In our own backyard: Infiltrating Giant’s Workshop
As I look up, the world around me glistening, I begin to think that this feels like stumbling upon a Christmaslike celebration right smack in the middle of the woods.
All posts by Erin Quinn
The College Diner, where memories were made
The College Diner recently closed after many years of feeding folks in New Paltz.
Winter Expo shares climate-smart tips for coping with seasonal stresses
St. Joseph’s Church basement was buzzing with community members excited to learn and impart knowledge on how to make their homes more energy-efficient and winterized, as well as practical and professional guides on how to recycle, compost, reduce food waste and junk mail as well as one’s carbon footprint.
In our own backyard: Discovering Rainbow Falls
Rainbow Falls appeared delighted to be drenching everything within its reach, including the bed of rocks that cascaded into the streambed below like a game of marbles, each one unique and letting the water slide over it like a fine polish.
New section of Hudson Valley Rail Trail opens to public
Another 1.3 miles of the Hudson Valley Rail Trail, stretching from Tony Williams Park to Route 299, have been completed, paved and opened to the public. Work continues on the next leg, which will link up with the village of New Paltz and the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
AFFIRM at 25: New Paltz grassroots organizers look back at their victories
Grassroots activism has changed the way New Paltz and its surrounding townships look — not so much in what you see, but in what you don’t see: commercial and residential sprawl, elimination of woods, wetlands and the vast array of animals, birds and plant life that rely on those delicate ecosystems to thrive.
The rainiest season
Has seemed rainier than usual lately? It has been: We’ve received about three times more than the 122-year average.
Into the Sam’s Point Badlands the back way: from Lake Awosting
Although upstate New York is a far cry from the rugged wilderness of South Dakota, the name Badlands still got caught in the gums like an adventure born of grit and sandstone.
Growing up in apple country
There were all kinds of apple orchard lore. That if you tried to steal an apple from the tree that one of the Jamaican migrant workers would shoot you from his front porch. If Tony Moriello (the family patriarch) caught you doing something “bad” in the orchards, drinking or smooching or smoking funny stuff that the cops would rappell down from the water tower and cart you away to jail. There were fox dens to be careful of (though we never actually saw one) there were “magic” trees that would grant your wishes and bewitched trees that could put warts on your face.
Ulster County farm launches obstacle course
Hurd’s Family Farm in Modena has taken abandoned, broken- down farm equipment and arranged it into a Ninja Warrior-styled obstacle course on which kids (and adults) can test their strength and agility.