
Clockwise from top left: Farmers Ris Lansing, Luca Dimambro, SG, co-founder D Rooney, Kyle Ellis, Rica Bryan, and Ainhoa Woodley at Rock Steady Farm in Millerton. Photo courtesy Rock Steady Farm
MILLERTON — Rock Steady Farm, a cooperative farm in Millerton, is exemplary within the agricultural landscape for many reasons, and its fundraising ability is one of them: In 2023, it raised $650,000, largely from grants.
The reason that it’s able to do this, said Maggie Cheney, Rock Steady farmer and co-founder, is that they approach farming not just as a business, but as an intersectional space — meaning that it tries to consider the full wide range of ways in which a farming business engages with the lives of local community members.
“We’re a nonprofit and a farm,” said Cheney. That means that “instead of just surviving, we’ve been able to shift to advocacy and systemic change,” which the cooperative accomplishes through educational and outreach programs.
When Cheney, D Rooney and Angela Defelice co-founded Rock Steady in December 2015, they adhered to a much more traditional model, Cheney said. “In the beginning years, we were really trying to kind of make it work,” they said. “We used to be basically 90% just farmers and producing food wholesale, going to markets, that kind of thing.”
But in the last four years, that has changed.
At Rock Steady, “community” extends beyond about locals and patrons: It’s also about the farmers.
Conducting surveys of Rock Steady alumni, said Cheney, “shifted us more in the direction of education work. Because we heard from our community that there is a gap” in the accessibility to learning how to farm.
It was a survey of the community of Rock Steady alumni, said Cheney, that shifted us more in the direction of education work. Because we heard from our community that there is a gap” in the accessibility to learning how to farm.
“For queer and trans farmers, and specifically queer and trans BIPOC farmers, there aren’t that many training programs on large-scale farms,” they said. “Rural spaces have not felt super welcoming” for those marginalized groups. “People have had abusive relationships with farm owners, myself included.”
At Rock Steady, would-be farmers who have been unwelcome or unsafe elsewhere can learn greenhouse skills, production skills — even basics like tractor driving — across a farming sectors.
Rock Steady’s emphasis on educational farming brought in 16 grants — not including outside of donors and family foundations — in 2023 alone. Its goal for 2024 is to match the $650,000 it was able to raise for the first time this year, a third again as much as it had raised in 2022.
Its most recent recognition was a $40,000 grant from Capital Impact Partners’ Co-op Innovation Awards. It will use the grant to further develop its Pollinate program, an immersive paid apprenticeship for queer, trans and farmers of color, which focuses on training new farmers in cooperative farming models.
It will also fund Rock Steady’s alumni support program “HIVE” and the first year of an incubator program in partnership with Wildseed, also based in Millerton, just up the road from Rock Steady.
It has also received grants from the North Star Fund, a social justice fund, and $125,000 from The Fund for Frontline Power, which describes itself as a “100% grassroots-governed fund supporting grassroots-led climate solutions.” Grants from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation supports food access work in Ancramdale in partnership with Ancramdale Neighbors Helping Neighbors Association, and a set of documentary shorts that amplify the voices of queer, trans farmers.
Cheney said that things really changed for Rock Steady when it “came out” as a farm. “We were like, ‘Whoa,’” said Cheney, “‘why are all these farmers talking to us from across the country? Why are there, like, farmers from the Balkans, South Africa, Nigeria, India reaching out to us?’ Because there weren’t that many out farms.”
For its first round of public-facing training programs, Rock Steady received 350 applications for eight spots. “And then we were like, ‘How can we not do this?’” said Cheney.
“The current food system is not working,” they said, pointing to what happened at farms across the country duri
ing COVID-19, when whole fields of food were getting composted because of labor shortages and transportation breakdowns. “I think we need as many creative approaches to growing food as possible, especially given climate change.”
And for that, they said, “there’s something to be said about the LGBTQ community and people of color, there’s like a sense of reciprocity and collaboration and because we’re marginalized people. When you’re marginalized, you often have to have a lot more creative solutions to problems because you’re the one who’s usually experiencing the worst of it, if that makes sense.
“A lot of us at Rock Steady have faced, like, housing insecurity, have faced food insecurity. We know what it feels like to stand in line at a food bank,” they said. That makes the farm incredibly well-equipped to actually serve those food banks. “We want that experience to be dignified, to have the highest quality food possible and to build relationships with those who are in that community.
“Not everyone can get it
in the same way. And I think the more farmers that we have who are from marginalized backgrounds, the healthier and more grounded our food system will be.”
As Rock Steady Farm continues to grow, its focus remains on fostering understanding and creating bridges. Its success in securing varied and significant grants not only highlights the effectiveness of its work but also paves the way for a more inclusive and just approach to agriculture and community building.
Cheney commented: “Rock Steady wants to communicate beyond those of our own identity. It’s important to engage with a diverse audience. Some identity politics can be harmful, and we see the change that can happen in communities when you build bridges.”
Amenia Town Hall on Route 22.
The Wastewater Committee elected officers and discussed priorities for the coming year at its regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 6.
Unanimously re-elected to serve as chairman was Charlie Miller and John Stewart was re-elected to the position of Secretary.
Noting overlap between the Water District and the Wastewater District, Miller said that the Wastewater Committee should remain aware of what the impending Water District Capital Project is.
Noting that repairs to the Water District have been deferred for 20 years, Miller described work needed on the town wells, the pump house, water tank, and replacement of some water mains, including undersized mains affecting system pressure.
Given the impending water project, expected to cost up to $3.9 million, Miller saw a need to pause the wastewater project for up to a year, while continuing focus on two years of required groundwater testing and negotiating a site for the modern treatment facility. Both aspects are important to any grant application process.
Another goal to be pursued during the coming year is to find a person or mechanism from a board or committee to put together a fund that could support wastewater project costs.
The Millbrook girls varsity basketball squad put up a solid fight against Rondout in the first three quarters of the Wednesday, Feb. 19, game at Millbrook High School. The score was close until the last quarter when Rondout put up 18 points to win 37-23.
MILLBROOK — The Millbrook varsity girls basketball squad hosted Rondout High School Wednesday, Feb. 19, for the final home game of the regular basketball season.
The at-once competitive match ended in a Rondout blowout of 37-23 after the Rondout girls went on an impressive scoring run in the final quarter.
Millbrook held their own against the visiting squad for the first half, putting up 12 points against Roundout’s 14. Abby McEnroe, no. 1, and Makenna Freeswick, no. 5, led scoring for the Millbrook Blazers with 6 points each. McEnroe’s 6 points came from two three-pointers, one in the first quarter and the second in the third quarter.
Millbrook's Abby McEnroe, no. 1, put up six points to be one of the Blazers' top scorers for the night.Photo by Nathan Miller
At the end of the third quarter, the Blazers led Rondout 20-19, setting the stage for an epic battle in the final quarter.
Rondout met the challenge readily, nearly doubling their score in just eight minutes and denying much of Millbrook’s attempts at the net.
CANAAN — Donna Aakjar passed away peacefully on Feb. 20, 2025 at Noble Horizons. Born on Dec. 14, 1941, at Geer Hospital in Canaan to Maybelle Voorhees and Louis Peder Aakjar, Donna’s life was a testament to education, service and a deep love of the arts.
She attended North Canaan Elementary School and the Housatonic Valley Regional high before graduating from Southern Connecticut State College. Donna began her career teaching fifth grade at Sharon CenterSchool. While teaching, she earned a master’s degree in Library Science and became the first librarian in the newly renovated basement library. Later, the library was relocated upstairs and, several yearsthereafter, was completely redesigned under her guidance.
After retirement, Donna continued to nurture her passion for reading by working in the children’s department at Oblong Books. Throughout her career, she touched countless lives, and in her later years, many came forward to express their gratitude and admiration for her contributions. She also served on the board of NCCC and was president of a chapter of the NEA. An avid lover of the arts, Donna’s legacy is further enriched by the joy she shared with others-so much so that for her epitaph she requested the words of a former student: “She read to us with such joy.”
Later in life, Donna became a devoted animal lover, cherishing her poodle Honey Bun and her cats Gracie and Rosie. She is survived by her sisters; Nancy Perry, Sheffield Massachusetts and Maryann Aakjar of Boston; her nieces, Donna Perry of San Antonio, Texas and Linda Snyder of Hiram, Georgia, and her grandniece, Madison Snyder of Powder Spring, Georgia.
A beloved sister and aunt, Donna was cherished by all her knew her. Our heartfelt thanks go to the staff at Geer Lodger-especially those on the Hillside Unit for their compassionate care. Memorial services will be held in the spring.
North East Town Hall on Maple Avenue in Millerton.
MILLERTON — On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the Town of North East held a special meeting with Town Board members and Zoning Board of Appeals chair Edith Greenwood to discuss some definition adjustments on the drafted zoning amendments.
The board members went through a handful of the defined terms to be changed, added or fully eliminated. A few examples of changes that were made varied from swapping out the expression “maid” to “housekeeping” and deleting “sanitarium” and “sanatorium.”
“Senior housing is a general term, so that might be what we want to use,” said board member Chris Mayville. “Elder housing or assisted living, memory care facilities, those are all licensed, as opposed to senior housing.”
The goal of the drafted vocabulary for the new zoning amendments is to ensure the town will have clear and precise definitions to prevent future confusion. “I think this is progress,” town supervisor Chris Kennan said. “We are moving forward through different pieces of this.”
The more than 150 page draft the Zoning Review Committee proposed to the board is available to view on the Town of North East’s website under the committee’s tab.
The board briefly mentioned various ways future sidewalk issues may be addressed. “The Zoning Review Committee has given us language which requires that a new development on the Boulevard for a substantial renovation or expansion exceeding $250,000,” Kennan said. “Either of those would require putting in a sidewalk on that parcel.”
According to the board, it is not the most preferable method of sidewalk development as it relies on selling every parcel to avoid gaps. “There are other ways of getting sidewalks going. One of them is through getting the state involved, which would look like to state funding – or the town doing it’s the town taking on some part of that,” Kennan said. “That would be the quickest way to get it. A uniform sidewalk would look the same all the way out.”
Kennan mentioned the possibility of partnering with a business improvement district to finance and construct sidewalks.
Greenwood also raised the recommendation of having sidewalks on both sides of the street to promote safety for pedestrians in town. The town board may revisit this idea as sidewalk development plans continue to take shape.