by Maria Reidelbach

If you think we upstaters have it rough in the winter, check out Sweden. It's got the same latitude as Nova Scotia, and parts of Sweden are so cold that they're frozen from September through May. The first day of winter has a mere six hours of sun. Swedes really need to party during the darkest days, and it's no wonder that they have created fabulous winter holiday traditions.

I'm lucky to have a Swedish-American friend, Bibi Farber, who grew up there with her mother. Every year Bibi celebrates the holiday season at her Kerhonkson cottage with at least one party featuring delicious Swedish dishes: creamed potatoes, beets, gravlax, and sweet-and-sour cabbage. She also serves glögg, a hot spiced wine that is a wonderful antidote to cold and darkness. She uses pretty white demitasse encircled in red hearts that she inherited from her mother. I don't know which is more warming, the glögg or Bibi's beautiful smile as she pours and passes the cups.

To bring a little of the Swedish spirit to your holiday celebrations, here are a couple of fun and interesting recipes. Despite their Scandinavian origins, I've added local twists.

Harold McGee's Cured Salmon with Pine Needle

Cured salmon, also called gravlax or lox, is easy to make; you just need a little lead time to let the salt and sugar do their work. The great food science and history authority Harold McGee suggests the following variation on traditional Swedish gravlax with dill by subbing pine. It works beautifully as a resiny aromatic—a delicious counterpoint to the richness of the salmon. And I'm told by Kevin Best, an avid fly-fisherman from New Paltz, that our local trout, whose season is just ending, would be wonderful served this way, too. It would be a treat to try it!

1 to 2 lbs. center cut salmon filet

6 Tbs. kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. coarsely ground pepper

2 Tbs. vodka, aquavit, grappa, or other strong white spirit, optional

1 1/2 cups pine needles (any type of pine), chopped

Dry the filet and cut it in two. Mix the salt, sugar, pepper and pine needles. Sprinkle 1/3 in the bottom of a baking dish. Lay in the filet, skin side down. Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top. Cover and refrigerate. Let cure for at least 24 hours for thinner pieces, up to 72 hours for very large pieces, turning and basting a couple of times a day. When the texture has become firmer throughout, remove from the dish and rinse off the pine needles, dry and serve in very thin slices with mustard sauce on rye crackers or thin slices of brown, white or rye bread.

Four-star tip: Chef John Novi, from the DePuy Canal House, told me that you can treat salmon this way for a shorter time period and then sauté it, with extraordinary results.

Mustard Sauce

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. white wine vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Bibi's Grandma's Glögg

Bibi says, “All the booze can be the least expensive variety and the measurements are approximate.”

2 bottles of burgundy or other hearty red wine (New York state, of course)

1/4 cup brandy, or more to taste

1/4 cup vodka, or more to taste

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup sugar, or more to taste

1/2 cup honey, or more to taste

1 cinnamon stick

3-4 cloves

1-2 cardamom pods

Peel of half an orange

1 cup blanched almonds*

*To blanch almonds, bring a couple cups of water to a boil, add the almonds and let boil for about two minutes. Drain and let them cool and the skins slide off easily. Bibi warns, “Watch out as they may fly around the room when you squeeze them!” Maria says, “Best to do this before you start drinking glögg!”

Warm all ingredients except almonds together in a pot. Don't let it boil even for a second or the alcohol will evaporate. Put an almond or two into each cup and fill with hot glögg, using a ladle.

Skål!

Good links:

Harold McGee—he makes food science and history fascinating: www.curiouscook.com

Bibi Farber's NextWorld TV—great videos about sustainability: www.nextworldtv.com

Shawangunk Wine Trail—a fun way to discover local wineries: www.shawangunkwinetrail.com

John Novi's DePuy Canal House—the Hudson Valley's only 4-star restaurant: www.depuy.com

Maria Reidelbach is the proprietress of Homegrown Mini-Golf on Kelder's Farm, the only miniature golf course with edible landscaping (m@mariareidelbach.com).

by Phoenix Trent

The Hudson Valley is a bounty of fresh produce throughout the calendar year, but the diverse offerings that the summer brings truly can’t be beat. Summer squash is a gem of the warm months; its versatility allows for endless tantalizing and delicious preparations. A nutritious staple of the Amerindians for centuries, summer squash makes a great addition to a summer feast.

A more delicate and soft-shelled squash variety with thin edible skin and seeds, it has a tender flesh that requires only a short cooking time. Low in calories, and high in vitamin C and fiber, summer squash are often picked immature and eaten within a short period of time since they are very perishable. Take advantage of this short window of summer squashy goodness by whipping up a delicious and nutritious stuffed summer squash as the entrée, or serve it cold with drizzled olive oil, chopped walnuts, and crumbled goat cheese for a delicate and fresh starter.

Stuffed Summer Squash

• 4 long summer squash

• A few pinches salt and pepper

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 shallot, finely chopped

• 1 stalk celery, chopped

• 1 carrot, grated

• 4 Italian sausages removed from casing (Fleisher’s in Kingston has some great options when it comes to the world of fresh meat)

• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 1/4 cup water (for the pan)

Home Cooking brings together family and friends, mends any tiff, and ads an extra kick of goodness to life. A meal featuring the oh-so-wonderful squash is sure to please, and turn simple sustenance into a work of love and art. Our bodies crave the essential vitamins and nutrients that this fruit of our valley has inside. So stray from the norm, indulge and make summer squash the star of your summer meal. You deserve it.

Increase in local farmers and markets a sign of the times.

 

by Anne Pyburn Craig

Besides being backbreaking, farming is a huge gamble. Farmers are constantly at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Fortunately for those of us who like to eat, we're blessed with a good-sized handful of folks around here who do it anyway.

The state comptroller's office has the stats to prove it: we are one serious produce-growing region around here. Even relatively thickly settled Orange County is one of New York's top producers of veggies. Ulster County is second in apple production. Need a beverage with that? The region's got 39 wineries.

And in so many ways it shapes our reality. Deborah DeWan, executive director of the Rondout Valley Growers Association, points out that when local farmers do their thing we harvest much more than food.

“Supporting local farming keeps our soil protected and our carbon footprint smaller, and preserves all that lovely open space,” DeWan says. “And between agriculture and agritourism, it's about at the top of the local economy. It's a multiplier. I think that speaks volumes about the soil around here and the people who work it.”

Opportunities to feast on this bounty are abundant at this time of year. Local farm stands are bursting with the fruits of the harvest and the wonders created from them, from baked goods to artisanal cheeses and infused oils. More than a few offer pick-your-own opportunities, corn mazes, and other ways to make your grocery expedition about so much more than simply stocking the fridge.

“I think one of the things that's working is how much people enjoy the experience,” says DeWan. “Whether they go picking and get their hands right on the source, or just visit a stand or market, they feel connected to their food in a way you don't get at a chain store.”

After the trauma experienced when thousands of dollars of carefully nurtured crops were ravaged by Hurricanes Irene and Lee (remember all those floating pumpkins?) it's been a comparatively benevolent season.

“I think the harvest is bountiful this year and we are very fortunate and grateful,” says DeWan. “That said, some of our fruit growers are having a somewhat less stellar season. There was a cold snap last spring after a warm spell, so apple and pear trees were tricked into budding and then froze. The results vary from orchard to orchard; it's a mixed bag. But what is being produced is outstanding. And this is prime apple picking time—go grab your stash while you can whether you pick them yourself or hit a stand.”

Many communities have centralized farm markets where you can partake of the wares of a group of growers in one place. “Farm markets are just exploding,” says DeWan. “I think there is a growing awareness of food safety and the food stream in general and that helps.”

So does the fact that market organizers are a creative lot, bringing in music, art and kids' entertainment. Vibrant markets exist in towns from Woodstock to Marlboro, bringing the growers to the people and the people to the growers, reviving the time-honored concept of the market square with a healthy new twist.

Several farm markets, taking advantage of advances in growing techniques and heightened public interest, keep their farm markets going all year long. “There are new innovations that extend the growing season even here in the Northeast,” DeWan says. “Winter markets are growing accordingly.”

DeWan is especially excited about the newest market, and with good reason. Kingston powers-that-be, and citizens, wrung their hands about what to do with the empty lot created by tearing down a derelict eyesore of a welfare motel, the Kings' Inn, that had blighted Midtown for years. Then the farmers' market folks stepped in.

“Some of our members have been going to the new market in Midtown and they say the community has really responded,” says DeWan. “People can use their SNAP [food stamp] benefits there and purchase good fresh food. That's one of the RVGA's goals, to partner with the various initiatives that work to get food to the underserved. It's an ongoing conversation.”

Vendors offering their wares at the Midtown market, which will be ongoing every Tuesday in October, include: Highland Farm, Perez Market Farm, Rexcroft Farm, Slow Roots Farm, Wright's Farm, Abe's Falafel, Al Andaluz Catering Co., All You Knead Artisan Bakers, Block Factory Tamales, DFC Distributors featuring olive oil, Keegan Ales, and El Donzante Food Truck.

The Midtown market is a spinoff of the hugely successful one that takes over part of the uptown Stockade every Saturday morning. Organizers' pride is showing on their website: “The duration of the Market in its inaugural year was scheduled for four months, June through September. Due to the immediate, overwhelming demand for more time, the Market quickly shifted gears and remained open through October. Now in its eleventh year, the Market opens Memorial Weekend and ends the weekend prior to Thanksgiving to allow people to shop locally for fresh items for the holiday. The Kingston Farmers’ Market began with 12 vendors. The Market now has well over 30 vendors...The Kingston Farmers’ Market hosts from between 1,000 to almost 2,000 visitors weekly.”

A recent innovation is farmiemarket.com, an online service working to build a local presence by signing local growers up for its “virtual market.” Customers can order online and have their orders delivered. Farmiemarket tends, at this point, toward the artisanal and niche products, which command a pretty price.

“It's a double-edged sword,” says DeWan. “The farmers operate on a miniscule margin and need to get a fair price. There are getting to be quite a few online buying clubs and we're all for anything that connects farmer to consumer. At the same time we need to keep local products and healthy organic foods accessible. Eating healthier makes a huge difference in people’s lives.”

The RVGA's website offers a “What's Pickin'” guide that will tell you where to find what you're hankerin' for, whether it is grass-fed beef, hormone-free chicken, the makings of a fruit salad, or this year's Halloween pumpkin.

“We're a small organization—only about 60 members—but incredibly diverse and with the benefit of the outrageously rich Rondout Valley soil,” DeWan says. “One thing that I love is that our membership is so varied. We have family operations like the Schoonmakers, who have been farming for twelve generations, and the Davenports and the Kelders, legacy operations. Then we have new growers, CSAs [community supported agriculture], niche operations who may have been around for ten years or may be just starting. And what is really neat is watching everyone work together sharing knowledge and expertise. The longtime farmers are a great resource for the ones just starting out, and the general attitude is that there's always room for another farm. There's a rising tide, what you might call a cross pollination between the generations—old operations and the new CSAs.

“That's a big piece of what we're about, farmer-to-farmer networking, building the community across all facets of agriculture, bringing farmers together to meet and learn what they have in common and what assets might be complementary. If this tradition is to survive on this fertile soil, we need that kind of cohesion.”

When two of Ulster County's most helpful organizations, the Cornell Cooperative Extension and Family of Woodstock, need dollars, as they very much do in the current economic climate, it is to the farmers that they turn. The first annual Hudson Valley Harvest Festival was held on the third weekend in September at the county fairgrounds, and the new endeavor drew high profile sponsors, top-notch local musicians, and crowds. RVGA was there, of course. “We're very much involved in the Farm to Food Pantry initiative and with Family of Woodstock. We made fresh corn chowder with Rondout Valley corn,” DeWan says.

Advocating for local food and local farms is satisfying work as awareness grows. “People are becoming more tuned-in to where their food comes from, the varieties, the seasonal changes,” DeWan says. “It's wonderful. We are so blessed to live in a breadbasket here, a cornucopia. Everyone should take advantage of it. It helps all of us in so many ways."

Right now the RVGA is raising money to match a $25,000 challenge grant from the New World Foundation; they've got until the end of the year and are hoping the community will maintain the wonderful Ulster County tradition of stepping up. There is a “love farmers” button on their website, rondoutvalleygrowers.org, where you can donate before or after snooping out the “What's Pickin'” page to make your grocery list. “Get to know your farmers,” DeWan advises. “Come out to a market or a farm, volunteer at an event, or just 'like' us on Facebook. Everything helps.”

Hen-of-the-Woods Season

by Maria Reidelbach

Now that the weather is turning cooler the autumn mushrooms will be coming into season. I was about to write “the autumn mushrooms will begin to appear,” but one thing I've learned over the last couple of decades is that mushrooms are not predictable—that's why it's called “mushroom hunting” rather than “mushroom picking.” Although we've had plenty of rain since the spring dry spell, we will just need to wait and see and hunt to see what turns up.

One of my favorite varieties of edible mushroom grows in the autumn. It's easy and safe to identify, even for beginners, and you can find them all over the Hudson Valley—it's a gourmet treat called hen-of-the-woods, also known as maitake and Grifola frondosa.* These delicious mushrooms are polypores, meaning that they have a shelf-like structure with a firm, sponge-like spore-bearing surface on the underside. They're known as hen-of-the-woods because they resemble a fluffy, feathery, brown chicken, although they can be much, much bigger, easily five pounds and up to 20 pounds or more! We're about to get a local maitake farm in Wawarsing, and while cultivated hens are good, they're quite expensive (about $16 a pound). It's a wonderful thing that we can gather the even more delicious wild version at the same time as we're getting exercise and enjoying a walk in the woods.

Here's what to look for: hen-of-the-woods alwaysgrows on the base of big, old oak trees and they will grow year after year on the same tree. I look for large oaks with vertical splits in the bark; they seem more likely to host a hen. You'll have to sharpen your eyes to see these camouflaged fungus—they look at first glance like piles of leaves. The young ones are just bumpy pale brown biscuits, but soon they send out frond-like forms that are shades of brown on the top and off-white underneath.

You'll want to collect hens in this leafed-out stage, but not so big that they've become dried out or very crumbly—the best are firm-to-tender, just a little moist, and have good and mushroomy fragrance. Avoid hens that smell of ammonia, a sign of decay. Also make sure that the mushroom hasn't been splashed or dusted with anything gritty, which will sink right into the fronds as they grow and become impossible to remove. If you have a doubt, you can check for this by chewing a little piece right on the spot.

There are only two lookalikes for the hen-of-the-woods. One is the umbrella polypore (Polyporus umbellatus), which is pale brown, pretty rare, grows on the ground, usually in summer, and is equally delicious. The other is the black-staining polypore (Meripilus sumstinei), which grows on buried wood and stains black. It's not toxic, but is usually too tough to be edible. One more caveat: people taking MAO-inhibitors should avoid all polypores because they contain tyramine.

Hen-of-the-woods can be cooked in many ways, but they do love to be gently cooked in liquid, which brings out their nutty woodiness. To clean them, pick out bits of leaves and twigs (I once had a lizard run out of a particularly large specimen I was cutting up on a countertop!), and then clean with a dry brush or rinse with water if necessary. You can then slice or tear the poufs into separate leaves.

One easy seasonal preparation for hens is to roast them: set your oven to about 400 degrees. Pour a little olive oil in a large baking dish and add a couple of crushed garlic cloves. Put in the pre-heated oven until the garlic sizzles. Remove garlic from the pan, add dry mushrooms and stir, sprinkling generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes, turn and roast another 5 to 10 minutes until they are browned and crispy. Serve with additional salt and pepper.

As with all mushrooms, the first time you find hen-of-the-woods, you'll want to confirm your identification by comparing it to several photographs or drawings and descriptions. The first time you eat any new food, have only a small serving to make sure you aren't allergic or sensitive.

*Just to confuse things, there's also an edible fungus called chicken mushroom (Laetiorus sulphureus and L. cincinnatis). It is also a delicious, edible polypore, grows on wood, but it's bright orange, yellow and white. The names for hen-of-the-woods and chicken mushrooms are reversed in some parts of the country—that's why we have botanical names to keep it all straight.

Links:

Join the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association—they're a great group of mushroom enthusiasts of all skill levels, membership is inexpensive, and you have access to expert hunters who are happy to help you learn. Plus they've got an active Facebook page where people post photos of all their finds. www.mushroomthejournal.com/mhma

The Mushroom Expert: Michael Kuo's website. www.mushroomexpert.com

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini, by Elizabeth Schneider, contains one of the best mushroom cookbooks within its covers; she's got great recipes for hen-of-the-woods.

The Complete Mushroom Hunter by Gary Lincoff, author of the Audubon Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, is a wonderful introduction to mushroom hunting, starting with mushrooms you find in your own backyard. The Audubon Guide is the best field guide to have.

Maria Reidelbach is a past president of the New York Mycological Society and a current member of the Mid-Hudson Mycological Association. She has never gotten sick from eating a toxic mushroom.

Burning Our Current Oil Reserves Could Lead to Catastrophe

by Tod Westlake

We consume an awful lot of energy here in the US. As of 2008, this is one area in which we were still number one in the world, though more recent estimates suggest that, in the past couple of years, China has eclipsed us, with its industrial boom leading to huge growth in energy consumption. Of course, the European Union, when taken as a whole, isn't too far behind the US and its number-one trade partner. Japan, too, is a huge consumer of energy. Now we can add Russia and India into the mix as two countries with huge populations hungry for fuel. And every year more and more humans fall in love with the latest electronic gadget, putting even more pressure on our already-stretched-thin energy supply. The era of peak oil production, if it's not already upon us, will certainly be here presently.

Thus we've begun to start looking at new ways to produce energy, some of it good and some of it not so good. On the good side, Germany created national subsidies that provided residents and businesses with powerful incentives for renewable sources, so much so that the country now gets more than 20 percent of electricity from renewables. On the bad side, in the coal fields of the US, mining companies now level entire mountains in order to get at the anthracite buried within; and, it turns out that the "hydro-fracking bonanza" that has been touted as a savior of our energy needs comes with a number of dangerous downsides, including and especially long-term damage to water quality. To some folks, all of this might seem a bit like throwing not just the baby out with the bathwater, but also the tub, the house, the neighborhood, and the land on which it all sits.

And, believe it or not, there is yet another controversial source of energy here in North America. If you follow the news, it's likely that you've heard the term "Keystone Pipeline" a few times. In a nutshell, Keystone is a 2,000-plus mile pipeline system that brings synthetic crude oil—which is refined from "tar sands," also known as bitumen—from northwestern Canada to refineries here in the US. As it is now configured, the pipeline runs from Hardisty, Alberta, east across the southern tier of Canada, until it turns southward into the US along the eastern end of the Dakotas and into Steele City, Nebraska. There it splits, with one section going eastward into Missouri and Illinois, and a second spur that heads south to Cushing, Oklahoma. There are also several proposed additions to the pipeline, one which will link up with the big refineries along the Gulf Coast in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, and a second, much longer addition (known as Keystone XL) that would cut diagonally from Alberta, through northeastern Montana, across South Dakota and Nebraska, before linking up with the present pipeline in Steele City. When completed, the pipeline would encompass approximately 4,000 miles in total.

Local Problems

There are several major problems with the pipeline, according to critics. And those individuals whose land is, or will be, bisected by the pipeline are very concerned. Briefly, these folks have every right to be agitated. Pipelines rupture, sometimes with catastrophic results. Last month in July, for example, as cited by the Calgary Star newspaper, a pipeline owned by Ravenwood Energy (also in Alberta, interestingly) began to leak oil on the property of a local resident. While the company addressed and repaired the leak relatively quickly, the fact that just "75 to 80 percent" of the spill has been cleaned up thus far has made these residents very nervous. There were a total of four oil spills in Alberta in July alone. But these folks were relatively fortunate.

Here in the US two years ago there was a pipeline spill of epic proportion. On July 6, 2010, a pipeline owned by Enbridge Energy ruptured, spilling in excess of one-million gallons of bitumen crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. While initial fears that the oil would eventually make its way into Lake Michigan were unwarranted, the oil ended up contaminating a 40-acre stretch of river bottom, and the ongoing cleanup is currently the most expensive, and the longest, pipeline cleanup in US history.

Regional Concerns

Another aspect of the pipeline project that has environmentalists concerned is its location, particularly the section that will traverse Montana and Nebraska. As students of American geography know, this is the very heart of our breadbasket, some of the best agricultural land in the world. One of the big reasons for this is its easy access to large quantities of fresh water.

It's the source of this water that is so concerning. Beneath this fertility sits one of the world's great water sources, the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground lake that provides the region's farmers with an easy-to-reach, clean water source. Approximately 25 percent of the region depends upon water from this aquifer, and nearly a third of the nation's water for irrigation comes from this source.

Columnist Charles Pierce in Esquire magazine summed up its importance succinctly: "Make no mistake," he writes. "You screw with the Ogallala Aquifer and you screw with this nation's heartbeat.... Pumping the water from it is all that has kept the Dust Bowl from coming back, year after year. Any damage to it fundamentally changes the lives of the people who depend on it, their personal economies, the overall national economy, and what we can grow to feed ourselves."

And not just the lives of the farmers, mind you, but also those who rely upon its bounty, a population that extends to the coastal cities whose bakeries produce the daily bread for millions of people. It even goes well beyond that, as American grains are transported to far-flung regions around the world, helping to provide sustenance for millions more. Any significant disruption to this production would resonate globally, forcing grain prices to spike upward, with the poorest folks paying the heaviest price.

This concern is perhaps most acutely felt in a region of Nebraska known as the Sand Hills. The Keystone XL's route would bisect this environmentally sensitive area, a region with a soil that is highly permeable. A significant spill in this area, many fear, could have a dramatic impact on the quality of the water from the aquifer.

Thinking Globally

If the concerns listed aren't enough for you, which is understandable given that the region in question is far from our own, there are disturbing global implications when it comes to the source of the oil the pipeline carries. This source, the Athabasca Tar Sands, is one of the most carbon-intensive fuel sources currently being developed. And carbon, you are likely aware, is the main catalyst in the potential climate catastrophe unfolding.

Journalist and environmental activist Bill McKibben, one of the most diligent critics of the Keystone pipeline, has stated that to fully tap this resource could make reversing climate change all but impossible (short of some unknown miracle technology that would allow us to scrub excess carbon from our atmosphere).

As of right now, scientists have estimated that our atmosphere can handle about 565 million more tons of carbon before the effects of climate change would push the average global temperature up beyond the threshold of two-degrees Celsius, a sort of climate point-of-no-return.

"The 565-gigaton figure was derived from one of the most sophisticated computer-simulation models that have been built by climate scientists around the world over the past few decades," wrote McKibben in a recent (and highly recommended) article in Rolling Stone magazine. "And the number is being further confirmed by the latest climate-simulation models currently being finalized in advance of the next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change." In other words, this number is currently just about the best scientific estimate we have going.

Now the bad news: The Athabasca Tar Sands will only add to the nearly five times this amount (or nearly 2,800 million tons of carbon) that currently sits in oil company reserves. "This number is the scariest of all," McKibben writes. "[One] that, for the first time, meshes the political and scientific dimensions of our dilemma." And quite a dilemma it is, with the world's oil companies already counting on these assets. Needless to say, they won't be quick to back down from this fight.

"If you told Exxon or Lukoil that in order to avoid wrecking the climate, they couldn't pump out their reserves, the value of their companies would plummet," McKibben writes. "[Those] 2,795 gigatons of carbon emissions are worth about $27 trillion. Which is to say, if you paid attention to the scientists and kept 80 percent of it underground, you'd be writing off $20 trillion in assets. The numbers aren't exact, of course, but that carbon bubble makes the housing bubble look small by comparison."

For now, however, through the intensive efforts of McKibben and other environmental activists, the Keystone XL portion of the pipeline has been put on hold. But money is like water. It always manages to find the cracks in any bulwark. And the short-term drive for profits often has a tendency to miss significant long-term implications. But, if these scientists are right, coming up with renewable, clean energy sources could become to be the most important global imperative humanity has ever faced.

Farm- to-School Slow Foods—On the Fast Track in the Valley

by Mimi Quinn

The expression “farm-to-school” is being heard more and more around the Hudson Valley. It’s a term that includes the efforts to connect schools with locally or regionally grown fresh fruits and vegetables for the school cafeterias.

The main focus of this venture is procuring minimally processed and locally sourced foods as the main offerings on a school menu. It also involves other measures to create awareness, such as school gardens, field trips to local farms, and nutritional cooking classes.

Local resident and pioneer of healthy foods for children, Nicci Cagan is the director of From the Ground Up (FTGU,) which she describes as a wellness initiative with its roots in the soil.

“We are growing a community that cares about their food, environment, and the local economy,” Cagan said.

She’s also a member of the Rondout Valley Central School District’s (RVCSD) Wellness Committee representing Marbletown Elementary School, was also a granted employee of the Rondout Valley Growers Association (RVGA), and made a district-wide survey and marketing plan for farm-to-school in the RVCSD.

Cagan is also thrilled that the money made from a Marbletown Elementary fundraiser provided an opportunity to model for farm-based education in the district, “and bring 30-percent local food to our schools within three to five years. People want farm-to-school, and this is exciting!”

And keeping her connected on international forms of food and farm-based education, she also posts daily information on her Facebook page. Cagan recently posted that Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced that the USDA will commence a nationwide investment in farm-to-school programs. The grant program initiative is being administered by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA). It is authorizing and funding the program through grants, and program implementation will assist eligible educational facilities with technical assistance in implementing farm-to-school programs, thus improving access to nutritionally sound foods and increasing market opportunities for local food producers. The strategy will also embrace other educational ideas in a hands-on way for students. More information on the grant program and USDA's farm-to-school efforts are online at www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/f2s.

Cagan said that the RVCSD also has school gardens in all five schools. She said, “When food is energized by nutrient-rich soils, sunshine and good water, the flavors are exceptional and it enlivens our bodies and beings. What could be better?”

The local concern in the Hudson Valley about how mass-produced foods affect health involves many who are taking measures to provide wholesome produce with community-supported gardens.

Another person who has pioneered healthy eating and the procurement of local foods for over three decades is Dutchess County resident Joseph Baldwin. Having graduated the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in 1974, Baldwin has since endeavored to bring what he learned at the Institute “to the tables” of the Valley with a local food advocacy group that he administers called "Earth to Table," located in Pleasant Valley.

Baldwin believes in the Slow Food Movement and its many meanings: Taking one’s time thinking about what’s best to eat; ingest only foods that grow nearby (he nicknames that the “caveman diet”); and follow a diet that includes locally grown foods as much as one can (he suggests within 100 miles from your residence).

Baldwin oversees a number of school and community gardens—his own farming focuses on stevia, herbs, greens, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and edible flowers.

Stevia? Yes said Baldwin who has worked with local doctors to fan a wildfire about the merits of this South American herb whose extracts are used in the FDA approved sweetener, Rebiana. Baldwin not only grows the herb, he gives demonstrations on how to dehydrate, boil, and grind it to make syrups and powders for use in cooking or sweetening your iced tea.

The Red Hook Community Garden is one of the gardens Baldwin administers and provides advice for. “Many are from the Red Hook School system, which helped with the gardens as part of their AP studies,” said Baldwin. “Marist, Bard, CIA, and BOCES are also working with us…agriculture is the future of the world, we might as well use what the country has left.”

As they say, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and his son, Russell Baldwin who owns Rusty’s Farm Fresh Eatery in Red Hook specializes in locally grown, fresh ingredients throughout his menu.

“I learned about healthy eating from my father—he inspired me to use as much, if not all, seasonally fresh foods as I can,” said Russell, adding that his father is the reason he’s so passionate about healthy foods.

“My father is the hardest working, most generous person you’d ever want to meet and he’s the reason my restaurant is so successful,” he said.

Also working hand-and-hand with Baldwin is Victoria Digilio, owner of Victoria’s Healthy Creations in Hyde Park, who’s reinventing her mom’s recipes for diabetics and those who wish for healthy desserts sans sugar.

“I make savory pies, cookies, and biscotti for those who can’t have sugar and want to eat low-fat goodies—I’m doing this in honor of my Mom who passed from diabetes,” said Digilio.

“Make Your Health Be Your Wealth” is Baldwin’s slogan. He believes if you’re healthy you’re “rich” in energy—along with saving money on medicines and healthcare.

More information can be found at:earthtotable.ag; farmtoschool.org; Nicci Nashban Cagan on Facebook; farmtoschool.ag.

Local tool library seeking tool donations for community.
by Tod Westlake

Libraries have been a part of human culture for close to 5,000 years. From the earliest clay tablets of Sumer to the various classical age libraries, to our own Library of Congress, such public facilities have acted as repositories of our collected wisdom, places where information on virtually every subject is at one's fingertips if you know how to find it. Libraries have also been a powerful force for democracy. It's impossible to imagine the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment that followed, without libraries—even though we humans also have an affection for putting them to the torch every now and again.

Libraries and books are undergoing a major change, however. The Internet and the e-reader are changing our relationship with the printed word, turning what used to be a physical artifact into a fragment of electronic ephemera. The Oxford English Dictionary and the Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, have given up on dead-tree editions and have moved instead to online subscriptions.

But libraries aren't limited to books and research. In recent years there has been a movement toward using the library model for other applications. One example is what's known as a tool library. This idea first appeared in the mid-70s when some folks in Columbus, Ohio got together and began a tool-sharing group. Eventually it turned into a nonprofit organization known as Rebuilding Together Central Ohio. In subsequent years, tool libraries have popped up across the country. There are tool libraries in at least 20 states now.

And we'll be able to add one more to the list in the coming months, as the Ulster County Tool Bank (UCTB) begins operation. A project of Rondout Valley Permaculture, Transition Marbletown, Transition Woodstock, and Sustainable Urubamba Valley, the UCTB will provide local farmers and gardeners with access to gardening tools. Additionally, the group will be collecting old and unwanted non-powered tools that will then be refurbished so that they can be used again, thus preserving dwindling resources and avoiding going into a landfill. Perhaps more importantly, the UCTB will have a social aspect that will, rather appropriately, bring together members of the community in order to share knowledge and ideas.

The project is being coordinated by Wolf Bravo, a farmer and toolmaker who originally hails from Peru. "Both sides of my family were farmers,” he says. “My mother's family in the north on the coast, and my father in the mountains."

Bravo's roots led him into the field of permaculture design, a form of sustainable agriculture in which farms are modeled after the local natural ecosystem. Bravo says that his training has allowed him to gain some perspective on how a group of people putting their ideas together is far more effective than going it alone.

"You see multiple solutions to one problem," Bravo says. "And if we put too much energy into one thing only, we drain ourselves. But, if we can put a little bit of energy together from many individuals, it's better for everyone."

It's not difficult to see how this philosophy translates into the idea of a tool library. Anyone who has lived in the same house for long enough knows full well how easy it is to accumulate enormous amounts of junk. Broken and unwanted gardening tools no doubt sit in backyard sheds and garages across Ulster County. And then there's that shovel handle you backed over in your car a couple of years ago, yet you can't bring yourself to toss it because the good blade is in really good shape. If Bravo has his way, it could live to dig another day.

"I know that there are many people who have a lot of tools, that are old or discarded, that they have no use for, that are broken," Bravo says. "And then there are many people like Aileah, here (Aileah Kvashay, who runs the Clove Valley CSA in High Falls, out of which the UCTB will be based), whom I met at the permaculture meet-up in Marbeltown last year, and she said that she was borrowing tools."

Bravo thought that it was a shame that the CSA might be having difficulties obtaining what it needs. Then he saw a message on Freecycle—an Internet-based network for recycling unwanted, but still useable, stuff—in which someone was giving away a number of tools.

"I picked up like ten tools for free," Bravo says. He eventually gave the tools to a local friend who was putting together her own garden. And in the following months, whenever he would visit the CSA (Bravo lives in Westfield, New Jersey during the week), he would hear the same refrain.

"I kept hearing people say 'I need tools. I need tools,'" Bravo says. He also notes that this reminded him of his own childhood, and how the life of a farmer can be an arduous one, with long hours, and a livelihood that is subject to the whims of nature.

"I was there," Bravo says. "I was working in the fields too. All day in the fields. So I know how it is, and I know that people do it because it's a passion."

This made Bravo want to do something in support of farmers in Ulster County, an area he has come to love. The concept for the UCTB seemed a natural one. "This way they don't have to borrow tools, or spend money on tools, money that can be used for other things, like seeds and fertilizers," Bravo says. "We want to support a safe, local food system, gardeners and farmers alike. Those are our main goals, so the good tools go straight to these folks."

As a first step, the UCTB is now putting the word out that it's collecting tools. And so far, so good. The group has been at this for a few weeks now, and Bravo has been pleasantly surprised by the volume of tools that have shown up at the various drop sites.

The next step, and moving into Bravo's other area of expertise, is the repair phase. Many older tools are of a much higher quality than the ones that can be purchased these days. And modern tools are often shipped half way around the world. Thus putting a new handle on that aforementioned shovel makes good sense from a sustainability perspective. Bravo will also be offering workshops on tool repair, thereby spreading this important knowledge.

"The tools that are broken, or that need repair, we're going to show people how to fix them," Bravo says. "I'm going to be teaching a workshop at each drop site, or in each town where we have a drop site."

Bravo says that the other part of the UCTB is the message regarding sustainability.

"It takes a lot of energy, a lot of oil for transport, a lot of resources to extract the minerals from the earth, to move the minerals to a refinery," Bravo points out. "And then, when it's made, to bring it to the end points for sale. We don't really think about all of this, that the tool we just bought for $30 or $40 might be costing $200 or $300 in lost resources."

When seen in this light, that hunk of metal in your basement represents a huge amount of energy that can remain untapped, resources to be socked away for the inevitable rainy day that is likely just around the next corner.

"In repairing these tools, we're educating individuals about how much it costs, about consumerism, about how we've changed our mentality to consumers instead of producers, of borrowers instead of savers," Bravo says. "We used to save everything. Now our economy is based on consumer debt. How did this happen? How did we get to this point?"

If you're interested in getting rid of your unwanted tools, they can be dropped off through the end of May at the following drop collection sites in Ulster County: High Falls Food Co-op, lower parking lot, corner of Route 213 and Lucas Turnpike, 845-687-7262; Marbletown High Meadow School, 3643 Main Street, Stone Ridge, 845-687-4855; New Paltz, Tweefontein Herb Farm, 4 Jenkins Road, next to front porch of white farm house, call Jens Verhaegh, 845-636-8218; Kingston, South High Street City Farm, 27 South Pine Street, 845-380-9183; Woodstock Library, 845-679-2213. Wolf Bravo can be reached at 973-207-9869, or by emailing wolf.bravo2014@gmail.com.

The group is collecting saws, rakes, shovels, picks, forks, spades, trowels, watering containers, push mowers, scythes, and carpentry tools, as well as buckets, wheelbarrows, and seed spreaders. There is also a need for materials to repair the tools, including wooden handles and hickory, ash, or maple branches or logs. Broken handles will be accepted; however, tools that are rusted through or in need of welding will not be. Again, please note, that the group is not accepting any power tools at this time.

The evolving story of a countywide bike and rail trail plan.

by Tod Westlake

A movement toward a more sustainable way of living will mean that we need to come up with sustainable forms of recreation. In the coming decades, the rise in fuel prices will likely mean that air travel will once again become a bit more of a luxury, and that people will look for attractive and fun ways to have fun in their own backyards. Now take a step back and think of all that Ulster County has to offer when it comes to outdoor recreation. Depending upon the time of year, there is an endless variety of outdoor activities that are available in this area.

One of the things that will help glue this concept together on a countywide basis is a comprehensive system of bike and rail trails. And there's no doubt that Ulster County is off to a very good start. With approximately 30 miles of rail trails throughout mostly the southern portion of the county, and other more rugged trails further to the north, you don't have to travel far if you want to get out in the sunshine and enjoy a safe place to ride.

Even more encouraging is the fact that these trails could, in the coming years, become a single contiguous system that will allow folks to access most parts of the county. You could get on your bike in Poughkeepsie or Highland, enjoy a ride through New Paltz, and then up to Kingston for some lunch. An even more ambitious vision would see cyclists in Manhattan be able to ride from the city all the way into the Catskills.

"That's the ten-thousand foot view, isn't it?" said Richard Travers, chairman of the Rondout Valley Rail Trail Initiative as well as the head of the Rondout Valley Business Association (RVBA). "You start in Battery Park in Manhattan, you ride up through Westchester, up into Dutchess County, you cross the Walkway Over the Hudson, and then you reach the trails here in Ulster County."

One of the recent steps in this direction, according to Travers, occurred several years ago when municipalities in the Rondout Valley began to recognize that they had a mutual interest in seeing a healthy and vibrant rail trail along the path of the old O&W Railroad right-of-way.

"Back in 2009, the town boards of Marbletown, Rochester, Rosendale, Wawarsing, and the Village of Ellenville agreed to join with the RVBA in creating a municipal agreement,” said Travers, “the purpose of which is to see a contiguous rail trail from the northern part of the valley, which is Marbletown, to the southern part of the valley, which is Ellenville. There would also be a connector on Route 213 to the eastern part of the Rondout Valley, which is of course Rosendale."

Travers, along with the municipal officials who backed the agreement, believe strongly that the trail can do a lot when it comes to attracting tourist dollars, and that there will be a number of associated businesses that could be created, thereby adding jobs to a local economy that has taken more than its fair share of hits in recent years.

"We want to create this contiguous trail in order to stimulate the economy of the Rondout Valley," Travers said. "It's as simple as that."

There are also a number of spots where spurs, or secondary trails, could link up with points west. For example, there has been some discussion in recent years of linking Minnewaska State Park Preserve with the Vernooy Kill State Forest (aka, the Lundy Estate) on the west side of Route 209.

"These secondary trails, while important, aren't as important to the local economy as the main rail trail," Travers added. "The main trail will pass through the hamlet of Accord and the hamlet of Kerhonkson, and it is the most likely vehicle for improving the economies of those two hamlets."

Travers sees an even bigger upside for the valley if the current plans to revitalize the Nevele Grande Resort come to fruition.

"Think about the rail trail's effect on these communities in conjunction with the return of the Nevele," Travers said. "The Nevele has two-and-a-half miles of rail trail on it already, and that would extend into Ellenville."

Travers says that there are plenty of adventurous types who would happily ride their bikes from the Nevele into the northern part of the county—assuming that there's a way for them to do so.

"There are people who take the train as far as they can up into the Hudson Valley, and then they bike all over the place," Travers noted. "So, there's no question that rail trails are a fantastic form of entertainment and that they attract visitors. It could be the single most important item to help stimulate the local economy."

Over on the other side of the Shawangunk Ridge, the Wallkill Valley Land Trust (WVLT) has been actively involved for the past several decades with the creation and preservation of the rail trail through Gardiner and New Paltz.

"We do conservation easements and land protection agreements in southern Ulster County," said WVLT Executive Director Christine DeBoer. "We were able to do a series of events to purchase the rail bed for the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, which is about 12.2 miles in [the towns of] Gardiner and New Paltz."

DeBoer says that the trust, after purchasing the rail bed, placed what is known as a "conservation easement" on it, and then turned the property over to the Town of Gardiner. Conservation easements are legally enforceable agreements between an owner (often a land trust) and government that clearly delineate that the property is to be preserved. These agreements also stipulate that the property is to be inspected on a regular basis, thereby ensuring that there is no encroachment by unwelcome development or other problems.

"Because of the conservation easement, there's a legal obligation we have...to inspect the property every year," DeBoer said. "I always joke around that we make sure that a skinny Walmart doesn't pop up on the rail trail. And that's our obligation forever."

The day-to-day management of the trail itself is actually handled by the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail Association, a group that the WVLT helped to develop.

"That organization maintains the rail trail," DeBoer said. "They work with the town or village to do mowing and things like that."

A big move for the WVLT also came in 2009, when they partnered with the Open Space Institute (OSI) to purchase another 11.5 miles of the Wallkill Valley rail bed, according to DeBoer.

"This goes through the Town of Rosendale, through the Town of Ulster, and all the way to the Kingston city line along Route 32," DeBoer said. "The exciting part is that, except for a few tiny sections that we're working on, it's contiguous."

Part of this will go through the Williams Lake development, and DeBoer said that the company that plans to build the project sees the rail trail as a welcome addition.

"We're working with them," DeBoer added. "They want the rail trail, and all of their development plans include it."

DeBoer said that an agreement over a rail trail easement through the property would probably happen sometime this year.

The most imposing feature in this newest section is, of course, the railroad trestle in Rosendale.

"We're partnered with OSI to raise $1.1 million to restore the railroad trestle for pedestrian use," DeBoer says.

The trestle, it should be noted, was open for a time, but has now been closed until a number of safety modifications can be put in place, including new railings and new decking.

"We're looking to be able to open the trestle by the end of this year, hopefully earlier," DeBoer said.

As of now, however, the project has raised over $850,000, so things appear to be on track for a dramatic unveiling.

The development of this type of trail system is not without its minor headaches. If you would like to bike from the rail trail in New Paltz to the Walkway Over the Hudson in the Town of Highland, for example, you'll have no choice but to ride your bicycle on surface streets, some of which have inadequate shoulders for bicycle traffic.

Recently, however, the Southern Ulster Alliance—which consists of the Towns of New Paltz, Gardiner, Lloyd, Marlboro and Plattekill—undertook a feasibility study regarding the prospect of linking the two trails.

The 63-page study goes into great detail regarding several measures that would make this possible. For example, creating a "bike boulevard" on Henry Dubois Road, and a bicycle boardwalk that would traverse the wetlands between New Paltz and Highland. And then there's the issue of safely getting bicyclists across the NY State Thruway.

Another major factor in creating a countywide system involves the creation of a rail trail system in the City of Kingston that will act as a sort of nexus for a number of other trails. The Kingston Land Trust has been actively working to create a "network of trails, bike paths, and complete streets that connect rail trails from the Wallkill Valley, Rondout Valley, Catskill Mountains, and Kingston Point to a Midtown Hub along the Broadway Corridor creating more opportunities for residents, families, and visitors to connect with places in the city that are special to them and to interact with nature," according to the group's website.

Ulster County is perfectly situated to become the go-to place when it comes to biking here in the northeast. And with all of these projects converging, it may be time to start thinking about whether a comprehensive master plan for the county as a whole would be a worthwhile endeavor. Many of the pieces are already in place. Now could be a good time to take it to the next level.