Snow arrives for Winter Wonderland Festival at W. Rogowski Farm

Pine Island - Just hours before blustery winds and an early seasonal snowfall delivered several inches throughout the Warwick Valley, pianist and composer Richard Kimball welcomed the group of attendees to the Winter Wonderland Festival at the W. Rogowski Farm in Pine Island, warmed by patio heaters, pot belly stoves and kinship. Village of Florida residents Denise and Alyssa Gentile won the festival’s juried gingerbread house contest, with their “castle” house that featured sugar glass windows and a crenellated design. They took home $250 as grand prize, sponsored by Provident Bank. Artist-bakers Dorothy Eumont, Jean-Claude Sanche, and Lisa Ciriello were the judges. Edible artistry adorned the entire barn, including white onions as Christmas tree ornaments and centerpieces. Meanwhile, many of the kids who attended got to make bird-seed, peanut butter, and pine cone bird-feeders and other natural crafts. The weekend event focused attention on Cheryl Rogowski’s Community Supported Agriculture program what enables consumers to own a share in her family farm’s fruits, vegetables and herbs. Rogowski is a second generation farmer and a MacArthur Fellow. Her program, now in its ninth year, has been frequently written about as one of the ways in which to sustain a farming community and to inform consumers about the tremendous difference in flavor that produce obtained at a farm stand offers versus that usually found at most supermarkets, which travel an average of 1,500 miles to the store in special packaging. The W. Rogowski Farm, located in the Black Dirt region of Pine Island, features one of the largest diversified crop farms in the region, including heirloom varieties of chilies, radishes, squashes, tomatoes, potatoes and garlic grown from seed and sets from around the world, chosen primarily for flavor. Each season the farm features competitively priced Christmas trees, garland and wreaths. The W. Rogowski Farm’s Web site (www.rogowskifarm.com) now features new “Black Dirt Gourmet” label offers a selection of ready-to-go prepared gourmet spreads, salads and other epicurean delights.