Greetings & Happy New Year from the illustrious rolling hills of CNY.
| ||||||||||||||||
|
Winter Gathering
Where: Center for the Arts at Homer
When: Tuesday 1/21/25
🌮Taco Potluck🌮
Panel:
1) Linda Hartsock, Syracuse University Faculty,
Entrepreneurship & Economic Development
2) Natasha Brao, Founder of Root & Seed Brands
3) Lindsey McDonnell, Food & Farm Business Consultant; Good Roots
Update: How did we get here
& where are we now?
It all started with an idea: to gather the farmers. The culinary arts pillar of the Center for the Arts agenda was the perfect avenue for garnering support. After all, there can be no food, no culinary arts, without farms and farmers. With the help of Ethan Zoeckler, Ty Marshall, and Linda Hartsock, we gathered. Planting seeds of collaboration, a beautiful network of cultivators and creatives began to sprout.
Today, a year into our endeavor, the Agrarian Arts Initiative has 95 people following our progress, with a consistent turnout of 20-30 people at each gathering. From this wellspring of interest, the Homer Farmers Market has experienced a resurgence, featuring 10-15 vendors each week from spring to fall. These vendors share their veggies, fruits, meats, cheeses, breads, honeys, teas, and more.
The Center has also earned a grant for an “Agrarian Arts Incubator Kitchen,” enabling upgrades to kitchen equipment and licensing to create a certified food production facility for small-scale and fledgling businesses. Additionally, grass-fed organic beef burgers from our favorite Cobblestone Valley Farm are now sold at all major music events at the kitchen. Along with being delicious, we’re proud to call this a success!
Our heartfelt thanks go out to our incredibly resilient community of farmers, artists, and everyone in between. Thank you for showing up, sharing your ideas, and embracing the community we are building together. Little did we know how ripe our community was for connection through a shared passion for farming and art. But here we are, filled with gratitude and amazement at what we’ve created together. We can’t wait to grow even more.
Special thanks to Cobblestone Valley Farm and the incredible Knapp family for hosting our May Day Potluck and for fostering our community through food and fellowship. To Karlyn Fendya of Freetown Food Forest for hosting our March Gathering and introducing the AgArts idea of “Art to Farm.” To Adam Carlin of Talkrot, the gourmet mushroom grower based in Tully, for hosting our June Gathering and showing how artistry can seamlessly integrate into a food business. To Amanda Hughes of The Ice Cream Stand for supplying us with handmade sweet treats. And last but not least, to Ethan Zoeckler for being our steadfast organizer and champion of the Center, all while planning a wedding and building an incredible home on wheels.
Thank you to everyone, both seen and unseen, who makes this community organization possible. Here’s to continued growth, connection, and collaboration!
Meet Our Expert Panel
We welcome Linda Dickerson Hartsock of Syracuse University for “Farm Financials & Business Development.” She will lead a tactical workshop, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with an all-star lineup of local experts!
Linda, a faculty member at Syracuse University where she teaches entrepreneurship, brings extensive expertise in economic and community development, as well as agricultural and business development. Before joining SU, she was a senior member of New York State’s economic development team, serving as Regional Director for Empire State Development Corporation. She also served as President and CEO of the Cortland County Business Development Corporation/Industrial Development Agency, where she founded the country’s first Agribusiness Development Local Development Corporation (LDC) and hosted agribusiness summits.
Currently, she serves on the executive board of one of the country’s largest Community Development Corporations (CDC) and SBA lenders. Linda has significant experience facilitating federal and state grants and loans, including USDA Rural Development programs, and has collaborated extensively with NYS Agriculture and Markets and other agribusiness resource initiatives.
Joining her on the panel is Natasha Brao, an SU alumna, designer, brand development expert, and founder of Root and Seed Brands. Natasha is the creator of Shooka, a product line inspired by the classic Mediterranean dish shakshuka. She developed and launched Shooka as a student at SU, transforming it into a thriving business. Today, Shooka operates as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce brand, is available in specialty retail stores, and has been featured on television and in major publications.
Through her journey, Natasha gained invaluable experience in product development, food certification, working with co-packers, and manufacturing her product in Upstate New York. Since graduating, she has been scaling Shooka into new geographic markets, continuing her mission to bring real, whole, and culturally diverse food products to consumers.
Also joining the discussion is Lindsey McDonnell, whose passion for business ownership and the local food movement led her to become the general manager and co-owner of Kriemhild Dairy Farms. There, she built a successful grass-fed dairy business, managing all aspects of the company—from production to sales—over an eight-year period. In 2018, Lindsey shifted her focus to smaller-scale operations, founding Catalpa Flower Farm in Homer, NY, where she grows specialty cut flowers while providing consulting services to food and value-added businesses.
Since December 2021, Lindsey has been with Good Roots, supporting farm and food entrepreneurs across the United States with financial planning, leveraging her extensive experience to help others succeed in the agribusiness space.
The Homer Regional Farmers Market
A fresh approach to a farmers’ market in the village of Homer, taking place Saturday Mornings on the grounds of the Center for the Arts in Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Now accepting applications:
Website: CLICK HERE
Vendor Application: CLICK HERE