BROCKPORT…Fountain of Youth Organics, a new health food store in the village of Brockport will hold a grand opening celebration for Saturday, March 5 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Product samples, give-aways, and a basket raffle are planned for the day. SUNY Brockport’s radio station, WBSU will be broadcasting a live remote from the store at 46 Main Street, Brockport.

Visitors can also sign up to become a “FoYO Member” and receive $15.00 off the usual sign-up fee. Members can take advantage of members-only sales events, receive a quarterly newsletter, recipe-of-the-month, and will also get a free FoYO t-shirt and biodegradable jute FoYO shopping bag.

Fountain of Youth Organics focuses on unique gluten- and allergen-free products, organic dairy, and a full line of vitamins and supplements. Patty Hawley, co-owner of FoYO along with her husband Ted says, “We work hard to seek out small, independent labels. Many of our products come from local, organic sources with an eye toward originality. We carry a vegan, gluten free chocolate sauce that hails from Ithaca, 100% grass-fed yogurt from Maple Hill Creamery, and a brand new Kombucha from BAO Organics, born in Brooklyn and available - until recently - in greater metropolitan New York exclusively.”

Hawley continues, “Customers will have the opportunity to sample various local foods like Whole in the Wall Pesto (Ithaca, NY); BAO Kombucha; Lively Run goat cheese (Finger Lakes), and break-the-mold-delicious gluten-free cookies from WOW Baking Co. Organic, fair-trade coffee and cocoa will also be available to sample.”

While the Hawley’s have recently opened the Brockport store, they are no strangers to business. Together they owned and operated Personal Storage Systems, the Bank Street Road business was the first self-storage facility in Genesee County (which they later sold in 2006). Mr. Hawley currently owns Genesee Data Management, a record retention and shredding service in Batavia. “We’re passionate about health, wellness, and fitness; we knew that we wanted to open a health food store. The question was ‘where?’,” according to Ted.

A few months of research led the couple to Brockport where they purchased a building in the historic district on Main Street. After extensive exterior and interior restoration, the couple opened February 8. “We’re very pleased with the response so far and look forward to serving the community well into the future.” For more information about Fountain of Youth Organics contact 585.637.3696 or email patty@foyorganics.com.

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Normal 0 Local cooks and “wanna-be Iron Chefs” will be able to test their culinary chops with a new cookbook from the Genesee Country Farmers’ Market. Field Notes: Recipes from the Genesee Country Farmers’ Market contains nearly 200 recipes contributed by market vendors and customers. It is available at the market every Tuesday and Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. through the end of October.

Work on this cookbook began last summer when 2010 market manager Patty Hawley pitched the idea of a cookbook that focuses on local ingredients to the farmers and vendors at the market. “Customers are often eager to try new fruits and vegetables but are at a loss as to how to prepare them once they get them home,” Hawley said. “Farmers and vendors are the best source of information for food preparation because they’re so knowledgeable about their produce.”

Likewise, many customers would approach Hawley with information on a particular item. “Our customers were anxious to talk about their own personal recipes, some of them handed down through the generations, so the next logical step was to gather all of this information into a usable format,” Hawley added.

A call for customer recipes was advertised in various media outlets and vendors provided many of their own recipes as well. After months of collecting submissions the work of compiling them into a printer-friendly format began. “I was still receiving recipes sent in by the community through early May,” said Hawley, even though the deadline was March 1.

“We were fortunate to have secured assistance from Upstate Farms and Bison Foods, who underwrote the production costs of our cookbook,” Hawley said. The Daily News also donated the photos that appear throughout the book, taken by Rocco Laurienzo at last summer’s market.

Field Notes is a 248-page homage to the “locavore” movement – a growing trend that urges people to eat healthy and keep food dollars in the community by purchasing food locally, fresh, and in season. “Almost all of the recipes include ingredients that are grown here,” according to Sharon Brent from Schwab Farms. “This is a four season cookbook; menus can be planned throughout the year using fresh, local ingredients at their peak.” Most cooks will be able to easily recreate the recipes in Field Notes. “Because they are time-tested by real people and not in a test kitchen, the recipes tend to be quick and easy, even for a novice cook,” Hawley explained.

Field Notes: Recipes from the Genesee Country Farmers’ Market is available now. A launch party is planned for Friday, July 30 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.; free samples will be available and representatives from the Niagara Wine Trail will provide wine pairings for each dish. Cost of the cookbook is $10 and all sales go to the Genesee Country Farmers’ Market Association. 

Kim Argenta of Art Ah La Carte is pleased to announce the 2nd anniversary of her studio. "We're hosting our 2nd Birthday party at our NEW studio at 56 Harvester Ave., Batavia on the February 27th. The theme is Junk Art and we will be making a Pig out of "junk" - or "found objects". The kids will have cake and snacks and walk away with a little Pig that they can hang from the ceiling in their bedroom."

"We are enjoying continued success in our Drawing classes with my resident Artist Robert Garland. He is so talented! 3D classes are filling up. Watercolor and Acrylic classes are booming."

NEW CLASSES

THE TRAVELING CANVAS- ( Like the traveling pants) Artists take home the canvas for a week and in an area of the canvas create their own art style. This will be hung in the Art Center when complete.

PLASTER CARVING- Learn how to use artist carving tools to create a 3D sculpture 2 evening workshop Feb. 25th and March 4th @ 6-7:30 cost is $20

ATC-ARTIST TRADING CARDS- Create your own trading card to trade with other artist around the world. Feb.23rd 6-7:30 cost is $10

DRAWING CLASS- For beginners and advanced, weekdays and Saturdays. Cost $10 1hr

ART FOR KIDS- Art program for kids. Weekdays and Saturdays, Cost $10 1hr

WATCH FOR OUR OPEN HOUSE THIS SPRING!!!!!!!!!!

For more information call 585.245.1655 or visit www.artalc.vpweb.com 

Do these gray days leave you craving a little color? Well chase away the winter doldrums this Friday at The Artisan Center!

Kim Argenta, owner of Art Ah La Carte is offering an acrylic painting class at 6:30 p.m. at the site of the newly established Artisan Center at 56 Harvester Avenue in Batavia. The four-week workshop is $12 per class and can accommodate both beginners as well as more advanced painters.

Kim says, “I spend time with everyone so I can work at their level.” Art Ah La Carte is located on the first floor, street-side level next to Hot Shots Café & Bistro. Cost of the workshop includes supplies.

Other classes offered this month at Art Ah La Carte include:

ALTERED TINS - A FUN WAY TO RECYCLE OLD TIN BOXES INTO KEEPSAKES FOR YOUR SMALL TREASURES: Tuesday, January12TH and 19TH @ 6:30 PM TO 7:30 PM/ 2 week class; cost is $20. (Suitable for teens and adults)

ACRYLIC PAINTING- Beginners or more experienced invited to attend. Cost is $12 per class. Fridays, starting January 15th running 4weeks @ 6:30pm class runs 1hour.

WATERCOLOR- Wednesday, January 13th & January 27th @ 6:30 pm-8pm. Cost is $10. For beginners or more advanced.

PRIVATE PARTIES: Private parties for adults and children. Also badge earning for 4H and Scouts. Or plan a girl’s night out at your place or mine!

Reservations are required; for additional information, including details about hosting special events or birthday parties, contact Kim Argenta at 585.245.1655 or visit artalc.vpweb.com

For more information about The Artisan Center, contact Patricia Hawley at phawley@mancusogroup.com or by calling 585.343.3329

Back in the day, everyone was a locavore. America was an agrarian society so like it or

not, you ate what you grew. Who could have guessed that the Industrial Revolution would have delivered us to where we are now: wallowing in an anonymous, over-processed, “Big Brother” food industry. Do you want fries with that? Still, deep in the cockles of our comfort food-deprived hearts, it seems that everyone has a home-baked memory wrapped in pastry.

If your mother didn’t bake pies then your grandmother probably did. The art of pie baking – and pie pastry in particular – is deeply ingrained in our cultural vernacular. Pies have been around for thousands of years dating back to the ancient Egyptians. Pies have been documented in England as far back as the 12^th century (the Oxford English Dictionary traces the first use of the word “pye” to 1303) and showed up in America with the first colonial settlers. Early pies were predominantly savory and meat-filled. Flaky pastry fruit-filled turnovers first appeared in 19^th century America and have remained popular ever since.

You’d think that with so much pie history, we’d be…well…to be honest…we’d be better at it! Nothing strikes fear into the heart of an otherwise accomplished cook than the prospect of making a pie. Oh, the filling is fine, easy even. It’s the crust that the tricky part. Piecrust is a funny thing comprised of equal parts alchemy and dumb luck. Attempt to make pastry on a humid day and you’ll end up with a sticky paste. But try to roll out the dough when double-digit wind chills are whipping outside your kitchen window and even your finest efforts will crumble into a floury mess before the crust is lifted, ever so gently, into the baking pan.

As for me, nothing can hold a candle to my mother’s piecrust. Growing up, we enjoyed a freshly baked pie nearly every Sunday. She made her crust the old-fashioned way – with lard. (Yeah, lard! Arteries are slamming shut as I write this.) It was crumbly-crisp with the perfect amount of “tooth” to compliment the sweet, fragrant fruit that was no doubt bubbly inside.

Try as I might, I’ve never been able to master the art of pie pastry. Since I cut my teeth on my mother’s apron strings, this has been a frustrating lesson in Darwinism: only the strong-willed cook will survive when confronted with the successful pie-makers mantra – “You can just ‘feel’ when the dough is right.” The perfect pie dough will be smooth, slightly elastic, and never-ever sticky. So, after several failed attempts to get it right, I think I’ve hit upon the perfect piecrust recipe. No, it’s not exactly like my mother’s – there’s no lard in this version – but it’s consistently delicious and nearly foolproof.

Consult any cookbook for fruit filling directions. If you’re lucky, you can still find blueberries and raspberries. If you’re smart, you’ve frozen some sour cherries last July to use this fall. Otherwise, stop by your local farmer’s market and pick up some peaches; they’re still plentiful but don’t delay. According to Lora Partyka of Partyka Farms, “Peaches will be on our stands for another 1 ½ to 2 weeks.” What better way to showcase the best of summer’s bounty?

Foolproof Pie Crust*

1/3-cup whole milk

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into ½-inch wide pieces

Whisk milk & vinegar in small bowl to blend. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend; add shortening and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in milk mixture; briefly knead in bowl just until dough comes together. Gather dough into a ball. Divide into 2 pieces, 1 slightly larger that the other. Flatten each piece into a disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes. When ready to bake, roll out larger dough disk on lightly floured work surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 10-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fill pie with fruit filling. Roll out second disk on light floured work surface to a 12-inch round. Place on top of filling. Crimp edges decoratively to seal. Brush with an egg glaze and bake as directed.    

*The best ingredients yield superior results. And while I’m hoping you’ll use organic flour (Eden Foods makes a good one as does Bob’s Red Mill), you can also get away with a more widely available commercial brand. King Arthur Flour is a good substitute. It’s never bleached; never bromated.

A special “thank-you” goes out to Lora Partyka of Partyka Farms and Gail Christ of Christ Farms for providing the fruit for our test kitchen. Twenty acres of apples on their 600+ acres of farmland in Holley, NY make Gail an apple expert! Her favorite apple for baking? A mix of Cortland and 20 Ounce. Partyka’s produce some of this area’s best peaches on 15 acres at their farm in Kendall, NY. She owes the success of their crop to “good field management and good lakeside weather” at their 400-acre farm. Lora says peaches really shine when they’re baked “in a shortcake with a biscuit, some good vanilla ice cream, peaches, and topped with whipped cream.” Peach Shortcake – and various other treats – is available at her Partyka’s Farm Market, 1420 County Line Road, Kendall. Produce from Christ Farms and Partyka Farms is available at the Genesee Country Farmer’s Market, Batavia Downs Parking Lot, Batavia. Hours: Tuesday & Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.  

The following information is from the Farmer’s Market Federation of New York:

Beginning in 2001, the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets and the Farmers' Market Federation of New York partnered for a pilot project to test wireless handheld Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) terminals for use in open-air farmers' markets. The pilot proved that the wireless technology, although in its infancy, was effective in capturing food stamp sales at farmers' markets in urban settings. The pilot also documented the need for farmers to accept food stamp benefits at farmers' markets, due to customer demand for their products.

As demand for wireless service grew and as the technology evolved, the farmers' market wireless EBT project continued to expand to new cities and more farmers. In 2005, the pilot changed focus from providing terminal access to individual farmers to providing terminal access to market managers.

Under this new paradigm, markets are authorized under FNS to be food stamp agents. They are able to "sell" EBT tokens (specially designed wooden tokens) that can be used with any vendor in the market selling food stamp eligible products. Farmers are able to accept the tokens, same as cash, but with no change back, and then redeem them with the market manager at day's end. Additionally, farmers markets can choose to accept debit and credit transactions on their market’s wireless EBT terminals.

The goal of the program is to increase the demand for locally grown fresh foods at farmers markets among food stamp customers, increase the usage of food stamp benefits at farmers markets and change dietary habits of food stamp customers to include more fresh fruits and vegetables from local growers by helping to change shopping habits over time.

Check with your local farmer's market to see if they participate in this program. For more information on New York's Farmers' Market Wireless EBT Program contact Diane Eggert at (315) 637-4690.

Northeast berry growers can learn about the latest production techniques and integrated pest management practices from university experts in a series of online web seminars this fall and winter. The first of the dozen interactive, hour-long Œwebinars‚ is scheduled for September 9 and will focus on growing strawberries on plastic and in high tunnels.  The berry IPM webinar series is hosted by the Cornell University Department of Horticulture and funded by the Northeastern Integrated Pest Management Center.
 
The webinars are free, and participation is easy for anyone with a web browser and a high-speed internet connection.  (Pre-registration is required.)  If you can‚t participate from your home or office computer, group viewings are being organized at selected Cornell Cooperative Extension offices around the state and other sites across the northeast region.  Webinars will be recorded and archived for later viewing.
 
Webinar speakers will make their presentations live, and respond to questions and comments that participants type into an online chat box. 
 
The webcasts are divided into 3 mini series focusing on major berry crops: strawberries, brambles, and blueberries/cranberries. Four presentations on each crop group comprise a mini series. 
 
Alternative Production Methods for Strawberries will kick off the strawberry mini series when it airs live September 9th, 2009 at 12:45 PM. Featured speakers for this webcast are Dr. Lewis Jett, West Virginia State University, and Ms. Kathy Demchak, Penn State University. Dr. Jett will be speaking on growing strawberries in high tunnels. Ms. Demchak will be speaking on northeast approaches to growing strawberries on plastic.
 
The first presentation will be offered at a variety of group session locations throughout NYS including CCE Albany, CCE Chautauqua, CCE Clinton, CCE Jefferson, CCE Oneida, and CCE Suffolk counties. Some of these group sessions may include an additional on site speaker or other berry-related event following the webcast, so please contact individual CCE offices for more information.
 
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 will be the 2nd webcast in the strawberry series, also airing at 12:45 PM. Dr. Greg Loeb, Cornell University, will speak about managing strawberry sap beetle and tarnished plant bug;  Dr. Richard Cowles, University of Connecticut, will help growers better understand strawberry vine weevil and its management.
 
Wednesday October 7th, 2009, 12:45 PM. Dr. Michael Ellis, Ohio State University, will speak on managing strawberry root diseases; Dr. David Gadoury, Cornell University will speak on strawberry powdery mildew management. 
 
Friday October 30th, 2009, 12:45 PM. Dr. Robin Bellinder, Cornell University, will give an overview of strawberry weed management products; Dr. Marvin Pritts, Cornell University, will speak on cultural approaches to strawberry weed management.
 
There is no charge for webcast participation, but registration is required. Email with URL connection details is only sent to people who have registered. Connection details are sent about two days before the webinars. Please be connected by 12:45 PM.
 
Connections for each webcast are limited to 70 participants so register now by contacting Laura McDermott, lgm4@cornell.edu or calling 518-746-2562.
 

Check the web site for additional program and group viewing location details: www.fruit.cornell.edu/webinar <http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/webinar>  <http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/webinar> .
 
For more information contact Jan Beglinger, Agriculture Outreach Educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County, at 343-3040, ext. 126, stop by the Extension office at 420 E. Main Street in Batavia, or visit our website at htttp://genesee.shutterfly.com <http://genesee.shutterfly.com/> .