.png)
When I turned my car into the driveway of the WJFF radio station in Jeffersonville, I passed the dam that hydropowers the station and squeezed in next to the other cars. Pulling down the visor and sliding open my lighted vanity mirror, I put on some rose-colored lip gloss while I finished listening to the last few minutes of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.
The question of what to wear tickled me. I mean, no one would know if I had brushed my hair, my teeth or if I was still in my jammies. Pushing these facts aside, lip gloss perfectly applied, I followed my host’s instructions from the window above to come in and meet her upstairs.
Barb Demarest has hosted Radio Chatskill for a little over a year, a show that she puts together once a month, a feat that still makes her jittery. And with good reason. She had several segments to play during our hour together -- NPR morning news highlights, sponsor acknowledgments and several interviews she had pre-recorded with various other guests. Add to that the live segment with me – questions, reactions, banter and the tech of weaving it all together.
Barb has a really nice radio voice. Warm and friendly. And she has genuine interest in her subjects. We reviewed her run of show and were able to fit a few new ideas into the flow for the program in between the other interviews. It was a lot of fun to be on Radio Chatskill and also to watch Barb at work at the control panel.
When Barb contacted me through xoxofarmgirl.com, she was interested in the impetus for my original blog, The Pitchfork, and in hearing about places that I like to go to in the Catskills region. We dove in to Farm Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost and Found and Barb asked about new places to explore. Our conversation led us to places new and old and we got lost and found talking about the following folks and hot spots: Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Bryan Cronk Ceramics, Melissa Easton Jewelry, DEAR Shop, Main Street Farm, The Farmhouse Project, Wayside Cider, Table on 10, Solinsky’s, Henning’s Local (and its classes), Cochechton Fire Station, The Outside Institute, Forestburgh Playhouse, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Narrowsburg Proper, The Little Store and other ghosts, Catskill Mountain Honey and bee and pollinator politics, Catskill farms and more. I have so many favorites and more pop up every day. I guess that's what Farm Girl's Guide is for... you can't cover it all on the radio!
Thanks Barb, for inviting me. I hope to come back to chat with you again some day.
Click the PLAY button below to listen to the show. I hope you like it.
XOXO Farm Girl