Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast

The Nuance of Knotweed and Invasive Species with Hudsonia's Erik Kiviat

“Invasive species” has become one of the most charged phrases in environmental discourse — but what if the term itself obscures more than it reveals? In this episode, Bre

Driven to Build: The Story Behind the Catskill Mountain Foundation

"Close your eyes when you roll through town and open them when you get to the driveway," is essentially how Peter and Sarah Finn jokingly welcomed friends to their Hunter

A Fly Fisher’s Revelations: Nick Lyons and Judy Van Put on Ed’s Final Book

Ed Van Put spent more than fifty years studying, fishing, and protecting Catskill waters — and in the process became one of the region’s most respected fly fishers and fi

Gunpowder, Greywacke, and Gin at Skillers Mountaintop Distillery

At a Fleischmanns street fair, a bottle with a bright red label and bold white type — Station Navy Strength Gin — stops Brett at the Skillers booth. Owner James Rooney po

Shandaken Theatrical Society: Fifty Years at the Phoenicia Playhouse

The Shandaken Theatrical Society turns 50 this year, and its home stage — the Phoenicia Playhouse — has a history that stretches back even further. Built in 1887 as a lod

Revolution's Last Stand: Calico Rebellion and the Catskills Anti-Rent War

In 1845, a feudal land system that had survived the American Revolution finally met its match in the hills above Andes, New York — and the clash left a county undersherif

The Piano Performance Museum: Hearing History in Hunter

What did Beethoven's piano actually sound like? At the Catskill Mountain Foundation's Piano Performance Museum in Hunter, New York, you don't have to wonder — you can sit

Little Spaghetti Noodles: The Secret Life of the American Eel

Every spring, something remarkable happens in the tidal waters of Black Creek in Esopus, New York: tiny, translucent eels — just an inch and a half long and barely the we

Heather Houskeeper, the Botanical Hiker: Plants, Trails, and Belonging

Kaatscast walks a stretch of the Finger Lakes Trail in Delaware Wild Forest with Heather Houskeeper — herbalist, long-distance hiker, author, and founder of the School of

Extra Edition: Kaaterskill Clove at a Crossroads

The Catskill Park's most visited corridor — Kaaterskill Falls and the Kaaterskill Clove area along Route 23A — may be heading for a major management overhaul. In this ext

Going With the Flow: Dany Davis, Catskill Streams, and the Long Way Home

After nearly 30 years wading Catskill streams, Dany Davis has learned that rivers don't just carry water — they carry time, memory, and if you're paying close enough atte

Pine Hill Community Center: 25 Years of Showing Up for Each Other

For a hamlet of just a few hundred people, Pine Hill punches well above its weight. This week, Brett Barry visits the Pine Hill Community Center to mark its 25th annivers

Rooted in the Forest: Anna Plattner and Justin Wexler of Wild Hudson Valley

Brett Barry visits Anna Plattner and Justin Wexler at their 95-acre forest farm in Cairo, New York, home base of Wild Hudson Valley — an educational organization dedicate

The Last Mile: Saving Pine Hill's Wellington Hotel

In this episode, host Brett Barry joins Jan Jaffe, board president of Wellington Blueberry LLC, outside the shuttered Wellington Hotel on Main Street in Pine Hill, New Yo

Hoppy Quick: Carving Bears and Living at a Higher Frequency

Hoppy Quick has been chainsaw carving bears in the Catskills since 1979 — but he'll tell you he's not an artist. He's a spiritual being who found himself through the bear

Songs from the Woods: Steve Koester of Two Dark Birds

Singer‑songwriter Steve Koester, the creative force behind Two Dark Birds, joins Brett in the Kaatscast studio for a deep, generous conversation about songwriting, place,

Tasting Italy with Pogliani Select, Purveyors of Olive Oil & Balsamic

In this episode, we visit Pogliani Select, purveyors of artisanal, estate‑grown olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars sourced directly from small family farms across Ital

Casting Stories: Nick Lyons on Fishing and Writing

In this special long‑form conversation, Brett Barry sits down with legendary angler‑writer and publisher Nick Lyons, now 93, whose life has been shaped by water, words, a

Small Town Papers, Big Digital Archive: NYS Historic Newsapers

New York State Historic Newspapers Project with Chuck Henry Episode Overview Dive into the largest state newspaper archive in the country! Chuck Henry, Project Lead for

Prescribed Fire 🔥 for Forest Health and Biodiversity

Prescribed Fire in the Catskills: Restoring a Lost Tool In this episode, Brett sits down once again with Ryan Trapani, Director of Forest Services at the Catskill Forest