Kaatscast: Recent Episodes
Silver Hollow Audio
Kaatscast is a biweekly podcast delivering history, travel guides, arts & culture, outdoor adventures, sustainability news and local interviews from New York's Catskill mountains and Hudson Valley. Celebrate the Catskills with Kaatscast! Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Dede Terns-Thorpe is the historian for the Town of Hunter, referred to locally as "the mountain top," and comprising the villages of Hunter and Tannersville, and the hamlets of Edgewood, Elka Park, Lanesville, and Platte Clove, plus the historic private communities: Onteora Park, Twilight Park, and Elka Park. Dede's passionate about the history of this place, and she's got her own history here, too, which is mostly what we talked about when we met at Tannersville's Mountain Top library. We were joined by Dede's husband Ed, a Mountain Top native with a few stories of his own to share!
Photo courtesy Dede Terns-Thorpe
Thanks to this week's sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, Ulster Savings Bank, and The Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and through the support of listeners like you!
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Join us for our very first LIVE show, recorded at Emerson Resort & Spa as part of their weekend celebration of Ralph Waldo's birthday (born May 25, 1803).
Hear from Catskills scholars and writers Leslie T. Sharpe and Bill Birns, with music by Steve Koester! Q&A with the audience, and more!
If you missed the live event, you can still play our trivia! Top three submissions win 2 drink tokens to the Catamount bar + a CD of Henry David Thoreau's Autumnal Tints! Contest is now closed. Congratulations to our winners!
Thanks to this week's sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, and The Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and through the support of listeners like you!
Municipal sewer systems are few and far between in the rural Catskills, so chances are high that your home is reliant on its own septic system. And if that system isn't maintained, well, things could get ugly at the most inopportune time.
Thanks to some beefy financial incentives from the Catskill Watershed Corporation, there's really no excuse to delay septic maintenance, and maybe even a full system replacement. In 2023 alone, the CWC subsidized 312 septic repairs/replacements and 680 maintenance calls.
Join us for a conversation with Orville Smith, from Titan Drilling; and the Catskill Watershed Corporation's Eric Lane and Mitchell Hull, for plenty of practical advice for keeping your system running smoothly.
Thanks to this week's sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, Ulster Savings Bank, and The Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and through the support of listeners like you!
In 2022, four Master Gardeners were looking for a new way to bring their expertise to our region, and they did so with a weekly podcast on everything from honeybees to hydrangeas; perennials and pollinators; monarchs, chickens, seeds, goats, and houseplants.
Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley is a production of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Columbia and Greene Counties.
And speaking of Cornell, the seed for this podcast was planted in the midst of the American Civil War. Tune in to hear how Abraham Lincoln set that ... root ball (?) in motion!
Thanks to this week's sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, and the Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and through the support of listeners like you!
Paul Misko is an avid Catskills hiker, who ââ true to his Boy Scout roots ââ is always prepared. As spring rolls in and we pull out the hiking boots (maybe shaking out some nuts and nesting material from winter mouse habitation), Paul offers a refresher on what to pack for our walks in the woods, plus some best practices for hiking with kids and leading a group.
For more, check out Paul's blog, Catskill Forest Adventures.
And if you'd like to hear John Burroughs' own account of that ill-fated hike on Slide Mountain, we just happen to have an audio edition of his famous essay -- "The Heart of the Southern Catskills" -- on our audiobook titled Afloat & Afoot.
Thanks to our sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, Ulster Savings Bank, and the Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and the support of listeners like you!
If you've been tuned in to local media for a while, you might Remember Paul Smart, writer for the Woodstock Times and author of the 1994 book, Rock & Woodstock. Paul lives in Mexico now, but he's still writing about the Catskills. And The Strange Recital, "a podcast about fiction that questions the nature of reality," published Paul's latest novel through their very own book imprint.
This week, I sat down with Brent Robison and Tom Newton, both of The Strange Recital and Recital Publishing, to talk podcasting, publishing, and writing.
Following our interview, stay tuned for a "podcast takeover," and hear the full Strange Recital episode featuring Paul Smart's Overlook.
Thanks to our sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, and the Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and the support of listeners like you!
Dubbed the "first lady of radio," Mary Margaret McBride was a welcome voice in millions of homes in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, pulling in 6 to 8 million listeners daily! Mary Margaret interviewed 30,000 guests, from Eleanor Roosevelt to the neighborhood plumber, and produced 15,000 shows ââ no repeats! Oh, and she was a radio pioneer, broadcasting some of those shows from her converted Catskills barn. When I learned about Mary Margaret, I picked up a copy of Susan Ware's biography, "It's One O'Clock and Here Is Mary Margaret McBride," and reading about her life in journalism, her passion for audio storytelling, and the heartfelt connection she made with her audience, I was awestruck. Join Susan Ware and I for a fascinating conversation about this Catskills broadcast legend.
Thanks to our sponsors: Ulster Savings Bank, Briars & Brambles Books, and the Mountain Eagle.
Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and the support of listeners like you!
Thanks to Ray Faiola at Chelsea Rialto Studios for bringing McBride's TV pilot to light. See Mary Margaret in her West Shokan home, interviewing actor Eddie Dowling.
Will Nixon has been writing about Woodstock for decades, including a column in the Woodstock Times, and two popular books--Walking Woodstock, and The Pocket Guide to Woodstock, all in collaboration with writer Michael Perkins, who died in 2022. So when Will suggested we hike Overlook Mountain together to talk 'history,' I knew he'd have much to reveal. On today's Kaatscast: join us for a history hike, with Will Nixon.
From Atlas Obscura: "Overlook Mountain House: The Skeletal Remains of a Catskills Hotel That Still Welcomes Visitors"
Here's a link to the May-June 1976 edition of The Conservationist, featuring Bill Newgold's article, "My Grandfather and the Mountain"
Many thanks to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle and Briars & Brambles Books
Kaatscast is also made possible by a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and by the support of listeners like you!
When we spoke with Michael DiBenedetto for our special Ukraine report in August, 2023, he mentioned he'd consider returning in winter, when the volunteer pool was likely to thin.
Well, Michael's a man of his word, and we caught up with him this week in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city just about 20 miles from the Russian border. He's volunteering at Hell's Kitchen, where borscht, bread, and other foods are prepared daily for soldiers on the front lines.
Liuda is a cofounder of the organization, and she explained how the war in Ukraine, now 2 years running, changed the direction of hers and husband Yehor's lives (they both had careers in IT -- internet technology) before Russia's invasion.
Bonus interview: Click here for our followup interview with volunteer coordinator Franklin Orosco.
Click here for Franklin's FAQ document on volunteering with Hell's Kitchen.
Want to volunteer or contribute? Franklin's Instagram page is a good place to start. You can also follow Hell's Kitchen (Ukrainian alphabet, though!).
Catskill Neighbors, whose mission it is to "help seniors wishing to remain safe and comfortable in their own homes," was born of necessity in the wake of 2011's Hurricane Irene. Founder, Reverend Ralph Darmstadt, died in January, 2024, but his legacy lives on in an organization that serves seniors in parts of Ulster, Delaware, and Greene counties, where social services are lacking and/or sparse.
Listen in on our conversation with organization officers Patricia Ruane and Gary Kusen, plus a visit with a very appreciative client: 89-year-old Sofie Solber Franzen.
This week, we're also celebrating the release of Rebecca Rego Barry's new book, The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells: Investigations into a Forgotten Mystery Author. Ask for it at your local bookstore or library!
Thanks to our supporters: the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, The Mountain Eagle, and listeners like you!
We would also like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for their generous support of this podcast.
Before cell phones, before touch tone, before dial tone, even, if you wanted to make a phone call, you'd pick up the receiver and talk to an operator. If that call was placed in the Catskills in the late 1940s through the early 1960s, Lula Anderson might have been working the switchboard. Lula invited me to her home in Greene County, where she recounted tales of the telephone, and growing up in the Catskills.
Many thanks to the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for their generous support of this podcast. Thanks also to The Mountain Eagle, and to our local and listener supporters!
Plattekill Mountain, in Roxbury, is the last of the Catskills' independent ski areas, boasting 1100 vertical feet, 40 trails, and 4 lifts.
But those statistics aren't necessarily the draw at this laid-back family-run resort. Plattekill's rustic lodge, with its rough pine walls and wood burning stove, is reminiscent of other small ski areas that were more prevalent a few decades ago.
When we reached out for an interview, our email was quickly answered by none other than the owner. Join us for a conversation with Plattekill's Danielle Vajtay, with "special musical guests" and longtime Plattekill aficionados George, Foster, and Chris.
Kaatscast is a production of Silver Hollow Audio. Be sure to subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts, so you never miss an episode. You can also find us at kaatscast.com, and on instagram @kaatscast. Many thanks to the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for their generous support of this podcast. Kaatscast is also supported by local organizations and listeners like you.
Happy new year, and welcome to the first episode of our 5th season here at Kaatscast. To ring in the new year, we thought it would be fun to raise a glass with the owners of three breweries across the region. And the breweries we're highlighting don't just call the Catskills home ... the Catskills are brewed into every pint, whether that's by starting with clear mountain spring water ââ at Sullivan County's Upward Brewing; incorporating flavorful foraged ingredients -- at Greene County's West Kill Brewing ââ (with a new satellite tasting room in Ulster County); or honoring history of place -- at Delaware County's Union Grove Distillery, where Calico Outlaw Brewing is setting up shop! Three breweries, 4 counties, all Catskills!
A visit to the North Pole! In an hour and ten minutes? Where can one catch this train, you ask? Why, the Kingston Plaza parking lot, of course, where the Catskill Mountain Railroad embarks on a magical Christmas expedition every holiday season. And while Santa's schedule is booked solid this time of year, you can still ride with him through December 29th! On today's show, production assistant Mollie Zoldan and I scored two coveted golden tickets to the North Pole. Come along for the ride!
Many thanks to this week's sponsors: â Briars & Brambles Booksâ , â The Mountain Eagleâ , Ulster Savings Bank, and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
Kaatscast would like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for a generous grant that helps ensure the continued production of this podcast.
And thanks, as always, to our listener supporters!
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Cheyenne Mallo and partner Zac Schiff are the makers and purveyors of Cheyenne Mallo Pottery, in Olivebridge, NY. Their signature mugs feature raised topographic maps of Catskills places, like Overlook Mountain, North South Lake, Kaaterskill Falls, and West Kill. Mugs feature black topographic lines transected by red dotted hiking trails, and unique features like fire towers, lakes, and waterfalls. On today's Kaatscast, maps to drink by, crafted in the Catskills.
"Mug shot" courtesy of Cheyenne Mallo.
Many thanks to this week's sponsors: â Briars & Brambles Booksâ , â The Mountain Eagleâ , and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
Kaatscast would like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for a generous grant that helps ensure the continued production of this podcast.
And thanks, as always, to our listener supporters!
When it comes to Thanksgiving feasting, 2/3 of Americans prefer side dishes to the main entrĂŠe. So we visited two of the Catskills' best chefs for a fresh take on the beloved side dish!
At Tannersville's craftsman-style Deer Mountain Inn, chef Corwin Kave shows us how to whip up a fresh and flavorful Charred Broccoli Di Cicco with preserved lemon aioli and crispy garlic.
And at Big Indian's Peekamoose Restaurant and Tap Room, chef Devin Mills takes us through the steps of a savory sweet potato gratin.
Click here for an ingredients list for both dishes, plus a gem of a cauliflower recipe passed down from host Brett Barry's grandmother!
Many thanks to this week's sponsors: â Briars & Brambles Booksâ , â The Mountain Eagleâ , Ulster Savings Bank, and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
Kaatscast would like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for a generous grant that helps ensure the continued production of this podcast.
And thanks, as always, to our listener supporters!
Happy Thanksgiving!
On today's Kaatscast, we checked in with Bill Merchant, Deputy Director for Collections, historian, and curator at the D&H Canal museum, recently transplanted to the historic Depuy Canal House in High Falls, NY. Not every visit to the museum comes with Bill's VIP tour, so here's an opportunity to soak up his encyclopedic footnotes before embarking on your own to the D&H Canal Museum.
Many thanks to this week's sponsors: â Briars & Brambles Booksâ , â The Mountain Eagleâ , and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
Kaatscast would like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for a generous grant that helps ensure the continued production of this podcast.
And thanks, as always, to our listener supporters!
Bill Abranowicz is a renowned photographer who started snapping pictures 50 years ago. Bill's career has taken him around the globe many times over, taking pictures for the likes of CondĂŠ Nast Traveler, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Vogue, Bon AppĂŠtit, Martha Stewart Living, and the list goes on. In his latest photography book, Country Life: Homes of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley Bill turns his camera on our very own Catskills, and a portfolio of 20 magnificent homes.
Thanks to everyone who entered to win Bill's book. The giveaway is now closed; tune in to our next show to hear who won!
Many thanks to this week's sponsors: â Briars & Brambles Booksâ , Ulster Savings Bank, the â Catskill Mountains Scenic Bywayâ , and â The Mountain Eagleâ .
Kaatscast would like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for a generous grant that helps ensure the continued production of this podcast.
And thanks, as always, to our listener supporters!
On the heals of Indigenous People's Day, Kaatscast sat down with Justin Wexler, of Wild Hudson Valley, for an overview of the Catskills' own native history. If you've ever wondered about the people who came before us, and where they are today, consider this "Indigenous Catskills 101." For a glossary of terms and recommendations for further reading, download Justin's handy Lenape Resources PDF.
Kaatscast would like to thank the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation for a generous grant that helps ensure the continued production of this podcast, with a renewed focus on Catskills history ââ starting with this very episode.
Thanks also to Briars & Brambles Books, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and The Mountain Eagle for their continued support.
Welcome to a special edition of Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast. This is episode 100, and we've got lots in store ââ including a conversation with a 100-year-old Catskills native; an interview by Mollie Zoldan with the host of this podcast ... me! And a top 10 list of our most listened-to stories.
Got a few minutes? We'd love to get your feedback -- here's a link to our listener survey. Send us your thoughts, and we'll send you a sticker!
Many thanks to our sponsors: The Mountain Eagle, Hanford Mills Museum, Briars and Brambles Books, and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce ââ we're a member -- are you?
Don't miss another episode! Subscribe to our newsletter for biweekly reminders + behind-the-scenes photos and show notes.
In late September, the basketball court at Shandaken's Glenbrook Park serves as a community dance floor, where area residents and visitors are transported through music to eastern Europe. This year marks the third anniversary of the Balkan Mountains Music Festival. Hear from organizers Beth Waterman, Max Fass, and Samantha Awand-Gortel about this festive Catskills tradition.
Thanks to our sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, The Mountain Eagle, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and Hanford Mills Museum.
If you'd like to contribute, please join our listener supporters here!
Photo courtesy of Carol Seitz.
Late last year, and 20 episodes ago, Michael DiBenedetto joined us in the studio and made a convincing case for copper bullets over lead, citing collateral damage to our Catskills bald eagles. On today's show, we reconnected with Michael -- in Ukraine -- where he's volunteering as a driver with an organization called Road to Relief. Michael drives a truck in the Catskills, too, making deliveries for his company, Vly Mountain Spring Water. That's given him some preparation for the mission at hand, but driving on the front lines of Donbas, Michael's front and center in a war that's a year-and-a-half on, with no end in sight. Also hear from a Ukrainian nurse and translator on Michael's team of relief workers. Plus, a special song by singer/songwriter David Rovics.
Many thanks to our sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, The Mountain Eagle, the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, Ulster Savings Bank, and Hanford Mills Museum.
Ann Cihanek is a goat farmer whose herd of semi-retired goats are employed across the region to clear sites of invasive plants, brush, and overgrowth. We caught up with 10 of her Green Goats at the John Burroughs Memorial State Historic Site, in Roxbury, NY. Years of overgrowth on hilly, sensitive terrain, called for a novel approach to restore a historic view of the fields and mountains below. Many thanks to our sponsors: Briars and Brambles Books, the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, Hanford Mills Museum, and the Mountain Eagle. Thanks also to our listener-supporters!
In July, a small group of hikers was apprehended and ticketed for leaving two Adirondack chairs at the summit of Slide Mountain. Those hikers' actions, while misguided, may have been good-intentioned. But they fly in the face of outdoor ethics and "leaving no trace."
At the core of "Leave No Trace" are 7 principles that provide a framework of minimum impact practices for safe and sustainable experiences in nature. Moe Lemire is a licensed outdoor guide and a LNT master educator. We joined him at the epitome of a "high-use" spot -- Kaaterskill Falls -- to learn more about planning for and engaging in minimally-impactful Catskills excursions.
Many thanks to our sponsors:
Ulster Savings Bank, Briars and Brambles Books, Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, Hanford Mills Museum, and the Mountain Eagle.
Thanks also to our listener-supporters!
Nearly a century ago, famed photographer and innovator Emile Brunel purchased Boiceville's Brown Hotel and transformed it into Le Chalet Indien, a world-class resort frequented by famed artists and politicians of the day. Brunel's fascination with Native American culture manifested in an adjoining sculpture park, which still stands and is now stewarded by the Friends of Brunel Park, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Even concrete is no match for a hundred years of Catskills weather, though, and the sculptures and totems Brunel left behind were in desperate need of restoration. So, co-founders Cynthia and Evgeny Nikitin organized a matching donation fundraising campaign to save the collection for future generations.
Anthony Mennella and his team were hired to rehabilitate the largest of the sculptures, transforming the space from a "delightful ruin," to a welcoming, lush garden of plants and sculpted works.
Join us at Brunel Park, where we met up with co-founder Cynthia Nikitin and mason Anthony Mennella. Then, make a point to see this iconic roadside attraction for yourself!
Thanks to our sponsors:
- Hanford Mills Museum
- Briars and Brambles Books
- The Mountain Eagle
- Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
And listeners like you!
Wave Farm ââ in Greene County's Acra, NY ââ is a 29-acre campus that's not only home to WGXC 90.7 FM, but a hub for terrestrial radio, transmission arts, and resident artists. Hear from Executive Director Galen Joseph-Hunter how Wave Farm has been pioneering the "transmission arts" genre for more than 25 years.
Thanks to our sponsors:
- Briars & Brambles Books
- Hanford Mills Museum
- Ulster Savings Bank
- Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
- The Mountain Eagle
Visit our website to make a donation, sign up for our mailing list, and search through our entire catalog of episodes!
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
Silver Hollow Audio had the honor of recording ââ and this month, publishing ââ the audiobook version of Kim Brown Seely's Uncharted: A Couple's Empty-Nest Adventure Sailing from One Life to Another. Faced with an empty nest, stagnant jobs, and an economy in freefall, Kim and her husband decided to embark on a grand adventure. On an impulse, they purchased a sailboat, learned to sail, and set off toward untamed wilderness in search of the elusive blonde Kermode bear that only lives in a secluded forest in the Pacific Northwest. Hear the first two chapters of Kim's memoir, plus an exclusive interview with the author about her experience, both on a 54-foot sailboat in Canada's wilderness, and in a 5'x5' soundproof vocal booth in the Catskills, where she narrated the 9-hour audiobook edition.
We're giving away 5 free copies of this outstanding audiobook, and you can enter here! For a list of Silver Hollow Audio's full lineup of award-winning audiobooks, click here.
Thanks to our supporters:
Briars and Brambles Books, Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, Hanford Mills Museum, The Mountain Eagle, and listeners like you!
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
The Catskills naturalist John Burroughs once wrote, "The place to observe nature is where you are; the walk to take to-day is the walk you took yesterday. You will not find just the same things: both the observed and the observer has changed; the ship is on another tack in both cases." His 1886 essay, "A Sharp Lookout" predates terms like "sit spot," "forest bathing," and "shinrin-yoku" by about a century. But the sentiment is the same, and Catskills practitioner Lara Land is a master at it.
Join us for some forest therapy along the Andes Rail Trail and reconnect with the outdoors!
Lara Land can be found at LaraLand.us. Lara is the author of The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga, and she hosts the podcast, Beyond Trauma.
Thanks to this week's sponsors:
Briars and Brambles Books
Ulster Savings Bank
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Hanford Mills Museum
The Mountain Eagle
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
When Mel Bellar established his Andes, NY landscape design company, the Catskills were considered "zone 4" on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Thanks (?) to climate change and warmer winters, the region is now solidly in "zone 5." We talked with Mel about that shift and how it's reshaping our options. Join our conversation for many more Catskills landscaping considerations, like complementing the environment with natural materials, Mel's favorite plants, go-to suppliers, and things we tend to do ... but shouldn't (landscape fabric, anyone?). Thanks to this week's sponsors ... and listener supporters!The Mountain EagleHanford Mills MuseumCentral Catskills Chamber of CommerceBriars & Brambles Books--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
Spring has sprung in the Catskills, and with the reemergence of our native flora and fauna, invasive species are also happy to awaken. Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership (CRISP) director John Thompson tells us what to watch out for, how to report our findings, and what we can do to stem the tide of invasive pests. Plus, two emerging invasives to add to our radar!
Report your findings at: https://www.imapinvasives.org/
Thanks to our sponsors:
Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, Ulster Savings Bank
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and The Mountain Eagle.
Photo courtesy Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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April is Financial Literacy Month!
It's also National Jazz Appreciation Month, National Fresh Celery Month, Foot Health Awareness Month, World Landscape Architecture Month, and National Soft Pretzel Month. But let's just stick to finance for now, a topic that affects us all throughout the year. And for a refresher on that topic, we met up with our local bank branch manager, Samantha Awand-Gortel, for a conversation on banking and finance in the Catskills and beyond.
Did we mention April is also National Poetry month? Hey, ChatGPT, how about a limerick on financial literacy to get us started?
There once was a person named Jill
Who never learned to manage her bill
But with financial literacy in hand
She could finally understand
And now she's financially fit and chill!
It's no Carolyn Wells, but honestly, financial literacy poetry is hard to find.
Pictured: Ulster Savings Bank Phoenicia branch manager Samantha Awand-Gortel, with a poster by some appreciative (and financially literate) Phoenicia Elementary Schoolers.
Many thanks to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle, Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, and Briars & Brambles Books
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
Just two weeks before the start of trout season, the Catskills lost a paragon of angling. Henry "Hank" Rope, Jr. wore out a pair of wading shoes every year, fishing Catskills creeks and tributaries. Hank shared his love of the sport through his Big Indian Guide Service and volunteered his time with Trout in the Classroom at a community elementary school.
We recorded Mr. Rope on several occasions over the years, and this week we're joined by two friends ââ Bethia Waterman and Jane Wolfrom ââ with memories to share.
Hear more from Hank in Sporting Legends of the Catskills, where he joined panel discussions for "Outdoor Guides of the Catskills: The 'Adventure Experts'" and âOn the River with Authors, Guides and Catskill Characters" at Phoenicia Library's Jerry Bartlett Angling Collection.
Thank you to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, Ulster Savings Bank, and Briars & Brambles Books
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
Radio Catskill hit the airwaves in 1990 and operated out of a hydro-powered station in Jeffersonville. But when a building was recently offered in nearby Liberty, WJFF shed its 30-year skin and relocated to the now fully-renovated, modern production facility. Technological advances aside, this small public radio station is still very much focused on local news and Catskills culture.
Many thanks to our sponsors:
Briars & Brambles Books
The Mountain Eagle
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support
As Catskills black bears emerge from hibernation, we spoke with three bear experts ââ wildlife rehabilitator Kristine Flones, and conservationist couple Patti and Bill Rudge ââ who shared some handy tips for coexisting peaceably with our Catskills bears, including ...
- the best time to wrap up your wild bird food (and why)
- the importance of taking out the trash (at the crack of dawn)
- equipping your Catskills home with a ... marine signal horn?
- resisting the urge to run from a bear!
- identifying a mom with cubs
- creating "space" on the trails
Enter here for a chance to win an Attwood Bellow Signal Horn, the same model Patti Rudge uses to keep the bears at bay!
Thanks to our sponsors:
Ulster Savings Bank
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Briars & Brambles Books
Thanks also to The Mountain Eagle, and listeners like you!
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
As any skier knows, squeezing into a pair of ski boots can be quite the challenge. For skiers with physical and cognitive disabilities, though, preparing for a day on the slopes can require exponentially more time and effort. But that doesn't stop skiers like Todd Reid, who lives with spina bifida, from savoring a day on skis. Â
At the base of Windham Mountain, the 7200 square foot Gwen Allard Adaptive Sports Center is headquarters for the Adaptive Sports Foundation, which, for almost 40 years, has provided "profound and life changing experiences for children and adults with physical and cognitive disabilities and chronic illnesses through outdoor physical activity, education, support, and community."
Join us as we ski along with ASF's dedicated staff and volunteers, and hear from a few of their extraordinary clients.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Briars and Brambles Books
The Mountain Eagle
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
If the Catskills seem busier lately, you're not imagining it. According to a new report, visits to the Catskills more than doubled between 2018 and 2021, when the region welcomed an estimated 12 million travelersââthat's roughly equivalent to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone, combined!
The ongoing deluge, it turns out, is the very reason for this report, prepared over two years by the Catskill Advisory Group, or CAG, and recently delivered the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Goals include: 1) balancing the increasing recreational use of the Park with 2) the continued protection and science-informed management of our natural resources while 3) ensuring the experience of using the Park is welcoming, accessible, and inclusive.
To get a handle on all this, we spoke with Jeff Senterman, executive director of the Catskill Center, and a member of the advisory group that authored the report.
Download the report here.
This episode was sponsored by:
Ulster Savings Bank
Catskill Mountain Scenic Byway
The Mountain Eagle
And listeners like you!
--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Washington Irving was an early author to set his fictional tale in the Catskills, but he certainly wasn't the last. If Rip Van Winkle were alive today, he'd have no shortage of contemporary Catskills suspense stories to help keep him awake. Kelli Huggins is on a mission to read all things "Catskills," and she hankers for horror. If a novel features a Catskills town, hotel, or reservoir, it will likely make it onto Kelli's reading list.
Here's a short list of Kelli's recent faves:
Just Like Mother, by Anne Heltzel
The Hotel Neversink, by Adam O'Fallon Price
Echo, Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The Grave Keepers, by Elizabeth Byrne
Bellweather Rhapsody, by Kate Racculia
Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
Kelli was a speaker on one on Lize Mogel's Walking the Watershed tours, where she recommended some watershed horror tales! She's a social media specialist for the Fenimore Art Museum and the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
The Mountain Eagle
Photo by rikka ameboshi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/opened-book-on-tree-root-3358707/
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There's a "herd" of sewing machines in the hundreds, in Delancey, NY, and they're in the loving and capable hands of one Billy Hancock, owner of Billy's Make & Mend, an outpost for sewing machine repair and maintenance, sewing work, machine lessons, and plenty of history.Â
Thanks to our latest sponsor, Ulster Savings Bank, which was established the same year as the Singer sewing machine company, 1851! Thanks also to the continued support of the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway and The Mountain Eagle.Â
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To start off the new year, we visited Shea in the Catskills, a tarot practitioner, artist, facilitator, organizer + contemplative, for a (deeper than perhaps expected) conversation on community, tarot, inspiration ... and some insights for 2023!
Check out Shea's own podcasts! They're simply produced, clean, and inviting -- rumination and curation in a welcoming voice ...
Shea in the Catskills
The Ritualists
Many thanks to our sponsors: the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce and The Mountain Eagle
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Just off the Kingston traffic circle, you'll find a couple of gas stations, a used car dealer, and a drive-through vegetarian burger joint. But in the 1940s, this was the site of "Seal College," a training facility for some of the most famous sea lions to share the stage with the likes of Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope, and Ed Sullivan. In his new book, Sharkey: When Sea Lions Were Stars of Show Business, author Gary Bohan, Jr., delves deep into the history of his great-grandfather's trained sea lion business, situated on the Esopus Creek (water source for the sea lion tanks), with plenty of interesting crossover into entertainment and broadcast history, much of which was happening just 90 miles or so south of Kingston, in NYC, and beyond.
Click here for your chance to win a signed copy of Bohan's book!
Thanks to our sponsors:
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
The Mountain Eagle
Briars & Brambles Books
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Charles Shreyvogel was an Eastern artist who painted famous Western scenes. His favorite model was also decidedly non-Western. Greene Countyâs Kenny Bloodgood recounts tales of his great-uncle Grant and his unlikely appearance in some of Schruyvogelâs most famous paintings.
We produced this episode as part of Catskill Historical Views, a collaboration between Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, the Zadock Pratt Museum, and Silver Hollow Audio. After 5 years of publication, Catskill Tri-County Historical Views has sadly ceased publication, due to rising production costs and a diminished subscription base. SIDE NOTE: please support your local media -- it matters! The Mountain Eagle is just one the papers we subscribe to, and it's a great source of local news. On REAL newsprint! Delivered! They support us, too! Along with the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce and Briars & Brambles Books. We recently visited Briars & Brambles for the first time, and the selection is fantastic!
As always, you can support this podcast by:
- subscribing on your favorite platform
- telling friends and family about us
- making a donation at Kaatscast.com
Thank you!
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Whether you're a human who enjoys venison, or a bald eagle that scavenges a hunter's kill, lead = poison. And as it turns out, common lead bullets fragment on impact into hundreds of pepper-sized flakes that can be devastating to wildlife (and not so great for humans, either!).
Michael DiBenedetto is a lifelong Catskiller, a longtime hunter, and a passionate advocate for copper bullets. If his experience rehabilitating lead-poisoned eagles isn't reason enough to make the switch, there are plenty of other motivating factors, as he explains in our interview; plus, a convincing experiment for any hunter who wants to see first-hand how lead and copper bullets "hold up" in the wild.
Bullet photo courtesy of Jeremy Roberts Š Conservation Media, LLC
Check out these short videos produced by Conservation Media for huntingwithnonlead.org, and see what happens when lead and copper bullets are shot into ballistic gel.
Thanks to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Briars & Brambles Books
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
When the Wiltwyck Cemetery and family crematory started following us on Instagram, instead of getting ... well ... creeped out, we decided to reach out, and learn about this unique establishment. Kingston's Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery goes back to the mid 19th-century, with tombstones artfully occupying some 60 acres of beautiful rolling hills. A crematory was added in 1984, and it's the only one in Ulster County. Wiltwyck's appeal extends beyond county lines, though, as its unique "witness cremations" allow friends and family to be present for their loved one's cremation. We had a lot of questions for cemetery superintendent Matthew Sirni, and he answered them all with transparency and grace.Â
Thanks to our sponsors:
Briars & Brambles Books
The Mountain Eagle
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Catskills writer Violet Snow is the author of To March or to Marry, an historical novel about the lengthy fight for a woman's right to vote, both here in New York, and nationally. As we prepare to cast our ballots in 2022, it's hard to imagine that just over 100 years ago, women were excluded from that process. In this episode of Kaatscast, I talk with Violet Snow about the inspiration for her novel, and the fictional characters that she placed in a very non-fictional time and place preceding women's suffrage in 1920.
If you'd like to buy a copy of Violet's book, we recommend Briars & Brambles Books, right here in Windham, NY. Thanks also to the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce and the Mountain Eagle for their support of this podcast!
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Overlook Mountain is a popular Catskills hiking destination, complete with a scenic fire tower and the ruins of an historic hotel. According to researchers, and bolstered by groundbreaking scientific evidence, the mountain's popularity precedes modern hiking; 19th-century tourism; even colonial settlement. A parcel under the protective watch of the Overlook Mountain Center hosts an array of stone cairns and structures believed to have been constructed by Indigenous Americans centuries ago.
In this episode, join us for a hike with researcher Glenn Kreisberg and an exploration of Overlook Mountain's tangible pre-colonial past.Â
Thanks to our sponsors:
Briars & Brambles Books
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
The Mountain Eagle
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
If you've ever heard (or even ... uttered) the word "cidiot," to describe an urban transplant, likely that term wasn't used in a positive light. Podcast host Mat Zucker has been doing his best to rebrand the word in a podcast that bears the name. Cidiot is a popular biweekly show about "learning to live in the country," and last year it won "Best Regional Podcast" in the Chronogrammies Readers' Choice Awards. This year, we nabbed that honor, so Mat and I decided to profile each other on our respective podcasts. Cidiot covers the Hudson Valley and a bit of the Catskills, and Kaatscast covers the Catskills and a bit of the Hudson Valley, so we met on neutral ground, on the deck of a waterfront restaurant in Kingston, NY, where we took turns asking questions between bites.
In this episode, hear why Mat is a self-proclaimed and proud "cidiot," lessons he's learned since moving up full-time, and handy tips for newcomers. Then, tune in to Cidiot episode 77 (releases 9/29/22) for Mat's take on Kaatscast, and host Brett Barry's own relationship with the Catskills.
And of course, subscribe to both shows on your favorite platform for continued Catskills/Hudson Valley entertainment every two weeks!
Many thanks to our sponsors:
Hanford Mills Museum
Briars & Brambles Books
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
The Mountain Eagle
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
In our last episode we took a ride on the old Ulster & Delaware rails with Rail Explorers, a pedal bike experience in Phoenicia, NY. This week, we're at the neighboring Empire State Railway Museum, at home in the historic 1899 Phoenicia train station since 1983, for a look back at Catskills railroad history. Curator Tom  Comito tells us about the 1913 peak of travel on these tracks, restoration projects underway, and the museum's evolving relationship with rail tourists.
Many thanks to our sponsors:
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Hanford Mills Museum
Briars & Brambles Books
The Mountain EagleÂ
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
From the late 19th- to the early 20th-century, passengers could board an Ulster & Delaware train in Kingston and ride straight up through the Catskills, to Oneonta. These days, you can still experience a 4-mile stretch of that track, between Mt. Tremper and Phoenicia, with one small caveat. You have to pedal! Rail Explorers has repurposed a few such stretches of track nationwide, including in Rhode Island, Cooperstown, Las Vegas, and the Catskills. Join us as we pedal a "quad explorer" (the "Cadillac" of the fleet) on a scenic "River Run" tour above the Esopus creek.
We'll hear from Catskills division manager Casey Farrell, tour guide Fatima Duque, and Empire State Railway Museum curator Tom Comito. Lots more from Tom in our next episode, so stay tuned!
Many thanks to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Hanford Mills Museum
Briars and Brambles Books
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Long before "THE" concert so closely associated with Woodstock, "Maverick Concerts" have been delighting fans of classical music for more than 100 years. We sat in the historic concert hall with music director Alexander Platt to hear about the history of the utopian Maverick art colony, the concert series that stemmed from it, and some 21st-century improvements to the Maverick experience. Plus, a look back at a groundbreaking John Cage composition that premiered at Maverick concert hall 70 years ago this month. For that, we get insights from music journalist and composer Kyle Gann.
Interested in taking in a Maverick concert? Here's a link for upcoming events and tickets.
And to learn more about John Cage's 4'33", check out Gann's book, No Such Thing as Silence.
Thank you to our sponsors:
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Hanford Mills Museum
The Mountain Eagle
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Earlier this summer, we joined dozens of auto enthusiasts for a 135-mile loop on the Schoharie Turnpike - Kaaterskill Clove Road Rally, one in a series of rallies that pairs Catskills scenery and history with the love of driving. Join us as we drive the northern Catskills in some unique and well-loved automobiles. More drives in September and October! To join in the fun, check out all 4 Catskills rallies at Historic Automobile Endurance Runs.Â
Thanks to our sponsors:
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Hanford Mills Museum
The Mountain Eagle
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Stephen Sautner is a lifelong fisherman, environmental activist, and the author of several books on those topics. And while his passion for fishing has taken him to the Falkland Islands, Cuba, the Zambezi River, and even ... New Jersey, a rustic fishing cabin in Hancock, New York, is Stephen's happy place. Tune it to hear Stephen's thoughts on trout, Catskills living, and being a steward of the places we love.
Thanks to our sponsors:
Hanford Mills Museum
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
The Mountain Eagle
Kaatscast was voted BEST REGIONAL PODCAST in the 2022 Chronogrammies!Â
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Anne Hall's addiction to flower growing is a boon to Catskills designers, florists, restaurants, and individuals who want locally grown, chemical-free flowers in another league from generic supermarket fare. In February, we put out an episode on Jarita's, a local florist serving the Catskills for 45 years. One of our listeners heard that episode and said, hey, how about a story on a local grower? Well, we love to hear from listeners, and we were interested to know more about Catskills flower farms, and so here we are! Crespell is a queer women-owned flower farm and CSA in Lexington, NY.
Many thanks to our sponsors: The Mountain Eagle, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and Hanford Mills Museum.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
If you're looking for a unique way to experience Catskills views, there's no better time to check out the Catskills' 6 hiker-accessible fire towers! The 2022 Catskills Fire Tower Challenge encourages hikers to visit all 6, with the added bonus of a challenge patch, a subscription to Conservationist magazine, and other prizes.
We met with the Catskill Center's Olivia Bernard, a Visitor Experience Coordinator at the Catskills Visitor Center, for a rundown of the challenge, a little fire tower history, and a climb to the top of the Upper Esopus fire tower, right there on the visitor center's property in Mt. Tremper, NY.
If you want to hear about a 7th fire tower coming back online, check out our story from Bramley Mountain.
Thanks to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle
The Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Hanford Mills Museum
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Just a few years ago, the coveted Catskills "cabin on 5 acres" was priced at $300,000, give or take. Today, that same property could easily cost you double. Real estate in the Catskills is booming, and while housing markets ebb and flow, according to realtor Peggy Bellar, there's no significant retraction in the forecast. Bellar showed us three properties in Delaware County as a sampling of today's housing inventory. Come along for the ride and join our tour, plus listen in on the latest trends shaping the housing market, including short-term rental investments, and work-from-home professionals embracing the country life.Â
Thanks to the Catskill Dream Team, and to our sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle, Hanford Mills Museum, and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
If a tick bites you in the woods, and it's free of disease-causing pathogens, does it matter? We wanted to know how many of our Catskills ticks are pathogenetic, so we sent 6 of them to the Thangamani Lab at Upstate Medical University, in Syracuse, NY. You, too, can send any New York tick, and Dr. Thangamani and his team will test it (for free!) for Lyme disease-causing bacteria, and 16 additional pathogens. It's all part of a massive citizen science research initiative tracking distribution of species and pathogens statewide. You can explore those trends using Dr. Thangamani's tick maps, updated daily by county. NYticks.org is also where forms can be found to submit your own tick(s) for testing. Let us know how it goes!Â
Thanks to our sponsors: Hanford Mills Museum, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and The Mountain Eagle.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Ed Ullmann is the owner and pharmacy manager of Wellness Rx, a holistic and patient-centered pharmacy in Tannersville, and soon ... Phoenicia! Far from the chain store aesthetic (or lack thereof) the Tannersville location where we met is a meticulously painted Victorian with a wraparound porch. Inside there's a warm general store vibe, with wood floors and pharmacy cases, and a diverse inventory of traditional, natural, and holistic medicine; plus home goods, gifts, and crafts by dozens of local vendors. Ed Ullmann showed us around, and then we settled into a comfortable consultation room, to hear his vision for sustainable rural healthcare.
Thanks to our sponsors: Hanford Mills Museum, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and The Mountain Eagle.
Please vote for Kaatscast now through May 15th in the Chronogrammies for "best regional podcast."
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
In 2020, Leslie T. Sharpe came to Silver Hollow Audio to narrate The Quarry Fox: and other Critters of the Wild Catskills, available at Libro.fm or wherever you get your audiobooks. Then the pandemic hit. Two years later, she returned to our studios for a reading of "The Bluebird Chronicles: a Catskills Romance."
In this episode, we sat down with Leslie to fill in some of the gaps between then and now, and to talk birds, bats, and butterflies, plus ways we can all be stewards of the Catskills and its diverse ecosystem. In fact, Leslie was named one of the "50 Stewards of the Catskills" by the Catskill Center in 2019.
Kaatscast was nominated for "best regional podcast" by Chronogram. Click here to vote for us through May 15th! And check out our new site, with a searchable database of shows, links to our sponsors, a newsletter signup, and more!
This episode was sponsored by The Mountain Eagle and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
The winter/spring 2022 issue of Appalachia, "America's longest-running journal of mountaineering and conservation," features an essay by Catskills writer Leslie T. Sharpe about our little blue harbinger of spring: the bluebird. In this episode, we have the exclusive audio edition! Leslie narrated her piece for Kaatscast, and we present it here in full.Â
Don't forget to tune in next time for a followup interview with Leslie T. Sharpe, author of The Quarry Fox: and other Critters of the Wild Catskills.
Thanks to our sponsors: The Mountain Eagle, and the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
Check out our new and expanded website for a searchable directory of episodes, links to show sponsors, and a mailing list signup!
Kaatscast scored a Chronogrammies nomination for "best regional podcast" ââ please vote now through May 15th for the win!
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Beaverkill Trout Hatchery is family owned and operated by the Shaver family since 1963. We met Sherry Shaver and a few of her relatives on a recent visit to the hatchery, where they were preparing for their busiest season, as fishing clubs order thousands of fish to stock streams and ponds, plus direct sales to area restaurants, and the public.
Thanks to our sponsors: The Mountain Eagle and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.Â
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
On March 19th, 2022, a Pierogi and Borscht fundraiser at the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jewett, NY, brought in thousands of dollars for the people of Ukraine. We spent some time in the kitchen with organizer Switlana Breigle, parishioners, and volunteers with deep connections to Ukraine. This fundraiser supports the efforts of the Ukrainian American Freedom Coalition, "providing material and logistic assistance to the Ukrainian people in need of help with humanitarian supplies." There are already plans underway for another event soon.
Photo by Megan Sperry.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Working for Women is a Catskills-based organization working nationwide to connect business dollars and resources with non-profits advocating for women in the workforce and toward financial independence. We sat down with Catskills native Beth Bengtson, CEO and founder of Working for Women, for a discussion on the challenges her organization is addressing, why focusing on women improves everyone's work lives, plus Beth's preference for active outdoor meetings. This episode was co-hosted by Ulster County legislator Megan Sperry and recorded at SUNY New Paltz's Sojourner Truth Library.Â
Producer and host: Brett Barry
Audio engineer: Jared Lyman
Sponsors: The Mountain Eagle and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Kaatscast was named one of the Best 25 New York Podcasts in 2022.Â
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
This year, The Mountain Eagle celebrates 40 years of newspaper publishing, and a relaunch in 2017 brought expanded coverage to Schoharie, Delaware, Greene, and northern Ulster counties. Join us for a conversation with publisher Matt Avitabile on local Catskills journalism and the nuts and bolts of creating and distributing a weekly paper in an increasingly digital age.
Thanks to our sponsor: the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Production intern: Jared Lyman
Want to help us grow our audience? Please tell your friends and family about this podcast, and stay in the loop with our twice-a-month newsletter!
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Delaware County artist Jessica Farrell was inspired by her aunt's journal from the 1960s and '70s to create "The Wilderness Journal," a series of portraits of adolescents who would go on to struggle with mental health issues. These portraits, in addition to a companion book and an audio narration of aunt Barbara's journal excerpts, is now on exhibit at the Roxbury Arts Center, in Roxbury, NY. Join us for this special program on mental health, advocacy, and art in the Catskills.
Thanks to our sponsors: the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce and The Mountain Eagle
Also mentioned:
The National Alliance on Mental Illness
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Snowy weather can be a challenge for Valentine's Day rose delivery, but that's nothing new for Woodstock's Jarita's florist, with 45 years of experience delivering fresh, professionally arranged flowers to Catskills residents. On today's Kaatscast, an interview with the owners of Jarita's on decades of flower sales in Woodstock, NY; how the business has changed; and their unique interactions with the community.Â
This episode was recorded by Keith Kortright and sponsored by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce and Hanford Mills Museum.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Gina Carbonari is a retired U.S. Marine with a new mission. As executive director of the 130-year-old Ulster County SPCA, she's ensuring that the  homeless, abused, and neglected animals there are cared for, sheltered, and readied for adoption. Join us on a tour and meet some of the cats, dogs, and smaller critters safeguarded in Kingston, NY, as they await their new families.
Recordist: Keith Kortright
Sponsors: Hanford Mills Museum and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Tannersville, NY, is a small mountain village, with big aspirations. And now, with the help of a very large grant from New York State, it's preparing for a basket of revitalization projects that would surely put a smile on Rip Van Winkle's face. We sat down with The Hunter Foundation's Sean Mahoney and Amy Scheibe for some backstory on this major award, and the various partners working toward a more vibrant, equitable, and connected community.
Thanks to our sponsors: Hanford Mills Museum and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Recycling is a great way to reduce the (many) truckloads of trash bound for distant landfills, but "wishcycling," the practice of throwing questionable items into the blue bin and HOPING they'll be recycled, is problematic, too. The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency's Angelina Brandt lent us some hardhats and gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of UCRRA's bustling Kingston facility.
Thanks to our production intern, Keith Kortright, for recording our tour.Â
And thanks to our local sponsors:
The Mountain Eagle
Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Feeling sleepy? CO2 could be the culprit. For centuries, the Catskills have offered a respite from city life, and a bit of fresh air. But indoor air quality can be bad no matter where you live. Fortunately, air quality can be measured, and steps taken to get that indoor Catskills air more in line with outdoor Catskills air, for health and wellness. For more, we connected with IAQ expert Ljeta PutÄne and local citizen scientist Liz Potter. Thanks to our sponsors: The Mountain Eagle, and the Catskill Mts. Scenic byway. Kaatscast is a production of Silver Hollow Audio.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
It's hunting season in the Catskills, and even if you're not a hunter, you'll want to hear our interview with Tim Byron, a longtime friend with an infectious love for hunting, fishing, camping, and observing Catskills wildlife. A few years back, he started a YouTube series called "Fins - feathers -furs - and the great outdoors"-- documenting hunting and fishing trips, family excursions, birding, cooking, and lots more.Â
Thanks to our sponsors: The Mountain Eagle, and the Catskill Mts. Scenic byway. Our interview was recorded by production intern, Keith Kortright. Kaatscast is a production of Silver Hollow Audio.Â
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
As daylight shortens and temperatures fall, many of us in the Catskills turn to our wood stoves to help keep warm. "Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice," the old adage goes. But if you don't chop your own wood? Make sure it was chopped locally! In this episode, New York State Department of Environmental Protection's Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health Bureau Chief Justin Perry joined us for a conversation on firewood, Catskills trees, and the threats our forests face.Â
Check out the DEC's new film, Uninvited: The Spread of Invasive Species.Â
Thanks to Dixon Roadside and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway for their support!
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
This week, we spoke with author Christine Wade about her retelling of a classic Catskills ghost story. In 1819 Washington Irving published his tale of Rip Van Winkle, who wanders off into the woods to escape his nagging wife, and meets up with the ghosts of Henry Hudson and his crew. They bowl, they drink, and ... Rip falls asleep for 20 years. If you don't know the story, it's a quick read and an iconic piece of Catskills folklore.
Cut to the 21st century, when Christine Wade, real-life resident of Rip Van Winkle country, wrote an historical novel called Seven Locks, featuring a character remarkably similar to Rip, the lazy husband of a hard-working wife in the pre-Revolutionary War Dutch Catskills.
This interview was produced in association with Catskill Historical Views, an audio companion to Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, published by the Gilboa Museum & Juried History Center. With support from the Zadock Pratt Museum.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
For more than a century, New York City has relied on the Catskills for its abundant supply of clean, soft drinking water. The Catskills' relationship with NYC has been a complicated one, including the staggering loss of entire communities, and a multitude of mutual benefits along the way.
This week, Adam Bosch recounts the history of that relationship, plus we hear from the Olive Free Library's Melissa McHugh on an exhibit showcasing life before the Ashokan reservoir. Then, we check in with with Lize Mogel, producer of a comprehensive new tour of the watershed.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Each year, hundreds of injured birds arrive at Annie Mardiney's doorstep for a second chance at life in the wild. When she isn't rescuing birds, Annie's running educational programs, with companion raptors like Peregrine Falcon Meng, pictured. We spoke with her (Annie, not Meng) at a talk she gave at the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge. Hear her story, plus advice for helping injured wildlife.Â
Thanks to our sponsors: Dixon Roadside and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
For a list of wildlife rehabilitators near you, visit the DEC directory.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
This week... it's the only mammal capable of flight. And it can catch 1000 mosquitos in an hour! We're talking bats with Catskill Mountainkeeperâs Senior Research Director, Kathy Nolan, who joined me among the little brown bats of Shandaken, NY.
Thanks to our sponsors: the Catskill Center; and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, hosting the 17th annual Cauliflower Festival.
Thanks also to Robert Burke Warren, for the use of his song, "It's a Bat!" And to Raimund Specht, Avisoft Bioacoustics, for the bat recordings.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
On May 11, 2019, the Phoenicia Library presented live, Outdoor Guides of the Catskills: The âAdventure Expertsâ -- this is a recording of that presentation, featuring Will Soter, co-founder of Upstate Adventure Guides and the president of the New York State Outdoor Guide Association (NYSOGA); Legendary fishing guide Hank Rope, owner of Big Indian Guide Service; Lifelong angler and expert guide Cliff Schwark, a founder of the Catskill Mt. Chapter of Trout Unlimited; and Patty Rudge, the first woman to serve as a full time NYS Forest Ranger.
Since the early 1800âs, New Yorkâs guides have been leading visitors into the wild areas of our beautiful state. Back in the day, colorful characacters like Orson âOld Mountainâ Phelps and other local outdoorsmen plied their trade as fishing and hunting guides to the wealthy robber barons of the Adirondack Great Camps. By 1924, New York required guides to be licensed, in an effort to reduce fires, enforce conservation laws, curb hunting abuses and enhance enjoyment of the outdoors. Today, the tradition continues, and licensed guides are available for outdoor adventure opportunities like whitewater, rock climbing, snowshoeing and nature studies, in addition to fishing and hunting.
Thanks to our sponsors: the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway and the Catskill Center.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Need water? Choose a random spot, drill, and drill some more, until you hit water. However, if you want to pinpoint the ideal location for clean, clear water, with minimal drilling, you might consider hiring a dowser like Bill Getz to survey the land. Hear about this age-old craft that combines sticks and rods with intuition, a connection to nature, and perhaps a dose of psychic energy.
This episode of Kaatscast is supported by Dixon Roadside and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
Recorded at the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge, as part of their Wild Saturdays series.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
Restaurant owner Mike Cioffi talks food, pandemic adaptations, and running (two) successful restaurants in the Catskills ââ Phoenicia's landmark Phoenicia Diner, and Woodstock's Dixon Roadside.
Thanks to Mike, Courtney, Bella, and everyone behind the scenes who made our Phoenicia Diner lunch possible. And thank you to our local sponsors: the Phoenicia Playhouse, and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kaatscast/support
This week, we present an audio driving guide on arts and culture, produced a few years back, in association with the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway. Hear from artists, musicians, and farmers with tips on farms, galleries, museums, and scenery you'll want to mark on a map for your next trip up the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway ... Route 28, from Olive to Andes.
Please visit our sponsors: the Phoenicia Playhouse, and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.Â
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Over the years, Silver Hollow Audio has produced a number of audio driving guides, including tours of art, history, and outdoor recreation. This week, we've pulled out our outdoor adventure guide, produced in 2016 in association with the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway. It's chock full of ideas for your next hiking, paddling, cycling, or fishing trip. Peter Manning is our tour guide, with specific suggestions along Route 28, heading west from Olive to Andes. Plus, we'll hear from some of the Catskills' most experienced outdoors-people on those very trails and waterways. Trail access and sporting regulations do tend to change, so please be sure to check maps and local guides for updates. There have also been some major additions in the past few years, like Rail Explorers, out of Phoenicia; and the Ashokan Rail Trail, with trailheads in Woodstock, Shokan, and Boiceville. To hear about the rail trail, check out Kaatscast episode 30.
So ... grab a map, and a note pad, because this episode is loaded with ideas for your next outdoor adventure.
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At one time, New York state had more than 100 active fire towers, the purpose of which was to help lookouts ââ you guessed it ââ spot fires. These days, some of the remaining towers have been repurposed for recreational use. At Bramley Mountain, in the western Catskills, the fire tower was dismantled in the 1970s, but a local family has been keeping it safe in a nearby barn. Now that Bramley has an official hiking trail, that tower is destined, once again, for the summit. Laurie Rankin tells us more, on our Bramley Mountain hike.
Thanks to WIOX and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway for their support.Â
To learn more about the Bramley fire tower project, head on over to bramleymountainfiretower.org.
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Hanford Mills Museum operates an authentic water- and steam-powered historic site, which includes a sawmill, gristmill, and woodworking shop. The mission of Hanford Mills Museum is to inspire audiences of all ages to explore connections among energy, technology, natural resources, and entrepreneurship in rural communities with a focus on sustainable choices. The museum is listed on the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places.
We took a tour, and you can too! For scheduling and information, visit hanfordmills.org. Thanks to our sponsors, WIOX and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
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This Memorial Day week, we visited two area cemeteries where historians are taking steps to memorialize former Catskills residents in the towns of Delhi and Roxbury. At the Roxbury Methodist Church cemetery, gravestones obscured by years of algae and lichen growth are being restored with a special cleaning agent and some good ol' historian elbow grease. And in Delhi, a poorhouse cemetery lost in time is finally getting the recognition and care that it deserves.Â
County historian Gabrielle Pierce is working with Christa Schafer's Delaware County Office, to restore stones to hundreds of graves in Delhi, NY. And in Roxbury, historians Diane Galusha and Anthony Liberatore scrub 80 years of grime to renew a marble headstone.
Kaatscast is supported by WIOX Community Radio, live and local in the Catskills; and by the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.Â
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Hankering for some baseball circa 1895? Teams like Mountain Athletic Club and the Bovina Dairymen are playing vintage "base ball" right here in the Catskills. Spectators and players welcome! We spoke with the M.A.C.'s Collin Miller during spring practice on Creamery Field in Bovina, NY. Collin's team is "fashioned after the original team established in Griffin Corners, New York in 1895 by yeast magnates Julius and Max Fleischmann. Thanks to M.A.C., the Bovina Dairymen, and the Delhi Base Ball Club for inviting us to practice.Â
Thanks also to our sponsors: Roxbury's WIOX and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
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This week, I met with Brian Flynn for a no-holds-barred interview on his run for Congress, his business ventures, a family tragedy, a life of activism, civic engagement, and the donation of not one, but two living organs. All that, and more, from Brian's home in Elka Park, NY.
This episode was edited by our production intern, Skye Ruse. Please support our supporters: the Phoenicia Playhouse and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
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Honey bees aren't the only species facing serious population declines. Wild bees, butterflies, moths, beetles, and other insects, plus birds, bats, and amphibians are losing natural habitat and being forced out by invasive species, pesticides and herbicides. Pollinator pathways are a series of pollinator friendly areas that are spaced closely enough to create a habitat corridor. And for Catskills landowners, the Woodstock NY Pollinator Pathway offers simple ways to affect positive change for our pollinator pals. Committee Chair Georgia Asher tells us more.
Supported by WIOX and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
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Oliverea schoolhouse maple is a 4,000 tap maple farm owned and operated by Herb Van Baren. We tagged along for the day as he tapped trees and pumped sap to be boiled down to 1,000 gallons of Catskill Mountain syrup!
This episode was sponsored by WIOX and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
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With snow and ice still reluctant to make way for long-awaited signs of spring, bird species know that warm weather is indeed on its way, and many are already en route back to their Catskills breeding grounds. For many of us, robins are a telltale sign that spring has sprung. If you're hiking in the high country, though, you might be lucky enough to hear a Bicknell's thrush, back from its winter home in Hispaniola. Although its range is not limited to the Catskills, the bird was discovered here in the 19th century, by Eugene P. Bicknell. To tell us more about the man behind the bird, I spoke with Jeremy Kirchman, Curator of Birds at the New York State Museum.
This episode originally aired as part of Catskill Historical Views, an audio companion to Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, published by the Gilboa Museum & Juried History Center, with support from the Zadock Pratt Museum. Thanks to Humanities New York for their support.
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This week, we're joined by 4 Catskills writers, teachers, and board members of Writers in the Mountains, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a nurturing environment for the practice, appreciation and sharing of creative writing.
Simona Davidis a media consultant, author of How Art Is Made: In the Catskills (published in 2017), and former president of Writers In The Mountains (from 2012 â 2019). She's currently working as an advisor to the Board.
Sharon Israelhosts the radio show, Planet Poet-Words in Space, on Roxbury's WIOX, and she hosts a podcast by the same name. Her debut chapbook, Voice Lesson, was published in 2017 by Post Traumatic Press. And she's been on the Writers in the Mountains Board of Directors for over a decade.
Anique Sara Taylor is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Her work has appeared in Rattle, Common Ground Review, Stillwater Review, Earthâs Daughters and several anthologies. Sheâs co-authored works for HBO, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and a three-act play that was performed by Playwrights Horizons and Williamstown Theatre Festival. She's also an award-winning artist, and she teaches Creative Writing for Benedictine Hospitalâs Oncology Support Program, Bard Lifetime Learning Institute, and Writers in the Mountains.
Leslie T. Sharpe is a lifelong naturalist living in the Great Western Catskills. Her book, The Quarry Fox and Other Critters of the Wild Catskills, is an Independent Book Publisher "Gold Medal Award winner for Excellence". And I had the pleasure of producing the audiobook edition, beautifully narrated by Leslie, and available wherever audiobooks are found. In 2019, Leslie was named one of Fifty Stewards of the Catskills. She's taught writing and editing at Columbia University, New York University, the City College of New York, and currently, at Writers in the Mountains.
Supported by WIOX and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
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Join us for part two of our behind-the-scenes tour of "Sustainable Catskills," with stops at the nation's first "passive house" library, an eco-conscious resort on the banks of the Esopus, and an Arkville solar array that implements local art and bluestone into its design. Thanks to Ulster Tourism and The 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, following New York State Route 28 through the heart of the Central Catskills.
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Come along for a behind-the-scenes tour of "Sustainable Catskills," with a stop at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, a walk on the Ashokan Rail Trail, and a swim at the Catskill Recreation Center! Thanks to Ulster Tourism and The 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, following New York State Route 28 through the heart of the Central Catskills.
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This week, an insightful interview with Dean Cycon, founder of Deanâs Beans Organic Coffee Company. Hear how coffee is creating meaningful change through ethical business practices rooted in respect for the earth, the farmer, the employee, and the consumer.
Some highlights from our conversation:
- fair trade? or "fairer" trade?
- conventional coffee is more expensive
- direct links between the border crisis and underpaid farmers
- detrimental impacts of climate change
- unexpected pandemic impacts
- combatting hunger in western Massachusetts
- Dean's favorite bean!
Thanks to Dixon Roadside and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce for their support!
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Happy New Year! This week's podcast is a celebration of our annual spin around the sun, and a book by local author Nina Shengold on her 365-day walk along the Ashokan Reservoir. On the eve of her 60th birthday, she decided to walk the reservoir every day for one year and to chronicle the journey. We produced an audiobook in collaboration with Syracuse University Press, and in this podcast, you'll hear excerpts from the book, along with reflections by some of the creative Catskillians -- narrator, musician, writer -- involved in the process.Â
Thanks to the Catskills Visitor Center and the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway for their support.
For more on Nina's book:
https://ninashengold.com
https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/2980/reservoir-year/
For the audio edition:
https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780815690016-reservoir-year
And for the locally orchestrated soundtrack:
https://www.twodarkbirds.com/reservoir
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Each year, the Catskill Mountain Foundation's Orpheum Dance Program puts on a performance of The Nutcracker, directed by ballet pro Victoria Rinaldi. This year's pandemic brings this annual tradition online, using clips from the past five years of performances, plus new material featuring students like Lada Svechnikova, pictured here. Join us for an interview with Victoria and Lada in Hunter, NY.
Thanks to Cyndi and Paul LaPierre, and to the the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce for their support of this episode.
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We spoke with Delaware County historian Bill Birns about the legacy of âHobartâs greatestâ (albeit largely forgotten) son, John Davenport Clarke: farmer, forester, and congressman. Â
Catskill Historical Views is a collaboration between Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, the Zadock Pratt Museum, and Silver Hollow Audio. Thanks to Humanities New York for their support of this series.
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This week, we highlight four segments from our original "Experience the Central Catskills" audio driving guide, for a westward drive from Olive to Andes on NYS Route 28.Â
- DEC Natural Resources Supervisor Bill Rudge and an overview of the Catskill Park past and present
- Historian Diane Galusha on the Ashokan Reservoir and the New York City water supply
- Fly fishing the Esopus creek with Mark Loete
- Reminiscences of John Burroughs, with Bill Birns, Steve Koester, and Rolland Smith
Thanks to our sponsors, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, the Emerson Resort & Spa, and listener support!
Photo courtesy of Tim Luby.
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American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, a literary, philosophical and spiritual movement with a belief in humanity's fundamental goodness; and a reverence for self-reliance, non-conformity, and a deep, personal connection to the natural world. And while the title of his essay, "Uses of great Men," may come off as misogynistic, or at least "dated," transcendentalists like Emerson were outspoken advocates of civil rights and social justice.
This week, a reading of Emerson's "Uses of Great Men," by Rolland G. Smith.
If Rolland Smith was born a century earlier, he would likely seek fellowship in the Transcendental Club, to converse with the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. A child of the 20th century, however, Rolland gravitated toward broadcast media, where he reported for outlets like WCBS, NBC, and WWOR. He's interviewed U.S. presidents, reported live from the front lines in Vietnam, and served as anchor of the historic "Live Aid" concert to an international audience of 2 billion. His journalistic integrity, contemplative storytelling, and abiding faith in humankind lie in stark contrast to today's media punditry, social media scrolling, and click bait. If Ralph Waldo Emerson was born a century later, he'd probably get his news from Rolland Smith.
Here's Rolland to introduce "Uses of Great Men," followed by his narration of the essay, recorded right here in the Catskills.
This week's show was made possible by the Emerson Resort & Spa and the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
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The Delaware County Diggers is a group of metal detecting enthusiasts with a passion for history and preservation. We joined them at the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge in Roxbury, NY, where they beeped and dug their way to an eclectic assortment of 19th- and 20th-century treasures. Come along with us for an archaeological treasure hunt just beneath the surface of John Burroughs' property at the historic Woodchuck Lodge!Â
Thanks to the Delaware County Diggers, the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge, and to our sponsors: the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, and the Catskill Center.Â
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Itâs fall in the Catskills, with that too-brief splash of color that draws leaf peepers near and far. In 1862, as famed naturalist Henry David Thoreau lay dying from tuberculosis, he wrote an essay entitled "Autumnal Tints," an ode to autumn in New England. In 2008, we published an audio edition of that work, and this week ⌠a selection from that essay, titled "Fallen Leaves."
Thank you to our sponsors: the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and the historic Phoenicia Playhouse.
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This week: bees! wasps! hornets! yellowjackets! (and other things that sting) with special guest Justin O. Schmidt, research biologist at Southwestern Biological Institute, adjunct faculty at University of Arizonaâs department of entymology, author of The Sting of the Wild, and creator of the famous Schmidt Sting Pain Index. Scientific American called Schmidt the "King of Sting." The New York Times dubbed him a âConnoisseur of Pain.â Hereâs your college class on stings, with ... if we may ... the "sommelier of sting."
Thanks to our sponsors, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and the Catskill Center.
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John Lyons is a transportation professional, sustainability leader, solar entrepreneur, and business developer with a passion for addressing the climate crisis and creating a clean energy future. He's been incorporating remote work into his career for decades, and he shares his insights on working remotely from both employee and employer perspectives. Plus, suggestions for translating what we've learned this year into a post-pandemic strategy for workplace adaptability moving forward.
Thanks to John Lyons, and to our sponsors:
Sustainable Hudson Valley and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce
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Dave Conover is Program Coordinator at Sustainable Hudson Valley. Â He grew up in the Catskills and has spent much of his career working on environmental issues as an educator and program developer.
Climate change is resulting in obvious changes to our very own ecosystem. Dave connects the dots and offers us a hopeful path for the future. But the time to act is now.
This episode was produced in collaboration with Sustainable Hudson Valley. Thanks also to our sponsor, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.Â
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âPeople, Places, Possibilitiesâ â A Conversation with Cynthia Nikitin
Sustainable Hudson Valley is working to accelerate progress against climate change through programs to scale up the clean energy marketplace and by helping communities plan for more resource-efficient patterns of living and working. Like everyone in the Hudson Valley, we are confronting four major crises: Covid-19, social injustice, economic recession, and climate change. SHV is spearheading a large-scale public conversation on responding to the urgency of each crisis, while understanding how they are connected and using that understanding to generate more sophisticated solutions. Itâs an ambitious idea that we are developing with our network of experts, including six Senior Fellows.
One of them is Boiceville resident Cynthia Nikitin, a 28-year veteran of the Project for Public Spaces. Sheâs managed hundreds of âplacemakingâ projects around the world, helping people to design downtowns, waterfronts, campuses and more, in ways that enhance sociability, connectivity and usefulness â for example, by developing residences and workplaces near transit and each other. Right now, Cynthia is excited about the way that communities and businesses are being forced to re-think how space is used, even expanding restaurant space into parking lots and surrounding neighborhoods for safety. She thinks this small shift can drive bigger changes in reclaiming excess streetscape, parking lots and under-utilized land for community revitalization and resilience.
Thanks to our sponsors: Sustainable Hudson Valley, and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
Photo by Brian Paccione
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There are a many conversations these days about the future, and understandably so. We are in the midst of four distinct crises: accelerating climate change, a pandemic, the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, and a wakeup to systemic racism.
Kaatscast is collaborating with Sustainable Hudson Valley on a series called âPeople, Places, Possibilities," to explore aspects of this new reality, andââwithout minimizing the downsidesââto consider the opportunities that arise simply from the pace and scale of change.
In this episode, we speak with Sustainable Hudson Valley's Executive Director, Melissa Everett, about the organization's goals, and where we stand as a region. Stay tuned for future interviews in this special series, right here on Kaatscast!
For more information, visit https://sustainhv.org.Â
Thanks also to the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce for their continued support of this podcast.
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First published in 1903, The Land of Little Rain is Mary Austinâs classic homage to the American Southwest. Her collection of short stories and essays takes listeners on an enchanted journey through Death Valley, the High Sierras, and the Mojave Desert.
Aridity and heat lie counterpoint to our Catskillsâ seemingly limitless water and endless winters. Like other nature writers of her time â John Burroughs and John Muir among them â Mary Austin deftly describes the natural world in which she is immersed, including its creatures and its characters.
This week, hear Ellen Parker's award-winning narration of the first two chapters.
Sponsored by The Mountain Eagle and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
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We recorded 85-year-old Nick Lyons at the Jerry Bartlett Angling Collection in Phoenicia, NY, as part of its "Sporting Legends of The Catskills" series.Â
From that event: "Nick began to fish as a child during summers at the Laurel House in Haines Falls, when the hotel was owned by his grandfather. He went on to wet a line just about everywhere he could find water â from Steeplechase Pier in Brooklyn to the Catskill Mountains, and beyond.
Nick is widely known for his popular âSeasonable Anglerâ column in Fly Fisherman Magazine, which he wrote for decades. In articles for Fly Fisherman and other publications, and in more than a dozen books, he chonicled his fishing adventures all over the world. Meanwhile, he pursued a busy life as an English professor at Hunter College and as a book publisher.
Nickâs late wife Mari was an accomplished artist who accompanied Nick on many of his journeys. Her watercolors and sketches appear in all of his later books."
Painting courtesy Mari Lyons, from Nick's well-known book âSpring Creek.â
Thanks to Beth Waterman and the Jerry Bartlett Angling Collection; and to our sponsor, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.Â
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In The Quarry Fox, Leslie T. Sharpe chronicles the seasons and the vibrant wildlife of a landscape she cherishes, offering her keen insights in an engaging narrative that celebrates the splendor of the natural world. From crafty foxes and hibernating bears to vulnerable monarch butterflies, The Quarry Fox explores the creatures of the Great Western Catskills in loving, lyrical detail.
Heir to John Burroughs, who tramped through these mountains more than a hundred years before her, Sharpe revisits the meadows, creeks, and bobcat dens, and invites us to come along for the trek.
The Quarry Fox is now an audiobook, published by Silver Hollow Audio and available wherever audiobooks are found. In this episode, we present chapter 4: "Natural Beauties." Enjoy!
Thanks to the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce for their support of this podcast.Â
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Platte Clove is a steep and narrow valley, accessed by Platte Clove Road between Tannersville and West Saugerties, NY. Part of the road is seasonal use only, offering a gorgeous (and hair-raising) drive April through October. John Farrell and Paul Dibbell are no strangers to this valley, and they talk to us about Elka Park, a 19th-century Victorian community; hiking and driving through the valley; and reminiscences of days past.
Produced with support from the Mountain Cloves Scenic Byway, Mama's Boy Burgers, and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce.
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Christie Scheele is an artist living in the Catskills, whose art is collected nationally and internationally by hundreds of private and public collectors. She says, "The single most distinctive aspect to what I do as a landscape painter lies in my ability to reduce a scene to its essentials. This gives the viewer what is important, without the distraction, or visual clutter, of too much detail. Both by providing this overview and by using soft, scumbled edges, these paintings can quiet a viewer's mind and evoke a more direct response."
In this episode, we catch up with Christie by phone to see how she's been handling art-life in quarantine, and then rewind 5 months to a conversation we recorded with a live audience at Albert Shahinian Fine Art Gallery, in Rhinebeck, NY.Â
Thanks to our sponsors: Albert Shahinian Fine Art, and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.
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On October 27, 2018, at the Phoenicia Library's Jerry Bartlett Angling Collection, âFirst Ladyâ Joan Wulff and her associate Jen Grossman took the floor to tell the story of Joan's remarkable life and career in the angling world. Hooked on fishing at a very early age, she rose to prominence as a National Casting Champion, winning competitions for both distance (161 feet!) and accuracy from 1943-1960. In the late 1970s, she and her husband, Lee Wulff, opened the Wulff School of Fly Fishing in Lew Beach on the Upper Beaverkill.
Sponsored by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, with original program support from the Catskill Watershed Corporation.Â
Photo credit: Mark Loete
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Forest historian Michael Kudish talks trees and forest composition in the Stony Clove, bridging Ulster and Greene Counties. Then, a conversation with forest entomologist Mark Whitmore, on an invasive threat to our Catskill hemlocks.Â
Thanks to our sponsors, Greene County Soil & Water; and the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.Â
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Full audio edition of John Burroughsâ classic essay, "The Heart of the Southern Catskills."Â
In 1886, Princeton geology professor Arnold Henry Guyot determined by survey that Slide Mountain, far to the southwest of the Hudson-hugging mountaintops, was the highest peak in the region, reaching over 4,000 feet. The opening of resorts like the Catskill Mountain House and the Grand Hotel at Highmount drew tourists upstate, and John Burroughsâ account of his 1885 ascent of Slide Mountain offered vacationers an enticing challenge.
Hiking Slide Mountain became then, as it is now, a key attraction. Enjoy the climb with him.
Original 2-disc set, produced in partnership with the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge, is available at Silver Hollow Audio.
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This audio edition of John Burroughsâ classic essay, "Pepacton: A Summer Voyage," is the story of Burroughsâ journey down the meandering river he called Pepacton, the name native people gave the stream. Burroughs was in his 40s when he made the trip, on a raft-type craft he fashioned himself, a grown man playing Huck Finn, traveling his personal Mississippi.
This 19th-century Catskills tale is pure Burroughs, filled with the values and ideas that are at his core: simplicity of life, joy in small things, harmony with the natural world, connection with people, and outdoor adventure.
Original 2-disc set, produced in partnership with the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge, is available at Silver Hollow Audio.Â
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Thousands infected, businesses shuttered, social distancing, and closed schools. In this special, unscheduled episode, listen in on 5 interviews on the pandemic, and how the Catskills are responding.Â
â˘Â Lissa Harris, reporter for The River Hudson Valley Newsroom
⢠"Rachel," a recent college grad who's battling COVID-19 head-on
⢠Ulster County Economic Development director, Lisa Berger
â˘Â Local restaurateur Mike Cioffi
⢠Onteora school superintendent Victoria McLarenÂ
Thanks to our interviewees; stay healthy, everyone.
Produced by Silver Hollow Audio
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The Catskills, with its beautiful scenery and quirky towns, offers ready-made backdrops for movies and TV. Add talented local crews and substantial tax credits, and it's no wonder increasing numbers of film and television productions are setting up here. In this episode, we speak with the Hudson Valley Film Commission's Laurent Rejto, and with a local innkeeper whose B&B was a key location for an upcoming film about werewolves.Â
Thanks to our sponsors, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway and the Phoenicia Playhouse.
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We tour "the loop," of Routes 25 and 23c, that connects Haines Falls to Tannersville, via the mountaintop. Hear from Cyndi LaPierre and Dede Thorpe on historic homes and the origins of Onteora Park; famed residents like Maude Adams (Peter Pan); visiting the Mountain Top Arboretum; and a church that served as a quarantine during the 1914 influenza epidemic (history certainly does repeat itself).
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In 1976, renowned artist Jan Sawka fled communist Poland with his wife Hanna, and baby daughter, also named Hanna. They eventually settled in High Falls, NY, and Jan would draw inspiration for his paintings from the Ashokan Reservoir and Catskills Mountains. We spoke with Janâs family at an exhibition of his work at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at SUNY New Paltz.
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In this episode, hear from Jon Ham and Bob Gildersleeve about the grand hotels that attracted visitors at the turn of the century, and the trains that got them there. Also... "mutton?!" How one hotel's refusal to serve chicken led to the construction of a famous competitor.Â
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In this episode, youâll hear from historian Cyndi LaPierre on the history of the word "Catskills," and if youâre wondering why Kaatscast starts with a âK,â instead of a âC,â this segment should help clear things up. In the second half of the show, weâll travel to Kaaterskill falls with geologist Bob Titus, who takes us back even further, to when the Catskills felt more like ⌠the Bahamas!
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Welcome to Kaatscast ââ a biweekly podcast delivering interviews, arts, culture, and history, from New York's Catskill mountains. Please subscribe, and be the first to hear all the great content, from quick interviews with Catskills locals, to full-length audio driving tours and fully-produced audiobooks.
In this first episode, we take you on a tour of the Northern Catskillsâ Mountain Cloves Scenic Byway. You can listen anywhere, but for the best experience, itâs designed for a westward drive from Palenville, NY, to Hunter, NY, on Route 23a. This is the main stretch. In future episodes, weâll post side excursions, so please donât forget to hit that subscribe button.
In this episode âŚÂ learn about painter Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, then weâll delve into the cottage communities of the late 1800s, with a current Twilight Park resident. From there, we speak with a New York State forester on the history of the Catskill Park.  Then weâre off to Tannersville, to meet the mayor, followed by a chat with Hunter Mountainâs Gary Slutzky.
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