A Berry Good Season
The Hudson Valley is breaking out in berries, specifically, prolifically, wild blackberries. And just in time to fill the void left by the end of the strawberry season.

The strawberries from our garden’s fruit beds this year were magnificent. We weren't sure we'd have a harvest because we didn't renovate the beds until early this spring due to last fall’s scuba diving travels. We had strawberry plants running all over the vegetable garden. Fearlessly, we dug them up and transplanted them into a new bed, in violation of all the rules. To our great pleasure, shortly after their relocation they blossomed and bore fruit, which we allowed, in violation of the usual caveat to prevent fruit bearing the first year.

We haven't tried the everbearing varieties of strawberries yet, but plan to look into that next year, with visions of a summer-long supply dancing in our heads. Otherwise, the season is just too short. We bought our bare-root strawberry plants at a local grocery store, Adams Fairacre Farms, but most mail order nurseries, such as Raintree Nursery or Johnny's Seeds, also carry bare-root plants. Strawberries can be started from seed but, honestly, who wants to wait?

Strawberry plant growing is simple and the plants send out runners and spread rapidly. They need sun, water, and, as long as you don't plant them too deeply, which causes the crowns to rot, your plants should take off. Strawberry plant growing instructions warn to pinch off the blossoms in the first year. The idea is plants will settle in and devote energy toward runner and root development if they don't produce fruit. We've grown strawberries both ways and never noticed a difference in plant health or production. The Cornell Cooperative Extension has a PDF-formatted guide to planting bareroot crowns for home fruit and vegetable gardeners. The plants multiply rapidly by sending out runners, so plan ahead by setting aside space to transplant the runners into beds.

We miss our garden-fresh strawberries, but who can resist the delicacy that is ripened wild blackberries still warm from the sun? Even better, earlier this evening we sprinkled them over homemade raspberry sorbet.

It was a lovely day in the Hudson Valley, so we took the early afternoon off to kayak at one of the area’s most popular paddle sites, Tivoli Bay north, part of the wetlands that comprise the Hudson River Reserve.

Situated on the shores of the Hudson River, which is actually a tidal estuary, the bays are best reached during the hours just before and after high tide.

Several channels sweep through the bays, but access is determined by tide levels, plant life and the occasional beaver dam. We paddled north from the dock, taking a left into a narrow channel that winds south and ends up in the main channel leading out to the Hudson River.

We then entered a wide dead-end channel, off to the left of the main water trail, which offers a magnificent view of the Catskill Mountains rising up behind the Hudson River.

Yellow and purple irises were blooming and the water lily buds were just beginning to open. Two new (since we were there last) beaver damns were up, but no beavers were in sight. Swallows and redwing blackbirds were abundant, however. The largest turtle I’ve yet seen, at least one and one-half feet across, surfaced briefly at the side of my kayak before diving below.

We did not pass under the railroad bridge to the Hudson River today, but the south bay is an excellent paddle also, and has its own launch. Several hiking trails wind around the protected property, described and mapped conveniently by Bard College.

Woodstock Concert Site Home to New Performance Center

The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts kicks off its inaugural season at its home on the former Max Yasgur Farm, the site of the original 1969 Woodstock festival.

The Center opens July 1 to a sold out house for the New York Philharmonic, with Audra McDonald and Lang Lang.

Upcoming performances include the Jazz Festival Weekend, two days of continuous music with more than a dozen performers, including George Genson, John Pizzarelli, Nellie Mckay, Dianne Reeves, Wynton Marsalis and others. Two-day reserved seat passes are available for $80.

Among the acts rounding out the 2006 line up are Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on August 13 and the Boston Pops with Faith Prince on August 26. The 2006 season calendar, with ticket information, is available at the Center’s website.

Native American and Dutch Colonial Trade in the Hudson Valley

In 2009, Hudson River Valley communities will observe the 400^th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s trip up the river that would later bear his name.

As part of the city of Kingston’s effort to plan for the event, the Kingston Public Library sponsored a talk on the Native American, and later the Dutch, trading routes that connected the city’s Rondout with Connecticut, New York City and Albany.

Presentations were made by New Netherland Nautical’s Richard Manack, who operates educational programs on his Golden Re’al, 1903 Dutch sailing barge often seen around the Rondout Creek, and Lucianne Lavin, PhD, Director of Research and Collections at the Institute for American Indian Studies, a small museum and research center in Washington, Connecticut.

The two speakers shared with a small gathering their common interest in the community life and trade relations of the Native American Indians prior to the arrival of the Dutch, and how the Dutch came to participate in these trading networks, which placed Kingston, one of the three major Dutch settlements, at the crossroads of Native American, New York and U.S. history, Manack said.

Dutch records at the New York State Library in Albany as well as records kept by Moravian missionaries on Native American birth dates, kinship networks and other information have helped researchers develop a better understand of how the Native American and Dutch communities were intertwined through trade.

New York’s Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission will work with Hudson River towns to plan a series of celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the journeys made by Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain and the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton's steamship voyage on the Hudson River.

Planning is still in the very early stages, but the Henry Hudson 400 Foundation will host a regatta of Dutch vessels from the Netherlands to the New York Harbor, and possibly further north. The anniversary events will take place between July and October 2009.

New York's Hudson Valley is graced by the Hudson River and surrounding mountains, captured so elegantly by the Hudson River school of painters in the nineteenth century.

The region possesses a rich and diverse history, an eclectic art scene, fine dining and opportunities for a variety of outdoor activities. These qualities have combined to make the region, after years of decline, once again a popular place to live and to visit.

Visit here often to stay abreast of all the Hudson Valley has to offer.