Photos provided by Blackberry Hill Farms.

Fed up with factory-farmed fast food and industrial agriculture, Blackberry Hill Farm makes fresh organic breads and pantry staples the slow way. 

Before he founded Blackberry Hill Farm, Bob Barody was a vegetarian for four years. Disillusioned by the poor quality and nutritional content of mass-produced meat, he was determined to find an alternative. That’s when he began pursuing regenerative farming. 

In 2016, Bob left his job as a mechanic in a local school district to start Blackberry Hill Farm on 25 acres in Athol, NY.

“This is new age farming, not the old-school factory farming done with chemical sprays that destroys everything and ruins farmland,” he said. 

A first-generation homesteader, Bob discovered through online research and the works of farmer, author, and speaker Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farm in Shenandoah Valley, VA, that farming doesn’t have to be destructive, it can be done in a way that restores the soil’s nutrients while also producing healthy, great-tasting food. 

Certification Hurdles

In 2017, Blackberry Hill Farm was just one of two farms in the county to earn the USDA’s coveted “Certified Organic” distinction. At its peak, the farm grew a variety of organic vegetables, raised heritage-breed pigs, chickens, and a small herd of cows. 

During the pandemic, however, Bob scaled back, and flipped his business model from producing approximately 80-percent meat and vegetables, to making mostly value-added foods. Although his farming methods didn’t change, he dropped the “certified organic” labeling. To safeguard the integrity of the certification it has become the most heavily regulated and closely monitored food label offered. But the extensive record-keeping required to maintain it often comes at too high a price for small farmers. 

“Everyone throws around the word ‘organic’ when they don’t know what it means. You have to jump through so many hoops that I’d need a full-time person just to keep track of the accounting but there’s only three of us here that do this; me, myself, and I,” said Bob.

Slow Sourdough vs. Fast Sour-Faux

Even without the label, Bob still practices the principles of organic food production, and by building a wood-fired oven and commercial kitchen on-site, he is now able to create the sweet and spicy mustard for the public that he’s been making for his own friends and family for the past 30 years. 

A pleasing, zesty, creamy combination, the mustard is the condiment of choice to dip his chewy Bavarian style soft pretzels in, or to slather on the assortment of organic artisan breads and bagels he makes from scratch. 

Breadmaking the way Bob does it is a long, slow process. 

Bob’s sourdough bread, for example, is made with hand-ground organic flour.
The starter is mixed on Sunday, the dough is prepared, kneaded, and stretched
on Monday, giving it ample time to rise. Baking day is Tuesday, so the bread is ready to be sold on Wednesday.  

These handmade breads remain fresh for about a week, depending on the temperature at which they’re stored. 

The mass-produced “sour-faux” breads found on supermarket shelves, by comparison, are made in as little as four hours from start to finish, and numerous — potentially carcinogenic — additives and preservatives are used to allow these pseudo-breads to tolerate the harsh industrial processing conditions they’re subjected to and to maintain a longer shelf-life. 

Fresh & Market Ready

Scaling back from working the five farmers markets Bob sold at previously, now Blackberry Hill Farm products can be found at just three area markets and the Deli and Meat Store of the North in Warrensburg. Since January, Bob has been enjoying his first year at the Glens Falls Farmers Market and is finding that a lot of people who don’t attend the winter market have come out for the summer market on South Street. 

It took seven years for his space to open at the Glens Falls Farmers Market. Put on the waiting list because other vendors offered similar products, although he didn’t originally specialize in bagels, when the vendor who did left (creating an opening) Bob added the hearty, golden breakfast item to his menu of offerings. 

It has since become one of his most popular items – especially the Everything bagel variety – which is, hands-down, his best-seller, he said. 

In addition to Bob’s bagels, his rustic bread loaves, baguettes, and English muffins are typically made with just four ingredients, instead of the 40 you’ll find in many name brand breads on supermarket shelves. 

Farm fresh pizzas, made with Bob’s own dough, seasonal garden vegetables, and meats, are a joyful, sustainable, local spin on the universally-loved comfort food.

Blackberry Hill Farm also sells pantry items including gourmet popcorn, granola, coffee, and local honey on their barn-to-door website www.blackberryhillfarmadk.com. 

Tour the grounds of Blackberry Hill Farm and see where great bread is made during Thurman’s annual Farm Tour, held on Saturday, October 24th this year, and during Thurman’s Maple Days in March. For updates, follow them on Facebook @BlackberryHillFarmNY, and Instagram @BlackberryFarm1

The term “workhorse” has evolved over the years to encompass many things. 

For a farmer, it’s their most trusted equine. For the construction industry, it’s their most faithful, sturdy piece of equipment. For locals in and around Mayfield, NY, the man they’re talking about is US Marine Corps veteran Dylan Baldwin. 

“I tried working for a lot of different companies and it worked out fine,” said Baldwin, owner of D. Baldwin Excavating & Trucking, “but I just had to be my own boss.” 

While he was still in high school, Dylan began working in the excavation business and he never stopped. Today, his business represents the success of his workhorse mindset, consistent efforts, and tireless dedication. The best part? It’s still growing.

As a child, Dylan’s father had an excavation company. However, he discouraged Dylan from doing the same. 

“He didn’t want me to do it for myself. He always told me self employment is no way to live,” explained Dylan. 

His father knew how hard and endless the workload was, but Dylan knew what he wanted. In high school, he began renting equipment and doing whatever jobs he could find. 

“I’d work as much as I could for as cheap as I could and just get any work that came my way,” he said. 

Dylan’s uncle was a Sergeant Major for the military and suggested that he go to West Point. 

However, Dylan never had much interest in school, wanting to focus his energy into work. He knew though that if he wanted to be self employed he would need to set himself up with health insurance and retirement. In order to prepare for the future, Dylan enrolled in the Marine Corps. 

While serving in the Marine Corps, he worked as an airframe mechanic on the C-130, the legendary workhorse cargo plane of the US Military. Due to his experience working with machinery for the excavating business, he quickly earned a good reputation. 

“If someone needed something done, they would just send me in because I could figure it out and get it done,” Dylan shared. 

While being in the military was extremely time consuming, consisting of long days and hard work, Dylan still worked on his business whenever he could. He was based in Arkansas and one day flew home to get his pickup truck in New York, drove back to Arkansas, and at least once or twice a month made the drive again to work for two to three days before returning to the base. 

After finishing his active duty, Dylan was a part of the National Guard, until his contract ended. He then left the military to continue working on his business. He does miss the men and women with whom he served, and carries many good memories, but he knew it was time to move forward. 

“I miss a lot of things that went on at base, but for my future success, unfortunately, I had to get out,” he explained. 

Because he had been balancing his work and military career all at once, Dylan was used to the long hours and commitment needed to be self employed. 

“When I got out, nothing in my life really changed much,” Dylan said. 

He continued to slowly grow his business and earned it the reputation that it has today. He has a number of people that work for him, but he is still very involved in every aspect of the business. His team does everything from commercial to residential jobs. They have worked on local businesses, and even ten million dollar homes. 

Dylan does most of the trucking himself, transporting materials to his team and making sure everyone knows where to go and is prepared for the job. While he enjoys using the machinery, he is able to multitask by driving the trucks because he can talk to people while he drives. “My phone doesn’t stop ringing. I have to charge it four times a day,” he explained.  

Because Dylan handles the business on his own, all the organization falls on him. He makes sure that everything occurs in a timely manner and no job falls behind.

“We put the long hours in for a reason— we have to get stuff done,” he shared. 

This is also important because of the unpredictable weather conditions that his team faces working in Upstate New York. By keeping his team ahead of schedule, Dylan is able to send them home, should the weather become too dangerous to work in, without worrying about finishing on time. 

While managing the business is far from easy, Dylan finds it very rewarding. “The satisfaction of what the customer sees at the end that’s what makes it worth it,” he shared. 

In the future, he hopes to continue growing and see where his business takes him. For now, in his limited down time, Dylan occasionally drives a snowmobile in the winter and a four-wheeler in the summer. But when pressed, this modern workhorse confesses what he really wants to do in his off hours: “go back to work.” 

Pictured left to right: Ashley Perez Flanagan, Jessica Frances Dukes, Parris Lewis, & Nicholas Baroudi

Adirondack Theatre Festival (ATF) announced casting for its 30^th Anniversary season. Multiple Broadway and television veterans will join local talent for a starry showcase of new work. 

The season kicks off with the world premiere musical comedy Todd vs the Titanic by the creators of the Off-Broadway hit Murder for Two, which ATF originated in 2010. Joe Kinosian, who composed the music of Murder for Two and played all twelve suspects in the world premiere production, will star in Todd vs the Titanic. 

The madcap musical follows an apocalyptic event outside a theater in Schenectady, which wipes out every member of the cast of a musical about the Titanic… Every member, that is, except for Todd, who has the show’s smallest part. Alone and terrified, Todd soldiers on and plays all of the roles himself in the hope that someone out there is listening. Todd vs the Titanic is a hilarious one-man tour de force and a moving tribute to the power of art to sustain us. ATF’s production will transfer to the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca following the run in Glens Falls from June 27 – July 3. 

Next, audiences can catch a sneak peek of a new play commissioned by ATF and created and performed by Jessica Frances Dukes (Netflix’s Ozark and Broadway’s Trouble in Mind). Dukes, an Obie Award winner and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee, makes her playwriting debut with Worth: An Intimate Exhibition, an autobiographical investigation of the value of art and artist. ATF will present a developmental reading at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC) Lapham Gallery from July 12 – 14 in partnership with the Lake George Theater Lab. 

More Broadway stars arrive at ATF for The King’s Wife, a concert presentation of the new pop musical with a score by Grammy-nominated Nashville songwriter Jamie Floyd. 

The King’s Wife imagines the secret history of the first wives of Henry VIII. Parris Lewis (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical – first national tour) plays Catherine of Aragon and Matthew Griffin (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical – Broadway) plays Henry VIII. They are joined by Ashley Perez Flanagan (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 – Broadway), Jimmy Rae Bennett (the voice of Floyd in Grand Theft Auto V), Namisa Mdlalose Bizana, Austin Ku, Morgan Reilly, Briar Magee, and Richard Putorti Jr. 

The season closes with Jeffrey Hatcher’s edgy new adaptation of Dial “M” for Murder. This stylish twist on the thriller made famous by the Alfred Hitchcock film features Nicholas Baroudi (Law and Order: Organized Crime and Fosse/Verdon) alongside Yesenia Iglesias, Dennis Schebetta, and Sigrid Sutter. Dial “M” for Murder runs August 1 – 7. 

Single tickets for Todd vs the Titanic, The King’s Wife, and Dial “M” for Murder at the Charles R. Wood Theater range from $25 to $49. Tickets for the reading of Worth: an Intimate Exhibition at LARAC are $15. Tickets may be purchased by visiting www.atfestival.org, or by calling the Wood Theater Box Office at 518-480-4878, or in-person at the Box Office at 207 Glen Street. The Box Office is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. 

About Adirondack Theatre Festival 

Martha Banta and David Turner, along with a 12-member founding committee, created the Adirondack Theatre Festival in 1993 and presented its first 18-day season of new and contemporary theater at the French Mountain Playhouse within the Lake George RV Park in 1995. Today ATF is the only professional theater festival in New York’s Capital region dedicated to new musicals and plays. Each summer ATF produces a nine-week season at the Wood Theater in Glens Falls. The organization operates under a Small Professional Theatre Agreement with Actors’ Equity Association. The actors seen on the ATF stage, as well as the designers and directors, have worked regularly on and off-Broadway, on television and in movies.

Photo by Han Hopman.

Dave Randles has seen six active dairy farms disappear from the five-mile stretch of Argyle where his family’s farm has existed since 1862. Today, the animals are gone from their farm too, and the land that remains is used only for growing crops. 

In 2020, Dave and his wife, Marge, owners of the Argyle Cheese Farmer, moved onto greener pastures in Hudson Falls – trading steep grassy slopes with great views for the sleek sophistication of a state-of-the-art dairy processing plant. Equipped with an observation window, visitors can see first-hand the future of this industry. 

“The reality of farming is truer here than in the press,” said Marge. 

Get Big or Get Out

New York’s dairy industry is critical to the state’s economy. New York is an agribusiness global leader with an innovative dairy community that produces more than 15 billion pounds of milk annually, making it the fifth largest dairy producer in the nation.

But producing more milk has not meant more profits for most of the state’s farmers – or cheaper prices for consumers. 

“People want cheap food but if farmers were paid what they needed to have to make a living wage, shoppers couldn’t afford it,” said Marge.

“People need to eat,” explained Dave, “but economically, dairy farming doesn’t pay. You work, and work, and work – hard – and don’t get anywhere.”

The price of machinery and production costs have risen while volatile milk prices wedge dairy farmers into a position where they must expand their herd or consolidate. These larger dairies have improved margins because they can buy supplies in bulk, are less vulnerable to market fluctuations, and have more money to invest in more efficient equipment, better quality feed and forage, and the “Cadillac” of cow bedding materials – sand. 

What Dreams are Made Of

Dave and Marge met at Cornell University in the 1970’s and Marge, a Certified Financial Planner, ran a successful accounting business for 20 years before the couple released a line of Argyle Cheese Farmer products in 2007.  

In 2020, Argyle Cheese Farmer teamed up with Hudson Fall’s Ideal Dairy Farm to purchase the Lewis Super Grocery store on Burgoyne Avenue. 

“We wouldn’t be here today without Ideal Farm,” said Marge. Not only does Ideal Farm’s size and scale make them efficient, they have invested in genetics to create “cookie-cutter cows” and provided creature comforts (like fans and automated back-scratchers) for them.

After renovating the building to give it a red and white exterior, reminiscent of the barns that used to commonly dot the landscape, when visitors walk inside this cheese shop they are greeted by the enticing aroma of bread baking in the commercial kitchen. 

Argyle Cheese Farmer’s delightful baked goods are just one of the many ways they’ve incorporated Ideal’s milk into their product line. In addition to the amazing dry, crumbly cheese curds that have made them famous, the Argyle Cheese Farmer shop carries items you won’t commonly see at their 65 retail locations (which include Hannaford, Price Chopper/Market 32 Supermarkets, Stewart’s Shops and area farmer’s markets, among others). 

Argyle Cheese Farmer offers a selection of milk products including 11 flavors of hard cheese; creamy cheesecakes in a variety of sizes; quark (a simple, European-style cream cheese), and take-and-bake meals like pizza and macaroni and cheese. Ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and frozen yogurt, are joined by their robust line of Greek yogurts, including the New York State Fair’s Best in State award-winner made with syrup from Argyle’s Highland Maple Farm. 

Carrying European and other local artisanal cheeses, milk products, and goods, as well as souvenir items, this shop satisfies visitors with fancy cheese needs and those looking to pick up affordable, locally-made grocery staples.

Anything Argyle is A2

Although Ideal Dairy Farm, established in 1908, now raises 3,000 cows and cultivates 4,500 acres of farmland in Warren and Washington counties, Argyle Cheese Farmer products are made only from their herd of 250 cows producing A2 milk. 

Making a splash in recent years because it is considered more digestible for people experiencing symptoms of lactose intolerance, A2 milk has been a saving grace for many consumers who had previously sworn-off dairy. 

Creating the recipes for their products comes naturally to Marge, she said, but adjusting to their current scale of production has had its challenges.Instead of making yogurt three times a week in 50-gallon vats, they now use a 1,200-gallon vat for yogurt and a 500-gallon vat for cheese production. 

Through their observation window, visitors are educated about the process and see the safety measures in place while learning the history of the unique and talented dairy producers and processors that provide significant contributions to New York’s agriculture industry, the economy, and to the health of our communities.

The Argyle Cheese Farmer, 2358 Burgoyne Ave, Hudson Falls, is open Monday – Saturday 8am-7pm, and Sunday 9am-4pm. They will be participating with Ideal Dairy in tours throughout July & August, and are a designated stop on the 2024 County Bounty Tour on September 7th & 8th.

For more information, visit their website at cheesefarmer.com

The fear of a loved one becoming hurt or ill is something that many people worry about, and unfortunately for some, this fear becomes a reality. When this occurs, many stressors arise in addition to the emotional toll of the situation. Financial struggles, traveling, and more can add to the already difficult situation for the family. 

While no one can prevent illness or harm, many people work hard to ease some of the other burdens. 

Amanda’s House is an excellent example of the good that can come from a tragic situation, and the impact a community can have on those in distress. At her four-month check-up, Amanda Cafaro was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. The town of Glens Falls came together to support Amanda and her family in any way that they could. They raised funds to help pay for her medical treatments, but unfortunately, Amanda passed away after a six-month battle on September 24, 1998. 

Despite being only 10 months old, Amanda had an extremely big impact on the Glens Falls community. After her passing, her family wanted to use the funds that were raised to do something for the community in her name as a remembrance of both Amanda and her impact on the town. Amanda’s grandfather, Tony Cafaro, suggested they create a home for those traveling long distances to be with loved ones who are sick. He was inspired by his own stay at a Ronald McDonald house when Amanda was receiving her treatments.

In 2001, Finch Pruyn & Co. rented the house to the Amanda committee for $1. Located at 22 Henry Street, Glens Falls, the house is only about a seven-minute walk from the Glens Falls Hospital. 

From there, volunteers began renovating the house, and furniture and appliances were purchased by different organizations. The house officially opened in 2002 and successfully housed hundreds of people. 

However, the house had to cease operations in 2013 due to financial issues. Wanting to continue Amanda’s legacy, the Glens Falls Hospital worked closely with the house’s board of directors and the community rallied to keep the house open. Beginning in 2015, the Glens Falls Hospital took over operations of the house, and it is still operating to this day. 

“The house really is a story born out of love and support through family and community,” shared Glens Falls Hospital Director of Volunteer Services, Tom Lyons.

The house itself comprises three private bedrooms, each with its own lock, and two bathrooms. There is a driveway that provides one spot to each family. The house is also equipped with a washer and dryer, linens like blankets and towels, a coffee maker, stove, microwave, and anything that someone needs to comfortably rest while their loved one is at the hospital. Security members monitor the property and volunteers keep up with the overall maintenance of the house. The goal is to keep guests safe and comfortable so they can focus on their loved one. 

“Our guests that stay there have so many more things to be concerned with. It’s a stressful situation, they’re traveling a long distance, and we’re there to provide a soft landing,” Tom said. 

The referrals for the house come directly from the Glens Falls Hospital staff. To stay at Amanda’s House, a person typically has to be coming from at least an hour away. Usually, people will stay for a period of five days, and then they can evaluate their situation to decide if they need longer. If the house is ever full,
the Glens Falls Hospital has many partners that they work with to provide families other rooming options. For example, the Queensbury Hotel will provide discounts to patients at the hospital.

The impact that the house has had on the town is indescribable. From its origin, thousands of people have spent the night. “It’s profound. I’m very grateful to be involved with it, it’s a very special home. It truly is a home away from home,” shared Tom. Last year, the house had around 350-night stays, and this year they are on pace to match, if not exceed, that number. 

While it is heartbreaking for any family to be in the situation where their loved one is ill, the home gives them the comfort they need during such a difficult time. Additionally, so many people have been inspired by Amanda’s story and all the house provides that they themselves volunteer to keep the house functioning. 

“It’s a privilege to be part of it, to be in a position to help others and to work so closely with volunteers that are interested in helping others as well,” Tom said.

If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer, you can visit the Glens Falls Hospital website for more information. To donate to Amanda’s House directly, visit the following website: www.glensfallshospital.org/services/community-services/amandas-house