News from Up North
August 18th, 2013 · No Comments · Posted in Blog, News from Up North, rural life
Area artists held a reception with their works at the Georgi Museum in Shushan on Saturday and one of the people we ran across was this gentleman cooking fish and sausages on a strange looking, Rube Goldberg sort of apparatus.
Turns out he is Michael Bonadio, the foundry director at Salem Art Works, and, like us, one of his passions besides pouring iron and making metal sculptures is smoking meat and fish. He built this “hot” smoker, fired with hickory and apple wood, in a whimsical fashion, with all sorts of cranks and dampers and vent stacks. As you can see, inside he has shelves on which to place the food to be smoked. The fish and sausage came from Shushan’s prized meat market–Yushak’s.
It seems that wherever we go around our new home in Washington County we find people doing the most interesting things and right in line with the kinds of things we like to do as well. One of our future projects is to build a “cold” smoker for processing sausages and other preserved meat goods. Michael says he would be happy to build us one.
The Georgi Museum, by the way, is filled with art spanning several centuries and set atop a park-like lawn right on a bend in the gently flowing Battenkill river. I was there recently for a Washington County Band concert and ice cream social. People use this spot to launch tubing expeditions down the river, or to just picnic and lounge in the grass….
Cambridge police, acting on a tip, raided a house on North Park Street and confiscated some 200 marijuana plants. Authorities had obtained utility records showing an unusually high amount of electricity usage at the property. Police said one bedroom on the second floor of the home was being used to grow cannabis, while a second bedroom we deployed to grow the weed. There was also a large marijuana grow in the basement, including “an elaborate charcoal system” to filter air leaving the house, police said.
Stop the presses! The Washington County Fair begins this week. In addition to kids of all ages showing their cows, sheep, goats and pigs, there will be tons of outrageous food, like giant fried mozzarella sticks, carnival rides, rodeo, monster trucks, tractor pulls, demolition derbies and so much more. Gates open at 9 a.m. daily Tuesday through Sunday. General admission is $10 but you can purchase an “all week” ticket for $30.
Phyllis Chapman will portray nurse Clara Barton during a “living history” tour at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy August 24. Meanwhile, Bob Milligan will pick up the role of Rice Bull, a Civil War soldier who miraculously survived a harrowing war experience. The program will take place in Earl Chapel and seating is limited, so call to register: 800-556-6273.
Rockabilly Hall of Fame recording artist Marty Wendell will perform along with his tour band at Mowry Park in Greenwich August 22, beginning at 7 p.m. Wendell will be joined by The Bluebillies, known throughout the Northeast for their close harmonies.
Barry Hyman offers “sound medicine” on the bass sitar at Dionondehowa Wildlife Sanctuary near Shushan August 21. The program starts at 7 p.m. and reservations are requested.
Congratulations to Kaylah Gulley, treasurer of the Greenwich Future Farmers of American, for earning Master Showman recognition at the recent tri-county Holstein Show and Brown Swiss Canton.
Finally, Rensselaer County Dairy Princess Lindsey McMahon says that while most people buy their dairy at the supermarket, “it actually originates from milking cows on hard working dairy farms.”
The dairy princess recently attended a meeting at the Raymertown Firehouse where she gave a brief talk about running a dairy farm, then served ice cream to the attendants, “giving them one of the three servings of dairy they need each and every day.”
This week, McMahon suggests making “fluffy, buttery biscuits” with bacon, or what she calls a “delicious melt in your mouth snack.” Use 8 slices bacon cut into 1/2-inch pieces, 1 1/4 cups Original Bisquick mix, 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup butter, softened, 3 tablespoons orange marmalade and 1 tablespoon honey. Cook the bacon first, then mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and combine to form a dough. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes. Combine butter, marmalade and honey and brush over the finished biscuits.
This edition of News from Up North was culled from actual news reports in the Washington County Area and is presented here for the enjoyment and edification of our readers. As always, stay alert and please drive carefully.
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