What could be better, this time of year, than getting together for simple seasonal cheer? Gathering with friends and neighbors. Sharing hot cocoa or cider, and maybe some cookies or cake. And singing songs of Wonder and Light.

Danby folks have a great opportunity to sing seasonal songs on Saturday, December 16, 2pm in Danby's Community Church, right on Route 96B...with plenty of parking. It's free, open to everyone, and family friendly.

For many years the Danby Community Council and the West Danby Community Association have teamed up to host a holiday-time gathering featuring carols and other seasonal songs. Folks from all across Danby gathered at various locations. After a COVID-borne break with 2020 and 2021, the Community Church offered its excellent space for the event in 2022.

Danby's Community Council and Community Church are again partnering for an afternoon of songs for the winter holidays. Songs and carols from Hanukah, Winter Solstice, and Christmas will make the hall ring. People will come from all across Danby to join together in song and cheer.

Song sheets will be on hand, and anyone is welcome to take a turn leading or requesting a tune. There's always a core of strong singers to keep us going and all voices are welcome. Some people bring an instrument to accompany the songs.

We'll hear such favorites as "Go Tell it on the Mountain," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Jingle Bells", "Hanukah Oh Hanukah", "Away in a Manger", "Joy to the World" and the "Twelve Days of Christmas." We may sing about Santa Claus, Red-nosed Reindeer, and Winter Wonderlands filled with snow, roasted chestnuts, and wassail. We will certainly Deck the Halls! Saturday afternoon, 2pm in Danby's Community Church.

The Danby Community Council invites you to a holiday wreath and table centerpiece making party on Saturday, December 9, 2-4pm in Danby's Community Church.

Get into the holidays with fellow Danbyites and let your creative spirit flow! There will be a variety of style and material options. Materials will be provided but feel free to bring your own, including greens. Bring your black plastic take-out trays for table centerpiece bases.

Intimidated by free-style crafts? Don't worry, there will be instructions for those who don't want to have to come up with ideas on their own. The event is free, but donations will be most welcome to offset the cost of materials.

Julie Clougherty will lead the event, with many thanks to the Danby Community Church for offering its community venue. We will be limited to 20 participants, and RSVPs are requested for planning purposes.

Please RSVP to [okalee.farm@gmail.com] by Friday evening, 8pm, December 8.

Hope to see you there!

Love flowers? Want to make a bouquet for yourself or someone you love in a fun and supportive atmosphere? Then come to a flower party at the Dotson Park pavilion, Saturday, August 12, 2-4pm.

The workshop will be led by Danby flower grower Julie Clougherty. It's sponsored by the Danby Community Council.

Snacks and drinks as well as all tools and materials (including vases to take home) will be provided, but feel free to bring flowers, greenery, tools, and vases of your own. Let your imagination run wild in a fun and supportive creative environment!

The workshop is limited to 10 participants, first come, first served. Please RSVP to me, [okalee.farm@gmail.com].

In case of rain, we'll delay one day to Sunday, August 13--same time, same place.

Debra Cowan was once asked what kind of songs she writes. Her reply? “Bad ones; but there are so many good songs out there written by others and they should be sung.”

Her captivating warm alto carries each folk song she chooses with such emotion that you’ll forget that they were written by others. She performs a cappella and with guitar in the great tradition of folk singers like Joan Baez and Judy Collins, with a clear vocal that calls forth the ghosts of long past but can also offer a more modern urban landscape. In her 2012 release, a live recording entitled “Among Friends," she demonstrates her ability to interact with her audience and have them enthusiastically sing along on choruses and refrains.

Debra is deeply rooted in the folk tradition, and can interpret the old songs as well as anyone. She's also very much a modern singer, and she brings the power of the tradition to her interpretations of contemporary songs.
- Si Kahn, Songwriter, Activist, Organizer

Robert Wesley, a long-time Danby-ite is a staff biologist at Cornell University's Botanical Gardens. He looks after and monitors the quality of vegetation in our natural areas, especially where there are rare and scarce species occurrences and damage from excessive deer and beaver populations.

He also does conservation seed banking and population viability research on a number of local rare plant species. He does field photography of plants and natural areas, leads field trips and tours, and writes copy for web and print.

With this background, Robert's presentation for Danby's Community Council—a wildflower walk thru the Jennings Pond area—will feature the late-Spring flora that makes Danby unique. Expect colorful, detailed images and specific, informative descriptions.

Dress for the weather. Even if it's sunny, wear waterproof boots!

Watch and learn the mesmerizing, unique skills of Danby resident and world champion knife thrower, Paul Maccarone.

Paul and his wife Christine O'Brien have agreed to give us an afternoon demonstration of this little known international sport. We'll get together in in Dotson Park on a Sunday afternoon and hear the whoosh of hatchets and knives...and the thunk as they hit their target. This will be fun, interesting, and safe for the entire family.

Let's make music together on a summer afternoon, Sunday, August 7, 2-5pm in Dotson Park. Bring your instruments, bring your voice, bring your listening ears. Nothing fancy. No fee. BYO drinks and snacks. All styles of music are welcome. In case of rain, we'll shift the event one week later.

This musical duo have played their instruments for literally 100 years. Banjo, fiddle, guitar, and voice will bring a smile to your face and get your toes a-tapping.

Reneé specializes in fiddle tunes from northern America and Canada. while Joe is a walking jukebox of banjo songs from America’s pre-Civil War past. These are family oriented, traditional folk songs that have stood the test of time. Be ready to sing along with old familiar songs.

Joe and Renee have been making music together for a long time. Their four piece band, Rosebud Ramblers, has played for dances across Central NY. Don’t feel like dancing yourself? Their dancing limber-jack puppet will happily dance for you.

See Joe and Renee's music on Facebook.
See Joe's Saddlery and Forge on Facebook.

The 122nd Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is scheduled for the Ithaca area on Saturday, January 1, 2022.

Locally, the Cayuga Bird Club sponsors the CBC and this year will be the 60th annual count by the Bird Club. For more information about the Cayuga Bird Club visit [cayugabirdclub.org].

Last year about a dozen Danby residents participated in the CBC. This included surveys at numerous birding hotspots in the Town, backyard feeder counts and incidental observations. Forty two species were identified in Danby, highlighted by Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Winter Wren, several Hermit Thrushes and wintering finches.

Wes Blauvelt, a Danby resident, will be coordinating the Danby section of the Ithaca count this year. For more information about participating in the Danby CBC on January 1, 2022, including how to submit your feeder sightings, contact Wes at [ravenbarnconsulting@gmail.com].

In previous years, an informational meeting has been hosted by the Danby Community Council in Danby's Town Hall prior to the count. Unfortunately, due to the COVID pandemic, we will not be able to meet this year. Arrangements are being made to conduct a Zoom session to replace the informational meeting. Please contact Bill Evans, [wevans@danbycc.org] for more information about the Zoom event.

The Danby Community Council is pleased to present a short program entitled, Growth and Transformation at the End of Life on Sunday, June 6, 3pm, via Zoom.

Angela Mennitto, speaker, has given us several informative and interesting programs in the recent past. She is a death midwife who also organizes community events to promote death literacy and to normalize conversations about death and dying.

She will invite us to consider what a good death might look like for each of us and share a few stories from her experiences with others at the end of their lives and how they inspired her.

Death is inevitable. We can’t change that fact. We can change our relationship to it. We can bring death out of the closet. Contemplate it. Talk about it. Plan for it. Allow it to inform the way we live—the choices we make. 

Robert Wesley, a long-time Danby-ite is a staff biologist at Cornell University's Botanical Gardens. He looks after and monitors the quality of vegetation in our natural areas, especially where there are rare and scarce species occurrences and damage from excessive deer and beaver populations.

He also does conservation seed banking and population viability research on a number of local rare plant species. He does field photography of plants and natural areas, leads field trips and tours, and writes copy for web and print.

With this background, Robert's presentation for Danby's Community Council—a virtual wildflower walk thru Spring and Summer—will feature photos from his extensive wanderings through woods, fields, and swamps. Expect colorful, detailed images and specific, informative descriptions.

Imagine standing this close to a descendant of the dinosaurs.

Imagine visiting a raptor at home. In the raptor's home, not yours.

 Once upon a time, you'd have to climb a tall tree or even a vertiginous cliff to find a raptor nest. In January and February, though, thanks to the technology brought to us by COVID-19 (an unanticipated silver lining), we're going to join Danby's Community Council for a Zoom visit to Cornell's Raptor program!

We're going to visit the private quarters of our avian stars (quietly and politely, of course)...many more raptors than you could ever get this close to in person. We'll see the birds you can't take out to the public, and we're going to see what it is like to feed and care for them. We might even see some birds who were injured or lost and are being rehabilitated.

We'll meet a Broad-Tailed Hawk, a Merlin, a Screech Owl, and a Barred Owl, and then tour the Raptor facility.

Imagine standing this close to a descendant of the dinosaurs.

Imagine visiting a raptor at home. In the raptor's home, not yours.

 Once upon a time, you'd have to climb a tall tree or even a vertiginous cliff to find a raptor nest. In January and February, though, thanks to the technology brought to us by COVID-19 (an unanticipated silver lining), we're going to join Danby's Community Council for a Zoom visit to Cornell's Raptor program!

We're going to visit the private quarters of our avian stars (quietly and politely, of course)...many more raptors than you could ever get this close to in person. We'll see the birds you can't take out to the public, and we're going to see what it is like to feed and care for them. We might even see some birds who were injured or lost and are being rehabilitated.

In this virtual-class-by-Zoom, we'll be preparing a Thanksgiving Celebration Roast.

Whether used for a holiday or not, this roast is just plain delicious. And, it's healthy and planet-friendly, too. For the sake of time, in the class we'll be preparing a miniature version of the roast. 

The recipe and instructions can be found at ClubVeg, but this printable version is what will be used during the program. If you want to follow along and cook while Amie cooks you will need to do quite a bit of pre-preparation:

• Bake winter squash.

• Make cornbread recipe (see printable instructions).

• Prepare home made seasoning. (it can take some time to prep the fresh spices.)

• Take tofu out of the containers, place in a bowl, and mash. It's easiest to use your hands but they will get cold! (We'll drain the tofu, then hollow it out and stuff it on the class.)

• Cut all the vegetables for the stuffing. (We'll make the stuffing during the class.)

• Cut the onions and mushrooms for the gravy, measure out flour. (We'll make the gravy during the class.)

Along with the Holiday Celebration Roast directions, Amie has provided two accompanying recipes, Roasted Butternut Squash and Cranberry Sauce.

Amie Hamlin,  a Danby resident, is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Healthy School Food (CHSF), a non-profit that introduces plant-based foods and nutrition education in schools to educate the whole school community about the health, environmental, and social justice issues of our food choices.

Amie has a half acre fenced in and is teaching herself how to be a Veganic Farmer at Growing Peace Farm. Veganic farming is organic without the use of animal inputs such as manure or slaughterhouse by-products. She welcomes volunteers who want to get their hands in the soil (in the spring and summer), and anyone interested in building a toolshed!

Robert Wesley, a long-time Danby-ite is a staff biologist at Cornell University's Botanical Gardens. He looks after and monitors the quality of vegetation in our natural areas, especially where there are rare and scarce species occurrences and damage from excessive deer and beaver populations.

He also does conservation seed banking and population viability research on a number of local rare plant species. He does field photography of plants and natural areas, leads field trips and tours, and writes copy for web and print.

With this background, Robert's presentation for Danby's Community Council—a virtual wildflower walk thru Spring and Summer—will feature photos from his extensive wanderings through woods, fields, and swamps. Expect colorful, detailed images and specific, informative descriptions.