Since 1984 the Dairy Farm Beautification Program has been sponsoring this award which recognizes well maintained and attractive farm operations.  This years winners will join the prestigious group of 41farms throughout Oneida County that have received this award.  The Dairy of Distinction Award helps to enhance consumer confidence in dairy products while projecting a positive image of the dairy industry. Congratulations to the following dairy farms.

DiNitto Farms L.L.C, located on Benton Road in the town of Marcy is owned and operated by the DiNitto Family. Purchased in 1947 by Rocco DiNitto, the farm was originally Central NY Livestock Sales Inc. and became an active dairy farm in 1982 when Rocco’s son, Tony DiNitto Sr., purchased the farm.

From the 150 cow conventional barn on River Road the farm expanded its operation in 1994 with the construction of a double 10 Boumatic milking parlor and large free stall barn that houses 600 cows on Benton Road.  The farm is home to 300 head of young stock raised in a 60 stall calf barn and 150 stall heifer barn. The farm works 900 acres of land from which hay and corn are raised.

DiNitto Farms L.L.C. employs eight individuals and management of all daily operations is overseen by Tony DiNitto Jr. In June of this year DiNitto Farms L.L.C. was the gracious host of Farm Fest which was attended by thousands of people.

Wayne and Kim Landis own and operate their family farm on Shanley Road in the town of Deansboro. Originating from Elizabethtown, Pa., the Landis Family relocated to Oneida County in 2005 following the purchase of the farm property and the cows.  This active farm family consists of five siblings that share in the love of the farm and its daily responsibilities.

Arie Landis is the herd manager for this 85 head dairy, while her brother, Christian Landis is in charge of managing the crops. Crops grown include 200 acres of hay, 80 acres of corn, 50 acres of soybeans, and 60 of small grains.  Ninety acres of pasture land allows the Landis family to practice a rotational grazing system for feeding their Holstein milking string.

In 2008 the pastures were subdivided into paddocks using high tensile wire. A well designed and maintained lane way ensures a comfortable commute for the cows as they travel to and from the parlor. When the cows are not out to pasture they are housed in a free stall barn and milked in a swing 12-style milking parlor that was added in 2006.   A two story barn is used to house 100 head of young stock.   Isaac Landis helps to keep the farm running smoothly by fulfilling his responsibilities of making repairs and seeing that general chores are completed.

Young stock on the farm are cared for by Abigail and Daniel Landis.  Not only are the Landis children active participants on this family farm, they are strongly encouraged to help make decisions regarding the daily operations of the farm. Over the past year the Landis family farm has been shifting their management and production style from traditional to organic practices. Artificial hormones and antibiotic use have been replaced with natural and organic treatment options.

In addition to producing milk, the Landis family operates a roadside stand that offers their homegrown produce.  Asparagus, strawberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, potatoes and pumpkins are available seasonally. Be sure to visit the stand located at 7225 Shanley Road in Deansboro.

The Landis family expresses their gratitude and thankfulness for their family’s success in the following statement.  “We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for the help of other farmers and especially for the many blessings from the Lord!”

The Stricker Family Farm on Barker Road in Clinton is owned and operated by Bob Stricker. The two story conventional tie stall barn is home to 50 milk cows and 25 head of young stock.  The farm operates on 217 total acres of which 150 are tillable and an additional 30 acres are rented.  Crops grown include hay, corn and oats.

This Dairy of Distinction farm also has a history of family involvement.  Bob’s parents, Bill and Mary Stricker purchased the farm and 82 acres in 1947 and began milking 18 cows.  The purchase of 135 additional acres in 1963 allowed the Strickers to expand their herd to 50 cows.  Bill and Mary’s hard work and dedication to their farm enabled them to raise eight children.

In 1984 a partnership with their son Bob was formed and in 2001 Bob became sole owner and operator of The Stricker Family Farm. Family involvement continues today with help from Bob’s sister Linda McComb and Bob’s nephew, Ryan Lallier. Bob Stricker also employs three additional part time employees.  Loraine Barker, Timothy Zimbler and Zack Reed all play a part in this farm’s success.

Congratulations to all three Dairy of Distinction award winners!

The Waterville Farmers’ Market is held Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Village Green, Route 12 through Oct. 27.

If a farmers’ market is happening in your community, we want to know and let everyone else know. Email your information to: Margo@m3pmedia.com and it will be posted to the Oneida County Courier, www.OneidaCountyCourier.com.

Late Blight has been reported in the neighboring states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and on Long Island – it has not been reported in Oneida County.

Home Gardeners, now is the time to start spraying with fungicides containing the chemical CHLOROTHALONIL.  Follow the manufacturer’s suggestions for rates and frequency. Unfortunately organic products containing copper have not proven to be highly effective against Late Blight.

Have more tomato blight questions?  Download the Tomato Blight factsheet from our webpage http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/oneia/

Attendees from the public are encouraged to do the same although this is not required to participate.  Spore prints with ID books and a 10x lens or jeweler’s loupe will be helpful. Future foray schedules will be available.

The meeting is free and the public is invited.

For additional information or directions call 339-3515.

(North Brookfield, NY) Award-winning children’s author Barbara Linsley recently released her second book, an “I Can Read Book,” entitled “I Can Help on the Farm,” featuring photos and children from local farms.

Her new book is distributed state-wide by North Country Books Inc. of Utica. The public can meet Linsley on June 29 at 10:30 a.m. at the Hamilton Public Library and on June 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dunham Public Library in Whitesboro.

The hard cover book, published in large print is suitable for children aged 4 to 7. It’s vibrant, color photos show children “helping” on actual farms in Madison and Herkimer counties. It’s written as if a child is telling the story of how he or she can clean the barn, milk the cows; feed the calves and many other chores done by children around a modern-day farm.

The end of the book offers the reader 10 questions to ask on “how much do you remember” about the book, with the answers on an adjacent page, and a few “fun” facts about dairy.

Linsley said all the farms that participated received a copy.

“They were very excited,” Linsley said. “The farms that opened their doors to me and allowed me to photograph their kids helping in the barn, playing in the loft and showing cows at the dairy shows were just terrific. I heard a lot of financial hardships and frustrations that the small, family farms are going through, but the kids were so proud of their cows and so willing to share with me their lifestyle.”

Madison County’s own Dairy Princess Nicole Head is pictured in “I Can Help on the Farm,” as Headline Farm of North Brookfield was just one of the farms that opened up its barn doors to Linsley.

Linsley said the original manuscript for the farm book was written 22 years ago when she worked at BOCES in the migrant tutorial program that serves as Parents as Reading Partners (PARP) in schools. She showed the manuscript to Audrey Donahoe, director of the National Dairy Board who said, “You’ve got to do this.”  So, she updated the information, took photos of local farms and it took off from there.

Linsley, who is a fifth grade teacher at Mount Markham Middle School, has had several stories published in the Horse Tails for the Soul and Dog Tails for the Soul series of books. But her biggest achievement came last year when she was awarded the WILLA Literary Award for her book “Dreams on the Oregon Trail.” The book tells the story of two pre-adolescent girls, Jenna and Becky. Modern day Jenna and her ancestor Becky (1848) tell parallel stores while traveling the Oregon Trail.

Linsley flew to Los Angeles last September to receive the WILLA award, named after Willa Cather, author, editor and journalist (1873-1947) who became known as America’s premier female writer.

Born in Hamilton, Linsley traveled extensively as a child, here and abroad. That’s when she fell in love with history. She attended college at the University of Arizona in Tucson and while there she explored the region. Dreams on the Oregon Trail features many photos Linsley took of the places she writes about in the book.

“It took five years [to write the book] because when I started writing, I’d get to a point where I wasn’t sure how to describe a place, so I’d have to wait for summer vacation to go there,” Linsley said. “So over three summers I was driving out to see and explore various areas along the [Oregon] trail.”

Linsley was living in Michigan when her brother offered to let her live in an old farmhouse in North Brookfield. That was more than 25 years ago. Her love of history and travel continues in Central New York.

(June 14, 2010) June marks a month-long celebration of the dairy industry’s central importance to our state’s agricultural production. Dairy farmers not only produce many of the staples we enjoy, but they also heavily support collateral businesses in our communities such as farm-equipment manufacturers, food processors, and veterinarians. It is important for New Yorkers to support their state’s dairy farmers, and June is the perfect month to recognize its wonderful contributions to our lives.

Milk, New York’s official beverage, has been our leading agricultural product for over 25 years, ranking this state as the nation’s third largest producer. According to the Department of Agriculture and Markets, dairy generates over half of New York’s agricultural receipts, nearly $2 billion, and provides some of the highest economic multipliers in the state.  In 2009, there were 5,400 New York dairy farmers generating 12 billion pounds of milk. A Cornell University study reveals that for every new job created on a dairy farm, an additional 1.24 jobs are created in the community, and for every dollar of output, an additional $.83 is generated. Dairy processing provides an additional 4.72 jobs for every job created in a plant and generates an additional $1.26 to the community for every dollar of product sold. All this in a state where the majority of dairy operations remain family farms owning an average of 100 cows.

Operating costs are up for dairy farmers around the state during this longest recession since the Great Depression, increasing overhead and squeezing profit margins. It continues a troubling trend for the industry across New York. In 2006 alone, an estimated 460 dairy farms were forced to close their doors. Global demand for U.S. milk is increasing; we must continue to ensure that New York’s dairy farmers have the resources they need to handle this production uptick. Because we represent a majority of the farmers in Upstate New York, my colleagues and I will continue to be a voice for the agricultural industry and ensure that it remains the backbone of our economy, including supporting the Dairy Assistance Program. This program allows federal funding that has been allocated to our state to be spent on New York’s farming industry.  The proposed assistance would allocate $75 million of the $24.6 billion in funding granted to New York state by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to be distributed to struggling family dairy farmers. In the past I have supported legislation which would enhance the program to reflect the direct-assistance programs for dairy farmers found in nearby milk-producing states such as Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine.

Dairy farmers add to our Upstate economy; in fact, you might say dairies and jobs go together like milk and cookies. I supported increasing funds to the state’s Dairy Assistance Program, a financial lifeline for many family farms in our region because macroeconomic pressures are raising costs and driving too many valuable employers and producers out of business. And I will continue to fight for these farms, dairies, and creameries because they bring dollars to our Upstate communities and keep jobs here in New York.

Several local business members of the Mohawk Valley Growers Association donated various annual and perennial plants.  The Extension produced a graph format of the empty container in which the sponsoring nursery drew up a design highlighting the donated plant material.  The teens learned about placement, color combinations, soil moist gels, fertilizers and basic care of the container flowers.  They experienced hands on planting of the fourteen different containers.

Sponsors of the planters donated an estimated $1,200 worth planting materials and they included:  Benson Farms, Brick House Acres, Candella’s Greenhouses, Casler Flower Farm, Chester’s Flower Shop, Inc., Elizabeth’s Country Garden, Freedom Farm Market LLC, Happy Valley Farms, North Star Orchards, Olney’s Flower Pot, River Road Farm & Greenhouses, Seneca Trail Garden Center, and Snyder’s Greenhouse Gardens.

Cornell Cooperative Extension will have the container designs and photos of the planters posted to the CCE website site shortly.  One can scale down these annual and perennial container designs to fit their home or office planters and shop for the plant material at our local Mohawk Valley Growers businesses.  Visit the Oneida County Office Building sometime this summer to see the various planted containers.  Check out Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oneida County website at www.cce.cornell.edu for additional gardening information under the Home and Garden link or call the Horticulture Hotline, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am to noon at 736-3394, ext. 127.

The session will inspire you to color your world by adding container plantings to your garden.  Participants will learn a bit of history of container gardening along with the basic information of how to grow plants in containers.  Just about anything can be grown in containers, be it annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs or even vines and small trees and shrubs.  Ideas for container design and form will be provided along with a demonstration of plantings in a unique container.  Participants will discover an amazing number of plant possibilities and an equally amazing variety of containers, both purchased and improvised.

Sample plants and containers will be provided courtesy of George’s Farm Products and Greenhouse in Clinton, NY.

Roseanne Loparco, Master Gardener will be presenting the class.  The Mini Learning Session will take place in the pavilion at the Extension’s Parker Scripture Botanical Gardens, 121 Second Street, Oriskany, NY located behind the Farm & Home Center Building.  Please dress for the weather.

For more information, contact Holly @736-3394 ext. 125.

The session will inspire you to color your world by adding container plantings to your garden.  Participants will learn a bit of history of container gardening along with the basic information of how to grow plants in containers.  Just about anything can be grown in containers, be it annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs or even vines and small trees and shrubs.  Ideas for container design and form will be provided along with a demonstration of plantings in a unique container.  Participants will discover an amazing number of plant possibilities and an equally amazing variety of containers, both purchased and improvised.

Sample plants and containers will be provided courtesy of George’s Farm Products and Greenhouse in Clinton, NY.

Holly Wise, Extension Educator will be presenting the class.  The Mini Learning Session will take place in the pavilion at the Extension’s Parker Scripture Botanical Gardens, 121 Second Street, Oriskany, NY located behind the Farm & Home Center Building.  Please dress for the weather.

For more information, contact Holly @736-3394 ext. 125.