It’s been the kind of week where I am just awash in babies.  This is not a bad thing, although it is a far cry from my normal lifestyle.  I’m sitting on the patio of my brother’s house in Orlando, Florida, waiting for my niece and nephew to wake up.  Their official greeting of spit-up all over me was warm and gracious, if unconventional.  But trust me when I say that the two month old twins are too cute to be upset with.

The other babies I’ve been seeing a lot of lately are my chickens.  The four of them are staying in Amy’s garage while I’m out of town, but I got to spend plenty of time with them before I left.  Amy took her seven larger chicks plus one very tiny chick and put them in her new coop.  That left my four little girls to themselves in a heated cage.  Once I’m back, though, the girls will be my responsibility. » Continue Reading.

Our region offers a plentiful range of opportunities to buy locally produced food.  Every May I write about the opening of the farmers markets in Northern New York. Each year Adirondack Harvest spends the better part of a week tracking down all the farmers markets in the North Country. We update days, times, locations, market managers, websites, and contact information.

For 2013, we’ve compiled a list of 65 markets across 14 counties. That’s up a bit from 2012, but not a lot. The market numbers are leveling off, probably due to a couple of factors. One reason is that the farmers are already selling at as many markets as they can handle. The other may be the rise in community supported agriculture (CSA) farms.

Both farmers markets and CSAs have been gaining in popularity as the local food movement continues to grow, but which one is right for you and your family? » Continue Reading.

The Greenhorns, a grassroots organization for young farmers who celebrate the historic grange movement, is planning a Grange Summer Solstice Revival at the Keeseville Grange Hall on the shore of the Ausable River in downtown Keeseville on Saturday, June 22  and Sunday, June 23rd.  The event will include a hay-wagon  tour of local farms, and an evening of history, poetry, music, dancing, and local food to celebrate the summer season.

The Grange, also known as the Patrons of Husbandry (Pof H), was founded in 1867 as a fraternal order for farmers as a venue for socializing, education and fellowship. Founded along the lines of fraternal organizations and labor unions, the first major phase of Grange activities revolved around protecting family farmers from exploitative railroad monopolies and middle-men in the period following the Civil War. The grange successes included regulation of the railroads and rural mail delivery; they also advocated for suffrage for women (women had an equal votes in the Grange). In 1910, the Ausable Valley Grange elected Nellie Thompson, one of the first woman masters. » Continue Reading.