46F at 9am, heavily raining and misty.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.45am
Daily Catskills: 05/06/16
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Tag Archives: Country Living
Daily Catskills: 05/05/16
44F at 9am with mist over mountains and drier than yesterday. 52F at 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
Daily Catskills: 05/04/16
44F at 9am, misty, humid and soaked with overnight rain. More rain in the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 4pm
Daily Catskills: 05/03/16
44F at 9am, soggy ground, peaks shrouded in mist and humid.
© J.N. Urbanski 9am
Daily Catskills: 05/01/16
42F at 9.30am, overcast, misty and raining for most of the day.
© J.N. Urbanski 4pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/30/15
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/29/15
© J.N. Urbanski 9.25am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/27/15
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/26/15
© J.N. Urbanski 04/26/15 Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 05/06/15
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 3/11/16
© J.N. Urbanski 1.20pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 9/18/14
© J.N. Urbanski 7.45am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 12/13/15
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Catskills Sandwich: Bread Alone’s Pastrami Reuben
© J.N. Urbanski
Bread Alone’s Reuben with gruyere cheese, Russian dressing, coleslaw and pastrami on organic sourdough rye is much less greasy than it looks and remarkably juicy. The coleslaw is quite mild in this sandwich, complementing the flavor of the pastrami, which is not overly salty. The last spectacular sandwich I recommended from Bread Alone disappeared off the Winter 2015 menu just as my review in the Catskills Food Guide went to press and was replaced with something similar. Plus, the Boiceville location where I got the Avocado & Arugula on April 4th has had the arugula removed for the spring menu. All these additions and subtractions keeps us food reviewers on our toes. Grab the Reuben while you can, as menus change frequently.
© J.N. Urbanski
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 08/12/15
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
The Catskill 35: Doubletop
© J.N. Urbanski
At 3860 feet high, Doubletop is the 9th highest peak in the Catskills and it’s a Catskills Camel, a double-humped peak and those humps are capped with dense thickets of fragrant evergreens. Once again, there’s a magical, mossy wonderland at the summit, and some ice and snow, but it’s doubly hard work getting up there.
According to the bylaws of the Catskill 3500 Club “there must be at least a 250 drop between the peak and any other peak on the list, or the peak must be at least half a mile from any other peak on the list”. So Doubletop’s two peaks are therefore combined.
It’s also a bushwhack with no trail, but it’s accessible from a number of directions. Experienced hikers approach Doubletop from nearby Graham Mountain, the Hardenburgh trail, Big Indian or Fir. The hike is mostly on private land, so you must obtain permission to hike this peak and you can find the details for that at the Catskills 3500 Club here.
There’s not much in the way of online information about the hike to Doubletop, so one must rely on a map and compass, or a guide. In a mostly southerly direction from the Seager Trail, it is straight up literally being almost horizontal in the beginning. Leaving the Seager Trail is always a miserable affair because it has everything you want in a trail: waterfalls, flat areas for picnics and a refreshing swimming hole. Leaving it to hike south towards Doubletop is even more painful because of its immediate upward trajectory: a thigh-buster from the beginning and troublesome because of its lack of trail.
Daily Catskills: 04/17/16
© J.N. Urbanski 4.30pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 4/17/15
© J.N. Urbanski 4/17/15 Noon
Catskills Conversations: Brian Tolle
© J.N. Urbanski
What brought you to the Catskills?
We (Brian and his partner, Brian Clyne) had an apartment in the city and I had the studio for 20-odd years in Williamsburg in Brooklyn. We both grew up on Long Island, so we grew up close to the water but for whatever reason, we both had an affinity for the mountains. One summer – I think it was about the year 2000 – we had enough friends up here that we could spend two or three weeks up here as vagabonds, throughout the Catskills. We went to different regions, but this region in Delaware County was very appealing to us. There was something about the topography, the landscape and the history of all this that suited us very well.
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/09/16
© J.N. Urbanski 4/9/16 1.30pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/13/15
Sculpture at the Maurice D. Hinchey Interpretive Center.
© J.N. Urbanski 4/13/15 10.30am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: Country Dog
© J.N. Urbanski
Alfie, the black lab/shepherd mix, was found in the Kingston ASPCA and is not only gorgeous, but the most charismatic, noble, extraverted, well-mannered and strong dog I have ever known. He was picked up as a stray puppy in Louisiana and I can imagine him now, having decided to break for freedom as early as possible, quickly making his escape and never looking back. He was driven north with a car full of other dogs to the Catskills by animal rescuers. He’s the best model a photographer ever had and is extraordinarily protective, but is slightly bossy and master of a very effective side-eye. When we left him in the shelter to wait for our references to be checked, I could hear him barking at us from the front door. Showing hardly any signs of shelter anxiety common in other rescued dogs, he bounced back like the trouper he is and has doubled in size in the two years we have had him. We rescued a 38lb puppy and now we have a 80lb bruiser. He’s now a card-carrying country dog.
Chasing Honey Farms: Spring Update
© J.N. Urbanski
The three pesticide-free beehives that were installed last May on Chasing Honey Farms natural apiary in Fleischmanns have survived the winter. Moreover, the bees have been collecting pollen for the last two weeks. When it was 80F in the middle of March, all three hives were active.
Proprietor Chase Kruppo had to start his beehives from scratch again a year ago because the bees he had installed the previous year had died over the winter. Once the new bees were installed in their hives on May 2nd last year, they were left to their own devices with wax foundations in the hives.
Chase is opposed to doing any artificial feeding of established colonies, but to start them last year, he said they definitely need a little boost. They arrived before the blossom, so they got one serving of sugar water for a week or two, in a one gallon bucket via the drip method. Chase noticed that the bees had stopped using the sugar water a week or two after going in the hive so he removed it. The carniolan bees had already surprised him with their industriousness, because they had formed a patty of wax comb inside the box in which they were transported.
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 05/28/15
A gorgeous glimpse of weather to come… fingers crossed.
© J.N. Urbanski 5/28/15 7.30am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 05/25/15
Hand picking worms off the organic apple trees in a young orchard. Last year was a banner year for apples in the Catskills.
© J.N. Urbanski 5/25/15 1.30pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/09/15
This year’s April is a mixture of rain and snow, much like last year’s, which included an ice storm on the evening of 4/8/15 that coated trees, walls and cars in a layer of ice. Over that morning it began to melt and, as the ice was shaken through the trees in the breeze, it issued a loud tinkling sound like nature’s freezing wind chime.
© J.N. Urbanski 4/9/15 8.48am
© J.N. Urbanski 4/9/15 8.30am
Catskills Sandwich: Roast Beef
© J.N. Urbanski 3/10/16
The Phoenicia Diner revamped its roast beef sandwich this year. They toasted the bread, added melted brie to the juicy grass-fed beef making this classic sandwich much more delicious. Moreover, it’s a reasonable size for a sandwich, not a gigantic doorstop that’s a whole day’s worth of calories and enough meat to clog your colon for weeks.
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/06/15
On this day last year…
© J.N. Urbanski 4/6/15 8am
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 4/04/15 & 04/05/15
A year ago on the farm. We’re surprised to see snow this time of year, but last week’s warmer weather, which saw laundry drying quickly in the sun, was more unusual than yesterday’s snowstorm.
© J.N. Urbanski 4/4/15
© J.N. Urbanski 4/5/15
Catskills Sandwich: Avocado & Arugula
© J.N. Urbanski
Bread Alone’s cucumber, apple, celeraic, sprouts, arugula pesto comes on organic ciabatta bread, but is much better on wheat. Crunchy, chewy and refreshing all at the same time, if that’s possible: a delicious Catskills sandwich.
Daily Catskills: 04/03/16
27F at noon with 6 inches of overnight snow and high winds causing snowdrifts. More afternoon snow.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
© J.N. Urbanski 1.10pm
Daily Catskills Lightbox: 04/02/15
© J.N. Urbanski 4/2/15
Today Catskills Lightbox features an unpublished photograph taken a year ago when there was still snow on the ground.
Catskills Cocktails: Local Blueberry Infused Vodka
© J.N. Urbanski
We’ve taken one of the last batches of our 2015 organic blueberry and golden raspberry crops out of the freezer, have thawed them out, and now soaking them in Union Grove Distillery’s local Vly Creek Vodka to make a fruity, alcoholic mixer. See you in six weeks.
Daily Catskills’ Lightbox: 04/01/15
© J.N. Urbanski 4/1/15
Daily Catskills is taking a break for a month while we edit and print for the exhibition. It’s been a long, arduous project but it’s time to go back and review literally thousands and thousands of pictures taken over 18 months. We’ve slid down icy mountain passes and crashed into trees; wandered into a sudden low lightning storms; suffered hail, fog, snow and sub-zero temperatures atop mountain peaks. We’ve also got enigmatic pictures of writing desks and afternoon tea to balance it out and many, many pictures of the absolute best Catskills sandwiches. On many days, I personally took over a hundred pictures, but the editing process has been richly rewarding. Today’s lightbox pictures were taken in the Catskills on April 1st, the first day of fly fishing season.
Daily Catskills will start up again on May 1st. We still have eleven bushwhacks to go to complete our Catskills 35, which I started last August, so the photographs from the trail will still keeping coming. The Catskills 3500 Club membership requires that members have hiked all the Catskills’ 35 peaks over 3500ft. We have three regular peaks (with trails) and eleven bushwhacks to complete on our list. Plus, we will resume Catskills Conversations next week with a local artist.
Thanks for reading!
J.N. Urbanski
© J.N. Urbanski 4/1/15
Daily Catskills Goes to Print
© J.N. Urbanski
Upstate Dispatch’s Daily Catskills Project goes to print next week and an edited selection of photographic works by J.N. Urbanski will be shown in a spring exhibition at a location to be determined in the next few weeks. Watch this space for details.
At least 50 images picked from Urbanski’s contributions to Daily Catskills will be available for sale, framed and unframed.
It’s been a long, demanding project. With the help of contributing photographers Chase Kruppo, Erik Johanson, Fernando Delgado, Melissa Zeligman, Margaret Helthaler, Lydia Brunt, Gavin DuBois, Lori Robin, Jeff Vincent, Niva Dorell-Smith and Mountain Girl Photography & Design, Upstate Dispatch posted an image a day, shot on the day it was published, every day for 18 months. Special thanks go to Margaret Helthaler for her help over the past year.
After a short break in April, the project will resume online again. In April, we’ll begin Daily Catskills Lightbox, a selection of photographic work that did not make the cut on the day.
Stay tuned!
Catskill Weekend: Maple on Main Art Exhibition
The Roxbury Arts Group is partnering with Fleischmanns First on this year’s Fleischmanns First Maple Festival 2016. They have curated an exhibit, Maple on Main, which will be located at 1053 Main Street in Fleischmanns. The Opening Reception for this exhibit is this Saturday, April 2nd from 4-6pm. The exhibit will be open throughout this two-day festival, April 2nd and 3rd.
This multi-media exhibit, celebrating everything Maple, includes work by Sharon Suess, Alix Travis, Jenny Neal, Dan Williams, Nancy McShane, Emilie Rigby, Solveig Comer, Laura Sue King, Miguel Martinez-Riddle, John Virga, Michelle Sidrane, Joseph Muehl, Dora Chambers, Robin White, and Andes Central School students Emily Andersen, Katie Edelson, Rylee Burton, Hunter Collins, Destiny Weaver, Stephanie Gaydos, Christian Bauer, Rachel Masterson, and Lila Green.
The exhibition will be a short stroll from The Painters Gallery on Main Street, featuring Project Topoi, “an experiment in using images rather than words to discuss ideas” that includes a 26 minute video from contributors. The Gallery will be open from 12pm to 4pm.
© J.N. Urbanski
Daily Catskills: 03/31/16
52F by 8.30am with a veil of hazy cloud. 63F and humid by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
Daily Catskills: 03/30/16
41F at 8.30am with clear skies and warm in the sun. Update: 55F by 1pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 12.30pm
Daily Catskills: 03/29/16
30F at 8.30am with a chilly wind and an overnight layer of crunchy snow. 40F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.40pm
© J.N. Urbanski 2.40pm
Daily Catskills: 03/28/16
45F at 11am, overcast and raining. 46F and cloudy by 1pm with intermittent rain and cloud for the rest of the afternoon.
© J.N. Urbanski 5.30pm
Daily Catskills: 03/27/16
36F at 8.30am, with hazy skies and mist evaporating off the mountains. 57F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 9.30am
Daily Catskills: 03/21/16
35F at 8.30am, mostly clear, sunny with a biting breeze and a hazy horizon. A hair over 40F by noon.
© J.N. Urbanski 10.30am
Daily Catskills: 03/20/16 Spring Equinox
36F at noon, lightly overcast and chilly. The Spring (Vernal) Equinox is the time when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the earth, as the earth’s northern hemisphere begins moving towards the sun, making it warmer here throughout the summer.
© J.N. Urbanski 3pm
Hazelnuts
© MAU
Hazelnut bushes in the orchard, planted in 2007, get a chance to properly flourish this spring possibly because they now have a sturdy fence around them. In years past, we’ve only harvested a handful of the nuts that grow in a thick, green, furry casing. The bushes, which can grow into large trees, are self-infertile so it’s necessary to plant at least two together for cross-pollination. The male catkins, pictured above, which produce pollen that they release onto the red female flowers, are a food staple of ruffed grouse throughout the winter. The nuts are a preferred by squirrels, deer, turkey, woodpeckers, pheasants, grouse, quail and jays.
Daily Catskills: 03/18/16
39F at 11am and overcast with light snow. 35F at 2pm and more snow.
© J.N. Urbanski 1.50pm
Daily Catskills: 03/17/16
43F at 8.30am with thick fog rolling off the mountains. Update: 54F by the afternoon with a mixture of cotton wool clouds of various colors. Down to 44F with icy snowy rain by 2.30pm. Back up to 53F by 4pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 8.30am
Daily Catskills: 03/16/16
43F at 8.30am, with hazy sunshine, rising to 61F by 3pm and bright despite light cloud cover.
© J.N. Urbanski 2.30pm
Daily Catskills: 03/15/16
43F at 8.30am, overcast with morning mist over the mountains. 55F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Daily Catskills: 03/13/16
40F by 8.30am with hazy sunshine, rising to 57F by 3pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 11.41am
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
The Catskill 35 (W): Bearpen
© J.N. Urbanski
The trail to the summit of Bearpen is a long, gradual meander around a mountain, mostly on a part of a snowmobile trail that’s much longer than the walk to the summit and privately maintained. Unlike other trails to Catskills peaks over 3500ft, which are rocky, and perhaps because it’s so further afield than the others, the path is soft and grassy. There’s no tripping over boulders or sliding around on gravel. Most of all, there’s no clambering. If you like hauling yourself up over large boulders, this is not the hike for you. There are short lengths of the trail that are steeper, but they don’t last long. Bearpen is bearish, not bullish, if you like market metaphors. Yesterday, the trail was wet and that made the going very muddy with the boots sinking inches into thick banks of mud in some parts. There were long, round puddles that reflected another gorgeous winter day wearing the mantle of spring. On the ascent there are views through the trees during winter and at the summit, there are many breathtaking views. There’s also a large, rusting contraption that looks like an old ski-lift pulley converted from a car or truck, around which small trees have grown.
Daily Catskills: 03/12/16
39F at 8.30am, with clear skies and a light breeze. 57F at 1pm.
© J.N. Urbanski Noon
© J.N. Urbanski 12.50pm
Daily Catskills: 03/09/16
A hair over 70F at 8.30am and hazy with a light breeze. 74F by 2pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 2pm
Catskills Conversations: Lizzie Douglas
© J.N. Urbanski
Lizzie Douglas is the proprietor of Stick in the Mud, a recently-opened cafe and store selling local goods and produce, in the ground floor storefront of the Bussy Building in Margaretville.
JNU: What brought you to the Catskills?
LD: The connection I have with the Catskills was that my daughter originally had a second home here.
Where did you raise your daughter?
My daughter lives in Brooklyn.
Did you live in NYC for a long time?
No, I have never lived in NYC. Before I came here I was living in Colorado, in the Four Corners area. Before that, I was travelling all over as a tour director and before that I was living in London.
What took you to Colorado?
As a tour director I would take my groups on authentic stagecoach rides and we would do Hollywood, Vegas, Grand Canyon Wild West Style. We would do dinner and dancing afterwards. I met a stagecoach driver.
Daily Catskills: 03/08/16
50F at 8.30am, overcast and humid. 61F by 1.30pm.
© J.N. Urbanski 1pm
Hillsound Trail Gear
© J.N. Urbanski
It certainly wasn’t the plan to complete the Catskills Winter 35 (hiking every peak over 3500ft between the dates of December 21st and March 21st). In fact, the plan was to do the four required winter peaks of the regular Catskills 35 and resume in the spring, but like many carefully laid plans, this one failed. Being a city girl, before moving to the Catskills, all my walking was of the pavement persuasion and, truth be told, I only started hiking to wear out my puppy. I am not prepared for spring at all (and never was), but thanks to my friends at Hillsound, I am perfectly winterized with crampons, ultra crampons and gaiters, which are nifty contraptions, like hiker’s leg warmers that don’t wrinkle. Gaitors have stirrups that prevent the gaiter from rising up so that snow does not go up the trouser leg.