NNY Living August/September 2013

L I v I ng NN Y

nnyliving.com

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 Volume 2 No. 5

The food issue

$2.95

/nnyliving @NNYLivingMag

ARTS

TAUNY project aims to preserve folk music

GARDEN

Get started with pickling, canning

FEATURES

Preserving a way of life on Grindstone

TRAVEL

Outdoor mecca awaits in Ithaca

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>> Inside AUG. /SEPT. ’13

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COVER STORY | 34 HOME-GROWN CULTURE From salt potatoes to cheese curd, the north country’s food culture is diverse but unifying.

FEATURES | 26 TWIRL THE NIGHT AWAY A Lowville native returns home to share his passion and talent for tango dancing.

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FOLKLORE | 14 A FOUR-LEGGED HERO The story behind a Sackets Harbor-bred racing phenom.

38 ONLY THE FRESHEST Local restaurants say the farmto-fork movement has taken root in the north country.

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DESTINATION | 22 BEST OF ALL WORLDS Ithaca a blend of big city and small town; funky, upscale.

40 ICE CREAM ON TOP An exploration of the north country’s obsession with soft-serve ice cream.

50 SIPS OF SUMMER From the Shoalfinder to a fresh mojito, these drink recipes will keep you satisfied.

THIS IS NNY | 28 MINIATURE-SIZED FUN American Girl doll fans flood Sackets Harbor.

42 ‘SHORE’-LY DELICIOUS A Clayton fishing guide has helped make shore dinners an enduring tradition.

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44 BEAUTIFUL OLD WORLD Grindstone Island hangs in the balance between its historical past and the modern world.

FOOD | 48 BLANCH DON’T BOIL The technique of blanching yields beautiful, crisp, versatile vegetables. |

MY NNY | 54 TINY BEAMS OF LIGHT Sunset over Pillar Point paints the sky in Dexter.

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CONTRIBUTORS Varick Chittenden is founding director of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York and a SUNY Canton professor emeritus. In ‘Modern Folklore,’ he tells the story of his connection to a Sackets Harbor-bred race horse. (p. 14)

Michelle Graham is the wellness director for the downtown YMCA. She lives in Watertown. She writes about how a well-rounded exercise regimen can benefit cancer patients physically, mentally, socially and emotionally. (p. 16)

Katie Stokes is a blogger and freelance writer who lives in Hounsfield with her husband and two small children. She runs the blog www.nnylife. com. In ‘The NNY Life,’ she discusses the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and what it means to call a place home. (p. 18)

Brian Hallett is an art teacher at South Jefferson Central Schools and an avid gardener. His family owns and operates Hallett’s Florist and Greenhouse in Adams. In this issue, he shares a family recipe for dill pickles and offers tips on canning. (p. 20)

Boo Wells is a chef and owner of the Farm House Kitchen, a catering company and cooking school in Sackets Harbor. She writes this month’s cover story about the foods that unite Northern New Yorkers, from chicken barbecues to subs to cheese. (p. 34)

Lenka P. Walldroff is a former museum specialist, conservator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and curator of collections for the Jefferson County Historical Society.

She writes about a LaFargeville Catholic Church with a shrine steeped in history and healing lore. (p. 52)

Norah Machia is a veteran Watertown Daily Times reporter and freelance writer. She writes about Clayton-based fishing guide Clayton Ferguson and his involvement in the tradition of shore dinners in the Thousand Islands. (p. 42)

Gabrielle Hovendon is a former Watertown Daily Times reporter and freelance writer.

She examines several implications of the “farm-to-fork” movement at north country restaurants and farms. (p. 38)

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MARKETPLACE

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A Cozzi and Company ................................. 39 Americu Credit Union ...................................... 2 Auto Specialist ................................................. 8 Bayview Shores Realty .................................. 17 Beaver Meadows .......................................... 17 Budget Blinds ................................................. 24 Cesario Family Dental Center ...................... 10 Cheney Tire .................................................... 39 Children’s Home of Jefferson County ....................................... 53 Clayton Opera House ..................................... 4 Clipper Inn ...................................................... 15 Coldwell Banker Rimada Realty .................. 17 Community Performance Series .................. 27 Cozy Country Corner .................................... 47 Crouse Hospital ............................................... 7 DANC .............................................................. 49 Exit More Real Estate ..................................... 17 Farm House Kitchen ...................................... 21 Feed the Soul Nutrition .................................. 10 Foxy’s Riverfront Restaurant ............................ 4 Fuccillo Automotive ........................................ 8 Fulkerson Winery ............................................ 24 Gorgeous View Motor Inn ............................. 24 Green Thyme ................................................. 53 JCC Jefferson Express ................................... 32 JCC Higher Ed Center ................................... 37 Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors ................ 13 Jojo’s Purrs-n-Paw ......................................... 33 JPB Construction ............................................ 43 Ken Piarulli / Ameriprise ................................ 37 Koffee Kove ...................................................... 4 Little Barn Bulk Foods ..................................... 21 Lyric Coffee House .......................................... 4

Macar’s ............................................................. 9 McCue Dental ................................................ 27 Mimi’s Depot Café ......................................... 19 Morgia Masonry ............................................ 43 Mountain View Prevention ............................ 51 Natali’s Restaurant at C-Way Resort ............ 25 NNY Community Foundation ........................ 15 NNY Living Magazine .................................... 39 North Country Paving .................................... 43 O’Brien’s Restaurant .................................. 4, 55 Old Garage Deli ............................................ 55 Powis Excavating & Contracting .................. 47 Reinman’s Deptartment Store ...................... 19 Restaurante de Riccardo’s ........................... 45 River Day Spa and Salon .............................. 10 River Hospital ................................................. 33 River Rat Cheese ........................................... 53 River Wellness Center .................................... 10 Rusty Johnson Masonry ................................ 43 Sweet Bellies Frozen Yogurt Shop ................ 33 Seaway Lanes ................................................ 33 Shorty’s Place ................................................. 55 Shuler’s Restaurant ........................................ 55 The Blue Heron ............................................... 55 Three C Limousine ......................................... 47 Thousand Islands Realty ............................... 17 Waite Motor Sports ........................................ 54 Waite Toyota .................................................. 12 Watertown Savings Bank .............................. 36 Watertown Spring and Alignment .................. 8 Wratten’s RVs ................................................. 41 WWTI-TV 50 ....................................................... 3 Yo Johnny Brands .......................................... 56 Ziebart Tidycar ................................................. 8

Chairman of the Board John B. Johnson Jr.

Publishers

John B. Johnson Harold B. Johnson II

Magazine Editor

Kenneth J. Eysaman

Magazine Staff Writer Leah Buletti

Advertising Directors Karen Romeo Tammy Beaudin

Magazine Advertising Manager Matthew Costantino

Circulation Director Mary Sawyer

Photography

Norm Johnston, Justin Sorensen, Jason Hunter, Melanie Kimbler-Lago, Amanda Morrison

Ad Graphics, Design

Rick Gaskin, Brian Mitchell, Heather O’Driscoll, Scott Smith, Todd Soules NNY Living (ISSN 2165-1159) is published six times a year by Northern New York Newspaper Corp., 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601, a Johnson Newspaper Corp. company. © 2011-2012. All material submitted to NNY Living becomes property of Northern New York Newspaper Corp., publishers of the Watertown Daily Times, and will not be returned.

Subscription Rates Six issues are $10 a year and 12 issues are $15 for two years.

Call 315-782-1000 for delivery.

Submissions Send all editorial correspondence to keysaman@wdt.net Advertising For advertising rates and information in Jefferson and Lewis counties, email mcostantino@wdt.net, or call 661-2305 In St. Lawrence County, e-mail tbeaudin@ogd.com, or call 661-2512 Printed with pride in U.S.A. at Vanguard Printing LLC, Ithaca, N.Y. a Forest Stewardship Certified facility.

Please recycle this magazine.

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GARDENING

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ABOUT THE COVER

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20 PICKLING’S PLEASURE Making homemade pickles is an involved craft, but becomes easy with practice. A step-by-step guide to the art will have you canning like a pro in no time.

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COLUMNS

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8 EDITOR’S NOTE 14 MODERN FOLKLORE

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DEPARTMENTS

9 10 11 12 16

18 THE NNY LIFE 20 TODAY’S GARDENER

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UPFRONT BEST BETS CALENDAR SOCIAL SCENE WELLNESS

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36 HOURS IN ...

THIS IS NNY FOOD HISTORY MY NNY

For our cover photo, photographer Amanda Morrison captured a delectable shot of shrimp kabobs prepared by Boo Wells, chef and owner of the Farm House Kitchen, Sackets Harbor, during a wedding reception at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton last month. Amanda used a Nikin D700 with a 60mm lens, 100 ISO, f/2.8.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

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IN THIS, OUR FIRST FOOD ISSUE, WE bring you a selection of stories that take aim at defining Northern New York’s food culture. From food columnist and chef Boo Wells’ cover story about the many ways that food brings us together to strengthen bonds between loved ones and entire communities to staff writer Leah Buletti’s look at the dozens of mom-and-pop ice cream stands that dot the north country, one thing rings true: Northern New Yorkers aren’t fussy when it comes to digging in.

Writer Norah Machia profiles longtime St. Lawrence River guide Clay Ferguson, a Clayton resident who puts on shore dinners. About 15 years ago, Clay Ken Eysaman started bringing the islands to the people as demand on the mainland for his signature spreads grew. “A lot of people want the experience of a shore dinner in their back yard,” he said. After talking with Clay, few people can argue with a man who only knows how to put out the best.

Contributing writer Gabrielle Hovendon examines the state of the farm-to-fork movement in the north country as a handful of restaurants work to build menus that feature entrées created with locally sourced ingredients. While some say the effort is more expensive and time consuming, most don’t mind the extra effort as local produce is fresh and buying it keeps even more money from leaving the area while supporting local farms and growers.

Finally, Leah makes the rounds in search of some of the region’s best summer cocktails. From the Shoalfinder at Channelside in

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Clayton to the A-Bomb at Top of the Bay and a Key Lime martini at Watertown’s Paddock Club, we have no doubt you’ll find something sweet whether you prefer shaken or stirred.

Also in this issue, we take you to Grindstone Island, the fourth largest in the Thousand Islands, for a look at efforts to maintain a way of life that is somewhat anachronistic while also balancing the riches of an ecosystem teeming with life.

Our story also looks at how the Thousand Islands Land Trust is working to protect hundreds of ares on the 7-by-3-mile island.

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SOCIAL SCENE — This issue’s Social Scene

section, which begins on page 12, features more than two-dozen faces from nearly as many organizations across the north country.

On July 28, we joined the River Hospital Foundation for its 11th Annual Festive Evening, a traditional river event at the Thousand Islands Club Restaurant on Wellesley Island. Since its debut in 2003, the foundation’s mid-summer festive evening has raised nearly $1 million to benefit River Hospital in Alexandria Bay. More than 350 people packed the club in show of support on what was a beautiful Sunday evening. Congratulations to all who helped make the evening shine.

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BEST OF NNY — We are starting work

on a series of seasonal “bests” that will culminate in an annual “Best of NNY” edition next year. Look for details and information in our next issue on how you can help us pick some of the finest that Northern New York has to offer in a variety of categories.

Warm regards,

IN OUR NEXT ISSUE

n our October/November issue we outline our Best of NNY series with a look at how we plan to highlight Northern New York’s top offerings in dozens of categories.

Also coming in October/November: n TAKING AIM: Fall means hunting season is upon us. What you need to know to make this year one of your best ever. n DESTINATION SARATOGA: We head east to Saratoga and Ballston Spa for a long weekend of adventure and culinary pleasure.

n A HOLIDAY PRIMER: The holiday season is right around the corner. Don’t miss our guide to must-do events to help you plan ahead. n PLUS: Social Scene, Modern Folklore, Arts, Food, Wine, Wellness, The NNY Life, History, Homes, My NNY and Today’s Gardener. n FOLLOW US ON Twitter for updates at @NNYLivingMag and visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NNYLiving. Catch exclusive previews and unique content on our website at www.NNYLiving.com.

[ NORTH COUNTRY NEWS & NOTES ] Flower Library seeks book donations

Friends of Flower Memorial Library are seeking donations of books in good or excellent quality throughout the summer and fall for its annual book sale, which begins Saturday, Oct. 26. The sale runs for 10 days.

Novels, paperbacks, non-fiction, children’s books, compact discs, DVDs and VHS tapes are needed. Old textbooks, National Geographic magazines and Reader’s Digest condensed books aren’t big sellers and will be given away. Contributions may be left at the library, 229 Washington St., Watertown, during regular library hours.

Wine list honored by Wine Spectator magazine

The 1844 House in Potsdam has been awarded a 2013 “Award of Excellence” for its wine list from the national magazine Wine Spectator, in its August issue. The American bistro’s wine list includes wines from across the country, South America, the Finger Lakes and Europe, from Riesling to Malbec to Chardonnay.

Recipients of Wine List awards must have lists that “offer interesting selections, are appropriate to their cuisine and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers,” according to Wine Spectator’s website. The list must also include “vintages and appellations” for all wines and complete producer names. The list’s presentation and overall appearance is also a factor. Wine Spectator recognizes 2,870 restaurants with the Award of Excellence, for lists that “offer a well-chosen selection of quality producers, along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and quality” and that usually contain at least 100 different wines. Wine Spectator also awards the Best of Award of Excellence to 850 restaurants and

the Grand Award to 73 restaurants, which usually have lists with 1,500 or more wines.

The 1844 House reopened in May 2006 under new owners, husband and wife team Brian and Jenny Walker. It uses an array of local foods from suppliers including the North Country Grown Cooperative in Massena and the Potsdam Food Co-op.

To view the 1844 House’s wine list and menu, visit www.1844House.com.

Awards $40k in funding

The St. Lawrence County Arts Council in July distributed $40,000 in Community Arts 2013 grant funding in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties for community arts programming from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Recipients are: Adirondack Mennonite Camping Association, Arts Association of Northern New York, B.E. Strong Memorial Library, Arts Committee of Clifton Fine Economic Development Corp., DeKalb Historical Association, Gouverneur Reading Room Association, Lewis County Historical Society, Lowville Free Library, Morristown Gateway Museum, North Country Players, Oxbow Historical Association, Potsdam College Foundation, Inc. & Community Performance Series, Sackets Harbor Historical Society, Sackets Harbor Vocal Arts Ensemble, Town of Colton (Tourism and Beautification Committee), Town of Lewis Library, Town of Waddington & Waddington Redevelopment Association, What a Raquette Music and Dance & The Northern Lights Orchestra, William H. Bush Memorial Library and WPBS-TV (St. Lawrence Valley Educational Television Council, Inc.).

SLC Arts will also distribute an additional $12,500 to artists in the tri-county area through Public Art Fellowships and the Teaching Artists’ Fund.

UPFRONT Accepting submissions for writing contest

Jefferson Community College’s English Department is accepting submissions for its 2013 North Country Writers Contest.

The contest is open to all residents and friends of the upstate New York region.

The deadline for submission is Friday, Sept. 13. There is no entry fee.

Contest categories include: Short Fiction of 1,000 to 3,000 words; Poetry up to 100 lines; and Essay/Non-Fiction of 1,000 to 3,000 words. Submissions to all categories must reflect a connection to the north country, be previously unpublished work and be double-spaced in letter quality.

Participants may submit up to three different works and past winners may submit works in a different category. The title, genre, author’s name, address, telephone number, email address and word count must appear on a separate cover sheet; only the title should appear on the manuscript itself. Entries will not be returned.

Winners of each category will be published on JCC’s website and receive a $100 prize. Pieces that receive honorable mentions will also be published online and authors will receive a $25 prize. Winners will also be requested to give a reading at the North Country Writers Festival reading at JCC on Thursday, Oct. 24. at 7 p.m.

Electronic submissions are preferred as a Microsoft Word attachment in rich text format (.rtf) to ncwriterscontest@ sunyjefferson.edu. Submissions can also be addressed to: North Country Writers Contest, English Department, Jefferson Community College, 1220 Coffeen Street, Watertown, NY 13601.

For more information, contact the JCC English Department at 786-2328 or email jpierce@sunyjefferson.edu.

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BEST BETS ALEXANDRIA BAY THURSDAY, AUG. 29 TO MONDAY, SEPT.2

n 13th Annual Blues in the Bay, upper James Street.

Five-day music festival with free admission. Main stage lineup: Bernie Clark & The Rhythm Sharks, Thursday 6-8 p.m.; Ron Spencer Blues Band, Friday 6-8 p.m.; Morris & The Hepcats, Saturday 1-3 p.m.; Tom Townsley & The Backsliders, Saturday 3:305:30 p.m.; Los Blancos, Saturday 6-8 p.m.; String of Pearls, Sunday 1-3 p.m.; Double Barrel Blues Band, Saturday, 3:30-5:30 p.m.; Savoy Brown, Sunday, 6-8 p.m.; All Star Jam Session, Monday 1-4 p.m.

Dr. Guitar Music, Watertown, is sponsoring Sunday headliner Savoy Brown and donating a Fender guitar for raffle. More information: 482-9531.

CLAYTON

THURSDAY, AUG. 29 TO SATURDAY, AUG. 31

[ EDITOR’S PICKS ] PLATTSBURGH SATURDAY, JULY 6

n Songs to Keep concert, 7 p.m., Glitz Theater, Hawkins Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh. An evening of folk music from Marjorie Lansing Porter’s historic song collection reinterpreted by contemporary Adirondack musicians.

Featuring Dave Ruch, Jamie Savage and Sue Grimm, Dan Berggren, Colleen Cleveland, Lee Knight and June Millington. Tickets: $10, available at Angell College Center and at the door.

OGDENSBURG TUESDAY, OCT. 1

n Menopause the Musical, 7:45 p.m., George Hall Auditorium. The opening show of the Ogdensburg Command Performance’s 2013-14 season. The historical musical parody is set to classic tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s and tells the story of four women at a lingerie sale.

Tickets: $17-37, general admission; $15-34, seniors and full-time students. Information: www. ilovetheatre.org or 393-2625.

WATERTOWN

SATURDAY, SEPT. 14

n Clayton Country Jam, Clayton Opera House.

Three days with two shows each day of tributes to rock ‘n’ roll greats: Hotel California (Eagles tribute), Thursday 6 and 9 p.m.; Casey Ferguson (Willie Nelson tribute), Friday 6 and 9 p.m.; Rick Alviti (Elvis tribute), Saturday 6 and 9 p.m. Tickets: $20-35. Box Office: 686-2200 or www. claytoncountryjam.com.

LOWVILLE

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SATURDAY, SEPT. 21

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n Ninth Annual Cream Cheese Festival, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Celebrate the region’s role in the cheese industry with live music, food, local artists and fun for the all ages. Play cream cheese bingo, paint the cream cheese mural, enjoy pieces of nation’s largest cheesecake given away for free and win cash prizes. More information: www.creamcheesefestival.com.

n Paula Poundstone, 7:30 p.m., Dulles State Office Building Auditorium. Paul Poundstone is a stand-up comedian and star of National Public Radio’s hit weekly news quiz show “Wait Wait…

Don’t Tell Me!” She was ranked number 88 on Comedy Central’s 2004 list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time and in 2010 she was inducted into the Comedy Hall of Fame.

Tickets: $25, general admission; $35, reserved seating; $75, reserved seating and VIP pre-show reception. To purchase tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/318776 or visit the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library. Proceeds from the event benefit the Friends of the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library.

[ ARTS, MUSIC, THEATER, CULTURE ] ALEXANDRIA BAY SATURDAY, SEPT. 7 n Blues at the Winery, 2 to 6 p.m., Thousand Islands Winery. Wine, beer and barbecue. String of Pearls will perform. For more information, call the winery: 482-9306.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 7 n River Hospital Foundation’s “Golf-O-Rama,” registration 9 a.m., shotgun start 10 a.m., Thousand Island Country Club, Wellesley Island. Four person captain and crew format with three flights—men’s, women’s and mixed teams. Fee: $75/person, includes golf, carts and food after the event. All proceeds benefit River Hospital. Information, registration: 482-4976 or www.riverhospitalfoundation.org.

CANTON SUNDAY, SEPT.14 n St. Lawrence NYSARC’s Autism Awareness Walk, registration 9 a.m., walk 10 a.m., Village Park, Main Street. Non-competitive walk to promote autism awareness and raise money to support local programs for autistic individuals hosted by WWNYTV’s Jeff Cole and presented by Rose and Kiernan insurance agency. First 200 registered participants get a free gift bag; free t-shirts for walkers who raise $50 or more. Event includes bounce house, food from Mike’s Michigans and a flag contest. To register: Susan Freego Gibbons, 386-3529 or sgibbons@ slnysarc.org. More information: www.slnysarc.org.

SATURDAY, AUG. 24 TO SUNDAY, AUG. 25 n Bluegrass in the Vineyards Festival, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Coyote Moon Vineyards. Live music by Dave Nichols & Spare Change, Atkinson Family Band, Foggy River Band, Trey Hensley & Driving Miss Crazy, Tennessee, Pete Deachman, Beartracks and Gibson Brothers. Admission: $10/day; $15/weekend; free for those 21 and younger; dry camping additional $20 per site. More information, full schedule: www.coyotemoonvineyards.com/bluegrass.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 28 n Satisfaction: The International Rolling Stones Show, 7:30 p.m., Clayton Opera House. Rolling Stones tribute band will perform faithful renditions of the legendary British rock band’s biggest hits. Tickets: $30-45. Box Office: 686-2200.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 8

SACKETS HARBOR

n Assisted Living: The Musical, 3 p.m., Clayton Opera House. Comedy musical. Tickets: $20-25. Box Office: 686-2200.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 1

n Creating Shadowboxes and Shrines, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thousand Islands Arts Center. Learn how to create a three-dimensional collage using personal mementos out of any size box, tin or container. Participants should bring a special container and some memorabilia to work from. Tuition: $40. More information: www.tiartscenter.org or 686-4123.

n Homesteading Fair, Friday 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Lewis County Fairgrounds. More than 40 educational workshops on homesteading, including how to make a home more energy efficient and raise livestock, sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County and Mother Earth News. Presenters include veterinarians, a horse chiropractor, commercial scale on-farm processors, a beekeeper, a solar energy equipment provider, the Northern New York Regional Local Foods Specialist and Jean O’Toole of the New York Beef Industry Council. Breakfast available at the American Maple Museum booth from 7 to 9 a.m. Admission: Free Friday; $10 per person by advance sale Saturday; $15 at the gate; free for children 17 and younger.

Tickets: CCE Lewis County, 788-8450 or www. blogs.cornell.edu/ccelewis.

OLD FORGE SATURDAY, AUG. 24 n Songs to Keep concert, View Arts Center, 7:30 p.m. An evening of folk music from a historic song collection reinterpreted by contemporary Adirondack musicians. Featuring Dave Ruch, Jamie Savage and Sue Grimm, John Roberts and George Ward, La Famille Ouimet and Colleen Cleveland.

Admission: $15. Box Office: 369-6411 or www. viewarts.org.

n Concert on the Waterfront, 3 to 5 p.m., Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site. The DeSantis Orchestra of Syracuse will perform a free family concert. Bring dancing shoes. Rain location is Presbyterian Church. Information: 646-2321 or www.sacketsharborhistoricalsociety.org.

WATERTOWN MONDAY, AUG. 26 TO FRIDAY, AUG. 30 n Gymnastics Camp, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Tumbling Camp, 1 to 4 p.m., Fairgrounds YMCA, 585 Rand Drive. Open to ages 3 to 17. Open gym each day of camp from 12 to 1 p.m. open to participants of both camps. Cost for both camps: YMCA member, $80; non-member, $110; military, $95. To register or for more information: 755-9622 or www.watertownymca.org.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 7 n Junior Animal Keeper, 9:30 to 11 a.m., New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. Learn what it takes to care for the animals in the zoo’s education collection, taking part in everything from preparing meals to cleaning enclosures to feeding animals, including snakes, lizards, ferrets and hedgehogs.

Open to children ages seven to 11. Program fee: Members, $8; non-members, $10. Advance registration required: 755-0895.

TELL US ABOUT IT — Have an event you’d like to include in NNY Living? Email us at NNYLiving@ WDT.net with the details or visit www.NNYLiving. com and click Events.

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SATURDAY, AUG. 24

RAQUETTE LAKE n Raquette Lake Square Dance and Clam Bake, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., Burke’s Marina. Celebrate the end of summer with an evening of food and dancing. Admission: Adults, $30; Children 12 and younger, $15. Information, tickets: Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, (518) 352-7715 or www.adirondackarts.org.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 6 TO SATURDAY, SEPT. 7

CLAYTON

n 25th Annual SUNY Potsdam Scholarship Golf Classic, sign-in begins at 9 a.m. with shotgun start at 10 a.m., Potsdam Town and Country Club.

All proceeds benefit the SUNY Potsdam general scholarship fund. The event is limited to 36 teams of six and will be a scramble format tournament with each person hitting a tee shot. There will also be various contests, a silent auction and continental breakfast, lunch and dinner with an awards ceremony. This year’s guest speaker will be Golf Classic founder and two-time NCAA SUNY Potsdam Men’s Basketball Championship Coach Jerry Welsh. Information, registration: Ellen Nesbitt, 267-3403 or www.potsdam.edu/giving.

SATURDAY, AUG. 31

FRIDAY, SEPT. 6 TO SUNDAY, SEPT. 8

SATURDAY, SEPT. 14

THURSDAY, SEPT. 12

n Rock for the River 10 — Special Anniversary Show, 7:30 p.m., Clayton Opera House.

Second Rock for the River show celebrating 10 years of Rock for the River and 35 years of the organization Save the River. Featuring Joe Nash, Joe Purdy, Amber Rubarth, Garrison Starr, Eliza Moore and other special guests. Tickets: $3237. Box Office: 686-2200.

LOWVILLE

n Second Annual Gun Raffle Drawing, 1 to 6 p.m., Cape Vincent Legion Hall. Seven grand prize gun winners, as well as 50/50 and other raffles, beer and food. Tickets: $20, can be purchased through a Sons member or at the Legion.

POTSDAM

SUNDAY, SEPT. 1

CAPE VINCENT n 1000 Islands International Piano Festival and Competition for Young People, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday, Maple Grove Estate, West Broadway. A venue for exceptional young pianists to perform and share their music with the community. Free and open to the public. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony early afternoon Sunday. Audience members can vote for their favorite performer; winner will receive a prize. More information: chopin@capevincentartscouncil.org or www.capevincentartscouncil.org.

CALENDAR

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SOCIAL SCENE

[ River Hospital Foundation 11th Annual Festive Evening ] Thousand Islands Club, Wellesley Island

Bethany Heath, Watertown, and Heidi Johnson, Black River.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY LIVING

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From left, Aimee Garlock, Alexandria Bay, Amy Gruner, Carthage, and Cindy Fiacco-Lozo, Bonnie Castle Resort, Alexandria Bay. River Hospital Foundation held its 11th Annual Festive Evening on July 28 at the Thousand Islands Club Restaurant. Since 2003, the summer event has raised nearly $1 million.

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Phil Bogle and daughter, Samantha, Cape Vincent.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY LIVING

From left, Christopher Symenow, Alexandria Bay, River Hospital emergency department physicians assistant, Dr. Lauren Roman, Black River, River Family Health Center, Sheila Frey and husband, Brad, Theresa, physicians assistant and director, River Community Wellness Program.

SOCIAL SCENE

[ River Hospital Foundation 11th Annual Festive Evening ] Thousand Islands Club, Wellesley Island

From left, Marta Beach, Alexandria Bay, River Hospital Foundation, Robin Moran and husband, Patrick, Redwood, and Maria Harden, Wellesley Island.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY LIVING

From left, Shelley Peria, student, St. Lawrence University, mother, Sylvia Kingston, Alexandria Bay, Tonia Stewart, and daughter, Katherine, student, Syracuse University.

Alexis Murano and father, David, Wellesley Island.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY LIVING

From left, Jamie Alberry, Chaumont, wife, Jen, physicians assistant, River Hospital and member, River Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, Joe Russell, chairman, River Hospital Board of Directors, daughter, Caitlin, and wife, Robin.

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MODERN FOLKLORE

Celebrating a hometown hero (with four legs)

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BY VARICK CHITTENDEN

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IT WAS 10 YEARS AGO THIS SUMMER when the world heard about Funny Cide, the previously unknown and undistinguished three-year-old colt who rushed from behind to win the Kentucky Derby in May 2003. Two weeks later, he pulled out all the stops and won the Preakness Stakes.

Then he was 2/3 of the way to the pinnacle of racing, the Triple Crown. This was worldclass stuff in “the sport of kings,” something I knew little about.

I usually don’t pay much attention to horse racing, especially the thoroughbreds at the flat tracks. It’s a bias I have from my boyhood, when my favorite uncle, Lyndon Miller of Hopkinton, raised, trained and drove harness horses at local county fairs for a hobby. These trotters and pacers and their drivers—not jockeys—would ride twowheeled “bikes,” or sulkies, behind them for Sunday entertainment. Harness races were small town sport; the thoroughbreds were for millionaires and swells.

Uncle Lyndon was great with animals; dairy farming was his living, but horses were his passion. He would keep one or two in his “stable” at a time, mostly has-beens or also-rans to the truly serious competitors, but that didn’t occur to me at the time. I was fascinated with Billy Song and Kay Ensign and how Uncle Lyndon cared for them.

I was probably a nuisance, pestering him with questions, but time in his barn or at the little country tracks is indelibly etched in my memory. I still remember the pleasantly sharp smell of liniment, the glisten of sweat, the neatly wrapped leg bandages and the insistent whinnying from box stalls. Billy or Kay would occasionally win a heat, maybe even beat their own time record, and that would be exciting, but being around the horses was pleasure enough for him, and for me.

I myself never became a horseman nor much of a participant in any sport for that matter, which I sometimes regret now.

Instead, I became a fan. I learned that from Aunt Charlotte. As loyal as any political spouse, she would devote her summer

weekends to going to the races. Since I lived next door and had few kids my own age to spend time with, she would invite me to go along. Nearly every Sunday of my summer vacations and every day during fair week, she’d pack a picnic of sandwiches, iced tea and ginger or sugar cookies fresh from her kitchen and we’d follow Uncle Lyndon to the track. There we’d watch him meet up with his fellow traveler hobby horsemen, as they got very serious about conditions of the day—everything from their horses, to the track, to the weather.

Most of the time, Aunt Charlotte handed him bridles or sponges, things he needed to get ready for his race, and chatted with other horsetrack wives (not “widows,” I stress). I helped when I could, mostly by staying out of the way. By the time the first races began, we’d eaten our lunch and were ready to be serious spectators. No “grandstand” for us.

We needed to be up close and personal. So we staked out our positions at “the rail,” in “the paddock” or along the “back stretch.”

From that favored spot we cheered our heroes, from their first parade before the race, to the finish line, and beyond. Of course, my aunt and I were partial to Uncle Lyndon in his homemade, blue and white silk jacket, with the large letter M on his back. And we shouted to Kay (“Big Red”) or Billy by name, at the top of our lungs. It was like a scene from a 19th century Currier & Ives print.

A few times during those years, I’d go with my dad to the fair. His idea of a treat was to go onto the grandstand, which was exciting too. There was much more to see there: stage acts, hell drivers, firemen’s parades and a panoramic view of the whole race track, start to finish.

From that vantage point, I had another, quite different, experience. It was before the days of Off Track Bettering parlors, but I’d often see perfectly respectable looking men gathered in small clutches, exchanging a few bills and some joking talk. When the races began, they would cheer on their choices, usually calling out something inane like “C’mon No. 6!” or “Get out of the way, No. 3!” That

VARICK CHITTENDEN is senior folklorist and director of special projects for Canton-based Traditional Arts in Upstate New York and Professor Emeritus of Humanities at SUNY Canton. He lives in St. Lawrence County.

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would downright offend me. Those horses had names! They had owners and families and were special, too, like Billy Song was to me. I couldn’t call these men fans. So it was that I never got into betting, maybe because of my puritanical grandmother’s influence or my post-Depression childhood.

After my early teens, my interest in horses waned. The little race tracks of my youth are now gone and county fairs have replaced the afternoon programs of trotters with roaring, smoking demolition derbies and the like. Like many other Americans, I’d follow the news when a Secretariat or a Seattle Slew or a Native Dancer was making headlines. Otherwise, I paid little attention. Then came the summer of 2003 and the phenomenon of Funny Cide.

His story caught my attention, and the attention of many others. This underdog gelding (who will never be part of the high-stakes, high-priced breeding world) had been sold as a yearling for $22,000 and ended up owned by six men who had been high school buddies; he was trained by a horse-whisperer eccentric, and ridden to victory by a Chilean immigrant with few major victories in a long career. It was a Horatio Alger story in the 21st century, appealing to all red-blooded Americans.

But for those of us in the north country, the story had a really special twist: Funny Cide’s owners are from Sackets Harbor. Suddenly a four-legged creature who had never set foot in town was the hometown hero.

The six men, now middle aged and in careers from optometrists to math teachers, who had invested $5,000 each to buy Funny Cide as a colt made national news as spokesmen for this horse with a cool name and a cooler biography.

In a place where sports heroes or celebrities of any kind are somewhat rare, Funny Cide was a chance to brag. In early June there was hardly a north country household that wasn’t tuned to the TV broadcast of the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the Triple Crown. While we were disappointed at our hero’s third place finish, we were thrilled to have a hometown kid do so well.

And as everyone around here says, “You can’t take that away from us!”

I know Funny Cide wasn’t born in the north country. And I know that Churchill Downs, Belmont Park and Saratoga are hardly the small tracks I remember going to with Uncle Lyndon. But if I stretch my imagination a little, this story was a little like Billy Song’s. Is that horse liniment I smell? I guess you’re never too old for heroes.

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WELLNESS

Exercise key for cancer patients Improved mood, reduced fatigue, lower risk among benefits

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BY MICHELLE L. GRAHAM

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MORE INDIVIDUALS THAN EVER are seeking healthy lifestyle programs.

Cancer patients and survivors are a very interesting and complex population seeking to maintain good health. Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with many individuals who were either fighting cancer or fighting to stay cancer free.

A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming, frightening and downright depressing. Fear of the unknown during a cancer diagnosis looms heavily. But there can be hope during this time of crisis. Exercise can be key in the treatment of cancer on many levels. A person’s social, physical and mental well-being can each be treated and embraced through a good exercise program during and after a cancer diagnosis.

The fact that exercise and proper eating can prevent certain cancers is well docu-

mented. According to Dr. Kerry Courneya, a cancer researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, recent studies show that higher levels of physical activity are associated with a reduced risk of recurrence of some cancers. This is great news for those diagnosed and affirms that it is never too late to get started on a good, well-rounded program tailored to your needs.

In contrast, other studies report that being overweight after completing cancer treatment can be associated with lower survival rates. Great research in both colorectal and breast cancer indicate that better physical health, including exercise, reduces risk of recurrence.

Some of the benefits of exercise for cancer patients are much like those for the general population. Improved mood, reduced fatigue and greater self-confidence are just a few of the ways exercise can help someone dealing with cancer.

Of course, before starting any exercise program you should always consult your physician to discuss what type is appropriate for you based on your condition and the type of cancer you have.

For cancer patients, risks associated with exercise are very similar to the risks that otherwise healthy people face.

Soreness, strains and sprains are typically most common. There also may be a slightly higher risk of cardiovascular problems for individuals fighting cancer.

Mindfulness and common sense are critical to your success.

The structure of a well-rounded routine consists of stretching exercises, cardiovascular exercise and weight training. Stretching exercises are important to maintain and enhance flexibility and mo-

bility. Cardiovascular endurance exercise is key as it helps to maintain or improve endurance and burn calories to help with weight maintenance. Resistance training will enhance strength and build muscle mass. Incorporating all facets of fitness is critical to the overall long-term recovery and well-being of the patient and survivor.

In the past five months, I had the overwhelmingly positive experience of working with two amazing people who are fighting cancer. They each dealt very bravely and courageously with the diagnosis and throughout their cancer treatment. Each embraced a healthy lifestyle, making exercise a priority in their treatment.

In fact, one of them said that she found great strength and solace in coming to the YMCA to exercise. It paid off greatly on many levels, not just from a physical perspective, but also socially and mentally. She taught me a great deal about dealing with adversity over these last few months and I truly have treasured our time together.

Any cancer diagnosis is devastating.

Finding comfort and guidance from friends and family can be crucial. Finding a way to incorporate exercise can be very beneficial and even lifesaving. Of course, exercise may not be appropriate for everyone. However, for many people fighting cancer, engaging in a well-rounded exercise routine just may be the right remedy to heal physically, mentally, socially and emotionally.

MICHELLE L. GRAHAM, MS, is wellness director for Watertown’s Downtown YMCA. Contact her at ymca_mgraham@yahoo.com. Her column appears in every issue.

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THE NNY LIFE

For most Okies, tornadoes are just part of being home

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BY KATIE STOKES

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MY DAUGHTERAND I WERE VISITING my family in Oklahoma in May when those tornadoes went through the state.

Were we hurt? Not a bit. Were we scared? Uh, you know the expletive I want to write here. Diva and I — along with my Oklahoma family — had a close shave with a storm that could have produced a tornado basically within spitting distance of my parents’ house at the same time the city of Moore was getting clobbered just north of us.

When I told folks here in Watertown that I was visiting my home state during one of the most violent tornado outbreaks in history, I was shocked by how many times I heard: “Who would live there?”

Let me try to answer that, starting with this tidbit: what happened in May was completely unprecedented. The scale of those storms was unprecedented. The fact that there were three deadly category EF3 to category EF5 tornadoes within the same month was unprecedented. These storms were not only measured by how fast the wind was churning, but also their miles-long width. The storm that killed the National Geographic storm chasers may have been two miles wide. That just isn’t something that has happened very often. Or ever. Unless that’s what killed the dinosaurs.

So, that’s one reason one wouldn’t put tornadoes before an Oklahoma City address.

Now, try to put yourself in these shoes: Imagine you’re 34 years old, married, a stay-at-home mother of seven children under the age of 11.

You happen to have grown up in Shawnee, Okla., raised by parents who taught you to understand the difference between right and wrong, to be a defensive driver and, in general, to make good choices about how to fit into society.

Your husband of 13 years has a wellpaying and interesting job with a familyfriendly company that is happy to pay enough to support your seven kids. Your children go to a great new school — Bri-

arwood Elementary — and you’re close enough to home that your parents, who still live in Shawnee, happily help out with the kids whenever they can.

It’s a normal day, although the weather is hot and sticky. You’re preparing lunch after catching up on some laundry and playing with the four kids under the age of five who are at home with you. You notice the sky is dark and you hear a boom of thunder, but it’s May in Oklahoma and what else is new?

You flip the channel to the news to see if it’s something you should be worried about.

You watch, stricken, as the meteorologist says there is a tornado headed directly toward Moore. Toward you. And it’s not just a little blip of a tornado that will be gone within 30 seconds. This one is big. Not just big. Massive. “A grinder” almost one mile wide. The storm chasers are saying it’s hitting the Orr family horse farm where you had meant to take the kids to pick pumpkins in the fall.

They zoom in on that cartoon map with the county lines drawn in. You’re in the red.

You have to decide where to go. Now. Your husband is on the phone. Did you call him? You can’t remember. The panic is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. You want to run out the door and get in the van and drive away. You ask your husband, ‘Do I take the kids into the bathtub or the laundry room?’ We can’t all fit into the bathtub!

Do I have time to drive to the church with the basement fellowship hall?

Somehow you’re now talking to your dad. The baby is crying and the girls are screaming because the entire house is shaking, and it’s just so LOUD. With all that wind, all you can do is pray with whoever is on the phone while it bears down and you wait for the roof to give way or the entire world to collapse, which is kind of the same thing. They say a tornado sounds like a freight train. Now you know — it’s more like what it would sound and feel like to have your head

stopped rolling. People were literally giving one another the shirts off their own backs as they ran down the streets making sure complete strangers were able to get out of their storm shelters.

News stations covered the storm recovery 24/7 without commercials for days.

On the night of the Moore tornado, traffic on the Interstate came to a halt because everyone who could was dropping off anything they could spare—from gloves and trash bags to food and medicine.

Businesses shut down so their employees could help. Pharmacists hit the bricks to hand deliver prescriptions because some of the roads were impassable and people

still needed medications. People invited the newly homeless into their homes not for a few days, but until they could get back on their feet.

That’s why people choose to live in Oklahoma.

Andrea and her family are shaken up, but they won’t be going anywhere. Where would they want to go? They’re home.

KATIE STOKES is an Oklahoma native who has called Northern New York home for more than a decade. She is a freelance writer and blogger and the mother of two children, Diva and Hunk.

She and her husband are raising their children in Hounsfield. Visit her blog at www.NNYLife.com.

Her column appears in every issue of NNY Living.

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repeatedly dunked underwater until you can’t hold your breath anymore.

That was my cousin Andrea’s day.

Their house made it through the storm intact except for cracked rafters, wind damage and a drenching of clay, mud and grass that helped me understand what it must be like to get tarred and feathered. A razorsharp, six-foot beam made its way through their roof and into the house, their van windows were all shattered and a home three houses down was destroyed by a flying car.

Andrea’s three oldest children were at Briarwood Elementary, the only spot where the tornado sustained winds of over 300 mph, one of the highest wind speeds ever recorded on the planet. A wall collapsed on one of her twin sons.

He survived because a teacher threw her body over his. The other twin says he was knocked in the shoulder by “something soft” that they think was probably a cat falling from the sky because whatever it was ran off after hitting him.

What happened to my cousin and her family is terrifying. But they were the only ones who came that close out of my dozens of Oklahoma cousins. They’re the only ones who have ever come that close in my life, or in most of my relatives’ or friends’ lives.

Many Oklahomans have stories about their aunt’s scary storm cellar lined with as many scorpions and centipedes as canned preserves, where they had to go one time for 10 minutes, but most have never seen a tornado in real life. Do they worry about a tornado hitting them? Sure, when there’s a tornado in the area. Do some of them move out of the state because they don’t want to worry about it? Probably. But for the most part, for most people, it’s just like anything else. You take the good with the bad.

Living in constant fear of a tornado in Oklahoma would be like living in constant fear of dying in a plane crash when you only fly once every decade. More people die in car accidents than in tornadoes and plane crashes combined, and those odds don’t switch places just because you live in Tornado Alley. Do you base your life’s decisions around dying in a plane crash or a tornado? If so, good luck with that.

I guess it all boils down to quality of life. The folks who live in Oklahoma— my folks—are not crazy, nor are they dumb or thrill seekers. They’re people who want to live near family, friends, jobs or whatever it is they cherish in life.

The gamble they take each spring is a good bet. Most win every time.

A final reason? The rescue effort and clean up in Shawnee, Moore and El Reno were under way before the thunder

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TODAY’S GARDENER

The joys of pickling, canning easy accessible

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BY BRIAN HALLETT

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WHEN MY 3-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER took a liking to pickled cucumbers, I went from dabbling in pickling to becoming a full-fledged enthusiast. Today, there is plenty of literature on the craft of pickling and my daughter, to whom I regularly give pickled cucumbers, is nearly 22.

My interest in pickling predates its mention in the 2013 National Restaurant Association food trend forecast by a few decades.

When I was visiting my daughter in Boston this summer, I noticed numerous pickled items on menus and used as garnishes. I suspect pickling has become popular along with the organic, local food trend. And, of course, there’s nothing more local than your own backyard.

I have noticed in the greenhouse the past few years that the poor economy may have also encouraged more home-growing. For those who want to give pickling a try, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides a very specific, 35-page online guide called, “Preparing and Canning Fermented Foods and Vegetables.” The National Center for Home Food Preservation also has in-depth pickling information and recipes.

To pickle is just to preserve food with acid,

and there are various ways to get that acid. The two most common ways in the north country are through fermentation and vinegar, also a type of fermentation. Putting vegetables in vinegar is called a quick pickle.

To ferment, take raw vegetables and wash them lightly to preserve their acid-producing bacteria. Then put those vegetables in water with some salt to help control the fermentation. Within either a few days or a couple of months, you have a pickle that’s fermented to your taste. To know how long the process should take, I advise looking at a recipe.

A lot of people are afraid of canning, for good reason. Beginners can make pickles without canning with a boiling water bath.

Put the seasoning in the vinegar and heat the vinegar in the water. As they will be refrigerated, use two-parts water to one-part vinegar.

Heat the spices with the vinegar and pour it over the vegetables. It’s hard to go wrong with these quick refrigerator pickles and it’s a great way to use cucumbers as they first start to ripen in your garden.

As a teenager, my mother taught me our family recipe for dill pickles, which follows.

It’s a step-by-step guide to hot water bath pickling. Once you get this down, you can adapt the general process to pickling other vegetables, making jelly and more.

INGREDIENTS

5 percent acid white vinegar Non-iodized pickling salt 1/4 tsp. per jar yellow mustard seed 1 large clove of garlic per jar 3 to 4 whole peppercorns per jar A few rings white onion per jar Fresh cucumbers Fresh or dried dill weed (seeds are fine).

1/4 tsp. per jar calcium chloride/ball pickle crisp granules

EQUIPMENT

Canning lids and bands (The lids must be new, but bands can be reused) Quart- and pint-sized jars (wide mouth works best) Canning pot with canning rack large enough to hold jars covered with water Large, non-aluminum pot for making brine

Small saucepan for readying lids Jar lifter, kitchen tongs, Pyrex glass measuring cup with handle and a spout Wooden spoon Sharpie marker Clean dish towels

INSTRUCTIONS

Have all equipment ready to go. This takes a good chunk of time; I do 14 jars in about three hours. Even if your first try at pickling doesn’t seem easy, after you’ve done it once, you’ll have it down.

1. Sterilize the jars. Even after a run in the dishwasher, it’s wise to sterilize them the old-fashioned way by boiling to make sure they’re clear of bacteria. Most dishwashers do not get hot enough.

2. Fill the canner with water and set it on the stove. Place the canning rack at the bottom of the pot to prevent the glass jars from coming in direct contact with the heat source. Place the empty jars in the pot, making sure each one fills with water. On high heat, bring to a rolling boil for 20 minutes.

3. Carefully remove the sterilized jars from the pot with a jar lifter, pouring the hot water back in (you can use this for your water bath later on). Set the jars on a towel right side up and let them air dry while you prepare the cucumbers.

4. Prepare your cucumbers and garlic.

Thoroughly wash the cucumbers in cold water using a scrub brush. Peel the garlic, leaving the cloves intact. Crushing the garlic releases amino acids, which will react with the vinegar (acid) and turn the garlic blue. If that happens, it is perfectly safe to eat.

5. Decide what shape pickles you want. If your cucumbers are small enough to squeeze many into one jar, don’t worry about cutting them. If you’d like dill pickle slices, slice the cucumbers into 1/8- or 1/4-inch slices. I like to use a mandolin slicer for this job. If you prefer spears, cut them that way.

6. Start filling your jars. In each jar, place one clove of garlic and one head of dried dill weed (or about 1 teaspoon dry seed), mustard seed, peppercorns and white onion. You can add more garlic if you prefer.

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY LIVING

pickles will last indefinitely in a pantry. Don’t be concerned that your pickles are not as green as store bought pickles—color dyes are often added to store brand pickles. I label and date all my jars and use them within the year.

They make a great host/hostess gift.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

The jar lifter and canning rack are nice tools to have for pickling. They are inexpensive and can be bought at most grocery or hardware stores or online. If you’re short on space, store

your canning supplies inside your canner.

My grandmother’s dill pickle recipe makes a pickle that everyone seems to like. I use the “pickle juice” when the jar is empty to marinate beef cuts like London broil and flank steaks. I still pickle cucumbers every year, and most of those still go to my oldest daughter and her friends.

BRIAN HALLETT is an art teacher at South Jefferson Central School in Adams. His family owns Halletts’ Florist and Greenhouse in Adams, which celebrates 30 years in business this year.

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7. Prepare the brine. In a large stockpot, combine 3 quarts water, 1 quart 5 percent acid white vinegar and 1 cup non-iodized canning salt. Stir the mixture and bring it to a gentle, rolling boil. Be prepared to make more of this as you go.

8. Tightly pack the jars with cucumbers; think of this as pickle Tetris. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to help pack them in.

9. Prepare the lids. In the small saucepan, cover the lids (not the bands) with about 1 inch of water. Simmer on the stove for five minutes. This loosens the seal on the lids and prepares them to seal with the jar in the canning stage. Use kitchen tongs to take them out of the water.

10. Bring the water in the stockpot back to a boil for the water bath.

11. Pour 1/4 teaspoon calcium chloride (granules) into each packed jar. Pour in the brine. Using a heat-safe measuring cup (a Pyrex cup with a handle and spout works best), begin pouring brine over the jarred cucumbers. Leave about 1/4 inch of headspace at the top of each jar. Keep an eye on your brine; if you’re running low and have more jars to go, make more as needed (a half recipe should suffice). Set your warm jars on a clean towel.

Direct contact with your kitchen counter, especially if it’s granite, can break the hot glass jars. Always pour hot brine into warm jars to prevent the jars from breaking.

12. Take a clean dish towel and wipe the rim of your jar of any brine that might be there. This helps the jar seal. Place a lid on each jar (don’t touch the rubber ring). Put a band on top and screw it down only until you meet a little resistance. You don’t want them so tight that no air can get in or out. Air bubbles rise from your jars when you put them into the water bath. This is normal.

11. Start a water bath to preserve the pickles. You want to make sure your jars are still warm (remember that hot brine?) when placing them into the boiling water. Using a jar lifter, slowly lower each jar into the pot. Go as slow as you can so that the glass has time to adapt to the temperature change.

12. Boil the jars in the water bath for 10 minutes. Slowly remove jars and set on a dishtowel. Listen carefully: you’ll know the jars are properly sealed when you hear an all-too-satisfying pop. At this point, I will tighten my bands, turn my jars upside down and let them rest about 10 minutes. I like how this distributes the seasonings in the jar and I think it helps to make a better seal, though there are varying opinions on this. When you flip your jars back over, there should not be any give or bounce in the middle of the lid.

13. Label and date your jars with a Sharpie and let the pickles cure for two weeks before taste testing. As tempting as they may be, don’t open any of the jars until then. If some jars don’t pop/seal, store them in the fridge and use after two weeks. The properly sealed

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36 HOURS

Head south for a hippie haven that will delight Ithaca an outdoor mecca for the foodie at heart

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TEXT BY NNY LIVING STAFF | PHOTOS COURTESY VISIT ITHACA

LESS THAN FOUR HOURS FROM most points in the north country, Ithaca is a medium-sized city of about 30,000 yearround residents known for its opportunities for outdoor adventure, hippie culture, robust local food scene and premier colleges and universities. For a weekend getaway, Ithaca offers plenty of great hiking, shopping, cultural events and eating, particularly vegan and vegetarian fare.

Opposite page, clockwise from top, Sunset over Ithaca and Cayuga Lake from Myers Point Lighthouse.

Fountains at Ithaca College. Ithaca Farmers Market.

Cornell University dominates the Ithaca skyline. Kiteboarding on Cayuga Lake at sunset. Ithaca Commons pedestrian mall, a popular destination for shopping.

Ithaca College, which has about 6,200 undergraduate students, sits atop South Hill, positioning the city in a veritable cradle of academia. Ithaca College’s campus also makes for a good walk; visit www.ithaca. edu for information on tours.

Cornell University, Campus Information and Visitor Relations, Day Hall Lobby, www.cornell.edu, 1 (607) 254-6225.

FRIDAY, 4 P.M., SETTLE INTO YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS A good option for lodging is the Statler Hotel at Cornell University, which is staffed by students in Cornell’s worldrenowned School of Hotel Administration alongside hospitality professionals. The hotel is located in the heart of Cornell’s campus so it has Cornell’s upscale Ivy League vibe, and is only minutes from downtown, as well as within walking distance of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Fall Creek Gorge and Sage Chapel.

The hotel also has a full-service restaurant, Taverna Banfi.

If you’re looking for something a little more off the beaten path, check out Private Hotel and Pure Food at Casper’s Farm, which has six quaint and unique rooms with luxurious beds, filled with museum-like treasures from owner Michael

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FRIDAY, 2 P.M., TAKE A WALK IN THE COMPANY OF GREAT MINDS A quick walking tour of the Cornell University campus is a good way to get a taste of Ithaca before you settle into your accommodations.

Cornell, an Ivy League university with about 22,000 students across undergraduate and graduate programs, boasts a spectacular, hilly 2,300-acre campus full of old, ivy-covered brick buildings and breathtaking views of the city. It offers a great place for a stroll, though you will get

a workout from its huge quantity of stairs.

Stop inside Cornell’s oldest library, Uris Library, which has a collection of two million volumes combined with Olin Library.

Cornell’s other specialty libraries include the Baily Hortorium Library, composed of the combined botanical resources from the personal libraries of Liberty Hyde Bailey and Wiegand Herbarium. It has about 30,000 volumes, more than 200 journal titles and hundreds of shelf-feet of reprints.

The Paleontological Research Institution Library contains over 50,000 volumes on paleontology, geology and natural history.

The Snee Hall Reading Room is a glassenclosed room with a beautiful view of the Cascadilla gorge and is a popular place to study. Visit www.cornell.edu/libraries for a list of libraries and their locations.

Grab a coffee or snack in Collegetown, which has numerous award-winning restaurants and shops. Stella’s Restaurant, Bar and Café at 403 College Ave. is a great place to refuel and get a taste of the local culture, offering something for everyone and known for its coffee and espresso drinks. Collegetown Bagels at 415 College Ave. is a great quintessential college town bagel shop and is also good place to grab a quick sandwich.

While Cornell is perched atop East Hill,

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Casper’s world travels, including dinosaur skeletons, meteorites, mineral specimens, fossils and artifacts. Nightly room rates are $300 for a queen and $200 for a junior queen, which includes an unbelievable breakfast of farm-fresh food and access to expansive grounds for morning jaunts.

On the more traditional end, Homewood Suites by Hilton Ithaca offers reasonable prices for studios and one- and two-bedroom suites with nice amenities, including a full hot breakfast and fitness center.

Statler Hotel, www.statlerhotel.cornell.edu, 130 Statler Drive, Cornell University. Private Hotel and Pure Food at Casper’s Farm, 1040 Comfort Road, www.caspersfarm.com. Homewood Suites by Hilton Ithaca, 36 Cinema Drive, www.homewoodsuites3.hilton.com.

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FRIDAY, 6 P.M., LET’S EAT Referred to as a “liberal, cultural and gastronomic oasis” in a 2008 travel piece on the city in The New York Times and with its close proximity to renowned Finger Lakes wineries, Ithaca offers abundant dining opportunities. Fans of vegetarian, vegan and organic fare should not miss the iconic Moosewood Restaurant, the number one place for food made with fresh, local ingredients. Moosewood was named one of the 13 most influential

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restaurants of the 20th century by Bon Appetit magazine and its menu changes every day based on the freshest, seasonal ingredients.

Just a Taste is a great place to get wine and tappas, with an extensive menu of nearly 40 different types of tapas, some elaborate. With an outdoor patio, Just a Taste is a great place to soak in the city and vibe of the nearby Finger Lakes.

Ithaca also boasts numerous quality ethnic restaurants, including the notable Saigon Kitchen, a Vietnamese restaurant at 526 West State St. and Sangam Indian Cuisine at 424 Eddy St. Despite this wealth of culinary options, be sure to save some room for dessert.

Ithaca boasts of being the official birthplace of the ice cream sundae, so, when in Rome, it would be remiss to not get an ice cream sundae. Purity Ice Cream Co., located at 700 Cascadilla St., offers a huge and unique selection of quality flavors and is the perfect place to experience the home-town favorite.

Moosewood Restaurant, 215 North Cayuga St., www.moosewoodcooks.com. Just a Taste, 116 North Aurora St., www.just-a-taste.com.

SATURDAY, 10 A.M., BREAKFAST BEFORE YOU HIT THE TOWN The Saturday farmers market at Steam-

boat Landing, a cooperative with 150 vendors who live within a 30-mile radius of the city, is the perfect place to spend a leisurely Saturday morning, especially if you’re a local foods enthusiast. You can grab some fresh baked goods for breakfast and also some delicious fresh bread or meats to take as a picnic for the afternoon’s outdoor adventures.

The market is open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from April 6 through Oct. 26. It also runs Sundays from May 5 to Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you happen to visit Ithaca during the week, or just extend your stay a little, you can also visit the market at Dewitt Park Tuesdays from May 7 to Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursdays from June 6 to Oct. 31 from 4 to 7 p.m.

For a list of vendors, maps to the markets or any additional information, visit www.ithacamarket.com.

Hippie, funky and upscale collide at Ithaca Commons, the city’s main downtown center of commerce, another option for a place to browse Saturday morning.

The four-block area has more than 100 unique shops, restaurants, art galleries and street vendors. Autumn Leaves Used Books is a great place to kill some time.

In the store’s basement is Angry Mom Records, which has a collection of more

than 20,000 albums, specializing in music from the 1960s to 80s. If you need to refuel while browsing, you can grab a coffee at Crow’s Nest Café above the bookstore, which sells fair trade coffee, as well as vegan and vegetarian soups, salads, pastries and sandwiches.

Autumn Leaves Used Books 115 the Commons, www.facebook.com/#/pages/Ithaca-NY/Autumn-Leaves-Used-Books

SATURDAY, 7 P.M., SEE A SHOW OR FREE SUMMER CONCERT The historic State Theatre is a great

SUNDAY, 10 A.M. BRUNCH BEFORE YOU HEAD NORTH Ranked as the best brunch spot in Ithaca by Cornell’s student-run newspaper The Cornell Daily Sun, The Carriage House Café is a hugely popular brunch spot. With a head chef trained at the Cu-

linary Institute of America and an Ithaca native, many of the Carriage House’s products are made in-house with local produce and ingredients. The restaurant’s brie-stuffed French toast, made with inhouse brioche, takes the cake as the most popular brunch item, but the menu also includes various unique offerings like a sconewich—scrambled egg with New York state cheddar inside a griddled hamand-cheese scone.

On the way out of town, you could easily drive past some Finger Lakes wineries and stop in for some tasting or bottles to take back to the north country. The Finger Lakes National Forest, occupying more than 16,000 acres between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, has more than 30 miles of spectacular trails that lead through gorges and stumble into the backyards of vineyards. The forest’s headquarters are located on Route 414 in Hector, about 20 miles to the west of the city.

The Carriage House Café, 305 Stewart Ave., www.carriagehousecafe.com.

GETTING THERE From all points north, take Interstate 81 south to Syracuse. Continue on I-81 through Cortland to New York 281 south.

Then follow NY-13 south into Ithaca.

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SATURDAY, 12 P.M., EXPLORE THE GREAT OUTDOORS The city didn’t get its famous slogan, “Ithaca is GORGEous” for nothing. You don’t have to go far in Ithaca to take advantage of the numerous spectacular gorges and waterfalls, although venturing to some of its many state parks is well worth it. Bring a bathing suit and picnic from the farmers market and spend the afternoon exploring.

Robert Treman State Park, located at 105 Enfield Falls Road less than five miles from the downtown, has nine miles of hiking trails that follow a gorge called Enfield Glen past 12 waterfalls, including Lucifer Falls, a 115-foot falls at the top of which you can see a mile-and-a-half down the gorge. You can also go for a quick swim in a lifeguarded area in a stream-fed pool beneath the falls.

If you’d like a more educational stroll, check out Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You can take guided bird walks through Sapsucker Woods that last about 1 ½ hours or explore the 230-acre sanctuary, which has about four miles of trails and boardwalks through forests, ponds and swamps, on your own. More than 200 species of birds have been recorded in Sapsucker Woods.

Ithaca also offers numerous other state parks for exploration, many just a short jaunt outside the city. Ithaca Falls Natural Area is on the south end of Cayuga Lake, a short walk from downtown, and offers spectacular views of Ithaca Falls, which is 105-feet high and 175-feet wide.

Buttermilk Falls State Park, also a short distance from downtown, has a small lake and hiking trails along the gorge as well as through the wetland area Larch Meadows. Cornell Plantations is a 4,300acre outdoor metropolis consisting of an arboretum, botanical garden and various nature preserves. Visit www.cornellplantations.org for maps and more information about the plantations.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, www.birds.cornell.edu.

option for a concert, lecture or reading.

The theatre’s lineup this summer and fall includes the indie rock band Yo La Tengo, the musical Into the Woods, the author Michael Franti and his band Spearhead, comedian Paula Poundstone and writer Garrison Keillor. For a complete schedule, visit www.stateofithaca.com/events.

Ithaca also has an extensive calendar of free summer concerts, running Tuesday through Sunday nights. On Saturday nights, the summer concert series is held at Taughannock Falls State Park on Route 89 in Trumansburg. The concerts cover nearly every genre, including country rock, Dixieland jazz, soul, folk, Cajun, hip hop and rock. Sunday afternoon concerts are held from 4 to 6 p.m. at Americana Vineyards, 4367 East Covert Road, Interlaken. For a complete list of summer concerts, visit www.visitithaca.com/visitor-info/events/ free-summer-concerts.html.

State Theatre, 107 West State St., 1 (607) 277-8283.

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CULTURE

Lowville native returns to share passion, talent for tango Tug Hill Vineyards hosts vibrant evening of dancing lessons

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BY LEAH BULETTI

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AT FIRST GLANCE,IT’S A SEEMINGLY startling transformation: high school football star raised on a dairy farm in Lowville turned tango instructor.

But for Travis Widrick, who graduated from Lowville Academy and Central School in 1997 before going on to Hobart College in Geneva to study English, where he first started dancing 10 years ago, it was a relatively natural shift. Tango, the erotic and glamorous dance that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in fact isn’t so different from the movement of a football player, Mr. Widrick says.

“I certainly never saw myself dancing,” Mr. Widrick told a group of about 10 couples at Tug Hill Vineyard’s first tango and wine night on Friday, July 19.

“Tango chose me.”

“The movement is really similar to football if you slow down,” he added as he demonstrated slow footwork reminiscent of football drills that indeed looked similar to the movement of tango dancers’ feet. “The basis of Argentinian tango is walking—just being comfortable doing that and nothing more.”

Mr. Widrick, who currently lives and teaches and DJs tango full-time in Buffalo, returned to Lowville to share his infectious passion for the dance at the vineyard at the behest of his former football coach, Dick Cole, owner Susan E. Maring’s brother-in-law who currently does marketing for the vineyard.

Though Mr. Widrick’s family still lives in Lowville and he travels widely across the state to teach, he had only returned to the north country once before to teach tango at a high school reunion.

“I was really excited to have it at a winery,” he said of the Tug Hill event.

“This is a beautiful space. If there’s inter-

LEAH BULETTI | NNY LIVING

Lowville native Travis Widrick, right, a former high school football star turned tango instructor, returned to his hometown for a night of tango at Tug Hill Vineyards with partner Tiniko Natsvlichvili, of Ottawa.

est, I’d definitely be willing to come back to teach.”

Though ballroom dance is taught in Watertown, the closest places for north country residents to dance tango are Syracuse or Montreal, Mr. Widrick said.

As the sun set through the winery’s picture windows overlooking its picturesque rows of grapes and U-pick berries with Lowville’s whirring windmills in

the horizon, Mr. Widrick and his partner Tiniko Natsvlichvili, of Ottawa, gave an hour-long demonstration and discussion of tango.

Then, the music varying between traditional Argentinean and modern hits, they gave lessons to let the enthusiastic crowd practice themselves.

“Tango is about trying to move in sync with each other, to connect through move-

n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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ment,” he explained. “You really have to listen with a sense of feeling and be in tune with each other. You have to feel the impulse.”

Connecting with one’s partner is also key.

“I simply give her guidance and invite her to move,” he said of Ms. Natsvlichvili, whom Mr. Vidrick met at a tango show in Toronto and later connected with in Buffalo. “It’s like language.”

He likened the movement to yoga both in the importance of breath and necessity of being comfortable in one’s body, saying it can be more simplistic than it seems to those familiar with its depiction on ABC’s series Dancing with the Stars.

“I could teach all of my students different steps, but I can’t teach them to get comfortable hugging,” he said. “You have to learn to be comfortable in that space, to move into each other’s space.”

With that, he asked everyone in the room to get up and hug two different people.

“See how immediately the energy in the room changes?” he asked. “In tango, the element of touch is so important.”

The ability to connect with another person through dance’s common language has been one of the most rewarding parts of dancing tango and is one of the reasons Mr. Widrick said he loves sharing the dance with others. While recently studying in Argentina for three months, he was struck by the culture of affection, particularly hugging between members of the same sex and also between members of different sexes, something he found foreign to his upbringing in Lowville.

“Seeing that opened my eyes to different ways of connecting,” he said. “At the base level, tango is just hugging. Try not to watch your feet, just move with each other.”

“Your feet are like fireworks, what happens in your feet is directly related to what happens in your body,” he continued.

Mrs. Maring said the winery felt “pretty lucky to have him come.” With fewer weddings booked for July this year, she said they have tried to fill up Friday nights with different activities, such as a Wine and Food pairing dinner held the previous Friday that drew 70 people. Tug Hill also hosts weekly Wine Downs on Thursday nights that typically draw about 100 people and Sunday brunches that draw roughly 300, Mrs. Maring said.

“The idea is to make it a destination spot,” she said of the vineyard.

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Getting all dolled up

THIS IS NNY

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A R O L I N E A B B O T T I S N ’T J U S T A F I C T I O N A L character in the American Girl book and doll series; she has put the village of Sackets Harbor on the map.

Young girls in fancy dresses and hats with accompanying Caroline or other American Girl dolls attended receptions in July at the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site to celebrate the character.

While some of the 120 guests Sunday were locals, most were from outside the state, even as far away as Kansas, Iowa and Tennessee.

Kathleen Ernst, author of the American Girl Caroline series, said Caroline lived during the War of 1812 in Sackets Harbor.

“I think the War of 1812 allowed her to have a lot of adventures,” Ms. Ernst said. “The real-life history gave us a lot to work with. I think one of the real joys of Caroline stories is it’s a balance of history and fiction.”

Hailing from Baltimore, Ms. Ernst considered basing the Caroline series in her home state, but felt “what happened here in the Great Lakes wasn’t as well known.”

Now, young girls are excited to travel to the village, learn about the war and experience the character’s life. Those who attended the receptions received American Girl bookmarks, autographs from Ms. Ernst and village maps to explore places Caroline might have gone.

“I feel as if the whole village here has been celebrating Caroline,” Ms. Ernst said.

To see a video of the event, go to http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=x-l3L96QMvU. — Rebecca Madden

PHOTOS BY AMANDA MORRISON | NNY LIVING

ARTS

Preserving history’s high notes

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TAUNY’s Porter project keeps north country folk songs alive

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BY LEAH BULETTI | NNY LIVING STAFF WRITER

WITH CDS BECOMING A THING OF the past, it’s hard to imagine the days when music was recorded on reel-to-reel tapes, and even harder to imagine the days when it was recorded on Soundscriber Recorders, cumbersome, coneshaped machines that put sound onto small plastic disks.

For Marjorie Lansing Porter, a historian and Adirondack native who devoted her life beginning in 1941 to preserving historical and cultural music, those two machines were all she had to preserve a history that fascinated her.

Before her death in 1973, she recorded more than 450 interviews with locals telling their stories and singing and amassed a collection of 33 reel-to-reel tapes, first using the Sounsciber and later a tape recorder. The tapes consist of English, Scottish and Irish ballads; songs from lumber camps, iron mines and wars; Iroquois chants; fiddle tunes; and songs

of French-Canadian and local origin. It is the broadest folksong collection in the Adirondack-Lake Champlain region, in terms of both geography and song type.

A partnership between Traditional Arts in Upstate New York in Canton, SUNY Plattsburgh, The Adirondack History Center Museum and Mountain Lake PBS is resurrecting and preserving Mrs. Porter’s work through a multimedia project that includes a series of concerts in the Adirondacks by local folk musicians through August and early September, a documentary film produced by Mountain Lake PBS, a traveling exhibit about Mrs. Porter’s life, a 40-page songbook from the Porter Collection and an album of recordings interpreted by regional and national musicians.

“She was very much a pioneer,” said Lee Knight, Saranac Lake native and friend of Mrs. Porter who worked with her for the three years prior to

her death. He sought her out when a lifelong interest in folk music led him to want to delve deeper into its roots in his home region.

“She saved a number of songs that wouldn’t have been otherwise,” he said.

Mrs. Porter was born in 1891 in Port Henry, on the banks of Lake Champlain.

She graduated from the Plattsburgh Normal School in 1912 and spent much of her career editing and writing for the Essex County Republican, the newspaper her great grandfather founded in 1839.

Throughout her life, she served as the historian for both Essex and Clinton counties and also helped start the Adirondack Center Museum in Elizabethtown.

Mr. Knight, who became “very good friends” with Mrs. Porter before her death, said she took him under her wing once she realized his interest in folklore was serious and was “really happy to have someone who cared about what

JASON HUNTER | NNY LIVING

Jill R. Breit, executive director for Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, with a CD of music titled “Songs to Keep.” The disc includes traditional Adirondack and north country folk music that Marjorie Lansing Porter collected and preserved played by contemporary Adirondack musicians.

depending on the amount of research needed to clarify words, he said.

Mr. Knight described the aim of “Songs to Keep” as recognizing Mrs. Porter, but also preserving the songs for future generations. The Iroquois chants in her collection date back hundreds of years, while the iron mining songs can be traced to the early 1900s, the heyday of the Adirondack iron industry when more than 200 forges were in use, and the lumber camp songs to the early 1800s when logging was a major industry in the Adirondacks. Her collection also has songs from the War of 1812 and the Civil War, as well as some cowboy songs from the southwest and many songs with a strong Irish influence, Mr. Knight said.

“The songs were in danger of being lost until she recognized their value,” he said, adding that since Mrs. Porter wasn’t a performer, she wasn’t able to attract the kind of mainstream interest in the songs

necessary for their survival. He hopes the concerts, most of which he will perform and speak at, help spark some of this interest and also acquaint people with Northern New York musicians.

“We’re trying to give people a sense of the musical and ethnic culture of the region and we’re trying to raise awareness,” said Hannah S. Harvester, program director at TAUNY. “This song collection and Marjorie Porter herself deserve to receive more attention than they’re getting.”

Ms. Harvester said music researchers, historians and folklorists had been aware of the Porter collection for some time.

As TAUNY started to do more music programming three years ago, the idea started to take concrete shape. They began the process of applying for grants about two years ago and received support from the New York State Council on the Arts through the state’s Regional Economic Development grant program, the National

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she was doing.” As Mrs. Porter didn’t read or write music, Mr. Knight helped her transcribe songs, find sources and transcribe interviews with the musicians she recorded.

“Sadly she died before we finished,” he said. “I didn’t have a clue — I thought she was going to live forever.”

Mr. Knight is working on a book of 200 songs with annotations on their history that will be more academic than the songbook TAUNY started selling at the concert series for $15. Mr. Knight helped select the songs for that book and wrote the background notes.

Lynn Koch, a performer and teacher living in Marathon, who transcribed about 100 songs in 2008 for TAUNY’s Adirondack music website, is transcribing the Porter collection songs to visual scores. It takes him about 90 minutes to transcribe each song from recordings that vary from “barely decipherable to reasonably clear,”

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Hannah S. Harvester, program director at Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, Canton, and Lee Knight, a Saranac Lake native and friend of Marjorie Lansing Porter who worked with her for the three years prior to her death in 1973.

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PHOTO COURTESY TAUNY

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Endowment for the Arts’ Art Works program and the Champaign Valley National Heritage Partnership in December 2012.

Ms. Harvester sees the Songs to Keep project as only the tip of the iceberg in potential scholarship and performance based around the Porter collection. The Feinberg Library’s Special Collections at SUNY Plattsburgh has had a collection of about 900 photographs from Mrs. Porter’s life since 1973. The collection, which includes photos from Mrs. Porter documenting local scenes and pictures of historians she interviewed, could soon be augmented by a donation of family photographs from one of her granddaughters, according to Special Collections Librarian Debra Kimok.

She described the library’s role in Songs to Keep as a “research clearinghouse for the images.”

The library’s collection also includes digitized access to all of the Soundscriber discs in the Porter collection, work completed about two years ago by SUNY Plattsburgh Communications Professor Timothy Clukey and the Special Collections staff.

“We’re offering a little glimpse into a huge treasure trove of material,” Ms. Harvester said. “We want to give people an idea about the diversity of traditional music that has come to this region, the breadth of it and the different lives people passing down this music lived.”

The traveling exhibit, which will be on display at each concert, focuses on Mrs. Porter as a person, as she was “extremely influential in the area and really inspired people to have an interest

in local history, not just song collecting,” Ms. Harvester said.

“We’re trying to tell more of the story of the rest of her life,” said Margaret Gibbs, director of the Essex County Historical Society and the Adirondack History Center Museum.

After the final concert on Saturday, Sept. 21 at SUNY Plattsburgh, the exhibit will stay at the Feinberg Library until it returns to the museum in the spring, where it will stay through the summer, Ms. Gibbs said. She added that the museum is excited to have the exhibit on display, since it has a number of artifacts associated with Mrs. Porter, including a stage coach and a printing press from the Essex County Republican, which add to her story, but cannot travel with the exhibit.

Mountain Lake PBS, Plattsburgh, began filming the hour-long documentary this spring and in August succeeded in raising the $15,000 needed to match its portion of TAUNY’s NYSCA grant. The documentary will include interviews with Mrs. Porter’s granddaughter as well as Mr. Knight, Pete Seeger, a friend of Mrs. Porter, and other musicians, including the Bacon Brothers, who are seasonal residents of the area, Executive Producer Dan Swinton said.

Mr. Swinton added that PBS worked hard to get younger faces and some “fairly whimsical songs” in the documentary so that it appeals to “people of all generations.”

“The idea of taking something that’s very old and trying to breathe new life into it is a very unique approach,” he said.

Upcoming concerts n Saturday, Aug. 24, View Arts Center, Old Forge, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15. n Saturday, Sept. 14, Edwards Opera House, 7 p.m. Tickets: $10. n Friday, Sept. 20, Adirondack History Center Museum, Elizabethtown. Tickets: $8. n Saturday, Sept. 21, Giltz Theater, Hawkins Hall, SUNY Plattsburgh. Tickets: $10; free to SUNY Plattsburgh students

n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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The documentary will debut at the final concert in Plattsburgh. It will then be broadcast at public screenings in the region and offered to PBS stations across the state, and hopefully garner national PBS distribution, Mr. Swinton said.

Dave Ruch, a full-time performer who lives in Buffalo and has a second home in Deerfield, worked with TAUNY for the past five years and produced the CDs, which have 14 full-length songs and three short fiddle tunes. He is performing and acting as MC of the concerts. Mr. Ruch said he listened to each song in the Porter collection before selecting about 50 for artists to choose from. He selected the artists to perform on the CD, each of whom is intentionally from the north country, and performs one song on the CD himself.

Each concert will have a different lineup of four to five acts and “its own character,” he said, adding that the choice of north country musicians created a “small, local, rich end result.”

At each concert, Mr. Ruch will do a short question and answer session on stage with someone who knew Mrs. Porter.

“They’re going to be fun, rollicking concerts, but you’ll also learn a lot,” Ms. Harvester said, adding that the concerts should appeal to people of all ages.

Mr. Ruch said Songs to Keep is a way to hear music from the time when it was truly local — the only way to hear it before radios was in the same place where it was sung — and from the time before there was such a huge separation between singers and ordinary people.

“These were ordinary people who sang because they needed music in their life,” he said. “This is a piece of north country culture and history that has been almost wiped out since radio and CDs came back. Here’s a chance to hear it again.”

Listening to the songs, he added, is “like having an ancestor whispering in your ear.”

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COVER STORY

A plate of kale, corn on the cob, vegetable kabobs, red cabbage and quinoa salad. Opposite page, fresh pasta salad.

Relishing the bounty of great foods What we eat defines our culinary culture, one bite at a time

HOW MANY TIMES IN YOUR LIFE have you heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” generally uttered by a person who always takes the nutritional high road when it comes to food choices?

When I was a child and someone rattled off that phrase, the customary retort was something like “Well, if I am what I eat, then I guess I’m a ___ !” Fill in the blank with whatever sugar-laden, over-processed bit of repulsiveness I happened to be shoveling into my mouth at the time.

The years passed and my adult self has accepted the truism that the food we put into our bodies greatly contributes to our overall physical well-being. Food is to our bodies as gas is to our automobiles: No gas, no go.

In 1825 the famous gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said, “Tell me what you eat, and I’ll tell you who you are.” But food does so much more than simply nourish our bodies. Food defines us. What we eat, how we eat and with whom we eat shapes who we are as indi-

viduals, as communities and as cultures.

It’s not very difficult to remember a place you’ve been and the food associated with it; a Proustian memory that takes you back to your grandmother’s warm

and cozy kitchen, or foods that remind you of your grade school’s institutional green-tiled cafeteria or the grimy food stand at the annual county fair.

Specific foods can define a place and the

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TEXT BY BOO WELLS | PHOTOS BY AMANDA MORRISON

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people associated with it. When I was first introduced to the north country almost 20 years ago, I was informed that it was mandatory to stop at Jreck Subs as soon as the car crossed into Jefferson County. My host and his group of friends and family felt then, and still feel today, that Jreck is the ultimate culinary definition of the north country. I have since met Northern New Yorkers who pick their kids up from college or the Syracuse airport with a cooler full of them. I would not be at all surprised to learn that there are Jreck die-hards who FedEx subs to friends or

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How we use food to care for others is an inherent part of culture. Food not only defines our culture, but can strengthen bonds between individuals and whole communities. family who have ventured outside the county limits. Northern New Yorkers are passionate, verging on overzealous, about their subs.

As an outsider, I have to admit that I still don’t quite get the obsession — Subway, Jreck Subs, Mr. Sub, Quizno’s … are they really all that different? I have given up trying to get an explanation as to why one is better than the other. Croghan Bologna and River Rat Cheese have the same type of cult following. I understand the cheese addiction, especially the sharp cheddar. The cheese curd infatuation, on the other hand, is very peculiar.

On my first visit to Watertown (after the mandatory sub stop) my friend’s mother set out a bowl of fresh “squeaky”

BOO WELLS is chef and owner of the Farm House Kitchen, a catering company and cooking school in Sackets Harbor. Contact her at sackets farmhousekitchen@gmail.com or visit www.thefarm housekitchen.com.

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cheese as a “Welcome to the north country!” treat. I remember thinking that it was very unusual looking, sort of like a giant, white, rubbery larva. To be polite, I tried a piece. To this New Englander it tasted pretty much exactly as it looked.

But, if you stop the average north country resident on the street and ask for a list of foods that define the region, I guarantee that cheese curd will be on that list. So will Burrville cider, salt potatoes, Hoffman hot-dogs and fried perch.

As a caterer and someone who enjoys cooking good, healthy, fresh food for friends and family, I now adhere to the old “you are what you eat” adage, but my personal maxim would be more like “we are who we eat with,” or “we are what we feed others.”

Food brings us together. Just look at the number of chicken barbecues and community dinners that are advertised every weekend. We raise money for those in need by hosting bake sales and fundraisers. We bring homemade cookies to a new neighbor or a casserole to a family grieving a loved one. How we use food to care for others is an inherent part of culture.

Food not only defines our culture, but can strengthen the bonds between individuals and whole communities, whether at the dinner table in our home or the community center of the local church.

You would be hard-pressed to find someone without a detailed memory of a wonderful meal shared on an important occasion. And who hasn’t agonized at some point over the details of the menu for a celebration with those you love? It has to be perfect, like my mother’s minestrone, a recipe that was never written down, but that I can perfectly duplicate as a result of all the times I stood on a kitchen chair acting as sous-chef, too young to realize how important these moments would become later on. A taste of that soup brings her back every time.

Marjorie Halford, manager of the senior meal center Loaves & Fishes, said that “food is one of the first memories people have, and it’s one of the last they lose. Familiar foods can put them in touch with a crystalline memory of their past. It brings them comfort when very little else does.”

Surely food is sustenance, but it is so much more. It is memory. It is love.

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FEATURES

NORM JOHNSTON | NNY LIVING

Nathan B. Whittaker, chef at Bella’s Bistro, Clayton, with some locally grown produce. The restaurant incorporates locally sourced ingredients in many of its dishes.

Local is on the menu ‘Farm-to-fork’ movement gains traction with restaurants A UGUST / SEPT EMBER 2013 | NN Y LIVING

BY GABRIELLE HOVENDON

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NORTH COUNTRY RESTAURANTS are getting fresh—and local—with their produce.

In the hopes of providing healthier, tastier menus, a handful of Northern New York eateries have recently embraced the “farm-to-fork” movement. During the summer months, the restaurants buy everything from kale and lettuce to eggs and honey from nearby farmers — and they say the effort is paying off.

“It tastes better because it’s fresh,” said Nathan B. Whittaker, chef at Bella’s Bistro, Clayton. “You buy a head of lettuce at the grocery store and it’s already kind of slimy and rotting. You don’t realize

that’s already been harvested for probably a month.”

Nationwide, the farm-to-fork movement, also known as the locavore or local food movement, has been gaining popularity with its emphasis on eating food produced within a 100-mile radius of the consumer.

Mr. Whittaker, who spent the past 11 years working at various high-end Chicago restaurants as well as a small organic farm in Chicago, came to Bella’s in May 2012 and has since made an effort to buy from local growers rather than large food distributors. He prepares his dishes with potatoes, tomatoes, asparagus, summer squash, lettuce, beans and spinach bought from a variety of nearby farms, including

ones owned by the Amish, such as the Swartzentruber farms in Evans Mills and LaFargeville.

Mr. Whittaker also buys ingredients from Cross Island Farms on Wellesley Island, which supplies certified organic produce and specialty items including Roma beans, colored carrots, specialty radishes, kale and herbs. Mr. Whittaker buys local produce not only for its superior taste, but because iot allows him to support the region’s economy, which is another draw of the farm-to-fork movement.

“I’d rather not give money to some big corporations when I can help support local people in the community who I see every day,” he said. “It’s so much nicer to have a connection.”

“What we can purchase from, say, California, is typically a third of the price we pay for local produce,” said Jenny D. Walker, trained chef and owner of 1844 House in Potsdam. Her restaurant buys

‘‘

It tastes better because it’s fresh.

— Nathan B. Whittaker, chef, Bella’s Bistro, Clayton, on the farm-to-fork movement.

everything from salad greens to honey and maple syrup to cabbage, potatoes and onions from the North Country Grown Cooperative, a 20-member organization in St. Lawrence County. “It’s not cost effective at all; it’s just part of our restaurant philosophy.”

Buying locally is also time consuming for restaurants; local farms rarely deliver produce, so chefs and owners have to pick up the food themselves, sometimes several times a week. Additionally, while food from major distributors has been power-washed, food fresh from the farm has to be cleaned by the restaurants themselves.

Because of U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations, it is difficult for restaurants to buy meat, especially chicken, and dairy products from local farms.

However, the chefs say the extra effort is still worth it, not the least because it intrigues customers.

“We’ve found it’s made a huge difference,” said Ms. Walker, whose menus list the names of supplier farms and changes based on seasonally available ingredients.

“A lot of our guests want to know which farms certain things come from so they can go out and find them.”

Ultimately, even if customers aren’t concerned with the ethos of the farm-to-fork movement, they might find themselves hooked on local produce all the same.

“There are people who are on board with it because it’s the right thing to do and it’s better for your health,” Mr. Whittaker said. “There are also people who don’t really care where stuff comes from, but if they eat it and think it’s delicious, you can kind of get them on that level. Everybody thinks with their stomachs in the end.”

GABRIELLE HOVENDON is a former Watertown Daily Times reporter and a freelance writer.

Contact her at ghovendon@gmail.com

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At Lyric Coffee House & Bistro in Clayton, owner Kathy Danielson began to take a similarly local approach to her menus about six months ago. The Lyric now buys bread and vegetables from a variety of nearby businesses in an effort to provide more creative, tasty menu offerings, as well as support fellow small businesses.

“One of the reasons we got into this was to help the local businesses do better,” Ms. Danielson said. It keeps the economy going and helps the little guy to do better and to survive. Up in the north country, if we’re going to survive, we have to help each other be successful and buy from each other.”

Dani Baker, who operates Cross Island Farms with David Belding and sells food to several local businesses, said she has seen a definite increase in the number of people interested in the farm-to-fork movement since they opened the farm in 2006. She attributed this increased interest to growing media attention as well as to the fact that local produce is fresher and has greater nutritional value.

“I think people want to know where their food is coming from, and for good reason,” said Ms. Baker. Cross Island also sells produce to the Wellesley Island Hotel & Restaurant in Thousand Island Park, the Spicy Wench in Watertown and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Ranger School in Wanakena.

“They want to get to know the producer — me, the farmer. If they trust the producer, they feel comfortable that the product they’re eating is safe.”

Despite its many appealing attributes, though, the farm-to-fork movement does present challenges to restaurants. Buying food from local farms is almost always more expensive than buying from a major distributor, and it costs even more if the produce is certified organic.

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Morghan A. White, 10 and sister Emmah L., 5, eat ice cream last month at Morgan’s Ice House, Canton.

Ice cream stands like Morgan’s are ever-popular summer food destinations in the north country.

MELANIE KIMBLER-LAGO | NNY LIVING

A frozen following

For sweet seekers, north country soft serve a must have

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BY LEAH BULETTI

40

WITH MORE THANA HALF-DOZEN ICE cream stands in Watertown alone, it’s clear that ice cream from small mom-and-pop stands has a special place in the stomachs of north country residents. But the question looms: does soft serve or hard ice cream take the metaphorical cherry for popularity?

At The Midway on Coffeen Street, homemade hard ice cream, of which the shop has 15 varying flavors, outsells soft serve, sold only in the traditional vanilla and chocolate or swirl.

“I didn’t expect hard flavors to take off as they are,” said owner Michael P. Amell, who has operated the stand since 2010. “It was a surprise.”

All of his hard ice cream flavors are handmade in small batches in 3-quart containers to ensure maximal freshness, he said. He varies flavors by season, including a pumpkin spice flavor that he sells in the fall. He also mixes some of that flavor’s base into the soft serve machine for a soft serve variety of it. For his maple walnut flavor, he uses maple syrup from locally tapped trees and fresh walnuts.

Focusing more on the homemade hard ice cream was a conscious decision to “try to do things a little differently from everyone else,” Mr. Amell said.

“I don’t buy into the 24 flavors of soft serve,” he said. “I’m more of an ice cream purist.”

Mr. Amell thinks loyalty to a particular mom and pop stand is engrained in the north country’s culture; it’s not a culture surrounding soft serve itself per se, he says.

“People really gravitate to the stand they first went to with mom and dad or with grandma and grandpa,” he said.

Still, having a good product is key, which is why Mr. Amell said he decided to focus on homemade ice cream. Four other ice cream stores vie for ice cream enthusiasts within about a three-mile radius of his store across from the Fairgrounds.

Mr. Amell also said that he thinks ice cream—whether hard or soft—isn’t in danger of losing its foothold in the market to frozen yogurt. He offers a non-fat, no-sugar flavor, but said it isn’t tremendously popular.

“I get asked for frozen yogurt, there are those people who want frozen yogurt for

health reasons,” said Kelly Lawton, owner of Treats and Tiques Ice Cream Shop in Natural Bridge. But, she added, in a place more dominated by tourists, the demand is for ice cream in all its traditional glory.

“People want a treat for themselves,” she said.

Treats and Tiques has 30 different flavors of hard ice cream and sells vanilla and chocolate soft serve, in addition to one other rotating soft serve flavor. Ms. Lawton, who has run the business with her mother since 1992, said the sales of hard and soft is a “pretty equal” split.

She also agreed with Mr. Amell on the tradition of the stand itself.

“I think people really look for small stands—the customer service and friendly atmosphere,” she said.

She agreed that soft serve is a “regional thing.”

“My understanding from customers is that soft serve isn’t something you can find in the south,” Ms. Lawton said. “Soft serve in Northern New York is real ice cream,” as opposed to other variations made with ice and milk.

At Castle Dairy Bar & Grill in Clayton,

n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

Frozen yogurt NNY’s next big treat?

With two stores open, an ice cream alternative is born

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adio personality and former owner of the shuttered Club Renaissance Johnny M. Spezzano has opened a second location of Yo-Johnny Frozen Yogurt, a gourmet, self-serve frozen yogurt shop, at 1616 outer State St. The store comes on the heels of what he says has been great success at the first location he opened in January on Town Center Drive in the Target shopping plaza. Mr. Spezzano said he plans to open a third location on Washington Street in the plaza across from Watertown High School by mid-September.

Mr. Spezzano said the State Street location gets “incredible foot traffic” and is located in a “very residential” neighborhood. To cater to this traffic and attract families, the State Street location has a children’s play area with a slide and funky, colorful decor.

The 2,000-square foot building was unoccupied for nine years and required complete remodeling, a four-month process designed and spearheaded by Heather L. Roux, general manager of both stores.

Less than a week after the store opened, business eclipsed that at the Town Centre Drive location, he said.

“I believe that people really dug the first shop, they’re fans already, so it was natural that when we opened up the second, they came flooding in,” Mr. Spezzano said.

Mr. Spezzano also believes that frozen yogurt, ice cream’s oft-perceived healthier counterpart, is making inroads into soft serve’s popularity in the north country. A half-cup of the store’s frozen yogurt has 60 calories, no added sugar and zero fat.

“I think the north country is embracing a healthier lifestyle,” he said, a trend he wants to tap into.

“We wanted to create our own north country brand,” he said. “We want to be as beloved as Jreck Subs.”

To foster such a repertoire of healthy products, Mr. Spezzano plans to add make-your-own salad stations in both locations, which will be based around the same concept as the stores’ frozen yogurt — customers will choose from three different lettuce types and a number of toppings and dressings, which will be mixed together in a large bowl by an employee.

“The idea is that people can go in, have a salad made and be back to work or school,” Mr. Spezzano said, adding that there is no similar fast, healthy salad option now in Watertown. And to give customers the option of getting lunch, dinner and dessert all in the same place, “we thought it was a better fit than chicken wings.”

Mr. Spezzano also said that while “scared to death” about opening the Town Centre Drive location in January, it actually worked to his advantage because he got all the traffic from the closed soft serve stands and was “packed” all winter long.

“People don’t stop eating ice cream in the winter, it’s just that the shops close,” he said. “Looking back, I think it was the best thing we could’ve done. There was no other place for frozen dessert lovers to go.”

The State Street location offers 10 different flavors and 58 different dry and wet toppings, including fresh fruit. The product and toppings are sold by weight, for 50 cents an ounce. Both stores are open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

— Leah Buletti

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which sells soft serve custard in vanilla and chocolate and 24 flavors of Perry’s hard ice cream, soft vanilla custard is the biggest seller, according to owner Jill Valadez.

“People come from all over for our custard,” she said, agreeing that soft serve, whether custard or regular, is more popular than hard ice cream in the north country.

Soft serve outsells hard ice cream by a two-to-one ratio at Ben and Jilly’s Cool Craze, which opened in 2008 adjacent to School Daze on Arsenal Street in Watertown.

Ben and Jilly’s has 30 flavors of soft serve custard and 36 flavors of hard ice cream.

Owner Benjamin J. Primicias III said the store originally started out with 24 flavors of soft serve, but as “everybody around the area picked up on 24 flavors,” the store wanted to be unique and added an additional six. The store also doesn’t use a Flavor Burst machine but mixes in flavors to ensure that the flavor is “through and through, not just on the exterior of the ice cream,” Mr. Primicias said. The store also makes ice cream cakes with both hard and soft ice cream, and sells more made with soft than hard, he said.

While Mr. Primicias agreed about the importance of going to particular stands to bring back memories of youth or vacations and for a certain experience, he thinks soft serve’s popularity derives from the fact that it isn’t routine.

“Hard ice cream is just as good, people love it, but it’s available in grocery stores,” he said. “Soft ice cream is more like a parlor destination. Soft serve is a unique dessert available at ice cream stands.”

Soft serve also outsells hard ice cream by a two-to-one ratio at M & M Ice Cream Shop, which opened this season in a converted garage attached to the Freeway Grocery in Adams, according to Jessica Shultz, who runs the store.

Freeway sold ice cream for about 12 years via an indoor window, but only had about eight different flavors through a Flavor Burst machine. Demand for a wider selection was part of the reason they decided to expand, she said.

“People really enjoy flavors,” she said.

“People like variety.”

She agreed that soft serve is unique to the north country, and added that many of the tourists who patronize her store, which is located at the exit from Interstate 81, say that the north country’s quality of soft serve and inexpensive price are unique.

“In Southern states, you can’t even get soft serve, or you can but it’s not real soft serve,” Ms. Shultz said.

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JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY LIVING

Clayton F. “Muskie Ferg Jr.” Ferguson of Ferguson Fishing Charters, Clayton, with his 1951 mahogany-plank Chris-Craft, is a longtime river guide who puts on shore dinners.

A taste of the river

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Shore dinners a north country food tradition like no other

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BY NORAH MACHIA FOR MORE THAN 47 YEARS, LOCAL fishing guide Clayton F. Ferguson has been taking his classic mahogany-plank boat on the St. Lawrence River to catch just about every fish that can be caught in those waters.

Mr. Ferguson has done extensive restoration work on his 1951 Chris-Craft that he bought for $1,100 when he started his fishing guide business back in 1966.

Although he’s equipped it with some high-tech electronic fish-finding gear,

which has become standard on sport fishing boats, he still relies on his instinct and knowledge of the waters.

At age 67, Mr. Ferguson is considered one of the most senior “River Rats.”

He has earned several nicknames, including “Muskie Ferg Jr.,” after his specialty catch in the river—the muskellunge (he has won the state Muskie tournament numerous times). His father, also named Clayton, was a disabled World War II veteran who had served as a fishing guide for more than 30 years and held the senior

title of “Muskie Ferg.”

His business, Ferguson’s Fishing Charters, expanded many years ago to offer a shore dinner service for those who did not wish to hop on board the boat.

Shore dinners have been a tradition of fishing guides in the Thousand Islands since the early 1900s. Guides would take a fishing party out on the water in the morning, and then typically bring them to an island, where the guide would cook all the fish caught that morning, along with other food.

While this type of fishing trip and shore dinner combination is still offered by many fishing guides, including Mr. Ferguson, the shore dinners have also found their way to the mainland.

Mr. Ferguson decided to start offering them after he realized that many people liked the idea of eating fresh-cooked fish, but didn’t necessarily want to go out on the water to catch them.

“A lot of people want the experience of a shore dinner in their own back yard,” he said. “About 15 years ago I took it to the mainland. I brought the islands to the people.”

The menu has stayed the same, though — a traditional shore dinner that consists of the pan-fried fish. Some of the most popular are the Northern Pike, Small

Mr. Ferguson has also received recognition from outside the north country. He has been featured in National Geographic, Field and Stream and the gourmet magazine Saveur.

He cooked shore dinners for several years for the Northern New York-Fort Drum chapter of the Association of the United States Army, said Peter J. Whitmore, a board member who helped organize the annual dinners. The dinners were held as a “casual event” to bring military leadership and civilians together in a relaxing atmosphere, he said.

“When the change of command would take place at Fort Drum, we held the shore dinner to introduce the new leaders to the community,” Mr. Whitmore said. “A lot of military folks may not have seen

‘‘

A lot of people want the experience of a shore dinner in their own back yard. About 15 years ago I took it to the mainland. I brought the islands to the people.

— Clayton F. “Muskie Ferg Jr.” Ferguson, longtime St. Lawrence River fishing guide. the Thousand Islands area, and this was a great way to introduce them to area and the north country.”

Mr. Ferguson “did a great job providing us with a delicious, hearty dinner” and the ABM offered their venue at a discounted rate for the organization, he said.

Between 50 to 100 people attended the shore dinners, a combination of military, AUSA members, guests and spouses.

The museum also opened for the evening and provided boat rides along the St. Lawrence River, an ideal way for those new to the area to see the Thousand Islands up close, Mr. Whitmore said.

The dinners haven’t been held recently because of the “dynamic troop movement” at Fort Drum, but the door remains open for future dinners at a time when the military does another change of command, Mr. Whitmore said.

To learn more about Mr. Ferguson’s charter and shore dinner service, contact Ferguson Fishing Charters at 686-3100 or visit his website at www.fergusonfishingcharters.com.

NORAH MACHIA is a freelance writer who lives in Watertown. She is a 20-year veteran journalist. Contact her at norahmachia@gmail.com.

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Mouth Bass, Walleye or Perch.

The fish are served with a “fat-back” and onion sandwich appetizer, tossed salad with Thousand Island Dressing (of course), corn on the cob, salt potatoes and his famous “French toast” for dessert.

“Once people try that, they never forget how good it tastes,” Mr. Ferguson said.

There is always plenty of good coffee and conversation as well, he added.

Mr. Ferguson has put on numerous shore dinners, including one that fed as many as 270 people. He’s done private parties, wedding receptions and birthday dinners.

He has also put on shore dinners at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, including helping with one in 1992 when former state Sen. H. Douglas Barclay, Pulaski, was joined

by President George H. W. Bush’s brother, John, for a special dinner at the museum.

In 2010, he was one of three north country residents honored with a Heritage Award by the Canton-based organization Traditional Arts in Upstate New York. The award recognizes individuals, families or community groups who have mastered traditional arts or customs identified with the region and are committed to passing them on to future generations.

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LEAH BULETTI | NNY LIVING

A hard-packed dirt road snakes across a meadow on Grindstone Island, the fourth-largest in the Thoudand Islands. It has been recognized as part of the U.S. since 1822.

PRESERVING A TREASURED PLACE A UGUST / SEPT EMBER 2013 | NN Y LIVING

Grindstone Island fills many hearts on the St. Lawrence River

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BY LEAH BULETTI GRINDSTONE ISLAND IS A PLACE that seems to straddle two worlds, stuck somewhere between a simple agricultural past in which children attended a one-room schoolhouse and the sole town consisted only of a post office, store and church and a modern world where summer residents occupy well-manicured farm houses and 300 eager boaters flood Potter’s Beach on a typical summer Sunday.

Driving through Grindstone’s bucolic countryside — 15-square-miles of forests, wetlands and farms interspersed with about 130 homesteads — on an ATV, the contrast is apparent, history peeking out

from every orifice. The island has a private air strip, but no cars, and hard-packed, well-maintained dirt roads alternate with winding trails in various states of overgrown. But lining the road that leads up from the island’s only public dock are about 15 rusting trucks and cars, slowly becoming part of the landscape, used by some in colder times when the St. Lawrence River freezes enough make the 1.27 miles to Clayton passable.

A private vineyard owned by the Purcell family on the property of an obscured house is only a short distance from the white clapboard lower schoolhouse, closed since the 1960s, an antique truck with Florida license plates parked on the neatly

mowed lawn. On a bluff overlooking the river, Island-native Sylvia AndersonShoultes now spends summers with her son, the island’s mechanic, in a simple farmhouse with a newly renovated barn, the well-manicured lawn stretching to the river in the sun-drenched distance.

Barns, some owned by the Thousand Islands Land Trust and resplendent in their deep red hue against the seemingly limitless blue sky, and some slipping into disrepair, their necessary repairs outside anyone’s budget, dot the undeveloped landscape.

Some farmhouses, while showing their age only on close inspection — a back window falling in, a door shut a little too firmly — look well-kept, possibly only in need of

TODD SOULES | NNY LIVING

at the center of the island.

“Necessarily almost every farm on the island was represented there in each morning’s queue of wagons. It was one of the primary spots where news and views as well as dairy products were exchanged,” according to Mr. Norcom’s manuscripts.

Ms. Anderson-Shoultes, who grew up on what is now Flynn Bay Farm on the southwestern side of the island, said that Grindstone Island cheese was “known all over” and shipped to hotels as far away as New York City and Chicago. Her grandparents were Finnish immigrants and bought a dairy cattle farm on the island in the 1930s.

She recalled traveling first by horse and wagon and later by tractor to the factory and waiting in line for the cheese maker to test the milk for the correct amount of butter fat and absence of bacteria. Of course, there was a treat for the children who road along — cheese curd.

“You could hear that cheese squeak between your teeth,” Ms. Anderson-Shoultes recalled. “That’s the mark of good cheese curd.”

Before electricity arrived on Grindstone in 1955, the factory was closed when regulations prohibited cheese-making with unpasteurized milk.

But its days of productivity led to construction of the Upper School in 1885.

The Lower School, located up the island near Rusho Bay and built in 1840, and the Upper School, today the Grindstone Island Research and Heritage Center, still stand.

The Upper School was the last operating one-room schoolhouse in the state, not clos-

ing its doors until 1989.

The quarries and factory also led to a still-operational church and a general store, built in 1888, which housed the post office and sold cigarettes, candy, soft drinks, canned goods and fresh bread that came with the mail from Clayton. After the store closed mid-century, the post office was shuttled around to various homes before permanently closing in 1976.

Today, Brian C. Parker has a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail by boat to Grindstone year-round, and to Murray Isle, Round and Grenell islands from mid-June to mid-September. The old store, called Dodge Hall, is still used for dances and social events and forms the backbone of the island’s social community.

With the quarries, factory, store, schools and post office relocated to mere relics of days gone by, the island’s future can seem like it’s hanging in a somewhat tenuous balance.

Mr. Norcom’s manuscripts leave off on a note of profound nostalgia for the island’s heyday.

“Even the church is no longer a preserver of the old life of the island, however,” he writes. “It lives on because it has accepted the island’s new populations and expresses their life and interests. The summer people do not know the old social world of the island and they cannot be its saviors.”

The Thousand Islands Land Trust protects about 39 percent of the Island. The 885 protected acres are spread over: Potter’s Beach (20 acres, the largest naturally occurring sand beach on the American side of the Thousand Islands), Potter’s Forest

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another coat of white paint, but have been abandoned by the farmers and quarrymen who once formed the backbone of a vibrant island economy. The cheese factory, shuttered in the 1950s and now owned by the bank, is boarded up and slipping into decay, a no-trespassing sign prominently affixed to the front, the days when milk was processed in two immense vats long past.

Grindstone’s first residents — Algonquin Indians who came in the 1600s — were defeated by the Iroquois around 1660. The Senecas controlled the island in the 1700s, selling lumber to the English, which led to the Grindstone Island War — a conflict that arose because of the American militia’s attempt to stop timber sales. The island was settled in the early 1800s by lumbermen who sold logs in Montreal or Quebec City. The first settler is thought to have been Amariel Howe, on the east side of the island near Thurso Bay in 1802.

The island became private land when the international boundary line was drawn through the Thousand Islands in 1822, making it U.S. property; the first patent of sale was in 1823 to Elisha Camp of Sackets Harbor.

Grindstone Island was called Gore Island in an 1816 survey, after Sir Francis Gore, who first served in the British Army and became lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1806, but it was known locally and predominantly as Grindstone before and after the survey, according to Susan W. Smith, who published a book titled The First Summer People: The Thousand Islands 1650-1910.

Red granite quarrying began on the island in the late 1870s when Robert Forsyth of Thurso, Scotland, started quarrying the granite to use in his cemetery monument works in Montreal, where he had settled, Ms. Smith said.

Although the days of productive quarrying were short lived — a strike closed the quarries only about 16 years later — they employed nearly 250 men and “had prodigious effect on the island landscape: the great landfills, the immense scars cut into the hillsides around Thurso,” according to a book titled Grindstone: An Island World Remembered, based on the manuscripts of lifelong island summer resident Stanley Norcom, and published in 1993.

Quarrying laid the groundwork for future economic development; Kate Kelly, wife of quarryman David Black, became the first post-mistress in Thurso in 1886.

Around the same time that the quarries shuttered, Grindstone’s cheese factory was built and became its main economic and social locus. For nearly half a century, 33 farmers brought their milk each morning to the factory, located

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46

Preserve (200 acres), MidRiver Farm Prebeen conserved for present and future because they thought that in three years, serve (165 acres), Douglas Howard-Smith generations,” Mr. Tibbles said. “Grindthey “would know every rock.”

Preserve (130 acres), Rusho Farm Preserve stone Island represents a unique balance She recalled the first night they stayed (140 acres), Delaney Farm Preserve (80), between development and land conservaovernight on the island in tents with Heineman Forest Preserve (100 acres) tion and historic preservation.” no electricity or water. In the morning, and Grindstone Nature Trail (50 acres).

Mr. Deedy said that there have only been she said, a neighbor and native islander TILT acts as steward of another 900 acres three or four non-farm transfers on the isbrought over hot water and coffee — of wetlands, forest and grasslands on land in the past four years, in part because exemplifying the spirit of all the island’s privately held property through conserva- not much is for sale, and in part because residents, whom she called “family.” tion easements.

“The people on this The forest and island might fight or grassland preserves disagree, but if you’re in are mowed and kept as trouble, there’s no queshabitats, including the tion they’d come to help Heineman Songbird you,” she said. “That’s Forest on the northern the kind of people they point of the island for are.” neo-tropical migratory Mr. Norcom’s manusongbirds from central scripts echo the idea of and South America. a sort of unspoken bond The thousands of birds webbing through the that come include islanders’ hardy blood: meadowlarks, sand “No one lorded over pipers, gold finches, Grindstone Island. Not thistles, yellow wareven a deputy sheriff blers and bobolinks, lived there. The islandsaid Ken Deedy, TILT ers lived by their own trustee and longtime internal law.” summer resident of the Mrs. Muckley and island who seems to her husband spent know its every crevice several years living in and story. Mr. Deedy tents inside the home’s has spearheaded many living room when they of TILT’s conservation came up for weekends efforts on the island. or weeks at a time to At the wetland premaintain the farm as serve at Delany Bay, a they gutted the house.

LEAH BULETTI | NNY LIVING It wasn’t until last year dam keeps water in the Grindstone Island United Methodist Church held its first services in the summer of 1890 after the Rev. that the house even grassland to preserve Alexander Shorts built the church from the remains of an unused church he carried from Hill Island. the habitat and SUNY had a bathroom. The College of Environhouse now has heat what is doesn’t sell quickly; two waterfront and water inside and Mrs. Muckley mental Science and Forestry has installed houses sold this year, but were on the said she comes to the island as often as a fish ladder to study and spawn fish. market for about five years. He believes possible, on weekends or when she can TILT has been working with the U.S. Fish Grindstone will always have a population get time off, up until it’s no longer pass& Wildlife Service to reclaim some of the of summer residents, but added that island able to get to the island by barge. Her grassland habitats at the Howard-Smith living is not suited to everyone. husband travels to the island at least and Rusho preserves, which were once Summer resident Sally Boss, whose anevery two weeks in the winter, using an farmland. Along with the state Office of cestors owned the Potters Beach property airboat, to maintain the farm.

Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservasold to TILT, has a summer cottage near Their farm is one of only four active tion, TILT manages the Grindstone Island the point facing Gananoque and has been beef farms on the island today. Only Nature Trail, which connects Canoe Point coming to the island her whole life. about eight people still live on the isand Picnic Point State Parks at the foot of “Potters Beach was always part of my land year-round, including 90-year-old the Island. family,” she said. “I said to my husband, Madgil Brown.

TILT Executive Director Jake R. Tibbles ‘don’t take me from the St. Lawrence Ms. Anderson-Shoultes, who attended said the trust plans to conserve additional River, it’s in my blood,’ and he never has.” the one-room schoolhouse from first to land on the island and is working with For summer residents, too, the travails of seventh grade before traveling to ClaySUNY ESF using Geographic Informaisland life of old aren’t far away. Pennsylton for school, walked to school or the tion System analysis to develop a strategic vania residents Jonnie Muckley and Gary dock regardless of winter conditions and conservation plan. That analysis includes King bought 170 acres on the island 28 recounts harrowing stories of whiteouts factors like soils, endangered species, weten route. Without refrigeration until the years ago for a cattle farm. Mrs. Muckley lands, forest lands, rare plants, hydrology, late 1950s, families kept everything in ice demographics and development pressures. said that she and her husband loved the houses with ice brought by horse-drawn area and were looking at buying on vari “The cultural, historical, ecological and sleighs in the winter that lasted all summer ous smaller islands but decided against it agricultural character of the island has

and produced nearly all of their own food.

Though Ms. Anderson-Shoultes left the island to attend college in Syracuse and now only spends summers on Grindstone, she struggles to articulate the depth of meaning in her connection to the island.

She believes people will always live on the island and said most islanders “want the island to stay the way it is,” without a bridge or other development. Other than more modern conveniences, people live “about the same” today as they once did, she said, and could easily live without electricity if need be.

“We take care of our own,” she said.

“It’s peaceful and quiet.”

And the island is intrinsically rejuvenating. When battling breast cancer in 1994, she said she begged to return to toe island during a break in chemotherapy treatments. Within a week, she felt like her strength had doubled and like her energy was returning, she said.

“When I’m here, I feel so much better,” she said. “You have a purpose here. I look outside every morning and say ‘I’m glad I’m alive, this is so beautiful.’”

Being on the island also keeps her in motion, mowing the lawn, appreciating the outdoors and running her gift shop,

Acorn Studios, where she sells clothing embroidered with a Grindstone Island logo and various other fabric items like blankets and handbags.

“Here there’s a purpose,” she repeated, adding that many of the older women who have lived on the island, including her mother, who stayed “up until almost her last breath” at 82, echoed a similar sentiment.

“If they couldn’t come to the island, they would rather die,” Ms. AndersonShoultes said. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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FOOD

Master the art of blanching for beautiful, crisp vegetables n Blanched green beans perfect addition to summer quinoa salad

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BY BOO WELLS

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I HAVE A LENGTHY LIST OF THINGS I HAVE NO IDEA how to do: plaster, operate a circular saw, change the oil in my car, swim the butterfly stroke, speak French, line dance, the list goes on. The list of things that I know how to do well is shorter, and consists of things mostly done in the kitchen.

I know how to blanch, chop, puree, chiffenade and cure; devein, coddle, smoke and sauté, all just cool words for cooking.

I can also teach people how to cook and, of all things I do best, this is my favorite. There is something wonderful about teaching a person a new skill—it is giving them a gift.

Several years ago, I overheard one of my culinary students at Jefferson Community College say something to another student that has stuck with me ever since. It was the end of the semester and the inexperienced group of first year students had been transformed into a group of skilled and confident young cooks. They had all successfully completed their final exam and amongst the jubilation I heard a young man say, “Isn’t it cool that now we know how to cook real food? We don’t have to live on frozen lasagna and Kraft macaroni and cheese anymore.”

Sharing my culinary skills was a gift of knowledge that helped give these young adults a sense of self-confidence and freedom from the microwave. I have witnessed similar transformations in my cooking classes at The Farm House Kitchen in Sackets Harbor. Students come into class a little nervous and full of selfdoubt. I have had a person tell me after class that they had been on the verge of putting their class fee on the table and slipping out the side door unnoticed. Just like the JCC students, Farm

House Kitchen students walk a little taller with their new talents at the end of class.

For my first in a series of columns of cooking techniques, I chose blanching. Briefly boiled and then plunged into a bowl filled with water and ice cubes (an ice bath), blanched vegetables are beautiful, bright, healthy, tender-crisp, flavorful and irresistible. And there’s no better time of year than now to make them when farm stands are bursting with gorgeous fresh vegetables.

I like to have a baggie of blanched green beans in the car with me when I do errands, especially if it is around lunchtime when the urge to grab a quick snack at a drive-thru window is highest. Blanched vegetables are wonderful on an hors d’oeuvres tray, in a salad, as a quick snack or in a stir-fry. Try mixing some blanched vegetables into a grain salad such as rice, couscous or quinoa, or combining them with a tender counterpart like cherry tomatoes or a creamy avocado.

Blanching is a basic technique every cook should master. Consider blanching fresh green beans, asparagus, carrots or beets cut into a small dice, a head of broccoli or cauliflower. Here’s how: Have a large bowl of ice water, a slotted spoon and a plate lined with a cloth or paper towel ready. Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Cut them into uniform pieces to ensure even cooking.

Just before blanching, add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the boiling water. Salt helps to maintain color and improve the flavor of vegetables.

Add the vegetables to the pot in small batches so that the water continues to boil. If blanching more than one type of vegetable, blanch each one separately. Blanch lighter colored ones first, as darker colored ones will tinge the water and subsequent vegetables.

After about 30 seconds, test for readiness. Remove one, dip it into the bowl of ice water and taste. Taste every 30 to 60 seconds until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Most vegetables take two to five minutes. They should still have a little crunch, as this is blanching not boiling.

When the vegetables are done, quickly remove them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice bath to stop the cooking process. This is called “shocking.”

When the vegetables are completely cool, remove them from the ice bath and drain on the towel-lined plate.

Enjoy immediately or save for later.

BOO WELLS is chef and owner of the Farm House Kitchen, a catering company and cooking school in Sackets Harbor. Contact her at sacketsfarm housekitchen@gmail.com or visit www.thefarmhousekitchen.com.

Summer quinoa salad with blanched green beans INGREDIENTS 1½ cups quinoa 3 cups water Kosher salt ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil; more to taste 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; more to taste Garnish: ½ cup finely chopped fresh basil 1½ cups diced tomato 1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half 1 cup diced cucumber (try to keep the size of the diced tomato and cucumber the same) Large handful of fresh green beans, blanched INSTRUCTIONS Rinse the quinoa well in a bowl of cool water and drain. Bring the quinoa, ½ teaspoon salt and 3 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is translucent and tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Immediately fluff the quinoa with a fork and turn out onto a baking sheet to cool.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and oil and whisk to emulsify. Stir in the basil. Dress the salad with this vinaigrette and adjust the seasoning to your taste. Add more dressing to taste.

When cool, fluff the quinoa again and transfer to a large bowl. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, green beans, dressing and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Toss well. Cover and refrigerate to let the flavors mingle, at least two hours or overnight.

JUSTIN SORENSEN PHOTOS | NNY LIVING

Top right, summer quinoa salad contains fresh cherry tomatoes, diced cucumbers and blanched green beans. Right, blanching vegetables is a technique that involves briefly boiling and then plunging vegetables into an ice bath to make them tender-crisp and flavorful.

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DRINK

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY LIVING

Vodka, rum, peach schnapps, orange, pineapple, and cranberry juice make The Shoalfinder, a summer drink at the Channelside Restaurant in Clayton.

Pour a taste of summer North country mixologists offer seasonal favorites with a kick A UGUST / SEPT EMBER 2013 | NN Y LIVING

BY LEAH BULETTI

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SUMMERMIGHTBEWINDINGDOWN, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t time left to sample some of the north country’s favorite seasonal beverages. From the ABomb to the Thousand Islands Iced Tea, we bring you Northern New York’s signature drinks of summer 2013.

RESTAURANT: Aubrey’s Inn WHERE: 126 S. James St., Cape Vincent DRINK: Thousand Islands Iced Tea RECIPE: Gin and vodka from the Clayton Distillery, triple sec, sour mix, splash of soda and a lemon wedge “to make it look like a nice refreshing iced tea,” says owner Mike Chavoustie. The

drink “uses all the same ingredients as a normal Long Island Iced Tea,” but is uniquely targeted to those who love the 1000 Islands, he said.

THE BACKSTORY: Aubrey’s Inn made the Thousand Islands Iced Tea for the first time for Cape Vincent’s French Festival this July, where it “went over quite well,” Mr. Chavoustie said. He hopes to soon be able to make the drink completely with alcohol made at the Clayton Distillery, which does not yet have a license to sell its moonshine, according to Mr. Chavoustie.

Clayton Distillery started vodka production at a new 2,560-square-foot facility in February, fermenting corn, rye, wheat and oats from owner Michael L. Aubertine’s nearby family farm in Cape Vincent.

As the Inn is located just one block from the ferry, Mr. Chavoustie said he gets a lot of Canadian traffic. While the Thousand Islands Iced Tea isn’t targeted to anyone in particular, tourists might be more attuned to the drink’s namesake and therefore

more eager to try it, he believes. He has also created a special collectable cup for the beverage — a reusable, 20-ounce glass with the Clayton Distillery’s logo printed on one side and Aubrey Inn’s logo on the other.

“We’re hoping to help cross promote the distillery,” he said.

The Inn also prides itself on its selection of more than 80 types of imported beer, he said. n

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RESTAURANT: Channelside and Foxy’s restaurants WHERE: 506 Riverside Drive, Clayton; 18187 Reed Point Road, Fishers Landing DRINK: Shoalfinder RECIPE: Vodka, rum, peach schnapps, orange juice, pineapple juice and cranberry juice

THE BACKSTORY: Channelside owner Peter Beattie said that the Shoalfinder “came with” Foxy’s Restaurant in Fischers Landing and that Foxy’s has been serving the bar’s nearly ubiquitous drink for at least 10 years.

“From everyone and everything I know, I’ve heard that it was invented here,” Mr. Beattie said.

Neither Mr. Beattie nor Paul Picunas, a bartender at Foxy’s and Channelside, could pinpoint the exact origins of the drink, though, speculating that its inventor likely left the restaurant on a boat and “hit one of the thousands of shoals in the region,” Mr. Beattie said. The Shoalfinder is Channelside’s most popular summer drink and that it is “popular with anyone who tries it, both locals and tourists.

Mr. Picunas described it as a strong drink perfect for a hot summer day.

“There are lots of people that strictly drink [the Shoalfinder] when they come to the river,” Mr. Picunas said. n

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RESTAURANT: The Paddock Club WHERE: Paddock Arcade, Watertown DRINK: Key Lime martini RECIPE: Vanilla vodka, sour mix, fresh lime juice, touch of crème, rim glass with graham cracker crumbs THE BACKSTORY: Paddock Club owner Robert Dalton described the Key Lime martini, one of 80 different unique varieties at the bar, as a longtime summer staple.

Mr. Dalton’s repertoire of summer drinks also includes a watermelon mojito, a blueberry mojito, summer sangria made with fresh fruit and a popsicle tini. Mojitos, which are usually made with light Bacardi, are very popular in the summer, he said. The Paddock Club sells summery flavors of Bacardi, including orange, coconut, blue raspberry, watermelon and blueberry.

His summer sangria, made with Moscato wine, peach schnapps, ice, club soda and fresh fruit, is also popular.

Mr. Dalton said that the club tries to come up with its own creative drink recipes and tailors them to the season, in the fall making apple cider and pumpkin spice cocktails and 10 different holiday cocktails and martinis for the winter season. n

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WHERE: 214 ½ West Main St., Sackets Harbor DRINK 1: Raspberry Ginger Splash RECIPE: Fresh ginger, fresh raspberries, 1½ oz. of Hendricks Gin, ice, soda water, lime garnish DRINK 2: The Go-To RECIPE: Fresh mint and cucumber muddled, dash of simple syrup, 1½ oz. Stoli Vodka, ice, St. Germain ElderFlower Liqueur Floater, soda water, cucumber slice garnish. Can substitute vodka with house-infused cucumber gin.

THE BACKSTORY: Bar manager Brent Cramer said both drinks, which have been the restaurant’s two most popular this summer, are new this summer. The Hops Spot opened in June 2011 and focuses on local, organic food and wine and American craft beer. For more information, visit www.thehopsspot.com. n

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RESTAURANT: Cavallario’s Top of the Bay WHERE: 1 James St., Alexandria Bay DRINK 1: A-Bomb RECIPE: Top of the Bay is widely known as the “Home of the A-Bomb,” but the recipe is kept top secret, even to employees, according to Adrienne Cavallario, whose husband owns the restaurant and bar. All she would reveal is that the famed drink is made with dark and flavored rums; “everything else is kept a secret.” The mystique behind the drink, she added, is key to its popularity.

THE BACKSTORY: According to Mrs. Cavallario, the A-Bomb was invented about nine years ago when Top of the Bay opened. With limited ingredients at their disposal, bar tenders creatively “made a rum concoction.”

“It just caught on and we named it,” Mrs. Cavallario said. “People come from all over for it, whether they’re 23 or 83.”

Top of the Bay also sells merchandise like cups, stickers and lip balm to accompany the drink.

“It’s become a really popular cult classic,” she said.

DRINK 2: Fresh mojito RECIPE: Fresh limes, fresh organic mint, agave syrup (natural form of sweetener used instead of simple syrup), water, Bacardi Limon, lime and mint garnish THE BACKSTORY: After the A-Bomb, Mrs. Cavallario said Top of the Bay’s mojitos and Bloody Mary’s are the most popular drinks. Top of the Bay doesn’t use mixes for any of its drinks.

“It might take 60 seconds longer to make, but it’s worth it so that everything is fresh,” she said.

Top of the Bay also prides itself on a varying selection of craft beers, which Mrs. Cavallario said the bar switches out when kegs empty so that return customers always have something new to try. Top of the Bay has about five varieties available at a time, and places a premium on using craft brews from smaller, New York breweries, she said. n LEAH BULETTI is a staff writer for NNY magazines. Contact her at 661-2381 or lbuletti@wdt.net.

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HISTORY

St. John the Evangelist Church in the Village of LaFargeville has an open air Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes. North country priest Arthur J. Viau, once a pastor at the church, is said to have been cured of tuberculosis of the bone in 1912 by praying to Our Lady of Lourdes for 18 days; the Shrine once drew thousands hoping for similar cures. Mass is still held inside the church weekly.

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES ARCHIVES

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A shrine with healing power

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North country priest built famed shrine at LaFargeville church

BY LENKA WALLDROFF IN 1858A YOUNG PEASANT GIRL IN Lourdes, France named Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have received visions of the Virgin Mary. Near the bank of the Gave de Pau River stood a naturally occurring shallow cave, or grotto, in which the apparitions took place. As word of the apparitions spread, the grotto, which was transformed into a shrine that

would eventually be called Our Lady of Lourdes, began to receive pilgrims from surrounding villages.

The number of visitors grew steadily over the years to become what is now one of the most important pilgrimage sites for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. Millions of people visit the site every year in search of physical healing and spiritual renewal that is said to be imparted by drinking or bathing in the

water of the Lourdes Spring.

An interesting piece of religious history to be sure but what does a pilgrimage site in France have to do with the north country?

A north country priest named Arthur J. Viau was cured of tuberculosis of the bone in 1912. He attributed his recovery to Our Lady of Lourdes, to whom he prayed a double novena for 18 days, one day for each apparition of the Virgin

LENKA P. WALLDROFF is former curator of collections for the Jefferson County Historical Museum.

She is a former museum specialist and conservator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She lives in Jefferson County with her husband and daughter. Her column appears in every issue.

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Mary at Lourdes.

In 1932, Father Viau became pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in the Village of LaFargeville located in the Town of Orleans in Jefferson County.

Two years later, in 1934, with the support of St. John’s parishioners, work began on an open air Shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes.

The layout of the shrine imitates a rosary, with low limestone walls representing the rosary chain and large round stones set in the walls as the beads of the rosary. At the closure of the rosary is a sculpture of an open book inscribed with the words: “I Am the Immaculate Conception”—the words the apparition of the Virgin used to introduce herself to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes in 1858.

In 1937, a stone slab brought from a neighboring farm was added as an altar so that mass could be celebrated there; soon after a statue of the Virgin Mary, made from Italian marble, was also installed.

Finally a small stone that Father Viau brought back from his pilgrimage to Lourdes was ensconced in the wall of the grotto itself.

In June 1940, the Shrine was opened to the public. On Aug. 15, 1940—the feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary—10 priests from surrounding parishes blessed the site with an estimated 1,500 people in attendance.

Word soon began to spread of the Shrine and Father Viau’s healing ministry, drawing busloads of people hoping to be healed or cured. During the summer of 1940 alone, it is estimated that over 10,000 people visited the Shrine.

During the 1990s, St. John’s parish undertook a project to restore the Shrine to its original beauty. Stones from Apparition Hill in Medjugorje, another holy site in former Yugoslavia where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to six children in 1981, were added at the base of the altar.

Mass at St. John’s, now part of St. Mary’s parish in Clayton, is still held there once a week, weather permitting.

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MY NNY

‘Life-sized lighthouse’

BY REBECCA WALKER / FELTS MILLS

MEDIUM: Digital photograph CAMERA: Nikon D90, ISO 250, f/18, 1/500, 18mm, no flash DATE: July 30, 2013

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PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES: “I took this at Pillar Point one evening a few weeks ago. The

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way the light was hitting the little lighthouse and the exposure I used almost makes it appear as a distant shot of a full-sized lighthouse.”

Give us your best image. If you have captured a snippet of NNY through your lens or on canvas, email it to us at nnyliving@wdt.net.

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260 Washington St. Watertown, NY 13601 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED