Keepin' It Local Folks

Eat My Words!
By Karin Edmondson

It is almost unfair that February and with it, Valentine’s Day, comes so close on the gorged heels of the December holidays. We’ve just recovered from the visual, physical and commercial assault of Christmas and New Year’s when ads for Valentine’s Day loom in magazines and on the television. Buy buy buy—a diamond and some chocolates for her—a power tool and chocolates for him. This year, residents and visitors of the Catskill Mountains have some excellent alternatives to the capitalistic cajoling of Madison Avenue. Those of us who want to buy our Valentine something sweet, delicious and locally-made, can do so from the Cooperstown Cookie Company, which bakes sumptuous, hand made shortbread cookies—excellent gifts for both guys and gals, young and older, baseball fans or not. Alternatively, folks who’d like to give something that is not commercial but just as sweet can share some of themselves—of their time, love and compassion at the Catskill Animal Sanctuary.



Catskill Animal Sanctuary

The Catskill Animal Sanctuary defies all sorts of logic. CAS, for short, is a 75-acre sanctuary—some would argue haven or heaven—for abused and neglected farm animals. The animals that it welcomes—horses, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, donkeys, turkeys and rabbits—are often starving and severely abused or neglected, teetering on the brink of death when they arrive. By all laws of nature, their survival should appear grim. CAS has no advertising budget since most of the monies it receives go directly to the care of the animals. The CAS employs only three full-time people and relies heavily upon a brigade of faithful volunteers (about 80) to assist with its day to day operations and looks to the community for donations of materials, expertise and time. Yet what started off as a vacant property containing only one dilapidated building and literal tonnage of abandoned cars and other refuse is now a thriving, beautiful piece of land dotted with newly built barns and crisscrossed with brand spanking new fencing. What’s more, the entire place is alive with joyous, funny, unique, vibrant animals. CAS is a place where one might be able to actually touch this effusive and elusive ideal, this concept of love.



My first visit to the sanctuary is now two years past. I went there to do a story and to take some cute pictures. After two hours, I left changed somehow, with a disturbing awareness of the cruelty that some people are capable of inflicting on other living creatures, yet also more importantly, with tangible proof of the immense reserves of love that exist in this world too. I immediately became a member and then a few months later, I sponsored a goat. His name is Austin and he has magnificent horns and he lives there with his sons Cocoa and Mr. Specks. As a matter of fact I saw him just a week ago. Sponsorship is a terrific way to be involved with CAS if you don’t own land or a barn to adopt one of these special creatures. Every animal on the sanctuary is up for sponsorship, from a chicken ($10 per month) or a sheep ($40 per month) to a horse ($100 per month) or a cow ($60 per month). The monthly fee pays for a portion of that animal’s daily needs of grain, hay and bedding.



In the last two years close to 250 animals have been given a safe place to call home and continuous care from the staff and a small army of dedicated volunteers. An astonishing amount of work has been done—6 new shelters erected, 30 additional acres fenced for pasture, a new well dug and electrical systems updated. The main barn has been outfitted with a new roof and with heat and a half mile of new road has been incorporated into the grounds. Additionally, a new 2,000 square foot pole barn was built, with most of the labor donated and materials purchased at pennies above cost. Currently, the sanctuary is in the process of annexing an additional 30 acres to accommodate the seemingly neverending influx of animals and to potentially grow their own hay which—at $4 a bale this winter—will cost the sanctuary thousands of dollars each month.

Kathy Stevens, founder and director of the sanctuary, hopes to build an education center this year. While rescue and care of mistreated farm animals is a key part of the sanctuary’s mission, so too is heightening people’s perceptions of farm animals, their treatment under factory farming conditions, and the health implications for those of us who eat them. “Our culture discourages our connection with food animals,” Stevens explains. “We’ve been so delighted to discover that these animals are no different from the dog or cat that sleeps in our beds each night. What’s different is our perception of them. If you love a cow, a pig, a goat, that animal will unabashedly love you back. Just like dogs, cats and humans, they display a tremendous range of feelings and emotions and are as individual as we are. CAS wants to gently encourage people to know these animals and to learn how they suffer under the barbaric conditions of modern agribusiness.”



Catskill Animal Sanctuary rehabilitates animals with love, patience and skill; sometimes the end result is close to miraculous. Take the case of Cinnamon, an old pony who was shot in the head. Yes, someone took a gun, pointed it at the gentle old mare’s head, and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered right above her eye yet somehow didn’t kill her. The hole however, goes right through her sinuses. When Cinnamon arrived at the sanctuary, she was initially timid, shy and mistrusting of the humans, but with patience and that near magical infusion of love from the folks at CAS, Cinnamon now joyously whinnies and bounds over to greet human and equine friends alike.



Then there is Oliver’s story, complete with a fairy tale ending. Oliver, a tiny pygmy goat, was found in the streets of New York City’s meat-packing district with SOLD spray-painted across his body and a deep knife wound to his throat. He ran in terror from humans when he arrived but love and compassion, patience and care prevailed, and soon he was sitting in volunteers’ laps. Oliver has since been adopted by a lady veterinarian and her family.



Each and every animal at the sanctuary has a similar story— an odyssey that begins with unbelievable suffering and unimaginable cruelty yet ends with love, healing and a very real and tangible positive future. Visitors fall in love every day at the sanctuary. The animals that Catskill Animal Sanctuary is able to take in are blessed, lucky to find such a special place, and for every animal that is eventually adopted, there are two or more desperate animals who need to be saved. There are a number of ways to support CAS and to ensure that Kathy and her volunteers are able to continue their work and are able to bestow the grace of love and compassion on these animals who would not otherwise have any.



Volunteer. People are needed on a daily basis to muck out stalls, feed the animals and generally spend some time with them. When I was there recently with my sister to volunteer, Elisa got to sit in a stall full of rabbits. Her job? Simply to sit there and allow the rabbits to become accustomed to human contact.



Membership. CAS is actively recruiting members. There are several different levels of membership. Members are always welcome to visit the sanctuary and receive monthly newsletters/updates via e-mail and post. Admission fee is waived for members. Membership monies go directly to the feed and care of the animals.

Sponsorship. This is a great way to help out on a more personal level. Every single animal is available to sponsor on a monthly basis—from Mr. Peepers the duck at $20 to Rambo, a majestic Jacob sheep, at $40 to Cinnamon at $100 or Babe—the gentle giant of an Angus/Holstein steer at $60 per month. Your monthly check or credit card deduction is put toward your animal’s feed and care (including special medications). You will receive a picture and history of your animal and are always welcome to visit him or her and bring treats of apples, carrots or other acceptable foods. Oh—and hugs are most welcome too!



Adoption. CAS has strict adoption rules and interviews each potential adopter. Adoption requires ample land, a warm barn or other appropriate shelter, food, water, love and care. Each case is handled individually. Adoption fees are minimal. A representative from CAS will make occasional visits to the adopted animals to make sure that they are receiving proper care.



Donations. CAS needs all sorts of donations, from tangible items like lumber and hay to office supplies and veterinary medications to actual time and professional expertise. Here is the current Supply Wish List:

• Lumber: a total of 1,200 1" x 6" in 8' and 10' lengths

• 800 8' bark on cedar posts (or other 8' fencing posts)

• Gift certificates to Accord Feeds & Needs on Route 209

• Shavings or sawdust

• Straw and/or mulch hay (bedding for goats and cows)

• Supplements (glucosamine, Vitamin E/Selenium)

• Heated 5 gallon water buckets (new only, please)

• Heavy duty cotton or nylon lead ropes (new please)

• Cow halters

• Breakaway horse halters (new halters only please)

• Wormer (Zimectrin, Strongid, Panacur, available at Agway)

• Small refrigerator

• Staples gift certificates

• Manure spreader

• Hay wagon

• Flexible harrow pasture drag

• Manure shovels (the big flat lightweight ones useful for

stripping stalls)



Here is the People Wish List:

• Carpenter

• Vegetarian Chef

• Fencer

• Plumber

• Large animal vet

• Grant writer

• Printers



Catskill Animal Sanctuary is located at 316 Old Stage Road in Saugerties. Please visit www.casanctuary.org or call 845 336 8447 for more information. Educational tours and programming are offered year-round, as are lively presentations—that often include a duck, a rooster or a sheep—at your workplace or school. CAS will be open for tours and educational events starting in April, with visiting hours of 11 am to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. For the safety of its animals and yours, CAS asks that you leave your dogs at home.

Cooperstown Cookie Company

If cooking and all things sautéed, fried, stirred, flambéed, stewed, broiled, rotisseried or, these days, barely-heated-through is an art, then baking tends to be more of an exact science. Any baker worth his or her kosher or sea salt will tell you that components have to be just so, that even tiny infractions with ingredients as seemingly innocuous as butter, salt, baking soda or yeast have the possibility to seriously scuttle the entire project. The Cooperstown Cookie Company, purveyors of classic baseball shortbread, is living proof that baking is an effusive, somewhat mysterious mix of science, love and every now and then, a little bit of magic.



Pati Drumm Grady, the president and creative visionary of the Cooperstown Cookie Company, started off with a simple, delicious recipe for shortbread—one that’s been in her family for years. Then, with a lot of work and, blessed with a little bit of that elusive magic, she assembled a team (pun intended) of local talent—a watercolor artist, a type designer and a Web master, a printing and packaging company, even the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame and, perhaps most endearingly, a special village called Pathfinder. Now, she’s bringing the company up to bat and going for the winning home run.



The Cooperstown Cookie Company is relatively new. Pati concocted the idea last spring and then, over the summer, a friend introduced her to Lonni Sue Johnson (www.lonnisue.com), the local artist with two New Yorker covers to her name, a penchant for flying antique airplanes and a brand new organic dairy farm underway. Lonni Sue created a line of original artwork infusing baking with baseball; for example she likens a rolling pin to a bat and an oven mitt to a catcher’s mitt. One of her watercolors is entitled Cookie Cooks Cover All Bases. Another, Magic Cookie Moon, is a pictorial homage to the way this entire project has “come together like magic.” Pati credits Lonni Sue’s clever plays on baking and baseball with really “defining the whole image” of the company.



Pati debuted her classic baseball shortbread at the first game of the World Series last October 23 at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Doubleday Field. She credits the president of the Hall of Fame, Dale Petrofsky, with exceptional support of her venture. Her classic baseball shortbread is available both in the gift shop and online at www.baseballhalloffame.org The Hall of Fame’s research staff is responsible for the Tricky Trivia inside each tin of shortbread and, just recently, the Hall of Fame came to Pati, asking her to develop a cookie with their logo! “Edible souvenirs,” she says.



The shortbread is deliciously simple: wheat flour, unsalted butter, sugar, pure vanilla extract and salt. The end result is a very buttery, crisp and compact shortbread, much lighter than the more cake-y, dry and crumbly Scottish shortbread most of us are acquainted with. Pati uses all natural ingredients. There are no extra additives or preservatives. The cookies are hand cut with custom cutters and are baked at Pathfinder Village, a residential community dedicated to children and adults who have Down syndrome.

Pathfinder Village (www.pathfindervillage.org ), located in Edmeston, is about ten or so miles from Cooperstown and is an actual village, complete with Village square, school, church and a retail bakery. It is a beautiful place for many reasons. Lonni Sue spoke of the love that is almost tangible in the village: “The village is like an envelope of love, harmony and patience. Life is so much simpler, more of a human elemental experience. It is such an uplifting spending time with the residents.” (Both Lonni Sue and Pati spent a day at Pathfinder in December baking cookies with the residents and staff.) Architecturally, all of the buildings are awash in sunlight. Gorgeous natural light flows into classrooms, conference rooms, the gymnasium, dining rooms and even the kitchen. Pathfinder is a private, not for profit community and the only sort of community in the nation that is dedicated solely to people with Down Syndrome.There are 84 residents (the youngest is 11, oldest is 63 and they hail from seventeen different states) and 150 staff. The school serves as a classroom for residents as well as children with various other handicaps and learning impediments and accommodates residents and non residents. In one classroom, there were single words written in black marker on different colored construction paper: Be Kind, Listen, Believe, Smile.



Pathfinder Village was Pati’s instinctive first choice for a bakery for her company. “Pathfinder’s core mission is taking care of its residents. Their story is being told on every cookie,” she says, “and through Lonni Sue’s artwork in every tin.” Instead of a brochure, each tin contains a top round insert that shows the story of the Cooperstown Cookie Company from Pati’s initial conception to the baking of the cookies at Pathfinder Village. The cookies are baked and packaged—two cookies to a sealed plastic bag—at Pathfinder Village; the operation continues then in Pati’s house where tins are assembled and shipped or, in most cases, hand delivered by Pati herself to various retail outlets in the Cooperstown area. Pati mentions that as her business grows, there’s a possibility that the entire process from baking to packing to shipping will be handled exclusively by Pathfinder Village. “Their real niche is young adults and teaching them, instilling in them the skills to function in the world. Pathfinder gives them their independence and the Cooperstown Cookie Company is so very proud to be a part of that process too.”



From the very beginning, Pati wanted her company to be a uniquely local company, utilizing the rich amount of local talent and expertise. She recruited Zach Smith, a neighbor now based in New York City who spent childhood summers on the lake, to assist with the sophisticated Web site design. Friends of Pati’s who own a printing and packaging company in Norwich helped her with the label design and believed so strongly in the project that they donated the first batch of labels. “An incredible and encouraging vote of confidence,” says Pati. Lonni Sue illustrated the labels and inserts while another local artist, Bruce Guyot, reworked the design to fit the tins. Pati also received a microeconomics loan “with generous payback and a very good rate” of $13,500 from the Otsego County Board of Representatives. The enthusiasm for the company is spreading throughout the region: The Farmer’s Museum is talking about doing a barnyard theme and the Glimmerglass Opera has reached out to Pati as well. In the next few weeks, Pati will be bringing the Cooperstown Cookie Company to San Francisco for the Fancy Food Conference sponsored by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT). Because of Pati’s partnering with Pathfinder Village (and donating partial proceeds to the village), the Cooperstown Cookie Company will be featured in a special section entitled Companies that Care.

After the promotional trip to the West Coast, Pati wants to develop different versions of her shortbread—a savory cookie that will perhaps have local farmstead goat cheese as an ingredient. The Ommegang Brewery (www.ommegang.com) outside of Cooperstown also stocks her classic baseball shortbread, and Pati thinks a shortbread that pairs well with beer is a perfectly natural next step. She also talks about a chocolate-dipped version and it’s no surprise that she already knows of an African family in Owego who bought an old Nestlé factory and are producing their own homemade chocolates. “There’s buoyancy to this project. It has been a near magical experience from the outset. I underestimated how much fun this would be,” says Pati.



Please visit www.CooperstownCookieCompany.com for more information about this special company and to order Classic Baseball Shortbread. Pati Drumm Grady can be contacted via e-mail at pdgrady@cooperstowncookiecompany.com or at 607 435 5789.



Local Farm Updates

Dawn’s Bakery (profiled February 2004)

Dawn’s Bakery is a local bakery in Cairo that specializes in natural baked goods. February brings a whole slew of Valentine specials like heart-shaped handmade chocolate boxes with caramel hearts inside, boxed handmade valentine chocolates & petit fours, handmade butter cookie tins, platters & heart shaped gift plates. Also, decadent flourless chocolate cakes, chocolate mousse bombes and a variety of cheesecakes that can also be ordered in a heart shape: espresso, raspberry swirl and Oreo fudge covered. Biscotti, assorted big cookies, Italian and breakfast pastries are also available. To order, call please call Dawn at 518 622 3072. Dawn’s Bakery is located at 687 Route 145, Cairo, NY 12413, and is open Thursday and Friday 9 am to 6 pm and Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 4 pm.



Heather Ridge Farm (profiled November 2003)

Heather Ridge Farm is a new farm that is 200 years old and is situated in old dairy pastures and antique apple orchards. Carol Clement and John Harrison specialize in pastured and grass-fed beef, pork, chickens and turkeys. Absolutely no antibiotics, hormones or chemicals are used on the farm. Carol and John will be hosting their Open House Sale Friday and Saturday February 19 from 12 pm until 4 pm (Sunday if the weather doesn’t cooperate on Saturday.) Carol has a full range of beef and pork items in addition to ground lamb and chicken wings; also organic raw honey and honey specialties including Irish-style Lemon Honey, culinary herbs, several different types of fresh garlic and Carol’s excellent turkey, pork and chicken brines – made with her own honey, herbs and spices and sea salt. Also available: local cheese and locally-crafted Kielbasa, Kabanosy, sweet and hot Italian sausages made from Carol’s Tamworth and Yorkshire/Landracer/Hampshire mix pigs. Gift baskets, beeswax candles and soaps are also for sale.

Carol and John will be showing a 15 minute video, The True Cost of Food, produced by the Sierra Club. A neighbor, friend and customer, Lori Stein, the co-executive producer of the video, will be there for questions and answers. The first viewing is at 1 pm with Lori and then again, later without Lori. The video is an animated piece on the hidden costs of food production, made to be an educational discussion piece, with reasons to support local farms. Lori will have copies available for a $10 donation to spread the word. The video is made by the same animation production company that made The Meatrix (www.themeatrix.com).



Heather Ridge Farm is located at 989 Broome Center Road in Preston Hollow, 12469. For more information and directions please call Carol or John at 518 239 6234 or e-mail them at HeatherRidgeFarm@aol.com. Open by appointment as well.



Stone and Thistle Farm (profiled August 2003)

Stone and Thistle is a livestock farm nestled in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Stone and Thistle’s lambs, goats, pigs, cows chickens and turkeys are pasture raised without any antibiotics, hormones or chemicals. The Farm Store is open year round. Tom and Denise Warren have a selection of retail cuts of meadow raised and organic lamb, goat, beef and pork. Raw and pasteurized meadow raised and organic goat milk and goat milk fudge are also available. Eggs are scarce right now but there are some frozen turkeys and chickens available. The store also carries locally-made wool products, honey, maple syrup, confections and herbal products The Farm Store is open seven days a week from 11 am until 6 pm. Stone and Thistle Farm is at 1211 Kelso Road, East Meredith, NY 13757. For more information and directions please contact Denise and Tom Warren at stoneandthistlefarm@starband.net or at 607 278 5773.



Stoneledge Farm (profiled September 2003)

Stoneledge Farm is an organic produce farm in South Cairo. They are currently accepting memberships for the 2005 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Harvest Season. There are now nine CSA sites distributing certified organic produce grown on Stoneledge Farm located throughout the metropolitan New York area, Westchester County and Greene County. A new site is starting this year in Stamford, Connecticut. For information about registering with any of the sites please call Pete or Deborah Kavakos at 518 622 3003.