by Bea Peterson
A hundred and ninety people attended the 50th Rensselaer County Dairy Princess Banquet Saturday evening, April 13, at the Pittstown Ambulance Hall. For 50 years young women from Counties across the State and across the country have participated in this program that promotes the Dairy industry. These girls attend events in schools, speak to community associations, appear in parades and county fairs. Their job is to promote the importance of good nutrition, particularly through the consumption of dairy products.
[private]It was a great evening for Eastern Rensselaer County. The 2013-2014 Dairy Princess is Lindsey McMahon of Petersburgh and the Alternate Dairy Princess is Casey Greene of Berlin. Rensselaer County 2012 Conservation Awards were presented by
Rensselaer County Legislator Ken Herrington and Rensselaer County Soil and Water Director Jim Sullivan to Dale Riggs and Don Miles of The Berry Patch at Stonewall Hill Farm in Stephentown and Dany and Joanne Tilley of Tilldale Farm in Hoosick. Alex Marbot of Johnsonville received the Rensselaer County Dairy Princess Committee Scholarship.
State Dairy Princess
This year the 2012-2013 Rensselaer County Dairy Princess, Courtney Luskin went on to become the New York State Dairy Princess. Her State reign continues until the fall. As County Princess, Courtney and her Court presented over 45 school programs, 12 Farmer press gatherings and meetings, attended over 115 public relations events and 60 plus consumer outreach events from May 1 to January 31. They will continue attending events until the end of April.
Rensselaer County Executive Kathy Jimino told Courtney she was very proud of the way she represented the dairy industry in the County and throughout New York State. “You have had the opportunity to meet so many people through this program,” she said. “We are proud of you and your accomplishments.” Courtney is the fourth Rensselaer County Dairy Princess in the 50 year history to become State Dairy Princess. She is from a family of three generations of Dairy Princesses.
New Princess
Dairy Princess Lindsey McMahon, 15, is the daughter of Dan and Mollie McMahon of Hooskip Holstein Farm in Petersburgh. Lindsey is a sophomore at HFCS where she plays clarinet in the band, plays field hockey, writes for the school newspaper and is in the school’s Mentorship Program. She has been an active 4-H member for 11 years. At the Schaghticoke Fair she has shown dairy cattle, displayed craft projects and participated in Dairy Judging and Dairy Challenge. She recently joined the County Dairy Bowl team and the Teen Exchange program. She also volunteers at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.
New Alternate
Alternate Dairy Princess Casey Greene, 15, is the daughter of John and Damian Greene of Mapledale Farm in Berlin. She is a junior at Grace Christian School. She has several responsibilities on the farm. Her favorite job is being involved with the family’s cheese business. She is heavily involved in church, school and community activities. She is a student ambassador for ACT, the Alliance for Community Transformation, which is a volunteer position through the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. She tutors a third grade student, is Student Body Treasurer for her school and recently finished her basketball season.
Conservation Awards
Dale Riggs and Don Miles of Stephentown received the 2012 Special Conservation Farmer Recognition Award. Riggs was on hand to accept the award. In part the award stated,
“The Berry Patch of Stone Wall Hill Farm, LLC is a first generation family farm run by the wife/husband team of Dale Riggs and Don Miles. They grow strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and a wide array of vegetables and cut flowers. They are known for their commitment to innovation and sustainability. They are the proud owners of 235 acres of beautiful Taconic Valley farmland, woodland and wetland. They purchased their hillside farm in Stephentown in 1989. All but one of the property boundaries is a stone wall, created by the early settlers, and there isn’t a flat piece of ground on the place. They planted Christmas trees and started making maple syrup in 1991. They bought The Berry Patch, a beautiful flat piece of land on which they planted their first strawberries, raspberries and blueberries in 1996 and started marketing strawberries in 1997, raspberries in 1998 and blueberries in 1999. They also opened a farm stand in 1999 so they could sell their own tomatoes and lettuce. Riggs branched out to the Troy Waterfront Farmer’s market in 2009 and started marketing to restaurants in 2011.
They purchased the adjacent 114 acre piece of property (the former Pease Farm cropland) in February 2003 to provide rotation ground and to prevent it from going into development.
Riggs runs the farm full time, after working as a vegetable specialist for Cornell University for almost ten years. In 1997, she won the National Crop Production Award for her work in pumpkin production. Having won the top award of her professional society, she decided, in 1998, to take on the challenge of making a go of it in farming.
Don works on the farm part-time and keeps his day job as an Environmental Health Scientist with the NYS Department of Health. He keeps track of the forest management plans for both pieces of property, chases the deer away from the berries, and is Dale’s best hired hand on the weekends.
The couple received a State Purchase of Development Rights award in 2006, and in 2009 they completed the process of protecting the cropland through Rensselaer County. Working in conjunction with the Agricultural Stewardship Association they protected 108 acres of prime soils, ensuring that these high quality soils will never be developed.
In 2011 they protected 28 acres of wetland through the Wetland Reserve Program. Their wetland is the headwaters of the Wyomanock Creek, a tributary of the Kinderhook Creek. It is home to bear, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, river otters, mink, wood ducks, blue herons, turtles, more deer than they would like, some very hefty beavers and even wandering moose at times.
Dale and Don built four high tunnels (unheated greenhouses) to protect their crops and to provide their customers with early and late products, especially tomatoes and greens. The high tunnels allowed them to go into year round production, marketing 52 weeks a year. Because the tunnels provide protection from some of the elements, they can grow produce with no fungicides, few insecticides and no fertilizer runoff. In the tunnels and fields they use drip irrigation to place fertilizer and water right where it is needed.
No highly erodible land is cropped on their farm. Their land is divided into smaller planting blocks with grass buffers between them to reduce wind and water erosion and to provide habitat for beneficial insects. They also use grass and tree buffers between their cropping areas to protect their wetlands.
Their most recent project is to improve energy efficiency on the farm, using the Ag energy Efficiency Program through NRCS and NYSERDA.”
Tilldale Farm
The 2012 Conservation Farmer of the year award was presented to Tilldale Farm in Hoosick. “Tilldale Farm is situated along the Hoosic River and was established by Ernest Tilley in 1938. Dan started full time on the family farm when he finished school in 1972. Dan and Joanne purchased the dairy farm of approximately 300 acres in 1980 and continued milking and switched to organic milk in 1999. In 2008 they stopped milking and carried their organic production technology into an organic beef, pork and poultry production operation. This transition has brought other changes also.
Rotational grazing became an important part of Tilldale Farm’s feeding program. From 2010 through 2012, 97 acres were fenced. About half of that was assisted with an EQIP grant. If you drive by the farm you can also see the farm’s solar project, and something unique that you cannot see from the road is a successful Hoosick River bank restoration and stabilization project using river barbs made of large rocks facing upstream to catch eroding sediments and blocking further river bank destruction. This project, initiated by Tilldale Farm, has protected and preserved acres of valuable and productive river flats for generations to come.
Tilldale Farm’s conservation practices and innovative transitions over the past several decades has also enhanced the farm’s ability to provide quality food products. It is one of the goals of Tilldale Farm that this be the case for many years to come. The Rensselaer County Soil and Water Conservation District is very proud to present Dan and Joanne Tilley with the Conservation Farmer of the Year Award.”
Fifty Year History
The Dairy Princess Banquet program included the introduction of the Princess and Alternate candidates and the young lady Ambassadors. Past Princesses in the room were introduced and some of them wore their Princess banners and tiaras. The Invocation was presented by Paul Greene. There were speeches by the candidates and the outgoing Princesses, award presentations and a slideshow highlighting the 50 Princesses and the history of the program.
Throughout the evening speakers expressed their appreciation to the dedication and hard work of the County’s dairy farmers.
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