October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Guthrie wants to remind you about the importance of early detection through annual mammogram screenings. Taking this simple step can help catch breast cancer in its early stages, significantly increasing the chances of successful treatment.
Take this opportunity to prioritize your health and give yourself a fighting chance by scheduling a mammogram today.
You can schedule a mammogram online at www.Guthrie.org/mammography, scan the QR code on your smartphone or call 866-GUTHRIE (866-488-4743).
Karey Solomon
By David O’Reilly
By Karey Solomon
Lilace Mellin Guignard
Cover photo by Wade Spencer, (top) Steve Selin by David O'Reilly; (middle)
Courtesy Birkett Mills; (bottom) David O'Reilly by Lilace Mellin Guignard.
mountainhomemag.com
E ditors & P ublish E rs
Teresa Banik Capuzzo
Michael Capuzzo
A ssoci A t E E ditor & P ublish E r
Lilace Mellin Guignard
A ssoci A t E P ublish E r
George Bochetto, Esq.
A rt d ir E ctor
Wade Spencer
M A n A ging E ditor
Gayle Morrow
s A l E s r EP r E s E nt A tiv E
Shelly Moore
c ircul A tion d ir E ctor
Michael Banik
A ccounting
Amy Packard
c ov E r d E sign
Wade Spencer
c ontributing W rit E rs
Maggie Barnes, Ann E. Duckett, Terence Lane, David O'Reilly, Linda Roller, Karey Solomon
c ontributing P hotogr AP h E rs
Cameron Clemens, Terence Lane, Lauren Lowman, David O'Reilly, Martha Swann-Quinn, Abbey Roberts, Becky Simpson d istribution t EAM
Dawn Litzelman, Grapevine Distribution, Linda Roller
t h E b EA gl E Nano Cosmo (1996-2014) • Yogi (2004-2018)
TO ADVERTISE: E-mail info@mountainhomemag.com, or call us at (570) 724-3838.
AWARDS: Mountain Home has won over 100 international and statewide journalism awards from the International Regional Magazine Association and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association for excellence in writing, photography, and design.
DISTRIBUTION: Mountain Home is available “Free as the Wind” at hundreds of locations in Tioga, Potter, Bradford, Lycoming, Union, and Clinton counties in PA and Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Yates, Seneca, Tioga, and Ontario counties in NY.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: For a one-year subscription (12 issues), send $24.95, payable to Beagle Media LLC, 39 Water Street, Wellsboro, PA 16901 or visit mountainhomemag.com..
Johnny ApplesAver Steve Selin Recovers Lost Apples
By David O’Reilly
Barrels of yum: Steve Selin leans against French oak barrels with medium charred interiors that he uses for his Goodwin label (GWN) among others.
In1992, Steve Selin was long-haired and twenty, bicycling from Telluride to Albuquerque, coming to the end of a long descent out of the Colorado mountains through the New Mexico desert, when the eastern sky grew dark and began to spit lightning. “Then suddenly, all around me were these gorgeous old apple orchards, and the sun was setting in the west. It was incredibly dramatic, with the sun shining down on me—the most strikingly beautiful day of my life.”
It seems like an omen now, says Steve, owner of South Hill Cider on the fringes of Ithaca. But he would spend the next few decades as a luthier, repairing violins and cellos around the Finger Lakes. By night he was playing old time bluegrass fiddle at festivals and wineries. In between, he was making apple cider, “maybe four barrels a year,” foraging all of his fruit from abandoned orchards and wild hedgerows. Despite degrees in forest biology and soil ecology, his vision of becoming an organic farmer just wasn’t happening. And so this luthier-by-day, fiddler-by-night thing went on for years.
All the while he was fermenting two hundred gallons a year—the max federal law allows a hobbyist—“always focusing on making it as good as possible.”
And then his cider started talking to him.
“I was getting to know the winemakers, tasting a lot of their wines,” he explains recently, “and I started bringing them my ciders. One of them had an interest in cider, so we started doing blind tastings, with the bottles in brown paper bags. And that’s when we realized the cider I was making was very like wine—and better than most of the cider you could buy.”
In 2012 he embarked full time on the career that would make him what he is today: orchardist, apple hunter, and one of New York’s most celebrated cider makers.
Wade Spencer
“You really get that ‘fine wine’ feel to them,” Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate says of Steve’s ciders, “…harmonious and friendly.” The Cider Journal raved a few years ago, “This is a beautiful, well-crafted cider that is wine-like.”
Still slender and ponytailed at fiftytwo, you might call Steve Selin an apple whisperer, only it’s the apples—bearing delightfully baroque names like Brown Snout, Chisel Jersey, Kingston Black, Roxbury Russet, Tremlett’s Bitter, and Newtown Pippin—that whisper to him.
All summer long he plucks, slices, chews, savors, and spits out the emerging fruit—much of it sour or bitter on the tongue—monitoring its progress toward harvest. Then, come fall, he marries this variety with that—maybe a Porter’s Perfection with a Golden Russet—to produce elegant, complex, wine-like beverages that expand, even defy, conventional notions of cider.
“Nowadays we turn out about between five thousand and eight thousand cases a year—maybe sixty thousand bottles,” he
explains, seated across a table at his cidery’s tasting room at 550 Sandbank Road. Off to his right, wooden barrels and stainless fermenting tanks peek through a ceilinghigh glass wall. Bottles labeled “String Theory,” “Bluegrass Russet,” “Sunlight Transformed,” and “Crabseckle” line the shelves.
Sixty thousand bottles a year may sound like a lot, says Steve, “but that’s about a hundred and thirty times smaller than one of the big cideries in the area.” And don’t get him started on beverage manufacturers who call wine coolers “cider” or slap that word onto concoctions of carbonated, fortified apple juice.
“There’s a lot of bad cider out there,” he says, shaking his head. “Ours, well, it’s a different product.”
He hops up from the table and goes over to the long counter where employees are waiting on customers and comes back with three short tasting glasses of cider. One is pale yellow, the color of white wine. Another is light amber. The third is a ruddy amber with some visible fizz.
“In England, France, Spain, Germa-
ny—cider is very common,” he explains, “because anywhere you have orchards, cider is part of the cuisine.” Here in this country, following a long love affair with hard cider that fizzled out a century ago, Americans are rediscovering just how good and varied fine ciders can be. And educating the American palate is part of Steve’s mission.
One Flight or Two?
“We’ll start with this one,” he says, and points to the palest cider. It’s dry but with an unmistakable apple presence—crisp, simple, and darned good. “Some apples are made to blend,” he says, “but others, like the Golden Russet and the Baldwin, also make a good single.” The one we just sampled is a single variety Baldwin, “bone dry and bright,” he says, “with zero residual sugar.”
The next, lightly tawny, is a blend of Baldwin and Golden Russet. “This is the one I like to serve to wine drinkers,” he explains, “because it comes across like a white burgundy.” It possesses more depth and a
Applesaver continued from page 7
Wade Spencer
Taking the long view: The orchard at South Hill Cider, part of the amazing view from the tasting room lawn, is four miles from downtown Ithaca. A conservation easement protects it from subdivision.
toastier presence than the plain Baldwin. He ferments it “dry,” he says, and lets it rest in neutral French oak barrels before bottling.
The last, a deep and sparkling amber, is a single variety made from the tannic, bittersweet Dabinett apple. “These are the apple varieties used in Calvados”—the apple brandy of Normandy, France—“and at the opposite end of the spectrum” from the “tart, lean, focused Baldwin.”
“The classic cliche is that ‘the wine is made in the vineyard,’” a marriage of soil, weather, and fruit, he says. “It’s the same with cider. If you grow good fruit or find really great varieties in the wild, the cider is almost going to make itself. So our goal is to do as little as possible to it. But you also have to have the right varieties, and know when they’re ready.”
Twelve years of professional experimentation has translated into thirty-five distinctive ciders bearing the South Hill name, ranging in price and complexity from the twelve-dollar “bone dry” Farmhouse label to his fifty-four-dollar champagne-like Cuvee Brut, aged sur lie six years. About half his labels are of the “dry sparkling” variety, with the others still and dry, or medium sweet sparklers, or dessert ciders.
After a tour of the fermentation room, we step outside into the open air dining area where about forty patrons are lunching on cider-marinated pulled pork or Reuben sandwiches (including a beet Reuben), drinking in the splendid views along with flights or whole glasses of cider. Guided tastings, cheese boards, and glass pours are available most hours, and the full menu is served on weekends and starting at 4 p.m. weekdays. Steve’s love of live music means that most evenings there is a band on the outdoor stage (find the schedule at southhillcider.com). Some concerts have a suggested donation, and some require tickets.
Among those seated outdoors are Tom Hasman and Letitia Devoesick of Rochester, here for the first time and sampling flights. They’d come to hike Treman State Park and saw a sign for the cidery. “You can see it went down fast,” Tom says with a laugh. “These are our second flights.”
Off to the left, a few sheep are grazing behind tall deer fences, and Steve points out some of the established apple varieties he’s growing on ten of the cidery’s twenty-six acres, including Calville Blancs of French origin. “A lot of the apples in Monet’s paintings included these,” he says as we head down a gradual slope toward five long, unfenced rows of young trees.
This is Steve’s “experimental” orchard: about one hundred and fifty unfenced trees he’s propagating from wild varieties he’s been testing and using for years. Many are wearing cages around their upper trunks to prevent deer damage.
Some of Steve’s experimental trees are so new they don’t yet have names, but he points with some pride to a row of apples called Dawes Melody that he named “after the property I found it on.”
He plucks a small green apple off one young tree and unsheathes the knife on his belt. He slices into it and pops a piece into his mouth, chewing it thoughtfully before spitting it out. “Mm,” he murmurs. “That’s pure bitterness. Bitter and astringent. But the bitterness is very round.” He cuts off another slice and chews some more. “It’s got a nice aroma and a good amount of sugar to make the alcohol.” He turns to study the row, and nods. “There’s a lot of good fruit there.”
OLIVE OIL & BALSAMIC VINEGAR SPECIALTY STORE
Over 40 different varieties of extra virgin olive oils, fused/infused oils,
and dark balsamic vinegars as well as specialty oils. All oils and vinegars can be sampled free.
are a great place to shop for holidays! Gift baskets, gift boxes & gift certificates
Time and Place in a Glass
Safer to drink than water, hard cider was once a staple of the American diet, the quaff of patrician and everyman alike. In colonial days a typical family consumed seven barrels of cider annually—about thirty-five gallons per person. (Children drank a low-alcohol version called ciderkin.) The Johnny Appleseed you learned about in grammar school was a real person, tin pot hat and all. What your teacher didn’t tell you was that all those orchards John Chapman planted and grafted were for making hard cider—not pie. National cider production plummeted, then collapsed under Prohibition. Temperance zealots even took axes to orchards, and apple growers were forced to start other crops or abandon their orchards.
With cider enjoying a new wave of popularity, artisanal growers like Steve are restoring those orchards, planting new ones, and forever on the hunt for new varieties. “We’re fortunate that there are thousands of [wild] apple trees around here,” he says. “Almost all don’t taste good, but we’re always looking for the ones that surprise you with intense flavor…It could be very tart, or very bitter, or super sweet, but it needs at least one. Or all three.”
Steve’s job is apples: Award-winning South Hill ciders include Patina, a blend of English cider apples and modern American dessert apples, which received a platinum award from the Great American Cider Competition in 2020. Steve Selin determines when to harvest different apples by tasting them as they grow.
With harvest imminent, he decides to visit the apples, and widow, of his late friend Peter Hoover. Her Stone Fence Farm in Trumansburg includes a quarter-acre orchard whose fifty trees supply all the fruit for South Hill’s Stone Fence label.
He snags a plate of cheeses and a half-bottle of something sort of brick red and we climb into his Honda Civic. It’s a twenty-five-minute drive to Trumansburg, and his Spotify is pouring out tunes by the Hudson Valley banjoist and fiddler Bruce Molsky. “Whoa,” he calls out on Perry Road, pointing to a blur on the right. “That crab apple tree is loaded! We’ll have to check it out on the way back.” It’s what apple hunters do.
Hard cider was “not all that popular” in 2012 as he debated whether to jump in full time. But decades of doing “oil changes on other people’s instruments” had grown repetitious, hard on his joints, and lonely. And yet all around the Lakes there was a collaborative community of wine and cider makers whose camaraderie—like those of musicians—he thrived on. He and his wife, Ellyn, had two small boys, but she’s a family doctor “and could pay the bills.”
He took the plunge, but into murky waters. A hard spring frost had burned nearly all the blossoms on the wild trees he’d long been foraging, and none had borne fruit. He’d have to buy. But what? And where?
“That’s when a friend told me that Cornell had a research orchard where they were cultivating [cider] apple varieties from England and France.” He bought a pickup truck’s worth of Tremlett’s Bitter, Dabinetts, and Chisel Jerseys, and then paid a visit to a farmstand orchardist who assured him that the traditional American varieties he sold—Ida Reds, Golden Delicious, NorthApplesaver
See Applesaver on page 12
David O'Reilly
412 N. Franklin St. • Watkins Glen, NY 14891
412 N. Franklin St. • Watkins Glen, NY 14891
Open Mon-Sat 9am-8pm • Sun 10am-8pm
*Subject to change based on NYS regulations. www.famousbrandsoutlet.com 607-535-4952
No need to leave the dog at home: A group of friends from across New York meet at a picnic table on the broad lawn outside the tasting room to share flights.
Famous Brands began in 1983, offering “famous brand” clothing and footwear at below retail prices.
ern Spy—“are what you make cider with.”
Steve took home a truckload of these as well, but, fatefully, decided to ferment the Cornell apples separately from the American. “It was a huge ‘aha’ moment,” he says. “They were drastically different.” The American varieties were ideal for baking and eating but their cider proved “unexceptional.” The European apples, high in tannins and acidity, “had incredible flavors and textures and aromas.”
His next challenge was to start his own orchard. In 2013 he and Ellyn scoured the Lakes region, looking to rent a few acres, but were repeatedly rebuffed. But if that mystically beautiful moment in New Mexico twenty years earlier had indeed been an omen, it was now starting to, well, bear fruit.
He wrote a one-page letter to the owner of twenty-six neglected acres of pasture immediately adjacent to his own—he’d never seen the man—explaining his vision of an organic cidery. Might he lease the property? The owner, Art Hansen, was a retired soils scientist eager to see his land remain in agriculture and, to their astonishment, he offered to sell his farm at a fraction of its market value. “He could tell we were authentic,” says Steve. And when he realized the Selins were “scrambling” to raise the money, Art agreed to hold the loan himself.
Best of all, the farm’s silty loam is high in clay that imparts an essential depth of flavor to cider apples. “But if you go half a mile down the road,” says Steve, shaking his head, “the soil’s terrible.”
Applesaver continued from page 10
Lilace Mellin Guignard
The cider doesn’t fall far from the farm: Steve Selin visits Peggy Haine at Stone Fence Farm, and determines that the heat and rain will bring an early harvest.
We arrive at Stone Fence Farm. Peggy Haine, eighty, emerges from the white clapboard farmhouse and spies the bottle in Steve’s hand. “What have we here?” she asks. “Pommeau,” he announces, and at her kitchen table he pours out small servings from the dome-shouldered bottle. Made from Dabinett apples and apple brandy, it’s as sweet and deeply flavored as an aged port. It goes splendidly with the cheeses.
Peggy’s late husband, Peter, a paleontologist and ethnomusicologist, started this cider orchard in 1993. Steve had known Peter’s recordings of rural folk musicians long before they all met at a local concert in 2002, and they became fast friends. After he and Peggy catch up, we head out to the orchard, where Steve examines the fruit.
He cuts an apple from a variety called Major into slices, and offers one to Peggy. “Good tannins,” she says. He slices into a Kingston Black. Nice acidity, they agree. Steve remarks the fruit has “taken off” in this summer’s high heat and heavy rains. “Harvest might be two weeks early.”
Peggy nods, then mentions she’d love some apples for baking. Steve disappears into the orchard and returns with a dozen Reinette Zabergaus—a nutty, sweet-sharp member of the russet family—in the folds of his shirt. Delighted, Peggy marvels at how the orchard had “started out a bunch of sticks.”
“And now,” she says, “it’s just so beautiful.”
Putting that beauty into bottles will take months. Workers
Let's get toasted and go nutty: COO Kyle Gifford holds a handful of just-harvested buckwheat before it enters Birkett Mills (located on the Lake Keuka inlet in Penn Yan), where it will be sorted, hulled, ground, and toasted for its distinctive flavor.
The Daily Grind
Penn Yan’s Buckwheat—It’s Not Just for Breakfast!
By Karey Solomon
We may not know what the early Dutch colonists were thinking when they arrived on the shores of the New World, but it’s probably safe to say they weren’t concentrating on future pancakes. The packets of seed buckwheat tucked into their baggage might have been intended as eventual animal feed. They already knew that this ancient, short-season grain, imported to Europe from Asia millenniums earlier, could grow well in soil and weather conditions that would stunt or kill other crops. And if all else failed, the buckwheat could help nourish them, too. It probably did.
Buckwheat spread with these first settlers north to Albany, then westward with the European expansion into central New York.
In 1797, around the time President George Washington was getting ready to retire to Mount Vernon, the Wagener family, having settled in Penn Yan, had begun to harness the water power of an outlet stream flowing from Keuka Lake to Seneca Lake to mill buckwheat and other grains. That original mill burned in 1823 and was promptly rebuilt. The “new” mill has been in continuous operation for 200 years. The Birketts owned it in the late nineteenth century and the name stuck, even though it’s the Gifford family who currently owns the
mill at 1 East Main Street.
On a perfect fall day, the air in the village holds the deliciously nutty smell of roasting buckwheat. Kyle Gifford, president and COO of the Birkett Mills, holds a hand under a stream of buckwheat exiting a large truck into a pipeline leading into the mill. Freshly harvested, the buckwheat kernels are shiny and black. Because tiny amounts of other grains could have snuck into the harvest, the buckwheat’s first stop is a machine called a color-sorter, which discerns and separates buckwheat from other grains based on color. Nothing is wasted—the rejected seeds are sold as animal feed.
Then the buckwheat is hulled, revealing the pale brown kernels inside. The hulls are bagged for mulch. Some of the hulled buckwheat is sold in bulk as whole groats (groats can be any hulled grain broken into pieces larger than grits). Some is ground into flour. And much of it is milled into coarse, medium, and fine groats which, along with some of the whole buckwheat, is toasted to bring out its nutty flavor before being packed for distribution. “It’s not a technical process,” Kyle explains. “It’s more art than science.” And the scent makes you hungry.
Called kasha, the toasted grain, much of it packaged under the Wolff’s label, a Birkett brand, is distributed across the
United States. Some of the flour, kasha, and groats are also sold in bulk and packaged for distribution by other companies, here and abroad.
The toasting happens in four large antique coffee roasters in an adjacent building, overseen by a rotating crew of workers. Kyle knows them all. Walking through the mill, he’ll ask about someone’s grandchild and someone else’s vacation, compliments several workers on the job they’re doing, teases another in mock annoyance about leaving his truck at the mill while he took a few days off (that one turns out to be a cousin). On another floor, wheat flour is milled. Less labor-intensive than buckwheat, the mill processes seven to eight times more wheat flour than buckwheat, including a special blend of different wheats, selected by a master baker, for the in-house bakeries of a respected supermarket chain (nameless because they don’t want to give away their secret). Even so, they might mill more buckwheat here than anywhere else in the country. Sometimes the mill runs three shifts, around the clock.
The two milling operations are kept strictly separate to retain the gluten-free integrity of the buckwheat, which is, strictly speaking, not a grain but the seed of a flowering plant loosely related to both rhubarb and sorrel. Buckwheat is naturally gluten-
free and is non-GMO (not genetically modified).
Considered a super food for its high protein content, antioxidants, and heart-healthy components like rutin and magnesium, buckwheat is a complex carbohydrate. People who eat it regularly may experience lower cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels.
“Buckwheat punches above its weight,” Kyle comments. Some food labs are experimenting with the creation of buckwheat “milk.” Western bakers incorporate buckwheat flour into cookies and biscuits. Indian bakers sometimes use buckwheat flour in naan, a chewy, yeasted flatbread. In Japan, buckwheat is made into soba noodles, considered one of the healthiest pastas.
There are a few varieties of buckwheat around. Birkett Mills prefers “Koto” developed by Cornell University researcher Thomas Björkman. Tasters preferred its flavor profile, and it has the added advantage of being consistently sized. Hundreds of farmers with production contracts obtain their seed from the Birkett Mills.
“We support more than 10,000 acres of farming,” Kyle says. Some farmers plant buckwheat to get two crops from the same fields. After winter wheat planted the previous autumn is harvested in early summer, their fields are re-planted with buckwheat to prevent erosion and yield a second crop that leaves the soil healthier than before. A few specialize in buckwheat, so the mill enjoys a long harvest season. Large on-site silos store grain waiting to be milled. Buckwheat suppresses weeds, too, so it’s sometimes planted as a cover crop. In a bad production year, the farmer can plow it under to further improve soil health. Its only problem? Deer love it, too.
Kyle grew up around the mill, though he’s almost too young to remember Penn Yan’s annual Buckwheat Harvest Festival, or the largest buckwheat pancake ever made with Birkett Mills-produced flour—2,000 pounds of it, mixed with 2,000 gallons of water. In 1987, a twenty-eight-foot diameter, one-inch-high pancake was made on a specially-constructed two-part griddle, flipped using a construction crane, and served to 7,000 people. Fifteen gallons of maple syrup and sixty-eight pounds of butter were also involved. (Thirty-thousand attended that year over multiple days, so some had to go home and make their own pancakes.)
The festival grew bigger and bigger—and fell victim to its own success. With the mill also experiencing an increased volume of business, it became too big an enterprise for volunteers to maintain, and for the mill to experience a two-week hiatus during harvest, so it was discontinued in 1999. Visitors to Penn Yan still take selfies in front of the griddle, possibly unaware that behind the brick walls the mills are humming, grain is moving, and hundreds of pounds of flour and buckwheat are moving toward their next breakfast—all in the time it takes to snap a photo.
To learn more about buckwheat and the Birkett Mills, and to check out the recipes, visit thebirkettmills.com, or call (315) 536-3311. Find their products nearly everywhere or shop online.
Karey Solomon is the author of a poetry chapbook, Voices Like the Sound of Water, a book on frugal living (now out of print), and more than thirty-six needlework books. Her work has also appeared in several fiction and nonfiction anthologies.
Planet of the Grapes
The Scoop on Shrub
By Terence Lane
The term “shrub” used in reference to a drink was only something I heard about two years ago, but its low-key popularity dates back to colonial America, a refreshment enjoyed by colonists on break from the daily grind of colonization. Originally, it was devised as a way to preserve fresh fruit for use in the winter as a stand-in for fruit juice, but has since gained popularity for its use in cocktails, mocktails, and as a soda alternative with powerful digestive properties and no additives. One taste of this beguiling, tart beverage and you’ll immediately understand its appeal. Sometimes referred to as “drinking vinegar,” shrub is a cinch to make at home and a fantastic way to make the most of an abundance of seasonal fruit. From cherries to blueberries, strawberries to peaches, shrub can be made
from an array of local produce as wideranging as the number of inlets on any one of the Finger Lakes.
This year’s shrub adventure took me to Wickham’s Tango Oaks Farm in Hector for one of the best sour cherry crops on record. While the sweet cherries had succumbed to yet another late spring frost, the sour cherry blooms emerged later into perfectly hot and dry conditions. The trees sagged, glittering with galaxies of cherries as bright and shiny as pearls of stained glass. I quickly fell away into a cherry-induced trance, accidentally collecting six pounds of fruit. What resulted was an enormous amount of shrub, possibly enough to keep me liquid until the cherries are ripe once again.
The recipe for shrub includes three main ingredients: Fruit, vinegar, and sweetener,
using one equal part of each. Feel free to use different vinegars and sweeteners. A lot of recipes call for red wine vinegar, but I found the flavor too overpowering (you want to taste the delicious fruit!). I prefer white wine vinegar, raw apple cider vinegar, or a combination of the two. These lighter vinegars will allow the brilliant cherry red color to shine through in the final result.
For my shrub, I put three cups of lightly mashed sour cherries into a sixty-fourounce Ball jar. To remove the pits, I gently squeezed them out, but they can also be removed with a straw or cherry pitter. Then I added my sweetener, opting for three cups of pure white sugar. Feel free to be creative with other sweetening agents such as honey, brown sugar, or maple syrup. I chose white
Terence Lane
GAFFER DISTRICT
sugar hoping to highlight the bright sour cherry flavor and not distract from it. I let the fruit and sugar meld for a couple of hours in order to extract more juices and then added three cups of vinegar (half white wine vinegar, half raw apple cider vinegar).
Incorporate all three ingredients by shaking them vigorously inside the jar, then store the whole thing in the fridge for at least a week, shaking once or twice per day. At the end of a week, you’ll want to strain out the solids through a cheese cloth-lined colander. The resulting syrup will be tart and tangy, and you’ll have made an amazing shrub. Mix the syrup to taste in a cold glass of seltzer, or use it to enhance a bourbon cocktail, such as an old-fashioned. If mixing with seltzer, start by adding roughly one ounce of shrub to four ounces of seltzer, and adjust to taste.
If you’re doing a blueberry shrub (which I highly recommend), you’ll want to do a double-strain. After the initial strain, let the shrub sit for an hour. A fine blueberry sediment will collect at the bottom of the jar. Carefully pour off the top liquid into a separate container, reserving the finer sediment, a byproduct that I’ve dubbed “Blue Gold.” This stuff is absolutely precious and not to be discarded. Store the blue gold in Tupperware for use in yogurt, oatmeal, or other cereal.
The leftover fruit from making shrub is a bonus gift for your troubles. I like to pack the used cherries into small Ball jars and top them up with a decent quality brandy like Hennessey. Allow the brandy to soak into the cherries over a couple of weeks and use them to garnish a Manhattan cocktail or spoon them over vanilla ice cream. Heap them onto a Belgian waffle with whipped cream, or gift them to your resident bourbon aficionado. There are no rules with brandied cherries.
Now that you have the basic concept of what a shrub is and how to build one at home, there are ways to spice it up if spicy is the way you’re feeling. To one of my larger 3:3:3 ratio shrubs, I added one teaspoon of crushed (not powdered) allspice berries, one teaspoon of crushed juniper berries, and half a teaspoon of crushed black peppercorns. When using spices in your shrub, demonstrate your incredible patience by letting the flavors build for at least two weeks. This brings out a whole new world of complexity. A spiced shrub is far and away the most interesting in terms of its depth and flavor profile, the one drawback being that the leftover solids are less reusable as a culinary ingredient. The last thing you want is to bite into a peppercorn while digging into that long-awaited bowl of Chunky Monkey.
In terms of its longevity, shrub will last for months in the refrigerator, but if you’re like me, it tends to move a lot faster than you’d expect. Sometimes I find myself longing for that bright and nervy cherry tang more so than a post-work dram of booze. I haven’t gone soft. I swear. But I do find myself wondering if this time-tested, sustainable sipper has turned my habitual drinking rituals, dare I say, more sustainable, as well.
Terence Lane is a Certified Sommelier. His short fiction and wine writing has appeared in a number of magazines including Wine Enthusiast. A native of Cooperstown, New York, he now lives in the Finger Lakes and is the beverage manager at J.R. Dill Wine Bar in Watkins Glen. Scoop continued from page 16
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The View Thirty Years Later Is Pretty Sweet
Constructing Lock Haven’s Dike-Levee Was a Dam Fight
By Linda Roller
It’s been another flood summer. This August, people were evacuated from homes and one person died in Westfield. For those of us “of a certain age,” rising water reminds us of another storm, a Grande Dame—Agnes. The reminders are still visible in building plaques that show where the water level was in June 1972, and those who endured and cleaned up can still smell the flooded buildings, hear the Army helicopters overhead, and see the devastation in our valleys, towns, and homes.
The beginning of the Lock Haven Dike-Levee project was born from that disaster. After Agnes, there was federal and state money, and support for protection from floods for smaller cities. Of course, any collaboration between federal, state, and local levels takes negotiation, is fraught with pitfalls, and always takes far longer than planned. The question then was, “Should we build a dike, or a dam further
up the river?”
Dam supporters did not want to lose river access and the view in Lock Haven. These were the same concerns that had scuttled a similar project after the 1936 flood. The US Army Corps of Engineers analyzed the various projects, declaring the dike-levee the cost-effective plan. June Houser, councilwoman by 1981, summed it up: “The value of the libraries, churches, schools, and industries was far more than the money needed to build the levee.”
Hammermill Paper Company, one of the largest employers, sided with the engineers on the dike project and hoped that it could be completed by the early 1980s.
Rick Marcinkevage and a group of interns posted plaques on all buildings affected by flooding, and determined the level the river would need to reach to begin flooding the first floor of the structure. Some of these plaques, installed in 1983,
are still visible today.
It would be another decade of work, much done by the local Flood Protection Agency, to negotiate the funding, which ended up being half from the federal government, another quarter from the State, and $4.4 million to be raised by Lock Haven. The city floated a bond for the remaining local money, and it narrowly passed in 1990. With that, work began on the dikelevee. Properties along the Lock Haven side of the river, backyard portions of properties with docks, and some properties on the other side that would become flood plain, were purchased.
Outraged opposition, consisting primarily of these property owners, exploded. William T. Piper, owner of Piper Aircraft, and one of the properties that was purchased entirely, was a prominent public face and important organizer of the opposition. This See View on page 22
Abbey Roberts
Peace like a river: A river contained, that is, as the West Branch through Lock Haven is now.
welcome to WILLIAMSPORT
gallery.pct.edu
group aimed to win seats on the city council and stop the construction. At first, the group was successful, with “Clean Sweep” taking four seats. However, they could not unseat June Houser, who had worked for the levee project for a decade, along with two other pro-levee council members and Mayor DiAnn Stuempfle. Bob Rolley, former publisher of the Williamsport SunGazette and Lock Haven Express and active in many local groups including Outreach Coordinator of the Clinton County Community Foundation, remembered, “Mayor Stuempfle was the linchpin.”
June Houser was the brake that slowed and eventually frustrated the Clean Sweep team, all property owners in the construction zone. June recalls, “Every time they went to vote on a measure [to stop the levee project], I challenged them with conflict of interest, and they had to abstain. They didn’t count on this.” The technique was effective and, one by one, they resigned.
The Houser home was vandalized several times, always on Friday night. Their daughter was bullied at elementary school. “Graffiti was written on the levee as it was
being built at Water Street,” June says. “They did their darndest to stop it.” Mayor Stuempfle was sent black roses, and comments against her were painted on the rock formation above Lock Haven.
But in the end, the anti-levee forces were unable to stop it. In October of 1994, the dike-levee was declared complete.
The flooding that the project was to prevent in Lock Haven did not wait long. In January 1996, a large snowpack was hit with inches of rain and temperatures reaching the sixties. The result was a river that crested at about twenty-six feet, five to seven feet above first floor flooding before the levee. June received calls and letters apologizing for how she had been treated, and a reporter wrote that one man said he would like to kiss June Houser.
The “wins” continued over the years. Lock Haven was spared in 2004, and again in 2011. The top of the dike has become a popular walkway, with beautiful views and an amphitheater on the river. Recreation parks, pavilions, and boat launches in Riverside Park, across the bridge from the city, were developed. This summer, local volunteers cut the ribbon on the walkway that
connects the park to the Riverwalk on the levee and the city. The river is now a hub of recreation and a draw for tourists and locals alike.
Bob Rolley says, “Lock Haven wouldn’t be the charming community it is without the peace of mind the levee gives. That peace promotes private investment and improvements.”
But a few scars remain. June says, “I haven’t been on the riverwalk more than ten times since it was built. My husband goes nearly every day. But there are too many memories.”
Bob Rolley recently met with Pat Piper-Smyer, president of the Piper Foundation, as the foundation was merged with the Clinton County Community Foundation. She talked to Bob about how nice it was here in Lock Haven. “Except for that…” pointing to the levee.
Mountain Home contributor Linda Roller is a bookseller and writer in Avis, Pennsylvania.
Welcome to MOUNTAIN HOME WEDDING
Rob and Amelia Smith dip into married life at Woodstone Country Club in Northampton County Pennsylvania.
Cameron Clemens
New Boutique Finds a Fitting Spot with Old Charm With Love Bridal
“Awedding dress is the single most memorable clothing purchase in a woman’s life.”
That’s Stephanie Becraft talking. She believes that particular purchase should be made in a setting of beauty, serenity, and celebration. If such place can be located in a historic building in a classic downtown setting, all the better.
With Love Bridal Boutique is new to downtown Elmira. An entire wall of historic bricks, high ceilings, hardwood floors, and sun-drenched storefront windows evoke a sense of old world commerce, when the customer experience reigned supreme. Stephanie really had her heart set on a downtown location.
“I feel like we are contributing to the growth of Elmira and, as a native of here, that is important to me.” She is hoping more businesses will soon occupy the spaces that neighbor her store, so folks can visit
Opens in Downtown Elmira
By Maggie Barnes
several shops on a single trip.
The space did not look so good when she first leased it. “There was plywood on the walls, no bathroom, no closet,” she says. “It was a mess. My husband and father-inlaw did a ton of work. I am so glad we kept the bricks we found behind the wall.
“I wanted a warm setting, like an old Victorian home you are visiting as a guest,” Stephanie continues. She’s succeeded. The shop, open since May, is furnished with vintage pieces with classic design. There are antique chairs near the front, as every visit begins with conversation. A long bar with stools and a refrigerator gives bridal parties a place to relax and raise a glass to the bride. Stephanie provides water, soda, and light snacks to keep everyone energized, and customers are allowed to bring in their own wine and champagne.
Next is a seating area surrounding a massive gilded mirror next to a raised plat-
form where brides can model the dresses for family and friends.
“Most brides want people with them for this decision,” Stephanie says. “Anywhere from three to five people. Any more opinions than that and it becomes too much. It complicates it.”
But before a bride steps onto the With Love runway, that important initial conversation takes place. The days of just showing up at the local formal wear shop and waiting for someone to help you are gone. The expectation now is that the visit will be private and meaningful.
“We talk about the bride’s style, what kind of wedding they are planning,” says Stephanie. “The venue, the theme, the flowers, it’s all about the feel they want their day to have. A recent bride is doing a Great Gatsby theme, and it sounded like fun. She chose a slim, flapper type gown with beading.”
Wade Spencer
The all-about-you venue: Stephanie Becraft found the perfect spot in Elmira where she can pamper brides.
MOUNTAIN HOME Weddings
Stephanie works full time as a payroll manager in addition to running the store, so business is by appointment only. Brides should plan on each visit being at least ninety minutes long.
“This needs to be an uninterrupted experience,” Stephanie says. During that time, she keeps her attention on the woman of the hour. “I can tell when a bride doesn’t connect with a dress. You can see it. You can also tell when she does. Often she is quiet, she touches the material a lot, stares in the mirror, and her face lights up.” Trying on too many dresses in one visit can be stressful. Stephanie is a fierce protector of the bride’s mood and will softly intervene if she knows a woman is getting overwhelmed.
Of course, families being what they are, Stephanie knows she will have to maneuver some conflicting opinions. “I certainly can’t argue with anyone, but my focus is the bride. How does this dress make her feel? Can she see herself walking down the aisle in it? At the end of the day, that is what matters.” That personal interaction is why Stephanie feels that buying a wedding dress online is a risky proposition.
“You really need to touch it, to wear it, to understand if it is right for you,” she continues. “This is an occasion, a celebration. Getting this dress should be a happy experience.”
Knowing she wanted to offer a higher quality product, Stephanie has selected just three designers to carry at this time. Madi Lane, Sottero and Midgley, and Etoile creations hang on racks behind the seating area. They span styles from traditional ball gowns to more fitted looks. But—it’s the ultimate gasp moment for purists—none of them are white. Not stark, bright white, anyhow. They are cream and ivory and blush, all part of the trend of the bride having her own wedding day panache, including her own color.
“In the last few years, especially since covid, couples see their wedding as a very personal experience for their brand, if you will,” Stephanie says. “You don’t want to suddenly look like someone you’re not on that most important day. It should showcase who you are.”
And that takes planning. Brides are dress shopping more than a year before their nuptials. Ordering time is about four months. While With Love does not have a seamstress in the shop, they have established relationships with two local pros for alterations. Sizes run 0-32, and prices between $1,700 to $3,000, with an average right around $2,200.
The shop’s atmosphere sets the stage for an intimate, personalized visit, and Stephanie’s gentle nature assures a bride that her happiness is the ultimate goal. While the dress is a very important choice for the bride to make, first and most important choice is the person waiting for her at the altar.
With Love Bridal Boutique is located at 126 Lake Street in downtown Elmira. There is on-street parking and a nearby parking garage. The phone number is (607) 526-5236. You can email Stephanie at hello@withlovebridalny.com, find information at withlovebridalny.com, and follow along on Facebook and Instagram by searching With Love Bridal NY.
Maggie Barnes has won several IRMA and Keystone Press awards. She lives in Waverly, New York.
www.thebarnathillspringsfarm.com
point
Bloomin’ Beautiful!
Lauren Lowman’s Knack for Custom Floral Designs Stems from Family
By Karey Solomon
Chlorophyll just might run through Lauren Lowman’s veins. The fifth generation of her family to work in the floral business, her instinctive feel for how a flower arrangement should look leads her to create bouquets, centerpieces, and other floral designs that pop with her own creative touch.
Great-great-grandfather Seymour Lowman started the family’s Elmira-based wholesale floral business, raising roses in fifteen greenhouses. The business was lovingly passed down to her great-grandfather, then her grandfather, and finally her father. She grew up working there herself every summer. But the North American Free Trade Agreement dealt the enterprise a death blow as it opened the door to an influx of cheap flower imports. The family business was sold, the greenhouses dismantled, and Lauren eventually studied business, kinesiology, and creative writing in college.
But part of her kept returning to flowers. Her father began a landscape design company after the business closed, and she still helps him with container designs. “I’m
super into seasonal planters,” she says.
After graduation, she took a variety of jobs, including freelance floral design in New York City where she worked, among other places, for Renny & Reed, then a Park Avenue florist. Her designs included displays for the Museum of Natural History. “I started to customize designs because I learned so much from people in the big city,” she reflects.
Called back to upstate New York by her Finger Lakes roots, Lauren worked in hospitality, restaurant management, and event planning. She taught floral design, rediscovering her passion for green plants and the flowers they produce. But it was event planning that made her realize her favorite part of the job was planning the flowers, because, she says, “they could make an event so much prettier.”
For a few years, she worked for an Ithaca florist who involved her in planning and creating designs for lavish events and weddings, often for former Cornell and Ithaca College students. “She made me the designer I am,” Lauren says now. “She was
an amazing mentor, and a great human.” The experience helped her develop her own signature style.
In 2022, she became focused on building her brand, LL Designs, soon to blossom into a dedicated studio where she can be her own boss while creating arrangements for weddings and other special events. At fortyone, “I’m ready to press the gas pedal,” she says.
A quintessential Lauren Lowman floral design—in seasons where fresh flowers are available—is likely to feature locally-grown dahlias and ranunculus, with lisianthus accents, maybe some snapdragons, and just a touch of distinctive greenery. These look best, she feels, in an opaque white container, because she’d rather the eye focus on the blooms than the stems. “I’m a sucker for milk glass,” she admits. Depending on the occasion and what the customer envisions, herbs and other flowers might find their way into the arrangement. Whenever possible, she works with local flower farmers. Formal or rustic? A limited color palette or a wild one? Classic or boho? Ultimately, she
Courtesy Lauren Lowman
All (de)signs
to Lauren: A Farmers Market Bridal Bouquet (left) is one example of Lauren Lowman's elegant floral arrangements for all occasions.
Martha Swann-Quinn
MOUNTAIN HOME Weddings
says, her goal is to realize her customer’s vision of what they’d want.
Clients often arrive armed with a collection of ideas gleaned from Instagram, where Lauren also posts her own favorite creations. “Waterfall” bridal bouquets are a current trend. It takes expertise, though, to balance color, texture, flowers, natural materials, and lace. Other design challenges include the “trumpet-style” bouquet, a dramatic arrangement featuring a long, narrow bundle of stems arranged in a vase much wider at the top than its base, so the flowers appear to erupt into a dramatic mass of blooms.
Last summer she was asked to create floral arrangements for the funeral of a prominent man who loved flowers and cultivated giant beds of them with his wife. For Lauren, this meant harvesting flowers he’d grown. “That’s why the floral arrangements were so special,” she says.
The tools of her trade seem simple—curved-blade floral shears and a large pocketknife with blades that are specific for floral use. They’re always with her. So is her camera. If she sees a plant or flower she really likes, she’ll take a photo for later inspiration. Each season brings its own challenges. She might be asked to create formal winter holiday centerpieces to last through the season, using greenery with a few touches of gold and cream. Centerpieces must look good from above as well as eye level. They need to be elegant, sometimes dramatic, but not block the sightlines of guests across the table from each other. In spring, the ephemeral beauty of flowers from bulbs are called for. Luckily, Lauren knows a grower of hydroponic tulips—Jenny Creek Flowers in Trumansburg.
Earlier this year, she was asked to enhance the style of a farmer’s market wedding with a looser bouquet of flowers, centerpieces, corsages, and smaller, colorful floral notes marking special areas. She’s designed a cascade of flowers for wedding cakes. She’s decorated mansions from top to bottom for the holidays, combining creations of greenery, décor, flowers, and candles. Low-maintenance tabletop succulent gardens bring greenery into several Cornell dorm rooms. “Life isn’t always dahlias,” she sighs.
Nor does she want it to be. On her bucket list of possibilities to explore in her own future studio is the use of edible flowers. Orchids, it turns out, among other unconsidered delicacies, have aesthetic uses beyond making an elegant, minimalistic statement.
Repeat client Sue Dean says, “I love her designs and the flowers she chooses!” Sue recently organized an area library’s 125th birthday. She knew she could explain the event’s color scheme, the building’s style, and then step back “with total confidence.”
“I know Lauren does really nice work,” she says.
Lauren also does deliveries. When a bouquet or other arrangement she’s created needs to finds its way to a home, office, or event, Lauren often does that herself, enjoying the positivity her flowers bring. Few people can open the door to a floral delivery without smiling.
Learn more at @laurenlowmandesign on Instagram or reach her at lauren@laurenlowman.com and (607) 857-5381.
Karey Solomon is the author of a poetry chapbook, Voices Like the Sound of Water, a book on frugal living (now out of print), and more than thirty-six needlework books. Her work has also appeared in several fiction and nonfiction anthologies.
Mother Earth
What’s Your Bag?
By Gayle Morrow
My son and I were discussing the provenance of various household items when the conversation turned from family heirlooms to my extensive collection of reusable grocery bags, part of which had been dangling from the front door handle since my last trip to the grocery store (if there’s no Guinness category for that sort of thing, there should be).
“They have a story, too,” I said after he acknowledged removing them because they make it ridiculously annoying to get the door open. He kindly refrained from rolling his eyes.
“I’m sure they do,” he said.
Some are cloth or canvas or clothlike, some seem to be a mix of cloth and plastic—sturdier plastic than the carry-out
grocery bags, but plastic nevertheless. They have various logos and messages touting worthy and not-so-worthy causes. The very first one I bought about a million years ago has a tree and the words “Save a Tree” on it. I remember it was advertised as the “Save a Tree Shoulder Bag.” Who knows if any trees were saved.
I’ve purchased bags as souvenirs, some come in the mail after I’ve donated to one of those worthy causes, I’ve picked up a few at conferences, and my sister made me a couple from pillowcases. Some of them, even the ones touting worthy causes, probably have a good-sized carbon footprint. A factory somewhere is churning them out. They’re not really that easy to pack groceries in, as most are soft-sided and just slump
over on those racks that are clearly made for plastic bags. I always feel bad for the cashier as I’m flopping my diverse assortment of receptacles down at the bagging area, and assure that person that “I can bag.”
Most households have the ubiquitous bag of bags. Or several. Mine, the one for the filmy plastic retail store carry-out type, is a plaid cloth affair that a friend made. You stuff the bags into the top and pull them out from the bottom. Grocery stores in this country began using plastic bags in the early 1970s. They were cheaper than paper bags, weather resistant, and they had handles. The one-piece polyethylene bag had been developed in the mid-1960s by Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin. He didn’t envision them as single-use, and he thought
Wade Spencer
they could replace paper bags which would, in turn reduce deforestation. He was partially right. They can be reused—think liners for small garbage cans (albeit small ones), the signal for “my car is dead, please don’t tow it away” when the bag is left flapping in a rolled up window on a roadside, or a handy wrapper for keeping a paintbrush from drying out—but they are definitely environmentally dodgy and usually end up in landfills or blowing across a field. One factoid I came across: it can take 500 to 1,000 years for a plastic shopping bag to decompose, this after an average use time of twelve minutes. New York passed a law in March of 2020 banning plastic carry-out bags from distribution by anyone required to collect NYS sales tax. And since 2018, thirty (maybe more by this time) Pennsylvania municipalities have passed laws eliminating one or more types of single use plastic.
But, then there are the benches, and an opportunity for a redemption of sorts.
Here in Wellsboro, and likely in other places, too, there are big bins in some of the stores where you can return your plastic grocery bags. Dunham’s, Denney Electric, Tops, and Weis are some of those places. What happens to the bags after that? Dave Paxson, a member of the United Methodist Church of Wellsboro, has the answer. He explains that the church also has a bin for collection of recyclable material—#2 and #4 plastic. The numbers refer to the type of polyethylene—#2 is high-density and #4 is low-density. The church bin accepts plastic bags as well as plastic milk jugs, squeeze bottles, bottle caps, and Ziploc bags.
“We try to encourage people to recycle,” Dave says.
So when the bin gets full, “we weigh it and take it up to Weis,” Dave continues. From there the bags and other plastics eventually end up at a facility in Virginia where the plastic is repurposed into benches, decking, and other useful things.
“We donate them [the benches] to the borough—the benches we’ve received are at the pool,” said Dave. “So far we have seven.”
It takes about 1,000 pounds of plastic to make a bench. Similar projects are ongoing in other communities. This one is a collaboration between the Wellsboro Rotary and the Wellsboro Ministerium.
The answer to the “paper or plastic?” question can be tough. In an effort to encourage you to bring your own bag, or to remember to bring your bags into the store rather than leaving them hang on the door knob, some stores charge for paper bags. It’s not a lot, but maybe it’s the principle of the thing. Or you can buy one of their bags. Free advertising for them, and one less plastic or paper bag to produce and dispose of. I really like my bag I got from the state store, only it doesn’t say “state store” on it, it says “FW&GS” which is an acronym for fine wine and good spirits. Good marketing, right? Makes me feel fine and good.
One more bag memory. Mom worked at Fisher Price, and carried her lunch to work in a small paper bag. She’d bring it home with her, folded neatly, and reuse it the next day. Sometimes she’d use the same bag all week, and by Friday it would be soft and wrinkled. Sometimes she’d even start out the new workweek with last week’s bag. My sisters and I would tease her about it. “Mom,” we’d say. “It’s OK if you have a new bag.” She’d say something back like, “Oh, hush,” or maybe, “Never mind.”
Guess who now reuses every freakin’ bag that comes across the pike?
HALLOWEEN BENEFIT BASH
Sunday October 20 • Covington Community Center
Doors open at noon
Spooktacular hot and cold BOOffet with donation
Door Prizes • Pumpkin giveaways
Basket Auction with a surprise cash prize
Costume contest parade
Music by KC101 Hometown Radio
Proceeds benefit Samantha Kolesnik and family
Please come join the fun for a great cause
21st Annual
PumpkinFestival Festival
Saturday, October 5, 2024 10:00am–5:00pm Sunday, October 6, 2024 10:00am–4:00pm
Admission is a donation at the gate that goes back into the community through various outreach programs.
DISTINCTIVE CRAFT VENDORS • FESTIVAL FOOD • DAILY LIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Canton Fireman’s Fairgrounds
Route 14 South • Springbrook Road • Canton, PA 17724
FB: Canton Fire Department’s Pumpkin Festival
Sponsored by the Canton Volunteer Fire Department
Welcome to the club: Joe Spaziani keeps a seventy-year tradition of gracious service and great Italian food alive, ensuring that the number of people who return to Lib’s Supper Club continues to grow.
Elmira’s Lib
In 1954, Lib’s Supper Club Started a Revolution
By Maggie Barnes
When you own a restaurant that comes with the word “iconic” attached to it, you have to be careful about making changes.
So says Joe Spaziani, co-owner and chef for Lib’s Supper Club in Elmira. For seventy years, Lib’s has provided diners with a classic Italian restaurant experience, complete with rich colors, dim lighting, and a killer red sauce.
“When I add something to the menu, I watch it carefully,” Joe says, while keeping an eye on the front door traffic. “If it gets a good response, it stays.” Fan favorites include 16-ounce aged filet mignon, chicken parmesan, shrimp scampi, and prime rib. Takeout containers are standard, as Lib’s is famous for portions that cannot be eaten in one sitting.
The building at 106 West 5th Street began as an upscale hotel, including a ballroom. Joe remembers the family stories about vaudeville acts and bands playing at the restaurant. Maybe that’s how the celebrities got wind of Lib’s. The walls are cov-
ered with autographed photos of everyone from Tommy Hilfiger to Laurel and Hardy to the cast of Frasier. Joe’s brother Bob, the other half of the team, has a fondness for the famous, and the collection is his.
Joe says he’s had offers to open other Lib’s in major cities, but he’s too handson to leave Elmira. “You have to love this work. I’m dead tired on Saturday night, but by midday Monday I can’t wait to be back in the kitchen.”
He knows Lib’s was fortunate to survive the pandemic. “The community really came through for us. I figured we’d do maybe 100 takeout dinners a night. It was actually 300 or 400.” The establishment did not lose a single employee, many of whom have logged thirty or forty years of service.
Visitors from across the northeast make pilgrimages to Lib’s, and when companies bring in outside vendors, their first question off the plane is often, “Are we going to Lib’s?”
In 2023 Lib’s won Best of the Twin Tiers in several categories: Fine Dining,
Steakhouse, All-around Restaurant, Italian Food, Meal for the Money, Romantic Restaurant, Carry Out, and Bloody Mary. All of this makes reservations an absolute necessity, especially on weekends.
The family has purchased the building next door, and Joe says they are still debating on the best use for it. “Maybe a cigar bar. Or maybe just more tables. We can seat 350 if we use all the space now, but last night we did 450 meals. So, yeah, maybe just more room.”
Lib’s is closed on Sunday and Monday, opening at 4 p.m. the rest of the week until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Visit libssupperclub.net, follow them on Facebook, or call (607) 733-2752.
Maggie Barnes has won several IRMA and Keystone Press awards. She lives in Waverly, New York.
Wade Spencer
Can we have a Zum Wohl, please: Ashlee and Hans Peter Weis of Weis Vineyard took home two awards this year—New York State Governor’s Cup and Winery of the Year—and you can bet they are toasting their success the German way (Zum Wohl means Cheers!).
Perfection in a Glass
Governor’s Cup and Winery of the Year Awards Bubble Up at Weis Vineyards
By Ann E. Duckett
For more than six generations, the Weis family has proudly pursued their passion for producing the most elegant German-style wines in Europe and—more recently—in the US. The story begins more than 300 years ago in the picturesque Zell Mosel region of Germany, near its western border. The latest chapter speaks of endeavors in the Finger Lakes for a young winemaker and his wife who are making exceptional, award-winning wines. More than 3,800 miles from the original family vineyards, winemaker Hans Peter Weis and his wife, Ashlee, founded Weis Vineyards in 2016. Located on the east side of Keuka Lake, eight miles north of Hammondsport, Ashlee’s hometown. They met in the village when Ashlee came home after college in 2012. They have an estate vineyard one mile from the tasting room, and a second vineyard location on Seneca Lake at Perry Point.
Peter’s passion for winemaking grew organically. He spent his childhood in the
family vineyard and wine cellar, which led to studying the winemaking traditions and techniques of his homeland. After completing his degree in winemaking, business, and agriculture, he traveled to the US, working one harvest in Sonoma, California, then visiting the Finger Lakes.
Peter found the terroir—the unique elements influencing a specific wine-producing region, including geography, climate, and weather—to be much like home, particularly “soil type and composition; it has a low pH with slate/shale, and the cooler seasons,” he notes. Known for creating some of the best North American reisling and sparkling wines, the area felt familiar and welcoming. Peter recognized the opportunity to achieve his life-long dream of producing perfection in a glass … in the US. Ashlee’s business acumen, passion for winemaking, and industry experience paired with Peter’s vision. Her appreciation for sense of place—the distinctive and unique characteristics of the area she loves—resonated
with Peter.
“We draw inspiration from Peter’s family’s time-honored winemaking traditions and my deep-rooted connection to the region,” says Ashlee. “We strive to produce exquisitely handcrafted wines that showcase the exceptional terroir of the Finger Lakes.”
“Every year is different due to weather conditions, so it never gets boring,” notes Peter. “Grapes come in once a year for harvest, and there is no specific recipe you can follow. In winemaking, you only have one shot—you are making decisions that will affect a product that you will be releasing one or two years later. The results of your decisions may not be known for some time. You are constantly trying to improve and learn from your mistakes, but the next year could also be completely different.”
While Peter and Ashlee adhere to high standards across the business, many factors contribute to a successful harvest, one that may or may not result in award-winning wines. Accolades for their efforts first came
Courtesy Weis Vineyards
in 2022 when Weis Vineyards was named New York State’s Winery of the Year. This year, they earned the top two New York Wine Classic awards—the New York State Governor’s Cup (for their 2018 Riesling Ice Wine) and Winery of the Year. And, they won ten awards for specific wines, including one platinum, seven gold, and two silver.
Determining which wines to enter into competition from among the twenty-nine they produce annually is a challenge, but a welcome one.
“We want to enter them all!” says Ashlee. “We’re proud of our product; they’re all winners in our eyes. We entered eleven wines into this competition, and there were a few that we had to leave out since they weren’t bottled yet.”
“We feel extremely honored by this award and couldn’t believe that we topped our achievement in 2022 with Winery of the Year and the Governor’s Cup,” Peter says.
Now in its thirty-eighth year, the New York Wine Classic is hosted annually by the New York Wine & Grape Foundation. It serves as the benchmark for excellence in winemaking, and gives New York wineries an opportunity to showcase their products to the world. All types of wine can be entered for judging. This year, the NYWC accepted 715 entries from ninety-two wineries from around the state. Medals awarded included two platinum, 190 gold, 397 silver, and 116 bronze.
“It’s important to know how the award is calculated and awarded—it’s the average score of all wines submitted to the competition [a minimum of seven or eight is required] in a blind tasting done by the Beverage Tasting Institute. The award specifically speaks to the quality of wine we are producing,” explains Peter. “These awards come with great press and exposure to new audiences. Many Finger Lakes wineries receive accolades from this competition, as well as from other reviewers such as Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. All this contributes to an increased awareness of the Finger Lakes as a premier wine destination.”
Weis Vineyards offers an enchanting location with stunning views of the lake. Visitors can enjoy a tasting inside any one of the three unique spaces—the modern Tasting Space, the Barn, the Schoolhouse—or sip outside on the patio.
Growing the business includes opening a new tasting space in November. “It’s a three-story, 7,000-square-foot facility that will have elevator access and a terrace where we will do more elevated tasting and small pairings,” says Ashlee. “We have plans to expand into distilling and grape-based spirits, such as brandy and cognac. As a winery, we are planning to continue our organic growth in a way that preserves the quality of the wine.”
Zum Wohl! (Cheers! Good health!)
Weis Vineyards is located at 10014 Day Road, Hammondsport, New York, and open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (the last tasting begins at 4:45 p.m.). Friday and Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (607) 284-4011, find them on Facebook, or visit weisvineyards.com.
Ann E. Duckett, owner of Little Bleu Catering and Events, is a certified cheesemaker and recovering cheesemonger, who now devotes her time to educating and helping others find their cheese bliss through classes, presentations, and special events.
book Shop
Down, please: Lock CS4 at Waterloo lowers boats ten feet as a paddler holds onto side ropes to stay in one place. The light strip at the top of the wall shows the water level when these boats entered, heading east to Seneca Falls.
Unlocking a Finger Lakes Paddling Paradise Exploring
the Cayuga-Seneca Canal
By Lilace Mellin Guignard
I’ve got me a canoe but her name’s not Sal Goin’ eight miles on the Erie Canal With a good old paddler and a good old pal Goin’ eight miles on the Erie Canal
Okay, it wasn’t exactly the Erie Canal, but the Cayuga-Seneca Canal, which links the northern ends of those two lakes, does connect to the Erie Canal. It follows the Seneca River and is part of the New York State Canalway Water Trail’s over 450 miles of canals and interconnected lakes and rivers. And it has locks. In my fifties, I’m always looking for new adventures that won’t make me sore for days afterwards. And I’d never paddled a canal.
A two-hour drive from Wellsboro brought my intrepid companion (intrepid because no one else would join me) and I to the boat launch at 35 Water Street in Seneca Falls where we’d end our trip. As we transferred my boat to David’s vehicle, he remarked on how light it was and pointed out the kayak ramp beside the dock. The
ramp would let us pull right in, making disembarking easier and drier and saving boats from scraping on the concrete ramp. David’s thirteen-foot kayak is plastic and hardy, but my almost fifteen-foot pack canoe (I sit on the bottom and use a double blade) is carbon fusion, a pricey but superlight laminate that needs more care than I ever gave my kids. I call it Precious.
Bob, a water trail steward, was picking up litter around the launch. Sun sparkled on the green steel truss bridge just downstream from the launch, a bridge that figures prominently in the town’s claim as an inspiration to Frank Capra for Bedford Falls. Today it truly was “A Wonderful Life.”
After loading my twenty-five-pound boat, we drove twenty minutes to Geneva. Since we weren’t getting an early start, we opted not to put in at the Finger Lakes Welcome Center, which is free but would add another mile crossing the northern tip of the lake. Instead, we pulled into Seneca Lake State Park at 1 Lakefront Drive. Bob
had assured us there was a launch right where the canal starts. A vehicle fee of eight dollars is charged, but the attendant didn’t have change for a twenty and her machine wasn’t cooperating, so she ended up waving us through. (It’s also free if you arrive before 10 a.m. when the booth opens.)
This launch wasn’t as nice, but cormorants made up for it, growling and meowing from the eastern cottonwoods along the bank. As we unloaded, it started sprinkling. We waded in and shoved off just before noon, passing the marina and going under our first rusted bridge. There was no current to speak of. At first the headwind made us put some effort in, but the wind wasn’t constant, and the clouds moved on.
This former industrial byway felt surprisingly remote. Reeds swayed around motionless herons, and kingfishers perched on branches over the water. Sometimes a fish would jump, and sometimes a blue and white blur darted in to snatch it when it
Lilace
Mellin Guignard
welcome to WELLSBORO
did. The water was opaque green, but not stinky. Homes with small docks dotted the north bank. Then we heard a toot. A coaching boat for Hobart and William Smith Colleges was behind us. On our left was Hellstrom Boathouse and Docks, the base for the colleges’ rowing teams. No rowing shells were out, but they have the right of way when they are.
Buildings became even fewer. Starting in 1813, improvements to the Seneca River made various falls and rapids navigable so trade could be faster and cheaper than by wagon. According to the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, “New York’s canal system has been in continuous operation since 1825, longer than any other constructed transportation system on the North American continent.” Now, most traffic is pleasure crafts, including canalboats that sleep a couple or a family. Many towns have public moorings free for up to forty-eight hours.
A green and yellow canal boat was moored ahead. At fortyfour feet, it’s the largest size European lockmaster boat available for rent on the Erie Canal. Ahead, a quaint rusty water tower rose over the trees. Beyond that was Hidden Harbor Marina and Waterloo Harbor Campground, which also has a canoe and kayak company. We’d thought about eating lunch just ahead at Oak Island Park, but when we got there, we knew we couldn’t stop. Just past it, a large blue steel frame held a concrete slab in the air like a guillotine. This was Lock CS4. I called the lock operator (I’d added the number to my contacts the night before), and a friendly voice said he’d open it up. A dark wall across the water broke in half. Gates swung toward us until the red light turned green, and we paddled into the chamber and held onto ropes on the side that keep boats in place. Somewhere secret words were said, and the water slowly began to lower us ten feet. Underground tunnels and valves control these liquid elevators, but even in the twenty-first century it felt like magic. We laughed and hooted like children.
I thanked the lock operator watching us paddle out. Mike’s been doing this for twenty years and still seemed to enjoy our glee. Above, a woman on a bicycle waved. The bike trail starts in Waterloo and follows the south edge of the canal back to Seneca Lake. David and I ate lunch as we floated, then pushed on to Seneca Falls, about three-and-a-half miles farther.
Approaching the town, sculptures appeared on the south bank. Then the bridge was in view, and all too soon we were at the ramp, where a woman fished with a magnet (she’d once caught a machete). We loaded the boats at 4 p.m. and hit some museums, starting with the Seneca Museum of Waterways and Industry. Next we stood in the Wesleyan Chapel where Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglas, and others started to rock the boat in 1848 at the first Convention on Women’s Rights. The “It’s a Wonderful Life” Museum, National Women’s Hall of Fame and Seneca Knitting Mill, and Ludovico Sculpture Trail are worth visiting, too.
Having crossed a new frontier, David and I drove back to get his car in Geneva, planning more adventures on the New York Canalway Water Trail. Those interested in exploring it can go to eriecanalway.org. Their guidebook is one of the most helpful and clear I’ve seen. It’s downloadable, but I recommend ordering it and the water-resistant maps for twenty bucks.
Then grab an old pal and go navigate on the Erie canal!
wielding ladders and sticks will harvest those apples, the start of a long process—crushing, fermenting, aging, and bottling—that will transfigure their tannins, tartness, bitterness, sugars, and acids into what Steve’s tasting notes describe as flavors of “starfuit, lychee, and walnut” with “aromas of wet slate.” Dry and still, it’s called Stone Fence.
On the drive home we’re back on Perry Road when Steve crosses the oncoming lane and pulls up to the side of the road in a cloud of dust. “I’m going to check out this crab apple tree,” he explains, striding over to it. He plucks one small, green apple, bites into it, chews it a bit, and spits it.
“Nah. Not ready. But worth coming back for.” He plucks off five more apples and dumps them into the console of his car. He’ll mark them with a felt-tip pen to remind him where and when he got them. Once harvested he’ll use them in his Packbasket label, made entirely of wild seedling apples like these. It’s “the epitome of terroir,” he says. “Time and place in a glass.”
was
and
Wade Spencer
BACK OF THE MOUNTAIN
A Wish on the Wind
By Becky Simpson
Years ago I was taking a fall drive in Caton, New York, and came upon this quiet country road lined with maple trees and stunning views. I silently wished to myself that I could live on a road like this someday. My wish must have been carried by the wind and through these very leaves because many years later I bought my first house on a quiet country road. It wasn’t till I started taking nightly walks down through these trees that I realized I lived on the same country road where I'd made my wish. My soul is happy here. It was pure luck that a squirrel and its friend ran across the road just as I took the photo. The squirrels seem happy here, too.
When things don’t move, rotate, or bend like they used to, choose the experts at UPMC Orthopaedic Care to get you back to living.
From minimally invasive joint replacement surgery to specialized foot and ankle care and individualized sports medicine services — we’re pioneering new treatment options to get you back to the things you love.
To schedule an appointment or to learn more, visit UPMC.com/YourMoveNCPA
