . . . .

Tibbits Maple, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . .

VVS FFA Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

HearingConsultants Hearing Health Hearing Aid Centers, Rome . . . 47

Massage, Therapeutic Zensations, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Heating Oil Ber-Mor Gas, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Little Falls Fuel, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Media 1420 The Fox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 1450 WKAL, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 92.7 The Drive WXUR, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Weekly Adirondack, Old Forge . . . . . . . . . . 15 WCNY, Syracuse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 FOX33/WUTR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Hobby Shops Locomotion Hobby, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Insurance Gates-Cole Insurance, New Hartford . . . . . 49 Farm Family Insurance, Boonville . . . . . . . . . 6 M L Croad Insurance, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Turnbull Insurance, New Hartford . . . . . . . . 7

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.

Lighting Mills Electrical Supply, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Hardware/Farm & Home Lincoln Davies, Sauquoit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Pohlig Enterprises, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Pohl’s Feed, Vernon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Morgan’s Hardware, Waterville . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Turner Lumber, Barneveld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Garden Centers and Greenhouses Michael’s Greenhouse, Sauquoit . . . . . . . . . . 35 Szarek Greenhouses, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Top Notch Garden Center, Newport . . . . . . 59

Pure Goat Milk Soap

Learning in Retirement MVILR at SUNYIT, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Liquor Stores and Wine Liquor Express, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Seneca Liquor, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Trenton Station Liquor & Wine, Barneveld . . . 71

Home Goods Chapter Designs, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

62 58 31 66 18 27 33 57

Lawn Mowers J.B.’s Small Engine Works, Utica . . . . . . . . 67 SD Outdoor Power, New Hartford . . . . . . . 35 Springfield Truck & Tractor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

77 55 13 50 12 37 25

Furniture Makers Custom Woodcraft, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . 67

Gift Shops/Shopping Between Us Sisters, Munnsville . . . . . . . . . .

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

Clinton Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cobbler and Company, Sharon Springs . . . .

Country Connections, Boonville . . . . . . . . . .

1890 Farmhouse Primitives, Sherburne . . . .

Fusion Art Gallery, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Little Falls Antique Center, Little Falls . . . .

76

Main Street Gift Shoppe, Newport . . . . . . . .

Newport Marketplace, Newport . . . . . . . . .

Outlet Center, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pathway of Pearls, Schuyler . . . . . . . . . . . .

Paca Gardens, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . .

Remington Country Store, Ilion . . . . . . . .

Iron Work - Architectural & Ornamental Raulli’s Iron Works, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Jewelry Clinton Jewelers, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Fall Hill Beads & Gems, Little Falls . . . . . . . . 26 Goldmine Jewelers, New Hartford . . . . . . . 36

. . . . .

19 23 19 19 20

Monuments & Memorials Burdick & Enea Memorials, Clinton . . . . . . 62 Yorkville Memorials, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Museums Goodsell Museum, Old Forge . .

Munson Williams Proctor Arts Remington Arms Museum, Ilion View, Old Forge . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . 7 Institute . . . 3 . . . . . . . . 15 . . . . . . . . . . 71

Natural Food Stores Brenda’s Natural Foods, Rome . . . . . . . . . . .

Cooperstown Naturals, Cooperstown . . . . .

Peter’s Cornucopia, New Hartford . . . . . . . .

Sunflower Naturals, Barneveld . . . . . . . . . .

Tom’s Natural Foods, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . .

54 14 66 50 44

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

SIGNATURE 81

13 College Street, Clinton NY

Handcrafted Home Decor & Gifts

Olive Oils/Balsamic Vinegars Adirondack Olive Oil Co., New Hartford . . . 39 Optometrist Towpath Vision Care, Little Falls . . . . . . . 68 Painting, Interior/Exterior Dennis Polanowicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Production Painting Services of CNY . . . . 50 Pet Memorialization and Cremation Burdick & Enea Memorials, Clinton . . . . . . . 62 Pet Services Not Just Poodles Pet Salon, Whitesboro . . . . 13 One Paw at a Time, Whitesboro . . . . . . . . 18 Pet Shops Peterson’s Pets, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Pharmacies Garro Drugs, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Photography Fusion Art/The Photo Shoppe, Rome . . . . . 33 Physical Therapy Inertia PT, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Pizzerias DiCastro’s Brick Oven, Rome . . . . . . . . . .

Mario’s Pizza, Oriskany Falls . . . . . . . . . . .

Primo Pizzeria, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tony’s Pizza, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . .

56 55 51 54

Portable Toilets and Bathrooms Mohawk Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Primitives Between Us Sisters, Munnsville . . . . . . . .

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

1890 Farmhouse Primitives, Sherburne . . .

Main Street Gift Shop, Newport . . . . . . . .

. . . .

62 57 27 42

52 51 55 57 53 56 56 56 52 53 52 57 54 57 55 42 55 57 57 51 55 53 53 54 57 57 54 56 52

Soap Cranberry Ridge Goat Milk Soap . . . . . . . 77

Recreational Vehicles CJ Motor Sports, Boonville . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Hobby Hill Farms, Lee Center . . . . . . . . . . 11

56 32 33 16 44

Buffalo Head Restaurant, Forestport . . . . . .

Buttercup Bakery Cafe, Bouckville . . . . . . . .

Chesterfield’s Tuscan Oven, Oneida . . . . . .

Club Monarch, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Copper Moose Ale House, Little Falls . . . . .

The Country Store, Salisbury . . . . . . . . . . .

Delta Lake Inn, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DiCastro’s Brick Oven, Rome . . . . . . . . . . .

Dominick’s Deli, Herkimer . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Georgio’s, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Heidelberg Baking Co., Herkimer . . . . . . . .

Karam’s Middle East Bakery, Yorkville . . . .

Killabrew Saloon, New Harttford . . . . . . .

Knuckleheads Brewhouse, Westmoreland . .

Lakeview Restaurant and Bar, Oneida . . . .

Main Street Ristorante, Newport . . . . . . . .

Mario’s Pizza, Oriskany Falls . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mi Casa, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mojo’s Cafe, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ohio Tavern, Cold Brook . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Origlio’s Wagon Wheel Restaurant, Oneida . .

Phoenician Restaurant, New Hartford . . . .

Piccolo Cafe, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Raspberries Cafe, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

RoSo’s Cafe & Catering, Utica . . . . . . . . . . .

Sammy & Annie Foods, Utica . . . . . . . . . .

Tony’s Pizza, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wendy’s Diner, Cassville . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wigwam Tavern, Forestport . . . . . . . . . . . .

Salons/Haircutters Heads R Turning Salon & Spa, Ilion . . . . . . 37 Nikki Fraccola at Schuyler Commons . . . . . 41 Scrapbooking/Photo Organizing Intentionegrity, Utica area . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Seamstress & Tailors Libbey’s Sew Blessed, Sherrill . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Quilt and Yarn Shops Tiger Lily Quilt Co, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Sheet Metal Fabrication/Welding Custom-Fab Metal Fabrication, Marcy . . . . 41

Real Estate Coldwell-Banker, Diane Lockwood . . . . . . 9 Scenic Byway Realty, Richfield Springs . . . . 45

Shoes Holland Patent Farmers Co-op . . . . . . .

Karaz Shoes, New Hartford . . . . . . . . .

The Sneaker Store, New Hartford . . . . .

The Village Crossing, Clinton . . . . . . .

Small Engine Repair J.B.’s Small Engine Works, Utica . . . . .

Springfield Truck & Tractor . . . . . . . .

Record Stores Off-Center Records, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Restaurants and Cafés Ann St. Deli, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Back Nine Restaurant, Rome . . . . . . .

Ballister’s Bistro, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bite, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Black Cat, Sharon Springs . . . . . . . . . . . .

Boyz From Italy, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

53 55 55 57 66 56

. . . .

. . . .

26 39 41 66

Specialty Wood Wightman Specialty Woods . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Tax Services Briggs Tax Service, Whitesboro . . . . . . . . . 29 Taxi Service Elite Taxi, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Towing Services Clinton Collision, Clinton . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Travel Agencies The Cruise Wizards, Whitesboro . . . . . . . . 67 Veterinarians Adirondack Veterinary Service, Rome . . . . 31 CNY Veterinary Medical, Westmoreland . . 47 Marcy Veterinary Services, Marcy . . . . . . . 35 Websites Utica Remember When . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Weddings and Banquets Club Monarch, Yorkville . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

DiCastro’s Too, Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Overlook Mansion, Little Falls . . . . . . . . . . .

Twin Ponds Golf & Country Club, NY Mills . .

Wicked Sweets, Utica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wellness and Alternative Health Therapy Heads R Turning Salon & Spa, Ilion . . . . . 37 Pathway of Pearls, Schuyler . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Windows RA Dudrak, Holland Patent . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Wine Bars and Ale Houses Copper Moose Ale House, Little Falls . . . . 52 Killabrew Saloon, New Hartford . . . . . . . . . 52 Wineries Prospect Falls Winery, Prospect . . . . . . . . . . 27 Yogurt Stoltzfus Family Dairy, Vernon Center . . . . 39

. . . 67 . . . 33

Snowmobiles CJ Motorsports, Boonville . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Libbey’s Stitched with Prayer!

. . . .

Social Security Antonowicz Group, Rome/Utica . . . . . . . . . 9

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!

77 East State Street (Route 5), Sherrill

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

Hundreds of Different Herbs & Spices!

Tom’s Natural Foods A big store in a small space.

M-F 10-6, Sat 10-5 16 College St., Clinton (315) 853-6360

77

Stop in today and see why it’s so easy to do business with Steet-Ponte!

Steet-Ponte Chevrolet

Steet-Ponte Ford Lincoln Mazda

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

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

Steet-Ponte Volkswagen

Steet Toyota Scion

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

4991 Commercial Drive Yorkville, NY 13495 (315) 736-8241

Steet-Ponte auto group

www.steetponteautogroup.com

Ready. Set. Save on Ready. Set. Save on Kubota’s BX Series Kubota’s BX Series sub-compact sub-compacttractors. tractors.

00 $

Down, , $ Down % Financing

0 0for%60 Financing Months for 60 Months A.P.R.

A.P.R.

*

750 750

$

$

PLUS

PLUS

*

**

** Customer Instant Rebate

on the purchase of a new Customer Instant Rebate

Kubotaon BXthe Series sub-compact tractor purchase of a new equipped with a Kubota front loader Kubota BX Series sub-compact tractor and one additional implement. equipped with a qualifying Kubota front loader

and one additional qualifying implement.

Offers end 3/31/16.

Offers end 3/31/16.

White’s Farm Supply, Inc. Celebrating 70 Years In Business LOWVILLE WATERVILLE CANASTOTA 4154 ROUTE 31 315-697-2214

8207 ROUTE 26 315-376-0300

962 ROUTE 12 315-841-4181

WWW.WHITESFARMSUPPLY.COM

*$0 down, 0% A.P.R. financing for up to 60 months on new Kubota BX Series Equipment is available to qualified purchasers from participating dealers’ in-stock inventory through 3/31/2016. Example: A 60-month monthly installment repayment term at 0% A.P.R. requires 60 payments of $16.67 per $1,000 financed. www.kubota.com kubota.com 0% 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% A.P.R. and low-rate financing may not be available with © Kubota Tractor Corporation, 2015 customer instantfinancing rebate offers.

Financing is available through Kubota Credit Corporation, 3401toDel Amo Blvd., Torrance,from CA 90503; subjectdealers’ to creditin-stock *$0 down, 0% A.P.R. for up to 60 months on new Kubota BX Series Equipment isU.S.A., available qualified purchasers participating approval.

Some exceptions apply. Offer expires 3/31/2016.

See us for repayment details on these other low-rate options go to www.kubota.com more information. inventory through 3/31/2016.

Example: A 60-month monthly installment termand at 0% A.P.R. requires 60orpayments of $16.67 perfor$1,000 financed. **Customer rebatestoofcustomers $750 are available on purchases of newpreparation Kubota BX Series (including Dealer BX25/BX25D/BX25D-1) with qualifying newfee Kubota © Kubota Tractor Corporation, 2016 kubota.com 0% A.P.R. interestinstant is available if no dealer documentation fee is charged. charge for document preparation shallfront be in loader and one additional qualifying implement from participating dealers’ stock.

Dealer subtracts rebate from dealer’s pre-rebate selling price on qualifying accordance with state laws. Inclusion of ineligible equipment may result in a higher blended A.P.R. 0% A.P.R. and low-rate financing may not be available with purchases.

Rebate not available after completed sale.

Some exceptions apply.

Offer expires 3/31/2016.

Optional equipment may be shown. customer instant rebate 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. Offer expires 3/31/2016. See us for details on these and other low-rate options or go to www.kubota.com for more information.