Typhoid Mary in Saranac Lake Tonight

The Adirondack Center for Writing (ACW) will end its annual Summer Program Series with the one-woman performance of Irish writer and actor Eithne McGuinnes as Typhoid Mary. The event, which will be held at Bluseed Studios in Saranac Lake tonight, August 31 at 7pm is free and open to the public.

About Typhoid Mary (from an AWC Press Release) - In 1907, Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant, who had, ‘worked her way up from nothing’, to cook for New York’s finest, was seized from her place of work by the NY Board of Health. Accused of being the carrier of typhoid fever, Mary was imprisoned without a trial on an island in the middle of the East River. Totally isolated, a mere ten minute ferry ride from her former home in the Bronx, Mary became a scapegoat; sacrificed to quell the rising public fear that a typhoid epidemic could spread beyond the poor. She became a pawn in the larger ambitions of George Soper; health official who was desperate to identify the first human typhoid carrier in North America. Was Mary maligned? Could she, as the authorities insisted, have carried typhoid, if she herself had never been ill with the disease? Here is the captivating story of a brave Irish peasant who fought tooth and nail for her freedom and took on the very powerful state of New York.

Eithne McGuinnes is an Irish writer and actor. Her plays include: Miss Delicious, workshopped at Abbey Theatre, Dublin 2007; Tin Cans, commissioned by Dublin City Council, 2006; Limbo, Dublin Fringe Festival, 2000 and 2001; A Glorious Day, public reading, Abbey Theatre, 2000; and Typhoid Mary, Dublin Fringe Festival, 1997, broadcast on RTE Radio, 1998 and revived in 2004. Published short stories: Feather Bed (Scéalta), Anthology of Irish Women Writers, Telegram Books, 2006. The Boat Train, Something Sensational to Read on the Train, Lemon Soap Press, 2005. Her favorite acting roles include: Mary Mallon, Typhoid Mary, 2004 and 1997; Sr.Clementine, The Magdalene Sisters (Golden Lion 2002), Gracie Tracy, Glenroe (RTE Television). Recent theatre: Meg, The Hostage, Wonderland, Dublin, 2009; Olive, Dirty Dusting, Tivoli Theatre, Dublin; and Earth Mother, Menopause the Musical, 2008. Recent TV: The Roaring Twenties, No Laughing Matter, 2008. Other theatre includes: The House of Bernarda Alba, 2002 and The Marriage of Figaro, 1997, at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Cell, best production, Dublin Theatre Festival 1999 and Dublin Trilogy, Passion Machine – best new play, DTF 1998.

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Hyde Museum Offfers 'A Taste of Art' Wine & Food Event

In conjunction with The Hyde Collection’s exhibition Degas & Music, the Museum (in Glens Falls) is hosting its 7th Annual A Taste of Art … A Wine and Food Experience on Friday, September 18 from 6:30 – 9:30 PM. In keeping with French Impressionist Edgar Degas’ lifelong interest in all things musical, the wine tasting décor will evoke the feeling of a 19th century ‘café concert’ - a popular form of musical entertainment of the period featured in the exhibition.

The evening offerings include a combination of various wines, complementary foods, and lively entertainment. Putnam Wine (Saratoga Springs) and Uncorked (Glens Falls) work together to bring in a wide selection of wines from New York and other US wine producing regions, as well as vintages from Europe, South America, and Australia. The wines are complemented by food samplings from a number of area restaurants including Adirondack Community College’s Culinary Program, The Anvil, Cherry Tomato, The Farmhouse Restaurant, Friends' Lake Inn, Fifty South, GG Mama's, Grist Mill, Luisa's Italian Bistro, and The Sagamore. Davidson Brothers Restaurant and Brewery will host the beer garden in the Museum’s Hoopes Gallery.

Attendees will be entertained by two musical groups – The Dick Caselli Trio and Alambic, as well a silent auction featuring music, food, and art-related items.

Tickets for ‘A Taste of Art’ are $75 per person. Reservations are required and accepted on a first-come, first served basis. Those interested in attending should call 518-792-1761 ext. 23 or email bchildress@hydecollection.org. A special master class is open to Connoisseur Committee members (those contributing an additional $250 to the event). This year’s master class will focus on the wines which would have been familiar to Edgar Degas and his contemporaries. Because of the limited master class space, those wishing to join the Connoisseur Committee should contact the Museum at their earliest convenience.

All proceeds from the wine tasting event will benefit The Hyde Collection’s exhibitions and educational programs through the Museum’s Annual Fund.

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The Last Days of John Brown, August 1859

This year marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown's October 16, 1859 anti-slavery raid, during which he led 19 men in an attack on the Harpers Ferry Armory. He was charged with murder, conspiring with slaves to rebel, and treason against Virginia (West Virginia was not yet a state) and after a week-long trial was sentenced to death in early November. Brown was hanged on December 2nd (John Wilkes Booth snuck in to watch) and his body was afterward carried to North Elba in Essex County to "moulder in his grave."

Over the next several months I'll be offering a series of posts on what John Brown was up to in his last days and why we should care. I'll be tracking upcoming commemoration plans and pointing to resources to learn more about the life of, as historian David S. Reynolds put it, "the man who killed slavery, sparked the Civil War, and seeded Civil Rights."

Although the action itself ended in failure, John Brown's Raid turned out to be the most successful slave revolt in American history - a history filled with slave rebellions. There were more then 250 slave uprisings or attempted uprisings in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries involving ten or more slaves and although there were many others in Virgina, John Brown's Raid was the third major revolt in that state.

An enslaved blacksmith named Gabriel (aided by two white men) led a large revolt in Richmond, Virgina in 1800. Future President and then Governor James Monroe called out the the state militia and Gabriel, along with 26 other slaves, were hanged. One of the bloodiest slave revolts in America, however, also occurred in Virginia when Nat Turner led more then 50 slaves and free blacks on August 21, 1831. The group grew as Turner went from farm to farm freeing slaves (55 whites were killed in the process), but within 48 hours the upraising was suppressed. Turner was hanged, his body was flayed (his skin was cut away), he was beheaded, and then quartered. In the aftermath, some 200 blacks, many with no connection to the revolt, were beaten, tortured, and murdered by white mobs.

John Brown was a part of this struggle against slavery and it was already well-established by 1859. He fought against pro-slavery forces in Bleeding Kansas, the Kansas-Missouri border war over slavery that raged between about 1854 and 1858. Brown was part of the well-organized Abolition movement, but felt that the movement was not doing enough to free the nearly four million slaves being held in America - almost one-third of all people in the South. Brown pushed abolitionist leaders like William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips toward a more radical movement - "These men are all talk. What we need is action - action!" he is reported to have said. According to David Reynolds' 2005 biography, John Brown: Abolitionist, Brown persuaded Wendell Phillips to accept his vision of "a unified nation based on rights for people of all ethnicities."

Brown came to his beliefs in part from his Calvinist upbringing, but in large measure from the pro-slavery attacks such as that on Elijah P. Lovejoy. Lovejoy had been a anti-slavery journalist who had been run-out of St. Louis, Missouri in 1827 for writing against Judge Luke E. Lawless, who refused to charge members of a mob who lynched a free black man. Lovejoy moved to Alton, Illinois, and became editor of the Alton Observer. Three times his printing press was destroyed by pro-slavery mobs, and on November 7, 1837 he was killed defending his forth. After his murder Brown publicly vowed: “Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!”

So it was that he found himself in in a secluded Maryland farm house in August 1859, owned by the heirs of Dr. Booth Kennedy. Brown moved in with his two sons, Owen and Oliver, and Jeremiah Goldsmith Anderson. Anderson had been with him in the border war, when he saw a man murdered on his own doorstep by pro-slavery Missourians. The farm soon became filled with compatriots Brown had been recruiting in the years leading up to the raid. According to David Reynolds, "to help with housekeeping, Brown's daughter Anne and [his son] Oliver's wife, Martha, both sixteen, came from North Elba in late July. Recruits arrived over the next month and a half. Early August saw the arrival of Watson Brown and William and Dauphin Thompson. The others trickled in: Tidd, Stevens, Leeman, Hazlett, Taylor, and Barclay and Edwin Coppoc... Later on, Osborne Perry Anderson, the African American printer... came, as did three other blacks: Dangerfield Newby, Lewis Sheridan Leary, and John A. Copeland."

The two-room farmhouse was hot and crowded. Boxes were used as seats and the men slept on the floor and ate at a makeshift dining table of rough boards. They debated religion, passed around a copy of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason and read the news in the Baltimore Sun, which Brown subscribed to. Brown attended the local Dunker church; the Dunkers were a group of anti-slavery pacifists. Owen Brown spent much of his time befriending workers in Harpers Ferry, just five miles away, and quizzing them about local slaveholders.

Photo: John Brown in about 1856.

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Fabric & Fiber Arts Festival at Adirondack Museum

Spinning, weaving, knitting, quilting, music, and North Country artisans will be featured at the Adirondack Museum's celebration of traditional and contemporary fiber arts, the Adirondack Fabric & Fiber Arts Festival, on Saturday, September 12, 2009. The event will run from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.; admission is included in the price of general museum admission.

The Festival will include demonstrations, textile appraisal, songs and stories about quilts, an artisan marketplace, a "knit-in" as well as the museum's new exhibit, "Common Threads: 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters."

The celebration will also showcase a special display, "Artifacts of Almanzo Wilder's Time," featuring coverlets, linsey-woolseys, and hands-on activities. The presentation is made possible by the Wilder Homestead. The Homestead, located between Malone and Chateaugay, N.Y. was the boyhood home of Almanzo Wilder who was born and raised there from 1857-1875. Interpretation of the site is based on the classic book, Farmer Boy, written by Almanzo's wife Laura Ingalls Wilder, as he described his recollections of his life at the farm to her.

Demonstrations will include the Serendipity Spinners, members of the community-based needlework group Northern Needles, the Adirondack Regional Textile Artist's Association, as well as felt makers and fiber artists Sandy Cirillo and Robin Blakney Carlson.

Two sessions of a musical program will be offered at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Peggy Lynn and Dan Duggan will present "A Stitch in Time Songs Celebrating the Art and Heritage of Quilting." The duo will be joined by museum Curator Hallie Bond.

Peggy Lynn has been featured at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, and in 1996, Peggy was named "Adirondack Woman of the Year." Peggy's song about Mary Brown, the wife of abolitionist John Brown, was selected as the cover piece in Songs for Peace Magazine and was also recorded by the folk duo Magpie on their Sword of the Spirit album. Peggy has co-authored a book with Sandra Weber titled Breaking Trail: Remarkable Women of the Adirondacks and released an album of new ballads about strong women called "Stand a Chance," produced by Dan Duggan. In 2005, the
Adirondack Mountain Club honored Peggy with their Arthur E. Newkirk Education Award.

Dan Duggan is known nationally for his work on hammered dulcimer and flat-picking guitar, and is the recipient of the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. Adding to his array of recordings, Dan has recently released a new album of original airs and waltzes called "Once in a Blue Moon."

Dan and Peggy have released a trio album with Dan Berggren, called "Ten Miles to Saturday Night," and as a duo have released two recordings: "Keeping Christmas," and "A Stitch in Time: Songs Celebrating the Art and Heritage of Quilting." Dan's children's album, "Pieces of Our Life," earned a Parent's Choice Award in 1998. His dulcimer work can also be heard on Paul Simon's CD "You're The One", released in October of 2000.

Museum visitors can discover more about personal antique and collectible fabric pieces with textile appraiser and historian Rabbit Goody of Thistle Hill Weavers, Cherry Valley, N.Y. For a small donation to the Adirondack Museum ($5 is suggested) she will examine vintage textiles and evaluate them for historical importance and value in an "Antiques Roadshow" setting. Appraisals will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

Goody is a nationally recognized textile historian and expert in the identification of historic textiles. She is the founder, owner, and director of Thistle Hill Weavers, a commercial weaving mill that produces reproduction historic textiles for museums, designers, private homeowners, and the film industry. Textiles created by Thistle Hill have appeared in more than thirty major motion pictures. For more about Thistle Hill Weavers, visit http://www.rabbitgoody.com/.

The Fabric and Fiber Festival will feature a "knit-in" in the Visitor Center from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Folklorist and knitter Jill Breit will host the activity. This will be an opportunity for knitters to work on a project in the company of other knitting enthusiasts, and to exchange tips with participants about how to tackle tricky techniques. Knitters are encouraged to bring finished projects to display, as well as works in progress. While the group knits, Jill will talk about popular styles of knitting in the Adirondacks, a resurgence of interest in handspun
yarn, and the role of knitting groups in this traditional fiber art.

Jill Breit is Executive Director of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, an organization devoted to documentation and presentation of folklife in the North Country. She is the curator of the exhibition "Repeat from Here: Knitting in the North Country" and author of an article Knitting It Together: A Case Study of a Sweater.

Regional artisans and crafters will offer handmade and specialty items for
sale in a day-long marketplace at the Adirondack Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival.

Visitors of all ages can use vintage treadle sewing machines to make souvenir balsam sachets in the Mark W. Potter Education Center from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Photo: Album quilt made by Huldah Harrington, near Wevertown, N.Y., 1868.

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Growing Garlic in the Adirondacks

Whenever I mention growing garlic, I encounter people who tell me "you can't grow garlic up here." What? I've grown garlic successfully now for two years (can't say as much for onions and leeks)! After conversations with folks, though, I think I have discovered the answer: timing.

Garlic is something you plant in the fall. Don't try planting it in the spring with your seeds and transplants. You may get lovely stalks, but you won't get bulbs. Once you discover this, you'll find growing garlic is a cinch.

First, find some good bulbs. Around these parts, you probably should stick to hardneck garlic. The stuff you buy in the grocery store is softneck garlic, and it is comprised of a bulb that is clove after clove right down to the center (and it probably comes from China or India). Hardneck, on the other hand, has a hard stem in the center which is surrounded by six to twelve cloves, depending on the variety. You don't get as many cloves, but you get something that is hardier and grows well in our northern climate.

You can purchase garlic from many gardening/seed catalogues. If you place your garlic order in February with your seed order, don't expect it to arrive with your seeds. Any company worth its salt will not ship garlic until the fall.

I discovered, however, that catalogue garlic is really expensive. For a mere fraction of the cost, you can go to a garlic festival (like the one in Sharon Springs, which I just found out is cancelled this year) to purchase bulbs. This is what I did last year. The comparison is amazing. Catalogue garlic: get about 20 cloves, pay over $20. Garlic Fest garlic: get 100 cloves, pay about $8. It's well worth the trip to a festival. The nearest garlic festival I could find this year is probably the Mohawk Valley Garlic and Herb Festival in Mohawk on 12 September, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

Once you have your garlic, wait until October to plant. The later the better. You'll want to prep your bed, removing weeds, adding compost, etc. When the day arrives to plant, you'll want to be ready, so have your bulbs sorted - choose only the largest bulbs and the largest cloves.

It's planting day. Separate the bulbs into individual cloves. Press each one about two inches into your soil (with the pointy end of the clove upwards) and cover with soil. Space them three or so inches apart. When you have the bed filled, cover it with about six inches of grass clippings - good mulch. Last year I used leaves and I don't think they worked as well. For one thing, they decomposed and blew away a lot more readily than grass clippings will.

Do not panic if you start to see green shoots poking out of the mulch before the snow flies. This is normal.

Next spring, the shoots will grow (or continue to grow). Just let them do their thing, making sure the soil stays evenly moist (but don't over-water). Garlic is pretty low maintenance. As summer progresses, the tips of the stalks will loop around a couple of times and develop swellings at the end. These are called garlic scapes and they are quite attractive. They are also edible and are considered a gourmet item, but I I found I couldn't give 'em away this year! No one wanted to even try them. You can steam them and serve with melted butter like asparagus, or you can cook them in a stir fry; I'm sure the internet is full of recipes just waiting to be tried. I've even read you can store scapes in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to three months. If you don't plan to eat them, however, be sure to pinch them off. Otherwise, they will develop into bulbils, tiny bulbs, taking energy away from the main bulb underground. You want the plant to put its energy into the main bulb, so eliminate all competitors.

Sometime around mid-July, the stalks will start to turn brown. When the bottom three or four leaves are brown, but the leaves at the top are still green, it is time to harvest your garlic. You will want to stop watering a few weeks before this - this will make your garlic better for storage.

Pull up your garlic gently and by hand. You want to be careful not to bruise the bulbs, and don't leave them in the sun. Trim the roots, and gently brush off the soil. Then you you need to place them in a well-ventilated, but out of the sun location to cure. Curing takes about two weeks and hardens the bulbs up for storage. After curing you can trim the stems and move the garlic into storage. Hardneck garlic doesn't braid well, thanks to those hard stems. So, instead of long decorative braids, I cut the stems short and stick the bulbs in old onion bags I've scrounged from friends.

Never store your garlic in the fridge. Room temperature is good, or in a root cellar where temps are about 32-35 degrees Fahrenheit. Low humidity is also a plus. A fridge is simply too warm and may cause your garlic to sprout prematurely.

Garlic has a history that stretches back more than 5000 years. Coming to us from central Asia, this bulb is full of good stuff that our bodies need. You don't have to go overboard like me and plant a couple hundred cloves, but everyone with a small garden should at least give it a try.

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Rustic Furniture Fair at the Adirondack Museum

The 22nd Annual Rustic Furniture Fair will be held at the Adirondack Museum on September 5, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on September 6, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. More than fifty-six artisans, including eight new craftsmen, will showcase their original furniture and accessories.

According to the a press release issued by the museum, the Adirondack Museum's Rustic Furniture Fair is recognized as the premier "rustic" show in the country. This showcase of talented artisans includes both traditional and contemporary styles of furniture design. "You will not see mass produced pieces," the museum says.

There will be entertainment all weekend with by the Lime Hollow Boys on Saturday. The band plays country and folk tunes combining bass, guitar, fiddle, and harmonica. Sunday will feature traditional fiddling by Frank Orsini. Orsini's repertoire includes: Celtic music, Elizabethan or early music selections, old-time fiddle tunes from the Southern mountain tradition, New England and Canadian dance tunes, bluegrass and country classics, Cajun, and blues selections, as well as Urban and Western swing standards.

Demonstrations of furniture making, wood carving and painting will take place both days. Rustic furniture artist and painter, Barney Bellinger of Sampson Bog Studio, Mayfield, N.Y., will work on an original piece during the Preview & Benefit and Rustic Furniture Fair. Barney's work will be sold in a silent auction; the winner to be announced at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 6.

All Rustic Fair activities and demonstrations are included in the price of regular museum admission. All museum exhibits will be open.

On Friday, September 4, the museum will host the Rustic Fair Preview Benefit, offering a special chance to meet the rustic artisans and shop for the perfect treasure for home or camp. The museum will be closed to the public on Friday, September 4, 2009 for the Preview. For more information, call (518) 352-7311 ext. 119.

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The Silent War - Fighting Adirondack Invasives

Invasive species are everywhere: birds, bugs, fish, flowers, fungi. It seems that every time you turn around, a new invasive species has sprung up, each with its own inherent threat on the local ecosystem. What we don't hear about, however, is often the solutions that are applied to address the problem.

Take for example the Japanese beetles in this photograph. What do you notice about them that is unusual? The white dots on their thoraxes. I pondered these, wondering if they were parasite eggs, warts or merely beauty marks. The number of dots differs on individual beetles, and some have none at all. Because of this variation, and the fact I had never seen them before, I was leaning towards parasites.

A quick trip to BugGuide.net proved me to be correct. They are indeed eggs, laid by an insect called the Winsome Fly (Istocheta aldrichi). This fly was brought over from Japan fairly recently to try to combat the Japanese beetle invasion. According to the information put out by APHIS (the USDA's ANimal and Plant Health Inspection Service), this biological control is not currently available on a commercial scale.

Japanese beetles were (accidentally) introduced to the United States in 1916, showing up in a nursery in New Jersey. Since then they have moved throughout the eastern US, living now in every state east of the Mississippi except Florida and have now started to move across the river into the West.

Biological controls for Japanese beetles have been around for years, some longer than others. The one most of us are familiar with is milkyspore. This is a bacterium (Bacillus popillae) that attacks the beetle's grubs. Bacillus thuringensis (B.t.) is another bacterium used to control the grubs.

Then there are nematodes. These are microscopic roundworms that actively seek out Japanese beetle grubs in the soil. They come laden with their own bacteria, with which they have a mutualistic relationship. When the nematode finds a grub, it inoculates it with the bacterium. The bacterium then multiplies, providing a food source for the nematode. Between the two of them, the grub has no chance and dies.

Then there are the parasites. Two parasites have been brought over from Japan, where they are natural predators on the beetles. One, Tiphia vernalis, is a wasp that parasitizes the grub. The female wasp digs in the soil to find a grub and lays her egg upon it. The egg hatches, the larvae feeds on the grub, ultimately killing it. The adult wasp mostly eats the honeydew produced by aphids that much on the leaves of maples, cherries, elms and peonies. They have also been seen to nectar on tulip poplar flowers.

The other is Istocheta aldrichi, the Winsome Fly. This fly is a solitary insect. The female lays her eggs primarily on the thorax of female Japanese beetles. When the maggot emerges, it bores into the body of the beetle, where it dines and kills its host. The cycle from egg to fat and happy maggot is short, so as a control measure, this fly is very effect. Female beetles can be killed off before they get a chance to reproduce. The adult flies feed on the nectar of another invasive: Japanese knotweed. Sadly, they have no adverse effect on this plant.

All around us these battles rage. Those of us who keep an eye on the natural world are fortunate when we encounter the action. It's nice to know that Mother Nature can take care of her own...with a little help from us.

To read more about APHIS's Japanese Beetle Control measures, visit:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/pub_phjbeetle04.pdf

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Weekly Adirondack Blogging Round-Up

Adirondack Base Camp: Early Fall Foliage
Along the Ausable: Disc Golf at Whiteface
Herkimer Progressive: Coup Costs More Than Money
Peeling Back the Bark: Smokey’s 65 Years of Vigilance
Adirondack View: The Upper Hudson Bluegrass Fest
ADKCAP: Local Food
MoFYC: Don't Belong To The Party Of No

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This Week's Top Adirondack News Stories

DA Candidate's Mother's Business Burns
Lake George Beach Closed Indefinately
Whiteface Stalls New Snowmaking Plan
Owner of The Point in Limbo
Early Frost Warning Issued
New Law Requires PFDs Nov Thru April
Escaped Inmate Shot, Captured
The Rooftop Highway Resurrection
GOP: Scozzafava Won't Debate Hoffman

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Adirondack Music Scene: Bagpipes and Folk to Rock, Blues, Jam Festival

As summer is winding down the music scene is still hopping. This weekend the big event is the Mountain Music Meltdown. However, there are bunches of good musical events taking place all over — everything from free outdoor concerts to a documentary about the origins of the banjo — starting tonight.

Tonight at LPCA the movie Throw Down your Heart will be shown at 7:30 pm. Banjo player extraordinaire Bela Fleck took a trip through Africa to explore the origins of the banjo. Director Sascha Paladino captured the journey.

Also tonight in Raquette Lake at 7 pm, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen will be performing at St. Williams Church on Long Point. This is only accessible by boat so call (315) 354-4265 to find out how to get there. These two are wonderful musicians who've been performing together for years.

On Friday the 28th there will be a bagpipe and fiddle concert in Keene. This free concert will be held at The Keene Community Center Pavilion starting at 7 pm. Tim Cummings plays the pipes and Pete Sutherland plays the fiddle. Both are extremely accomplished and Keene is very lucky to have them. There will be hotdogs, hamburgers, soda and baked goods for sale starting at 6 pm. For more information about this and upcoming events check out East Branch Friends of The Arts.

So here we are, Saturday's Mountain Music Meltdown day. The festival takes place near Saranac Lake off of Rt. 3 on the way to Bloomingdale. Featuring nine bands, this all-day event is sure to be worth the $25+ it'll cost you to get in. Here are just a few of the acts that are going to be there; the day starts at 11 am with Roy Hurd, and ends with Leon Russell who takes the stage at 8 pm. In between you have Raisinhead and my favorite "not to be missed" act is Joe Costa and his band Kikazaru who will be playing at 2 pm. Joe is a resident of Rainbow Lake. He plays banjo and sings traditional songs with a contemporary flair. You can pick up their excellent CD at Ampersound in Saranac Lake, the only music store left in the Tri-Lakes region. If you buy the CD there not only are you giving yourself great music but you're supporting a local business as well. Also a cool bit of local trivia is that the cover of the CD was created by resident photographer Aaron Hobson.

On Saturday at the Village Green in Jay locals Drew and Annie Sprague are giving a free concert with their friends Suave and Maddy from The Blindspots. It starts at 6:30 pm. Drew is a great guitarist and singer who's been performing in and around the Adirondacks for years. He was with The South Catherine Street Jug Band and is now with The Stoneman Blues Band. Annie plays the violin beautifully and enhances any music project she participates in. This is a JEMS production.

Later, at the Waterhole in Saranac Lake, Mike Suave and The Blindspots ride again. Doors open at 9 pm for cocktails and the show usually starts at 10 pm. You might recognize Mike from The South Catherine Street Jug Band and The Nitecrawlers, both North Country favorites. Their female vocalist Maddy Walsh is a native of Ithaca, NY.

Open Mic at Quackenbush's Long View Wilderness Lodge in Long Lake this Saturday starts around 8-8:30pm. This is a great opportunity to get together with musicians who live way out there and don't usually make it in for the regular open mics in the larger towns.

Other open mic news: the open jam that I speak so highly of at The Shamrock is taking a break for the next two weeks as the Shamrock does some renovating to their kitchen. If all goes well the jam will resume on the 16th of September.


photo: Joe Costa's CD Cover by Aaron Hobson

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Asgaard Dairy Takes National and State Honors

Goat's milk cheeses from Asgaard Dairy of Au Sable Forks collected second place awards in National and New York State competitions earlier this month. Such achievements in the first full year of production took owners Rhonda Butler and David Brunner and cheesemaker Kirsten Sandler by surprise.

At the National Cheese Society annual meeting in Austin, Texas, August 7, the dairy took silver for its goat's milk feta. "It's kind of like the Academy Awards of cheese," said Butler. Last week at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, the placing entry was a fresh chevre with cilantro, hot pepper and garlic—all from the Asgaard garden.

Butler and Brunner, with help from daughter Johanna operate the dairy from the iconic Adirondack farm once owned by artist and political activist Rockwell Kent. They retail their cheeses and a new line of goat's milk soap direct from the farm, at farm markets in Elizabethtown, Keene and Lake Placid, and at natural food markets in Keene, Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. Lake Placid Lodge also features Asgaard's "Whiteface" chevre on its menu.

Looking forward, this year the family plans to add ten more milking goats to their herd of twenty. The sudden success arrives at a bittersweet moment: the family lost one of their original two goats—Kelly (pictured above with Johanna)—this spring.

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GOP vs GOP in Essex County District Attorney Debate Tonight

A debate between candidates in the Essex County District Attorney election will be held tonight at the Elizabethtown-Lewis Central School in Elizabethtown beginning at 6 pm. The race between Kristy Sprague and Julie Garcia has heated up after a failed attempt by some local pols to have Sprague removed from the ballot. Sprague, who is endorsed by the Republican committee, and Garcia, the incumbent who was elected as a Republican in 2005, will square off in the Republican primary September 15th. Garcia has raised thousands more then her opponent, and if she wins, it's likely she'll have both party lines in the November election.

The debate is being sponsored by local media outlets and moderated by the following three men, who are all accepting questions via e-mail. "These journalists are inviting their readers and listeners to suggest questions to them any time before the event, instead of letting people ask or submit questions at the event," according to the media's media release.

Send your questions to:

Lohr McKinstry of the Press Republican (lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com)
John Gereau of Denton Publications (johng@denpubs.com)
Peter Crowley of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise (pcrowley@adirondackdailyenterprise.com)
Chris Morris of Mountain Communications Radio News (chrjmorris@gmail.com)

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Macro Photography: Appreciating The Little Things

I really love macro photography. You need a good lens, you need a good tripod, and you need to be willing to get dirty and wet. But when you get right down to it, you discover some of the most interesting things.

Anyone can take a photo of a landscape, or of Billy with jam on his face. But it takes a special kind of person to get up-close photographs of Mother Nature. This person needs patience and a whole lot of determination.

What I love most about close-up shots of tiny things is that it opens up a whole new world. Take this photo, for example. It's a catmint flower from my garden. Catmint has pale green leaves and a bright aromatic scent. The flowers are small and purple. But until I took this photo and enlarged it on the computer, I had no idea just how beautiful the flowers are. Why, it practically looks like an orchid!

Now that I have a camera available 24/7, I find myself lurking in the gardens, stalking roadside ditches, crawling along the forest floor on my belly - all in search of tiny things to photograph.

Macrophotography can also make identification easier, at least with things like insects. Insects rarely hold still for very long, making field ID difficult. A close-up photograph and enlargement capabilities can tip the scales in the naturalist's favor. And it's a nice alternative to the old naturalist's standby: capture and preserve for later ID. True, there are times when having the specimen on hand is important, but for most of us, a photograph is all we need.

Spiders are another great subject for the close-up photographer. I find that most spiders up close are really rather beautiful. Okay, maybe most of you don't feel this way, but you've got to admit that up close they are, at the very least, interesting. And photographs don't bite, or sting, or jump!

Every naturalist needs a field kit, and in amongst the field guides and rulers, hand lenses and note paper, it should include a camera with close-up capabilities. Get yourself one of these and you won't regret it (once you learn how to use it).

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Odd Outposts in the Forest

In keeping with yesterday’s noontime post on cairns, today a word on other random structures in the woods, what for lack of a better term I’ve come to call hider huts.

People who spend time off-trail in the Adirondacks occasionally stumble across signs that others have walked there before them: old bottles, fire rings, chewing gum wrappers. Maybe a hunter kept watch in that spot years ago or as recently as last fall. A few people I know have also found simple structures in the middle of nowhere, usually on Forest Preserve. Maybe some of these were left by hunters too and used as shelters or blinds. Some are clearly kids’ forts constructed of downed branches. But others have more permanence.

The cabin in this picture is on Blood Hill, within earshot of downtown Saranac Lake traffic. The ground is littered with beer cans and a mildewed old blanket. As hidden huts go, this is one is detailed, with planed floorboards and a glassed door, easily imported because of its proximity to town. Probably just a party spot, but a sturdy one and startling to come across on a bushwhack.

On nearby Dewey Mountain a freshly built cabana, I guess, appeared this spring, walled and camouflaged with logs and balsam. The door was a bedspring woven with evergreen branches. The structure was notable for its size (big enough to garage a truck) and for a David Lynchian sparsity of amenities: a blue tarp, two tubs of Vaseline, and a fire ring beneath a central ceiling hole. It's falling down now.

Last summer between Blood and Dewey there was a bivouac next to a log in the forest where some poor guy (?) was sleeping out nightly. He kept his sleeping bag and clothes in a trash bag and hung other accessories on a tree. He got up early each morning, maybe to go to a job, and I never saw him. He's not there this year.

Here is a Flickr photo album of the Blood Hill and Dewey Mountain huts, shot this summer.

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Best Summer Job Everrrrr!

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joined the rooftop highway road crew this summer, requesting $150 million for the proposed four-lane divided highway north of the Adirondack Park — newly renamed I-98 by supporters who argue that it will prevent the mass migration of jobs and humans away from the region. Environmentalists counter that it will cut off north-south migration routes in and out of the Adirondacks for many other species.

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Adirondack Family Activities: Producer-Only Farmers' Markets

Tis the season for zucchini. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la. It is only the closest of friends that can continue to pass out fresh zucchini like it’s a present rather than penance. Since I am in transition, my own garden has been put on hold and I rely on the kindness of others for my fresh veggies. Zucchini, on the other hand, has become the garden growers “gift with purchase.”

I was just given a secret at a recent trip to the Farmers’ Market that if I de-seed the giant green squash first and then chop, it will retain its sweet flavor without having to attempt to swallow seeds the size of cherry pips.

For my children a trip to the Farmers’ Market is a day out on the town. Not because it is errand day. More so because most open-air markets are designed for just that purpose, for people to stroll, smell and experience where food comes from. Sadly and not surprisingly some kids never know the vast amount of travel some of their vegetables have taken before reaching the table.

Lake Placid’s Green Market Wednesday is one of many “producer-only” farmers’ markets. The requirement is simple. The product is either grown at the vendor’s location or made from scratch. Vendors are not allowed to purchase products to resell to customers. This policy provides a creative atmosphere for local farmers and artisans to explore new possibilities with their produce and merchandise.

For us, we show up with little more than water bottles and pick our lunch like it’s right off the vine. Oh wait, it is! The kids weave around the various booths choosing a piece of fruit here and a piece of cheese there.

August 26 will be the last Wednesday Young and Fun series located at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts that runs in conjunction with this particular outdoor market. This is a Salute to Art Day! Clowns, musicians, face painting and crafts are just part of the family-friendly activities available.

Enjoy the market while the children are entertained. Buy a fresh meal while figuring out whether your zucchini toting neighbor is friend or foe.

For a complete list of all Adirondack and beyond Farmers’ Markets check out www.adirondackharvest.com. For a list of producer-only venues, see below.

Lake Placid Green Market on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Schroon Lake on Mondays from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Plattsburgh Farmers Green Market on Thursdays from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Essex on Sundays from noon – 4:00 p.m.
Saranac Lake on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Queensbury on Mondays from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Glens Falls on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. – noon
Saratoga Springs on Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

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The Meaning of Cairns

Cairns, the rock pyramids that hikers amass to show the way across treeless summits, are turning up in other Adirondack settings — as memorials, as anonymous art, and as markers of unknown significance.

When Howard “Mac” Fish II died on a trail by Lake Placid on a summer day a few years ago, his family piled stones at the place where he fell. Today the mound stands taller than ever, thanks in part to the superstition that it’s bad luck for a hiker to pass a cairn without adding at least a pebble. Every time I set a new stone I remember the Reverend Fish, who married and blessed many friends in his lifetime and still seems to give guidance through this monument. Ancient cultures are said to have used cairns similarly, to mark burial sites.

At the Wild Center’s opening ceremony in Tupper Lake in 2006 the staff asked attendees each to bring a stone to start a cairn at the entrance to its trail system. “So many people helped make the Wild Center a reality and we want everyone to have a part in the monument,” then executive director Betsy Lowe said at the time. The Wild Center’s cairn is atypical in that it includes rocks not just from the immediate area (one came from the Great Wall of China), and the foundation was built by a stonesmith, Mike Donah of Tupper Lake. Most trail cairns are more haphazard and assembled by many hands over many years.

The cute stone statues that popped up beside Route 73 between the Ski Jumps and the Adirondak Loj Road this year are little more than sand paintings, sure to be knocked over by snowplows if they haven’t toppled already.

On a trip around Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula last fall we saw inunnguaqs: cairns in human form for miles along the coastline near the Irish Memorial national historic site. Adirondack granite breaks rounder than the rock up there and is not so well suited to simulating arms and legs, so our cairns are usually pyramidal.

This spring Adirondack Life ran a beautiful photo feature on summit cairns, by aptly named photographer Stewart Cairns, followed shortly by an essay on “Zen and the Art of Cairns” in the July Adirondack Explorer by publisher Tom Woodman. Woodman wonders about the unnamed makers of rock-piles in a field near his Keene home as well as the sculptors whose work guides the hiker: “Even the simple trail-marking cairns embody values worth reflecting on. We place our trust in them and whoever stacked them as we scramble from one to the other. Maybe we can feel a sense of community and solidarity with those who came before us. Surely, if through mistake or mischief, a set of cairns would lead us over a cliff, someone would have set things right by the time we got there. We look out for each other.”

Photograph of children adding stones to the Wild Center cairn in Tupper Lake.

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Northern NY to Host New York State Maple Tour

The Adirondack Maple Producers Association is hosting the September 27-29 New York State Maple Tour with speakers and sugarhouse tours starting from the Lake Placid Horseshow Grounds that will highlight the potentially great economic impact of growing the region's sugaring industry. Cornell University Uihlein Maple Forest Director Michael Farrell has conducted a comprehensive survey of the maple industry in Northern New York and reports that his research shows the potential for the region to grow its maple production resources into a $9 million annual industry. According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, Northern NY has 347 maple farms: 55 producers in Clinton County, 22 in Essex County, 36 in Franklin County, 26 in Jefferson County, 112 in Lewis County, and 96 in St. Lawrence County.

Here is the event's schedule from the full announcement:

Dr. Timothy Perkins, director of the Proctor Maple Research Center at the University of Vermont, Underhill, Vermont, will open the program at a Sunday, September 27th evening reception with a discussion of the latest research on check-valve adapters. Those attending the Sunday evening program will learn about Get Involved with Maple opportunities to lease trees to a maple producer, tap themselves and sell sap to producers, or how to become a full-fledged maple producer. There is a $10 fee for the Sunday reception.

At the Monday, September 28th evening awards banquet, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Patrick Hooker and his staff will offer a report on the work of the new state Maple Task Force. The Maple Task Force was formed in March 2009 to identify the programmatic and regulatory measures needed to enhance the vitality of New York’s maple industry.

On Monday, September 28th, the New York State Maple Tour will visit sugarhouses in the Lake Placid area including:

North Country School, a co-ed boarding and day school for grade 4-9 children – the school operates a wood-fired evaporator to boil 400 buckets’ worth of sap collected by students. The school also leases several thousand taps to Tony Corwin, whose South Meadow Farm Maple Sugarworks is located across the road from the school. The school is currently thinning a newly-acquired forest for Corwin to tap.

Uihlein Maple Forest is a 200-plus acre Sugar Maple Research and Extension Field Station of Cornell University. Farrell will lead a tour of the 4,000-tap sugarbush, a sweet tree plantation, and newly-built education center and community garden. New York State Extension Forester and Cornell Maple Program Director Peter Smallidge will demonstrate proper tree felling and chainsaw safety techniques and a method for controlling beech understory sapling encroachment.

At Heaven Hill Farm, Henry Uihlein’s old sugarhouse has been renovated as a site for teaching local students about syrup production. Tour participants will learn about two research projects supported by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and Cornel University here – the timing of tapping for optimal sap flow and the effects of different thinning treatments on sugar maple tree growth and sap production.

The Tuesday, September 29th sugarhouse tour will travel one hour northeast to the Chazy, NY, area to visit:

Parker Family Maple Farm, a sugaring and dairy farm established in 1889 by Earl Parker’s grandparents. The modern wood sugarhouse has an attached candy kitchen, bottling room and restroom facilities. The Parkers tap between 18,000 and 20,000 trees, some rented from the neighboring WH Miner Agricultural Research Institute. William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute operates a demonstration dairy and equine farm and offers educational programs in dairy and equine management and environmental science. The Parker family has practiced sugarbush thinning for more than 40 years and is a collaborator on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program/Cornell University sugarbush thinning research project.

Homestead Maple is a smaller sugarbush operation established as a hobby business in 1994. Owner David Swan has 225 taps and 25 display buckets and is upgrading toward making maple sugaring a full-time retirement venture. Swan sells most of his syrup from the sugarhouse, but also uses independent representatives in Missouri and Maryland for sales.

Tour options include discounted tickets for a bird’s eye view of the Adirondack Mountains from the top of the Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumps on Monday.

For New York State Maple Tour information and registration, contact the Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau, 49 Parkside Drive, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 518-523-2445 x109. Registration deadline is September 11, 2009. Registration form and details are on the New York State Maple Producers Association website at www.nysmaple.com.

For details on Northern NY maple industry research in regional sugarbushes in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties go to the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org. Maple production and research information is on the Cornell Maple Program website at http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu.

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New General Manager Named For Whiteface Ski Area

Vermontville resident Bruce McCulley, who has worked at the mountain since 1981, has been named the new General Manager for Whiteface Ski Center by the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA). McCulley will replace Jay Rand, who has taken a position as the Executive Director of the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF) as of September 3.

McCulley began his career as a lift operator and snowmaker, and then moved into supervisory and foreman positions before being promoted to Assistant general Manager of the ski center in 1996. McCulley also serves on the Board of Trustees and Leadership Team at the High Peaks Church in Saranac Lake and has served 17 years as a religious services volunteer in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system at Ray Brook.

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Saranac Lake Artists as Art

Photographer and author Phil Gallos has a show of 120 portraits at BluSeed Studios, in Saranac Lake. Known for documenting various aspects of life in his community, Gallos photographed 25 local artists — visual, literary, performing, musical and other — over the past three years. The exhibition includes more than just faces; the artists are depicted at work, or fiddling while the sap boils or floating on their backs in crystal clear water. The show opened Thursday and runs until September 12. If you are curious to see some of the people making art in the area but can't make it to BluSeed, visit Phil's Web site here.

In the 1970s Phil shot some fascinating black & white street scenes in Saranac Lake, seen here. So many buildings, bars and people gone. It's amazing how fast things go from contemporary to historical.

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Adirondack Youth Guides Practice Professionalism

Over the weekend of August 8th and 9th three of the more experienced 4-H Adirondack Youth Guides participated in a special trip offered only to active 4-H Guides who have reached Intermediate level or above. This year’s trip included a 14-mile paddle in canoes from Lower Saranac Lake to Middle Saranac Lake and a hike up Ampersand Mountain. The three youth guides spent several weeks preparing for the trip. They met for three weeks to plan the menu, itinerary, and logistics. They secured the camping permit and then acted as the guides for three adults during the entire journey.

The trip began at the Route 3 DEC Ranger Station on Lower Saranac Lake where participants paddled to Bluff Island for lunch and then through the Saranac River to a campsite on the Northwestern edge of Middle Saranac Lake. The Youth Guides planned and facilitated educational programs on aquatic life, wild bird identification and astronomy and used GPS units in a team building exercise. On the second day the group paddled back to Lower Saranac and then climbed Ampersand Mountain.

The 4-H Youth Guide Program is offered to any young person age 12 and over with an interest in acquiring outdoor skills and experience. For more information contact John Bowe or Martina Yngente at Cornell Cooperative Extension at (518) 668-4881.

Photo: 2009 ADK Youth Guide trip participants; Top - Ben Hoffman, Sabrina Fish and Michaela Dunn; Bottom - John Bowe 4-H Team Leader, Martina Yngente 4-H Community Educator and Tabor Dunn- chaperone.

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'The Adirondack Guide at The Adirondack Museum

Don Williams, storyteller, author, and retired Adirondack guide, will deliver a presentation entitled "Adirondack Guides" at the Adirondack Museum at Blue
Mountain Lake Monday, August 24. Part of the museum's Monday Evening Lecture series, the presentation will be held in the Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge for museum members. Admission is $5.00 for non-members.

William's program will include the portrayal of a historic Adirondack farmer-lumberman-guide, Adirondack humor as found in folk tales, and the introduction of skunk oil, ginseng, and spruce gum, as well as traditional Adirondack skills and tools well known by guides. He will focus on the role played by jack-of-all trade Adirondackers in
opening up and popularizing the rugged North Country with sportsmen and tourists.

Don Williams (above) is known throughout New York State for his Adirondack storytelling, sharing the lives of Adirondack settlers and visitors through oral histories and humorous tales. He has been an Adirondack lecturer and storyteller at schools and organizations throughout the Northeast for more than forty years.

A retired teacher, school principal, and Adirondack guide, Williams has provided presentations about the Adirondacks at elementary and high schools, colleges, libraries, and Elderhostel programs.

Williams is the author of nine books about Adirondack and local history. He has written more than 250 articles for magazines including Adirondack Life and the Journal of Outdoor Education. He served as Adirondack regional editor for New York Sportsman for twenty years. His "Inside the Blueline" column has appeared weekly in four regional newspapers since 1989.

Williams hosted an Adirondack television show in Gloversville and Glens Falls, N.Y. for six years and appears in the PBS documentary, The Adirondacks, produced by WNED Buffalo.

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Epsom Salts and Dry Milk in the Garden

My friend Edna shared with me her secret for growing tomatoes: Epsom salts and dry milk. The mixture is blended together and applied by the teaspoonful to newly transplanted tomato plants, and can be sprinkled on the soil at the base of the plants later in the season.

Hm, thought I. Maybe I should give this a try.

So last year I got out my carton of Epsom salts and my packets of dry milk and commenced planting about 100 tomato plants.

I didn’t have the actual recipe on hand, so I merely dumped Epsom salt and dry milk in each hole before I laid down the plant (I plant my tomatoes on their sides, so roots will form along the buried stem and the upward-growing bit is stronger). Despite my willy-nilly method, the plants did fine and I put up about four gallons of sauce by the end of the summer and gave many fresh tomatoes away to friends.

This year I mixed it up correctly…sort of. And this year my tomatoes are mostly brown and looking rather dead. Some have fruits, although most (all but one) are green and all are very small. The one that is reddening is also rotting.

Now, I don’t blame this on the homemade fertilizer (or my haphazard methods). Nope, the culprit, as far as I’m concerned, is this summer’s weather (and possibly the Late Blight I’ve been hearing about). Cool, damp weather does not make for healthy tomato plants (and I’m really glad I didn’t even attempt peppers this year).

So, the big question is: are the Epsom salts and dry milk actually doing anything beneficial for the plants, or is this recipe an old wives’ tale? I was determined to find out.

As it happens, Epsom salts (so called for the town in England where they were first collected) are actually beneficial to certain soils. A simple salt made up of magnesium and sulfur, Epsom salt is a swell addition if your soil is lacking these nutrients. Soil that is acidic is often depleted in magnesium, so a treatment of Epsom salts can be beneficial. If your soil is really depleted in magnesium, however, you are probably better off giving it a treatment of dolomitic lime. This compound will not only deliver the magnesium, but it will also help balance out the soil’s pH, which should make your plants happier all around (unless they are acid-loving plants like azaleas and blueberries).

The dry milk has been a bit more difficult to trace for relevance in the garden. One presumes this is to add calcium to the soil (at least that’s what Edna’s book claimed). And it seems that tomatoes really do like to have a good bit of calcium, and having plenty of calcium on hand helps prevent blossom end rot. Blossom end rot occurs when the plant’s demand for calcium exceeds the amount of calcium available in the soil. This could be caused by too much, or too little, water (excess rain or drought), not enough calcium in the soil to being with, or even an over-application of nitrogen fertilizers, which cause rapid vegetative growth and an increase in calcium demand. Putting a little dry milk in the planting hole may help, but it isn’t a long-term solution.

In the end, the answer is soil testing. If your soil has a good pH level (around 6.5), and if it is provided with proper drainage and watering, then regular amendments of good compost (and composted manures) may be all you really need. But that soil test is the key.

I’ve been reluctant to get an official soil test done for my veg garden. I bought a home-testing kit when I started my garden and have used it a couple times, but I’m not so sure the results I got were accurate (this year’s tests said I had no potassium, no nitrogen, and no phosphorous at all in my soil). Considering some of the beds still have a sour smell to them, which is usually an indication of acidic soils, I may just bite the bullet and send in my soil samples for real tests.

When you get your soil test results back, you should also get amendment recommendations – suggestions on what you can add to make your soil better and your plants happier. By treating your soil as a whole, you are more likely to have success with your garden than you are with spot treatments of dry milk and Epsom salts.

That said, adding a little dry milk, or a sprinkling of Epsom salt, probably won’t hurt your garden. And if it makes you feel better by doing it, then go for it. Just remember: while a little may be beneficial, more isn’t necessarily better; all things in moderation.

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Exhibit Features Photos of Johnsburg Gathering Places

A new exhibit entitled, 'As Time Goes By': Photos and Stories of the Town of Johnsburg, will open at Tannery Pond Community Center’s Widlund Gallery August 29th. The exhibit will feature a Johnsburg Historical Society collection of photos and stories in the Town of Johnsburg in the past beside contemporary images. Gathering Places such as local bars, rooming houses for skiers in the 30s, the Ski Bowl, businesses and more, will be featured. The exhibit was written and assembled by Sally Heidrich with contributions from others connected to Johnsburg.

The exhibit will open at 6:30 pm, Saturday, August 29th as the first event of an evening of entertainment at Tannery Pond. At 7:30 pm will be a showing of A. R. Gurney’s play, “Love Letters” featuring Nan and Will Clarkson and directed by Lyle Dye. A reception will follow the performance.

Photo: Near T.C. Murphy’s Saw Mill, Wevertown, c. 1944-5. L to R: Tommy Smith, Bert Stevens, Kenneth Waddell, Foster Monroe (U.S. Army) and Mott Liddle. Photo courtesy of Mary Murphy.

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White Baneberry: The Eyes Have It

Have you ever walked through the woods and thought something was watching you? You turn around, scanning the forest for eyes, and there they are! Short red stalks at the top of a green stem, each tipped with a white eyeball dotted with a small black pupil! Is it an alien from outer space? No, but you have discovered the fruit of White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda), also known as Doll’s Eyes (and White Cohosh). A member of the buttercup family, white baneberry is closely related to the genus Aconite, which includes wolfsbane and monkshood among its species.

These are very toxic plants, and likewise so is white baneberry. In fact, if you think about it, the very name baneberry indicates that you should not eat it: bane = murderer, poison, death, woe, a source of harm or ruin. Kind of makes you think twice, eh? The whole plant is toxic (although the berries are considered the most poisonous), laced with cardiogenic toxins that are described as having a sedative effect on the heart muscles. If one decides to snack on it, one can expect to suffer cardiac arrest and death.

Birds, on the other hand, can eat this fruit with impunity, and a good thing, too, for they are the primary distributors of its seeds. And thanks to their efforts, this plant is fairly common throughout the eastern United States. You can find it growing in areas with moist, rich soil, favoring north-facing slopes and ravines. Earlier in the season it sports puffy white flowers that are fragrant and attractive, but come early fall, the plant disappears from sight and goes dormant until the following spring.

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NCPR To Host A Talk On The Future of Journalism Monday

National Public Radio president Vivian Schiller will be in Saranac Lake on Monday to appear with North Country Public Radio's Ellen Rocco. The subject will be "public radio and the future of journalism," according to Brian Mann who will also take part. "Schiller created the New York Times on-line service, so her expertise straddles the traditional-new media border that we've been discussing," Mann wrote in an e-mail yesterday referring at least in part to the discussions here at Adirondack Almanack over heavily discussed posts last Monday and this past Monday.

The hour-long talk will take place at the Saranac Lake Free Library's Cantwell Room; the event begins at noon and will be free and open to the public. NCPR is asking that attendees arrive and be seated by 11:45 am. The event will air live, but the they won't be taking questions over the phone. Instead, you can either show up in Saranac Lake, or leave a question at the NCPR blog here.

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Weekly Adirondack Blogging Round-Up

• Herkimer County Progressive: Town Hall Meeting Reactions
• Lake Placid Skater: Images from the Olympic Center
• Goose Tales: Ironman 2009 - Swim 2.4 - Bike 112 - Run 26.2
• Rochester Turning: NY-20 vs. NY-23
• MoFYC: Clowns to The Left of Me, Jokers to The Right
• Calculated Risk: US Population by Age, 1950 through 2050
• Adirondack Paddler: To Sit Or Stand...
• US History Blog: What Would Roosevelt Think About Michael Vick?
• The In Box: Must see TV in Cape Vincent
• NASCAR Bits and Pieces: Adirondack Speedway: Watching The Past & Present

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Bill McKibben on Why 350 is the Most Important Number

In the past month Bill McKibben has been in India, the Maldives, Lebanon, Oman and Dubai. And last weekend he seemed delighted to be in Newcomb, population 472, catching up with Adirondack friends. The writer told Nature Conservancy members gathered at the Newcomb school for the Adirondack Chapter’s annual meeting how new information on atmospheric carbon has made him a global activist, and why he’s spreading the message that we must do more than install low-watt bulbs if we are to keep climate change from spiraling entirely out of control.

Two years ago arctic ice began melting dramatically faster than computer models had predicted, McKibben said. Scientists had projected that the natural systems that gave rise to civilization and the current array of life on earth would be disrupted when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 450 parts per million. A recent paper by NASA scientist James Hansen and others puts that tipping point at 350 parts per million. The planet is already at 390 parts per million.

McKibben referenced several places where life as people know it is changing, perhaps irrevocably: Glaciers that feed rivers supporting hundreds of millions of people in Asia are melting. The Maldives, a nation of coral islands preparing to be swallowed by the Indian Ocean, is essentially shopping for a new homeland. "Hundred-year" rainstorms are becoming routine. A problem that McKibben thought would manifest in the time of his children and grandchildren appears to be unfolding now.

“We need to make [the transition away from fossil fuels] happen quicker than is economically or politically comfortable,” McKibben said. And that means more than reducing personal carbon emissions; citizens must pressure government and industry to change, he argued. “We all need to play a role of some kind in that solution.” Action taken in the next couple of years will determine "whether we get out of it at all," he said.

McKibben is trying to engrain the number 350 in the minds of policymakers and citizens worldwide. As director of 350.org, he’s organizing a day of global activism on Saturday, October 24, encouraging people to go public in support of the 350 ppm goal. So far, 1,323 actions in 91 countries are planned, including some in the Adirondacks.

The Adirondack Council, based in Elizabethtown, is looking for 350 or more people who will commit to an alternative commute to work or school the week before Oct. 24. Paul Smith's College, which coincidentally will have an incoming freshman class of 350, is organizing an event, details still to come. The Adirondack Green Circle in Saranac Lake is planning to do something as well, and other communities are early in the planning stages. You can visit 350.org to find an action near you or to register your own.

If you missed McKibben's talk last week and can't catch him tomorrow at a Protect the Adirondacks benefit in Olmstedville, you can watch him surviving this interview on the Colbert Report Monday.

Also, here's a little of what Bill had to say about the Conservancy's Finch lands purchase, and here is an excerpt from his Newcomb talk, broadcast earlier this week on North Country Public Radio.

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This Week's Top Adirondack News Stories

Woman Drowns In Sacandaga Lake

New Device Could Extend Syrup Season

ATV Trail Has Many Miles To Go

DEC Opens Wildlife Refuges

Court Rejects Challenge to DA Candidacy

McKibben's Address Full Audio

Drowning Victim Found in Lake George

DOT Developing Parkwide Highway Plan

Dredgers Bring up Piece of Fort Edward

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Adirondack Music Scene: Bluegrass, Musicals, Folk and a Brass Quintet

Starting tonight at the Waterhole in Saranac Lake, The Route 73 Back Porch Society is playing. The show starts early during the Art Walk which runs from 4:30-7 pm. I'm sorry to say I haven't heard these folks yet but from what I've been seeing they play around quite a bit. I love their name and I'm looking forward to the day I catch up with them.

The Horseshoe Lounge Playboys are doing a little Adirondack tour and you can see them in 3 separate locales. On Friday they will be in Elizabethtown at the Cobble Hill Inn. On Saturday they will be at The Waterhole and on Sunday they will be in Old Forge for The Lake Front Concert Series - the show starts at 7 pm.

On Friday in Essex, After Five Brass will be performing at 7:30 pm. This is part of the Essex Community Concert Series. These concerts are held in the Community Church and are followed by refreshment and a chance to meet with the performers. There is a $10 cover.

Also on Friday in Tupper Lake at P2's Aiseiri is playing Irish music starting at 7:30 pm. It's a good place to have a pint and enjoy some tunes. These are the folks who are putting on the Irish Festival Labor Day Weekend in Lake Placid.

Starting Friday, in North Creek on Route 28 the Upper Hudson Bluegrass Festival is on! There are so many acts that it's important to check out the line up on their webpage, I'm listing just a few. It looks to be a pretty big deal with plenty of camping space. Starting at noon numerous bands play throughout the day including Don't Quit Your Day Job and The Warren County Ramblers continuing until 10 pm. Saturday starts at 9 am. The White Mountain Bluegrass Band is in the line up of the day, the founders of that group have been dubbed "Pioneers of Bluegrass" by IBMM. The Seth Sawyer Band is also on deck this weekend and the few YouTube videos I checked out were pretty nice - I'd like to see this band. Saturday ends with Tim Graves Band and Cherokee who start at 10 pm. and Sunday starts nice and early with a gospel sing at 8:30 am and finishes up with Smokey Greene from 4:30 until 5:15 pm.

I also want to mention that a performance of Smokey Joe's Cafe starts Friday at The Depot Theatre in Westport. It will run thru September 6th with some special ticket price evenings (this Monday for instance) look at their website for details. The revue consists entirely of Lieber and Stoller's music - approximately 35 pop standards. I saw it on Broadway many years ago and was amazed at how many of the songs I not only recognized but could sing a long with.

At noon on Saturday in Lake Placid the LPCA presents the musical The Princess and The Pea. 50 children form the area will be part of this Missoula Children's Theatre.

On Saturday in Lake Clear at Charlies Inn, local favorite, Steve Borst will be playing starting at 6:30pm.

In Jay on the 23rd Roy Hurd, Frank Orsini and Meadow are going to be presented by JEMS. Roy and Frank are seasoned performers and true Adirondack favorites. Meadow is Roy's daughter - they sing beautiful harmonies together.

Photo: Horseshoe Lounge Playboys

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New Book on Paul Smiths: the Hotel, College and People

Appollos Austin “Paul” Smith was born on this date in Milton, Vermont, in 1825. A new book from Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series provides a pictorial history of Paul Smiths, the place, which is also largely the history of Paul Smith, the man.

Smith came to the Adirondacks in his early 20s to pursue a love of hunting and fishing and to work as a guide. He convinced his family to move to Loon Lake and start a guest house. A wealthy visitor was so impressed with his managerial and guiding talents he financed Smith’s purchase of land on Lower St. Regis Lake to establish a new resort for the enjoyment of families, not just hunters.

As author Neil Surprenant details, Paul Smith’s Hotel was a huge success, and the charismatic owner became famous for his hospitality, entrepreneurism and bonhomie. Surprenant, who is also library director at Paul Smith’s College (on the site of the former hotel), has assembled a well-chosen, well-captioned collection of more than 200 photographs showing the opening of the hotel in 1859 through its heyday and expansion in the late 19th and early 20th century, to fire and hard times during the 1930s, to its conversion into a college specializing in resort management and forestry in 1946, to the present-day four-year institution offering a variety of related degrees.

Surprenant also shows less-historical moments of life in Paul Smiths, including how big lawns were mowed before motors (see page 61 for the answer) and how students pass time in their dorm rooms.

The 127-page book costs $21.99 and is available at local stores, online bookstores and through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888) 313-2665.

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Study Reveals Mercury Contamination in Fish Nationwide

According to a just-released U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study, scientists detected mercury contamination in every fish sampled in 291 streams across the country. About one fourth of the fish sampled were found to "contain mercury at levels exceeding the criterion for the protection of people who consume average amounts of fish, established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency," according to USGS. More than two-thirds of the fish exceeded the U.S. EPA level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

Mercury contamination of fish, ospreys, loons, and other aquatic-feeding animals continues to be a concern in the Adirondack region where the problem is the most acute of all New York State. New evidence in the Northeast shows mercury contamination in animals that only feed on land, spreading the concern from water based ecosystems to terrestrial ones as well.

A USGS press release laid out the threat: "Mercury, a neurotoxin, is one of the most serious contaminants threatening our nation’s waters. The main source of mercury to natural waters is mercury that is emitted to the atmosphere and deposited onto watersheds by precipitation. However, atmospheric mercury alone does not explain contamination in fish in our nation’s streams. Naturally occurring watershed features, like wetlands and forests, can enhance the conversion of mercury to the toxic form, methylmercury. Methylmercury is readily taken up by aquatic organisms, resulting in contamination in fish."

The Adirondacks and Catskills are downwind of numerous coal-burning power plants, whose mercury emissions contribute significantly to mercury pollution. A 2007 independent study by the Charles Driscoll and the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation estimated that mercury emissions from U.S. coal-fired power plants are responsible for 40 percent to 65 percent of mercury deposition in the Northeast.

According to the Adirondack Mountain Club current levels of mercury deposition in the Northeast are four to six times higher than the levels recorded in 1900. Ninety-six percent of the lakes in the Adirondack region and 40 percent of the lakes in New Hampshire and Vermont exceed the recommended EPA action level for methyl mercury in fish. Mercury is also present in two-thirds of Adirondack loons at levels that negatively impact their reproductive capacity, posing a significant risk to their survival, the club says.

New York State recommends that no one eat more than one meal per week of fish taken from any lake, river, stream or pond in New York State. There is a complete (and disturbing) list and map of the Adirondack fish advisories from the New York State Department of Health located here. It lists 55 Adirondack lakes from which "children less than 15 years old and women who are pregnant or who might one day become pregnant should not eat any fish."

All 50 states have mercury monitoring programs, and 48 states issued fish-consumption advisories for mercury in 2006, the most recent year of national-scale reporting to the EPA. The EPA regulates mercury emissions to air, land and water. In February the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last ditch attempt by the Bush administration to weaken controls on mercury pollution nationwide. The EPA has announced that it intends to control air emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants by issuing a rule under the Clean Air Act.

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