There are still a few of us in Rotterdam who buy in bulk[BJ's] that buy a steak loin and cut it up and freeze it. I also will buy 18 pork chops, 5 lbs hamburger, 4 doz eggs, and all kinds of paper products. If we get snowed in or lose power it's no big deal we just fire up the generator and plug in the freezer and refrigerator and I'm good for about 4 days b4 I need gas for the generator. It's called being prepared and as a good boy scout I am. God helps those who help themselves.

shadow...I do the exact same.

Quoted from 16

I agree with you, Rene.  You have a nice little town in Duanesburg.  If some of this stuff is built, I'm sure it would mostly be kept "downtown," i.e. near the intersection of 7 & 20.  Have you possibly looked into some of the sharing / working together, especially with Princetown, as it seems that Rotterdam may be doing from the other end?

Yes, a couple of years ago we pursued a "tri town" sewer project with Rotterdam, P'town, and D'burg.  It was not feasible due to the vast empty space along Rt. 7 as well as other obstacles.  P'town is well aware of my desire to share the water system with them for the hamlet of D'burg.  It could be a possibility in the future.  Of course the trek "up hill" will prove to be an expensive challenge.  Right now they are working on their own water extension.  These projects are monumental and very time consuming for small towns with no staff. We have had our own cooperation agreements with other towns and villages for years.  It is not anything new, nor rocket science for us, just a matter of survival.  We contract with Esperance and Burtonville for them to provide fire protection in the western end of town. We contract with the village of Delanson to provide our building inspector services to them.  Our highway dept. clears their roads in the winter. We are all always at the ready to lend a hand.  The county Highway does a great job on their roads out here too.

Some people move here and can't stand the inconvenience, they bolt back to the city.  They think we are nuts.  It takes me less time to get to Rotterdam then it does to get through the light at Tops some days.

My husband and I also buy in bulk even though it is just the two of us now. And we also have a freezer and a generator. It gives us a feeling of security and self reliance. Living in the Northeast and with the uncertain change in weather, you should be prepared. So I guess that I am a candidate for Duanesburg residency!!

JoAnn, our arms will be open to welcome you!!!!

Well, it may be sooner than we think if they start developing the Rt 7 corridor sometime soon. Then we are Duanesburg bound!! And we may have two message boards. One for Rotterdam and one for Duanesburg!

It is only a matter of time before it moves west.

Quoted from 47

It is only a matter of time before it moves west.

like locust.....

How about http://www.SchenectadyCounty.info?

http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

Life the on farm Dairy operator hopes to give visitors a look at underappreciated part of the American fabric
BY BILL BUELL Gazette Reporter

   Seymour VanderVeen can’t believe how much people don’t know about farming. “I would say that 75 years ago in this country, everybody was somehow involved in farming,” said VanderVeen, who owns and operates a dairy farm in Delanson. “Today, people are so ignorant about farm life and where their food comes from, especially the kids. They haven’t got a clue.”
   VanderVeen will be sharing his knowledge of farming Saturday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., as part of Schenectady County’s Farm and Foliage Day. VanderVeen’s 400-acre spread, called the Seven View Farm and situated at 629 Sheldon Road in the western outskirts of Schenectady County, will be one of nine different destinations making up the Farm and Foliage program.
DUTCH BOY’S DREAM
   Cows, particularly the 120 or so Holsteins he owns, are VanderVeen’s favorite topic of conversation, but he also loves discussing dairy business and farming in general. Since he was a small boy growing up in the Netherlands, owning a farm in America was the only thing he ever wanted, and, 40 years after he took over the property in Delanson, his profession remains his vocation.
   “I used to watch the old American movies when I was kid, and I was always intrigued by this country,” said VanderVeen, who along with his wife, Grace, also a native Netherlander, raised six children on their farm. “I always wanted to be a farmer in America. I had farming in my blood, and after watching all those movies with Tom Mix and Alan Ladd, all I wanted to do was get over here and farm my own place.”
   VanderVeen got here in 1958 at the age of 21, after going to agricultural school and serving NATO as a member of the Dutch army. He spent most of his first decade in the United States working farms in New Jersey and the Hudson Valley before he secured a loan to buy the farm in Delanson.
   “My brothers were teachers and engineers, and they kept telling me to get farming out of my head,” remembered VanderVeen. “My dad was a contractor, but my mother grew up on a farm in northern Holland. So it was in my blood. I love animals and growing things and being outside. So I never secondguessed myself. It was definitely
the right thing to do.”
   A typical work day at the VanderVeen farm finds him up and milking the cows by 5 a.m. Breakfast is served at 8 a.m., lunch around 12:30 p.m., and dinner at 6 or 6:30. During the summer, it’s usually back to work until the sun goes down.
   “It’s not 9 to 5 around here, it’s 5 to 9 and that’s 9 p.m.,” said VanderVeen. “You have a little more free time in the fall and winter, but I hate the cold — so I hate winter. I love the spring and the summer, but you’re so busy there’s no time to enjoy it. I guess I love fall the best and this kind of weather. The only problem is I know that the cold’s coming soon.”
   Along with his herd of Holsteins, VanderVeen has about 50 goats, 25 chickens, a family of peacocks, a colony of cats — he’s not sure of the exact number — and a dog named Dutch.
   “My granddaughter keeps talking about a horse. So I’ll probably get one of those, too,” said VanderVeen, who also produces 32,000 bales of hay during the year and sells them to horse farms in Massachusetts. “But the one thing you have to have with a dairy herd is a dog. Dutch is about 7 now and he does a great job. Sometimes, he gets too excited and you have to calm him down. He’s a border collie, and it’s just bred in them. He’s not a watchdog though. He doesn’t even bark at people. He’d let anybody just walk right in.”
   VanderVeen employs some part-time help to work the farm, although it’s mostly a family affair. He has a son and a daughter who are partners with him, and a sonin-law also works full time on the farm. VanderVeen, whose farm was designated as a Dairy of Distinction by the Northeast Dairy Farm Beautification Program (awarded to farms that promote a healthful image of dairy farming), says he’d like to write a book about the dairy
business.
   “In 1960, there were 640,000 individual dairy farms in the state of New York,” he said. “Now, there’s 72,000 in the whole U.S. When I started out, everything was done with milk cans, and hand-milking was the practice. There’s no such thing today, although some of the Amish still do it. Everything has evolved into high tech, and if you didn’t go with the times and invest the money, you didn’t stay in the business. That’s why a lot of farms failed.
   “My neighbor told me that his brother used to haul milk, and with one truck he’d pick up cans from 28 farms in this area,” said VanderVeen. “That was 1960. Now, on this farm, we’re making more milk in one milking than those 28 farms did. Because of the high tech, everything is easier to produce, and it increases production.”
   T h e f a r m h o u s e w h e r e VanderVeen lives is 250 years old. The deed to the land, previously owned by the Joslins and the Briggs, is the original contract made with the American Indians living in the area sometime early in the 18th century. Hollywood legend Ginger Rogers, one of those stars VanderVeen watched while growing up in the Netherlands, actually visited the house in the mid-1940s with her husband, Calvin Briggs II, of nearby Quaker Street.
   “Her husband was a descendent of Jack Briggses, the original owner, and they were here on the farm at least once,” said VanderVeen. “Jack was the original member of the Briggs family. He was here way back in the early 1700s, and he might have been farming this land at the time of the Schenectady Massacre [in 1690]. I still have the old deed that has the crosses where the Indians signed it with blood.”



BRUCE SQUIERS/ GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
Seymour VanderVeen, right, walks on his farm with grandchildren Leah, left, Nicole and Micah Tangen as they pass a sign marking Schenectady County's only “Dairy With Distinction” title

VanderVeen checks on cows being milked in his barn.
Scenes such as this, along the Alplaus Kill in Alplaus, will be enjoyed as part of Schenectady County’s Farm and Foliage Day.

If anyone has the time to attend this event you won't be disappointed.  Seymour is an incredible man, I graduated high school with his son and his daughter in law.  You will never forget him if you hear him speak publicly.......or privately I might add.  He is a true conservative through and through.  He was a member of the County Soil and Water Board for many, many years untl last year when he was tossed on his ear and told they didn't need his service any longer.  Replaced by some guy from Glenville or something.  How anyone could possibly remove him from the Board when he owns and operates pretty close to the largest, if not the largest farm in the county.  

As a society we tend to leave our foundations and go for the 'pride'.....

We can have a solid foundation that does move with the changes we add technologically.....I think that is why there are folks who are offended at the "Kill a Fowl" store......

Quoted from 47

If anyone has the time to attend this event you won't be disappointed.  Seymour is an incredible man, I graduated high school with his son and his daughter in law.  You will never forget him if you hear him speak publicly.......or privately I might add.  He is a true conservative through and through.  He was a member of the County Soil and Water Board for many, many years untl last year when he was tossed on his ear and told they didn't need his service any longer.  Replaced by some guy from Glenville or something.  How anyone could possibly remove him from the Board when he owns and operates pretty close to the largest, if not the largest farm in the county.  

This seems to happen in all areas these days. The people who are equiped with knowledge  and the expertise seem to be discounted. And people don't see to reverence the wisdom from the older folks either. Shame!

The older folks have forgotten more than some of the people appointed to some positions will ever know on many subjects. Experience and wisdom are very good teachers.