New column: Ask a naturalist
Which kinds of trees make which color leaves? Why do we see so many spiderwebs in the fall? When were apples first cultivated in the Hudson Valley? Can woolly bear caterpillars predict the weather?
Lifestyle
Dutchess Fairgrounds host NYS Sheep & Wool Festival
Thursday-Sunday, Oct. 17-20: There will be opportunities to shop for wool, learn different crafts, admire llamas and alpacas on parade and root for your favorite sheepdog.
Bard hosts second annual John Cage Mycology Weekend
Saturday/Sunday, Oct. 19/20: Besides being among the most revolutionary of 20th-century classical composers, John Cage was also an avid amateur mycologist. His interest in mushrooms was literally born out of hunger during the Depression, when he would take the specimens he’d foraged near his home in Carmel, California to the local library to see if they were edible. He spent much of the rest of his life collecting and studying fungi, even supplying upscale New York restaurants such as the Four Seasons with mushrooms he gathered in the local (reachable by subway) wild.
Take the Secret Saugerties photo challenge
Now, every town has its cool stuff, but some of these discoveries are mind-blowing. Did you know that the first stained-glass window commission undertaken by the William Morris Company for an American client, with panels designed by Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and Morris himself, was the 1867 Vanderpoel Window that hangs in Saugerties’ Trinity Church?
Monarch butterfly release party held in conjunction with the first anniversary of River-to-Ridge trail
Kindergartners gathered last Saturday in New Paltz to say one final goodbye to their monarch butterfly friends, and to wish them well on their long journey to Mexico. The insects had hatched on milkweed saved from mowing along the River-to-Ridge trail, collected as caterpillars and allowed to pupate under the watchful eye of Duzine students.
Mohonk Preserve Foothills Loop Trail opens
The Mohonk Preserve Foothills Loop Trail is now open, expanding the Mohonk Preserve Foothills trail network and extending the River-to-Ridge Trail in New Paltz. The 2.2-mile loop trail, which is free and open to the public, begins near the intersection of Pine and Butterville Roads, follows the newly established Ridgeview Road to Lenape Lane and continues around the White Oak Bend Path to Pine Road.
Longyear Farm Day benefits Woodstock Land Conservancy
Saturday, Oct. 12: Located in the heart of Woodstock for 70 years, Matt, Heather and Kathy Longyear’s farm has hosted a benefit for the Woodstock Land Conservancy for the last five years. This event is a celebration of community for all ages and features opportunities to learn about the farm and the environment while enjoying crafts, kids’ activities and local foods and music.
The NAO now: And the dark side of night
This setup typically lets cold polar air pour into the Northeast, and can set the stage for early snowstorms.
Kristin Kimball to read new memoir Good Husbandry in Rhinebeck
Tuesday, Oct. 22: Kimball left city life behind and, with her new husband from New Paltz, took on the immense job of starting and running a CSA near Lake Champlain, known as Essex Farm. It currently comprises 1,100 acres and is managed with horsedrawn farm machinery rather than tractors, using no chemical pesticides or fertilizers. The goal was to supply its 150 members year-round (up to 200 now) with ingredients for three organic meals a day – not just vegetables, salad greens, herbs and a few fruits, but also grains, flour, beans, eggs, meat, dairy, honey, maple syrup, cut flowers, even soap. Kimball calls it “the world’s first full-diet CSA, as far as we know.”
New 11.5-mile rail trail promises great fall foliage views
The Ulster County-built Ashokan Rail-Trail, a long-awaited public recreational walkway (the county prefers the term “shared-use path”), will be opened to the public on Friday, October 18. First proposed in 2012, the 11.5-mile trail is ten to twelve feet in width, with a compacted crushed-stone surface that allows accessibility to persons with disabilities and limited mobility.
