North Country Reflections:: On Life and Living in the Foothills and the Valleys

by Neal Burdick (Editor), Maurice Kenny (Editor)

Overview

New York's North Country can be hard to define: the region has solid boundaries on three sides but not on the south, where it mingles with the Adirondack Mountains. The spare and isolated landscape experiences long and harsh winters tempered with bucolic scenery. Small-town life and farming—both traditional and innovative—have found a haven and even thrive. The region plays host to determined, community-oriented people who have traded the financial lure of big cities for the satisfaction of barn raisings, outdoor hockey, quiet hikes and old-fashioned diners. In this collection, residents of the region probe their own lives and experiences with the land in a corner of America that is both demanding and rewarding. Discover their exciting, uplifting and poignant tales.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626191150
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	05/28/2013
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Neal Burdick has been a writer, editor and writing instructor since 1977. He has published essays, reviews, interviews, feature articles, poems and a short story; almost all of the pieces have focused on the Adirondacks. He is a member of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York and the Adirondack Mountain Club. Maurice Kenny has been a writer and teacher all of his life. A National Book Award winner and three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, he is the author of Tekonwatonti: Molly Brant: Poems of War; Backward to Forward; the poetry collection Is Summer This Bear; and many historical and literary essays.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ellen Rocco 5

Introduction 7

The Land

Echoes Beneath the Land Chris Angus 11

The Lure of the St. Lawrence R.L. Cardarelli 17

Night Walk Rick Henry 21

Apples, Sardines and Bullhead Betsy Kepes 27

The North Country Then and Now Gordie Little 35

The People

Raising the Barn John Berbrich 45

Where the Locals Eat Varick Chittenden 49

At the Rink Paul Graham 65

Scattered Notes from the Wonderlands of Hockey Oscar D. Sarmiento 69

Invisible People Jill Vaughan 79

The Flora and the Fauna

Garden Legacy: The Real Dirt Nancy Berbrich 83

Heart Berry Heather Horning 87

Dog Days in the North Country Natalia Rachel Singer 93

The Art of Amish Gardening Betsy Tisdale 105

Afterword. Rivers Neal Burdick 115

About the Editors 119

About Our Contributors 121

About Our Illusttrators 125