Welcome to “At the Core”
Hi everyone! You might be seeing more from me over the next few weeks and months, and you may be wondering why! So, I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself to you! My name is Katie Oakes and I’m the Upick Manager for LynOaken Farms, a century old fruit farm in Orleans County, NY.
My husband, Christopher, is the fourth generation of farmers in the Oakes family who have cultivated the rich fertile soils along Lake Ontario since 1919. We are only a few of the many family members who work (and have worked) tirelessly to make LynOaken Farms a thriving family business in Western New York, and in time I hope to introduce you to everyone in the family who has contributed to whatever successes we’ve had as a family farm over the past hundred years. For now, I’ll fill you in a little on my background and why I’m the one delivering the story of our farm!
Katie Oakes, age 15 at the farm in Illinois
I grew up in the congested suburbs of Chicago, the daughter of a nurse and an accountant. As a child, I always had a dream of having my very own apple orchard, but at the time it seemed pretty far-fetched! As soon as I learned how to drive, I found a part-time job working at a local farm stand, a family business nestled in between strip malls and neighborhoods. There I learned how to do everything from seed annual flowers in the greenhouses to planting veggies out in the farm fields. I stayed at that job through high school and breaks from college, where I was struggling to find my career path. I had changed majors twice already (business first, then geology), and I really couldn’t find any area of study that was exciting, interesting, and fulfilling. I finally had an epiphany one night when I came to the realization that I was happy every single day that I worked at that little farm stand. I switched majors again to Horticulture and immediately found my passion. I loved every single class that I took and I knew I had found my life’s work. Fast forward through many jobs in the horticulture field in four different states to the 2010 NY State Fruit and Veggie Expo in Syracuse, NY where I would meet my husband! (“Apple orchard…” I thought to myself … “I do!”).
I began working at LynOaken Farms shortly after my husband and I were married, first on our apple packing line, and then as the seasonal manager of our Upick Orchard. I love my job at LynOaken, I truly think it’s the best position on the whole farm. I am witness to everyone’s joy and excitement at one of the best times of the year doing one of the best activities ever – picking apples! I also work year-round at our local Cornell Cooperative Extension office where I get to put my education and experience to work helping my community.
Because I’m not a “farm kid” and I didn’t grow up in this environment, everything I know and continue to learn about agriculture and horticulture delights and excites me … and I really just want to share that with the world! Through these blog posts, I hope to pull back the curtain a little and give you a glimpse of what life is like for our farm family, from the day-to-day tasks to the broader issues affecting agricultural families across the US. While the perspective I share here will be my own, I will be tapping in to the knowledge and experience of all of those around me to give you the most complete picture of our family farm that I can.
I welcome your questions and comments and can be reached directly at katie@lynoakenfarms.com. Please don’t hesitate to ask a question, to reach out with your own curiosities, to inquire further … if I don’t know the answer, I will find it out! Most of all, I hope to help people get in touch with where their food comes from, to understand a bit more about the process of growing and producing fruit in New York. Because after all, at the core, we’re all just human beings, hungering for knowledge and delicious food!
Thanks for your time and your interest!
All my best,
Katie Oakes