Upstate Life Spring 2018 by The Daily Star

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SPRING 2018

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VOLUME 12

ISSUE 2

90-year-old garden club continues to flower

Upstate Life Magazine, Winner, New York State Associated Press Association First-Place Award for Specialty Publications, is published by: The Daily Star, P.O. Box 250, 102 Chestnut Street Oneonta, New York 13820 © 2018 - All rights reserved.

Thrifty Finds

Publisher Fred Scheller

Captured by a cage Built in 1787, this old house is really a time capsule

Sow good!

Spring Styles: How to get high fashion for low prices

Cookin’ with Collins

Graphic Designer Tracy Bender

Give peas a chance

Where (golden) eagles fly Around 200 spotted in the area last fall

Only Natural Family Day Trips Springtime in an ancient Kaaterskill Clove

Portrait of an artist Senior’s talent blossoms with age

Business Directory Meet the locals

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

Advertising Manager Valerie Secor Interested in advertising in Upstate Life Magazine? Call toll-free, 1-800-721-1000, ext. 235 We invite you to e-mail your comments to: upstatelifeeditor@thedailystar.com

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PHOTO BY JULIE LEWIS - THE DAILY STAR 4

Editor Joanne Arbogast

On the cover

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History

The Andrew Mann Inn, built in Sidney in 1787, was placed on the State and National Register of Historical Places in 1980.

Captured by a cage

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALLISON COLLINS

Built in 1787, this old house is really a time capsule

hough young, 26-year-old Kurt Riegel is devoting his life and livelihood to all things old. After earning a degree in urban regional planning and a master’s in preservation, the Bainbridge native purchased the historic, Federal-era Andrew Mann Inn on State Route 7 in Sidney in 2014. Together with partner Stefan Foster, 20, Riegel has spent the intervening years preserving the 1787 home bit by meticulous bit. For him, the undertaking is a labor of love, a long time in the making. “I’ve always been interested in old buildings, since I was really little,” Riegel said. “But around here, historic preservation doesn’t exist. Growing up, I loved old houses, but I didn’t

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

know that (term): ‘historic preservation.’” He added, “It’s not a buzzword, so … I didn’t know this was even a job.” What Riegel did know, he said, was that, given the chance, he would make the Andrew Mann Inn his. “This was always my dream home,” he said. “As a little kid … I loved this house because it had the cage out front around the well house and, as an 8-year-old, it was really something to see a cage in a front yard.” Childhood curiosity, Riegel said, only deepened as he developed expertise through adulthood. “As I grew up … I learned that this house is one of the oldest in the region,” he said. “(When) I graduated and … had the opportunity to buy this place, I jumped on it.”

“

Preserve is what you want to do first. You move in, and it needs a lot of work, but you don’t over-fix. You fix what’s broken and leave and maintain the rest. In that way, you’re preserving the original fabric of the house, so that it can speak.

”

Delighted by details “There are other old houses, but this house is very elite for its time,” Riegel explained. “Most … houses from the late 18th century in this area are of meager means, but David Bates, the original owner, was a very wealthy guy.” “When (Bates) had this house built, he did not skimp on details, so there are a lot … that are just out of this world,” Riegel said.

Kurt Riegel “reads” the complex history of an original 1787 door in his historic home, the Andrew Mann Inn.

Highlighting fluted pilasters with bored-hole capitals and an elliptical transom above the front door, along with rope reeding atop parlor baseboards and carved panels under parlor windows, he added, “It’s considered one of finest (examples of) Federal architecture in all of New York State.” The building was added to the State and National Register of Historical Places in 1980.

Riegel, who says the line between collector and hoarder is a fine one, has filled the home with historical ephemera of all kinds, right down to the cutlery.

Riegel glazes a historic window in his workshop. Window restoration is a specialty of his. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 7

A onetime hardware shelf, salvaged locally, now features antique medicine phials in the home’s foyer.

Though the structure spent pretty big things structurally.” time as an inn, tavern, private From the home’s “fabric,” residence, tea house and alleged Riegel has rescued original, drug den in the 1960s, Riegel’s 18th -century hand-cut screws, mission is simple: peel back nails, door hinges, latches and the layers and bring the home more, all carefully returned to as close to its original state as functionality. possible. And, despite its many What can’t be saved from the lives, Riegel said, the bones of home, he replaces with period-acthe home remain in remarkable curate pieces salvaged nearby. condition. Riegel, whose specialty is winCONTRIBUTED PHOTO “Preserve is what you want to dow restoration, said one of the The parlor, historically used for funerals, features many do first,” he said. “You move in, only missing original elements of of the homes finest details, such as this intricately carved and it needs a lot of work, but sunburst inset panel. the home is its window sashes. you don’t over-fix. You fix what’s “I’m in the process of locating broken and leave and maintain and finding more,” he said, “and the rest. In that way, you’re preserving the lege. I … had a lot of learning to do.” I found a stash in Sidney, from the same Kicking off a series of Herculean tasks, original fabric of the house, so that it can architect and same time period.” He Riegel began at the bottom. speak.” called the salvage “quite a find.” “When we bought it, it was not livable. He added, “It’s hard to find a historical Noting other original materials such as house of any era that hasn’t been modern- There was no running water, no heat — lyme-and-linseed plaster, local stone and ized and muddled, but this house, at 231 it was a shell,” he said. “Our very first horsehair walls, Riegel said, staying true project … was the basement. It was com- the past is not only accurate, but more years old, was never really modernized.” He said, “You can’t find that anywhere, so pletely full of mold — every single piece sustainable. it’s really a time capsule.” of timber. We went down there with wire “If you restore a window properly and brushes, vinegar and masks and it was a Older is better maintain it with a storm window, it’s nasty job.” more energy-efficient than a vinyl winRiegel said being a young, historical Since then, Riegel has saved the dow, which only has a lifespan of 20 to homeowner has meant a steep learning home from near-collapse by jacking it 25 years,” he said. “These windows have curve. up, replacing lumber sill plates in the been around 230 years and they look a “When I bought this house,” he said, foundation and installing cable bracing million times better and don’t have to “not only was I new to taking on the life in the upper level of the home’s L-shaped be replaced. I wish they would still build project of (homeownership), but I was 23, with no money and just out of colportion. He noted, “We’ve done some homes like that today. It all just lasts.”

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

A fireplace, one of several in the home, in the original kitchen.

UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 9

Free workshops All his practical knowledge, Kurt Riegel said, is thanks to years of apprenticing and hands-on workshops. As he progresses, Riegel plans to share his know-how with others. “When I was in high school, I worked in Bainbridge with … a historical preservationist and master restorationist — one of the best,” he said. “I worked with him for seven years and he taught me so much.” His own educational efforts, Riegel said, underscore the accessibility of preservation work. “I like to teach people, so they realize that they can do it themselves,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but you can do it in your backyard or a basement workshop. It’s not impossible. If you have the ambition and the drive, nothing is really hard. You can learn and do almost anything.” With a laugh, he added, “Or, you can hire me to do it.” Riegel has presented to area chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, historical societies and budding preservationists. “People know me as this crazy restoration guy,” he said, “so everybody comes to me for advice.” Foremost, Riegel said, he prescribes research, with a good dose of patience. “My advice if you buy an old house and truly want to restore it — really make it look authentic — is, for the first couple of years, do nothing,” he said. “You can do a lot of damage with

good hearts and good intentions. Research, learn, read books, travel and talk to experts.” Extolling the breadth of historical architecture in upstate New York, he added, “You don’t have to go to big, far places; look at other homes in your region (because) they were built by the same people, using the same influences. One of the best things for learning is looking.” Specifically, he recommends visiting The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown or the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, N.Y. With learning, Riegel said, must come inquiry. “If you don’t know, ask,” he said. “I’m constantly talking to people about new things and new techniques. You can’t be afraid that you don’t know something.” Riegel said he keeps his presentations free, to further his mission. “They’re always free and anyone can come,” he said. “I do it because I want to educate. I’d rather somebody come and learn than me make $10 in admission costs.” He hopes to offer plaster and lath and open-hearth cooking workshops this summer. Additionally, he delivered a presentation on the house to the Delaware County Historical Association, located in Delhi, earlier this month. To stay updated on Riegel’s progress, or for announcements of presentations, find ‘Andrew Mann Inn’ on Facebook.

Born room born again Given the never-ending nature of the preservation project, the biggest challenge facing Kurt Riegel is funding. Someday, Riegel plans to run the home as a bed-and-breakfast. For now, Riegel said, he hopes to develop “creative fundraising.” Despite financial hurdles on the horizon, Riegel remains as unhurried as his methods. “I’d like to say in 15 years it’d be done,” he said, “but I don’t really have a timeline. I’m just working as I go.” Already available to prospective boarders is the borning room, a small, south-facing bed chamber adjoining the kitchen where a home’s invalid, ailing or child-bearing guests would stay. It is the only fully-preserved room in the home. For this, Riegel enrolled in a plaster and lath workshop, learning Old World methods and even purchasing 18th-century equipment to hand-plane timber for the room’s picture rail. “The borning room took a long time,” Riegel said. “It was everything ... and to do that work, I had to learn. I (took) a weeklong workshop to do it the old, authentic way and it was very involved.” His insistence on antiquated methods, Riegel said, is part passion, part necessity. “It’s not so much that it’s the old way, it really is the better way,” he said. “Like hand-planing that molding: I had to do it that way, because you can’t do it a modern way. You can’t just go to Home Depot or Lowe’s … to do it that way.” +

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Spring 2018

The borning room, pictured, is the home’s only fully restored, rentable space at this time. The term “borning room,” Kurt Riegel says, was not coined until the Colonial Revival period of the 1920s. Before that, he adds, it would simply have been known as a bed chamber.

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Gardening

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALLISON COLLINS

Sow good! 90-year-old garden club continues to flower

aving commemorated its 90th anniversary last year, the Butternut Valley Garden Club continues to sow goodness in Otsego County’s Butternut Valley region. With a membership from mainly Gilbertsville, Morris, Butternuts and Unadilla, the club is committed to education and outreach, alongside the beautification efforts for which it is traditionally known. The roughly 20-member nonprofit has honed in on those focus areas in recent years.

“It’s evolved a great deal,” said Anne Sebeck, co-president. “It used to be for gardening and social reasons, but now the goals (are) education, charity and community awareness (through) gardening.” Chuckling, she added, “We don’t have to wear hats and white gloves anymore.” Sebeck attributes some of that evolution to cultural shifts. The BVGC, one of only two federated clubs in Otsego County, was founded in 1927. “Women didn’t work then, but women have gone to work and their focus has changed,” Sebeck said.

BVGC members gather monthly to hear educational presentations and several times throughout the year for festive, holiday-related luncheons. 12

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Spring 2018

Longtime member and Gilbertsville resident Molly Del Giacco echoed, “Society’s changed, times have changed, women don’t go into (gardening) much anymore and we’re all getting older.” As a result, Sebeck said, membership is mature, though no less dedicated. Sebeck, a 12-year member, said, “The average age is 65 to 70, with the oldest (member) being 100.” “We’re very small, said Del Giacco. “It’s tough, but we stick together and we have a good time.”

Perennial education The group’s concentration on learning, Sebeck said, is both internal and far-reaching: Just as club programming seeks to educate members, members work to bring education to the community. In that way, Sebeck said, the club ensures its longevity. “We’re forever doing educational projects,” she said. “We have garden book reviews, we purchase books about gardening and place them in libraries and we use the resources of master gardeners.” Past programs, held monthly and usually in a member’s home, Sebeck said, have covered a range of subjects including birds, butterflies, gourds, amphibians, permaculture gardening practices and floral design. Additionally, the group takes an annual trip, open to the public, to exemplary

gardens somewhere in the Northeast. “We go to a historical site and tour the building and gardens,” Sebeck said. “Every year it’s different and this year we’re doing the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park.” Del Giacco noted that funding generated from public participation in such trips supports BVGC programming and projects.

through spring and summer; maintaining area cemeteries; and, most notably, showing at Floral Hall each Otsego County Fair.

Fair play

Involved near and far In terms of outward-focused education, Sebeck said, the group takes a grassroots approach. “Our main focus is education, starting with the youth, (because) that’s the future,” she said. “Consequently, we are supporting community gardens at Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton and Morris (schools).” Sebeck added, “Each one is different, but we’ve monetarily supported (both).” The schools’ gardening initiatives, she said, align with club values, as they reflect a desire to increase connection to the natural world while fostering healthier habits. “The (program) in G-MU is quite active,” Sebeck said. “It’s run by the elementary student council and they’re looking to expand and plant blueberry bushes this year.” That, she said, will likely be something club members help with. “The key thing is (generating) interest with the children,” Sebeck emphasized. “For the last several years, I’ve worked with youth personally to get ready for the fair, with at least eight youths invited to participate. And, in previous years, (we’ve) sent a student to (New York State)

In the horticulture division, garden club members exhibit their best homegrown blooms, such as this bunch of lilies from 2008.

Department of Environmental Conservation Camp in summer.” The club has also collaborated with local Boy Scout troops. More broadly, Sebeck said, the club lends monetary aid to state and international causes. The group supports New York State Federated Garden Club scholarships, the Otsego County Land Trust and well-building efforts in Africa. In addition to the club’s service aims, Sebeck said, yearly plant- and flower-related projects include “greening” the Gilbertsville and Morris communities each December with 20 handmade Christmas wreaths, a tradition of more than 50 years; planting native trees throughout club communities each Arbor Day; delivering hand-cut bouquets to local libraries

Sebeck said participation in the fair is a demanding but worthy endeavor, constituting the group’s largest yearly undertaking. She commented, “That’s the biggie.” Members, she said, typically participate in the horticulture and design divisions. “The horticulture part of a standard garden show has to be grown … and most members have their own gardens,” she explained. “It can’t be anything artificial or from an endangered list, so it takes a lot of thought, time and practice.” She added, “For the design part – table settings, mantelpieces, pedestals, etcetera – (materials) don’t have to be grown, but (must) follow the guidelines of federated garden clubs.” “It takes the whole week before the fair … to set up,” Sebeck said. “That’s an entire week just to get props ready and, with all the work that goes into each design, you’re talking at least 100 hours and at least 20 different entries.” She added, “Then we have to man (the exhibit) for six days; from 10 a.m. ‘til 9 a.m., there’s somebody there at all times.” Though she said kids invited to help with the club’s Floral Hall exhibit are often the children or grandchildren of club members, fair involvement is “open to any and all” who share a love of flowers. For more information on the Butternut Valley Garden Club, call 783-2232.

It’s evolved a great deal. It “ used to be for gardening and

social reasons, but now the goals (are) education, charity and community awareness (through) gardening. We don’t have to wear hats and white gloves anymore. Anne Sebeck, co-president Butternut Valley Garden Club

”

With roughly 20 club displays across the design and horticulture divisions, members typically make several exhibits apiece for the annual Otsego County Fair. This tablescape is from 2015. UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 13

Plan ahead and have patience BVGC member since 1999, Molly Del Giacco, has been planting and gardening for as long as she can remember. Here, she offers tips for budding growers. Noting that she lives “out in the country” of Gilbertsville, Del Giacco said, “I finally learned my lesson: Do not put plants in that the deer will eat. I have lost so many good plants — rhododendron, azalea, hydrangea, hostas — to deer,” she said, “so plant things they don’t like.” Specifically, she recommends perennials such as ferns, allium, gladiolas and dahlias, along with some garden-boosting herbs. “Dahlias don’t smell, but they’re very showy and deer don’t touch them,” she said. “And people love elephant ears. They’re dramatic things that the deer don’t go for.” She added, “Borage is good. That’s an herb that will take right over and bees love it. Del Giacco noted that rugged doesn’t have to mean inelegant. For equal parts hardy and handsome, she recommends rugosa roses. She said, “They’re tough and small and very nice.” Though protecting flowering bulbs can prove tricky, Del Giacco encourages persistence, with a touch of ingenuity. “Until bulbs get a chance, cover them (with) cheap wire and just pray

nobody comes over and digs them up,” she said. “I’ve lost lots of fancy lilies to squirrels, so it’s something to think about, when you’re open to wildlife.” Del Giacco also calls for creative planting. She named ornamental tobacco, though nontraditional, as an exciting garden addition. “Last year, I had enormous ornamental tobacco,” she said, “and I was quite proud of it.” Del Giacco said marigolds, another underappreciated annual, can also reap aesthetic rewards requiring little effort. “Nobody touches marigolds,” she said. “I love them; they come in all colors and sizes, stripes and solids, and they’re a good bargain.” And crops otherwise reserved for farming, Del Giacco said, should not be discounted. “Hops are very exciting,” she said. “I’ve planted hops for years now; I put up a ladder and let them climb and it’s really pretty and quite dramatic.” Because of wildlife, Del Giacco recommends purchasing plants from a local nursery, rather than growing from seed. Topping Del Giacco’s tips, for gardeners of all environs, is a willingness to wait. No matter the plant, she said, “You’ve just got to be patient.” +

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| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

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BVGC member Liz Newell displays winning ribbons from Floral Hall during the 2010 Otsego County Fair.

PHOTO BY ANNA RITCHEY

Though exhibited in August, this winter-themed table design by a member of the BVGC won “Best in Show” in 2010.

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Lifestyles

Spring styles:

How to get high-fashion for low prices

Thrifty Finds COLUMN AND PHOTOS BY SIERRA SANGETTIDANIELS

Every season the fashion gods bless us with yet another flow of seemingly spectacular styles; ones that whether you’re aware of it or not, leave an impression when wondering what to put on. This spring is no different. After assuming my New York Fashion Week invitation, yet again, got lost in the mail (how does that keep happening?), I followed the new trends the way any upstate fashionista does: online. Although I have yet to experience fierce-fashion directly from the front row, the seasonal trends that spur from fashion weeks across the globe never seem to disappoint, except for my wallet, that is. Although Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Calvin Klein price their trends at skyscraper-height prices, recreating these looks is a lot easier than Alexander Wang would like to admit. Admittedly, living upstate can often leave us feeling quite hopeless when it comes to embracing New York City level trends, but for every $500 NYFW look, there is a $5 thrift style. I went to the one and only, one-stop-shop of affordable fashion: the Oneonta Salvation Army. I took my top three favorite looks from Spring 2018 Fashion Week and emulated them at halfoff Wednesdays right here in Oneonta. First, (for no reason in particular), I started with a trend from the London Fashion Week: mixed prints. London, known for being the city with an eccentric palette, stayed true to its fame by offering up the bold pattern play. Whether it was overcharged florals set against polka dots or more casual variations like the patterned knits at Burberry, mixed prints gave us options for nearly every spring occasion. According to British Vogue, plaids can be worn and incorporated into nearly any main eye-catching feature or supporting interest piece so I found this pair of dark green and navy blue plaid pants for $1.50 then paired them with a multi-patterned, bold-colored top for $3 and a $2 bag to finish the look. Secondly, if you’re one of those who carries both a tote bag and a handbag (and a backpack and five grocery bags), then technically you’re ahead of the game this season. Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci all adopted a more really is more approach to accessories by styling their models with two or more bags at once. With endless things to carry, I paired a $1

white cross bag with a $1 pink short shoulder bag and a a $2 top-handled black bag to embrace the full-on Spring 2018 bag lady trend. I styled it with another spring stable: the trench coat (only $3.50) and a blue scarf for extra color and flare to complete the look. Lastly, I adopted a trend my eccentric style never thought it would: monochromatic styling. According to L’officiel USA, monochromatic styling is spring’s colorful new trend with one non-negotiable rule - pick a color and stick to it. This look welcomes any shade of any color; I went for all shades of green. I paired a $1 kneelength skirt (a trend seen all over the runway this season) with a $2 logo tee (yup, that’s right, logos are finally acceptable again, sorry hipsters) and accessorized the look with color-synched necklaces and headbands. So this season, opt in to high-fashion by opting out of designer labels. +

UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 15

Food

COOKIN’ with COLLINS

Give peas a chance COLUMN AND PHOTOS BY ALLISON COLLINS

pring is one of my favorite times of year. It’s so affirming to see those first, brave shoots of green push up through clinging patches of snow still left in the notches of tree roots and under hedgerows. It’s a time of year when I start remembering the farmers’ markets of summer and thinking fresh-food thoughts, but still like to cook warm, homey dishes. For me, risottos are a great answer to being in between culinary seasons. Risottos are hearty and rich, inexpensive to make and ultra-versatile. Once you’ve mastered the basic rice-toliquid proportions, with some patient stirring, risottos benefit from just about

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

any add-in you can think of — vegetable, protein or both. Plus, risottos can be made with beef, chicken, seafood or vegetable broth and require little more than pantry staples. Risottos get their rich consistency from the steady incorporation of liquid stock into Arborio rice. Though a short-grain variety, Arborio rice is high in starch. As each cup of broth is added and absorbed, the rice grains release that starch, forming the creamy sauce for which risottos are known. Risottos have been a part of traditional, rustic Italian cooking for centuries. The Mediterranean clime is ideal for growing short-grain rice crops and it is generally accepted that, from the Middle Ages on, Arborio rice could

be found in many Italian kitchens. And while the specific history of risotto is widely contested, Milan is typically agreed upon as the dish’s point of origin. Risotto began as an accompaniment to that other slow-cooked Italian favorite, ossobucco. While risotto still often appears as a side, it can easily stand alone as a light supper. This springtime risotto matches peas, usually available in May, and asparagus with salty pancetta and lots of parmesan cheese. I don’t always think of the humble pea as a center-stage ingredient, but, for color alone, you can’t find a more verdant early-season offering.

PEA & PANCETTA RISOTTO Ingredients: 1 4 oz. package diced pancetta, grease reserved (See “Tips” if pancetta is unavailable.) 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 2-3 Tbsp. butter 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced 2-3 cloves garlic, diced 1 c. Arborio rice ¼ c. dry white wine or cooking sherry 3 c. chicken broth 1 medium bunch of asparagus, cut into pieces 1 ½ c. frozen peas (See “Tips” if using fresh.) 1 c. fresh-grated parmesan cheese chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional) Kosher salt, pepper

Steps: Drizzle a frying pan with olive oil and fry pancetta over medium heat until crispy. Scoop out cooked pancetta with a slotted spoon and let dry on a paper towel; set aside. Do not drain grease from pan.

Melt 2 Tbps. butter in pancetta grease. Add diced garlic and chopped onion; season with salt and pepper and sauté until slightly translucent and aromatic. Add 1 c. dry Arborio rice to onion mixture. Stir to coat and lightly toast rice grains until golden; add more butter if needed. Pour in white wine and deglaze the pan, scraping gently to remove any stuck-on bits; allow wine to absorb completely. When wine is absorbed, slowly add in chicken broth, a cup at a time; stir continuously, allowing liquid to absorb before each addition. Just before the final cup of stock has absorbed into the rice, when the grains are plump, gently fold in chopped asparagus; cook 2-3 minutes. After incorporating asparagus, fold in peas. Mix parmesan cheese into the risotto; re-season with salt and pepper to taste. Plate and sprinkle portions with reserved pancetta. Top with additional parmesan and chopped parsley, if using, and serve warm.

Keep all ingredients nearby when you cook, to help things go smoothly.

It’s important to use a starchy, shortgrain rice such as arborio, pictured.

If using, add frozen peas straight to the risotto; no need to thaw first.

Don’t forget the cooked pancetta when plating. It’s one of the best parts!

As with any risotto, lots of freshgrated parmesan makes a perfect complement. UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 17

Plenty of Pea Possibilities In considering peas, I came across some unexpected, flavorful ways to use the little guys. Nearly neon in hue and full of pea-driven nutrients such as magnesium, vitamin C and fiber, pea hummus and pea patties offer out-of-the-box ways to serve up one of spring’s tiniest fruits.

PEA-PARSLEY HUMMUS

Just about any nut will work for this hummus. I used a blend of walnuts and cashews.

T I P S

Avoid the temptation to incorporate the peas too soon. Add them in about 5 minutes before you’re ready to serve. This preserves their bright green color and keeps them tender, without turning to mush.

In the bowl of a food processor, grind ¼ c. of walnuts or cashews. Add 1-2 small cloves of garlic, 2 c. thawed peas or cooked fresh peas, a handful of fresh parsley, 1 tsp. of salt and the juice of half a lemon; pulse until combined. With the food processor running, drizzle in ¼ c. of extra-virgin olive oil until blended. Scoop out hummus and serve with pita chips or crackers of choice.

Choose thin asparagus; thin asparagus stalks tend to taste better and be less “woody” than thicker stalks. After purchasing, trim the asparagus ends and keep cut stalks in a glass with about an inch of water at room temperature until ready to use.



Risottos really should be made using Arborio rice or a similar, short-grain rice such as carnaroli or maratelli. Arborio, however, is more commonly available. Long-grain rice varieties lack the starchiness of Arborio grains needed to keep a risotto creamy. 

Top finished hummus with a drizzle of olive oil, some pine nuts as shown or a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

If you can’t find diced pancetta, go with bacon and snip four or five slices into bite-size pieces before frying. I like to keep a dedicated pair of kitchen shears for such a job, as bacon doesn’t cut well with a regular knife. 

If fresh peas are available, definitely go for fresh. They’ll need to be readied, though, before getting tossed into a risotto. Fresh peas should get precooked in a pot of salted, boiling water for about 8 minutes. 

PEA PATTIES Sauté one rough-chopped leek or white onion with 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil. In the bowl of a food processor, combine onion-garlic mixture, 2 c. thawed peas, a small handful of fresh parsley or dill and one egg; pulse until mixed, but not pureed. In a separate, large bowl, combine 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, ¼ c. cornstarch and ½ c. flour. Scrape contents of food processor into dry ingredients and stir to combine. Shape mixture into patties. (Add more flour 1 Tbsp. at a time if mixture is too sticky to handle.) Place patties on a parchment-lined plate or cooking sheet and chill for one hour. When ready, fry pea patties in oil and serve with dip of choice. 18

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

I used fresh parsley in these patties, but chives, basil or scallions would work well, too.

Spring 2018

For the patties, don’t overblend. It’s nice to still see some whole peas in the mix.

Form patties to a thickness of about one inch before allowing to firm up in the fridge.

Get them in the ground now Easy to grow, cheap to sow and quick to produce, peas make a perfect early-season addition to any upstate garden. Here, Carla Hegeman Crim, horticulture and natural resources educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County, shares tips on planting peas. Whether growing English sweet peas or in-the-pod varieties such as snap or sugar, growers must choose between bush and vine varieties, Crim said. “Bush varieties are compact, and can be grown in rows,” Crim said, “(while) climbing varieties require a trellis, but are easier to pick.” With some basic care, Crim said, peas prove hardy. “Plants stand up just fine to the snow and ice of early spring,” she said, noting that “the vines themselves can be quite delicate and can be damaged if not handled with care when weeding and harvesting.” Crim added, “They can be planted near anything, except garlic and onions, (and) are a great companion to most vegetables, because they add nitrogen to the soil.” Though peas can be started indoors, Crim said plants really do better from the ground up. “They can be transplanted, but there really isn’t an advantage, and sometimes the plants are set back from the extra handling,” she said. Because pea seeds are so inexpensive, Crim said, don’t be afraid to plant and, if necessary, plant again. “I recommend putting some out in very early March,” she said. “If there’s a string of nice

days, they will come up and soldier through the early spring, and you will be treated to a crop in early June. Some varieties are ready to pick as early as 50 days after planting. “(If ) the weather won’t cooperate and seeds rot in the soil, you can always do a later planting to ensure peas by the Fourth of July,” she added. “Cover the seeds with about an inch of soil. If they aren’t deep enough, they could dry out or get eaten; too deep and they can’t push through.” If flowers are more your thing, Crim said, don’t discount peas’ aesthetic value. “Even if you don’t have a vegetable garden, work some pea plants into your flower bed,” she said. “They are pretty, delicate plants that look nice mixed with annuals and perennials. You can even find violet-podded varieties to add a pop of color.” When it comes time to harvest, Crim suggests feeling your way to freshness. “Each variety is different, but you will learn to gauge ripeness by squeezing the pod,” she said. “For sugar snap and snow peas, they should be harvested when the pods are tender and the peas are relatively small. For English peas, the peas should fill up the pods nicely.” Crim noted, “You don’t want the peas to get too large, however, because they get starchy and lose their sweetness.” However your garden grows, Crim said, peas are worth it. “There is nothing like fresh peas, eaten raw, right out of the pod,” she said. +

Carla Hegeman Crim suggests starting peas outside, as early as March.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Hegeman Crim said her children, Louis and Marissa, pictured, make a great workforce when it comes time to shell all those homegrown peas.

ABOUT THE COOK Allison Collins, of Unadilla, is a self-proclaimed bona fide foodie. During college, she traveled extensively overseas and while home held weekly food feasts for members of SUNY Oneonta’s Slam Poetry Association who assured her she had “culinary prowess.” Before that, she undertook elaborate Sunday night dinners for family, friends and neighbors. An accomplished and enthusiastic home cook, she has a willingness to try new things, a yen for healthfulness and vibrant color and, importantly, hours logged watching the Food Network. “It’s relatively safe to say that I love me some food. And good food at that,” she says. “My mother teases that I am picky to the point of snobbishness, food elitism, but that’s not it: I will try most anything. I just want each eating opportunity to be well-spent; you might even say, savored.” Send comments to her at alliedcollins@frontier.com UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 19

Wildlife

Where

(golden) eagles soar STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALLISON COLLINS A bald eagle, photographed by DOAS participant 20-year-old Kyle Dudgeon, is seen mid-flight over Franklin Mountain. PHOTO BY KYLE DUDGEON

Around 200 spotted in the area last fall

ore than 50 years ago, the Delaware-Otesgo Audubon Society got its start when a newspaper notice, placed in The Oneonta Star, called for local conservationists and wildlife lovers. Today, the roughly 200-member group remains dedicated to its three focus areas: conservation, education and research. Co-president Andrew Mason said, “Conservation of birds is still the primary interest that people have when they join.” Recently, the group’s defining work has been developing a tracking program for golden eagles. That initiative, Mason said, was decades in the making and grew out of an annual hawk watch performed from the group’s wildlife sanctuary, a 100-acre parcel on Franklin Mountain in Oneonta. “We usually count, over the course of the fall, around 5,000 raptors – hawks and eagles,” he said. “We have found, in doing this for close to 30 years, that it’s a real pathway for golden eagles, a very uncommon bird in eastern North America.” Just this fall, Mason said, members logged around 200 golden eagles during the watch, marking “the highest count for that species of any hawk watch in eastern North America.” He noted, “We’re not always No. 1; sometimes we’re second or third.” Such a regional surfeit of golden eagles, Mason said, in-

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

spired members to take a closer look. “We were interested to see where many of them went,” he said, “so we set up a project (to) put out motion-activated trail cameras and use bait – roadkill deer carcasses – to attract eagles.” Noting “about 12 different sites in Delaware and Otsego counties,” he added, “We found there are quite a number of eagles in our area.” Taking it “a step further,” Mason said, the group arranged for the birds to be outfitted with GPS transmitters. Though that step required fundraising, Mason said, it marked a milestone: “When we decided to attempt that, it had not been done in New York State … and it was not easy at all.” Mason said, “We had a DEC-licensed trapper … and, over the course of about five winters, we captured seven golden eagles, put the transmitters on and have been tracking them.” Three are still being tracked. He added, “We’ve spent more time on that over the last five years than any other issue or activity.” The work, he said, has yielded data valuable to the DOAS, energy and land development companies and other environmental agencies. Mason said that kind of information-sharing furthers the group’s conservation aims.

PHOTO BY KYLE DUDGEON

DOAS members look to the skies during one of the group’s annual Franklin Mountain Hawkwatch, held each fall.

The shelter, from which members eye and catalog birds of prey, was completed as an Eagle Scout project.

DOAS members display numbers and species of birds logged in a weather-proof chart alongside the watch shelter. UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018 | 21

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Mentioning wind power companies specifically, he said, “The GPS technology has provided a lot more knowledge about birds’ movements (and) has been useful in judging whether projects are in a dangerous location or not.” Mason added, “We make (the information) available to wind companies and hope they’ll look at it before they decide to put a project where eagles congregate.” Already, he said, such efforts have “had some effect,” as a proposed wind power site in Walton was voided following presentation of DOAS data. Now, Mason noted, the group is gathering information on slated power sites in neighboring counties. “Right now, we’re quite involved with (a project in) Broome County that would put up 50 wind turbines in an area we know is a migration area for eagles and other rafters,” he said. Noting on-site surveying performed last fall, he added, in March, they planned to “do migratory studies there, when (golden eagles) return north, so we are checking that area for the presence of migrating raptors.”

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Spring 2018

Through its educational arm, Mason said, DOAS hosts year-round presentations and bird watches, facilitates grants and offers summer programming for area youth. Educational efforts, he said, are championed largely by Susan O’Handley, DOAS co-president. “It’s a hands-on camp, where the kids are mostly outdoors,” Mason said. “The kids are out in the fields, interacting with nature and learning.” Two, two-week sessions of the camp are available to kids in grades three through six and seven through nine. “It’s a very popular camp,” he said, “and it usually fills up pretty quickly.” O’Handley said the camps were reinstated following an eight-year hiatus. “They started back in the early ’80s … but we stopped when enrollment started to decline,” she said. “About six years ago, we started back up again and it’s been really growing ever since.” She added, “We might be adding two new sessions and more opportunities for different ages. We’ve had a great response from the community.”

“

It’s so important … to continue to offer opportunities (for) exposure to the natural world and birds are a great way into conservation. There are all kinds of environmental concerns right now and we need an informed constituency. This is our part of progressing in that direction.

Local Author, Teresa Millias presents her short stories from present day rural America:

Stories from Lone Moon Creek

ng” Tender” ctable” i “Shocki d “ e r p n “U iction ” f l f a o n o ” i w t l ste “Inspira A “rura

”

Susan O’Handley, DOAS co-president

Of the group’s three main focus areas, Mason said, education is likeliest to grow. “In the future,” he said, “what we might expand the most is education.” Noting O’Handley’s introduction of a grant program open to local teachers, he added, “We’d like to expand that and bring more offerings for kids.” O’Handley said she hopes to also shift the focus toward long-term planning. “The next stage is digging deep,” she said. “Now that we have the 50th anniversary behind us, we’ll start looking forward and asking, ‘Where do we want to be 25 years from now?’”

Eyes in the sky As part of its educational outreach, Mason said, DOAS welcomes students from area colleges such as SUNY Oneonta and Cobleskill and Hartwick College. SUNY Oneonta junior Kyle Dudgeon, 20, became involved with DOAS a year and a half ago. “I looked online and wondered if there was a hawk watch, because there’d been one where I lived,” he said. Dudgeon, who was brought on as an official hawk watcher last year, added, “The access I have up here and all the great people in Audubon made it easy to stay involved.” Dudgeon said DOAS participation can facilitate a much-needed change in perspective. “For me, it’s about seeing things you wouldn’t expect to see,” he said “You might not realize when you walk outside that you have an eagle or a peregrine falcon – a whole world – flying around overhead, right in Oneonta.” O’Handley said, whether conservation, research or education, she considers all of the group’s concentration areas increasingly relevant. “It’s so important … to continue to offer opportunities (for) exposure to the natural world and birds are a great way into conservation,” she said. “There are all kinds of environmental concerns right now and we need an informed constituency. This is our part of progressing in that direction.” To learn more or contribute to DOAS, a donation- and grant-funded organization, visit doas.org.

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New members welcome Begun in 1968, the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society celebrated its 50th anniversary last fall. Membership has been consistently strong, said Andrew Mason, co-president. “Membership has grown since the beginning,” he said, “and it’s stayed steady for about the last 10 years.” Though the group considers Oneonta its hub, members come from surrounding areas. “Our membership is centered in Oneonta,” Mason said, “but a significant number of members come from Cooperstown, Delhi, Walton and Sidney.” According to DOAS literature, the group covers the northern Catskill Mountain and upper Susquehanna River region of New York State. Though the group welcomes college-aged interns and dropin members with a passion for birds, Mason said, the average member age is “50 or thereabouts.” Highlights for the group include the annual fall hawk watch, conducted from late August through early December; the Oneonta Christmas Bird Count; a January eagle-counting excursion to Delaware River reservoirs; two weeks of youth programming; and monthly presentations. Such presentations, O’Handley said, are proving consistently popular. “Our programs are very well-received and we’re really building,” she said. “Attendance at public programs that take place once a month in Oneonta has been strong. I don’t know of

A roadside attraction gift shop since 1950!

PHOTO BY KYLE DUDGEON

A sharp-shinned hawk soars over Delaware County.

a program in the last year that’s had less than 25 (attendees); we’ve been averaging 40 to 60 and at some programs, we’ve had as many as 80.” Regular DOAS meetings are held the third Friday of every month at the Elm Park United Methodist Church, 401 Chestnut St., Oneonta. To learn how to become involved or register for membership, visit doas.us/join-us. +

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Mind & Body

has only been the last “100Ityears or so that people

in the U.S. started bathing more than once a week, if that much. I read, but can’t verify, that the reason so many marriages took place in June was that most people had their yearly bath in May. That meant they were still reasonably clean when June arrived. A bath tea of epsom salt, lavender buds, and chamomile is perfect for night-time relaxation.

COLUMN AND PHOTOS BY ANNA KRUSINSKI

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

— By Robin Koontz in a March 3, 2014 post on kidsdiscover.com.

”

Soak it up For thousands of years, people have turned to the bath for its soothing and relaxing effects. Today, the act of bathing can be an opportunity for pampering; a chance to quiet the mind and unwind the body. There are many ways to enjoy the benefits of a restorative soak and bath teas are a simple and effective approach that is gaining popularity. A bath tea (sometimes referred to as a “bath bag” or “herbal soak”) is comprised of a blend of herbs and flowers mixed with a salt such as Epsom salt or Dead Sea salt. The mixture is contained in a cloth bag and can be placed directly into the tub or suspended by the faucet to soak in the water, much like a tea bag in a pot of tea. After use, the bag can be hung to dry and reused up to three times.

Only Natural What is the difference For a between a bath tea, salts supremely and bath bombs? Like a luxurious bath, try a blend of bath tea, bath salts contain rose petals a salt blended with dried and calendula flowers with herbs and flowers and epsom salt. often contain essential oils for added fragrance. However, the salts are poured directly into the tub to disperse into the water while you soak. Bath bombs, on the other hand, differ from both the salts and teas in that they contain citric acid and baking soda to produce a fizzing action when placed into the water. Like the teas and salts, bath bombs can also contain a blend of salts, essential oils, and herbs or flowers.Â The base for a bath tea time soak. When used in bath teas, is a salt, such as Epsom, Dead Sea, or lavender soothes and tones the skin Himalayan pink salt. Epsom salt is and is especially beneficial for sensitive an excellent choice for a soak because skin. The gentle floral scent is also it can ease aches and pains and relax known to be calming and can help tired, sore muscles. induce restful sleep. A blend of herbs and flowers are Another wonderful addition for added to create a wonderfully rejuvebath teas are dried calendula petals. nating bathing experience. Some of This delicate flower is renowned for the most beneficial blends include bo- its calming, anti-inflammatory, and tanicals such as chamomile, lavender, skin-healing properties which are escalendula and rose. pecially helpful for skin that is irritatDried chamomile flowers are ideal ed or chapped from extreme weather for all skin types and are especially â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a challenge commonlyÂ faced in the soothing for sensitive or irritated skin Catskill Mountains. due to its anti-inflammatory properFor a truly luxurious experience, ties. Just as a mug of chamomile tea is take a note from Cleopatra and use a great bedtime beverage, chamomile a bath tea that is blended with dried is perfect for a relaxing blend as its rose petals. A staple of beauty rituals pleasant, mildly sweet aroma helps for centuries, rose petals promote calm the mind and quiet anxieties. healthy skin and act as a mild astrinLavender is a common go-to plant gent while the beautiful aroma creates for treating insomnia and anxiety, a soothing soak with an added touch so it comes as no surprise that dried of elegance. (If you choose to make lavender buds are ideal for a nightyour own bath teas, be careful not to

use roses from the florist as these flowers are typically treated with pesticides and other chemicals.) To give your bath another boost of skin-softening goodness, you can also sprinkle baking soda into the water before adding your bath tea. To top off your bathing time, treat yourself to a few more moments of pampering and apply your favorite natural body moisturizer before slipping into your comfiest pajamas. This will help to lock in the skin-softening benefits of your soak and will ease you into a relaxed and calm state to enjoy a restorative night of beauty sleep. Following a weekly bathtime ritual is an enjoyable way to care for your mind and body and reduce the effects of stress. Next time you treat yourself to a bath, mix up your routine with a natural bath tea and soak in the relaxation!

Anna Krusinski has been creating and selling natural bath and beauty products for nearly a decade. Contact her at anna@shopwillowandbirch.com.

UPSTATE LIFE magazine

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Family Day Trips

The view from the Molly Smith parking lot.

Springtime in an ancient KAATERSKILL CLOVE STORY AND PHOTO BY ROBERT AND JOHANNA TITUS

ave you ever been to Kaaterskill Clove? It’s not that far away but, not all that many people travel through it so you may have missed it. Let’s fix that.

You take Route 23 east from Oneonta, until you get just past Prattsville, then you follow Route 23A. A little past the village of Haines Falls you will enter the clove. Believe us, you will know it when you

are there; it’s spectacular. The clove road has long been called the Rip Van Winkle Trail. It’s always been a tourist attraction. You will soon find out why. You are now traveling downhill and

the mountains, right and left, seem to rise higher and higher above you. On the right side, near the top, is the community of Twilight Park. This picturesque village is made up of homes,

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many of which were built in the 1880s. Along the way, down the clove, you will pass Bastion Falls on the left side of the road. Famed Kaaterskill Falls is about a half mile upstream from here. Keep going down the road and look up; you will see towering ledges of sandstone forming a rim at the canyon’s top. Someday we will take you up there, but today let’s devote our attentions to the bottom of the clove. At the downhill end, the canyon seems to actually narrow. There is another waterfall down there; it’s called Fawn’s Leap. The lower canyon is big, about 1,500 feet deep and a mile across at the top. Turn around and drive back up the Rip Van Winkle Trail. There is a single good parking lot above Bastion Falls – the Molly Smith lot. It will be filled on weekends unless you get there early. If you can park, do so and find your way to the location where you can look down the clove. Gaze down the canyon and begin to ponder a single question: how did this magnificent landscape come to be? It’s our job to answer. To do that we need to do some time travel. We are always taken into the distant past when we are at the Molly Smith lot. We travel through time to an episode late in the Ice Age. It is perhaps 15,000 years ago. The climate has been enduring a period of cooling and glaciers

are advancing. We watch as the distant Hudson Valley is filling with ice and then we witness a branch of that glacier peel off and enter the clove. It rises toward our Molly Smith vantage point and passes us by, a stream of ice heading uphill and off to the west. Glaciers can flow uphill; they are always pushed from behind by more ice. In this case it is advancing out of Canada, at least for as long as the climate is cooling. But as we watch, the climate warms. The clove is still filled with ice but we can hear sounds down below, first a trickle and then a roar. A great flow of meltwater passes down the valley, beneath the Kaaterskill Clove glacier. It’s called a subglacial stream. The canyon had been old even before the glaciers had arrived but now that meltwater stream is cutting deep into the underlying bedrock. It is sculpting a new manifestation of Kaaterskill Clove. With time and more warming of the climate, the glacier, itself, begins to melt. Soon it is actually disintegrating. It won’t be long before the clove is emptied of ice and it will appear in its new form. The new clove is deeper and steeper than before and it is decked out with new waterfalls. Kaaterskill Clove has come to be what we know today. It is a gift of the Ice Age. +

Contact the authors at randjtitus@prodigy.net. Join their facebook page, “The Catskill Geologist.” Read their blogs at “thecatskillgeologist.com.”

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Art 102

PORTRAIT OF AN

ARTIST Senior’s talent blossoms with age

t 102 years young, Worcester resident Roberta vonHahmann is proof that it’s never too late to pursue a passion. Though she recalls having been born an artist — drawing on walls through toddlerhood and spending adolescent hours creating comic strips and greeting cards — vonHahmann said it wasn’t until her late 60s that she became “a real artist.” Today, with more than 140 paintings to her credit, many commissioned, vonHahmann is known best for her portraiture and local landscapes. Coinciding with her 103rd birthday this month, roughly 10 pieces of vonHahmann’s work are on

exhibit at the Catskill Watershed Corporation offices in Margaretville through June 10. “I knew I wanted to paint from about 2,” she said. “When I was about 8, I said that I was going to be a famous artist. I am sure that I said ‘famous,’ because I probably didn’t know there was any other kind.” She added, “My hands wanted to do it. That’s how I felt and how I still feel.” A teen during the Great Depression, vonHahmann was forced to shelf her artistic aspirations in favor of work as a vegetable scrubber and, later, a nanny. “I drew a little and I didn’t have any paints, except a little set of watercolors that I fooled around with,” she said.

One of several self-portraits, Roberta vonHahmann painted this at age 62 in 1977, the year her husband died. Gail, vonHahmann’s daughter and primary caregiver, says, “She missed him terribly. They had a lot in common … and I think painting helped her get through the grief.”

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALLISON COLLINS 32

| UPSTATE LIFE magazine

Spring 2018

I knew I wanted to paint “from about 2. When I was

about 8, I said that I was going to be a famous artist. I am sure that I said ‘famous,’ because I probably didn’t know there was any other kind. My hands wanted to do it. That’s how I felt and how I still feel.

”

Humble housepainter Decades would pass before, in 1965 while participating in adult education classes at Worcester Central School, vonHahmann purchased her first set of oil paints. Together with husband, Luther vonHahmann, she moved to the Otsego County town in 1945. A native of Ohio, vonHahmann ventured in her late teens to Cleveland in search of work. It was there she received her first semi-formal training. “Those were tough days (and) nobody had any money,” she said. “I managed to go to night school at the Cleveland School of Art. It was very good.” She added, “I went and asked the head of the art school if I could come three days a week and he said ‘yes,’ so I did get some life classes … but that was really the extent of any formal study I had, until I met up with Betty Warren of Albany.” Though early attempts at portraiture had proven promising, vonHahmann said, it was Warren’s tutelage that advanced her natural ability. “Betty Warren was wonderful, because she was a portrait artist: the first one I ever caught up with and a lovely person,” vonHahmann said. “I discovered I could do it. I just discovered that I could get a likeness and I’ve always been able to make a likeness of people, no problem. That’s what I like to do.” She added, “Once I get into something, I get into it, I guess.” Her time with Warren began in the early ’80s, at the age of 65, and spanned 10 years. Warren taught at the Malden Bridge School of Art in Malden Bridge, N.Y.

Roberta vonHahmann, 102, sits with prints of her work at her home in Worcester.

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Spring 2018 | 33

The artist’s youngest daughter, Gail, commented, “People asked her to paint their houses – so she did. She used to call herself a housepainter. She did whatever she could get her hands on, until she could take those lessons.” Gail added, “She probably did most of her painting in the 10 years she was with Betty.”

Career move

vonHahmann, whose early sketches appear on primer sheets and paper scraps, says, “This was the age of flappers and believe me, I knew it!”

“I would do things for people,” vonHahmann agreed, “but I didn’t really feel like I could call myself an artist until I got to go to Betty Warren: a really, for-sure lady who painted portraits.” She said her exposure to Warren and area artists groups coincided with her retirement and the death of her husband. She worked for 15 years at the former Cobleskill Hospital. “I remember thinking, just right after he died and the hullabaloo was over, that I had to do something,” she said. “I didn’t

want to sit down and mope. That first year was hard, but I did know about classes.” Despite holding art near and dear throughout her long life, vonHahmann said, her emergent career as a 70-something professional painter came as a delightful, if mystifying, surprise. The mother of three said, “I always thought about it, but then, you get married, have a family, go back to work and blah, blah, blah. All those things … make a difference, (and) you’re busy. “But then I began to feel, from (my) 60s and 70s, that I began to become an artist,” she said. “I can’t believe how lucky I was to get to do what I wanted to do. To get to do it at this age, or before, (is) amazing.” And though vonHahmann said being 102 “ain’t all it’s cracked up to be,” she added, with a wry smile, “I’m thankful. I shouldn’t complain about being old … I guess.” Scanning the walls of her home, dotted with her life’s work, she said, “It’s unbelievable; imagine, getting to do that! Isn’t that amazing? What a crazy life, really.”

vonHahmann estimates that she created 1920s-inspired comic strips such as this at around 10 years old. “I love to do cartoons and I would draw a lot of the time,” she says. “You can look and see they’re not all that great, but it was a start.”

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In 1991, vonHahmann completed two commissioned, memorial portraits for Cobleskill Central School administrators. This one is of former director of elementary education, Bill Miller.

Though in-profile portraits are unusual in vonHahmann’s body of work, she counts this pastel of an African woman titled “Faduma” among her personal best.

vonHahmann donated a watercolor reproduction of her awardwinning oil painting, “Days of Yore,” to MURAL, after the original burned with the Rexmere Hotel, which it depicts, in 2014. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Literally like life For Roberta vonHahmann, the appeal of portraiture lies in the opportunity to create true-to-life art. “I’m very literal,” she said. “I’m not one of these artists that does what’s inside; I just do what I see and that’s all there is to it. If somebody wants a portrait, it should look like them.” Some of her best work, vonHahmann said, was done between 1985 and 1990, particularly during visits to the African countries, Somalia and Lesotho. “Gail (her youngest daughter) was working overseas and I was 69 or 70 when she was in Africa, so I visited her there,” vonHahmann said. “I (did) a lot of painting while I was there. The gals that worked in the house, other people and some in Gail’s group — they all were excited and wanted their portraits done. I was busy.” She counts “Faduma,” a pastel portrait

of a Somalian woman done in profile, as standout work from that time. “I saw that marvelous profile … and I just had her sit there,” vonHahmann said. Noting that the woman was in a hurry at the time, she added, “So, in 40 minutes I did that. That’s one of my favorites.” Another personal favorite, on which she spent months researching and sketching before painting, depicts the grandiose Rexmere Hotel of Stamford, N.Y. at the turn of the century. The piece, “Days of Yore,” earned vonHahmann an honorable mention in the Rexmere Centennial Art Show in 1998. After purchase by the Mt. Utsayantha Regional Art League (MURAL), the painting hung in the hotel entryway for 16 years. The painting and hotel were destroyed in a 2014 fire. In addition, vonHahmann was awarded

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third place in the11th annual Jeanne Pierce Walker Prize for the Arts, which she entered in 2003 with her pastel rendering of the Susquehanna River’s start in Cooperstown, titled “The Beginning,” earning her the honor. She said being commissioned by the student council of the Cobleskill Central School District to memorialize two “especially revered” administrators in portrait form was another career highlight. The portraits, of former director of elementary education Bill Miller and longtime guidance counselor Ted Smith, were completed in 1991 and hang in the school halls today. Though she lamented recently lacking the “gumption” to paint, vonHahmann, who is also an accomplished pianist and organist, said in a press statement, “Even if I’m too tired to do something, I try, because I’ll regret it if I don’t at least try!”

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Check it out

A selection of Roberta vonHahmann’s work, including several local landscapes, will be displayed at the Catskill Watershed Corporation, 905 Main St., Margaretville, through June 10. Communications director and education coordinator with the office, Diane Galusha, said, after spotting vonHahmann’s “Days of Yore” painting online, her interest was immediately piqued. “I’m responsible for lining up artists to exhibit at our board room here in Margaretville,” Galusha explained. “We love to have regional artists exhibit two to three months at a time, so (we feature) about four or five artists a year.” She said the watershed corporation covers roughly 1,200 miles in parts of five counties, with a concentration on Delaware and Otsego counties. “I’d been looking at regional art websites to see who might be willing (to exhibit), and I came across MURAL’s website and they … had posted ‘Days of Yore,’” Galusha said. That was last December. Recalling being “taken by” the painting’s “Victorian lady with the beautiful hat and the gorgeous Rexmere Hotel in the background,” she said, “I emailed the director of MU-

RAL, which led me to Gail (vonHahmann) and (she) was excited about the possibility of getting her mom’s works together.” Discovering vonHahmann’s age, Galusha said, only deepened her interest. “I thought the story was really compelling,” she said, “and the fact that the artist is over a century old is a pretty incredible thing.” The paintings will be available for sale, she added. Noting that the corporation does not receive commission from art sales, she said, “We’re just looking to promote local and regional artists and share their work with the people who come here.” Co-exhibiting with vonHahmann will be June Lannigan, another senior local artist whose daughter facilitated the exhibit, Galusha said. She described vonHahmann and Lannigan’s work as “complementary” and the pairing as “serendipitous.” The Catskill Watershed Corporation board room is open to the public, Galusha said, with visitors welcome daily between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Galusha suggested calling ahead, at 845-5861400. +

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