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Dr. Dirt
May 2010

Fromage to Steve Taylor

An homage with extra dairy...

As anyone with even the thinnest connection to agriculture in New Hampshire knows, Steve Taylor served as our Commissioner of Agriculture (okay, Agriculture, Markets and Food) for some twenty-five years, 1982 - 2007. He served under numerous governors of every political stripe, and alongside commissioners of other departments who rotated in and out with unsettling frequency.

Steve Taylor gets along with people. He even survived one-term Governor Greg Benson of the Whacko Party, who actually tried to eliminate the Department of Agriculture. Benson didn't bring his tank to Concord, but if he had, Taylor would have spoken to him calmly while shoving a large potato up the tank's exhaust. Taylor got things done, quietly but firmly, and often with humor. I like to think he always carried a spare potato, and probably still does.

While Commissioner, he rolled out and wrote for the Weekly Market Bulletin, oversaw the NH Farm and Forest each February, led the development of a state organic certification program, served as a university system trustee (the longest-serving trustee on record), led an annual bus tour of the state for new university faculty, and served as president of the National Association of Commissioners of Agriculture.

He continues as president of Taylor Farm, a maple and dairy farm in Plainfield, started with his wife in 1970. His three sons now run the day-to-day operations. He has served as a Selectman in Plainfield, and is currently the Town Moderator. He continues to participate on several non-profit boards and the state humanities council.

But the pinnacle of his career IMHO is his list of "100 Things You Should Do to Know the Real New Hampshire," compiled no doubt on a bus ride to a farm in Colebrook. As he notes, these are "places, activities, events and diversions that afford insight into the culture and values of the Real New Hampshire-that part of the state that is distinctive and different from the homogenized, mass-market rest of America."

The list includes such gems as:

• Drive Moose Alley, Pittsburg…Beware fast-braking tourists. Bring camera.
• Attend any football, soccer or basketball game between two tough old mill town high schools, as Newport vs Stevens of Claremont.
• Stand at the rail of the ox-pulling ring at the Cornish or North Haverhill Fair and listen to the accents.
• Watch the sap boil at a sugarhouse and taste syrup hot from the pan. There's a lot of socializing when they're boiling late into the night.
• Tune in Bob Barbin on WMOU, Berlin, when he does his Sunday morning French language broadcast, the last of its kind in the state.
• Sit in a bob house and fish through the ice.
• Join the blessing of the motorcycles at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace in Colebrook.
• Talk to some of the kids at the Harrisville elementary school and have them tell you how they got the pumpkin made the official state fruit.
• Order poutine at Chez Vachon on Manchester's west side.
• Kick the tires on the used log skidders and farm tractors at Eddie Nash's equipment emporium outside Colebrook and talk to the guys looking to buy this stuff.
• Learn why the road agent is the most important person in a rural community.
• Live through a good chimney fire.
• Sit in the gallery of any district court on small claims day.

Well, that's a little piece of Taylor's "bucket list" for New Hampshire. Working through his list is a great project for an individual, a couple, or a family. The list is online at www.leadershipnh.org/uploads/100_Things_to_Know_the_Real_NH.pdf.

This past April, UNH celebrated Commissioner Taylor and his contributions to the state and beyond. He was awarded the Pettee Medal for extraordinary achievement and distinguished service to the state and nation. It is the highest honor bestowed by the UNH Alumni Association. I join them in thanking Steve Taylor for his long and generous service to all of us. And now, Long Live Commissioner Lorraine Merrill!

Dr.Dirt will attend his twenty-fifth university commencement in May, pomping through the circumstance alongside John Hart, Professor of Horticultural Technology, Thompson School of Applied Science, University of New Hampshire, Durham.