Canticle Farm celebrates its 25th anniversary Sunday with day-long community party

By RICK MILLER

Olean Star

ALLEGANY — Canticle Farm celebrated its 25th anniversary Sunday with a day-long party for the community. The theme of the day was “Growing food and community.”

More than 200 people attended the party at Canticle Farm’s Old State Road retail location with activities throughout the afternoon and into the night with a bonfire, sweetcorn and music.

There was a petting zoo with goats, chickens and a dog, plus a nearby booth for those who wanted to get up close with a number of snakes, as well as several other booths and activities.

There was a tomato tasting station with visitors asked to rate four different cherry-style tomatoes and five regular-sized sliced tomatoes. 

Sister Part Shirley and associate Mary Kay Tambash were among those tasting the tomatoes from Canticle Farm and others grown on area farms and recording their preferences. They also chopped up the tomatoes for the taste test.

Food trucks from Yardie’s and ZET’s were also on site.

Stephanie Beneng, the executive and grower at Canticle Farm, said the day-long event celebrates the community-supported agriculture (CSA) program the farm has enabled.

Canticle Farm is supported by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. Besides the days when supporters pick up shares of what’s ripe and ready, the retail shop has other locally grown and produced products. The CSA program runs from June to October.

Produce left over at the end of the day is often donated to the Olean Food Pantry or the Warming House in Olean.

Canticle Farm has begun offering diverse educational programs, including ones for first-time gardeners.

“This year has been a bumper crop of cucumbers, eggplants, hot peppers and tomatoes,” Beneng said.  The sweet peppers should be ready soon.

Canticle Farm has made a lot of infrastructure investments in the past year, including irrigation and equipment, Beneng said.

She said she wants people to leave the anniversary event with memories. “We want to be a gathering place for people” and to grow, cook and eat food. “It’s part of the social fabric.

Kids games included a turnip toss game, tomato stake javelin, potato sack and bucket races. 

There were musicians performing all afternoon and into the night including Naryan Padmanabha of Buffalo, performing on sitar; Kathie Dudley, Olean singer-songwriter; Steve and Eppie, Coudersport folk duo; Bob Accursio, a Buffalo percussionist, and electronica from Headspace of Salamanca.

A corn roast over the campfire topped off the evening.