Getting crisp, but still warm in the sun, despite giant clouds and a high around 60F.
Daily Catskills: 10/12/23
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Tag Archives: Upstate New York
Daily Catskills: 10/11/23
Overcast with a blanket of rippling cloud that allows occasional sunburst and a high in the low sixties. Gloomy in the woods mid-afternoon.
Daily Catskills: 10/10/23
A little warmer with a high of 58F and a mixed lot of multifarious cloud cover.
Daily Catskills: 10/08/23
A jumble of weather: giant, scene-stealing clouds, scattered showers and some sunny spells with a high of 60F.
Daily Catskills: 10/07/23
All day rain and the ubiquitous foggy mist. Humid with a high of 66F. The dullness is muting the fall colors.
Daily Catskills: 10/06/23
Overcast and gloomy today, and humid with a high of 78F. Dinner at the Print House.
Daily Catskills: 10/04/23
Another scorcher: a high of 86F with a virtually cloudless sky, save for the odd scattering of cotton balls in the distance. Fall and Summer collide to make a gorgeous day.
Daily Catskills: 10/03/23
A fall scorcher: a high of 82F with clear skies and another serene sunset.
Daily Catskills: 10/02/23
A hot sunny day, mostly clear except for a couple of big fluffy cotton wool clouds and a high of 76F. Serene sunset.
Daily Catskills: 09/29/23
Misty rain on the peaks becoming heavier in the valleys. Humid and foggy with a high of 66F. A muted red glow at sunset.
Daily Catskills: 09/17/23
A chill in the air, and warm in the sun but mostly overcast with a flat swathes of menacing cloud. Late afternoon rain and a high of 67F.
Daily Catskills: 09/13/23
Gloomy and rainy, with intermittent showers leaving a trail of thick mist in their wake. A high of 71F and humid. The goldenrod is enjoying this late summer.
Daily Catskills: 09/12/23
Bright and warm with scattered clouds like a handful of odd, mismatched clouds were chucked in the air, and a high of 79F.
Daily Catskills: 09/08/23
Another steamy day, overcast and dry with a high of 83F. Post-sunset torrential downpours cool the evening air.
Daily Catskills: 09/07/23
A steamy day. Hot and humid, with plump, fluffy cloud and a high of 89F. Mid-afternoon thunder and rain that took a pause for sunset and then continued with epic house-rattling thunder and lightning after dark. Some epic weather.
Daily Catskills: 09/03/23
Warm and sunny with a high of 82F. Day 4 of haying: bringing the bales down off the mountain and “tedding” the second cutting.
Daily Catskills: 09/02/23
Day 3 of haying in the Dry Brook Valley, mostly clear and sunny, a high of 72F, with late afternoon cotton wool cloud and some post-sunset sprinkles. Jewel weed is thriving down by the river.
Daily Catskills: 09/01/23
Sunny and clear with a high of 80F. Tall goldenrod stems swing in a gentle breeze and its Day 2 of a hay window in the Dry Brook Valley.
Daily Catskills: 04/25/23
Cold, with a high of 48F and a chilly wind. A mostly gloomy day with the sun emerging late afternoon like it had spent all day a work. A beautiful evening.
Daily Catskills: 10/31/22
A grey day, overcast and humid with a high of 61F. A tinder polypore on a hemlock bench perfectly reflects the day’s colors.
Daily Catskills: 10/29/22
Sunny and warm with a high of 62F. Leaves hanging on.
Daily Catskills: 10/24/22
Mostly overcast with a low blanket of mist, and humid with the occasional peep of sun, a sprinkle of rain carried over from last night and a high of 65F. 2022 is having a spectacular, drawn out fall and now we are deep into the earth tones of the giant oaks: copper, gold and brassy brown.
Daily Catskills: 10/23/22
Overcast with the odd glimmer of sun and still balmy for the season with a high of 61F. The fall colors are now the golden, brassy, maroon and copper tones of the oaks and ironwood, and some of these trees are still green.
Daily Catskills: 10/22/22
Another clear, fall day with a high of 70F.
Daily Catskills: 10/20/22
Bright and sunny with a nippy wind and a high of 53F. Big dome of clear blue with the odd remnant of wispy cloud.
Daily Catskills: 10/18/22
A frosty morning with dew steaming out of the valleys, a fresh dome of azure sky, chilly but humid, rising to a high of 55F with giant clouds moving in mid-afternoon. Fall is falling.
Daily Catskills: 10/17/22
A dingy start to the week, with a sky like washed ink and a high of 55F.
Daily Catskills: 10/16/22
Bright and breezy, mostly clear skies and a high of 63F.
Daily Catskills: 10/15/22
A frosty morning, warming up to a high of 65F. Clear and sunny with leaves fluttering like confetti in a light breeze. Coral-colored sugar maples line Andes’ Main Street.
Daily Catskills: 10/14/22
Another gorgeous misty, cloudy morning, clearing by noon and warming up to a balmy high of 65F. Warm in the sun.
Daily Catskills: 10/13/22
A gloomy, chilly morning warming up to a humid, rainy day with a high of 62F. Falling leaves tossed around by gusty winds. Torrential rain into the evening.
Daily Catskills: 10/12/22
Sunny and humid, mostly clear skies and a high of 66F.
Daily Catskills: 10/11/22
A crisp morning with thick mist sinking into the valleys. Clear sky for the rest of the day, balmy with a high of 67F.
Daily Catskills: 10/10/22
An overcast morning giving way to an afternoon of big, dramatic clouds, the barest sprinkle of misty rain and a high of 59F. Two farm dogs declared cancer-free and loving the view from their mountain.
Daily Catskills: 10/09/22
Peak fall colors, but only brief periods of sun in which to showcase their glory. A nippy wind and a high of 58F.
Daily Catskills: 10/08/22
Chilly and overcast with brief periods of sunshine and afternoon rain. A high of 50F.
Daily Catskills: 10/07/22
Overcast and misty with late afternoon rain and a high of 66F. We’re in the peak of glorious fall here in the Catskills. We just need some sun to show it off.
Daily Catskills: 10/06/22
Sun, at last! Mostly cloudless with a high of 74F. A beautiful fall day.
Daily Catskills: 10/05/22
A rainy morning walk through misty mountains. Another overcast day, with thick foggy cloud and a high of 61F. The sun making a brief appearance mid to late afternoon, brightening the gorgeous fall colors. A lovely half-moon rise though streaky cloud.
Daily Catskills: 10/03/22
Cloud stretched taut over the sun like thick gauze, chilly with a high of 52F. Chronic overcast conditions are dulling these fall colors that are best experienced up close: oak on the right, maple on the left. The oak will be the last man standing.
Daily Catskills: 10/02/22
Overcast and chilly with blustery winds and a high of 57F. Fiery sunset.
Daily Catskills: 10/01/22
Overcast with ruffled grey cloud, morning mist and a high of 62F. Goldenrod still hanging on.
Daily Catskills: 09/29/22
Thick cloud cover clearing by late afternoon. Humid but chilly, with a high of 62F. Yellow leaves falling.
Daily Catskills: 09/28/22
More gloom. Overcast, with a slight chill taking the edge off the humidity and a high of 65F. Misty clouds sail through the valley towing their falling rain.
Daily Catskills: 09/27/22
Another overcast day: humid with swirling clouds with misty rain and a high of 65F. Some color still remains in the garden.
Daily Catskills: 09/26/22
Dull and overcast, mostly rainy with brief periods of sunshine, with cloud cover clearing at sunset, a rainbow and a high of 65F.
Daily Catskills: 09/24/22
A very crisp, dewy morning at 42F, but sunny and clear for the rest of the day with stray wisps of cloud a high of 69F. Perfect weather for cycling to a festival.
Daily Catskills: 09/22/22 Autumnal Equinox
Loud overnight thunderstorms begin in the early hours of the autumnal equinox, the first day of fall. Intermittent rain, some afternoon sun, and a high of 69F. Humid with a chilly breeze.
Daily Catskills: 09/20/22
A bright, crisp morning, but overcast. A high of 67F, and pockets of sunshine despite stormy cloud cover and afternoon sprinkles. A slight yellowing of the foliage and a few splashes of red.
Daily Catskills: 09/19/22
A high of 77F and humid, with torrential rain beginning in the afternoon. A steamy evening with thick fog settling in the valleys. A low of 66F.
The Farm Stand
I developed a curry sauce made from scratch during the pandemic. Curry is part of Ayurvedic diet in which you eat foods that protect your health, so this year I tried to grow some of the ingredients. There are plenty of foods in this diet that don’t grow well in this climate, but we do have some good replacements. For example, spice bush, native to the Catskills and Northeast America, is a good stand-in for spices because you can eat the leaves, twigs and berries. I’ve never found spice bush when foraging here, but I did buy a few seedlings from Barkaboom Native Plants based here in the Catskills.
Some of what I planted at Lazy Crazy Acres farm did not do well, or even grow at all, but what did grow really well were arugula, red bliss potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, and hot peppers. We have shishito, jalapeno, cayenne, anaheim and exactly one dark green poblano. We got at least 30 shishito peppers from one plant alone, although we had to get it under cover because the deer started to eat the plant. I also planted mint and lavender as companion plants. The mint has kept the tomatoes pest-free except for one lonely, recent hornworm. All these are on the farm stand, except the hornworm who was invited to move across the street. Considering that we’re on dead-end road, this little fledgling farm stand is not doing too badly. Visitors to Tree Juice Maple Syrup are the biggest customers, which is where the farm stand is, and some of the garlic will be going into the syrup.
Whatever does not get sold will get dried or preserved. We grew 300 heads of garlic and the cloves from the biggest bulbs will get planted in October.
The farm stand is open when it’s not raining. We’ve yet to add a roof, but we all have to start somewhere.
Happy Birthday Upstate Dispatch!
Tomorrow will mark the five year anniversary of Upstate Dispatch. I’m not sure how that happened, but it’s been a wild ride. I can honestly say that this city girl has learned so much more about life, work and herself these past few years than could have been imagined.
To commemorate, I will be a guest on the radio tonight of Steve Burnett in his show The Evening Tickler at 6pm. Listen in on WIOX here.
You may have noticed that there hasn’t been much on the website these past few months and there’s a reason for that. I’m taking my life in an entirely new direction. I’ve no idea where it will lead, but there will be a new website devoted to more of my writing life than just this neck of the woods, and new media-based work in the arts and further afield. But there’s so much content here, you could peruse this site for the next year on the old posts alone. Below find links to the most popular posts of the past five years. Coming up for UD in the future, we’ll be more food-focused with new contributors to write on recipes, farming and the local economy. We’re looking for sponsors to underwrite our fall content and invite pitches to [email protected].
Meanwhile, over the summer, it has been nice to relax into the scenery, just exist in the woods, forage, harvest and meditate, without having to document every leaf, stream and view of it.
Upstate Dispatch Links
We never finished the Catskills 35! I have just six bushwhacks left and will do those over the winter because the summit is easier to find without the leaves on the trees. However, our hiking section is the most popular.
See our Instagram feed here.
An interview with Bill Birns got us about 13,000 new views and Rob Handel is one of the most accomplished young chefs in the region.
An interview with Steve and Kristie Burnett.
Catskills drinking!
Thanks so much for reading.
Daily Catskills: 06/01/19
Bright and sunny despite thick rippling cloud like crumpled blue-gray cotton. A high of 85F with a shy sprinkle of rain mid-afternoon. An overwhelming smell of green wafts through the forest. Historical Catskills takes a moment in the preparation for summer visitors.
Daily Catskills: 04/06/19
A high of almost 60F, with fog rolling through the valleys and dissolving in the afternoon sun.
Daily Catskills: 03/28/19
A balmy spring day: a high of 53F with the snow withdrawing into the shadows like a retreating tide. Rivers warm up and run higher.
