Paul Szmal: I have two guests in studio here from Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension. First, we want to welcome Tricia Carvalho. Good morning.
Guest: Good morning.
Paul Szmal: And Karen Burcroft is here as well. Hi, Karen.
Guest: Good morning, Paul.
Paul Szmal: Tricia, we're going to start with you and talk about the farmer's markets because, well, A, today is a perfect day to go to a farmer's market, pick up some local goods and produce, but there also happens to be an opening day happening today.
Guest: Sure is. Yeah, we're excited that it's farmer's market season. Summer is upon us. Welcoming today is the first day of Waterloo Farmer's Market, which is going to be at GEMS, a new location across from Max Drive-In on 5 and 20. They'll be Thursdays, 2 to 6 p.m. We're also welcoming our summer intern from Cornell University for the summer, so she'll not only be collecting food scraps at all the markets, but she'll be educating us on composting and recycling for Seneca County. That isn't the only market. We'll be having Seneca Falls Farmer's Market starting in two weeks. That'll be starting on June 16th. That'll run Tuesdays, 2 to 6 at the Seneca Falls Community Center on 35 Water Street, and then we'll have Ovid Farmer's Market starting in two weeks also, Saturdays, 9 to 12. That'll start June 20th at the park in front of Three Bears. And there is a Strawberry Preserve Workshop that is coming up. It's actually a week from yesterday. Of course, strawberries are in season right now, so this is perfect timing.
Paul Szmal: Perfect timing, yeah.
Guest: Our Strawberry Preserve Workshop, with the help of Master Food Preservers, we're going to be having that Wednesday, June 10th, so that's next Wednesday, 530 to 7 at Ovid Federated Church. And we're very thankful to the Ovid Library. They're sponsoring the first 25 participants to get everyone ready and excited for the Ovid Strawberry Festival, which will be Saturday, June 13th.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, always look forward to that event every year. You got to go get a strawberry pie.
Guest: That's right. And speaking of Ovid too, Ovid is going to be hosting a shredding event. This is going to be coming up in a couple of weeks.
Paul Szmal: Yep, we'll have the Confidential Documents shredding event on Saturday, June 20th from 10 to 12 at the South Seneca High School. Registration is required, and with everything, we do recommend that you follow Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension on Facebook. Check out our website at senecacountycce.org for dates, times, information, and registration links. Yeah, and you know, these shredding document events, these are good if you have like, you know, old bank statements, old bills that are laying around that's got sensitive account information, personal information on it. This is probably the best way to dispose of these. You don't want to just throw them in your trash hole, wait for one of these shredding events to come around, and I mean, yeah, because the shredders, I mean, you know, it's like, you know, thinner than angel hair pasta when it comes out the other side. Ain't nobody gonna get any information off of that.
So we're talking with Tricia Carvalho and Karen Burcroft from Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension here on FLX Morning, and Karen, we're getting to that point where school is letting out. I'm sure parents are thinking, oh god, what am I gonna do with my kids for the summer? We have a few suggestions.
Guest: We do, and so many times we hear, oh, there's nothing to do around here, and that is not the case. It does take a little bit of work to investigate, but as Tricia said, follow us on Facebook and you'll be able to keep up on everything. So we are delighted to be part of, we're kicking off the summer with the Sportsman's Club, and we'll be at the Kids Fishing Derby. It's a free day for the state, and Saturday, June 27th in Oak Island, and we'll have folks there showing kids and families how to actually fillet their fish. So once you catch it, what do you do with it? Tricia has worked super hard in planning this arts day in the garden on Sunday, June 28th, 11 to 2, and very thankful to the Bonifiglia Family Foundation, the Auburn Public Theater, for helping to provide the financial backing to offer all kinds, all kinds of things. And again, that flyer is posted on our website at senecacountycce.org. And then Tricia has us roped into all kinds of things at the garden. So we know that there's some weeks that youth are not participating in the rec centers, and parents are like, okay, how are we going to keep you busy today? So the week before the rec centers all get going, Monday, June 29th, through Thursday, July 2nd at the Seneca County Community Garden, every day we'll feature something different. So if parents need a reprieve for a couple hours, please come and join us. It's right over there by the Seneca Falls Police Department. And of course, we are incredibly thankful to the public libraries here in Seneca County, they do an amazing summer reading program. So if you are not connected with your summer library, please check it out. And they have opened their doors to us for a couple visits. This year's theme statewide is called Unearth a Story. So we'll be doing something around dinosaurs.
Paul Szmal: Oh, there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, I know. I know my nephew is crazy about dinosaurs. Unfortunately, he lives in Pennsylvania. I bring them along and be like, here you go. Have you have fun with it, right?
Guest: You'd have a ball with that.
Paul Szmal: Tricia, the community garden events that are coming up there June 29th through July 2nd. What are some of the things that are going to be covered there?
Guest: We cover a lot with the kids. So we do everything from garden planning. We're actually adding in a youth space this year. So we'll be doing like sunflower teepees and along the fence line, they'll be planning cosmos next week for our youth garden club. So we learn all about food and nutrition. There's always food involved. A lot of these kids haven't seen some of these vegetables and fruits. So it's nice to be able to offer that and, you know, open your eyes to something new. So we'll cover harvesting at the end of the season because we will have an August session, which I'm sure we'll talk about at another date. And everything from sustainability and community service and even art. And speaking of art, specifically the art of photography, if your kids or grandkids have an interest in photography or virtual reality, which is kind of a rage nowadays, there is an event that is coming up on Tuesday, July the 7th. And the program is called Snapshots of Seneca. Karen, what can you tell us about that?
Paul Szmal: So this is actually a statewide initiative. So at the youth building up at the New York State Fair, we get visitors from literally all over New York. New York City to Buffalo, you know, up to Watertown. And what 4-H is doing is collecting a variety of images to represent each county so that if our kids here in Seneca County want to know what it looks like in New York City, they'll be able to put on these VR goggles and take a picture, you know, or be able to see a snapshot of what it looks like there. Well, that means that we need to reciprocate and we need to take pictures and showcase everything that's in Seneca County, whether it be a tractor in a field, which to some city kids would be a foreign object, or, you know, the Women's Hall of Fame, the Women's Rights, Three Bears, whatever it might be. So there are so many things around Seneca County that we need help. We need volunteers. And it's a super easy process using an app on the phone. So yes, we're having an orientation meeting. Kids will come. There'll be pizza because, as Trisha said, if there's food, it helps keep the kids engaged a little bit. And we'll be showing them how to use this app and then we'll load up those images and then their work will actually be showcased at the New York State Fair.
Paul Szmal: That is awesome. And a great way to get kids to know their own community in their own backyard a little bit too.
Guest: Yes, and taking pride, right? We live in a beautiful area with lakes and not everybody gets to look up and wake up to a lake every day. I'm just thinking about like a kid from New York City seeing a picture of a tractor and going, what is that? And cows, you know, and we've talked about the white deer, right? You know, like we have so much to be proud of here.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. And then, you know, the New York City kids can take a picture in New York City pizza and be like, hey, this is what our pizza is like down here in the Big Apple. And also the CUE Seneca 4-H Fair is coming up. We want to give an early call for this, not until the end of July, but there are activities and everything starting to ramp up towards that.
Guest: Yes, so our 4-Hers are getting ready with all of their exhibits, but we also want to make sure that the public knows about an exciting transportation grant that we received this year. And we know that gas prices are high and that funds are low. So this year we are delighted to offer bus runs from Ovid and Seneca Falls on Onondaga Coach buses. We're not talking about those hot, sweaty school buses.
Paul Szmal: Right.
Guest: It'll be a nice...
Paul Szmal: We're talking air-conditioned comfort.
Guest: Air-conditioned comfort. So these are going to be free rides to encourage families to go over to the CUE Seneca Youth Fair. Now there's no rides, right? This is a youth fair, the good old agricultural kind of highlight. So no rides and no, you know, fried dough, but we will have food trucks and we will have free samples and we will have exhibits. And of course, this is the opportunity for the community to come and see the cows, the chickens, the sheep, the pigs, and all of those kinds of fun things.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, for free.
Guest: Yeah, yeah. There may not be fried dough, but there are plenty of animals to look at.
Paul Szmal: Yes, and there will be food for purchase.
Guest: Yeah, yeah. There you go. And that again is coming up at the end of July. What's the location for that again?
Paul Szmal: So the fair itself is located over in Union Springs. So we'll have bus runs on Friday, July 31st, leaving Ovid in the morning and you'll return back for midday. We'll let the bus driver have a lunch and then there will be a bus run that will be leaving the Seneca Falls Community Center for the North End folks to get over to Union Springs. Now some of these workshops and events do require registration. You can find out more about them by going to the website SenecaCountyCCE.org, SenecaCountyCCE.org, or if you search Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension on Facebook, you can give that a like and a follow and then it will show up right in your Facebook feed. So, Trisha, Karen, as always, appreciate it and look forward to some of these summertime activities happening. We'll check in with you all next month.
Guest: All right. Thanks, Paul.
Paul Szmal: Thank you.
