Know Your CNY Farmer: Byrne Black Angus Farm

Early Sunday morning in spring-time on Byrne Black Angus Farm is no place for the slow moving. Jean Byrne scoots around on a front loader like it was an extension of herself, nimbly swapping out buckets and hauling in loads of feed. Cows nudge one another for front-row access, sending impatient vapor breaths into the air, but there is gentleness despite their size, an unexpected accommodation of each other’s space. After weeks of calving there are plenty of wobbly-legged little ones scampering about. They venture just far enough from momma to feel brave then cry for her until she patiently comes to the rescue. The babies bask in being found. More warm weather is needed to stimulate grass growth before the herd can move to pasture. It is hard for them, for everyone, to wait.

Jean and Jerry Byrne have been raising natural, pasture raised, grass fed, growth-hormone-free Angus for the community for 15 years. Their beef is sold at the Skaneateles Farmers Market on Thursdays and Saturdays, and by appointment directly from the farm. 

Connect with Byrne Black Angus on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Read about the farm and learn about cuts of beef and pricing on their website.

Know Your CNY Farmer: Good Karma Garlic

Barb and Marty Hanscomb of Good Karma Garlic are launching their fourth season at the Skaneateles Farmers Market. As opening day approaches, their farm is in full swing; there are seeds germinating under plant lights, trays of sprouts hardening off for transplant, rows of young greens carpeting the hoop house, and shoots popping up in the garlic beds.

Oh, that garlic; surely you’re familiar? In addition to the many varieties they’re renowned for and the abundance of produce they provide to the community, Good Karma has a great new item to compliment this year’s market fare: loaves of fresh baked bread. Delicious. But better hurry to the GKG tent this season, because this stuff will go fast!

Produce: Beans, Beets, Blackberries, Bread, Broccoli, Chard, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Flowers, Garlic, Greens, Herbs, Lettuce, Onions, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Radishes, Rhubarb, Spinach, Tomatoes, Zucchini

Connect with Good Karma Garlic on Facebook.

Know Your CNY Farmer: October Rose Farm

October Rose Farm

There is never any shortage of industriousness at October Rose Farm in Moravia, nor of livestock with sass. A pair of handsome boys have joined the herd: Snotar and Skafta, long-haired rams whose offspring may share their Fabio characteristics and produce fine fleece for textiles. The Ewes are eyeing them skeptically but perhaps as spring progresses more than just the snow may thaw.

There is also never any shortage of eggs or poultry. Susan and Brian Underwood are preparing to move their layers from an expansive winter henhouse to the Eggmobile on pasture where the girls will free range until late fall. Cornish chicks are peeping and broilers will be online by mid June.

Produce: pasture-fed poultry including meat-type chickens, free-range eggs and turkeys.

Where: Besides the Market, eggs are available at Wake Robin Farm in Jordan and at Tops in Skaneateles (year round), at Elderberry Pond Farm (June-Nov), or by appointment at October Rose Farm.

Connect with October Rose Farm on Facebook.

Know Your CNY Farmer: Horsford Farms

Horsford Farms

Lucky for us, Bob and Sharon Horsford have been contributing to the local food supply for eight years now. Farming runs in her blood, and he has taken to it as a second career. In their hoop houses – the endless winter notwithstanding – long tidy lines of kale, onion, lettuce, peas, and a dense carpet of baby spinach run the lengths. The shelves in the greenhouse are stacked with trays of greens in miniature. It is clear great care and keeping has transpired over winter in preparation for the opening day of the Skaneateles Farmers Market. 

Summer Farm stand: 8294 Jericho Road, Weedsport, NY

Produce: Apples, Beets, Blooming flowers, Blueberries, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cantaloupe, Corn, Cucumbers, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuces, Onions, Peaches, Peas, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Radishes, Spinach, Squash, Sweet potatoes, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelon, Zucchini. And microgreens.

Connect with Horsford Farms on Facebook.

Know Your CNY Farmer: Laxtons Florist & Nursery

Dave Laxton of Laxtons Florist & Nursery in Skaneateles, NY and farmer at the Skaneateles Farmer’s Market.

At 77 Dave Laxton could be retired – he and wife Lois even tried that lifestyle once – but growing food and flowers is in their DNA; they’d rather keep busy in the business they established more than 50 years ago: Laxtons Florist & Nursery. Dave has been involved in the Skaneateles Farmer’s Market for nearly two decades, most recently as a vendor.

While the rest of us wait [im]patiently for winter to be over, Dave, Lois, son Ron, and Grandson Derek, are busy preparing for the start of the Skaneateles Farmer’s Market on Thursday, May 15. They’ve got veggie and flower flats sprouting in the greenhouse and are ready for the ground to thaw.

Produce: Arugula, green and yellow beans, beets and beet greens, butternut squash, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce (several varieties), red, yellow and green onions, bell peppers, red and white potatoes, radishes, spinach, yellow squash, Swiss chard, several varieties of tomato, zucchini.

Storefront: 2354 W. Lake Road, Skaneateles
Phone: 685-6427
Roadside Veggie Stand: Yes
CSA: Yes (call for details)

Connect with Laxtons Florist & Nursery on Facebook