Cidiot

Welcome to Season 6 of Cidiot®! I'm excited to talk about 700,000 acre-big Catskill Park, "America's First Wilderness," with Ryan Penny, owner of Camp Catskill in Tannersville, NY.  In two parts, we'll cover what drew Ryan to the Catskills, about starting his store in Tannersville, spotting a cidiot, and about Catskill Park, including his four favorite spots "inside the blue line." We also ge...

Cidiot closes out Season 5—the show's biggest yet—with reflections on what worked and what's ahead. Thank you for making Cidiot one of the Hudson Valley's biggest and most loved shows. Stay warm catching up on past episodes and watching the Cidiot anthem video, available here , via Cidiot.com, and on YouTube. Thank you for our sponsors and partners this season, including El Sueco and the Don , Gre...

I love color. I’m fascinated by color. I have questions. Amy Krane is an architectural color consultant as well as a real estate broker. And get this: she has her own podcast on color called Let’s Talk (Paint) Color with colleague Amy Woolf. On this episode in three fun, chatty parts, Amy and I talk about her journey upstate (she’s not a newbie) and then becoming a color consultant and then into m...

Meet a couple who makes a leap, not just in moving upstate, but by restoring a motel. Cidiot talks to Kendra Sinclair and Jared Vengrin who have just opened the Reclaimed Motel in Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York.  Jared grew up here, met Kendra in college and now they’ve together been lovingly updating this motel along the Albany Post Road with a view of the Catskills. With fantasies of...

It seemed like a giant beehive was in our willow. Or was it? What should a cidiot do anyway? This episode is about the little critters that fill our lives—and our properties—in the Hudson Valley. Bees, wasps, bats, snakes, spiders, chipmunks, frogs, beavers—and more. Tune in for an education and a giggle. Links: Beaverland , Leila Philip (new book!) Beekeeping in the Hudson Valley and Catskills Ep...

Let's talk more broadly about this movement to the country and the experience for each of us. I speak to artist and photographer Alissa Hessler, founder of Urban Exodus , a project and podcast. She is also author of Ditch The City and Go Country: How to Master the Art of Rural Life From a Former City Dweller, which is how I first found out about her. You can already tell she's a role model for me....

When you think of art in the Hudson Valley, your head probably goes to the Hudson Valley School and the river, mountains and landscapes of Thomas Cole and Frederick Edwin Church. You know, dead old white men. Anne Sanger runs the Pinkwater Gallery in uptown Kingston. She’s an artist and her gallery focuses on women artists of the Hudson Valley. We talk about her journey to the Hudson Valley, takin...

In a special cross-over in honor of International Podcast Day, Cidiot talks to this year’s winner of the Chronogrammie for regional podcast (we got runner-up!) Brett of Kaatscast podcast. It’s no wonder he won. A pro in audio with a very handsome voice and a public radio style podcast, Brett has recording more than 60 episodes of Kaatscast as well as audiobooks and driving tours of the Catskills.&...

If you love books, you’ll love this episode. Cidiot gets local, pro recommendations from Oblong Books in Millerton and Rhinebeck, The Chatham Bookstore in Chatham, Rough Draft Bar & Books in Kingston, and several Cidiot listeners. Links here and on the episode page on Cidiot.com Books mentioned: One Hundred Miles From Manhattan , Guillermo Fesser (memoir) The Rural Life, Verlyn Klinkenborg (me...

A big part of why we love the Hudson Valley and Catskills is because of the farms and the animals. In this awesome, moving, eye-opening, and hilarious episode, you’ll meet the fabulous Kathy Stevens and hear how Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties got started and its mission. You’ll learn about Noodles, a blind horse named Buddy, and a cow named Tucker, what Kathy calls 'random acts of callous...

Super-short episode today while Cidiot prepares for a big, big, big fall sprint of shows starting September. Very excited and a new sponsor coming too.  Get on the free Cidiot newsletter to not miss a thing !  Cidiot Anthem (Audio only): Apple Music , Spotify , Soundcloud   Cidiot Anthem (Video): YouTube Plan ahead for fall with the Cidiot Guide to 2022 Fall Festivals on t...

Four years since the show debuted! What a good time for a State of the Cidiot . In this special episode, Mat reflects on what Cidiot has accomplished so far along with birthday messages from several listeners, including Mark, Katie, Allison, Irwin, Adam—and of course superfan Leslie, Mat's mom.  Thanks for supporting and enjoying Cidiot, the award-winning podcast about life in the Hudson...

Is there an equivalent for cidiots in Maine? Yes, there is! In fact, Mainers have their own dictionary of phrases, which I was excited to learn on our two-week vacation. It got me thinking about doing nothing and doing everything. I'll share my update on our to-do list, and Robinson Greig will send in an update from Greig Farm .   Sign up for the Cidiot newsletter for free. Other links: Discov...

Newburgh is one of the oldest towns in New York State and frequently talked about as a city coming around. Cidiot spoke to Diane Parisella, who with her business partner Lisa Morgan, own Designed Grind Cafe at the Newburgh Mall and started The Newburgh Market , held on Sundays from April through the end of October in the mall parking lot 10 am-3 pm. Hear about the market, their business, what'...

I asked our new sponsors at Taconic Toastmasters Club to help me be a better presenter on air for you. They went through a few of my episodes and tell me what I'm doing right—and maybe could be better. I'm a believer in self-improvement and I'll take a few tips wherever I can get them. Including about owls. Want to develop and polish communication and leadership skills in a fun, friend...

Let's go further north. Health. History. Horses. And culture. Cidiot has a one-on-one conversation with Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). You’ll hear about Elizabeth’s journey to leading SPAC, her discovery and full on love of Saratoga, what’s on this season, from jazz to the ballet — plus a delicious innovation “Choreographer’s Feast “ — dancers do...

It's strawberry season! Yes, I can't eat them sadly, but you probably can happily. In this special episode, breaking from our usual schedule, hear directly from Robinson Greig at Greig Farm on best practices of what to look for and how to pick them.  Thanks for listening to Cidiot, the award-winning podcast about moving to the Hudson Valley, Catskills, and Berkshires. Subscribe to the news...

Pride starts early in June across the Hudson Valley, Catskills and Berkshires. This episode I talk to Osun Zotique, executive director of OutHudson and the co-grand marshal of Hudson Pride. If you’re following the news, you may have also seen that Osun just announced a historic run for congress to represent the new 19th district. To their knowledge, Osun is the first trans non-binary candidate to...

Is it a chore or a passion? This episode of Cidiot we go through seasonal to-do lists, from Mat, from listeners—and from a special guest Robinson Greig of Greig Farm . No one has a longer—or more daunting list—than a farmer.  If updating your kitchen, bathrooms and pantry is on your to-do list (it's on ours!), then you're in luck since a new sponsor of Cidiot is Hudson Valley Kitchen Design C...

Some of the most important news is local. Mat interviews Emily Sachar, publisher and editor of The Daily Catch. She shares her journey from a newspaper reporter (including an internship under Bob Woodward at The Washington Post ), to an art historian and then starting The Daily Catch in Red Hook, NY . We hear about the stories of which she's proudest, behind the scenes of the Daily Catch's...

The Chronogrammies weren't always reader's choice, but luckily they are now. This episode, Mat reviews Chronogram magazine's 3rd Annual Chronogrammies finalists category by category with his picks for your vote—and why. From Arts & Entertainment and Retail to Nature & Outdoors, Shelter, Health & Wellness, and even People. You'll hear his top picks including Adams Fairacre Farms, Ashoka...

Whether you consider cottage core a movement or a stylish trend, it’s a connection to the past. I talk about what it means to me, including its form in Jello-molds. I also talk to Jeremy Franson and Sandra Franson, who run Comfort & Joy - Family Heritage for Today . We talk about their connection to the Hudson Valley, visiting Grammy Joy in Rhinebeck (they called it “Regular Town”), living on...

This episode is about managing stress and the proven science of the great outdoors being good for you. I also talk to Allison Chawla, host of Talk to Allison on Radio Free Rhinecliff as well as a psychotherapist, healer, and coach. We talk about change, giving up what is comfortable, about the artistic hamlet of Rhinecliff, parenting, moving up here from the city, newfound diversity, foraging—and...

Cidiot is about being new in and acclimating to country life. So what happens if you, say, move to south Florida for a few months and try to fit in there. In this special episode, you'll find out. Mat shares his eight observations comparing life in Florida to the Hudson Valley, including a guest voice: his brother-in-law's brother-in-law Irwin Levy, who is active in the East Hampton Trails...

Maybe you’ve seen the t-shirt. Maybe you own it. I do. “Upstate & Chill” is a trademark saying from Hamilton & Adams , a cool and beloved retailer for men and women in Kingston, NY. For me, it perfectly captures the spirit of moving to the Hudson Valley so much so that it’s a lyric in our Cidiot anthem. In this second episode of Season 5, I interview Andrew Addotta of Hamilton & Adams...