Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 102

The First Instant Message

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What Hath God Wrought

In researching the history of Sharon Springs and neighboring communities, one comes upon fascinating individuals. Some of them made upstate New York their home and were central to political and sociological events. Others were visitors to the region and drew on its pastoral beauty and quietude to pursue their callings.

One such visitor was Samuel Finley Breese Morse. Since he was born in April 27, 1791 and died on April 2, 1872 – we’ve decided to write about him this month. He is generally known as the inventor of the first practical telegraph system and the creator of the Morse code. But he was also a successful painter and art professor, a Renaissance man of his time.

Samuel F. B. Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the eldest child of the Calvinist pastor and renowned geographer Jedidiah Morse and Elizabeth Ann Breese. He came to be known to family and friends as Finley. After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, Finley entered Yale College at age 14 and studied religious philosophy, mathematics, and the science of horses. He also attended some classes on electricity. To support himself he painted miniatures of his friends. On graduation in 1810, Finley decided, over his parents’ objections, to pursue a career as a painter. The next year, he began studies at the Royal Academy of Art in London.

In 1815, Finley returned to the United States and spent the next 10 years working as a painter, traveling widely and specializing in portraits. (Ten of Morse’s portraits are in possession of the Fenimore Art Museum of the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown, some 23 miles to the southwest of Sharon Springs – a great place to experience New York history!) Finley was also interested in technology and worked with his brother Sidney Edward Morse on various pumps, taking out three patents as early as 1817.

In 1829, Finley returned to Europe to paint and study the old masters, visiting Italy, Switzerland, and France. While in Paris, he developed a close friendship with the writer James Fenimore Cooper – the son of Judge William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown (two more fascinating individuals who are part of the upstate historical tapestry). On his ocean voyage home in 1832, Finley reportedly had discussions about electromagnetism with a fellow passenger, leading to his sketching ideas for an electromagnetic recording telegraph.

Back in the United States, Finley continued working on his wide-ranging interests. He took a post as professor of Painting and Sculpture at the University of the City of New York, and he continued work in electromagnetism, exploring the concept of using pulses of electrical current to convey information by wire over long distances. By late 1835, he had worked out the principals of a relay system. He also developed a dot-and-dash electronic alphabet for the messages.

Finley’s cousin, Judge James Otis Morse, owned a house in Cherry Valley on Montgomery Street (still known as the Morse House). In 1837, Finley stayed there and, with his associate Amos L. Swan, the manufacturer of the Cherry Valley Melodeon, conducted experiments on a working telegraph system.

On May 24, 1844, Finley demonstrated his telegraph system by sending a message from the Supreme Court Room in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., to the railway depot at Baltimore, Maryland. “What hath God wrought” was the first message ever transmitted.  Quite prescient given the text messages and social networks that are the direct descendants of that series of dots and dashes.

That same year, Finley returned to Cherry Valley and he and his partner Amos Swan established the first telegraph office in the area – part of the Albany-Syracuse telegraph run – in two small wooden buildings on Alden Street (near the current stoplight). During his time in Cherry Valley, Finley painted for relaxation. Meanwhile, by the 1840s, Sharon Springs had become known as a resort center where people came for mineral baths, with large hotels being built for growing number of visitors, many of them the social elite. We can assume Finley took advantage of this nearby luxury. (Other Cherry Valley social elites, Samuel and Icynthia Meeks Campbell – ancestors of blogger Chris Campbell – stayed at the Pavilion Hotel in Sharon Springs on August 21, 1841.)

By 1849, there were over 12,000 miles of telegraph lines across the United States, operated by 20 different companies. In 1856, the Western Union Telegraph Company was founded. By 1858, the two coasts of the United States were linked by telegraph. Telegraph communication also gained a foothold in Europe, and, on August 16th,1858, the first transatlantic message was sent.

In 1847, Finley bought Locust Grove in Poughkeepsie, New York, and  lived there and in New York City with his second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Griswold. His first wife Lucretia Pickering Walker had died in 1825. He had four children by each wife. In 1871, the year before his death, a bronze statue of Morse was unveiled at Central Park in New York.

Although other inventors laid the groundwork for telegraphy and helped devise similar systems as Morse did as well as codes for transmission, he was the first to devise a practical system and his patents were upheld in court. The Morse code also became a standard message system and is still used in many applications, including Ham Radio (W2CDC, a.k.a. Chris Campbell, makes use of it regularly). The telegraph ranks historically with the railroad, telephone, and Internet in helping connect the global community. And the greater Sharon Springs region played a part.

 

The History Boys are

Chris Campbell has made his permanent home in Cherry Valley, NY. The Campbell family dates back to 1739 in this town, situated about eight miles from Sharon Springs. Some family members were captured by Tories and Iroquois allies in the Cherry Valley Massacre of 1778 during the American Revolution and taken to Canada, released two years later in Albany as part of a prisoner exchange. Chris is a rare book and map collector and has had a lifelong interest in history, especially relating to upstate New York and colonial land patents. He was the founder and first chairman of the Cherry Valley Planning Board and has worked as a surveyor and realtor as well as a researcher for the Otsego County map department. His hobbies include Ham radio.

Carl Waldman, also living in Cherry Valley, is a former archivist for the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. He is he author of a number of reference books published by Facts On File, including Atlas of the North American Indian and Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, both originally published in the 1980s and both in their third editions. He is the co-author of Encyclopedia of Exploration (2005) and Encyclopedia of European Peoples (2006). Carl has also done screenwriting about Native Americans, including an episode of Miami Vice entitled “Indian Wars” and the Legend of Two-Path, a drama about the Native American side of Raleigh’s Lost Colony, shown at Festival Park on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. His hobbies include music and he works with young people in the Performance and Production Workshops at the Cherry Valley Old School.

The Twisted Mint Julep

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For the Spring and Summer growing season, we bring you a new feature at Beekman 1802, the Soused Gnome.  He’ll teach  you how to “gartend”–create perfect seasonal cocktails using fresh ingredients from the garden.

 

I grew up on an Organic farm in New Jersey.  New Jersey you say?  There aren’t farms in NJ!  Well, my friends it is true. There are farms and passionate people who grow herbs and vegetables that speak clearly of the “ Terroir” or flavor of the place.

My parents encouraged me to grow herbs.  Sure I had a vegetable garden, but my true passion as a boy was to grow aromatic herbs.  Fortunate to grow up with a firm background of European travel, I brought seeds back from the various countries and planted them in my garden.  Fennel from Tuscany, Lavender from the South of France, Basil from a garden outside of Rome, Kentucky Colonel Mint from, you guessed it, Kentucky!  The glasses of sweet iced tea or freshly made lemonade that graced our dinner table always had freshly picked mint in them.  The tomatoes that warmed themselves on the vine until bursting with juice would eventually find their way onto a plate with freshly snipped fennel and basil, danced upon by some otherworldly olive oil that I brought back from Europe.

This morning while wandering through the garden I noticed a healthy patch of the Kentucky Colonel mint growing in the usual spot against the clapboards of my home.  It’s been freezing cold as of late even into the middle of April. The warm spell that we had several weeks ago seems now to be a vestige of another time or year.  Thirty degrees this morning doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  I will say however that the patch of mint is doing what it is meant to do, grow full and lush- even under such adverse circumstances!

Early spring should be cold.  A spring frost “hardens off” the weak herb sprouts and forces the strong ones to survive.  We need a cold spring to give strength to the herbs in the hot months of the summer.  Mint is one of those plants that seem to thrive in all sorts of weather.  If you don’t have a mint patch by your home, by all means get yourself down to your local garden center and plant some Kentucky Colonel variety mint.  This is the most amazing mint in a “Mint Julep” and if you don’t have a sterling silver Julep Cup, maybe this would be a good time to find one.

If you are unable to secure some sterling silver cups, a couple of good thick rocks glasses will work perfectly well and will frost up just the same.

 

The Twisted Mint Julep

 

Ingredients

3 shots Tuthilltown Rye Whiskey

2 shots Lucid Absinthe

Crushed Ice (Be sure to crush your ice in a vintage hand cranked machine)

Granulated Raw Sugar (like the product- Sugar in the Raw)

A couple drops of Grade B Maple Syrup (Optional: For depth)

Freshly picked mint

 

Preparation:

Carefully pick the smallest (they are the most intense) leaves from the mint and wash, wrap in a moist kitchen cloth to keep fresh, pick the nicest ones for the garnish later

To your glass or sterling silver julep cup, add a couple leaves of the mint, then a bit of the sugar, some ice, muddle them around a bit.  Then add a splash of the Tuthilltown Rye, then a splash of the Lucid Absinthe.  Muddle (this means mash up with the rounded end of a wooden spoon) the mint with the sugar with the liquors, adding more ice, mint, sugar and liquors until the vessel is nice and frosty.  Be patient.  This is not a fast drink, but one that requires reverence!

Garnish with the most pristine of mint sprigs and drip a couple of drops of dark Maple Syrup (Like Grade B) over the top for a sweeter finish!

 

 

 

 

Warren Bobrow is the Food and Drink Editor of the 501c3, non profit Wild Table on Wild River Review located in Princeton, New Jersey.  He has published over three hundred articles in about three years on everything from cocktail mixology to restaurant reviews and travel articles.  Learn more from his website, The Cocktail Whisperer,  or by visiting his blogs at The Daily Basic, Foodista, and Williams-Sonoma

 

5 Beautiful Things

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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We're calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week

 

Goats

At Pinterest, I have a photo gallery devoted exclusively to the cuteness of goats. I have always loved these strange, adorable animals and everything they represent, particularly their persistence and stubbornness. My astrological sign is Capricorn – the sign of the goat – and perhaps that plays some  influence on my affection for these creatures. The story of the slow but steady goat, climbing the mountainside to reach greener pastures beyond is a story I've been thinking a lot about lately as I make my own small but sure steps in a new direction. It is a harrowing movie I play in my mind, like a National Geographic short: a lone goat, fighting the wind and the treacherous incline, climbing, climbing, climbing under a stormy sky with little rays of light shining mercifully on the path.

Goats don't like guidance or assistance and have a hard time accepting the demands of the shepherd. This is true of me, as it is many of us, and I find comfort in the knowledge that we have kindred spirits in the animal world, that we come by our shrewd independence honestly.

The first time I saw the Beekman goats, it was a cold, snowy November day. Josh had invited my mother and I to the farm to sample the new Blaak cheese with homemade crackers and a fresh batch of homemade, sparkling apple cider. (Below is a photo of my mother with one of the kids on a  subsequent spring visit to the farm.) It is still one of my greatest memories hearing the cacophony of calls from the herd as Josh led us into the barn.

They leaped and jumped and bounced, all vying for our affection. Josh knew most of them by name and kissed a few of them on the nose. After a tour, we went inside and sat by the fire with the snow falling outside and sampled the cheese the goats who lived just steps away had helped produce.

It was all so wonderful.

In some ways my Goat board at Pinterest is a tribute to the Beekman goats, and to all of us 'people goats' who identify with the personalities and characteristics of these remarkable animals.

 

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Photos:

1. Capra Aegagrus Hircus, photo by Ito Kicho

2. My mum with one of the Beekman kids, photo by Sharron Hodgson

3. Painting by Carnine Jannin

4. An Irish goat, photographer unknown

5. photographer unknown

 

Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he'll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.

City of Dreams

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We bought our first apartment 11 years ago.    We did more than just grow our relationship here, we grew our first heirloom tomato on THIS roof deck.  It was the place of our dreams and the start of Beekman Farm.

But dreams change over time, and now the dream we're working toward includes both of us living on the farm and working together to make Beekman 1802 a success.

Paying down the mortgage on the farm will give us the flexibility we need to take the next step.  Selling our first apartment together means selling the past to finance the future.

The farm may be full of wide open spaces, but life in the city (at least on our budget) was about maximizing space and light.

We made some thoughtful design decisions when creating this space, take a tour with us:

 

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Tell us your favorite memory of your first place in the comments section below

English Muffins

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These are so delicious– you won't want to go back to store-bought ones ever again!  A perfect complement to your very own preserves!  Perhaps the only drawback is the need to be close to the kitchen for several hours.

 

NANCY'S ENGLISH MUFFINS

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

¼ cup melted butter

2 TBS white sugar

6 cups all-purpose flour [King Arthur is best]

1 [.25 oz] package yeast

2 TBS Wheat Germ

1 cup warm water [110 F]

1 teaspoon salt

 

Directions:

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles; then remove from heat.  Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm.  In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, butter, salt, and 6 cups flour.  Beat until smooth, add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough.  Knead.  Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place.  Usually about 1 hour.
Punch down. Roll out to about ½ inch thick.  Cut rounds with biscuit cutter [you can also use a drinking glass or empty tuna can].  Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise.  Dust tops with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise for ½ hour.
Heat greased griddle [to about 270 F].  Cook muffins on griddle for about 10 minutes on each side.  Keep baked muffins in a warm oven [250 F] until all have been cooked [about 20-30 minutes for each batch].  Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage.  To use, split and toast.  Can be frozen!

 

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Nooks and crannies filled with butter and peach/rosemary spread

Grow with Us!

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Last year, we worked with Williams-Sonoma to create the World's Largest "Community" Garden—10,000 people growing 10 of the same heirloom variety vegetables that we grow ourselves here on Beekman Farm.  (Click here to become a part of the online community)

This year, the garden grows even larger!

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The original Heirloom Garden

 

We've created two new sets for the launch of the Williams-Sonoma Agrarian project.  Click here to see their beautifully curated assortment of fine gardening products to help you bring food the table in a completely new and completely beautiful way.

With just a mid-sized planter on your patio or a few small pots on your sunniest window sill, you can harvest a Year of Salad.  Working with Landreth Seed Co., we created a custom blend of salad greens.  Each set contains 12 packets of seeds–plant one packet every 30 days and you'll never be without fresh greens.  We've even included 12 Beekman 1802 salad dressing ideas so that each month of the year can bring you a little extra surprise for your palate.

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The Salad Collection

 

And did you know that you can expand the horizon of pesto beyond just basil?     The new Pesto Set includes several different herb varieties and Beekman 1802 recipes for making pesto for pasta, fish, and meat dishes.

 

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Pesto, please!

 

But by far the thing we're most excited about is the opportunity to help raise funds to support the Edible Schoolyard Project.  Started by our friend, Alice Waters, the Project helps fund the planting of vegetable gardens on school properties around the country, teaching kids an invaluable lesson about where food comes from and often providing a needed source of healthy food in what is otherwise a food dessert.

As part of the Agrarian launch, we helped Williams-Sonoma with a gardening glass curriculum.  On Earth Day (April 22), every Williams-Sonoma store in the US and Canada will offer an "Intro to Edible Gardening: Seed Starting" class.  Participants will be provided with heirloom seeds, starter pots and soil, and will go home with five seed starts created during the class.  The entire $10 class fee will be donated to Edible Schoolyards.  Contact your local store for information about the time the class will take place in your community.

We look forward to growing with all of you!!

 

Take a look at how Beekman 1802 can help you grow bigger!  Click here

5 Beautiful Things

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This new feature is designed to inspire you to look at the world around you, to take note of the season at hand and to capture it – in memory or on film – for posterity. I will be choosing five photos each week for Beekman1802.com with this aim in mind. We're calling the feature, The Five Most Beautiful Things In The World This Week

EASTER 101

Strictly speaking, Easter is a Christian festival that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion by the Romans. It is the oldest Christian celebration and the most sacred holy day on the Christian calendar.

The many Easter traditions we observe today, however, have a variety of origins: some of them religious, some of them secular. In the tradition of a good old-fashioned Easter-egg hunt, I thought I'd do some digging to uncover some of the origins of these traditions upon which I've based this week's photo selection, below.

 

DETERMINING THE DATE OF EASTER:

In simplest terms, Easter is observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, or March 21. However, the actual determination of the date of Easter is far more complicated, based on more than a thousand years of Christian and astrological interpretation.

 

The full moon associated with the Spring Equinox is actually the Easter moon (or Paschal moon) which is based on 84-year Paschal cycles, established by the church in the sixth century. Paschal moons rarely correspond to the astronomical full moon, so complex calculations that factor the arrival of both moons could mean an Easter holiday anywhere between March 22 and April 25.

 

THE EASTER BUNNY:

The myth of the Easter Bunny, also known as Oschter Haws and Peter Cottontail, originated in Germany in the 1500s, though the symbol of the rabbit likely played a part in folk traditions associated with spring long before then. The Pennsylvania Dutch brought the story of the Easter Bunny to the United States in the 1700s. A gift-giving trickster, the Easter Bunny delighted children with his treats, which were originally breads, small cakes or bouquets of flowers.

 

THE EASTER EGG:

Cultures around the world have revered the egg, not only for its perfect shape and versatility, but also for its meaning. The egg has always been the most important symbol of spring, inferring fertility, femininity, growth, renewal and the cycle of life itself. The tradition of the Easter egg hunt began in medieval Europe when villagers would pluck colorful birds' eggs from nests and coops and then hide them outdoors for the children to find. They would be gathered in baskets and would then be eaten at a spring ceremony, which eventually became associated with Easter celebrations. Slavic and Germanic cultures eventually began to decorate the eggs using a variety of artistic techniques incorporating dyes and waxes. These were given as gifts to family and friends at Eastertime. Thus, the pretty, colorful Easter egg was born.

 

CHOCOLATE AND EASTER:

The first edible Easter Bunnies were made out of chocolate in the 1800s by German bakers. Elaborate, fanciful iron molds in the shapes of rabbits, hens and eggs would form tempered chocolate into beautiful shapes. (These molds are extremely collectible today.) The confections were given as gifts to children and sweethearts on Easter Sunday. German immigrants to North America brought this tasty tradition with them.

 

THE EASTER BONNET

The first Easter bonnets were actually spring ceremonial headdresses worn by women in medieval European cultures, usually made from a wreath of twigs and flowers. The Easter Bonnet made its debut in North America after the Civil War in 1865 when mothers, daughters and wives of lost soldiers adorned themselves with brightly-colored hats filled with flowers and blooming twigs, ending their period of mourning as the Easter holiday approached. If fresh flowers were not available, the women would craft them out of paper, fabric, feathers and seashells.

 

THE EASTER LILY:

This holiday flower (Lilium Longiforum) is native to the Ryuku Islands of southern Japan. Lilies are mentioned numerous times in the Bible and white lilies, in particular, impart a sense of innocence, purity and reflection. It is said that white lilies were found growing in the garden of Gethsemane after Christ's crucifixion, springing up where drops of his blood had fallen. Today, 95% of all lilium-longiforum bulbs grown are produced by just ten farms in the United States on a narrow coastal region straddling the California-Oregon border.

 

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Photos:

1. Collectible egg cups from the 1940s, Martha Stewart Living, April 2002

2. Easter Lily garland, BHLDN.com

3. A variation on an Easter bonnet, BHLDN.com

4. Portrait of a hare (photographer unknown)

5. Pysanky Easter eggs (limilee.tumblr.com)

 

Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he'll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.

 

Star of Sharon

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The Sharon Springs Synagogue

The first Jewish population arrived in America in the 17th century; since then, American Jews have been an important part of American identity and culture. Within the Jewish community in America, there have been some major divisions concerning religious beliefs and adherence to practices. Three large sub-divisions came out of American Judaism: Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox.

Reform Judaism is the most theologically liberal denomination in Judaism. According to the Union for Reform Judaism, Reform Judaism is committed to the "principle of inclusion, not exclusion (extending to interfaith marriages), the absolute equality of women in all areas of Jewish life, and full participation of gays and lesbians in synagogue life as well as society at large."

Conservative Judaism is more theologically traditional and was created in response to Reform Judaism. Whereas the Union for Reform Judaism emphasizes social engagement and justice as opposed to adherence to religious practice, the Leadership Council of Conservative Judaism believes "Jewish law and tradition properly understood and interpreted, will enrich Jewish life and help mold the world closer to the prophetic vision of the Kingdom of God".

Orthodox Judaism is the most theologically conservative denomination in Judaism. Unlike other denominations in Judaism, Orthodoxy is not a single movement or school of thought. Most Orthodox Jews today believe that contemporary Orthodox Judaism, unlike other denominations, maintains the same basic philosophy and practices that existed throughout Jewish history.  Out of the three main denominations, Orthodox Judaism is considered to be the furthest idealistically removed from secular America.

Sharon Springs has had an interesting relationship with all of these denominations of Judaism, but most recently with the Orthodox, and particularly ultra-Orthodox, sects. After Saratoga Springs and other resort towns banned Jewish visitors, Sharon Springs became a haven for wealthy German Reform and Conservative Jews. Soon, Orthodox Jews followed their brethren to visit the baths and spas. One of these Orthodox Jews, Dr. Rabbi Bernard Drachman (1861-1945) was so entranced by Sharon Springs, he founded a synagogue in the town in 1904.

 

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Rabbi Drachman is considered to be one of the most important leaders in American Orthodoxy. He had a large synagogue in New York City, where Harry Houdini was one of his pupils. Drachman founded the Sharon Springs synagogue to serve the growing Orthodox community. It was so popular in the summer, that there often were not enough seats.

By the 1960s, Sharon Springs found itself as a hub for Hasidic Jews of the Satmar court. Hasidic Jews are different from the the large largest sects of Judaism; they are ultra-Orthodox, maintaing not only the religious practices of their ancestors, but their dress, food, language, and customs of 18th century Eastern Europe. First introduced to Sharon Springs by the Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, the Hasidim quickly established boarding houses and a mikvah (ritual bathing house) to fill their community's needs. As less orthodox Jews stopped visiting Sharon Springs, the Hasidim took over the synagogue. They built a new kitchen, put up signs in Yiddish, and divided the small building for women and children to be separated from the men as is their religious custom. The Hasidim even constructed an eruv around the community. This is a ritual enclosure, in this case made of fishing wire, that observant Jewish communities construct in their neighborhoods as a way to permit the transportation of objects from one house to a synagogue on the Sabbath, which is otherwise prohibited by Jewish law.

In 1996, the Sharon Springs Synagogue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Though the Hasidim have stopped coming to Sharon Springs in large numbers, a small group still comes in August every year.  For those two weeks in August, the synagogue is opened once more and Jewish visitors freely practice their religion as they have in Sharon Springs for over one hundred years.

 

Tour the synagogue as part of the Historic Walking Tour at this year's Sharon Springs Garden Party Festival.  Click here for ticket information.  Space is limited.

 

Guest Blogger Emily Lang is a graduate student in the Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies. She is currently working on her thesis, "The Othering of Sharon Springs", about Jewish tourism in Sharon Springs.  She will answer questions about Sharon Springs' history during the tour.

Proverbial

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Folk Wisdom

A proverb can be defined as a short saying that illustrates a truth. Typically rural in origin and part of oral tradition, they represent the homespun wisdom of a people. The 16th-17th century Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes put forth – in proverb form – that "a proverb is a short sentence based on long experience."

Animals are often used metaphorically in proverbs to impart folk wisdom. Given the fact that the region around Sharon Springs has been farm country historically – we wrote in our last blog about the Schoharie Valley as "the Breadbasket of the American Revolution" – domestic and wild animals both make for good examples of proverbs as local wisdom, and we have collected some.

We cannot state that the proverbs below are derived from or were even recited exactly as presented in the Schoharie region. In fact, although, some proverbs are known to be of specific nations or a people, they traveled with populations and their origins cannot be traced with certainty. Who knows, for example, when and where the familiar proverbs "Don't count your chickens until they're hatched," "You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink," and "The early bird catches the worm" were first spoken or if the original versions were even in English? But they sure spread far and wide.

Some proverbs do typify a particular people's philosophy, such as the reportedly Native American, "The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives" and "Every animal knows more than you do"; or the supposed Chinese "One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him" and "A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song." The proverb, "A prudent man does not make the goat his gardener," reportedly Hungarian in origin, sure sounds like it might derive from Beekman country. In any case, the practicality of one rural people parallels that of people on other continents, and from the list below one get a sense of what was on people's minds in local hills and valleys in earlier centuries and even today.

Enjoy these words of wisdom from the country:

 

"A still sow gets the slop."

"It is not the horse that draws the cart, but the oats."

"You can't sell the cow and have the milk too."

"Better to drink the milk than to eat the cow."

"It is the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to skin it."

"Don't lock the barn door after the horse is stolen."

"Farmers work on Sunday if the ox is in the ditch."

"The wagon rests in winter, the sleigh in summer, the horse never."

"Even an ass loves to hear himself bray."

"It's a sorry ass that will not bear its own burden."

"A sheep that bleats loses many a mouthful."

"Young pigs grunt as old pigs grunted before them."

"It is better to have a hen tomorrow than an egg today."

"The sleeping fox gathers no poultry."

"No matter how high a bird flies, it has to come down for water."

"Every bird likes its own nest."

"A donkey laden with gold is but a donkey."

"An ass burdened with books thinks himself a scholar."

"A new net won't catch an old bird."

"Little by little the bird builds its nest."

"When the snake is in the house, one need not discuss the matter at length."

"Curses, like chickens, come home to roost."

"If you were born lucky, even your rooster will lay eggs."

"Laws catch flies and let hornets go free."

"Caution is not cowardice; even ants march armed."

"A smart mouse has more than one hole."

"A wild colt may become a sober old horse."

"The raggy colt often made a powerful horse."

"If two men ride a horse, one must ride behind."

"Don't bargain for fish which are still in the water."

"Give to a pig when it grunts and a child when it cries, and you will have a fine pig and a bad child."

"A barleycorn is better than a diamond to a rooster."

"Judge not the horse by his saddle."

"Don't change horses while crossing a stream."

"It is useless to flog a dead horse."

"The only free cheese is in the mouse trap."

"If you call one wolf, you invite the pack."

"When the fox preaches, beware of your geese."

"Wherever a goat goes, a kid follows."

"One swallow does not make a summer."

"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

"Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet."

"A house without either a cat or a dog is the house of a scoundrel."

"Three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise."

"With foxes we must play the fox."

"Neighbors watch more closely than foxes."

"The wolf loses his teeth, but not his inclinations."

"The greatest love is a mother's, then a dog's, then a sweetheart's."

"A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away with him."

"If you play with a cat, you must not mind her scratch."

"Keep a tree green in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come."

 

…and a final word of folk advice:   "Use books (or blogs!) as bees use flowers."

 

 

 

The History Boys are

Chris Campbell has made his permanent home in Cherry Valley, NY. The Campbell family dates back to 1739 in this town, situated about eight miles from Sharon Springs. Some family members were captured by Tories and Iroquois allies in the Cherry Valley Massacre of 1778 during the American Revolution and taken to Canada, released two years later in Albany as part of a prisoner exchange. Chris is a rare book and map collector and has had a lifelong interest in history, especially relating to upstate New York and colonial land patents. He was the founder and first chairman of the Cherry Valley Planning Board and has worked as a surveyor and realtor as well as a researcher for the Otsego County map department. His hobbies include Ham radio.

 

Carl Waldman, also living in Cherry Valley, is a former archivist for the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. He is he author of a number of reference books published by Facts On File, including Atlas of the North American Indian and Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, both originally published in the 1980s and both in their third editions. He is the co-author of Encyclopedia of Exploration (2005) and Encyclopedia of European Peoples (2006). Carl has also done screenwriting about Native Americans, including an episode of Miami Vice entitled "Indian Wars" and the Legend of Two-Path, a drama about the Native American side of Raleigh's Lost Colony, shown at Festival Park on Roanoke Island in North Carolina. His hobbies include music and he works with young people in the Performance and Production Workshops at the Cherry Valley Old School.

The Chatter for April

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We've lobbied really hard for Garrison Keillor to give up life in Lake Wobegone and move to Sharon Springs,  but thus far he has not answered our letters or returned our calls.

Sharon Springs has beautiful people and above-average children, too, so on to Plan B.

What is a small town village without a small town paper to keep track of what everyone is doing?

Leila Durkin, proprietor of The Village Hall Gallery, is now editor of our own little paper.

Each month you can check back here for a new issue and follow the lives of the real village people.  If you pay a real visit, you  may even want to submit a story idea of your own!

You may not live in small town, but at least you can pretend.

See below for the April 2012 Issue