Onondaga County is once again promoting local agriculture as it kicks off the ninth year of its Onondaga Grown campaign.
Onondaga County Agriculture Council Chairman David Knapp likes to think if people know about the food grown in their own community, chances are, they’ll buy it. He’s also a county legislator who’s been a strong advocate for the county’s more than 600 farm families.
“The best tasting, freshest, most nutritious food is the stuff that's grown within a few miles of your house, not trucked in from across the country or other countries," Knapp said. "Even if the price is a little different, support our local folks who are right here, employing our local neighbors, paying taxes, the whole nine yards.”
Onondaga Grown’s signature event is ON Farm Fest in mid-September, when participating farms open their doors the public. One of them is Dutch Hill Maple in Tully, the kick-off location of this year’s campaign. Owner Nathan Williams is turning what started as his father’s hobby 55 years ago into a thriving business with his wife. He says it’s changed a lot in just the past 10 years.
“When we first made our first couple 100 gallons of syrup, we had no idea what to do," Williams said. "What were we going to do with all this syrup? Where are we going to sell it? Who's gonna buy it? How do we…we knew nothing. Other than the art of doing it, what we've learned from dad how to make it how to make the best syrup, the farming end of it.”
Williams says his father sold his syrup for years at the regional market, and still does. Now, with marketing help from his wife, he says they've expanded their presence on social media. They've also added more products.
Williams says they’re new sap boiling and production facility is on 120 acres not far from the farm’s original location. He says they collect about 200,000 gallons of sap from about 50 acres of sugar bush.
New to ON Farm Fest this year will be shuttles taking visitors to the farms, funded by a federal grant secured by the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance, or SOFSA.
Here's a list of participating farms for ON Farm Fest Sept. 16:
- Albanese Longhorns
- Anyela's Vineyards
- Brady Farm
- Crazy Daisies
- Dutch Hill Maple
- Emmi Farms
- Navarino Orchard
- The Pumpkin Hollow
- Shepard Settlement Farm
- Sunshine Horses
