Deep in the Black Dirt

By Carrie Jacobson
It was great to paint with old friends and new on Sunday, with the plein-air group from the Wallkill River School. We painted at Scheuermann Farms in Warwick, a gorgeous place that, like all the Pine Island farms, was hit tremendously hard by Tropical Storm Irene.

Usually flush with pumpkins, Scheuermann Farms has had to bring them in from Canada. Few onions survived the flood; fewer potatoes made it through. But the pumpkins are beautiful, the farm has a fantastic collection of fascinatingly shaped gourds, and it is a beautiful place.

I got to the area early and started a large painting before moving down to the farm to do my demonstration. That big painting, 18×36, I did on a bluff overlooking one of the farms up the road; I am hoping to finish it here this week.

The Black Dirt region is one of the most beautiful around, in my mind. I love painting skies, and here you have fields, and lines, and greenery and some of the biggest skies you’ll see.

Don’t forget about the Paradise City Arts Festival this weekend in Northampton, Mass. I will be in the Morgan Barn II, Booth 407.

P.S. Those black dots on the painting are bugs. They can be removed when the paint is dry. They’re not birds.

By Michael Kaufman

The June issue of Car & Travel, published by the New York branch of the American Automobile Association (AAA) arrived this week featuring an article titled “Our State’s Three Dream Drives.” Listed among the top three “attractive escapes … . within reach of a fill-up or two” is Orange County’s own Pulaski Highway. The article by author/photographer Jeff Heilman is accompanied by a full-page photo of a Black Dirt farm in Pine Island.

The magazine reaches tens of thousands of readers in the five boroughs of New York City, as well as Westchester, Long Island, Sullivan, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie and Herkimer counties, and parts of Lewis, Madison and Oneida counties.  However, the article clearly targets those who reside in the New York metropolitan area.

“For a remarkable country experience some 55 miles from midtown Manhattan, head to Warwick …. and sample the beauty of the surrounding Black Dirt Region,” begins Heilman.  He describes an “agricultural Eden, backed by twin mountains Adam and Eve …” I hadn’t expected to learn anything from the article but I never knew the mountains’ names before.

I love the next sentence: “Stretching out either side of the Pulaski Hwy. (Rte. 6), this deep sea of millennia-old organic decay, redolent with the smell of onions and other crops, including pick-your-own sweet corn and strawberries, intoxicates the senses while whetting the appetite.” Yes, and I would add that the sweet corn at Scheuermann’s Farm  on Little York Road is about as good as it gets anywhere. (Tip for first-time visitors: It is simply pronounced “Sherman.”)

“A host of local purveyors is happy to oblige,” continues Heilman, “such as the Quaker Creek store in tiny Pine Island, a third-generation Polish family-run cured meats and charcuterie emporium beginning life in 1947.” In case you were wondering, charcuterie (pronounced “shar-koo-tuh-rie”) is the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, pâtés, and confit, primarily from pork. I doubt that Bobby Matuszewski and his family think of their world-class kielbasy, beef jerky (try the muscle one), liverwurst, Sobkowiak original sausage and other home-made delights at Quaker Creek as charcuterie …. but it will get the point across to sophisticated Manhattanites used to shopping at Balducci’s: This stuff is good! (Also be sure to take home some home-made pierogi …. and the stuffed mushrooms are to die for.)

“Slake your thirst on varietals and ciders, cordials and liqueurs hand-crafted from local apples, pears and other fruit at the Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, with live music and fruit picking also on the menu,” advises Heilman. (Yes: Doc’s Apple Cider is a treat and the Black Dirt Red is always a reliable table wine.) “Looped by Rte. 94, historic Warwick, nearby Florida and artsy Sugar Loaf are appealing stops for strolling and casual fare, with Applewood Orchards & Winery another welcoming spot for tastings and apple picking.”

To Heilman’s list of thirst-slaking welcoming spots I would add the Demarest Hill Winery on Pine Island Turnpike (aka Grand Street) in Warwick. Owner/ winemaker Francesco Ciummo cheerfully offers generous tastings of a wide array of eminently drinkable if not outstanding red and white wines, sparkling wines, and distilled beverages (including a grappa to delight the stout-hearted).

Heilman concludes, “Following 17A back, don’t miss Bellvale Creamery atop Mt. Peter for delicious ice cream and great views.”  No argument there: I just hope the Noteboom/Buckbee family doesn’t decide to sell to some big corporation. (I still remember when there was one Friendly’s shop in Massachusetts and it had the best home-made ice cream around.)  My favorite new flavors at Bellvale are the Meadow Muffins and Blueberry Cheesecake.

Say, this post is making me hungry. I think I’m about ready to take a dream drive.  But I’ll have to do it later. I have to leave for an appointment in Manhattan now.

Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.