Sunday, August 21, 2022

MAKE IT: Will’s Venison and Potato Pierogis 

My son has been on a meat-filling-cooked-in-dough kick recently, so we have been making a lot of calzones, strombolis, and all sorts of variations of piecrust-covered meat pies. I probably should not have been surprised when he asked me to help him create a meat and potatoes version of a pierogi. Although different from the traditional pierogi, which I have been told usually contains cheese, the filling of this version is very simple, incorporating meat, potatoes, onion, salt, and pepper.

The dough is worth taking a little time to make from scratch, and has the most amazing gummy texture (think bagels) after first being boiled before then being fried or (the option we chose) baked. I have made these several times over the past few weeks, and have substituted ground turkey for the venison, and dried and canned potatoes for freshly-made mashed potatoes with excellent results. Will’s current favorite variation, though, is this version. I hope you enjoy it as much as he does! 

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Friday, August 19, 2022

First inaugural Adirondack Cuisine Trail Open Farm Weekend set for Sept. 2-5

Lewis, NY – Farm tours, local food workshops, you-pick, and more are scheduled for the first inaugural Adirondack Cuisine Trail Open Farm Weekend. Events will be held through Labor Day Weekend highlighting farms and small businesses along the Boquet Valley Cuisine Trail, one of the six distinct cuisine trails that highlight agriculture in the Adirondacks.

 

After the success of the 2021 Open Farm Week that took place in lieu of the traditional one-day Adirondack Harvest Festival due to COVID-19 concerns, Adirondack Harvest is excited to host both an Open Farm Weekend and the one-day Adirondack Harvest Festival this year.

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Monday, August 15, 2022

Adirondack Experience: Mushroom Mania Festival set for Aug. 20

For some, they are a tasty delicacy. For others, something you’re made to eat. Love them or hate them they are one of the most important organisms in our ecosystem. They decompose, nourish, heal, and yes, they can be deadly. Whether you are an expert in the world of fungi or are simply curious, join the Adirondack Experience this summer for a fun-filled, family-friendly festival all about fungi! With activities and crafts, workshops, presentations, hikes, and more there is sure to be something for even those who have never before considered mushrooms as anything other than something an adult makes you eat.

Come learn about the mycelium superhighway hidden beneath your feet on Saturday, August 20, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake.

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Saturday, August 13, 2022

Adirondack Cuisine Trails offer insight into agriculture in the ADKs

The newly updated Adirondack Cuisine Trails showcase farms, orchards, restaurants, breweries, wineries, and local food and agricultural producers that give visitors an up-close view of what agriculture in the Adirondacks is all about. The Adirondack Cuisine Trails are growing, with new locations and amplified marketing and promotions this summer as Adirondack Harvest takes the helm. The updated trails now have a stronger focus on locally-grown food and products, with a new requirement for businesses to serve at least five local products regularly, and for farm businesses to primarily produce what they sell.

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Thursday, August 11, 2022

Raquette Lake Busiest Day scheduled for Aug. 13

All are invited to join in the festivities for this year’s Raquette Lake Busiest Day slated for Saturday, August 13.

A Juried Craft fair is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Raquette Lake Union Free School.  A wide array of vendors will be selling an eclectic variety of items such as jewelry, pottery, photography, Adirondack products, polar fleece, handwoven clothing, rustic Adirondack furniture, food products, and much more. Folks will have an opportunity to try their luck with a variety of raffles, all of which will benefit North Country Life Flight, Inc.

Book lovers of all ages rejoice, as the Raquette Lake Library will host its annual Book Sale starting at 10 a.m. on the library’s front lawn.

Live Auction: The biggest event of the season is on tap for 5 p.m., the annual Raquette Lake Fire Department and Ambulance Squad Auction will take place under the big tent on the Village Green.

Raquette Lake Busiest Day will take place rain or shine.

For more information, call 518-624-3077 or visit www.myraquettelake.com.

Photo at top: Raquette Lake website photo.

 


Sunday, August 7, 2022

August Harvest of the Month: Melons

melons

Melons have been adapted over many years to include a variety of distinct fruits. They can have ribbed, wrinkly or smooth rinds, and their flesh can range from juicy to dry, and sweet to mild. Melons are in the gourd family and are closely related to pumpkins, squash and cucumbers. They prefer warmer climates, and there is a very short window of time that they are available in the Adirondack region- between August and early September. 

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Saturday, August 6, 2022

MAKE IT: Zucchini Fries

 

Garden bounty is often equated with an abundance of zucchini. This thin-skinned member of the cucurbit family is delightfully versatile, lending itself to a wide variety of dish options. Some of my favorite ways to eat zucchini are cooked together with onions and tomatoes (fantastic in a foil packet over a campfire!), as pickles, fritters, or zucchini bread. However, when I came across this recipe for zucchini fries, I knew that I would have to give it a try. I am very glad that I did! These fries are delicious and slightly addictive, and a tangy and savory way to change up your zucchini game. It is important to remember to salt the zucchini slices before preparing them as fries, so that you do not end up with soggy fries. Also, you can use any type of unsweetened milk for the first batter layer. I have also substituted watered chickpea flour for the milk with excellent results. Enjoy!

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Wednesday, August 3, 2022

43rd Essex Day celebration scheduled for Aug. 6

Essex Initiatives is pleased to announce the 43rd annual Essex Day celebration is happening this Saturday, August 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Main Street in historic Essex, NY on Lake Champlain.

This family-friendly event is sure to have something to offer everyone. Attendees are welcome to enjoy live music from James Coleman, Too Tall String Band, and Marie Marie, peruse the shops on Main Street, participate in family-friendly games, and explore more than 40 unique vendors from surrounding towns.

The event also features food trucks, a town-wide yard sale as well as a book sale, watercolor class, photography class, and much more.

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Monday, August 1, 2022

Champ Day: The Lake Champlain Monster Festival is slated for Aug. 5, 6

All are invited to gather together on the beautiful Lake Champlain waterfront in Port Henry, NY to celebrate Lake Champlain’s lake monster with legendary fun for the 37th annual Champ Day: The Lake Champlain Monster Festival. The free, crowd-pleasing event features special guests such as Penelope the Clown, Cardboard Boat Races, a CryptoCave Meet & Greet, a Champ Lure Contest, Creative Cove for Kids, Vendor Marketplace, food, and much more.

 

New this year is a Champ Day weekend kickoff event, Champ’s Monster Movie Night, that will take place on Friday, August 5  at 7 p.m. on Bulwagga Bay Beach in Port Henry.  The evening’s featured film will be “Monster from the Ocean Floor” a fun, old-fashioned 1950s monster movie suitable for all ages. The film will be presented by Andy McDougall, a film collector from Plattsburgh, NY. In addition to the film screening, guests are encouraged to take part in a costume contest, in which those who don a beach/tiki, retro 1950s, or monster theme outfit have a chance to win a prize.
The main event is set for Saturday, August 6 at Champ Beach Park, Beach Road, at the north end of Port Henry.

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Saturday, July 23, 2022

MAKE IT: Zesty Salsa

I love fresh, locally-grown tomatoes. I really can’t get my fill of them, especially during the peak of tomato season in the North Country. One way that I can extend the magic of freshly-harvested
tomatoes is to can them. Although I do can the tomatoes, themselves, I also love to have salsa on hand year-round. This recipe for zesty salsa can be made as spicy or non-spicy as you like. For
less-spicy salsa, make sure to use a mild “hot” pepper, and remove the seeds and inner membranes (and be careful after cutting those peppers to wash your hands before touching your eyes!)

For a spicier salsa, select peppers with a higher Scoville rating. Although this salsa is delicious as-is, this recipe is designed to process the jars in a hot water bath, ensuring that the salsa will be shelf-stable. As always, when preserving food, make sure to only use quality produce, precisely follow processing directions, and do not alter the recipe. Thankfully, this recipe is user-friendly, even for canning newbies! Enjoy!

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Friday, July 22, 2022

Adirondack Artisan Festival set for July 23 at Adirondack Experience

All are welcome to spend a day browsing a wide array of crafts at this year’s Adirondack Artisan Festival scheduled for Saturday, July 23 from 10 a.m. to  5 p.m. at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake. 

Bring a little piece of the Adirondacks home after a visit to the festival which will feature artisans and makers from throughout the region, offering paintings, furniture, specialty foods, sculptures, clothing, stained glass, and much more.

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Monday, July 11, 2022

Bringing Farmers and Consumers Closer Together

Throughout most of the twentieth century, our local communities were thriving. We had sawmills, gristmills, fruit and vegetable farms, butcher shops (with butchers that may have known or raised the animals), dairies (many offering local delivery), and bakeries. Much of the food (and many other items) found on store shelves was from area farmers and producers.

    Today we import most of our food. We depend on grocery chain stores to make it available to us. And while it’s clear that we’ve become very effective at producing affordable food for much of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic, among other recent / current geopolitical events and climate change issues, brought to light an unexpected lack of security in our food chain (and several other consumer product distribution chains, too).
    Farmers were unable to ship produce or livestock to distributors, processors, market outlets, or slaughterhouses. And American consumers experienced (and to some degree are still experiencing) panic buying, empty store shelves, rationing of food staples, and the inability to obtain certain food items and consumer goods altogether.
    To better endure a crisis in the future, we need to build more sustainable, more resilient food systems. One way to accomplish this is to bring producers and consumers closer together.

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Thursday, July 7, 2022

NNY Audubon Society Hosts July 13 Trivia Night to Benefit New Farm Grant

Saranac Lake, NY.- Trivia lovers of Northern New York have a chance to test their knowledge, enjoy local craft beer and mead, and compete for prizes – all while benefiting the brand-new Farm Grant Program, which supports bird conservation and local farmers.

The Northern New York Audubon Society’s (NNYA) Farm Grant Trivia Night fundraiser will be held on Wednesday, July 13 at 6 p.m. at the Hex & Hop Brewery in Bloomingdale.

Teams of two to six players are eligible to play and there is a $5 per person entry fee. Advanced registration is not required. All money raised will be distributed to local farms through NNYA’s Small Farm Grant program, which provides farms with up to $1,500 in grant money to implement bird-friendly habitats and management practices on their lands.

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Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Lake Champlain Cover Crop Program Funding Available for NY Farms

Thanks to funding from the Lake Champlain Basin Program, farms on the New York side of the Lake Champlain Basin are eligible to apply for a cover crop cost share payment. The project’s goal is to implement at least 1,000 acres of cover crops per year for 2 years.

Cover crops are an effective best management practice to reduce erosion on agricultural fields. Cover crops protect the soil surface from the negative effects of rainfall and erosion during storm events.

Cover crops also improve soil health by reducing soil erosion, increasing soil porosity (and subsequently water infiltration and field drainage) and increasing nutrient supply. The improvement of soil health can also enhance climate resiliency by providing protection to agricultural fields due to the ever-increasing number of extreme weather events.

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