On Monday, September 9, the Catskills CRAFT group will meet from 5 to 7 p.m. at Dirty Girl Farm in Andes, N.Y. Catskills CRAFT, Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, is an educational networking group for beginning and experienced farmers. Gardeners, farm interns, employees and operators are welcome to attend the event.
Dirty Girl Farm is a licensed goat dairy and micro-creamery that produces and sells pasteurized bottled goat milk in quarts and half gallons, and soft goat cheese. They will soon expand their product line to include yogurt. Farmer Cyndi Wright and her husband Lester Bourke, started the farm just one year ago.
The couple will lead the group on a farm tour and will demonstrate how to milk a goat. The group will share a potluck supper after the activities. The event is free and open to the public, particularly to those interested in starting a homestead or small farming venture.
For more details on Catskills CRAFT and the monthly farm visits planned throughout 2013, visit www.catskillscraft.org. Contact Eleanor Blakeslee-Drain at info@catskillscraft.org or (607) 267-0184 for more information or to inquire about available transportation.
Catskills CRAFT is made possible with leadership support from Catskills region farmers, financial support from Farmhearts, and administrative support from the Watershed Agricultural Council. For more information on Farmhearts, please visit www.farmhearts.org.
The Watershed Agricultural Council protects both the rural, land-based economy of the watershed region and its drinking water quality for over nine million people. Working with farmers, agribusinesses, forest landowners, forest industry professionals and others, the Council seeks to enhance both business profitability and environmental stewardship. It also champions the use of conservation easements as an option to keep land within a working landscape context. The Council currently protects over 23,000 acres of productive, watershed farmland. works through partnerships with other nonprofit organizations, government agencies and community stakeholders to achieve its purpose. For more information, visit www.nycwatershed.org.
