Jay Sharkey, owner of The Farm at the End of the Lane in Greene County, was among more than 100 small dairy farmers in the Northeast to receive notice this summer that his creamery, Maple Hill, would no longer pick up his milk next year. That will leave Sharkey with nowhere to send the 1,000 pounds, or about 116 gallons, of milk his farm yields per day.
Sharkey searched for other places to send his milk—“I contacted Horizon and they’re not taking any milk; I contacted Organic Valley, they’re not taking any milk”—but had no luck. Horizon Organic, which is owned by the multinational conglomerate Danone, announced at the end of August that 89 farms across the Northeast will be losing their contracts in August 2022.
Sharkey says Maple Hill let go of 30 farms, but official details remain scarce. The Kinderhook-based creamery did not respond to requests for comment. But Sharkey says there are three reasons Maple Hill is dropping farms: not enough milk, poor quality milk, or the farm is too far away from other Maple Hill-contracted farms. That third reason was the one Sharkey was given in his letter.
We have reached the average temperature for the year for Albany, in other words, the zero crossing point.
The earth is round. This means that the average daily temperature follows a sine wave, as spinning circles always produce sine waves. When you reach the zero crossing point heading down, that means the average temperature descends faster than any other time of the year.
This happens 23 days after the first day of calendar autumn due to the delay caused by the atmosphere and ground holding summer heat. The opposite happens in the spring – 23 days after the first day of calendar spring you get the maximum warm up.
As I sit waiting anxiously for the news about Red. 😟 More rain though tomorrow, which I thought might be a problem today, but at least I won’t get wet without my rain coat. 🌧
This weekend I am planning on staying in town, 🏘 as Saturday looks fairly raining and I think helping out on a local political campaign 🗳 and maybe early voting too. Actually never mind, early voting doesn’t start for another week. Rain Friday and Saturday, but probably not a wash out.
In two, or maybe three weeks I’ll head out to Madison County 🍂 and maybe Stoney Pond and Cazenovia for a long weekend. If I do the weekend that includes Election Day, I could take off that Monday for a bonus day, especially if I am leaning against West Virginia. Might need a permit though to stay that extra day at Stoney Pond, but if it’s like the summer months, I can get that permit online.
I think after the warm weather is done, it will plunge cold ❄️ and we might get snow by the end of the month. I don’t mind snow, but snow covered roads pose a problem for getting out of town and camping. Many of the places I go are on seasonal-use roads, and once the snow is deep, finding a place to park even along major roads can be difficult to say the least.
Today. Feels like … September 17th.
Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, partly sunny.
Calm wind becoming northwest around 6 mph in the morning.
and
74 degrees
,62 max dew point,
6:14 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … September 9th.
Patchy fog before 2am, then patchy fog after 5am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy.
Calm wind.
and
55 degrees
,
7:09 sunrise.
Friday. Feels like … September 14th.
A slight chance of showers after 2pm. Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy.
Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
75 degrees
,64 max dew point,
6:13 sunset.
Friday Night. Feels like … August 13th.
A chance of showers, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy.
Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
and
61 degrees
,64 max dew point,
7:10 sunrise.
Saturday. Feels like … September 14th.
A chance of showers, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm.
South wind 8 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
75 degrees
,63 max dew point,
6:11 sunset.
Saturday Night. Feels like … September 24th.
Showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers.
Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
Overcast, fog and 57 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌫 Calm wind. Seems like we’ve had a lot of foggy mornings lately.
Off to work on the express bus on this foggy morning. 🚏 The express bus in the morning is usually right on time and is fast, but often I’m the only one riding the later one, as most people catch the earlier buses, which seem not to be so good at running on time based on my discussion with Colleen and because I often see the 7:55 AM bus departing the station at 8:20. Which always makes me fear that I’ve missed the bus.
Big Red is Watkins Spring getting his alignment checked. 🛻 I think the front left wheel still has an issue with toe-in, actually I kind of know that from looking at the tire. While I had the alignment checked and adjusted a little over a year ago, and I that improved things a bit, they didn’t have computerized alignment for my big truck at my local shop, so it’s possible they didn’t get things perfect. Anxiously waiting the news. 😟 But I also fear there is other broken hardware. It needs to be good though before I spend close to $2k on new tires.
I still haven’t settled on the tires yet, ⚫ but I am increasingly looking at Firestone Destination XT tires, which are relatively less expensive then others I’ve looked at. There is a local dealer downtown, and I just have to confirm they have the 35×12.5R18 size they’re advertising online. I really don’t want aggressive tires, I’d rather have a quieter ride 🤫 and better fuel economy. ⛽ The alternatives is order something from the off-road shop or get the BFGs from Mavis. I don’t need super good traction, but I want tires that hold up well, as I have 4×4 and I don’t really drive much in deep mud or snow these days.
At ten years old, my truck is a bit shy of 100,000 miles, 🤑 but with the cost of new automobiles heading up towards $50k, I am quite willing to nurse along the truck for the next few years , dropping a few thousand a year to keep it running. I don’t mind adding oil every once and a while, it’s always had a thirst for it, although actually it’s gotten a lot better since I added the solar panel, as I find most of the oil consumption is due to idling the truck more then driving it. I do need to also replace the shock bushing on the driver side rear, that is really rattling aroiund in the rough country and making for unpleasant rides on rough dirt roads, aka Betty Brook Road.
With all these costs, and gas prices pushing $3.45 a gallon locally ⛽ 🤯 I am thinking I will probably call off my West Virginia trip for this year, in favor of some 3-night trips locally, like the Madison County trip I’ve been talking about for some time. 🔫 I need to get my license and do some small game hunting, and just spending more time in the woods. I also have other issues I want to address with the truck, and by the time I get down to West Virginia the leafs are going to be past peak. 🍂 Plus it seems like vacations come and go so quickly — why spend a lot of money on something that quickly just becomes a memory?
