The Canton Village Green is home to the Canton Farmer’s Market from May – October each year. I interviewed a few of the vendors to see how they got started and to learn how the season went. After all, who better to learn from when it comes to the state of our environment?

Mark Berninghausen owns Squeak Creek Apiaries in Brasher Falls, where he raises bees for their pollination services and produces honey. We had the opportunity to talk to him about bee keeping in the North Country.

Nature Up North: How would you describe your perfect day in the North Country?

Bill (Dick) Hollis has been a duck decoy carver in the Ogdensburg area for over 50 years. Hollis first learned to carve from his father, and has now won numerous awards for his work.  He estimates he has made 1500-2000 decoys throughout his life. Despite technological innovations, Dick is one of few decoy carvers in the North Country that continues to carve with hand tools. We caught up with Dick to learn more about his craft. 

Owned and operated by Andy and Elisha Hurlbut, Hurlbut’s Maple has been producing local Maple products since 1995. Andy Hurlbut first started tapping trees in high school, working and learning from his father and grandfather. Alongside their maple sugaring operation, the Hurlbuts also grow several acres of corn, beans, and hay and raise grass-fed beef.

Joel Howie is the owner of Canton Apples, a U-Pick apple orchard located on the corner of Barnes Road and County Road 25. He is originally from Rochester, NY, but moved to Canton in 2002 with his wife, Becky. Joel loves working outside all day long alongside his workers and friends and family who come to help out, and it shows in the quality of his product and the atmosphere on the orchard from the moment you drive up off of County Road 25. We met up with him to learn about being an orchardist in the North Country.

Anna Knapp-Peck lives in DeKalb with her husband and two children. Originally from Vermont, she settled in the North Country after moving from Washington County with her family in 2007. They now reside on 90 acres of land that they call Zion Farm, surrounded by ducks, turkeys, dogs, cats, goats, chickens, horses, and Anna’s favorite – oxen. Her animals have been on America's Got Talent, in Capital One commercials, and in award winning movies.  Nature Up North intern, Lizz Muller, visited Zion Farm one morning and caught up with Anna while she did her chores.

John Ashley is a SCUBA instructor and the owner of Bluefin Diving, a SCUBA diving shop in Ogdensburg. A North Country native, he has been diving  in the St. Lawrence River for over 20 years, including winter dives beneath the ice. We caught up with him to learn more about the life of a diver and scuba instructor in our northern climate.  

Nature Up North:  How did you get into SCUBA diving?