Saturday, October 21, 2017

Local Saturday - Meet the Cows

These pictures were taken two Saturdays ago at a Tioga Farm/Art Trail open house at Engelbert Farms near Nichols, New York.

As far as they know, this farm is the oldest organic certified dairy in the United States.The land has been in possession of this family for well over 100 years.
Here are some of their "girls". The barn they are in, by the way, is a shelter.  The cows have free access to the outdoors. 
A farmer feeds a cow.

The milking parlor, which is antiquated, but fulfills the needs of the farm.

As I spoke with one of the family, and met some more family members, it became obvious just how hard these farmers work. Dairy farming is quite labor intensive, apart from the fact that cows must be milked twice a day, each and every day.  

Engelbert makes, among other products, various delicious organic cheese products.  They are a bit expensive, but we also buy their cheese from time to time.  If you ever wonder why these products are expensive, you should meet, and talk with, a small farmer.

As we left, the family member giving us the tour said "Feel free to ask questions anytime!"

It is a wonderful thing to meet and talk to a food producer, to see where your food really comes from, and how hard these farmers work to put food on your table.  And if Dutch Hills Creamery (whom I blogged about last Saturday) can not get back into operation after a disastrous fire (I've been told informally they will not try to make a comeback), our community will be poorer for that.

Support a local farmer today!

Day 21 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

22 comments:

  1. You are right no one works harder than farmers. My brother in law farms in Illinois and I enjoy the fruits of his efforts.

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    1. You are fortunate. No farmers in my family. Enjoy!

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  2. Replies
    1. I have still more pictures. Maybe next week....

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  3. What a cool thing to see. I remember spending time on English farms growing up.

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    1. That was cool. The only farming I saw was at an exhibit in the Bronx Zoo. Hmm, perhaps a blog post is in order...

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  4. Great pics. I agree that dairy farming is very hard. Those cows need milked on a schedule and they don't know anything about weekends or holidays.

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  5. Farmers work very hard and a lot of times it is without any recognition. I hate hearing the other one may not come back but I can understand why.

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    1. As of yesterday, a final decision has not been made by the other farm's owners (Dutch Hill Dairy) but others I have spoken to say they won't be coming back.

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  6. I love visiting our local farms here. We have many organic farmers, but so far most I know of produce plants, not meat or dairy products. I discover most of these small farms through the local farmers markets.

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    1. And so many of those farmers love speaking to their customers. It makes visiting the farmers markets so rewarding.

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  7. Replies
    1. Yes, it is. Thinking about posting more of my pictures next Saturday.

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  8. WOW, this brought back memories! My aunt and uncle had a large dairy farm in Cambridge NY and when I was young, my parents, grandparents and us kids would go up almost every weekend. I had fun milking the cows, no machinery back then and we would drink the milk right from the cow!

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    1. I haven't been to the Glens Falls area in years. It sounds like a treasured memory from your childhood. I would have loved something like that, too.

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    1. You are right - a lazy farmer wouldn't last long.

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  10. I totally agree! My cousin's wife's parents used to be dairy farmers and they worked very hard. Now I observe my nieces and how much they love farm animals. My nieces go to the Albion fairgrounds and the goats, cows, sheep and pigs are their favorite animals to see. Thank you for posting this interesting article, Alana!
    Amy

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    1. I may be posting some more from that farm next Saturday, Amy. Sounds like my readers enjoyed the visit!

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  11. After pouring your life into a healthy, sustainable farm that serves the community, only to have it destroyed in a fire... My heart breaks for them. Brenda

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  12. Oh yes I agree with you (and so sad about the fire). I went on a Farm Tour in 10/14 that focused on organic farming and it definitely gave me an important perspective I had lacked.

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