The Catskill Chronicle

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY (September 18, 2011) – The rescheduled program with Diane Galusha, author of When Cauliflower Was King (Purple Mountain Press, 2004), will take place on Saturday, September 24 at 1:00 p.m. at Morgan Outdoors, 46 Main Street in Livingston Manor, NY. The public is invited to this free event. Galusha will regale the audience with a look at the rise and fall of the cauliflower industry in the Catskills.

Across the street, from 1:00 p.m. on, Main Street Farm will offer samples of several house specialties made with cauliflower, with opportunities to learn about the botanical characteristics of this heirloom vegetable, and buy new varieties offered by local farmers.

This event is a “Locavore Challenge”effort. To learn more about the challenge, find details at https://nofany.org/events/ny-locavore-challenge.

For a good part of the 20^th century, the Catskills, in particular Delaware County to the north, grew what was widely considered the best cauliflower anywhere. Mineral-rich soil, and a moderate climate with warm days and cool nights that usually allowed slow and solid head development, made this region famous for its premium quality cauliflower.

Marketing cooperatives worked together to increase efficiency and maximize profit. The Walton-Hamden Cauliflower Growers Co-operative was among the most active and long lasting, existing from the mid-1920s through 1954. The distinctive label created for this co-op was slightly modified in recent years to become the logo of Pure Catskills, and is an image that now graces the side of the Main Street Farm store in Livingston Manor.

Galusha is the author of several books of local and regional history, including “Liquid Assets: A History of New York City’s Water System,” “Another Day, Another Dollar,” “The Civilian Conservation Corps in the Catskills,” and “As the River Runs, A History of Halcottville, NY.”