A day in the life of a newsie

Publisher's Log

Posted 9/27/18

One of my most favorite parts of my job is handing out papers at local events. I like to walk through the crowd, displaying a copy of the paper and say to people: "Copy of the local …

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A day in the life of a newsie

Check out this week's edition of The River Reporter! Besides all the normal coverage, we've got a special feature on the state of
health and the abundance of food entreprenuers.

Mike Hahn is proud of his pigs. And he was happy to show them off to the hundreds of people who came to Hilly Acres Farm Fest on September 22. Mike works on the farm with his parents, Andy and Tanya Hahn.

The pigs at Hilly Acre Farms seemed a good life. They start out in pens with mom, nursing, sleeping under heat lamps. After six weeks they are weaned and hang in big piles by themselves.

The barn is roomy, and the stalls spacious, especially when we consider the awful factory farm pictures of pigs who are not able to turn around, let alone lie down.

With 37 sows, and a 600-pound stud, who has breeding responsibilities, Mike's barn is a busy place. He points out piglets who had been born last Wednesday, and another litter who had been born on Thursday. (Here's one that's three days old and part of Thursday's litter.)

Three Little Pigs.

When they get a little older, they are moved to the other side of the barn, into pens that have open gates to a large and muddy pasture. While some of the pigs were out, these were content to sleep the afternoon away.

The young chicks under a heat lamp were a delightful warm yellow!

The 4-H is in the house talking about rabbit care.

4-H Educator Kaitlyn Conklin works with the 4-H clubs and is a certified judge of rabbits!

Other food vendors, such as Anderson's Maple Farm and Northern Pasta Farmhouse, were selling their wares.

Churning butter! And offering samples!

What a great experience for children to understand where butter comes from. (Churning cream!)

Here's the list of all of the meats that Hilly Acres Farm produces.

Farmer Tanya Hahn (who also has a day job at Jeff Bank) serves ice cream as Sullivan County Visitor's Association Executive Director Roberta Lockwood looks it.

Visitors got a chance to tour the farm in a hayride.

Music on the porch!

The view from the house.

Sheep in the side field!

A member of the Woodland Weavers and Spinners Guide demonstrates how wool becomes yarn on a spinning wheel. The guild will be at the Western Sullivan Library, Narrowsburg Branch on Wedensday, October 3, from 10 am to 4 pm.

I always enjoy playing the newsie. Glad to run into photographer Jerry Cohen, whose work is on display at the Stray Cat Gallery. Thanks for the photo, Jerry. Thanks for the farm tour Mike, Tanya and Andy Hahn.

Posted Thursday, September 27, 2018 10:16 pm

Publisher's Log

One of my most favorite parts of my job is handing out papers at local events. I like to walk through the crowd, displaying a copy of the paper and say to people: "Copy of the local paper?"

Most of the time people are happy to receive it. Sometimes there is a cheery response of "Oh, I already read that one."

And Saturday was a triple header.

I started my day at the Honey Bee Festival in Narrowsburg, where purveyors of all things honey were on display. (For the flavor of the fest and fabulous photos by Jonathan Charles Fox, click here.)

Next up was the Farm Fest at Hilly Acres Farm outside of Jeffersonville. (See slideshow story below.) The annual event is a way for Hilly Acres Farm to promote agriculture and give community members a first-hand look at the inner workings (and products!) of the farm. Farm family Andy, Tanya and Mike Hahn opened their barn doors and fields for a day of demonstrations, tastings and farm living.

As my final destination, I stopped by the benefit for the Roycroft Family that was hosted by a very committed group of people, determined to raise $4,000 to help Dorothy Rycroft and her children as she navigates her way through cancer. Click here for more about this amazing BBQ! The food was so plentiful, they needed two take out boxes for each dinner!

As my husband Stephen and I shared just one of those dinners (the two dinners fed us at least three times), I was truly thankful for the great abundance that we share in the Upper Delaware.