JAMESTOWN — Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties have partnered together to bolster the Master Gardener Volunteer program in both counties.
While the program in Chautauqua has been successful for several years now, it lacked the dedicated staff support that it deserves. Cattaraugus is currently redeveloping a Master Gardener Volunteer Program.
“The partnership just made sense,” remarked executive directors Dick Rivers and Emily Reynolds. “Partnerships like this help Cornell Cooperative Extension meet the needs of the residents of our counties.”
CCE is very excited to welcome Shannon Rinow as program coordinator.
“I am so excited to begin this new adventure as your new master gardener volunteer program coordinator for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties,” she said. “Since I was a young girl, gardening and agriculture have been a passion of mine.”
Rinow recalled helping tie posts at her grandparents’ grape farm at a young age and harvesting vegetables and flowers from their home garden.
She said she has had her own garden for the past decade. As the sweet smell of peonies returns each summer after a long winter, Rinow said it always brings her back to those younger years helping at my grandparents’ farm.
In recent years, Rinow co-owns and operates a small suburban farm, Bee Happy Farm & Apothecary, alongside her husband, Mike, and two sons, Mason, 13, and Kyle, 19, where she is a beekeeper and raises livestock including pigs, sheep, goats and poultry.
“We love the quirky personalities of our animals and have learned so much as their caretakers,” she said. “Each day is an adventure and always something new.”
Rinow said her family is in the process of relocating from Amherst to Ashville. She said they purchased a small fixer-upper farm where they plan to expand and grow organic vegetables and cut flowers.
In her free time, Rinow said she enjoys speaking to the community about the importance of honeybees and advocating for environmental and land stewardship.
“On any given day, you can catch me bottle feeding an orphaned piglet, nursing a sick chicken back to health or caring for new ducks in my living room,” she said. “There is always something to do or someone in need, and I would not want it any other way.”
Rinow said she recently learned to crochet and have a fondness for spinning wool — although she is still learning — and making homemade soaps and wreaths. She said she loves the simple joys of homesteading. No matter how many days, months and years go by, Rinow said she is equally as excited to get fresh eggs from her chicken coop as the first day.
“Cornell Cooperative Extension has been an invaluable resource to me, and I am grateful to be a part of giving back to our community,” she said.
Rinow will begin her work with CCE in February. She can be reached at smr336@cornell.edu.