Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley

Episode 59: All About Ticks

Joellen Lapman from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program joins Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley for a fascinating (and scary) discussion, All About Ticks. Learn about the latest news and research on ticks and tick-borne diseases

Ticks are related to spiders but can be much more dangerous to humans. How many diseases are connected with ticks? Unfortunately, it’s much more than Lyme’s Disease.

Climate change and our warmer winters are enabling different kinds of ticks (other than the black-legged deer tick) to move into the Hudson Valley. (The only place you can avoid ticks is in Antarctica!) Do you know the relationship between mast years for nut trees (e.g., oaks, hickory, etc.) and ticks? Do pesticides help? Is addition to deer, controlling the mice and chipmunk population is also important.

Personal prevention is key, but having flu-like symptoms in the springtime may be a signal to check for a tick-borne disease. Anytime you are off pavement, you are in tick territory. Permethrin on clothing helps. But did you know that putting clothing in the dryer (not the washer) will kill ticks? Checking pets for ticks is just as important as checking yourself. There is lots of information that can be found on-line (not all of it ‘sound’) about the removal of ticks, but the key is to avoid ‘upsetting’ the tick.

Joellen provides a wealth of valuable information. Get caught up on the latest science related to ticks!

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Joellen Lapman

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Productions Support: Linda Aydlett and Teresa Golden

Resources

Episode 58: Shade, Winter Squashes and March Myths

This episode is a mosaic of multiple gardening topics.

It starts Tim Kennelty (The Cover Up) discussing the merits of the family of sedge plants as a great pollinator-friendly ground cover, which can also be used as a living green mulch or a ‘lawn’ substitute. Jean Thomas then espouses the wonders of hops. This aromatic and robust vine can grow to 15-20 feet tall and has white cone-like flowers. Its hexagonal stem, which grows clockwise is a distinguishing feature.

Jackie Hayden and Dede Terns-Thorpe return with another segment of Pests and Pathogens. Do you know how to tell if the insects flying around your house are fruit flies or fungus gnats? While they are distant cousins, they are actually very different. Learn how to tell them apart, and how to manage them if you spot them visiting your houseplants this time of year.

Finally, we have a new recurring segment called Made in the Shade. Master Gardener Barbara Bravo joins us from Ulster County to talk about shade gardening. This first one starts by helping us understand some of the rewards of shade gardening as well as how light, partial and deep shade is defined to help you with the selection of appropriate plants for your garden.

Listen and enjoy the imagery that will come to mind with this episode.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guests: Dede Terns-Thorpe and Jackie Hayden, Barbara Bravo

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Teresa Golden and Annie Scibienski

Resources

Episode 57: Monarch Butterflies

Everyone knows that the monarchs love milkweed plants as a critical food source for their caterpillars. Monarchs tend to show up in the northeast just as the milkweed plants start to bloom. But herbicides and development are impacting the population of these colorful pollinators. We also know that the adult butterflies migrate south for the winter months. But do you know where they go?

Master Gardener volunteer, Devon Russ, and Jenni Cawein join the podcast, Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley with a fascinating discussion about Monarchs. They took a very interesting World Wildlife Fund tour to the Sierra Madre mountains in central Mexico. There they watched the monarchs in their winter habitat located above 10,000 feet in elevation.

Have you ever seen hundreds of thousands of monarchs in one place? Did you know that you can actually hear their wings flap as you watch monarch butterflies hanging from the branches of special trees that create a micro-climate that is critical for their survival?

It takes four generations of monarchs to migrate from the northeast to Mexico and back. The single generation that lives in Mexico in the winter do not reproduce, but rather preserve their energy to make the return trip to the US (usually Texas).

Learn all about these fascinating butterflies in this podcast episode.

Hosts: Jean Thomas and Tim Kennelty

Guests: Devon Russ and Jenni Cawein

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett and Teresa Golden

Episode 56: Houseplants

On this week's podcast episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley, learn from Rochelle Ashley from Story’s Nursery in Freehold, NY … a gardener’s destination. She discusses some favorite houseplants including suggestions about how to grow them. She focuses on plants that are relatively easy to grow as well as some that are quite dramatic or a bit fussier to handle. Whether it be “Lucky Bamboo”, Air Plants, Pathos, Ferns, Rubber plants, snake plants, spider plants, cactus, jade plants, peace lilies, or African violets, there is a houseplant for you.

Rochelle discusses the wide range of varieties that are available today, as well as how to identify, avoid or address any potential plant diseases. There are plenty of options for rooms with sunny windows as well as rooms that have more indirect sunlight. There are also plants to be careful with if you have pets in your home. She provides tips on the best way to size a pot for a plant and ways to successfully re-plant a houseplant that has outgrown its current home. Watering and fertilizing hints might help you gain a green thumb when dealing with houseplants.

Listen and learn how to successfully grow beautiful plants in your home year-round.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Rochelle Ashleigh

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett and Teresa Golden

Episode 55: Plants, Pests and Plates

Tim Kennelty returns with another Good Plant/Bad Plant segment. This time he talks about Ironweed, a great native, pollinator plant known for its purple flowers and impressive height that will add ‘presence’ to any garden. Then, he explains why the invasive Japanese Barberry is not such a good choice for your garden as it creates a great habitat for the white-footed mouse which is known to be a carrier for tick-borne diseases.

Then Jackie Hayden and Dede Terns-Thorpe are back with another segment of Pests and Pathogens. Thís time they discuss a category of blisters, galls, and spots on leaves and trees that are caused by a rust fungus. Learn all about them here!

Finally, we have a new recurring segment called Patch to Plate. Annie Scibienski, a new Master Gardener volunteer, highlights ingredients from the home garden and how they can be used in the home kitchen. In this segment, she features root vegetables and uses them to create Maple-Glazed Carrots and a Hidden Beet pound cake. Yum!

Hosts: Tim Kennelty, and Jean Thomas

Guests: Tim Kennelty, Dede Terns-Thorpe, Jackie Hayden and Annie Scibienski

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Teresa Golden and Annie Scibiencki

Resources

Episode 54: Living with Deer

New York State residents tend to have a love/hate relationship with deer. Many people enjoy watching deer in nature, and others look forward to deer hunting season. But when a driver has a collision with a deer, a gardener finds that a garden has been harvested by one, or a patient is diagnosed with a tick-borne disease, the admiration of this wildlife quickly shifts to frustration.

Teresa Golden, a Master Gardener volunteer, joins the podcast, Nature Calls: Conversation from the Hudson Valley, to help us understand the habits of deer to make it easier co-exist with them. Learning about what deer like (e.g., deer ‘candy’) and what they prefer to avoid makes the selection of landscape plants easier to keep them away from your garden. She also talks about the plusses and minuses of repellants and fencing to make it possible to have a more peaceful coexistence with deer.

Learning about deer will help you continue to enjoy them in the wild while keeping your landscape safe from their presence.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Teresa Golden

Photo by: Teresa Golden

Production Support: Linda Aydlett and Teresa Golden

Resources

Episode 53: Community Supported Agriculture

Keri-Sue Lewis from Common Hands Farm, located in Philmont, NY, joins the podcast to talk about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Their mission is to provide healthy, affordable food access by way of bringing small farming into the future. Using Certified Naturally Grown methods, they provide their CSA members with weekly boxes (between June and November) of their bountiful harvests of 100+ varieties of vegetable, herbs and micro-greens grown on their 25-acre farm. Having grown up in the Hudson Valley, Keri is passionate about changing the food systems in this area, providing seasonal crops, and bringing access to healthy food to the community while helping others connect with nature. The farm also offers delicious value-added products with their crops, inspired by preserving the bounty of the season. These can be found at local farmer’s markets as well as at local stores and wholesale buyers.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Keri-Sue Lewis

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Teresa Golden and Annie Scibienski

Episode 52: Wild Hudson Valley and Winter Sowing

Learn about the rich history of New York’s Hudson Valley in a unique new way. Join Anna Plattner and Justin Wexler from Wild Hudson Valley, located in Cairo, NY. They own a 95-acre farm and sanctuary consisting of forest, meadow and wetlands. There they offer walks, workshops, forest farmed products and camping to help inspire others to become better stewards of our planet. Listen as Anna and Justin talk about their eco-camp which offers an immersive experience with furnished tents, engaging activities and nature trails enabling you to truly enjoy the natural beauty of the Catskill Mountains. Hey also offer monthly wild harvest boxes which consist of native foods such as veggies, nuts, berries, and mushrooms, that are wild-gathered, wild-stewarded, and grown on their farm.

Then Robin Stapley joins the podcast to talk about permaculture and winter sowing. Permaculture is all about applying a set of design principles to gardening taking into consideration the overall ecosystem of the site. Robin specifically talks about how she used permaculture to address some water issues on her property. She also then talks about the advantages of winter sowing to get a head start on seed starting.

Another episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley that has something for everyone!

Hosts: Teresa Golden, Tim Kennelty, and Jean Thomas

Guests: Anna Plattner and Justin Wexler

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Teresa Golden and Annie Scibienski

Resources

Episode 51: Climate Change

Climate change is all over the news but what exactly are the implications of higher carbon dioxide levels for the Hudson Valley? While New York State is at the forefront of climate leadership and environmental stewardship, what should we expect relative to extreme temperature and rainfall events?

Join Jenna and Zach, two CCE climate resiliency experts, to learn about potential climate hazards in New York State including an increase in insect, disease, invasive plant pressure as well as potential changes to USDA plant hardiness zones.

While gardeners can look forward to the potential of longer growing seasons, learn what you can do to minimize and adapt to these future climate changes.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guests: Zach Spangler and Jenna Walzack

Photo by: Tim Kennelty

Production Support: Linda Aydlett and Teresa Golden

Episode 50: Birds of Prey

Do you know the difference between a red-tailed hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk. What’s the difference between a bird of prey and a scavenger? Which birds prey on fish versus rodents versus carrion?

Our favorite birder and author of Birding the Hudson Valley is back once again, this time to talk about Birds of Prey. Among other things, Kathryn Schneider explains about the importance of ‘feet’ for the survival of these feathered friends. Eagles, hawks, falcons, harriers, owls, ospreys and vultures are all topics of discussion. Knowing which birds of prey are nocturnal versus diurnal can help with their identification. Find out where in the Hudson Valley you can participate in a hawk watch, where to find bald eagles or owls and the difference between a black vulture and a turkey vulture. This podcast episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley has something for everyone.

Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas

Guest: Kathryn Schneider

Photo by: Stock Photo

Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Teresa Golden and Annie Scibienski

Resources