This weekend, March 27 & 28, is the last weekend of New York State’s Maple Producers Association and you can participate at 3 maple producers in our area!

The goal of Maple Weekend is to share the taste of real, mouth-watering maple syrup with the public and to demonstrate how it is made. Maple Weekend is a statewide showcase of production of maple products. Demonstrations of tapping, collecting, and boiling the sap are often featured.

According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, only Vermont and Maine surpass New York in production of maple syrup.

For producer locations in your area, check www.mapleweekend.com. Be sure to check with individual producers for specific dates and times.

FREE Compost Marketing Workshop/Field Days: Whether selling compost is your primary business or a side business, these workshops are for you! The workshops will provide marketing insights and sales techniques, including technical information on compost applications and benefits, feedstocks, quality standards, and marketing principles.  Learn how to develop a marketing plan for your compost operation, how to position your product, the ins-and-outs of compost market segments, bulk sales vs. bagged, distribution strategies, and making money on tipping fees. Sales strategies will also be covered, including sales points, using social media and new media techniques, branding, and customer education tips. 

The NY Beginning Farmer Project and Cornell Small Farms Program have completed the annual revision of the popular "Guide to Farming in NY: What Every Agricultural Entrepreneur Needs to Know." If you work in farming in any capacity, this guide will prove a useful resource.  

Most lawns in New York already have enough phosphorus and don't need supplementation, especially if clippings are left on lawns, according to recent research by Marty Petrovic, a turf specialist at Cornell University. He says that new guidelines can help promote an eco-friendly lawn.

"The first step to minimize the environmental impact of your home lawn is to raise the mower's blade to a height of 3 to 4 inches -- usually the highest setting on your mower -- and leave the grass clippings on the lawn to recycle nutrients," says Petrovic.

The NYS Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program has been zero-funded in the proposed New York budget. Yet IPM saves farmers millions of dollars and keeps New Yorkers safer and healthier by keeping thousands of tons of pesticide out of water and soil, says Cornell professor Don Rutz. He added that IPM also represents a massive return on investment for the state.

Meanwhile, emerging pests like bed bugs and Swede midge are poised to take off and take over.

"Our savings the first year were dramatic, unbelievable," says grower Doug Mason, who enrolled his 325 acres of sweet corn, tomatoes and potatoes in IPM nearly 30 years ago. He learned, for example, the best ways to scout for pests, cut back on pesticides and use newer "soft" pesticides that target pests while leaving other organisms unharmed.

SUNY Cobleskill and CCE in Schoharie County are partnering to host Agriculture & Energy Day on March 6 from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. in the College’s Curtis Mott Hall. The event will give livestock producers, grass and hay growers and potential producers the opportunity to learn about two regional facilities coming online, Eklund Farms in Stamford and Grass and Wood Pellet Energy Systems in Central Bridge, each of which will provide much needed relief in livestock processing and biomass fuel pelletizing respectively.

During the day’s schedule, a panel discussion will feature representatives from four regional full-service meat processing facilities who will feature their respective businesses and service options for livestock producers. Tom Gallagher of CCE in Albany County will discuss the results of a two-year United States Department of Agriculture/Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant trial that compared grass-fed to grain-fed beef and the differences in carcass quality.

In addition, Eric Shelley, SUNY Cobleskill Meat Lab manager and instructor, will highlight upcoming short courses for small and new livestock producers through a grant from the New York Farm Viability Institute.

Other scheduled highlights include:

• discussion of warm and cool season grasses and shrub willow for bioenergy feedstock
• showcase of new opportunities for farmers to sell biomass
• presentation on the Northeast Sustainability Institute’s (NSI) current initiatives and
• session to examine small turbine technology appropriate for farming applications, the regulatory framework and an overview of available financial assistance.

For complete program information or to register contact CCE in Schoharie County at 518-234-4303, 518-296-8310 or e-mail dme32@cornell.edu. Admission is $10 per person or $15 per family.

CCE-Ulster and Orange Counties invite commercial vegetable growers to attend the 2010 Hudson Valley Vegetable School on March 9. Expert speakers from Cornell University and industry professionals will cover several topics including; vegetable trial results, making the most of high tunnels, marketing improvements, GAPs and scouting program updates, soil and disease management, and more!

Registration begins at 9am the day of the event, seating is very limited and pre-registration is encouraged. The cost for the program is $50 per person, if pre-registered by March 5. Registration is $70 after March 5 (including by phone) and at the door the day of the event. Fee includes lunch and hand-outs. Pesticide recertification credits have been applied for. For more information or to pre-register call Teresa Rusinek at 845-340-3990 or Maire Ullrich at 845-344-1234. This day long event will take place at Safe Harbors of the Hudson, The Cornerstone Residence located at 111 Broadway in Newburgh, NY.

The 4-H program in Saratoga County will present the 19^th annual Horse Symposium on April 10 and 11 at the 4-H Training Center, Middleline Road, Ballston Spa. Doors open at 8:30 a.m.

I have never been a fan of groundhogs. During the summer they get fat eating my vegetable garden, and then during the middle of winter the granddaddy of them all, Punxatawney Phil, wakes up long enough to promise six more weeks of winter. What is a stir-crazy gardener to do at times like this?

Mid-February is a little early to start almost all seedlings indoors, and if you receive garden catalogues you may have already pored over them so many times the pages are ready to fall out. Having reached that point myself, I decided it was time for a change of pace. First, I decided to make a list of vegetables that I like but haven’t grown. Then, I decided to start looking outside my favorite seed catalogues for new varieties of old favorites. 

Longer days, warm sun and vanishing snow are usually enough to make most horsemen start to give serious thought to their horses and now to prepare them for that first spring show, big spring trail ride or for just plain pleasure riding.  Just as most motorists give their cars a spring tune-up, so do horsemen attempt to get their horses prepared for the busy season ahead.  In the case of the horse, his preparation should have as its objectives not only the reconditioning of the horse but perhaps even more important the keeping of the horse sound and healthy for the entire season.  The big questions are where to start and what to do.