Skip to content

Category Archives: Life in the Catskills

The Trial.

18-Aug-10

When I walked into court Monday night, I heard the owner of the property at the end of Schumway Road, Todd Brown, who was apparently the main force behind this trespassing prosecution, saying to the police officer/prosecutor, “And if he took any photos back there, those images belong to Catskill Holdings LLC.  I want that […]

Not Guilty.

17-Aug-10

Found not guilty last night in the “walk in the woods” case.  My lawyer friends all swore to me that such a case would never be prosecuted, but prosecuted it was (twice no less!), though the judge seemed nonplussed to be hearing so frivolous a case.  In the end, the trial was interesting – and […]

Bear Gardening.

11-Aug-10

We were landscaping this week in Silver Hollow – a beautiful part of the Catskills, one I’ve known for awhile.  Today as I was finishing up – my colleague had just pulled out – I heard some weird chattering in the woods, almost like laughter, and the breaking of a large branch, which then came […]

Summer Afternoon Baroque Clouds.

10-Aug-10

Cloisters.

08-Aug-10

I spent Saturday at the Cloisters, and achieved one of my goals of measuring the cloistered gardens there.  I was informed by the guard that the reconstructed gardens do not represent the original dimensions, but that was really no concern to me: what impressed me is that each one of the cloisters works as a […]

On Native Plant Gardening.

07-Aug-10

Not long ago, when advising some friends who were about to start a garden, I told them to plant a state-of-the-art garden, meaning not a technologically complex one, but rather one in accord with the best knowledge we have of what constitutes excellence in a home garden.  This can be expressed on the smallest levels […]

Walking in the Woods, Once Again.

06-Jul-10

Last night – what will probably be one of the hottest nights of the year – I was sitting in my chair reading The Pilgrim’s Progress barely dressed and feverish, when I saw a flashlight dancing on my lawn.  I got up, quite curious – it was after nine p.m., I live far from the […]

Good for the Soul.

02-Jul-10

My first month at Catskill Native Nursery is done now.  What wonderful work – yesterday I was planting dogwoods in Woodstock.  The week before I was ripping up barberry in Eldred.  These good deeds will not be unremembered in the economy of things.

In Bloom.

25-Jun-10

Rhododendron Maximum, in the Catskills.

Catskill Native Nursery.

16-Jun-10

Yesterday was my first day of paid physical labor ever, I think.  I took a job with Catskill Native Nursery.  “Gardening For a Better Environment.”  Landscape restoration, native plant propagation, gardening within nature’s parameters.  And for me, using my body and working outdoors.  A good beginning.  Someone recently asked me if I’d ever work for […]