Most Recent Podcasts

Ice Carnival 1.8.10

So the Ice Carnival is a social experiment created to distract oneself from the cold and lethargy of the Northeast Winter with festivities. Yes, I'm tired of winter already and am dreaming of Night-Blooming Jasmine and grapefruit laden trees but an Ice Carnival really is fun. In my neighborhood of the Sullivan County Catskills the Rotary Club has been hosting the Ice Carnival for fifty one years. Imagine the delight of hot chocolate against a bright blue sky, the laughter of kids twirling and falling(adults too!) on the ice, dog-sledding and sleigh rides, in addition to the crowning of the Ice Princess. So, as I get ready to put fill my wood-burning stove and settle in for the night in this 7 degree weather I'm remembering the yelping of excited sled dogs and the tall smart mules that amused me even though it's Winter.

Duration: 29:00
Download Ice Carnival 1.8.10

First American Wilderness 1.1.10

This week's road session:
Sabrina discusses the environment with people taking action to protect it for this end of year New Years program. Sabrina speaks with environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy, JR. about water as a most precious resource, the American legacy of the wilderness and his connection to the Catskills. Additionally, she speaks with guests about climate change, Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling and wildlife.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey also joins Sabrina to speak about protecting the environment and gas drilling at the "Barn Fest" Catskill Mountainkeeper event in Beaverkill, NY.

Have you ever looked in to the eyes of a tiny owl or heard that otherworldly hoot at night? I heard the song of an owl last night outside my window that was outlined by the shadow of the evergreens. It's not often that I hear their hooting cry and only once did I see the huge still eyes of a Barn Owl looking at me from the Hemlock tree. I had the delight of having Raptor Rehabilitator, Bill Streeter and Mortimer, a Saw-whett Owl from the Delaware Valley Raptor Center join me at the kitchen table. Thank you Bill for the rescue work that you do and the appreciation and respect for wildlife that you share with us.

As I took a walk through the Liberty woods yesterday I thought about loosing this gorgeous land, these Catskills, the peace and beauty, the wild turkeys, the mink, the blue herons, the muskrats and their amazing pond lodges, the barn owl that hoots hunting at night this time of year, the solitude and mysterious power of my mountain home. What benefit do we gain from the beauty of the natural landscape and are we willing to risk it for... Drilling, property values, neighborhood depreciation, air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, noise and light pollution, health and safety issues, increased crime and traffic congestion, wildlife mortality, loss of green space, aesthetic impacts, catastrophic accidents, lack of evacuation plans and the image of a place, city, neighborhood, home (mine & yours) as a livable location destroyed? Not according to the people joining me in their neighborhoods to protect their home.
Inside the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation public comment hearings in Loch Sheldrake, NY.
Duration: 29:01
Download First American Wilderness 1.1.10

Joan Osborne 12.25.09

This week's road session:
She rocks, sings the blues, she does jazz and even the Grateful Dead. This Kentucky born small-town girl spoke to me in Livingston Manor, NY. Her voice sang out over the Sullivan County Catskills, over the mountains and I understood why many call her, six time Grammy nominee, Joan Osborne, the Queen of Rock. Please join me in celebrating her release, Little Wild One and conversations inside the trailer with Joan Osborne about her music, motherhood, musical influences, the Catskills and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This Christmas edition shares a song from Joan Osborne’s Christmas Album, Christmas Means Love and her story of making it.

Duration: 28:50
Download Joan Osborne 12.25.09

The Big Bang Theory with Simon Singh 5.1.09

Left, The planet Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 8; Right, The planet Earth photographed by Galileo en route to Jupiter (Photos courtesy of NASA).

Speaking with scientist Simon Singh caused a bit of a brain explosion for me in a wonderful way. Parallel universes…

Simon stopped practicing science in his late twenties upon realizing how much he enjoys sharing his knowledge with non-scientists like me and explaining complex theories of existence to us. I have always loved imagining the beginnings of the universe, what was there before consciousness and contemplating ideas like time and what existed before the concept of it and us etc. So, not to confuse you any more let me just say how fun it was speaking with him about his book, Big Bang.

My mind is expanding with mathematical theories (Fibonacci sequences, the Golden Mean, Phyllotaxis, Swarm Theory) and our connection to the patterns we observe in nature. From an interactive site for the mathematical study of plant pattern formation, I learned that the pine cone has 13 visible spirals going one way, eight going the other way and that these numbers are successors in the Fibonacci sequence. This sequence is expressed in numerous things including cells, the chambers of a shell, the curve of waves, the cosmos, the chambers of a heart, the Internet, social networking sites, groups of people, mice, bacteria and so on.


A Cyclone


The Internet

I'm constantly aware of the power and beauty of nature and its patterns as well as my dependence on it; the paradox of it all. I'm thinking about our relationship to the Swarm and the Sequence Theories as we multiply and organize, as we war and as we create, as the glaciers melt and the polar bears die, as our mistakes and loving accumulate. What kind of collective intelligence and network is connecting and empowering every one of us?

Duration: 28:51
Download The Big Bang Theory with Simon Singh 5.1.09

Energy Symposium:Mountaintop Removal & More 4.24.09

The little Beeline and I traveled last spring to the Poconos in Pennsylvania to participate in an Energy Symposium hosted by the Homestead School in Glen Spey, New York. I had never before met the founder of the school, Peter Comstock who also organized this event. Our meeting changed me in numerous ways. Not only was I introduced to the amazingly articulate and engaged students of the school but I met some of the West Virginian heroes fighting the massive energy companies that through Mountaintop Removal are destroying their homes, their health and their communities. What are we doing, Mountaintop Removal? It seems obvious that the framework we have created is killing us and/or our neighbors and our children. Moving from the city to the country has deeply impacted me as I’ve become more aware of the importance of the land, of nature and my dependence on it. My heart broke as I spoke with the West Virginians about the destruction of their lives in coal mining territory and my participation in that devastation. Thank you Brenda and Amber McCoy, Larry Gibson, Jeff Barrie and the kids with an "alternate attitude" from the Green Power Alliance.

After spending the day at the Energy Symposium in PA and being invited by Larry Gibson to his mountaintop home in Kayford, West Virginia, the Homestead School generously decided to hold a school fundraiser so they could sponsor Trailer Talk in West Virginia. Thanks again Pete and the Homestead School for making the journey possible. Please remember that Trailer Talk is always looking for sponsors and every dollar helps keep me on the road, talking with all of you!
Duration: 28:08
Download Energy Symposium:Mountaintop Removal & More 4.24.09

Peeper Pond Walk 4.17.09

This week's road session:

Happy Spring! The wood frogs are croaking, the peepers are beginning their amazing song and we had an amazing maple syrup season in the Northeast. The singing-spring yellow flowers of the Coltsfoot have just burst open and the wild ducks are quacking outside my kitchen windows. I'm back from Los Angeles where I rejuvenated myself, recorded pieces that I'm excited to share with you and had an incredibly fun and generous(because of you) fundraiser. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed towards Trailer Talk.

The little Beeline and Trailer Talk still need a Chariot, a used SUV or even a borrowed vehicle so we can hit the road. The border in Texas and the mountains in West Virginia are calling. The road beckons. Please help!

When the Peeper Frogs begin their chorus of exuberant song I welcome, with great relief spring and its rapid unfolding. After the harshness of this winter the tiny Peepers are the first audible yet invisible proof of life bursting and moving; of the wildlife world outside my windows at my home in Liberty, New York and the satisfaction that I feel knowing that even this little pond with its ephemeral pools sustains a multitude of life that I call home. Join me for a peeping peeper walk with naturalist Bill Cutler as he introduces me to the wildlife outside my kitchen windows and how important it is to protect these wild places.



Very exciting news and a reminder of the power of "we the people" in protecting our homes and fighting to preserve the environment, the NYRI proposed power lines are not cutting through upstate New York. For a listen to the folks fighting and to the unified voices of neighbors fighting to save their beloved community tune in to, "They're Back, NYRI: No Power Lines 10.3.08" on the this TT page. The struggle to protect our region from Natural Gas Drilling and that seemingly destructive deep down drilling in to that "valuable" Marcellus Shale can now get our full attention.



Thanks to all of you who have contacted me to tell me that you've really enjoyed my reports on 51 Percent. Those pieces will be posted here in the near future. More of those to broadcast soon. Next report will be on Mothers.

Duration: 29:19
Download Peeper Pond Walk 4.17.09

Passover Celebrations 4.10.09

First night of Pesach with the Lew Family at their home just before sundown, S. Fallsburg, NY


Second night of Passover at Rose Brown and Les Mattis's home, Beaverkill, NY

This week's road session:

I joined the Passover celebration at the Lew and the Brown/Mattis homes. I met Pinny and Channah Lew, along with their children during a Trailer Talk at a Farmer's Market in Sullivan County and Pinny advised me for another Trailer Talk with the Hasidic Jewish community in the area. Thanks Pinny for joining me at the kitchen table twice for Trailer Talk and welcoming me to your kitchen table for the first night of the Pesach Seder. Both nights were an incredibly different expression of being Jewish. I welcome Passover with the contemplation and celebration of freedom and thinking about my Jewish identity and how little I know about Jadaism. Pinny beautifully shared the metaphor of Passover and I wore my mother's deep purple coat as I thought of her birth in Germany in 1934, a place that she soon fled with my grandparents. Rose and Les's clebration on the second night is something that I have looked forward to in recent years and I welcomed seeing old friends, sharing our history and laughing lots.

Please join us for the meals...
Duration: 28:57
Download Passover Celebrations 4.10.09

Maple Syrup Season 4.3.09

This week's road session:

It’s spring, okay very early spring in the Northeast and the first sign signaling the end of wintertime in New York State is Maple Syrup Season! In my Sullivan County neighborhood the robin’s are busily darting about, the blue heron is fishing on my pond, the wild ducks are stopping over looking for a nesting place and the tree rhododendrons have uncurled their leaves. This year the conditions are perfect (warm days and cool nights make the sap run) for a bountiful maple syrup season. I went to the Muthig family farm in Parksville, New York for maple syrup weekend and learned about the process of tapping the sugar maples for sap and making delicious maple syrup. I spoke with the Muthig family and others about spring, maple syrup and the mysteries of the sap. Join in for this conversation about maple syrup facts and more.

I'm dreaming of maple candies, that gogeous sugar maple tree, panckaes, warm weather, oatmeal, the American Maple Museum...
Duration: 29:28
Download Maple Syrup Season 4.3.09