Carmen Cosentino
Special to The Citizen
Today I was in Ithaca for lunch with my nephew Tom. Tom is a research scientist in astronomy at Cornell. We had a great time for nearly two hours. Suddenly, it was time for him to get back to his work and for me to get back to Auburn.
I called in and it was an unusually slow Monday, so as I came upon a small greenhouse/garden center operation I stopped in. While we have a large, fantastic garden center right here in the Auburn area in Dickman Farms, I still enjoy visiting other places. I visit this one, Baker's Acres, several times each growing season. It was originally started by a poultry professor, Robert âDocâ Baker, during my days at Cornell. You know of him because he developed the recipe for Cornell chicken. Baker's Acres is just north of Ithaca on Route 34 in the town of Lansing. There are eight plastic greenhouses; I think that they are based on the original plans for plastic greenhouses so many years ago at Cornell. Each is filled with a different type of plant, flower, vegetable and, the one that always draws me, herbs. I was not disappointed today. Across from the greenhouses, is a large selection of perennials in gallon pots, many just starting to leaf out. Again, only a dozen or so of each variety, but a whole lot of variety. A chat with Reenie, the owner, today verified that they carry more than 2,000 varieties of perennials. I believe that this is the largest perennial and herb operation in central New York.