Nick Hand

The Hudson Valley Seed Library

On my way up the Hudson Valley on my bicycle, I stopped off at Accord for a day or two. Accord is west of Poughkeepsie and just below the Catskills.

I'd heard a little about the Hudson Valley Seed Library, there had been an article a year or two back about the NY Times that I'd seen and it had a good feel about it.

The seed library save vegetable seeds from hardier North East vegetables from disappearing and reproduce them for sale. They also collect the stories behind the seeds, like the lady who was clearing out the house of her grandfather and found a jar of bean seeds that were maybe 20-30 years old. The type of bean had long since disappeared and it turned out that the folk at the seed library were able to grow the bean and reproduce a small number of beans for sale last year. I'll leave Ken to tell his own story.

 

 

The North West Passage and more adventures up the Hudson Valley by bicycle

I had slunk back to Brooklyn for the night, primarily to pick up a tent and card readers, but also because I didn't have to think about finding somewhere for the night.

I took the Poughkeepsie train back to Garrison (where I had left my journey the night before) from Grand Central, which is one of the finest buildings. The title above the entrance to platform 29 says 'North West Passage'. If anything smacks of of adventure, that does. I did though discover later that it means the north west passage of Grand Central itself and nothing to do with direction, or with adventure for that matter.

After struggling through twenty miles of wet grey peddalling after getting back to Garrison I found a motel in Marlboro, and watched National Lampoon's Vacation on TV which seemed a pretty good combo.

Back on the trail the following day I got to Poughkeepsie (pronounced P'kipsie) and crossed the beautiful Footbridge over the Hudson (the longest pedestrian footbridge in the world) and spent an hour or two on watching the beautiful Mystic Whaler gracefully sail under the bridge. The Mystic Whaler is a schooner hired for the summer by Clearwater, the environmental organisation started by Pete Seeger to highlight the campaign to clean up and stop polluting the Hudson.

Later that day after recrossing the bridge I encountered the  long and arduous climb up Mohonk Mountain Road (well at least for a 55 year old bloke at a heavily loaded touring bike). The decent was like a lovely fast affair with long sweeping bends, and as I stopped to check the map about twenty local club riders swept past.

I was headed for Accord and a combination of the man in the liquor store and a random man outside a gas station pointed me towards a B&B. The B&B turned out to be Tim and Beths place. I took a liking to Tim as soon as he emerged from his wooden house with big black dog and warm smile, he said I've got just the place and we walked over a field to his beautiful three bed yurt, with music on tap, kitchen, a great shower, big comfy bed. Everything you could imagine. He invited me over to the house for supper with his wife, Beth and told me of his life. Also about the deadly rattlers, black bears and mountain lions around. Suddenly the tent like yurt didn't seem like the heavenly place it was an hour before. Tim said 'just pay what you want for the yurt'. It was a pretty special place, I've never heard so much birdsong. And set me up for a couple of great days ahead.

Nyack, NY

 

The schooner, Mystic Whaler at Poughkeepsie from Walkway over the Hudson

 

Kinderhook farm, Ghent, NY

Compost

On my way from Cardigan to Machynlleth I stopped off (at Andy Middleton's suggestion) at Peter Seger's farm just inland from Aberaeron. He has farmed his 50 acres organically since the early 1970s. During this time he has developed a method of producing large amounts of compost to feed his crops. While most farming decreases soil levels, Peter has added a foot in depth of amazingly fertile soil to his land. He is an amazing enthusiast and was completly inspiring to spend an hour with.

I will put together a soundslide tomorrow and try and upload it, along with the one I made at howies yesterday. Thanks Clare for doing the little voiceover this morning, I know you weren't feeling so well (so my making you a honey and lemon drink was mostly for selfish reasons). Whenever I hear Clare and David talk about setting up howies, it makes me realise why the brand is so well respected. It still has some great people working there from the early days, and it's what makes it work (Pete, Paul, Ade and Mel) they along with David and Clare are the heart and soul of it.

A few hills today, generally feeling a bit stronger now, maybe down to a rest day yesterday.

The bike is just brilliant, and after three culls of equipment and clothing (one in Cardiff, one in Tenby and the final one in Cardigan) I'm feeling much more comfortable with the weight (I can even just lift the bike now!).