Upstater Winter 2016

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It’s time to be our best selves.

Engage with every aspect of your life. Stand up for what’s right.

Go artisanal, innovative, and real. Search for truth. And let your freak flag fly.

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S M A L L - B AT C H PRODUCERS

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F I Z Z I N G up W I T H KOMBUCHA

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WINDHAM’S WINTER WONDERLAND

YOU’RE ALWAYS CONNECTED ulster county MAKE THE MOST OFecoIT BUSINESS DIFFERENTLY nomicDOINdevelopment ULSTER COUNTY, NY alliance Don’t just dream about leaving the city.

Discover how other business owners and professionals are increasingly calling Ulster County, NY home, and how you can too!

UlsterForBusiness.com Ulster County Office of Economic Development 244 Fair Street, 6th Floor Kingston, NY 12401 Phone: (845) 340-3556 Email: oed@co.ulster.ny.us

• • • • • • •

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Why Ulster?

90 miles from NYC Desirable Quality of Life Gorgeous Landscapes Charming Towns & Villages Lower Costs Educated Workforce World-Class Recreational & Cultural Scene Growing Tech Sector

modern

BE SURE TO MATCH VERTICAL MARGINS (EVENLY SPACED AT TOP & BOTTOM)

At Lindal we are very proud that for over 70 years we have been producing homes that are modern in spirit and warm in nature.

At the heart of the Lindal Experience lives progress and tradition, inspiration and predictability – the cutting-edge architecture is delivered through the time-honored building systems of Lindal Cedar homes and backed by a lifetime structural warranty.

Lindal Cedar Homes has designed and produced over 50,000 homes, built throughout the world in every climate, on every type of terrain, and in every regulatory environment. Since the introduction of its modern design program in 2008, Lindal has been the modern systemsbuilt ‘prefab’ home of choice for our clients.

We will be happy to speak with you about the services we offer, including free site evaluations and site visits, and our free Design Program.

Atlantic Custom Homes, Inc. Stop by our Classic Lindal model at: 2785 Route 9 • Cold Spring, NY 10516 888.558.2636 • 845.265.2636 Info@LindalNY.com www.HudsonValleyCedarHomes.com

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There’s no place like home.

Prequalify with US.

As an integral part of the Hudson Valley since 1851, Ulster Savings has a long and reputable history of providing the means for homeownership. We’ve financed thousands of loans and have the expertise and experience to help you find a mortgage that’s right for you! Contact US today for a FREE prequalification!

NMLS# 619306

Locations throughout the Hudson Valley.

(866) 440-0391 • ulstersavings.com MEMBER FDIC upstater

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Feed your family simply and deliciously and discover the India you’ve never tasted.

My family’s recipes inspired me to create products that capture the vibrancy of home-cooked Indian food. I craft my food with love, because that’s the most important ingredient.

Find us at www.mayakaimal.com and Whole Foods Market, Gourmet Garage, Hannaford, Adams Fairacre Farms WINTER 2016/17

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P REMI U M FR AG R ANCES IN SPIRED BY G R E A T A M E R IC A N L A ND SCA P ES

314 Warren Street, Hudson, New York Shop online at adage-nyc.com

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INTRODUCING, EAU DE PARFUMS & SCENTED VOTIVES

DREAMING OF YOUR UPSTATE LIFE?

BE. HERE. NOW There’s no app for experience.

• 39 Years of Real Estate Success • Deep knowledge of local markets • Enduring commitment to service & integrity • National & global marketing network • There is a difference in real estate companies

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WEST HURLEY (845) 679-7321

NEW PALTZ (845) 255-9400

WOODSTOCK (845) 679-0006

WestwoodRealty.com Serving the Hudson Valley & Catskill regions WINTER 2016/17

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Stewart International Airport

Neighborhood airport.

World-class carriers.

Conveniently located right in the Hudson Valley, Stewart’s comfortable size, modern amenities, friendly staff, and focus on customer care make getting to the airport, and flying out of it, hassle-free. In addition to its commercial services from Allegiant, American, Delta, and JetBlue, Stewart also features services for private or corporate air travelers from Independent Helicopters. All of these options make Stewart the most convenient and versatile airport in the region.

STEWART AIRPORT Stewart International Your neighborhood airport.

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Welcome Back to the Catskills Why Live in Someone Else’s House?

Welcome Back to the Catskills • Day Welcome Back the Catskills Inn • Lodgeto SpaOurs!

Take a Vacation in • Day Inn •Grille Lodge Spa Stores • Woodnotes • The Country

• Woodnotes • The Stores •Kaleidoscope Inn Grille • Lodge DayCountry Spa • World’s Largest Welcome Back to the Catskills • World’s Largest Kaleidoscope • Woodnotes • The Grillein Country Stores • Winter Adventures Nature’s Playground Inn • Lodge • Day Spa • Winter •Adventures in Nature’s Playground World’s Largest Kaleidoscope • Woodnotes • The Grille Country Stores • Winter • World’s Largest Adventures in Kaleidoscope Nature’s Playground

• Winter Adventures in Nature’s Playground

WINTER 2016/17

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TABLE of

CONTENTS

upstater WINTER 2016/17

16 What’ll It Be?

Randy Makiej and his partner, Becca Moore, are turning a pair of empty storefronts into a studio, workshop, and roastery in largely undiscovered Parksville.

FEATURES

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Small Is Beautiful

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Fizzing Up

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Winter Wonderland

50 60

food + drink

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Small-batch food producers are on the rise in New York City and the Hudson Valley.

Story by Anne Pyburn Craig food + drink

Long considered an elixir by health enthusiasts, Kombucha is being enjoyed in cocktails, beers, and sodas.

Story by Fen Fenton / Photos by Pamela Pasco weekend

For skiing and charm, Windham is where it’s at.

Story by Josh King Photos by Julie K. Herman & Windham Mountain Resort at home

Global Palate

Nirmala Narine creates a home, farm, and international spice business at a former horse ranch in Highland.

Story by Mary Angeles Armstrong Photos by Deborah DeGraffenreid going native

Home Is Where the Hooch Is

Ariel Schlein revives Pine Plains’ history at Dutch’s Spirits distillery.

Story by Kandy Harris / Photos by Karen Pearson

This page, clockwise from top: Photo of Randy Makiej by Les Stone; Photo of Elizabeth Lesser by Hillary Harvey; Illustration by Steven Weinberg.

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HV PORTRAITS

THIS & THAT 12

MISSION STATEMENT

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kim markel

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check out our team

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Josh Post & Maggie Paquet

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cartoon: ULSTER COUNTY ASPCA

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Luke Ives pontifell

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split life: becca moore/Randy Makiej

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bryan & dalia rissman graham

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Objectified: woodcutting

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noé del cid

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photo essay: FIRE IN THE BELLY

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elizabeth lesser

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film: lost rondout

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cartoon: upstate fantasy jobs

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installation: reactor art house

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Sheepherding: gone to the dogs

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LAST LOOK: lost in the waterways

ON THE COVER A fresh batch of Crock & Jar’s FAB Kraut (made with fennel, apples, and beets).

Photo by Ethan Harrison

When you can get a wonderful Hudson Valley country property for less than a 2 BR apartment in NYC, it’s time to keep renting and get your second home first.

Stanford Hideaway

$685,000

Unique 3 BR/2.5 BA post & beam barnstyle house on 5.3 acres w/ tennis court, swimming pool & 1860 barn. Combined lofty & open great room & living areas, living room w/ large fireplace. Richly stained wood floors & beams, wide staircase leads to the light-filled upstairs. Private & secluded property surrounded by lawn & woods.

❚ Adelia Geiger 845.216.0218

Ca. 1780 Stagecoach House $659,000

Beautiful 3-story house with brick & stone foundation on 5.6 acres overlooking Hollowville creek in Claverack. 4 BR/2 BA, restored & well-maintained. Lawns, woods & meadow, large screened porch, vistas. Master suite with wood stove. Original details, French tiles in kitchen and BAs, fireplace, second wood stove. Creek with swimming hole, bluestone patio, English garden, stone walls, outhouse & outbuilding.

❚ Pamela Belfor 917.734.7142

Field Farmhouse

$695,000

Stylish 3 BR/1.5 BA late 19th c. farmhouse in Stanford. Country kitchen w/ stainless steel appliances & window seat. Double glass doors, screened porch & bluestone patio. Living room w/ fireplace, cozy den/TV room. Master BR w/ fireplace, sunny BA w/ claw-foot foot tub & walk-in shower. Parklike grounds, stone walls. Perennial beds & iris garden. 1-car barn, garden shed & open shed. Central A/C & whole house generator.

❚ Gary DiMauro 845.757.5000 x11

Rhinecliff River View

$880,000

Lovely 3 BR/2 BA house, seated on a bluff on the east bank of the Hudson River w/ unobstructed views of the river & Catskills beyond. Views from front porch & patio and nearly every room. Beautiful Dutch tile work on the living room fireplace, 2nd floor study/library. 4 lots offered in this listing: 2 on the river side of the road, 2 on the opposite side.

❚ Alison Vaccarino 845.233.1433 ❚ Cynthia Fennell 914.409.5144

Tivoli Victorian

$495,000

Nestled on Tivoli’s loveliest tree-lined street sits this stately Victorian. Three bedrooms, one and a half baths. This jewel awaits the remainder of its restoration. The windows have been restored, the original hardwood floors brought back to life, original hardware repaired and rooms painted.

In the backyard you will find the original homestead barn, tire swing included.

❚ Tracy Dober 845.399.6715

Tivoli NY • Hudson NY • Catskill NY • Rhinebeck NY

garydimauro.com WINTER 2016/17

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upstater.com It’s time to be our best selves.

Engage with every aspect of your life. Stand up for what’s right.

Go artisanal, innovative, and real. Search for truth. And let your freak flag fly.

24

S M A L L - B AT C H PRODUCERS

30

FIZZING UP WITH KOMBUCHA

43

WINDHAM’S WINTER WONDERLAND

.com

Photo by Krysti Sabins

upstater

E V E R Y D AY

A Late Fall Rock Scramble

By Krysti Sabins

You may think the outdoor season is waning, but let me tell you, it’s waxing, baby! Before the snows commence (because you know they will) and winter activities abound, many titillating outdoor adventures still await you. One of my absolutely favorite places to explore is Mohonk Preserve, which is nestled within the GORGEous (see what I did there?) Shawangunks, just 90 miles north of New York City. This 8,000-acre wonderland is brimming with “mountain ridges, forests, fields, streams, ponds, and other unique and beautiful places,” according to the Mohonk Preserve website.

Bonticou Crag, Mohonk Preserve

upstater.com/rock-scramble-up-bonticou-crag

upstater.com/rock-scramble-up-bonticoucrag

In Search of Better Wood

Tibetan Rejuvenation in the Catskills

By Jamie Hammel, The Hudson Company

By Nava and Michael Raviv

When searching for wood flooring, paneling, or beams in a design application, the two most obvious things to consider are: (1) Does the material meet my technical or structural needs; and (2) Does it meet the aesthetic goals for my project. But if you want to exceed expectations, there are a few tips for choosing the best possible materials. Here is a guide to finding sustainable, high-character wood for your next building project upstater.com/hudson-company

We sit in the best lotus position we can handle and follow the breathing and visualization instructions: Ohoommmm—Imagine inhaling a white light.

Aaaah—Hold in a red-colored breath.

Huuuung—Exhale a blue-colored breath.

This is Om-A-Hung, a breathing meditation, part of our daily routine at the Menla Mountain Retreat in the Catskill Mountains, founded in 1987 by the Tibet House under the guidance of HH the Dalai Lama to promote authentic Tibetan healing and teachings to the West. upstater.com/tibetan-rejuvenation-catskills

never close your eyes

Working Upstate for a Living

By Jennifer Donnelly

By Megan Brenn-White

The way it works for most people is this: You hear a ghost story when you’re little and you believe it because, hey, you’re little and you don’t know any better. But as you grow up, you stop believing ghost stories because you’ve learned to reason. To be rational. To tell fact from fiction. Well, that’s not the way it works for me. upstater.com/never-close-your-eyes

My husband and I were 100 percent only looking for a weekend home/ Airbnb rental when we started our home search earlier this year, so we didn’t have to think about how our work lives would be impacted until we decided to make the switch to full-time a few weeks before closing. I started my own business a few years ago, doing international higher-ed marketing and strategy, and my clients are almost always a Skype call away. upstater.com/working-upstate-living

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EDITORIAL

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Editor

Susan Piperato susan@luminarymedia.com Art Director

Jim Maximowicz jmaximowicz@luminarymedia.com cartoon editor

Carolita Johnson carolitajohnson@gmail.com proofreader

Barbara Ross

contributors

All forecasts point to a harsh winter. we are politically polarized and arctic weather is expected But when the going gets tough, the tough get going (preferably on snow tires)

“ when the going gets weird,” as Hunter S. Thompson “the weird go pro.” and

famously said,

We can let our freak flags fly—but only alongside everyone else’s.

Whatever challenges come our way, tolerance is the only way forward.

“Going pro” means being our best selves.

Engage with every aspect of your life.

Stand up for Go artisanal, Search what’s right. innovative, and real. for truth.

Indulge your dreams, and master things you’ve never had time for.

Pick up a guitar, a whisk, or a paintbrush.

Mull wine. Fizz kombucha. Shape clay.

Study a foreign language or the night sky.

Grow your own yeast, then bake your own bread.

In Scandinavia, winter is time to grow closer to friends and strangers by recreating summer, hygge style.

Fill your house with warmth, light, and color, and welcome in guests for frank but gentle conversation.

So open your heart and home and let in the light.

Anne Frank said it best: “Even a single candle defies and defines the darkness.”

LIVE LIKE A LOCAL 12 upstater

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Peter Aaron, Elizabeth Albert, Mary Angeles Armstrong, Anne Pyburn Craig, Jason Cring, Brian PJ Cronin, Deborah DeGraffenreid, Eva Deitch, Fen Fenton, Roy Gumpel, Kandy Harris, Ethan Harrison, Hillary Harvey, T.M. Hawley, Julie K. Herman, Josh King, Lindsay Lennon, Peter D. Martin, Ash Oat, Pamela Pasco, Karen Pearson, Hannah Phillips, Leander Schaerlaeckens, Nina Shengold, Les Stone, Steven Weinberg

PUBLISHING FOUNDERS & publisherS

Amara Projansky & Jason Stern Chief Executive

Amara Projansky

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Brian K. Mahoney chairman

David Dell Upstater is a project of Luminary Media.

ADVERTISING SALES (845) 334-8600 x106 Director Product Development & Sales

Julian Lesser jlesser@luminarymedia.com account executive

Ralph Jenkins rjenkins@luminarymedia.com account executive

Anne Wygal awygal@luminarymedia.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Robert Pina rpina@luminarymedia.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

David Heggie dheggie@luminarymedia.com

ADMINISTRATIVE director of Events & special projects manager

Samantha Liotta samantha@luminarymedia.com OFFICE MANAGER

Phylicia Chartier phylicia@luminarymedia.com bookkeeper

Molly Rausch accounting@luminarymedia.com

PRODUCTION Production MANAGER

Sean Hansen sean@luminarymedia.com pRoduction designers

Linda Codega Nicole Tagliaferro Kerry Tinger

LUMINARY MEDIA 314 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 (845) 334-8600 | fax (845) 334-8610 luminarymedia.com All contents © Luminary Media Inc. 2016 For extended coverage of the upstater lifestyle, join us at upstater.com.

Founded in 2011, Upstater magazine and Upstater. com present the Hudson Valley as a state of mind, and act as a guide for visiting and living in the region.

Our writers, artists, staff members, and featured personalities have hearts, mortgages, and legacies in the Hudson Valley.

CHECK OUT OUR

TEAM LOOK FOR CONTENT BETWEEN ISSUES FROM YOUR FAVORITE CONTRIBUTORS AT upstater.com.

Lindsay Lennon is a freelance writer and editor who lives in a 19th-century farmhouse in Highland with her husband, one-year-old daughter, two cats, and a dog. She has worked for many local publications, and will graduate from Marist College with a master’s in communication in 2017.

@caulme

Anne Pyburn Craig grew up in the Hudson Valley, accompanied by an imaginary friend named “New York City Companion,” who guided her on dream voyages. Today, as a writer, she shares with readers the best her native region has to offer.

Steven Weinberg writes and illustrates children’s books about such topics as dinosaurs, roller coasters, and beards.

His books have won praise from the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly.

Together with his wife, Casey Scieska, he runs the Spruceton Inn, a bed-and-bar in the Catskills, where the couple lives with their dog Waldo.

@jacpfef T. M. Hawley is an editor, writer, writing teacher, and the proprietor of Hawley Word Studio. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed Against the Fires of Hell: The Environmental Disaster of the Gulf War. A two-time Border Collie owner, he lives and works in Austerlitz.

#upstater Tag your post with

#upstater Fen Fenton is a freelance food writer, columnist, and Culinary Institute of America alumnus. He lives in North Haven, Connecticut, where he often kicks back by the fire pit or nerds out with cookbooks at the local library.

and you could see your photo on this page. Send us the Hudson Valley sights that make your days—and your nights.

FOLLOW US

facebook.com/upstater instagram.com/upstater upstater.com WINTER 2016/17

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CARTOON

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SPLIT LIFE

S T O R Y B y K A N D Y H A R R I S / P H O T O G R A P H S B Y L e s S ton e

Revealing a Secret Hamlet B ecca Moore and Randy Makiej are committed to revitalizing their adopted Parksville, a hamlet of the Town of Liberty in Sullivan County. Since 2011, they have been commuting there from their apartment in Long Island City, about two hours away. Moore is a product designer at Perka, a Manhattan start-up, and Makiej is a freelance producer.

Six years ago, the couple considered their next move. “We were looking for something new and exciting,” says Makiej. “We considered either buying a place upstate to renovate and make our creative hub, or traveling. They spent four months camping at 16 national parks. But the dream of owning an house upstate persisted, so when they heard about a four-acre plot of land in Sullivan County, they jumped on it. “It was a beautiful wooded lot on a mountaintop with access rights to the nearby lake, but it needed a road to connect the lots,” says Moore. Markiej oversaw the construction of a road and year-round cabin. Meanwhile, they camped on their property.

“Summer was great,” says Moore. “Fall was nice, and winter was very cold. We were able to stay over in the winter once the cabin was enclosed, and we spent many cold nights huddled in our barely heated cabin while building out the interior.”

These days, Moore and Makiej and their baby daughter, Willa, born last summer, welcome friends and family for weekends at the cabin. “We host a giant Fourth of July party every year with bands, boating, fireworks, and a giant paella,” says Moore. They’ve set up over 20 camping spots, each one nicknamed for their Boxer, Bunker Bockhorn.

Now they are beginning to get involved in the life of Parksville, which consists of two cross streets and about 1,030 people. They’ve bought two turn-of-the-century Main Street storefronts with apartments. “They had been occupied by one family for a few generations and hadn’t ever been rehabbed,” says Makiej.

“They’re in pretty rough shape. We’re just beginning the renovation. It’s already a beautiful time capsule.”

Route 17 bypasses Parksville, so many of its buildings are sitting empty, but now new businesses are springing up. “Parksville

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Above: Becca Moore and Randy Makiej, along with their daughter Willa and their dog, Bunker Bockhorn, at their Parksville house; Left: Moore and Makiej on the subway heading home to Long Island City after work.

turned into a bit of a ghost town,” says Makiej.

“This made it really enticing to us. We saw all these mostly original buildings sitting empty, and we saw tons of potential.”

After rediscovering the Parksville Rail Trail, which winds behind Main Street toward Little Beaverkill Creek, Makiej and Moore have been working with Parksville residents, the Town of Liberty, and Cornell Cooperative Extension to install trailhead signs.

They have big plans for their own Main Street storefronts. “We thought, wouldn’t it be cool if Parksville had a small coffee roastery and place to get a fresh cup of specialty coffee?

In one storefront, we’ll have coffee,” says Makiej. “The other will start off as our studio

and workshop, but we think it will probably evolve into something else.”

Meanwhile, the couple continues traveling upstate and downstate, with Willa in tow.

“We both have flexible work schedules, which allows us to be where we want to be,” says Moore. But they are gravitating more to their Parksville retreat. “It couldn’t be any more different from the city,” says Moore. “On a dark night, we can see the Milky Way—when it’s so dark you can’t see your hand in front of you.

When the moon is full, you can practically read a book by the moonlight. You know you’re outside the city. If we don’t get upstate for over a week we start to feel it, start to get a little anxious and miss it.” u

Dutch’s Spirits at Harvest Homestead Farm is a historic prohibition complex created by mobster Dutch Schultz. You can tour 400 acre sprawling complex of prohibition era bunkers and tunnels. Only 100 miles from NYC. Indoor farmers’ market, too.

WWW.DUTCHSSPIRITS.COM

WILLIAM WALLACE 518 - 3 9 8 - 10 2 2

CONSTRUCTION, INC.

Photo Credit: The Ramsdens

A HUDSON VALLEY VINTAGE RENTAL FIRM & BOUTIQUE RETAILER WEDDING & EVENT DESIGN

Hudson NY • 347 615 5528 northcountryvintage@gmail.com • northcountryvintage.com

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OBJECTIFIED

S T O RY B Y P E T E R D . M A RT I N / I L L U S T R AT I O N S B Y J A S O N C R I N G

Woodcutting Chopping your own firewood makes you a better human being. That first fell swoop could transmogrify anybody into the living embodiment of the love child of Thoreau and Cheryl Strayed. You didn’t move upstate to be some namby-pamby who gets your wood from the supermarket. You did it to get closer to nature. And what better way to get close to nature than to hit it with a frickin’ axe?! Nothing beats the warmth of a fire you make with your own two hands, plus, the friends you have over for brunch will be, like, sooo impressed. So go on. Lace up your lumberjack-grade, handstitched sheepskin boots, throw on your $150 flannel shirt, wax your tasteful beard—or casually sweep back your locks into the world’s most expensive brightly colored hair tie, bearing a

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metal charm of Coco Chanel’s iconic initials—and grab your artisanal Swedish Gränsfors Bruks splitting axe, because Niklas Nikalson didn’t spend over a thousand painstaking hours handcrafting it for it to sit on your shelf. Are you going to have logs delivered to your house? No way! You’re going to hire a team of horses to yank those suckers out of the woods in a paroxysm of Rockwellian splendor. Are you going to leave your wood in a shed? Obviously not! You’re going to stack it into artful yet virile designs representing an owl or a ferocious, yet sensitive, bear. Sheds are not for storing wood! They’re for hand-building ceramics and novel writing (duh). So don ye now your artisanal apparel, and go forth and chop some wood! At least until your back gets tired. And maybe after a nap.

Venn Diagram

experience vs. self

psychology

stacking theory

case studies

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Photo by Eva Deitch

KIM MARKEL Recycled Plastics Artist HOMETOWN: Middletown IN-BETWEEN TOWNS: Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Baltimore LIVES AND WORKS IN: Beacon. “I love this town because everyone’s doing something weird, is really passionate and interested, and is open to different things,” says Markel. “It’s nice to have that as your peer group.”

Curiosity propelled Kim Markel to walk into the Tallix fine art foundry in Beacon one day in 2012. She walked out with a job.

That wasn’t her intention. Markel graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a master’s degree in environmental policy. After graduation, she did environmental public policy work all over the Northeast. Art was something she had studied for fun in college, not for a career. But that visit to Tallix caused her to reconsider.

“It was like Santa’s workshop in there,” Markel recalls. The sparks flew, the smoke billowed, the sandblasters roared, and the air was filled with the sharp smell of hot metal being welded. She fell in love.

Then she fell into a conversation with Tallix founder Dick Polich, who was so impressed with her that he ended the conversation by offering her a job out of the blue as a project manager for sculptors. Like all Tallix employees, she was allowed to use the foundry for her own art projects as well, utilizing whatever materials were on hand. Her friends kept insisting that she post her work online, until finally she started an Instagram account. Her work drew attention, buyers—and guilt.

“I had worked in environmental policy, and yet here I was putting all this new stuff into the world,” she says. “So I scratched what I was doing and started experimenting with other materials.”

She was drawn to old, used plastics like broken eyeglass frames, cafeteria trays, and soda bottles—products that have reached the end of their lives that can’t be further recycled. Plastic is easy to hate: It’s everywhere and doesn’t biodegrade. But for Markel’s purposes, those failings became strengths. And she knew that she could make plastic beautiful.

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She started grinding the plastics with a pine-based bioresin, adding color with pigments or, ideally, using more plastics as tint. “7-Up bottles can give you a really lovely green color,” she says. Her first products were translucent, candy-colored, straight-backed chairs that emit a calming glow when placed in a well-lit room. “I probably should have started with something smaller and easier,” she says, “but I’ve always really liked chairs so I wanted to see if I could make one.”

The process of trying to transform soda bottles into furniture made Markel feel like a mad scientist at first. “I kept asking myself, ‘Am I crazy? Should I be doing this?’” she says. “But no one was telling me that I shouldn’t, so I figured I’d try it.” Markel kept the whole project private at first while she worked out the kinks. “I would build one and then test it out myself to see if it would support weight,” she says. The first few chairs didn’t, which she found out the hard way.

When she finally perfected the design and unveiled her work online, the positive reception was encouraging. But even better, she had figured out how to work with a material that she didn’t have to feel guilty about using, and that she still finds endlessly fascinating because it reminds her of the furnishings in her childhood doll houses and play sets. “Growing up, I was always entranced by them—they seemed a little bit magical,” she said. “They were all made out of a material that looked similar to what I’m using now. I want to convey that same magical feeling with the pieces I’m making, so that people look at the chair and wonder, ‘What is that?’”

Markel has since expanded her product line to include vases, wall mirrors, and hand mirrors, and she is currently finalizing a side table.

She’s also looking for a new studio, as her old studio mates just moved to Los Angeles. “I wish there was some sort of communal maker space in Beacon,” she says. “I’d start one myself, but I think I’d need two of me to pull that off.”—Brian PJ Cronin See more of Kim Markel’s art online

upstater.com/kim-markel-objects

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FOOD

S T O R Y B y A nn e P yburn C raig

Small Is Beautiful A New Wave of Artisanal Food

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all it what you will: artisanal, handmade, gourmet. Across New York City and the Hudson Valley, a new wave of small-batch food producers is melding homegrown with handcrafted, realizing their entrepreneurial dreams with products that inspire and enhance their customers’ home cooking. These small-batch products and the stories of their makers are as individual as fingerprints. Small batch doesn’t mean small time, however. These makers are poised for growth. Keep your eyes peeled and your mouth open.

Clockwise from top left: Small-batch products MacaRoy’s macarons, Ray Bradley’s paprika, Urban Apis’s honey, Sofrito Verde, Crock & Jar’s canned beets, and Verticulture’s Thai basil.

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Photos by: Les Stone, Roy Gumpel, Hillary Harvey, Ethan Harrison, Deborah DeGraffenried, and Pamela Pasco

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Les Stone

Spice Is Nice Sofrito Verde dates all the way back to the 14th century.

Les Stone

At Verde & Company, Louisa Pabon makes Sofrito Verde from the recipe her mother made with a mortar and pestle.

“A great many Caribbean recipes start with making a sofrito,” says Louisa Pabon. “It’s mentioned in a 14th-century cookbook. But there’s only one major brand out there, and a lot of people think that’s what sofrito is.” Sofrito, Spanish for “lightly fried,” is a mix of vegetables, herbs, and spices that is used to add a lively accent to meats, soups, stews, scampis, sautes, dips, and other dishes. Pabon, who grew up on the Lower East Side and moved to the Catskills 27 years ago to raise her family there, knew she could do better by using fresh ingredients and family traditions.

In 2008, she and a friend, Paula Kaufman, started Verde & Co. in the kitchen of an old Sullivan County hotel; in 2012, they established a commercial kitchen of their own in Mountaindale. “Mom made her sofrito with a mortar and pestle,” she says. “We tinkered with the spices; we measure, but it would be hard to duplicate.”

But other people do attempt to duplicate Pabon, keeping her cooking 12 hours a day most days. “We went and did a demo at Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh and sold out,” she says. “So we went back and it just kept going like that. We have a distributor now who takes Sofrito Verde to supermarkets. If this keeps up, I’m going to have to hire help—but we’ll never compromise our methods or ingredients.”

Sofrito Verde can be found in Hannaford, Price Chopper, and ShopRite locations across the region. SofritoVerde.com

Roy Cohen started MacaRoy’s French macarons company after experimenting with his housemate’s Hanukkah gift of a macaron-making kit.

Roy Gumpel

French Twist Roy Cohen didn’t set out to become a macaron maven. But the Israeliborn, Long Island-raised, 2014 SUNY New Paltz grad has always loved to bake, so when one of his housemates received a macaron-making set for Hanukkah and got poor results with it, Cohen took it as a challenge. “He lost interest after the third try, but I was determined,” he recalls. “After weeks, and hundreds of dollars worth of almond flour, I got somewhere. My boss [Josie Eriole of Moxie Cupcake in New Paltz] loved them and wanted them in the bakery. We sold a thousand in four months.”

That was in early 2016; MacaRoy’s macarons are now available in a kaleidoscope of colors (Cohen even produced special rainbow boxes for Pride Day in June) and an ever-evolving variety of seasonal flavors (October’s selection included: Salted Caramel Apple Pie, Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Hazelnut, Cookies & Cream, Strawberry Jam, Lavender Honey, Mocha Espresso, and Chocolate Peanut Butter). In addition to Moxie Cupcake, you can find MacaRoy’s macarons at the farmers’ market at SUNY New Paltz on Thursdays whenever school’s in session, and Cohen will be back at Kingston’s Smorgasburg next spring. “I knew it was a good product, but I’m blown away by the response,” says Cohen. “Next comes my own kitchen and a boutique shop.” Keep an eye on Cohen’s website, MacaRoys may soon be available by mail. MacaRoys.com WINTER 2016/17

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At Crock & Jar, Michaela Hayes cans a crop of beets grown at her farm collective, Rise & Root Farm, in Chester.

Ethan Harrison

in a pickle

Beekeepers Jake and Tara Salerno of Urban Apis check out one of their hives at their backyard in Kingston.

Busy Bees

Deborah DeGraffenried

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Michaela Hayes started her professional life in Manhattan as a commercial photographer, but it wasn’t long before she realized that her primary passion was the food she was shooting. After studying at the French Culinary Institute, she found herself making gallons of chutneys at Danny Meyer’s Indian restaurant Tabla, combining fresh local fruits and Indian spices. Moving later to Gramercy Tavern to take the position of “pickle chef,” she became directly involved in local agricultural sourcing.

Her interest in food activism led her to take a training-for-trainers class with advocacy organization JustFoodNYC, which in turn led to a canning class where she honed in still further on her passion for preservation. “Canning was a perfect intersection of my passion for food, art, and science,” she says.

Further studies followed on the West Coast at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems in Santa Clara, California; in 2010, Hayes moved back to Manhattan with the intention of starting a preservation-based food business. Crock & Jar was born. Six years later, Crock & Jar’s website offers half a dozen varieties of kraut and an encyclopedic amount of food preservation know-how.

Expect many new additions to the product line as Hayes continues to add value to the harvest from Chester-based Rise & Root Farm, where she and three co-farmers just finished their second growing season. “We’re working on hot sauce with all of the farm’s peppers and chili paste again this year,” she says. “And I did make a small batch of pickled okra, but our crop—the first we’ve grown—was small enough that customers at the market kept buying it all, so there wasn’t much excess to preserve—not a bad problem.” CrockandJar.com

Kingston residents Tara Salerno and her husband Jake happened upon the world of backyard beekeeping by chance. “We talked to a neighbor who had bees, and thought, ‘That sounds cool,’” she says. “And the more you learn about bees, the more fascinating they are.” Urban Apis recently added a third hive, so the couple’s bees now forage in their own uptown Kingston garden full of bee-friendly plantings as well as in a neighboring plant nursery.

Salerno makes Urban Apis’s salves, balms, candles, and soap in the family’s kitchen. “I got some basic recipes from the Beekeeping Shop and did a lot of research online,” she says. “Bee people are a collaborative bunch; I’ve become Facebook friends with another beekeeper who also makes natural products.”

Beekeeping is probably the only method of food production that would dovetail with two day jobs—Tara works for the Department of Environmental Protection and Jake for another branch of state government—but Salerno says it works well for them. “It’s still kind of a side hobby,” she says. “It’s fun, and the bees don’t take much time. I’d say they’re more work than a cat, but less than a dog.”

This year was the Salernos’ third year of keeping bees and their second honey harvest. They produced around 30 pounds of the good stuff this year, and sold out by fall, but still have plenty of other hive products in stock. “How much [honey] you get varies,” Salerno notes.

“You always have to leave the bees enough to build out their combs.”

UrbanApis.com

Hillary Harvey

Farming Up

After decades of working behind the scenes at restaurants like Le Cirque, Polo at the Westbury Hotel, Montrachet, and Bouley, Ray Bradley found himself drawn to growing his own food as well as businesses.

For a time, he rented land, but in 2000 he started farming his own 27 acres on Springtown Road in New Paltz, raising pigs, chickens, heirloom organic vegetables, herbs, and honey.

“We make good products,” he says. “I smoke and cure my own bacon, and people love it and buy it constantly. Value-added products are a great way to extend the season and be able to use the whole crop.”

Besides the bacon, Bradley’s pickles, jams, and paprika are a big draw at the Grand Army Square Plaza and 97th Street greenmarkets.

Not content to make do with his market presence and self-serve farm stand, Bradley invites the public to farm dinners, tastings, and festivals on his farm, at which he merges his agricultural and culinary skills.

And he’s just acquired a farm brewer’s license, so next season’s visitors can look forward to homemade craft beverage. “A lot of people are doing it these days,” he says of the beer, “so we’ll see where that goes.”

“As long as people come see us on weekends and have a good time, I’m happy,” says Bradley. “It’s a ton of work but also a ton of fun; everyone who comes here enjoys it. And now I’m doing it for me, not working for someone else.” RayBradleyFarm.com

For Miles Crettien, Verticulture Farms is a union of passions: ag science and food activism.

“I’ve been farming and working with plants and food for the last 15 years—every job has had something to do with food and food production. It’s what I’m passionate about,” he says.

It’s an educated passion: Crettien came to New York City from New England by way of Ithaca and Bard Colleges. “I was considering a doctorate in ethnobotany; then I spent the summer in a Cornell genetics lab and realized I’m way too much of a people person,” he says. “I thrive in community settings; I love making a social impact around food.”

Crettien moved to the city in 2010 with a job teaching urban agriculture at a nonprofit organization; further study led him to fall in love with the concepts of vertical farming and aquaponics (a method of raising fish and veggies so that each nourishes the other in a selfcontained system) and launched Verticulture two years later, using crowdfunding and a microloan.

Now, from the rooftop of the old Pfizer manufacturing building in Brooklyn, Verticulture produces and sells 500 clamshells of basil (Thai and Genovese), spearmint, and arugula every week to markets, co-ops (including Bushwick and Park Slope), and restaurants.

Next comes expansion. “The main purpose of the current farm was to test a model that we could replicate at scale with better materials,” Crettien says. “We have a small, profitable operation, and while running it we’re constantly testing: state-of-the-art LED lights, in-house monitoring system, bed design, filtration. We really bootstrapped this. And we’ll keep on building everything in-house to maximize value.” VerticultureFarms.com u

Above: New Paltz farmer extraordinaire Ray Bradley works one of his fields.

Right: At the top of the former Pfizer manufacturing building in Brooklyn, Verticulture’s Miles Crettien inspects a basil bed irrigated by fish water.

Pamela Pasco

doing It His Way

find these small-batch products at

upstater.com/bite-sized-foodies WINTER 2016/17

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Photo by Roy Gumpel

Jesse Post & Maggie Paquet Bookseller/Publishing Consultant & Florist Hometown: Queens (Post) and Columbus, Ohio (Paquet) Live/work in: Rosendale Moved to HV from: Brooklyn Least Favorite Thing About Upstate: “I don’t have one!”

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ne snowy weekend in November 2013, Jesse Post was relaxing at the house in Rosendale that he had purchased two months earlier with his partner, Maggie Paquet, when he suddenly had an epiphany. He had recently become a consultant after working in publishing in New York City for over a decade, and he had quickly found himself spending more time in Rosendale than he was at the couple’s apartment in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.

As he sat in his library, reading and working, with a fire burning in the woodstove, Post realized “I can just do this,” he recalls. “I can work here. Why would I need anything else?” He was ready to move upstate at that point.

The transition to full-time upstater was more gradual for Paquet, who continued commuting to her full-time job as a designer at Coach while feeding her passions for flower farming, floristry, and event planning. But the more she was in Rosendale, she found, the less she wanted to be in Brooklyn.

“I looked forward to my time here,” she says of her Rosendale home, “and I usually had a sense of dread when I had to leave.”

Meanwhile, the life partners were devising a plan to become business partners as well. Post had a lifelong passion for books and had considered opening a children’s bookstore in Brooklyn, but found the logistics of it too stressful. So the couple’s focus shifted to the current home of Postmark Books, a 19th-century Main Street building that was once Rosendale’s post office (hence, the name). By the time the store opened last May, Paquet had left her job and jumped into the operation full time.

Now, the store is a hybrid business that combines Postmark Books and Paquet’s flower business, Nissi Meadows. Paquet’s floral arrangements beautify the place: Big, fresh bouquets greet customers at every turn. The space is open and bright, its walls adorned with intricately designed antique tin panels painted white.

Post arranges the carefully selected books artfully and deliberately, with quirky section names like “Other Worlds” (stocked with reads by sci-fi and fiction authors like Neil Gaiman and Joe Haldeman), “Inspiration,” where creativity-inspiring works like Why Knot by Philippe Petit and Drawing is Magic by John Hendrix reside, and “Life Stories,” a shelf that includes Outsider in the White House by Bernie Sanders and Wild by Cheryl Strayed. The couple’s beloved 17-year-old Siamese cat, Rudie, is a fixture in the store, and even gets her own “Pick of the Week” on the wall. (One of her recent recommendations was Charles Bukowski’s On Cats.)

Although Post finds that the most frequent concern voiced by New Yorkers who are considering relocating upstate is about socialization, he says that between what Paquet calls “camaraderie amongst the shop owners” on Main Street, other friends from the city who have also moved to the area, and old friends from the city who visit, the couple’s upstate social life has flourished organically.

“We haven’t actually, I think, made too much concerted effort, but everyone’s just naturally more neighborly,” Post says. In fact, he adds, although he and Paquet were friends with their Brooklyn neighbors, it was “not to the degree” to which they have connected with other Rosendale shopkeepers.

Post and Paquet still do business in the city and visit friends there, but are happily ensconced in Rosendale. “I don’t think I’ve had earbuds in for a really long time,” Paquet says. And she seems pretty happy about it.—Lindsay Lennon Read Postmark’s Book Picks for the discerning Upstater

upstater.com/postmark-books

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C A T E R I N G + E V E N T S

Photography: Ira Lippke Studios

elephant FOOD & WINE

Voted best wine bar 2016 by HV Mag 310 Wall Street, Kingston (845) 339-9310 Call after 2pm for reservations

Tues - Sat 5-10pm like us on facebook @elephantfoodandwine

The farm that brings you famous Ronnybrook Eggnog is a now perfect wedding spot.

Globe Hill at Ronnybrook Farm - a rural paradise with 360° views of the Berkshires and Catskill Mts.

Instagram @Globehill weddings@ronnybrook.com WINTER 2016/17

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DRINK

S T O R Y B Y F E N F E N T O N | P H O T O S B Y P A M E L A PA S C O

FizzingUp Long considered an elixir by health enthusiasts, kombucha is now being enjoyed in cocktails, beers, and sodas.

Calmbucha’s Reagan Leonard holds a batch of fresh kombucha.

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Clockwise from top left: Tea at KBBK in Kingston; KBBK co-founder Jessica Childs pours kombucha on tap at the company’s ’buch bar; Some kombucha SCOBY samples at KBBK.

Kombucha is a big deal.

A $400 million industry has been built around the fermented sweet tea, with consumer demand for it growing steadily since the late ’90s.

And the sales projections are remarkable: MarketsandMarkets.com estimates a 25 percent market growth for the drink through 2020.

Kombucha is quenching the thirst of both health enthusiasts and adventurous sippers, who are enjoying its zippy, vinegar tang on its own and within cocktails, beers, and sodas.

One of kombucha’s most passionate spokespeople is Sandor Katz, a self-described “fermentation revivalist,” DIY food activist, and author, most recently, of The Art of Fermentation, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the 2013 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. Katz, who has AIDS, began fermenting foods in 1993 in response to his disease, and believes that fermentation has kept him healthy.

“Once I started making sauerkraut, it just sort of mushroomed,” Katz recalls, “and I started experimenting with every kind of fermented food or beverage that I could learn about, including kombucha.” His health improved so dramatically that Katz became a fermentation nerd, striving to educate others about all the benefits fermented foods and drinks have to offer. Today, he’s considered the father of the modern fermentation movement.

The origin of kombucha, which is known in the industry as ’buch, is as cloudy as the beverage itself. Kombucha can be traced back to about 220 BCE in northeastern China, where it was called the “tea of immortality.” Some food historians believe that kombucha was brought by the tea trade from Asia to Europe in the 18th century.

The origin of the tea’s name is murky too. Some believe it comes from the words kombu, meaning kelp (referring to the gelatinous, live cultures that rise to the drink’s surface, resembling seaweed), and cha, meaning tea. Others claim that kombucha was named for Dr. Kombu, a Korean doctor who served the drink to Japan’s Emperor Inyoko in 414 AD. Ancient Samurai warriors are said to have carried kombucha in their wine skins for energy boosts during battles.

Regardless of its true origin, kombucha has been steadily gaining in popularity in the US since the mid ’90s, when Los Angeles-based GT’s Kombucha, now one of the nation’s largest distributors of kombucha, began selling bottled versions of it.

A slew of Hudson Valley restaurants and bars are now serving kombucha, and trailblazer Kombucha Brooklyn (KBBK), which opened New York City’s first ’buch bar in 2012 at the Union Square store of the health food restaurant chain Dig Inn, has relocated to Route 28 in Kingston.

KBBK was founded back in 2007 by the couple Eric and Jessica Childs. “People are getting tired of food and beverages that do nothing for their body except hurt it,” notes Eric Childs; he wants to offer consumers an alternative solution.

The Childses spent eight years building their kombucha empire inside the old Pfizer factory on Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn. In an effort to bring what was essentially a West Coast phenomenon to the East Coast, they sold wholesale kombucha and ran kombucha-making classes.

Then, in 2015, with a second baby on the way, the Childses moved KBBK to Kingston, choosing the location because it affords them a sizable clientele while at the same time allowing them to remain in easy proximity to the New York City market.

KBBK’s storefront on Route 28 features a small ’buch bar and is stocked with every tool and ingredient—from giant mesh tea balls to blueberry-ginger flavorings—needed to WINTER 2016/17

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Kombucha Cocktails & Mocktails Cava Kombucha Cocktail

From Jar’d Wine Pub, New Paltz Serves 1

Ingredients: 2 oz. Calmbucha’s All That Jazz (jasmine-ginger-flavored kombucha) 6 oz. vodka Splash of AIXA Vino Vermouth Pour the kombucha into a chilled glass. Top the drink with the vodka and a splash of vermouth.

Cherry-Ginger Smash From Ami Fixler at Calmbucha Serves 1

Above: AromaThyme Bistro in Ellenville serves up ’buch by the pint Left: Kombucha is on tap all day at Sissy’s Cafe in Kinston.

Ingredients: 4 oz. Calmbucha’s All That Jazz 2 oz. bourbon Ice 4 cherries 1 Ceylon cinnamon stick 1 orange wheel Muddle cherries into a highball glass. Add ice and bourbon. Add kombucha, stir, and garnish with cinnamon stick and orange wheel.

Kombucha Root Beer Float

from Marcus Giuliano at Aroma Thyme Bistro Serves 2

Ingredients: 1 pint vanilla ice cream 2 12-oz. bottles root beer-flavored kombucha Place two generous scoops of ice cream into a 2-pint glass. Slowly pour kombucha over the ice cream.

Optional: This goes great with a top-off of whipped cream and/or your favorite bourbon. find more fizzy recipes at

upstater.com/kombucha-cocktails 30 upstater

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make kombucha from home and offers Kombucha 101 classes.

Kombucha is also proving popular at Ellenville’s Aroma Thyme Bistro, a greencertified restaurant. Owner and chef Marcus Guiliano started serving kombucha there in 2005. Since then, Guiliano has used the elixir to expand his beverage list by offering kombucha beer and kombucha soda.

“Kombucha was just a natural fit-in,” he says.

In the past, Guiliano served homemade kombucha, but he now offers commercial brands like Katalyst, which is made by the worker-owned Artisan Beverage Coop in Greenfield, Massachusetts. He believes the kombucha trend will not subside anytime soon. To keep up with increasing consumer demand, he is looking into keeping a

selection in a kegerator at the bar so he can offer tasting samples and continue to spread the word about the beverage’s benefits.

Kombucha is a healthy drink option, says Guiliano, because it “has beneficial bacteria like yogurt, but it’s dairy free. It tastes great and there’s more flavor options than ever.”

The drink contains live probiotics, which means it hosts living microorganisms that help aid digestion and bolster the immune system with the “good” bacteria. Kombucha is also known to be great for hangovers, as the drink’s organic acids help detoxify the liver, and it’s packed with electrolytes to pull us out of that achy misery. Kombucha is also chockfull of polysaccharides, or complex carbohydrates, which provide consumers with a source of energy. Not to mention that the tea itself has polyphenols: strong antioxidants to fight disease and illness.

According to Katz, the many health benefits of live-culture fermented foods and beverages all start with the bacteria: “The more diversity of different kinds of fermented foods and beverages, the more diversity of bacteria,” he says. “Really, the point of probiotics, as far as I’m concerned, is restoring biodiversity. And out of biodiversity grows improved immune function, improved digestion, and there’s all of this new evidence of improved mental health.”

Katz bases his claim of kombucha’s mental health benefits on an article published in 2015 on MedicalNewsToday.com, noting

A SCOBY in the Calmbucha kitchen.

scoby doo Basic kombucha only requires five ingredients: water, granulated sugar, typically black or green tea, a tea starter, and a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).

Calmbucha founder Ami Fixler and his partner, Reagan Leonard, in their kombucha shop.

a California Institute of Technology study that linked gut bacteria to the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in sleep, depression, memory, and other neurological processes. In addition, ScienceDaily.com released a University of Baltimore study showing that fermented foods with live probiotics decrease the symptoms of social anxiety.

But although kombucha has several beneficial qualities, Katz notes, it is also sweetened, and therefore should be consumed in moderation, just like any other sugary drink.

Try This at Home

While kombucha is being offered at an ever-growing list of locations in the Hudson Valley, enthusiasts need not travel far to sip the elixir. Fermenterie in Rosendale offers a three-hour maker’s class for $50 per person; at KBBK, Kombucha 101 runs for two hours at $40 per person. In New York City, Brooklyn Brainery in Prospect Heights also offers kombucha-making classes from time to time.

Ami Fixler, owner of Calmbucha in New Paltz, along with his partner, Reagan Leonard, started making kombucha for friends and family to taste about four years ago. When people began raving about Fixler’s chai kombucha recipe, he decided to start his own business. Today, he distributes kegs to 19

restaurants, bars, and other establishments throughout New York State, particularly in the Hudson Valley. “It’s all over the place— people who have never had kombucha tell me [that] they’re hearing about it and drinking it,” he says.

Fixler believes kombucha is appealing because, along with its health benefits, “it’s an alternative to alcohol. Some people don’t necessarily want to get a buzz, but they want something fizzy and fermented like a beer.”

One of Calmbucha’s biggest clients is New Paltz-based Taliaferro Farms CSA, which sells certified organic produce and keeps a kegerator of Calmbucha at its farm stand. Fixler often uses herbs and other seasonal produce from Taliaferro Farms in his kombuchas. This past fall, he made a pumpkin pie kombucha with the farm’s harvest. Currently, though, among Fixler’s long list of funky flavor spins, a bestseller is All That Jazz, a green tea-based kombucha infused with jasmine and organic ginger.

As kombucha evolves into another pop beverage, consumers are stirred with curiosity about other sour-sweet drinks, says Katz. Take tepache, for example: It’s a fermented beverage made from pineapple rind, spices, and Mexican brown sugar.

“My hope,” says Katz, “is that kombucha has opened the door, and the eyes of people, to the possibilities of these lightly fermented, probiotic beverages.” u

A tea starter can be had from some kombucha from your last batch, or it can be some store-bought ’buch. The starter is most important, because it will fight off any unwanted bacteria that can grow on the kombucha during the first few days of fermentation.

The recipe is pretty simple: Boil some tea and dissolve the granulated sugar into it, cool it all down, stir in the tea starter, pour the mixture into a large jar, add the SCOBY, cover the jar, and seal the rim with a tightly woven cloth—to allow airflow and also avoid attracting fruit flies—and let it hang out at room temperature in a dark space.

Some makers also infuse herbs, spices, or other ingredients, such as ginger, into the tea to flavor it.

You can grow the SCOBY yourself by pouring raw, premade kombucha and brewed and cooled sweet tea into a glass jar and sealing it with a tightly woven cloth, letting the mixture ferment for a week or so. But if you don’t want to DIY, there are plenty of online trading posts and websites selling SCOBYs. The whole process, depending on the recipe, the kitchen air, and the flavor you’re trying to get, takes about one to two weeks. As days go by, the liquid will become increasingly acidic, so toward the end of the process, pour out a sip of it every day to taste before removing the SCOBY to make sure the brew is to your liking.

Then bottle and carbonate it.

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Photo by Eva Deitch

Luke Ives Pontifell Artisanal Printer Hometown: New York City Lives/works in: Newburgh Moved to Hudson Valley in: 2004 (the business) and 2015 (the family) What he calls home: The Knoll, a former funeral home in downtown Newburgh, which has an elevator and a pipe organ that his daughter plays.

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he White House will distribute the hand-pressed invitations, and the Vatican Library will shelve the batch of newly hand-bound, leather-covered, limited-edition books: White House Miscellany by Stewart D. McLaurin, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Freedom from Fear. But first, they will be made in a sprawling, dimly lit workshop in a refurbished brick coat factory packed with antique cast-iron presses and leatherworking tools. This is Thornwillow Press, where the written word becomes a collectible treasure.

Thornwillow founder Luke Ives Pontifell has a great wave of hair, wears small glasses, and sports a tie with tiny pirate flags on it. He started the press 32 years ago, at age 16, after taking a course in typesetting and hand printing. He named the press for the farmhouse in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where his family spent weekends away from New York City. The house’s antique furniture made Pontifell appreciate things that last. His father was a writer, his mother a sculptor. “It was a house where people were making things,” he says.

His first project was a family friend’s children’s book, which he printed, sewed, and peddled at local bookstores. He sold enough copies to decide to write, at age 18, to historian Arthur Schlezinger.

“He sent an unpublished manuscript back in the mail and said, ‘Why don’t you print this?’” Pontifell recalls. He printed a few hundred copies, selling several at Rizzoli’s and Scribner’s bookstores. Next, he talked anchorman Walter Cronkite into writing a book.

After college, Pontifell bought a mill in Czechoslovakia that was the world’s largest producer of handmade paper. “Everything they say about doing business in Eastern Europe is true, or worse,” he says. He

had the mill for 14 years. “The first seven years were building it and the second seven years were watching them steal it,” he says.

When Pontifell and his French-Swiss wife Savine, a Ph.D. economist who handles Thornwillow’s business, lost the Czech factory, they refocused on printing. They consolidated their operations in England and Florida by moving the business to Newburgh in 2004, bringing together papermaking, binding, printing, leatherworking, engraving, and other crafts. In 2015, they moved their family to Newburgh too.

Thornwillow’s limited-editions of classics and new material feature writers like John Updike, Lewis Lapham, and former German chancellor Helmut Kohl. “Almost with no exception, the authors never want money,” Pontifell says. “They all want copies of the book.”

The books, priced between $500 and $1,000 apiece, have “soul,” he says. “In the age of disposable and intangible communications—where you literally turn a book on and off with a switch, store memories in a cloud, delete your correspondence—a book that is a beautiful, physical object has a newfound meaning,” he argues. “It preserves ideas, it preserves a culture. Depending on how it’s made, it enhances the relationship between the reader and the word.”

The White House began buying Thornwillow’s books during the George H. W. Bush administration. President Clinton presented several as state gifts; the press printed President Obama’s inaugural address. Today, Thornwillow has 12 employees, and counts among its collectors Harvard University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vassar College, and the British Library. The press also makes invitations, business cards, birth announcements, coasters, and the like. Pontifell has bought three adjoining buildings and opened an institute to preserve hand-printing through fellowships with Harvard and Middlebury College. Next, he plans to open a food market in an old carriage house to further spur Newburgh’s rejuvenation. Everything sold there will be handmade, of course. — Leander Schaerlaeckens Look through Thornwillow’s paperie goods

upstater.com/thornwillow-press

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Let’s meet in

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PHOTO ESSAY

P hotos by R oy gump e l

Fire in the Belly If you really want to get to know what makes a community tick, attend a communal dinner or breakfast at a local firehouse or church, where a place’s most longest-standing and most committed residents tend to gather to discuss and celebrate the good works they do together. Photographer Roy Gumpel, a member of the Woodstock Volunteer Fire Department, shared dinner with fellow firefighters in Woodstock and breakfast at nearby Lake Hill Firehouse this past fall, and recorded a few scenes as he dug into a few plates of food.

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See more of Roy Gumpel’s photos at

upstater.com/fire-belly-gallery WINTER 2016/17

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FILM

S T O R Y & portrait B Y H illary har v e y

Urban Removal Lost Rondout recounts the failure of the urban renewal movement in Kingston.

I

n 1996, writer Lynn Woods bought a house on Hone Street in Kingston. She didn’t know much about her new neighborhood, the Rondout, so when she discovered that it had once been the subject of an immense razing, she was intrigued. Through a series of connections in the community, Woods was introduced to Gene Dauner, who, as a young, amateur photographer making deliveries for his florist father, had created an immense collection of approximately 400 images of 19th-century and pre-Civil War buildings in the Rondout area, just prior to their demolition. “I just could not believe these pictures and that there had been a whole city here,” Woods remembers.

With the opening of the D&H Canal in the 1800s, the Rondout went from a sleepy landing to an industrial shipping hub with successful entrepreneurs and multiple immigrant communities. Drawing upon Dauner’s photo collection and documents in the City of Kingston’s archives, she began researching the thriving working-class neighborhood that the Rondout had been, as well as the general climate of the 1960s national urban renewal effort, a government program designed to redevelop high-density landscapes in a modernist style— something in which the City of Kingston got caught. When

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Woods eventually met filmmaker Stephen Blauweiss, they decided to combine forces and make her research into a film.

Through the microcosm of the Rondout neighborhood, Woods and Blauweiss expose the stark reality of urban renewal and its hopes for attracting large-scale development opportunities in their documentary, Lost Rondout: A Story of Urban Removal. Tracing the history of the Rondout’s rise and fall through Dauner’s photographs (along with those of Daily Freeman photographer Bob Haines and a few others), the film presents a sense of how, ultimately, urban renewal destroyed a community. It’s the displacement story of the people from an integrated and close-knit neighborhood as they were systemically relocated and segregated through a pattern of racial injustice. The film includes an important portrait of Kingston’s first black alderman, Leonard Van Dyke, who worked tirelessly, and ultimately unsuccessfully, to champion civil rights in the Rondout.

Lost Rondout also documents the birth of Kingston’s historic preservation movement. The idea of urban renewal was to get rid of small-scale, organic development and build with an eye toward social engineering. The demolition of Kingston’s original post office in 1971 was a turning point for many in the

Bob Haines

Gene Dauner

Clockwise from left: Demolition under way in the Rondout during Kingston’s federally-funded urban renewal project; Urban renewal left the west side of lower Broadway barren; Rondout resident and writer Lynn Woods stands with filmmaker Stephen Blauweiss beneath the Route 9W overpass, which replaced the Rondout’s formerly thriving downtown. city, a classic theme in urban renewal stories. The oval stone building, erected in 1904, sat on Broadway at Grand Street.

Woods notes that when the film reports that the grand building was replaced by a Jack-in-the-Box, the audience often audibly gasps. But following the loss of the post office, Kingston’s historic preservationists saved many structures from the same fate, including City Hall, a majestic, red brick, late Victorian building on lower Broadway.

The film is something of a community effort. Many of Lost Rondout’s initial audiences could still remember the old neighborhood, and offered stories and archives of their own.

For instance, the daughter of the owner of the former B&F Supermarket, one of the last buildings to stand on the east side of Broadway, supplied a scrapbook of snapshots. With each screening and subsequent contribution from the community, the film grew in detail and scope. In the end, the filmmakers conducted over 40 interviews.

“My sense is that this was a really big trauma,” Woods says.

“And people had never really talked about it. So when we did the interviews, it was kind of cathartic.”

The finished film, now available on DVD, has been updated from its original version. Now included is discussion of an important reversal in the city’s zoning codes, rejecting the 1961 separation of commercial and residential uses that spurred urban renewal in favor of reestablishing mixed-use

buildings, which is credited as a catalyst for the Rondout’s current recovery. The final version of the film includes highquality production of the historic image collection, as well as an original musical score by composer and longtime Rondout resident (and New York City transplant) Peter Wexler. And the film ends optimistically, detailing the city’s revitalization.

“Now is a good time to have made the film,” Woods says, “given the urban renaissance. People want to live in cities and they are seeking that sense of community.”

Lost Rondout recently received national attention when the filmmakers were interviewed by Rosanna Scotto for the Fox5 morning talk show Good Day New York, which Blauweiss says is recognition that the film applies in a broader, national sense.

“After years of working on this project,” says Blauweiss, “I can literally walk the streets of what was here in my mind’s eye.” As much as the film provides a peek into what the Rondout lost, it asks, what can we learn from urban renewal? u

dive into the history of the rondout at

upstater.com/rondout-revisited WINTER 2016/17

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CARTOON

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Photo by Roy Gumpel

Bryan graham & dahlia rissman graham founders, Fruition chocolate HOMETOWNS: Olivebridge (Bryan), Woodstock (Dahlia) WORK IN: Shokan LIVE IN: Kingston MET AT: Onteora High School MET AGAIN: 10 years ago. “We found ourselves in the right place at the right time,” says Graham.

AND NOW: At press time, the couple was expecting their first child. Their parents still live in the Catskills region, meaning babysitters will always be on hand. “We couldn’t be in a better place,” says Graham.

B

ryan Graham grew up in Olivebridge, a Catskills village, with one goal: Get the hell out of there. So he did. Now he’s back, and he’s not going anywhere.

“We’ve lived in New York City and we’ve traveled the country,” he says, referring to himself and his wife, Dahlia Rissman-Graham, who grew up in nearby Woodstock. “But coming back here with an adult perspective after traveling, we realized how special it was here.”

But the couple still underestimated the area in their business plan for Fruition Chocolate, the small-batch, handcrafted, bean-to-bar chocolate company they founded in 2008 in tiny Shokan. “At first we didn’t even have a retail element here,” he says. “Because we thought, ‘Who’s going to pull over on Route 28 for a $10 bar of chocolate?’”

Graham already had experience with sweets; at age 18, he became the pastry chef of the Bear Café in Woodstock, and went on to study at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. But when the couple began talking about starting a chocolate company, they knew they’d have to do something a little crazy to stand out. “That’s when we thought that we’d make our own chocolate using raw cacao beans, not buying chocolate, melting it down, and turning it into confections, which is what 99.99 percent of other chocolatiers do,” he says. “That’s a whole separate art and skill, but we wanted to do it ourselves. Which is insane. And in 2008, no one else was really doing that, so we had to build a miniature chocolate factory in our apartment and figure it out.”

Making bean-to-bar chocolate is complicated and slow, but it also affords an empowering amount of control over the production line, allowing tinkering with the exact amount of cocoa butter, sugar, or vanilla to add. Fruition also creates single-origin chocolate bars, highlighting each variety’s regional differences. “We have two bars that are exactly the same cacao percentage, roast profile, processing—same everything except that in one of them the beans are from Bolivia, and in the other, they’re from Costa Rica,” says Graham. “And when you taste them side by side, they could not be more different.”

Fruition’s Shokan facility is a homey affair, a store and a production facility merged into one. In the storefront, products are displayed, along with free samples and tiny chalkboards listing ingredients. The production process takes place behind the counter, where racks of trays of chocolates cool, tended by workers wearing white lab coats.

Fruition also operates a store in Woodstock, but has won enough awards that customers are making the pilgrimage to the Shokan production facility after all. (In October, Fruition won best-in-show for its Marañón Canyon milk bar, produced from Peruvian cacao beans, at the International Chocolate Awards in London. ) But the Catskills have changed dramatically since Fruition began, and Route 28, between Kingston and Margaretville, offers plenty for foodies, including the source of the Hudson Valley’s artisanal food movement: Bread Alone. “They were our first wholesale customers,” says Graham. “They’ve become great friends and allies.”

There still can be a bit of sticker shock to those not used to paying double-digit dollars for a chocolate bar, but another advantage to having a retail store on-site at a production facility is that someone is always there to talk to customers about what goes into making each bar. “Besides,” Graham says, pointing out the free samples, “once people taste it, they get it.” —Brian PJ Cronin Watch the Chocolate factory in action

upstater.com/fruition-chocolate-factory 40 upstater

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DAYTRIP

S T O R Y B Y josh king | P hotos by J uli e K . H e rman & W indham M ountain R e sort

Winter

LAND Photo: Windham Mountain Resort

For ample ski trails and village charm, Windham is where it’s at.

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F

Photos: Julie K. Herman

or New Yorkers with wheels, winter usually means a Rip Van Winkle-like slumber for the car, which gets a reprieve from weekend jaunts to the beach or the mountains.

But our car gets its heaviest workout in winter.

Every Friday night, from November through March, my family and I brave a sometimes slushy 140-mile run from Greenwich Village to Windham, the “gem of the Catskills,” as the village’s welcome sign reads.

When my wife Amy and I, both native New Englanders, arrived in New York City in 2010, we found ourselves yearning for easily accessible, but challenging, downhill terrain and a steeple-topped village, generously appointed with bars and restaurants—just like the ones nestled along New England byways that we knew as kids.

Windham offered 1,600 vertical feet of skiing, spread over 54 trails covering 285 acres. But could this Catskills town— population 1,700—deliver Currier & Ives tranquility with its winter sports?

We were unsure at first. Like the rest of the Catskills villages, Windham lost its economic vitality in the ’70s, thanks to the three As: air-conditioning, assimilation, and airplanes; plus, in the 1980s and ’90s, the mountain cycled through a series of owners, and was due for a revamp.

But we needed a weekend outlet from our tiny city apartment, so we began sampling Windham’s lodging stock: Albergo Allegria, a B&B in a 1892 Queen Anne Victorian; Hotel Vienna, with its heated pool; and the Winwood Inn on Main Street. Our verdict: Windham wasn’t exactly the Rockies, but it had plenty going for it.

Then, in August 2011, as we looked for a house to buy, Hurricane-turned-Tropical-Storm Irene rolled into town after cutting a swath of devastation along the East Coast, showing little mercy. The Batavia Kill, which courses along Windham’s Main Street, flooded Windham with several feet of brick-red water. Irene inflicted even more severe damage on nearby Prattsville and Hendersonville.

That fall, instead of tourists arriving for the glorious foliage, the National Guard came to patrol Windham’s roads.

Catskills tourism faced an existential threat. Recovery required an all-hands effort. Windham Mountain’s new general manager, Chip Seamans, who had been hired away from a Lake Tahoe resort to upgrade the ski area’s operations, arrived early after seeing a school bus float through Windham on CNN. He began work shoveling mud out of the main lodge.

Thankfully, the 2011-2012 ski season began on schedule, and so did our new life as Windham weekenders. We found a large, new, shingled home with a perfect view of the mountain, constructed as a spec house by local builder Jim Miltenberger.

While other potential buyers were put off by the images on CNN of Irene’s destruction, we were confident in Jim’s craftsmanship and the home’s sturdy concrete foundation to withstand future storms. We closed just before Christmas in 2011, and bought our first season tickets.

Opposite: Snowboarding on Windham Mountain.

From top: Whisper Creek Club Condominium complex; A statue in town honors what Windham does best.

Welcome, Winter

The 2016-17 season is our fifth in our bunk bed-filled lodge, decorated with vintage ski posters, a deer antler chandelier, and rustic décor. Our house is filling again with our friends and their families. Frost is covering the front yard, our firewood rack is stocked anew, the jigsaw puzzles are ready, and untried chili recipes await testing.

The Farmer’s Almanac predicts an abundant winter, and we’re due for one. Mother Nature was stingy last year, dropping only 10 inches of natural snow on Windham, which canceled the kids’ sledding league and kept tour buses away.

But it’s hard to shut down skiing completely at Windham, even without real snowfall. Snowmaking engineers, employing a fleet of compressors and miles of piping, start firing their guns as soon as the temperature dips below freezing, blanketing the main trails with a base of packed powder. The mountain strives to open its lifts for Thanksgiving, but even Christmas week can be fickle. While an early blizzard can transform Main Street into an American version of Switzerland’s St. Moritz, a dry spell leaves the area brown and forlorn.

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From top: Ski trails at Windham Mountain; All Windham Mountains trails start with the letter W.

At Windham, December is for hardy skiers who don’t mind dodging a few rocks. Windham’s peak time is January and February, when all 54 trails and 285 skiable acres are open. But when conditions are peak, the crowds come, so get to the slopes early, before the buses arrive and tourists fill the lifts around 10am. That gives you time to lay down the first tracks and explore the mountain.

Windham Mountain Outfitters stays open until 10:30pm on Fridays to set skiers up with gear. Proprietor Nick Bove, who developed the new—and much-loved—Windham Path walking trail, has earned accolades for nurturing Windham’s reputation for four-season recreation, and he’s always happy to share his knowledge with skiers.

What’s most striking about Windham is its 72,000-square-foot base lodge, which offers the sheen of a Western ski resort with comparatively lower-priced tickets. The lodge offers some amenities that are inconsistent with the Catskills’ spartan character, like a sushi restaurant; Seasons, a full-service bar; and European-trained master boot-fitter Marc Stewart’s emporium, The Boot Lab. Early birds should head to A-lift, the main high-speed quad of the mountain’s 12 lifts, which whisks skiers to Windham’s peak at 3,100 feet in six minutes. Those first, solitary runs unfold over acres of fresh “corduroy” or “hero” snow, courtesy of the overnight snow groomers.

Windham’s trails each begin with the letter W. The intermediate top-to-bottom slopes—Whistler, Wiseacres, and Warpath—snake

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Julie K. Herman

Hitting the Slopes

below A-lift. At G-lift, the trails are World Cup (intermediate), Wanderer (an easy cruiser), and three “black diamond” experts: Why Not, a fast cruiser; steep and narrow Wing’n It, requiring some technical navigation; and Wicked, an exposed trail that can turn icy when the gusts blow away the fresh cover.

B-lift’s slow double chairlift takes skiers to Windham’s “double black diamond” expert terrain. The panorama of the northern Catskills, seen from the top of steep, wide Wolverine, is unmatched. Wheelchair rattles the knees. Wedel has the mountain’s most unnerving sheer drop. Upper Wipeout, off the beaten path and serene, is my favorite.

Its sweat-inducing traverse across the West Peak ridgeline rewards the skier with a powdery Vermont-like descent through a maze of moguls (ski-speak for bumps) and trees.

Julie K. Herman Windham Mountain Resort

Windham Mountain Resort

From top: Adjusting bindings at Windham Mountain Outfitters; Tubing at the Windham Adventure Park is a kids’ favorite.

Kids in Tow

Windham’s Snow School has a package for every age, starting with four-year-olds. The daylong, instructor-led program for kids, with lunch provided, introduces them to skiing via the “magic carpet” lifts.

After graduating from ski school on Whisper Run, kids can be taken to K-lift, a triple chair that moves, tortoise-like, over tiny Willpower slope. Next, there’s D-lift, where What’s Next and White Way careen past stately homes. Finally, C-lift brings skiers to wide Wonderama and its sidekick, Lower Wipeout, which courses alongside exquisite timber chalets. If you’re like me when I first guided my kids down those runs, you won’t want to leave. You’ll think: next year, a seasonal rental; the year after that, a purchase.

Alpine Spa, a new, standalone outpost astride the beginner slope, offers an après-ski respite with yoga classes, steam room, and sauna; its most popular offerings include a 60-minute Deep Tissue Massage ($115) and Alpine Custom Facial ($100).

To sap kids’ remaining stamina and guarantee a good night’s sleep, try Windham Adventure Park, across the road from the mountain, open until 8pm on weekends. It’s warm inside the utilitarian lodge (pro tip: Bring a flask of bourbon to spike your cocoa), so you can comfortably watch the kids hurtling over the five-lane tubing track, ice skating, zipline riding, or racing miniature snow mobiles.

Hitting the Town

When Irene hit, the Catskill Mountain Country Store, on Route 23, found itself buried in mud, but owner Drew Shuster rebuilt and bounced back, even opening a second store in nearby Tannersville. This hitching poststyle place features a creative kitchen run by Shuster’s wife Natasha, a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef. The breakfast menu includes exotic waffle, pancake, French toast, and omelet dishes.

Kids explore the aisles of toys and games and compete in the rubberband-gun shooting gallery out back; adults lose themselves amid the wide assortment of homemade jams, jellies, dressings, and sauces. In our house, we devour the Country Store’s baguettes, doughnuts, and pies, and pour its hot sauce on almost everything.

At the South Street/Route 23 intersection, behind a barn door, is Chicken Run. Its owner, Polish émigré Adam Okonski, a former Manhattan real estate broker, left New York after 9/11 to become a custom home builder, but has made his mark in the Catskills as a purveyor of food and family-style fun. “The town needed a friendly gathering spot with affordable food and home-cooked meals,” he says.

Named for the animated kids’ movie, Chicken Run serves up to 600 meals a night, including freshly cut steaks and dry-rubbed rotisserie chicken. Stay for live local bands, make-your-own-sundaes, or the horseshoe pit, bonfire, and s’mores on the banks of Batavia Kill. Bonus for sports fans: Flat-screen TVs along the walls mean you don’t have to miss any games during your ski weekend.

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Photos: Julie K. Herman

An afternoon in town at Ze Windham Wine Bar.

At Mill Rock, Rocky DiPippa prepares Northern Italian cuisine in an open kitchen.

Ze Windham Wine Bar’s proprietor Cordelia Schreiber (at right; shown with her mother) restored an 1824 house that was nearly destroyed by Irene.

In town, Mill Rock, an open-kitchen Northern Italian-style restaurant, is warmed by its wood-fired oven, which turns out thincrust pies that rival Greenwich Village’s best. Mill Rock fills quickly on weekends, but owner Rocky DiPippa will uncork a bottle of Chianti for you while you wait for a table. Split a pizza for an appetizer, but save room for pasta on a plate so large you’ll have to take some home.

All genuine ski towns have their own brewery. Windham’s is Cave Mountain Brewing Company, named for the mountain’s peak, offering seasonal specialties, plus six standard brews available in a $9 flight: Hefewizen, Belgian White, Sweet Oatmeal Stout, American IPA, West Coast Red, and Blueberry White. Pub fare helps soak up the suds. If you like what you drink, take home a growler of your favorite brew.

Ze Windham Wine Bar opened last season in a restored 1824 house that was nearly obliterated by Irene. The popular aprés-ski spot offers thoughtful wine-and-snacks pairings; proprietor Cordelia Schreiber has decorated the space with maps and items recalling her Swedish and German heritage.

Winwood Inn, on Route 23, got a facelift last season, lending its façade a Rockies allure and warming up its lobby with a cozy new gas fireplace surrounded by comfy plush sofas. Winwood adjoins Rock’n Mexicana, where fajitas sizzle and margaritas flow freely.

A Town for All Seasons

The Catskills teem with hiking trails, and Windham Mountain opened a bike park last year, but Windham Path, a 1.5-mile walking trail on Route 23, offers an easy stroll in all seasons past covered bridges and fields of snow or wildflowers. (In future, the path will expand to link Windham to Hensonville and Maplecrest.)

As you follow Windham Path, breathing unfettered Catskills air, remember that, in April, fly fishing season begins in earnest, and Windham’s two golf courses, Windham Country Club and Christman’s, reopen. Can you make it back?

I find it hard not to battle melancholy as my family and I descend Route 23 on our way back to Manhattan. Once again, I’ll have to give up my Gore-Tex gear for five days at work in a suit and tie. In the meantime, though, I try to savor my final moments in the mountains.

The timeworn motels and shuttered restaurants along the road heading down the mountain remind me of former Catskills resorts— like Grossinger’s and Kutsher’s—whose heydays are immortalized on YouTube but now stand desolate and overgrown. That could have been Windham, but it isn’t. Somehow, thanks to the caring people who live there, and a bit of luck, the village of Windham remains alive and resilient, miraculously saved from both the march of time and Mother Nature’s ravages. u

explore more of windham at

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upstater.com/windham-in-winter

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Photo by Deborah DeGraffenreid

Noé Del Cid Chef / Owner, Peace Nation Café Hometown: Gustatoya El Progresso, Guatemala Lives in: Kingston Favorite Thing About Upstate: “Nature, nature, nature.”

Least Favorite Thing About Upstate: “Slower economy, even though it’s picking up, and limited ‘going out’ experiences.”

At 32, Peace Nation Café owner and head chef Noé Del Cid has accomplished far more than most humans twice his age have—and he has plans to do much, much more. “We’d eventually like to have solar panels and a small garden on the roof, as well as another garden in our backyard and a hydroponic system in our basement,” says the young entrepreneur about the café’s Midtown Kingston location. “Our goal is to be able to grow at least 50 percent of the ingredients we use.”

Opened in early July, the cozy, sunlit eatery has table and counter seating for just under 40, its pale walls adorned with the colorful work of local artists. The specialty here is Central American breakfast, lunch, and dinner fare, with the cuisine of Del Cid’s native Guatemala as the nexus: Signature local-organic offerings include handmade, gluten-free tortillas, chuchitos, tamales (chicken or vegetable), and pupusas. “Papusas are actually a Salvadoran dish,” Del Cid explains.

“I learned how to make them from my mom, who grew up near the border of Guatemala and El Salvador, where there was a lot of crossover between the two cultures.”

Cultural crossover is a core tenet of Peace Nation, Inc., the parent organization and “enlightened lifestyle apparel” company that Del Cid, who is also an artist, founded in 2012 to present live events and T-shirts featuring his sustainability-themed designs. Born in Guatemala City, he moved with his family to New York when he was six, and returned to Guatemala in his early teens before resettling in Westchester in 1990. He and his father (“a great mentor”) co-founded

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the Global Sustainability Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to progressive environmental, scientific/technological, and sociocultural efforts. “Ten percent of the café’s profits go to the foundation,” says the restaurateur, whose establishment uses renewable supplies and packaging items.

Del Cid majored in business marketing at SUNY New Paltz but dropped out to open a bakery in Mamaroneck. Following a three-year run, however, he found himself unfulfilled and shifted his focus back to his apparel line. “After a little while, it hit me: ‘Man, I gotta sell a lot of shirts to do okay with this.’” When he came across the listing for a building at 636 Broadway with street-level space that once housed a diner, another idea landed in the socially conscious mogul’s mind. “I was going to buy it and rent it out, but I said, ‘Wait, I should run the cafe,’” he recalls. Yet, why Kingston’s notoriously challenged Midtown sector, instead of its more economically established Uptown or Rondout district? “A lot of it is because it was more affordable,” says Del Cid, who lives in Midtown with his Polish-American wife, Ewelina, and their baby son, Hudson (shown here). “But there’s also a lot of positivity here, with the Building a Better Broadway initiative and the galleries and other new restaurants that have been opening up. I definitely saw a future.”

And has he seen his global community-bridging philosophy manifested there as well? “Absolutely,” he says. “We get a really interesting crowd. Guatemalan people who miss the food they grew up with come here, even if they don’t care about the organic aspect.

I’ll look out from behind the counter and see a Guatemalan family sitting next to an American family, who are enjoying and sharing their Guatemalan food. It feels good.”—Peter Aaron Learn more about Peace Nation’s vision for sustainability

upstater.com/peace-nation-inc

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AT HOME

story B y M ary A ng e l e s A rmstrong / photos by D e borah D e graff e nr e id

global palate Nirmala Narine’s Spice Shop and Farm

N

Clockwise from top left: Nirmala Narine’s spice shop was created from a former tack house on her Highland farm; The spice shop offers a taste of the world. “All my life I feel I’ve been transported by spices,” she says; Narine’s logo reflects her close relationships with farmers and customers; Narine in her farmhouse kitchen.

She’s been called the “Indiana Jones of spices,” but says, “I’ve done much rougher stuff than him.”

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irmala Narine knows how to wield a machete. It’s just one of the many tools mastered by the South American-born founder of Nirmala’s Kitchen—a company dedicated to the art of “fusing cultures through food.” For the past 13 years, Narine has trekked to the furthest reaches of the planet— climbed the highest trees, hacked through the densest forests, and sailed to the remotest islands—in her quest to bring the world’s vast array of spices to foodies everywhere. With her TV show Nirmala’s Spice World and her many travelogue-cookbooks, Narine explains exactly what to do with those spices: how to store them (in tins, never plastic or glass) and how a particular spice can be used for skin care or healing. She shows how adding a bit of the exotic— Indonesian white pepper or Australian wattleseed, for instance—to seasonal produce gleaned from the farmers’ market, or even one’s own backyard, can transform local ingredients into dishes that are truly out of this world.

Narine does all of this from her 15-acre farm and agroecology center in Highland. The property, once the grounds of the Wishing Well Ranch, includes fields and gardens, a 12,000-square-foot Dutch barn with horse stables, a 5,000-square-foot farmhouse and many outbuildings; all creatively “reincarnated” into the base of operations for a multipronged, thriving local business with global flair. Although her company now reaches around the world, connecting small farmers to diplomats and ancient traditions to modern kitchens, its roots go deep, and are much more humble.

Cloves and Chili Peppers

“All my life I feel I’ve been transported by spices,” Narine says. Her farmhouse kitchen—the heart of her operation—is pristine (in fact, the name Nirmala means “pure”) and very well equipped. There are two sinks, two cooktops, a doublewide refrigerator with French doors, abundant white marble countertops, and seemingly every cooking utensil that’s ever been invented, from the primitive to the cutting edge. Narine’s culinary skills and Ayurvedic training, however, began much more simply.

“Growing up in Guyana, cooking was all about survival,” she says. With no running water or electricity, she learned to read and write, and cook, by oil lamp. Narine helped her mother, a rice farmer, prepare meals over an open fire using their hands and the one, very versatile, utensil they did have: a machete.

“My father was a sugar cane cutter and all his old machetes became our kitchen tools—we killed chickens with them, we cut wood with them, we cut papayas and cleaned fish—that was the tool for us,” she says. “That’s why I’m on TV with a machete all the time.”

Narine’s family, who are of Indian descent, lived in a small village at the edge of the Amazon. Her grandfather, a Hindu pundit and scholar who always kept cloves in his front pocket, lived with them. From a very young age, Narine watched and listened as her grandfather utilized his traditional Ayurvedic training to create healing poultices and remedies out of ingredients culled from the surrounding jungle. Villagers came from all over the region to be treated for a wide range of health issues. Narine was his assistant, grinding spices and blending them exactly as he instructed, always tasting

what she mixed. “As a kid I put everything in my mouth—I tried everything from ancient Indian spices to the barks and leaves brought to us by the neighboring Arawaks,” says Narine, referring to the indigenous people of Guyana.

Her business acumen, and her tendency to roam, were also evident at an early age. In her community, seeds were saved and harvested from one year to the next. “There was nothing like Lowe’s or Home Depot,” she explains. The desire to help buy shoes for her younger brother pushed Narine into entrepreneurship. She cultivated a patch of habanero peppers for seed, dried her harvest, and then packaged the seeds in lotus leaves, tied with banana sucker strings. “I was determined to sell,” she remembers. Narine turned traveling salesgirl and began selling the packets to her neighbors and then the neighboring villages, and then the villages beyond that. Even though they would take years to emerge, the seeds of a savvy entrepreneur with a thriving global business were sown.

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A Global, Local Farm

When she was 10, Narine’s family moved to New York City. A career in marketing sent her on business trips all over the world, but the farther she went, the closer she came to her roots. Wherever Narine traveled she was drawn to local farms and spice plantations, learning new cultivation techniques and tasting flavors unique to the regions she visited. One day, she visited a clove plantation. She climbed a tree and was chewing cloves when the scent reminded her of her grandfather and his front pocket. “The aroma opened up a whole new chapter in my life,” she explains. She realized there was a bigger calling for her.

Narine returned to some of the local farmers she’d befriended and began buying their spices and then packaging them for small markets and cultural events. Nirmala’s Kitchen grew from those first sales through specialty food stores and spread into markets on six continents. With that success came two books and her television show for the Z Living Network, Nirmala’s Spice World, now in its fifth season. Along the way she’s traveled to 167 countries, been bitten by a cottonmouth snake (“a lifetime of yogic breathing saved me,” she says), tasted monkey (no, it didn’t taste like chicken, more like lean pork), and collected stories, recipes, and culinary traditions from almost everyone she’s met along the way.

She purchased the farm in Highland eight years ago. Narine had been living in New York City but she missed farm life. She wanted a more permanent base for her network of “global, local farmers.”

Narine was attracted to the abundance of local produce in the Hudson Valley—the apples, peaches, and Malabar spinach, among other things—and loved its scenic beauty. It was the first—and only— property she looked at in the area. The original farmhouse had been renovated by its former owners to include a two-story living room and kitchen. Large windows overlooked the surrounding pasture and four bedrooms provided ample space. She knew she had found the center for her global operation.

Clockwise from top left: Narine grows her own lavender; Items collected from Narine’s many trips decorate her living room. “When I travel I become one with things,” she says. “I try to not be afraid and I eat everything”; An elegant but simple lunch awaits a guest in Narine’s kitchen.

The soul of cuisine

Over the ensuing years, the farm has evolved to accommodate Narine’s growing vision. Its grounds now produce some of the local ingredients—honey, lavender, and blueberries—that go into Narine’s beauty products, chutneys, and jams. Goats roam the former horse paddocks (she makes soap from their milk) and she grows lotus flowers in the pond. The former tack house has recently been transformed into her newest venture: a spice shop, designed to provide local access to her international, holistic products.

The farm supplies the ingredients for her operation, but her kitchen still provides the spice. It’s where she tinkers with new recipes and leads classes for Nirmala’s Kitchen Cooking School. It’s also where she prepares her Spice Suppers—intimate tasting feasts served to international diplomats and local dignitaries. There is no set menu; the meals she prepares are created from the spices of her guest’s homeland and seasonal, local produce. Regardless of the ingredients, the suppers always have the same result: “When you bring people together around a dinner table they talk about food, they talk about culture, there’s nothing to fight about,” Narine says. “Spices are the soul of every cuisine.” u

See what else nirmala’s cooking up at

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upstater.com/spice-world

ARE YOU READY FOR THE CHALLENGE?

Rock The Ridge Mohonk Preserve

May 6, 2017 Rock The Ridge is a 50-mile endurance challenge and fundraiser set in the beautiful Hudson Valley. The goal for you or your relay team is to walk, hike, or run the course within 24 hours on historic carriage roads through lush forests and magnificent vistas while supporting the Preserve’s mission of saving the land for life.

Register today and Rock The Ridge in May!

Photo by John Aylward

mohonkpreserve.org/rock-the-ridge WINTER 2016/17

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INSTALLATION

story B y H A N N A H P H I L L I P S / photo by R oy G ump e l

art house, in the middle of a field A small crowd gathered after being dropped off in a field by a rickety golf cart at Omi International Art

Center in Ghent in early October. Two men were positioned about six inches above the heads of the group, in what looked like a windowed boxcar tottering on a cement beam. A few people commented on the man sleeping peacefully inside, in full view of the audience, a red blanket pulled up to his neck. He woke up and walked out onto the deck, yawning, dressed in a red jumpsuit. The other participant, a man wearing an orange jumpsuit, stood parallel to him on the structure’s opposite side. And the house slowly spun around on its concrete axis.

ReActor is a piece of performance architecture by Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley that explores connections between balance and privacy in social relationships. Schweder and Shelley met at the

American Academy in Rome in 2005. They have collaborated on a variety of performance art pieces before, but ReActor was their first outdoor exhibition. It was on-site at Omi all summer, and the duo’s last residency for the season took place from October 6 to 10.

Schweder left the deck, moving inside to put away a pot as Shelley sat outside, talking to two women. The structure tipped down like a boat diving into a choppy wave when Schweder moved outside.

Someone asked if they ever feel sick or scared inside the structure.

What happens when it tips too far? Do they ever get bored? How much does it spin?

“This is not doing that much,” Shelley said. “I would say being on a Greyhound bus is a bit more of a trial.” His black-socked feet dangled lazily over the structure’s edge as ReActor kept on spinning in a circular motion. artomi.org u

plan your visit to Omi international art center at

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upstater.com/events-at-omi

Omi International Art Center exhibited performance architecture duo Ward Shelley and Alex Schweder’s first outdoor installation, ReActor, last summer through October 10.

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Photo by Hillary Harvey

ELIZABETH LESSER AUTHOR/SPEAKER/OMEGA INSTITUTE CO-FOUNDER HOMETOWN: Huntington, Long Island LIVES IN: Woodstock WORKS IN: Woodstock and Rhinebeck ALSO LIVED IN: Vermont, New York City, San Francisco, New Lebanon LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT UPSTATE: It doesn’t snow as much as it used to.

Elizabeth Lesser has had the same Woodstock address for more than 30 years. Her daughter’s family lives next door, and she takes daily delight in her grandchildren. But like so many of her peers, the author of New York Times bestseller Broken Open: How Difficult Times Help Us Grow and the gorgeous new memoir Marrow: A Love Story took the long road home.

In true hippie style, she left college to work as a midwife and childbirth educator, move to California, and follow her bliss. But her Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, was “not your run-of-the-mill guru.” Fluent in seven languages, he dreamed of creating a holistic learning center modeled on the ancient libraries of Alexandria.

“Remember, this is a time when words like holistic, yoga, and meditation were still considered flaky,” Lesser says. She and her thenhusband Stephan Rechtschaffen were living in a Berkshires commune when Khan tapped them to run the school he called Omega. Lesser was only 22.

After four years of renting space, the young leaders found a tumbledown Jewish kids’ camp outside Rhinebeck with 140 acres of woods and meadows. Omega had found its home, and so had Lesser.

For the last 25 years, she has “lived and breathed it. I never did anything else.” Her dedication helped build the Omega Institute into a world-renowned learning, spiritual, and arts community that now hosts 30,000 visitors a year.

Meanwhile, Lesser raised her three children and started writing books, first The Seeker’s Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure, then Broken Open. In the wake of its breakout success, she appeared

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on Oprah and national radio with “all my dirty laundry flapping in the breeze for everybody to see. I didn’t mind that much, because we’re all embarrassingly the same,” she explains. “But I felt bad for the family members I kept dragging onto the page, so I said I’d never write a memoir again.”

Then her youngest sister Maggie got sick. Her long-dormant cancer had suddenly spread, and she needed a bone marrow transplant.

Out of three older sisters, Elizabeth was her perfect match. “I didn’t know much about marrow. I knew the word, that it’s the deepest thing inside of you, inside your bones,” she explains. As she researched, she learned that a marrow transplant involves harvesting healthy stem cells from a donor to replace the patient’s own. “If Maggie survived the chemo, two scary things could happen: either my cells would attack her body, or her body would reject them. Those words, attack and reject, sounded a lot like what siblings go through.”

For decades, Lesser’s work at Omega had focused on the mindbody connection; her sisters dubbed her “the woo-woo member of the family.” Was there anything she and Maggie could do to heal their relationship before exchanging blood? Marrow: A Love Story details their attempt at “a soul marrow transplant.” It’s an astonishing book, describing both sisters’ journeys (excerpts from Maggie’s journals appear alongside Elizabeth’s text) and opening out to include all of us, exploring how to be true to ourselves and connect to others in ways that move beyond ingrained patterns of attack and rejection.

Lesser has often been asked why she writes. “I have the mountain climber’s answer: because it is there,” she recently told a rapt audience at Woodstock’s Kleinert-James Arts Center. “For me, the ‘it’ is human life. The dark, difficult, joyous parts of life—that’s my mountain. And I climb it by writing.”—Nina Shengold

Read an exceprt from Elizabeth Lesser’s book

upstater.com/marrow-a-love-story

ring in 2017 with a bang

Multiple Venues Dance Parties Live Music Midnight Ball Drop

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u p t o w n k i n g s t o n n ye . c o m

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ANIMALS

S T O R Y B Y T . M . H A W L E Y | P H O T O s B Y roy gump e l

t

Gone to the Dogs

border collies compete in traditional sheepHERDING TRIALS in old chatham commands the dog to fetch the sheep by circling to the left or right by A cozy crowd of sheepdog enthusiasts enjoyed one of the greatest means of whistles. During the following stages, the dog must subjugate animal shows on Earth this fall, when the Northeast Border Collie its fetching instinct to drive the sheep first away from the handler Association held its 2016 Fall Foliage Championships at the Old and through a gate, and then across the field in front of the handler to Chatham Sheepherding Company on October 14-16. (Each year, the another gate.

NEBCA’s Fall Foliage trial is held within one of its 113 member regions.)

Spectators given to nail biting get their opportunity to indulge in About 30 handlers brought roughly 50 dogs to the championships, their bad habit during the “shed.” Here, the handler and dog separate in which only dogs that had performed well all year were qualified to the sheep into smaller groups and the dog must allow the discarded compete. The course covered 10 to 15 acres on Friday and Saturday, and sheep to wander away while maintaining control over the chosen ewes. about twice that for the “double lift” finals on Sunday. The dogs showed A run ends when the dog and handler convince the sheep to enter a an uncanny ability to balance their sometimes-conflicting instincts to small, gated pen, or time runs out. Cheers and applause ring out as the stalk the sheep and instantly heed the commands of the handlers. handler swings the gate shut.

Each trial begins with the “outrun.” Upon the almost inaudible The “double lift” presents the ultimate challenge in these trials. command of the handler, the dog, quivering with anticipation, takes In it, the dog first fetches one group of sheep, and on hearing the off like a greyhound out of the gate, taking about a minute to sweep a command “look back,” quickly scans the field and takes off to lift and wide arc and arrive behind the small group of sheep about 400 yards fetch a second group. While a few of the dogs in the finals became away from the handler. The moment the sheep begin to move is known hopelessly confused at this point, the top-scoring dogs made it look as the “lift,” and it is a critical moment, as the sheep must move in a easy, the way any champion would. u straight line from their starting point to the handler.

On these first stages of the run, the dog is largely following its instinct to keep the sheep between itself and the handler, who see more sheepherding at upstater.com/see-more-dogs

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GOING NATIVE

S T O R Y B Y K A N D Y H A R R I S / P H O T O B Y K ar e n P e arson

Home Is Where the Hooch Is

ariel schlein makes a life of reviving history in pine plains.

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ine Plains’ past is on display at almost every turn.

“When you look at the street signs, and the last names are the people you see in the diner, that’s really something very special,” says Ariel Schlein.

He’s only lived in the area for a few years but he’s got the local knowledge of an old-timer. That’s because he literally walks over the Dutchess County town’s history every day.

Schlein is co-owner of the distillery Dutch’s Spirits, which is named for Dutch Schultz, an infamous mobster who ran hooch down to New York City in the 1930s. Schultz transformed the 400-acre Harvest Homesteads Farm into a labyrinthine system of underground tunnels and bunkers from which rotating groups of laborers ran a bootlegging production. The distillery was housed inside an old cow barn until it was raided by federal agents in 1932, after which the property was turned back into an actual farm.

In 2008, Schlein and his friend Alex Adams began kicking around the idea of transforming Adams’s old family farm in Pine Plains back into a distillery—this time with the full backing of the law. “Of course,” Schlein says, “it was 2008, and it wasn’t a good time to be throwing around big ideas like that, so we put it on the back burner for a while.

But once it stuck in my craw, I couldn’t really get it out.” Schlein has since applied liberal amounts of elbow grease to the once-dilapidated farm to create Dutch’s Spirits. “It’s a labor of love,” he says of his “reclamation project.”

Schlein, who grew up in Westchester County, met Adams at the University of Chicago. Schlein went on to earn an MBA at Baruch College, then remained in New York City to work in finance for his father for the next decade. He makes no bones about his lack of background in distilling. “I kept doing due diligence, my own research, talking to experts, attending conferences, and just really studying the

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landscape,” he says, getting to know both the distilling business and the property. “It was an American ruin. There was debris. There was a bunkhouse dormitory, and it had been changed so many times over the years,” he says. “People lived in it over the decades after the raid. It really took a lot of vision to see what it could become.”

In 2011, the farm was listed in the New York State and National Register of Historic Places, and the distillery was licensed to make liquor and sell it, thanks to New York State’s 2013 Farm Distillery Law. That year, Schlein quit his job in finance and relocated to Pine Plains to run Dutch’s Spirits with his wife and son in tow.

Schlein arrived in Pine Plains on the heels of the community’s transformation, and Dutch’s Spirits fit right in. Once known for its sprawling horse farms, Pine Plains was seeing new business ventures crop up in town, many of which utilized and updated existing storefronts, including restaurants like the Pine Plains Platter and Stissing House, built in the 1700s, and the Emporium, a general store originally built in 1879. Outside of town, Hammertown Barn sells home furnishings from a renovated horse barn, and the Hudson Company provides reclaimed wood to residences and commercial spaces throughout New York City, including the new Whitney Museum.

Although Schlein recently moved from the farm to nearby Stanfordville, he still spends most of his time at Dutch’s, turning out batches of moonshine, bitters, peach brandy, and DIY bitters-andtonic kits. Dutch’s tasting room, housed in a Dutch gambrel barn, is open all week, and group tours offer glimpses of the old distillery.

Immersed in Dutch’s daily operations and the farm’s history, Schlein has embraced Pine Plains with open arms, and the town has embraced him back. “Pine Plains is this rediscovered jewel,” he says.

“They’re very supportive of new businesses, as long as those new businesses are respectful of where [the community] came from.”

In fact, Schlein has used the town’s mindfully paced development as a guiding principle in developing the farm property. “I’m not doing anything other than carrying on with the efforts that were shut down in 1932,” he says. “I like to think that what I built there is what would’ve been built had Prohibition been repealed before it was found out.” u

PINE PLAINS SNAPSHOTS

P H O T O s B Y J im M a x imowic z

REAL ESTATE

Riding a Rising Tide

PINE PLAINS OFFERS AFFORDABLE HOMES AND A RESURGING DOWNTOWN.

O Pine Plains Grange Hall

Main Street

Stissing House

Pine Plains Emporium

A New Leaf Bookstore

Pine Plains Platter restaurant

Mural as seen from Peck’s Market

nce upon a time, Pine Plains was horse country. Equestrian properties still abound throughout the small, northern Dutchess County town (population 2,473 at the 2010 US Census), complete with acres upon acres of rolling land.

But today, Pine Plains is transforming, with many ranchers in the process of unloading their properties and downsizing. According to Trulia.com, as of late October, properties priced north of $1 million made up about 25 percent of the town’s residential real estate listings.

Meanwhile, most of the houses on the market in downtown Pine Plains are surprisingly affordable, says Robert Morini, branch manager and associate real estate broker at Houlihan Lawrence in Millbrook.

While there aren’t many home buyers looking at the large horse farms that are listed—“We’re talking 20 to 30 barns,” says Morini—and there is still substantial demand for smaller, hobby farms with, say, two to eight barns, as well as for the town’s quaint, mostly 19th-century single-family homes.

Today’s home buyers in Pine Plains are mostly looking to settle there permanently, Morini says, drawn by the fact that houses in town are priced in the “low $100,000s to a halfmillion dollars—that’s what’s for sale.”

Home values in Pine Plains dipped between 30 percent and 35 percent during the recession, and still have not fully appreciated back to their prerecession values, Morini says, even though the market is beginning to look up: Prices strengthened slightly in 2016, and he says he has noticed an increase in the annual number of units sold.

Most of Morini’s clients are Millennials whose first choice is nearby Rhinebeck, Red Hook, or Millbrook, thanks to their thriving downtowns. As a result, he says, Pine Plains has been largely overlooked, and therefore remains more affordable.

And that affordability is drawing new businesses and restaurants to Pine Plains, whose owners are updating its turn-of-thecentury storefronts; in turn, the revitalized town center is drawing more home buyers.

It’s a case of “the rising tide lifting all boats,” says Morini. “There’s great opportunity in Pine Plains.”—Kandy Harris WINTER 2016/17

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ON • THE• MARKET BROUGHT TO YOU

POSTS

BY UPSTATER.COM Find new On-the-Market posts every day at upstater.com B y K a n d y H arris

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t Upstater.com, we cross the line between “love” and “obsessed with” when it comes to real estate—so our On-theMarket posts go live every day. We scour the Internet and drive the streets to bring you the best-of-the-best houses on the market (although “best-of-the-best” is, of course, subjective). Our content runs the gamut, from “Five-Figure Fridays” (great homes under $99,000) to “More Than a Mill.” We also cover handyman specials, easy fixer-uppers, turnkey-move-in-ready homes, weekend escapes, country cottages, and grand estates.

Affordable, Fully Renovated, Sprawling, Forested Private Drool-Worthy Cottage in Ellenville Paradise Near Rhinebeck

Designer Rustic Modern Farmhouse in Hyde Park

11 Pershing Avenue, Ellenville Lawrence O’Toole Realty

1 Knights Way, Rhinebeck Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley

205 East Fallkill Road, Clinton Halter Associates Realty

$164,500

$849,000

$1,695,000

BEDS: 3 / BATHS: 2 / SQUARE FEET: 1,400 LOT SIZE: 1.26 ACRES / TAXES: $5,010

BEDS: 2 / BATHS: 2 / SQUARE FEET: 1,344 LOT SIZE: 3.54 ACRES / TAXES: $7,898

BEDS: NA / BATHS: NA / SQUARE FEET: 4,400 LOT SIZE: .09 ACRES / TAXES: $11,050

This cottage is a true unicorn. It’s affordable, and it has an old backyard barn ready for transformation, over an acre, and both a modern feel and antique charm.

The house dates back to the 1930s and was fully renovated in 2009. The modest front façade belies a roomy interior that accommodates three bedrooms, two full baths, and an open first floor.

The unfussy design verges on Minimalism, but the wooden floors and trim warm it up, and skylights and glass doors bring in natural light.

Its latest update includes a modern kitchen with glass-door cabinetry, a subway tiled backsplash, stainless steel appliances, and a breakfast nook facing sliding glass doors opening onto a patio. The master bedroom—with its own patio access, vaulted ceilings, and full bath—is also on the first floor.

The property borders the Shawangunk Country Club golf course and is close to the Cragsmoor, Sam’s Point, Shawangunk Ridge State Forest, Minnewaska State Forest, and Awosting Reserve. In other words, get ready to do some hiking. In which case, turning that backyard barn into a sauna might be a good idea.

What do you get when you take 119 acres of protected land, add a cottage and two barns, and put it in a completely private location within striking distance of Rhinebeck village?

A picture-perfect Hudson Valley retreat, that’s what. There are three structures on this property. The first is a three-bedroom cottage with plank floors, living room fireplace, high ceilings, and a walk-out basement. The second is a vintage red barn that’s been gutted and transformed into an enormous open space, perfect for an art studio, with a wall of windows facing the woods. Last but not least is a former one-room schoolhouse with a potbelly wood stove that could be a sweet little guest house.

The land is pristine forest with rock formations, streams, trails, and all the peace and quiet one could ever need in a single lifetime. Neighbors include the Omega Institute and the Taconic Parkway, which is just minutes away; the Rhinecliff Amtrak station a short drive away too.

No need to give up civilization for a secluded setting! This 3875-acre property even features stone walls and a pond. Privacy is ensured, but Fallkill Farm is 15 minutes from Rhinebeck and 20 minutes from the Poughkeepsie Metro-North station.

The 1836 farmhouse renovation, designed and completed by Foz Design and Wolcott Builders, features an open interior resplendent in refinished antique wood floors, exposed wood beams, and vaulted ceilings; the living room has a stone fireplace.

The 2,300-square-foot home has four bedrooms on the second floor; the master suite includes a glass shower, soaking tub, double sinks, and hand-painted tiles.

The kitchen’s wall of sliding-glass doors open onto a mahogany deck and illuminate the open dining room/kitchen, frameless wood cabinetry, stone counters, subway tile, double-tiered open shelving, and high-end appliances.

The property’s two antique barns could be renovated into guest accommodations, studio space, or rentals.

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R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

CLASS AND COMFORT

Hidden Treasures Await Within a Columbia County Victorian 7 Rossman Avenue, Hudson Halstead Property

$850,000 BEDS: 3 / BATHS: 3 / SQUARE FEET: 3,345 LOT SIZE: 3.97 ACRES / TAXES: $17,199 This c.1890 Victorian has everything you want in a Hudson Valley home, starting with a swathe of land over an acre in size situated just on the outskirts of the City of Hudson. Completely private, this home is practically off the map thanks to the surrounding trees, which separate it from the road and neighbors.

And beyond those trees, there’s quite a gem awaiting. The gleaming white, 3,700-square-foot home has eight bedrooms and four full baths, which would edge it dangerously close to mansion status if it wasn’t for the listing price. It also has six working fireplaces and original details galore, including pocket doors, windows, and moldings. Natural light abounds in the kitchen, thanks to walls of windows on all sides, and organizational enthusiasts will go nuts over all the cabinetry and drawers, not to mention plenty of counter space.

Back outside, the attached back deck with pergola overlooks a mountain view. Take the party over to the in-ground pool, or play a pick-up game with friends in the basketball half court. Retire your gym membership during part of the year since you won’t need it.

Located within a five-minute walk from Hudson’s Warren Street, where most of the shops and restaurants live. The Amtrak station and waterfront are five minutes by car.

R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

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It’s All in the Details: Vintage Homes Renovated with Impeccable Taste!

P Spacious modern loft like home newly renovated w/over 3500 sq. ft. of living space. Vaulted ceilings, HWF, 2 FP, 5 BR & 3 BA. Plus a library, media room screen, central air, new kitchen, modern lighting fixtures & a 2-car garage. All on 5-AC w/a pond.

RHINEBECK VICTORIAN FARMHOUSE

You will be charmed and delighted with this tastefully styled home. From the rocking chair front porch to the original beams in the gourmet kitchen, this farmhouse welcomes you with original detailing and modern amenities. Conveniently located near Rhinebeck Village, this property enjoys 4.73 acres with mature trees, rock outcroppings, perennial gardens and a seasonal stream. Two-story barn. $499,000

PRIVATE RHINEBECK RENOVATION

Circa 1900 charming cottage transformed into a 2,900-sq ft gracious home with landscaped grounds and gardens on 5 private acres. This 4bedroom home features custom finishes, warm and welcoming rooms plus an in-ground pool with cabana. Garage with guest quarters, stone work and pond complete the picture. All in a wonderful location close to the Village of Rhinebeck and Kingston. $1,190,000

VILLAGE VICTORIAN

Walk to town from this Germantown foursquare home with original architectural details intact.

Stunning ceiling fixtures, woodworking/doors and hardwood floors. Shaded by mature maples and surrounded by manicured lawns, this period home offers 4 bedrooms and 2/5 baths with a walk-up attic and a detached 3-car garage.

Convert part of the garage to a pool house for the in-ground pool. $489,000

6423 MONTGOMERY STREET | RHINEBECK, NY 12572 | 845-876-8588 | ag@valstar.net | NorthernDutchessRealty.com Upstater half pg NorthernDutchessRealty WINTER 2016 HP ad FINAL.indd 1

11/8/16 11:32:05 AM

PAULA REDMOND REAL EST AT E INC OR POR AT ED

• • • RHINEBECK

$899,000

STANFORD

Cosmopolitan Village Living TOWN OF CLINTON

$1,750,000

Victorian Farmhouse

$1,200,000

MILLBROOK

Gracious & Gorgeous TIVOLI

$1,840,000

Butternut Farm $649,000

MILAN

Hudson River & Catskill Mtn. Views

$899,000

Rustic Modern

Millbrook 845.677.0505 · Rhinebeck 845.876.6676

paularedmond.com

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R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

For All MLS Listings: westwoodrealty.com

Brand New “dwell” Style Home in a Lovely Stone Ridge Location Heaven is in the details they say, and they are beautiful in this custom built, one-of-a-kind home. Things like the oak flooring, solid core oak doors, top notch hardware, polished concrete lower level floors, use of indigenous stone, and its “living with nature” look, all make this truly a very special offering. The great room, comprising kitchen, living and dining space in one, features an impressive vaulted ceiling, modern fireplace, and huge windows to bring the outdoors in. Covered entry portico, and a 26x12 deck with glass panel railing provide a wonderful tree house feeling. Main-level has a master suite with a glorious bathroom. The loft-like landing on the second level, suitable for a home office or reading area, is adjacent to two ample bedrooms, plus an additional full bath. The lower level is a terrific getaway space, with large windows, a huge foyer/common room, and a bedroom with windows overlooking the woods and with en-suite bathroom. Heavenly!

4 Bedrooms, 3 1/2 Baths 2,480 Square feet, 6 Acres, adjacent meadow $868,000

Grand Living in a Custom Designed Home Offers the Space You Crave Gracious 2 story entry with stunning curved staircase off the sunny living room which flows into the family room with vaulted ceiling and fireplace. The open plan continues into the breakfast area with French doors to the deck and generous open kitchen. Granite counter tops, 42” refrigerator, ample prep space and walk in pantry.

Large formal dining room for special events. First floor office and media room with private full bath. Second floor master bedroom suite includes Juliet balcony with seasonal views, walk in closet and private bathroom spa. Three more large bedrooms, full bath and convenient second floor laundry area. Enormous closets and storage everywhere. And don’t miss the fully finished lower level— huge rec room and hot tub and 26x14 inground pool ready to be renewed, if you wish. Mechanical systems well maintained with a bonus of 4 zone geo thermal heating. 2-200 amp services to meet all your energy needs. Located in peaceful Country Club Estates close to services, shopping, restaurants, golf. One and a half hours to NYC. Bike to Kingston and Rail Trail.

4 Bedrooms, 5 Baths 3,925 Square feet, 5.2 Acres, adjacent Kingston $699,000

Contact Harris Safier, Principal Broker, 914-388-3351 mobile Experienced professionals serving the Mid-Hudson region since 1977 with integrity, knowledge, and commitment.

WEST HURLEY (845) 679-7321

R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

STONE RIDGE (845) 687-0232

KINGSTON (845) 340-1920

NEW PALTZ (845) 255-9400

WOODSTOCK (845) 679-0006

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A RC H I T E C T D ES IG N ED

One-of-a-kind home with 900 SF great room, ceiling vaulted to 14 ft., 2 MBR suites, separate studio, every comfort & convenience. Dead-end street. Rhinebeck V 5 minutes away. $1,100,000.

81 MAGNIFICENT ACRES

THE PERFECT RETREAT!

surround this 2778 SF Cape w/a 44 ft. LR, 2 FPLS, & first floor MBR. Total privacy & quiet, trails for hiking & four wheeling. Rhbk schools, close to TSP. Remarkable! Priced $250K under assessment @ $449K.

Professionally decorated, filled with light & in perfect condition this 2400 SF home has an open floor plan, oak floors, CA, & a 28 ft. FR. Total privacy & quiet, restored stone walls, scenic & stunning. $429,000.

PA U L H A L L E N B E C K R E A L E S TA T E , I N C .

Where Experience and Hard Work Make a Big Difference SHANGRILA IN RHINEBECK!

3472 SF colonial has exceptional space, style, & charm.

Granite chef’s K, 2 FPLs, wood floors, perfection! Park-like, fenced grounds include heated inground pool & pool house w/a bath. $895,000.

6 3 7 0 M I LL S T R E E T • R H I N E B E C K , N EW YO R K • 1 2 5 7 2 P H O N E : 8 4 5 - 8 7 6 - 1 6 6 0 • FAX : 8 4 5 - 8 7 6 - 5 9 5 1

w w w. h a l l e n b e c k r e a l e s t a t e . c o m • i n f o @ h a l l e n b e c k r e a l e s t a t e . c o m

518-537-4888

HINKEINREALTY.COM

PATR ICIA A. HINKEIN R E A LT Y L L C

GERMANTOWN

550,000

$

Late 1800’s Gingerbread Victorian located on 1.2 acres on a quiet dead-end road in the hamlet of Germantown.

Featuring a double parlor, wide-board floors, light-filled dining room, kitchen with tin ceiling and brick fireplace, half bath on the first floor. Second floor includes master bedroom suite with a one-of-a-kind wood ceiling, bath and dressing room with laundry area, two bedrooms and a full bath. Attached to the home is an additional guest/ income quarters. Catskill Mountain and Hudson River views.

CLERMONT

/ u p s t a t e r.c o m

GERMANTOWN

1744 Farmhouse with Barn/Studio This beautiful Dutch Colonial on 10 acres with wonderful barn/studio complex has four bedrooms and two baths. It features original beamed ceilings, wood floors, wraparound screened porch, formal dining room, spacious country kitchen. Handsome post-and-beam barn with a later addition, which has been converted into a finished studio space with loft. Country setting with Catskill Mountain views.

19 CHURCH AVE, GERMANTOWN, NY

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610,000

$

|

518-537-4888

$

229,000

CLERMONT

Germantown Cottage With Catskill Mountain Views on 1.4 acres. This two bedroom home features a spacious living room with hardwood floors, eat-in kitchen with views of the mountains, family room with fireplace/ pellet stove, walk-out basement with potential for additional living area, two car attached garage and updated mechanicals. Located on a scenic country road, only minutes to the hamlet of Germantown and within easy reach of the Hudson River. |

HINKEIN@GMAIL.COM

195,000

$

Clermont Country Property Just under 20 acres of mostly open land that elevates gently away from a country road. Over 1,100 feet of road frontage, this property located in the southern most portion of Columbia County has numerous possible house sites. A perfect location for a country home, mini-farm, or home business.

Seasonal Catskill Mountain views to the west and long range country views to the south and east.

|

WWW.HINKEINREALTY.COM R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

COBBLESKYLL – Introduced by a gated drive set off a peaceful country lane, this environmentally conscious compound enjoys a blissful setting minutes from the village of Woodstock. Artist’s studio, spectacular gardens, and sparkling pool. Ann Dyal, Associate RE Broker. WEB# MI1157965 | BEARSVILLE | $2,250,000

The Calabi-Picker Residence Lagrangeville, Ny

Secluded on a knoll atop eight acres, Frank Lloyd Wright associate Aaron Resnick’s Mid-Century Modern design is a classic example of organic Usonian architecture – Wright’s term for a new American architecture for the twentieth century. The residence enjoys 360-degree seasonal views of the Hudson River Valley. The 2000 s.f. home is nestled into its setting with minimal changes in elevation and integrates its interior and exterior living areas with the use of open space, glass, stone and wood. The design’s intention is to create a consonant harmony with nature. $965,000.

H.H. HILL REALTY SERVICES, INC. 845.876.8888 • HILLRHINEBECK.COM

6408 MONTGOMERY ST., RHINEBECK, NY 12572

R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

SLEEPY HOLLOW LAKE – Set on 1.2 acres this charming fourbedroom home includes a private dock and views from the lakeside patio. Private community offers 24 hour security, beach, marina, pool, tennis and more. Elizabeth Santander, Real Estate Salesperson. WEB# MI1361914 | ATHENS | $439,000

MORNING MIST FARM – A unique and meticulously renovated and maintained historic Farmhouse and barn. Both set on five acres with mature trees, and naturally bound by stone fences with breathtaking views of the Catskill Mountains. Dina Palin, Real Estate Salesperson. WEB# MI1341006 | GREENVILLE | $349,00 MILLBROOK BROKERAGE 845.677.6161 HOULIHANLAWRENCE.COM

AREA’S MOST POWERFUL LOCAL AND GLOBAL NETWORKS.

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Hudson Valle y

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Ha mptons

ConneCtiCut

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MAGNIFICENT MANOR HOUSE ON INDIAN LAKE

WINDY HILL – 45 ACRES PRIVATE MAGICAL RETREAT

HISTORIC 1890 ARCHITECTURAL GEM

PUTNAM VALLEY, NY | WEB#15507834 4 BR, 6 BATHS | $4,500,000

COPAKE, NEW YORK | WEB#15608023 4 BR, 3 BATH | $2,600,000

HUDSON, NEW YORK | WEB#15580179 8 BR, 4 BATH | $850,000

NANCY FELCETTO 212.381.6554 | ROBIN HOROWITZ 917.348.4866

halstead.com Halstead Hudson Valley, LLC All information is from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, changes in price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice. No representation is made as to the accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate and all information should be confirmed by customer. All rights to content, photographs and graphics reserved to Broker.

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R E A L E S TA T E S E C T ION

A few reasons why you should give us a call…



We believe in old fashioned values and integrity



50 + years combined experience in Columbia County Real Estate



We work hard with our Customers and Clients to make every transaction a positive one



We understand that you are looking for a home that speaks to you and we know that language

FROSTY ACRES FARM HARDENBURGH Own your own mountain. 415+ acre retreat, deep in the middle of the beautiful Millbrook Valley. WEB# PJ1360038 | $3,200,000 Michael James Tellerday | RE Salesperson M: 845.797.6891

PRIVATE LAKE CLINTON Charming Farmhouse quietly rests at the end of a long private road lined with ancient Shagbark hickory trees. WEB# PS1335667 | $1,390,000 Jill L. Rose | RE Salesperson M: 914.204.0124

THE POND VIEW PLEASANT VALLEY This is one of the most picturesque settings, conveniently nestled between Rhinebeck & Millbrook. WEB# PJ1362445 | $1,195,000 Jill L. Rose | RE Salesperson M: 914.204.0124

TRULY MAGICAL SETTING PINE PLAINS The Twin Houses. Beautifully renovated family compound with direct access to Twin Lake.

WEB# PJ1364986 | $994,000 Jill L. Rose | RE Salesperson M: 914.204.0124

WELCOME HOME LAGRANGEVILLE Tucked away, country feel yet conveniently close to all amenities including shopping & dining. WEB# PJ1364726 | $849,900 Katherine Saglibene | RE Associate Broker M: 845.629.5367

MID-CENTURY MODERN LA GRANGE Once home to 100+ sheep, this Mid-Century Modern rests atop 12 acres with stream and pasture. WEB# PJ1366992 | $657,500 Jill L. Rose | RE Salesperson M: 914.204.0124

PRIVATE HILL TOP LA GRANGE Post Modern design with artistic flare and open flexible floor plan. Main floor master suite. 20 minutes to train. WEB# PJ1361912 | $640,000 Nicole Porter | RE Associate Broker M: 845.797.5300

CUSTOM FINISHES CLINTON Peace and tranquility abound in this very well appointed home designed by prominent architect. WEB# PJ1366124 | $475,000 Nicole Porter | RE Associate Broker M: 845.797.5300

Countryliferealestate.com 518Ͳ392Ͳ6600

WE NEED YOUR QUALITY LISTING OF Manufacturing, Retail Multi-Unit Apartment Complexes, Pre-Approved Development, High End Lease -10,000sf - 250,000sf, and Multi Door Warehousing For National, “Rated” Buyers and Tenants

LAGRANGEVILLE BROKERAGE | 1325 ROUTE 55 HOULIHANLAWRENCE.COM

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6 room rentals. Solar panels on roof. So much potential here. Very convenient location right at the center of town where all streets meet. Recently reduced, motivated seller. Offered at $299,500.

Columbia County

REAL ESTATE SPECIALISTS 39 Tory Hill Rd, Hillsdale, NY • RealEstateColumbiaCounty.com

800-290-4235 518-697-9865

Craryville, NY – Four for the price of ONE!!! Two multi units, 2-bay garage w/ apt. & pole barn to store boats etc. on over 2 Acres of land! Asking $379,000

Copake Lake, Copake NY – Lake Rights!!

3 bedrooms, 2+ baths, separate HUGE garage w/heating etc. PLUS storage shack just feet from lake. Asking $190,000

WINTER is better upstate.

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UPSTATER.COM

Copake Falls, NY – 2-story Gambrel home, excellent condition w/ separate apartment for Air B&B rental income.

Park-like private setting.

Asking $309,000

Valatie, NY – Sweet Eyebrow Colonial, Circa 1800's, 2 bedrooms, nifty shed, private parking, large back yard. Close to Albany, walk to town.

Asking $150,000

Don’t miss a (delightfully slower) beat.

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LAST LOOK

S T O R Y B Y S usan P ip e rato | P H O T O B Y Eli z ab e th A lb e rt

L o st in th e w a t er w a ys I

n 2009, after graduating from Sarah Lawrence’s MFA program, three New York City writers and friends—Nicki Pombier Berger, Nicole Haroutunian, and Helen Georgas— were casting about for ideas on what to do next, when Berger found an intriguing item in the May issue of New York Magazine. An article by Chris Bonanos listed objects that had been discovered underwater in New York City.

“Some of the objects were expected (shipwrecks, dead bodies), but some were really evocative and specific: a dinette table sitting upright as if waiting to be set, a grand piano, a fleet of Good Humor ice cream trucks,” recalls Georgas. Berger suggested that they imagine and write the stories behind some of the objects and hold a reading at the end of the summer.

“But as we began to approach more friends—writers, artists, musicians—the interest in the idea began to build,” Georgas says. The website Underwater New York was launched that summer with a party aboard the Frying Pan, a formerly sunken lightship now stationed at Chelsea Piers.

Today the website features objects and phenomena “from waterways in all of New York City’s boroughs, with an occasional upstate or Long Island entry,” says Haroutunian, including many Hudson River items like “two shipwrecks on top of each other, blue crabs, raw sewage, the changing currents.” The scope of projects inspired by and published on the website is both wide and deep: Commuting artist Maxine

Artist Elizabeth Albert photographed 10 waterfronts for her book, Silent Beaches, Untold Stories: New York City’s Forgotten Waterfront , published in September by Damiani. Albert’s digital photograph, “Party Barge in Deep Decline,” shown here, was taken at College Point in Queens.

Henryson’s photographic series, Hudson Everyday, views the changing riverscape through train windows; poet Devin Kelly and writer David Hollander (himself an upstater) both tackled the locomotive and coal car that plummeted from the raised Peekskill drawbridge in 1865; photographer Adrian Kinloch and poet Matthea Harvey each created works inspired by a small plastic toy dubbed “Kangamouse” found at Dead Horse Bay. A birdcage found in the Gowanus Canal inspired artist Alexis Neider to build a delicate golden birdcage that was subsequently floated in Marie Lorenz’s Flow Pool, a body of water constructed inside a Manhattan art space.

As a digital literary and art journal, Underwater New York is attracting national media attention to both its growing list of waterway-inspired writings and artworks and the waterways themselves. Most recently, the website’s coeditors contributed a foreword to artist Elizabeth Albert’s book Silent Beaches, Untold Stories: New York City’s Forgotten Waterfront, in which they write of the myriad waterways comprising “another landscape entirely, every bit as gritty and urgent, as lonely and cluttered, as deadly, singular, and Siren as the city itself.” u

See what else lurks in the waters of NYC

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William Wallace construction, inc.

SUSTAINABLE PASSIVE HOUSE BUILDING NEW HOMES ADDITIONS

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the hudson company

C U S T O M W O O D F LO O R I N G , PA N E L I N G & B E A M S S I N C E 1 9 9 5 MILL:

THEHUDSONCO.COM

2290 ROUTE 199, PINE PLAINS

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S H O W R O O M : 5 E . 2 0 T H S T R E E T, N E W Y O R K

2290 ROUTE 199, PINE PLAINS

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S H O W R O O M : 5 E . 2 0 T H S T R E E T, N E W Y O R K

C U S T O M W O O D F LO O R I N G , PA N E L I N G & B E A M S S I N C E 1 9 9 5 MILL:

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