FEATURING

Rich, Diverse Bounty of the Warwick Valley (6/1-6/8)

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Week in Review Week in Review

This week we had the chance to participate at a kick-off party at Penning’s Farm Market, part of a series of events under the banner of Warwick’s tourism initiative, which is being promoted by the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce and its new arm – Discover the Warwick Valley. It was a perfect evening weatherwise with a large turn-out, many of whom are part of Warwick’s business community and many of whom have contributed to support Warwick’s tourism campaign that is currently underway. 

At the event, there were giveaways, raffles, music and merchandise for sale in order to bring awareness and raise revenue for the continued promotion of Warwick as a destination. It was great to see so many familiar faces at this event. It’s about people coming and working together, sharing ideas and giving their support to critical causes that helps keep a community strong.

Keeping Warwick economically vibrant is at the heart of the initiative, a goal which the chamber pursues as part of its mission, which has become more important than ever in rapidly changing economies. Each business in a community serves as a critical link. When we begin to lose those links, like employees from a dismantled prison, or from technological shifts in society or corporate downsizing or a declining main st. – all of these components add up to weaken the general community.

Warwick is taking action to fill that vacuum through its leadership, business partnerships, community wide organizations, and active citizenry - who all play a significant role in creating a stronger Warwick. The rise of a tourism industry, with sustainable development at its core, is one path to economic development which Warwick has embraced thanks to the multi-faceted partnerships within the community at large.

It was fitting that the event be held at Pennings, a business which has proved to be one of the innovators and leaders in the community in terms of promoting local culture, values and business through their various enterprises. More than just an apple orchard, they have reinvented themselves, promoting both tourism and the local populace to participate and support their local culture.

It’s great to live in a place where we are not just part of a tourist culture, but one in which we can lose ourselves and the outside world somewhere in the vast expanse of what makes up the rich, diverse bounty of the Warwick Valley.

To see more pics of the event, click here to go to our Facebook page.

The Spirit of Gardening Centers (5/4-5/11)

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Week in Review Week in Review

Over the past few weeks I've been watching the latest developments at various garden centers throughout the region and have been working to get into that spirit. To some extent, they have all been grappling with a mix of weather as their seasonal supplies of plants arrive to the marketplace. Last week I noted an explosion of new plants and supplies and was happy to take some photos of new growth. Plants tend to be very photogenic, especially if they are tended well.

I wonder what drives customers to a particular gardening center or nursery? Are they on a voyage like I am? Or are there other factors at play?

Proximity may be one factor. Price probably also weighs in on some consumer behavior and the kinds of deals, coupons, etc. that are being offered as incentive to get the customer through their door. The plants themselves must also be taken into account. Quality counts. For me, it’s also about the Oxygen. Regardless of which center I go to for my gardening needs, I inhale much better and enjoy the scent much more than say when I’m taking my car for repair. 

General's Garden in Warwick is in a great location as it is easy to get off Rt. 94 and into their gardening center, where there is plenty of parking. The hospitable and down to earth nature of their store manager, Kerry,  is another reason to stop in, as are owners Deborah and Michael Sweeton. I must say that my spending behavior has a lot to do with the disposition of a store’s staff. Finally, General’s Garden has a wide variety of plants and supplies – enough to suit my needs, like the Rosetone, bird seed or new pot that I found myself gravitating towards. 

Penning’s Farm Market, right across the way, is another big retailer of plants and gardening supplies. My eyes feasted on their hanging plants and large selection of pots while my mouth salivated for something to eat. At Penning’s I can read the local paper, listen to some pleasant tunes, have a draft on tap and consider my Mother’s Day options as I come to pick up my produce, organic meat and get a garden plant at the same time. They too have a wide selection of plants with a greenhouse filled with new prospects.

Over the hill in West Milford, Eden Farms is home to a large number of high quality plants, many of which are grown from seed. Their wide selection of spinners, unique gardening supplies and friendly staff are another reason to stop in and shop. There is a gardening gift I’m eager to purchase which I know will make a great gift to that gardening diva in your life. And of course mulch and soil is readily available.

Auntie El’s in Sloatsburg has been another favorite destination, in part because I really enjoy their baked products, some recent produce (we had oranges that were delicious), and also because right now they are showing off their gardening stuff, with so many plants vying to be taken home and interesting supplies like windmills and Mexican Pots. I took home some basil and I’m going back for a tomato plant and bloody Mary mix. Who knows what else I will find in this very eclectic center.

Hickory Hollow Nursery and Garden Center, located in Tuxedo, is unparalleled in terms of their huge selection of trees and shrubs. Right now as well they have many high quality plants in store and a great gift center. The energy on their property is wonderful as you are amidst waterfalls and plant life.

Finally Greenwood Lake’s Gardening Center is growing its business nicely, as I've seen a large increase in plants  from last year. Their entrance way with a new fountain really adds charm and they too have a great selection of  plants that are ready to be enjoyed.

What I really enjoy about getting out and exploring garden centers is to be amongst that which is growing. Somehow as the season unfolds and the growth continues, I find my spirit moving in a similar direction.

The World is Wide Open (4/19-4/26)

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Week in Review Week in Review

Last Sunday afternoon at the Breezy Point Inn, I had the pleasure of going to a Fashion Show that featured some of the clothing of the Depot and The Style Counsel (See our photo album on FB). I had gotten a last minute email by Mark Levy, owner of the Depot, reminding me of the event, which I failed to put on our events calendar.

I felt bad about that. But it’s hard to get it all on our calendar. Living down the road from the Breezy, I thought I would make it up to Mark by stopping in and taking some pictures. Mark was glad to see me and kindly offered me a glass of wine. He said “I’m glad you came.” Then he said, “You know, I’ve been reading the magazine online but I’m not sure what your focus is.” I have gotten to know Mark and truly enjoy him for his candor and unique sense of humor. It goes beyond just building a relationship with an advertiser.

He got me thinking. Yes, when one goes to Warwick Valley Living’s website, one discovers a variety of subject matter and that might lead one to wonder what our central theme is. Just look at our menu tabs and you see that we traverse a broad spectrum. When I started the publication, I may have been a little more ambitious than reality would allow. With only 24 hours in a day and not many writers to push out content, I discovered I couldn’t get to everything myself. That made me even more in awe of the NY Times. And very envious that we did not have a writing staff.

Two weeks ago if you had read our publication you would have discovered a memoir, a TV review on a national television program, an announcement regarding a documentary film showing at the Tribeca film festival in NYC, and a featured event with the Gabriele Tranchina quartet, which is this Saturday night at Silvio’s Italian Villa in Warwick (Read more). We also produce an extensive events calendar and occasionally promote an event or two. If I’ve been consistent about anything, it is our weekly calendar that our publication seems to be noted for.

In response to Mark I said, “We do have a great events calendar. Maybe I should just focus our publication around events. What do you think?” He didn’t say anything. “Actually Mark I really didn’t mean that,” correcting myself. “There is something about writing stories that interests me. And I’m a liberal arts man. I’m into the macro. I can’t be bothered with specialized subject matter. That would eliminate much of our audience.”

Mark remained silent . Then I said, “Our publication is centered around culture, education and art. Our aim is to be the PBS of the Warwick Valley.” When I said it, it sounded a bit hollow and untrue, maybe even a little high falutin. With all of our advertisers, I also provide coverage of business. We are a for profit business, unlike PBS, making it on a very thin margin. So what are we really focused on? What is our niche? The Warwick Valley?

A young girl wearing a well fitted outfit from the Depot flashed her bright smile as I was sipping on the wine. I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. Another girl, a little older, paraded out in another Depot outfit, equally as beautiful and I snapped her picture. Then a few adults came out, each wearing more clothing from this outfitter.

I said, “Mark, Warwick Valley Living is about the talented people that live in our neighborhood, like these models.” It was a revelation for me. Perhaps I am a source for producing and showcasing talents through our publication. Though we aim to promote businesses, as a publisher what I am most focused on is promoting  people working together, through their talents, to create a more positive and creative environment. 

After the event, I enjoyed a drive through Greenwood Lake going towards Warwick traveling over the majestic Mt. Peter pass, where I stopped at Bellvale Creamery and looked out at a view of the Warwick Valley. Then I made my way to the Seligmann Center for the Arts, where I enjoyed a great fundraising concert courtesy of the Hudson Valley Jazz Festival (Read more). Taking pictures, I was focused on the talent of musicians playing their hearts and souls out and vowed too that was worthy of writing about.

Discovering the Warwick Valley, that’s what we are about. But don’t hold me to it. The world is wide open and anything is possible.

Creative Play in Nature (5/11-5/18)

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Week in Review Week in Review

Last weekend I trampsed around the estate of the Seligmann Homestead as part of an event called Family Nature Play led by instructor Daniel Mack and then spent the better part of the class time looking at creativity while sharing some of what I found with a small group of intrepid souls, including a couple of children.

The idyllic Homestead, located in Sugar Loaf, NY was once the estate of the famed artist Kurt Seligmann, and is now a center for Surrealism, a host of cultural activities, the Orange County Citizen’s Foundation and the Orange County Arts Council. 55 acres set amidst mountains and farmland, just outside the quaint village, the Homestead presents a universe of its own - surrounded by wetlands, wooded areas, bogs and trails, a small oasis for nature lovers.

I started my jaunt visiting Kurt Seligmann’s gravestone. Born 1900. Died 1962, just a year before I was born. Soon my eyes were diverted by several turkey vultures that were perched on a tree just nearby. Behind the graveyard is a path that takes you down to a bog. And there are a few surprises along the way, like a stack of books piled 30 feet or so high. A little eerie – some fog and darkness would make it the perfect backdrop for a Halloween thriller.

In this ecological setting, there is plenty more to see, that is if you are in the frame of mind to look, be and venture out, to experience the smallest things in nature - a blade of grass or the glint of a shiny rock on a trickling stream or the infinite variety of life that passes before your very eyes. Such is the poetry of life. If I could bring something back it might be a poem about a transcendental moment.

Before we were set free to roam, Mack didn’t give too much advice except to say “I’m not taking you on a hike. This event is not about doing anything particular.  Bring something back and share it with us. You have 30 minutes to explore the grounds.” Mack is known for his work with natural materials as an artist and furniture maker and encouraged us to find objects in nature to bring back and play with – to use as the basis for creating something.

After returning from my 30 minute voyage, we shared our discoveries. Mack by this time was whittling on a piece of sculpture he had been working on earlier. The kids showed us what they brought back – some sticks and other debris from the woods. I didn’t bother picking anything up – I figured the pictures  I was taking were my contribution. Mack soon helped the kids place and mash daisies on paper. I took a picture of two open doorways and suggested our morning was like an opening between two doors with infinite possibilities.

Thoughtful conversations evolved out of our excursion, like a philosophy on teaching. It was a Saturday morning and we were experiencing being, watching things change before our very eyes, shifting perspectives and views.  There was nothing big or momentous about any of this. It’s the small things in which we find the sublime.

There were some books on a table that Mack brought in. Then some wood blocks. We moved them around in several positions alongside the sticks. Creation allows for shifting and rebalancing, relayering and reconfiguring, to the point where nothing is definitively set, until over time there is greater shape and form and it all comes together.

Move things around and see what you can make. Let nature be an inspiration and your inner voice a director.

A Desire for Art (4/26-5/3)

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Week in Review Week in Review

As a writer with an artist’s bent, I know what it is to have a desire for art. For me, it brings together the sum total of my being. Sometimes it’s about skewing ordinary reality into another vision; sometimes it’s about capturing a great moment in time; as a writer it’s about sculpting an idea into a completed form, with all of the pieces working together to resonate with truth.

Not only does art satisfy my desire for self-expression, it fulfills my need to bring order upon experience. Art allows me to take that leap of the imagination and arrive at some place in an unpredictable universe, knowing that regardless, I will be safe.

For each of us who create art, the process is a very personal one, triggered by any number of impulses. The more artists that you talk to, the more you realize there is no right or wrong way to do it. What is the reference point from which your world view begins to expand and becomes a work of art in the making?

This weekend I went to the Greenwood Lake Library’s Art Extravaganza, which brought together eight artists, whose work had been on display previously as solo exhibits at the library. Pat Foxx, who has exhibited and taught for many years in the area, was the first artist I spoke to.  She shared with me her current work: a series of acrylics that depict dreamy landscapes that are on display at the Seligmann Center for the Arts with a reception on Sunday, 5/5, from 2 - 5 p.m. Pat’s also a seasoned art instructor, watercolorist, and works at Fine Architectural Metalsmiths.  I enjoyed viewing her portfolio of earlier work, when she was a professional fabric artist for 17 years. For Pat she says, "Looking within has become more important than representing the outside world. My work has become more abstract over time. But my love for nature prevails."

Arthur Patrick Gilmore is a fine watercolorist who has refined his art over many years. Traces of his earlier education, with an emphasis on abstract expressionism, can be found in his current art, an exhibition focused on the street life of NYC. His paintings center around people mingling and moving, capturing NYC’s unique energy. Gilmore says that “Creating art is about staying in the here and now; it’s not about arriving at some destination in the future.”

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Leila Noueihed’s work I found interesting in terms of blending her sense of expressionism with realism.  An experimental artist (is not all art experimental) focused on creating landscapes, Leila is also a Renaissance woman, with a rich linguistic background, a medical degree and a love for music. Despite not having any training as an artist, her natural abilities have taken her far and speak to the idea that if you have something you want to express, express it, even if it is raw and untamed.

Gerry Zanetti’s fine photography stands alone in terms of his unique focus: Close-up shots of food. Very commercially viable, Gerry spent a career shooting food for a long list of clients. As someone who appreciates good close-ups, I marveled at Gerry’s photos and their attention to detail, use of lighting and the way in which he captured the essence of a wide variety of food. Looking at an entire body of work from his website, I am convinced that Gerry has mastered his art form.

Other artists whose work I viewed included , Mustafa Al-Rahaman, Melissa Reichert, and Danielle Barbour. With a couple of these artists it was interesting to note how travel inspires art, as in the paintings of Levistsky and the photography of Reichert. Barbour produces a wide range of art, following her many passions including writing, sculpting, painting, inventing and model building. Mustafa is autistic and his work seems to capture a very colorful interior world.

Art is a great way to give meaning to our lives. I know. After I complete my week in review, I feel refreshed, knowing that I took the time to process an experience and create a small work of art.

Art for its own sake fulfills a need in me that seems to calm a restless energy. Once that desire is satiated, I feel more complete.

Gathering Honey From Every Opening Flower (4/13-4/20)

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Week in Review Week in Review

I like to settle into routines. Like most adults, each week I have an idea of what I’d like to get done. Usually it revolves around some routine.  Discipline is inculcated at an early age as we learn to do things around schedules, plans and deadlines. April 15 is one such deadline some of us may have encountered this week.

A second grade class I taught this week at one of the elementary schools reminded me of this fact – how important routine and structure is to the fabric of our lives. Even at the age of 7 and 8 years old, kids operate within a set of routines. It was nice to see second graders take out their homework and perform other tasks throughout the day centered around their routines.

My teaching routine generally does not cover second grade – I prefer well disciplined AP Physics students at the high school level who are all engaged on an independent project. But I don’t always have control over my teaching assignments. They come and go, each one different, and I must adapt myself to circumstances.

Second grade is an age group I don’t prefer to teach. I much prefer fifth and sixth grade if I’m teaching on the elementary school level. Second graders have to be kept on task. Second graders ask a lot of questions. Second graders demand much more of my time. If you need your shoe tied, don’t ask a second grader because they will ask you.  

If I had known that I would be teaching second grade this week I don’t think I would have accepted the assignment. Sometimes we find ourselves outside our routines. If you had been training  for the Boston Marathon and entered the race this week how could you have foreseen the tragic outcome?

As I regularly look over Warwick Valley Living’s events calendar, this time I chose to go to an event that fit perfectly into my routine. On Saturday I regularly go to Gold’s gym in Monroe and so I knew I could squeeze in a trip to Museum Village located just up the road for their Grand Opening.

The museum was founded in 1950 by Roscoe V. Smith and is one of Orange County’s prized cultural institutions, drawing many visitors yearly, including caravans of school children who come on field trips. The Museum offers lessons on what it was like during a specific era in history, circa 1850’s, just before the advent of the industrial age.

At the museum I took a self-guided tour, engaging with a number of volunteers who came out in full force.  I met woodcarvers from the Mid-Hudson Woodcarvers Guild, and stopped at a candle shop, broomshop  and blacksmith shop, where I was given several demonstrations on each of these crafts. Then I went to the old school house where I reviewed the lesson of the day, written on the blackboard:“How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour and gather honey all the day from every opening flower?” 

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What I love about school, inside or outside a classroom, is that each day we have opportunities to improve ourselves. This is one great gift of life. We are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them.

Education is an exciting proposition worth supporting. Keeping cultural institutions alive like Museum Village, or nurturing second graders along a pathway of good routines leads, I think, to a better civilization.  Cherishing each person for their self worth and unlimited potentiality is a right for all.

Finishing up my day in that 2^nd grade classroom, I read from Charlotte’s Webb. The students were rapt in attention and I brought to conclusion what turned out to be a wonderful day inside the classroom.

Young minds were turned on. And then I realized, I was “gathering honey all the day from every opening flower.”

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