04/08/2025
James R. Cummins died at home on March 19th, the last day of winter. A few days earlier, the weather turned and a strong wind began to blow the spring in. James loved this world fiercely and it was hard for him to leave it.
After 74 years, he left at the brink of the drama. The son of six generations of orchardists, the spring bloom had worked its way into his DNA. It was the biggest show of the year, a wild ride that mostly culminated in great beauty and reward (a bountiful harvest) but sometimes, heartbreak (frost and crop loss). As a person who lived life to the fullest, James was familiar with both.
James found a calling in farming at an early age. The challenges of the weather, the physically demanding nature of the work, the endless possibilities for ingenuity and problem solving, all suited James perfectly. Farming presented him with the opportunity and freedom to be a self-made person. He could fix anything, build anything, grow anything– his skills ranged from diesel mechanics, to fruit tree phenology, hydraulics and welding to the operation of all types of tools and heavy equipment, as well as construction, irrigation and even sales and marketing. He gave his life to agriculture, but to him that work went way beyond the simple act of growing food for people. He saw the world as an animate and magical place and his purpose to witness it and participate in it. Trees, animals, plants, places and things were all family to James, and farming was a devotional act, partnering with his kin in the natural world in the co-creation of life.
James was born on July 9, 1950 in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and began working with apples at an early age, at Cummins Orchards with his grandparents and on his father’s farm in Cobden. When James’s Sr. got a job breeding apple rootstocks at Cornell, he moved the family to Geneva, NY but James felt like he left a piece of his own heart at the Cobden Farm.
After high school, James worked for Cornell testing grapes for viruses and took classes at Cornell. He also started Cummins Mittak Nursery growing custom order apple trees with his partner George, as well as trees for his future farm.
In 1972, when James was 22, he bought his own farm, in Newfield. The property, 60 acres, was sited perfectly for growing fruit trees on an eastern facing slope at 1,200 feet above sea level, made up of Howard’s Gravelly Loam. It was also 8 miles from Ithaca and James was a visionary in pursuing a u-pick model for his orchard, complete with hand-drawn orchard maps, colorful signs, a purple slide and picnic tables, all aimed at the Ithaca market.
James planted tens of thousands of fruit trees, refurbished a post and beam barn and bought adjacent tracts of farmland: Second Farm in 1983, which he planted to peaches, plums, tart cherries, black cherries, asian pears and apples, and Third Farm in 1987, which included 90 acres set aside as a nature sanctuary. At the same time, James was instrumental in building the Ithaca Farmers’ Market at Steamboat Landing, working with attorney Chuck Guttman and architect Steve Gibbon, and putting in untold hours on his backhoe, Daisy.
In 2002, James helped to open Eve’s Cidery with Autumn Stoscheck. Shortly after that, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, spending three weeks in a coma, which forced James into “retirement.” Nevertheless, James continued to farm, primarily responsible for growing the apples on Second Farm, as Eve’s expanded.
James ran on coffee, peanut butter and grit and a worldview that went way beyond earth. Some of his exploits are almost myth making: reading a book a day, getting up at 4am to run 10 miles before starting work; living in a teepee year round with 6 Samoyeds at Littletree; building his own house out of rough-cut hemlock only three years after his accident and living the first winter in it with a dirt floor, a wood stove and just a shell of greenhouse plastic; preparing for Nibiru; and making an apple tree into a Snickers Bars tree as a birthday present for a child.
James’ favorite apple was the Northern Spy (Jonagold was a close second). He loved dogs and mowing naked. If you were lucky enough, you heard him say, “wow, just wow.” His heart was huge and his generosity unrestrained, his enthusiasm was contagious, and his ability to see and believe in people was impactful. He was also a very good teacher. His influence figured in the young lives of many farmers who still farm in this area (and beyond) and the people they now mentor themselves.
James is survived by his father James Nelson Cummins and mother Cindy Firebaugh Cummins, siblings Peter, John, Stephen and Sarah Cummins Small, and their spouses; 11 nieces and nephews; many great-nieces and
nephews; his cousin Scott Cummins and family; and his best friend Autumn Stoscheck and her family (which was also his family) Ezra Sherman and Leila and Zuri Sherman. He is preceded in death by his grandparents, Nelson and Gladys Cummins and Creighton and Helen Firebaugh, and his beloved uncle Max Firebaugh.
A celebration of life will be held during the apple blossom on Saturday May 17th at 4:30pm at 308 Beckhorn Hollow Rd, Van Etten, NY 14889
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