Grafedie in the Library

April 20, 2026: Panther Mountain

Wonderful 2.72 Mile hike up a local Chestertown trail. The weather was chilly, and at 33~34 degrees the precipitation was like solid rain, not quite hail, not snow. Trail was freshly opened, and well marked with bright new signage that notified hikers to caution at the “Adirondack Wild” area where trail work and tree work was active. It was our second time out in Warren county since our famous Brant Lake Paddle!

August 1, 2025: First day of a two day streak of “Back Outside” Pharaoh Wilderness / Spectacle Lake 1.7 mile hike was just a perfect “get back to wilderness” hike! Well maintained trail through beautiful pine forests with spectalcle lake at the end. There was even a boat (no paddle) for those who dared to venture out. Weather was cooperating at a comfortable 75 degrees, nice breeze at the lake and very few bugs!

August 2, 2025: 6 Mile Brant Lake Paddle

6 miles of steady paddling! No time to think about creepy things that live under the water, or how deep the lake is. We completed the race in 2hours and 2 minutes, and I’m pretty sure that we were the last to finish the race! Not really where we wanted to place, but the important point is we FINISHED! yay for us!

Sept 26, 2023

This trip was the first, and last paddle of the season. The reason it took a while was because we needed to do many summer chores like paint the patio/deck furniture, bring the roses back from the dead (almost) tend to the garden plan a party, but the biggest thing that was holding us back was the fact that we needed to install the Kayak racks onto the new car. Our old faithful jeep of 11+years bit the dust :(.

We chose to paddle two days rather than hike the second day. The weather was absolutely perfect September: cool in the morning, warmer in the afternoon and cool at night. We went to Lower Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks which, in our experience of paddling is by far the most beautiful we have been to yet.

We paddled about 1.5 hours each day circling the large rockface island on the second day. It was a great upper body workout and just long enough to get our “sea legs” back.

Next stop: Winter hiking and snowshoeing. Looking forward to it!

August is the gardeners doldrum month. Not only do the vegetables ripen and thrive, the weeds and landscape have their heyday as well. This morning I had the pleasure of dealing with two Nursery “darlings” that are, in my opinion the stuff that fairy tales are derived…and not the happily ever after type.

I have learned a really helpful strategy from #awaytogarden a few years ago, and it has helped me get through seasons of fairy-tale weeds. Margaret Roach suggests that rather than looking at ALL your thriving weeds, focus on pulling one species and only that. It does help minimizing feeling overwhelmed, and it makes the task manageable, one focal point at a time.

The Two nightmares I dealt with this morning each have their own battle plan to take over the gardens scape once left alone. First there is the deceiving Multiflora Rose. Sold in every nursery as the hardy flowering shrub that blooms all through the summer..It becomes the wicked clothing grabbing, skin snagging, thorny armed creature that surrounded Sleeping Beauty’s castle and entangled Snow White’s aprons as she ran spooked into the dark forest chased by the wicked Queens’ axeman!

Next was the ground cover favorite-pachysandra. You can toss it into the woods, and in a season you will have a lush, green ground cover …well this may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this plant has running roots that pop up yards away from where planted. Not even a barrier will hold it off for long. I must admit that the advantages of having this ground cover win out over having crabgrass, poison ivy or stilt grass! This plant silently huddles in between shrubs, and chokes out anything else that may want to see the light of day, it works slowly, and takes over one foot at a time, lurking beneath the surface like Flotsam and Jetsam. The one advantage this plant gives is that it keeps the soil friable, so in combination with mulch, you have a healthy soil as opposed to hard-packed dry and lifeless.

What I have been battling with ALL season is the infamous/ famous Mugwort. Yes, I am aware that there is a medicinal quality…however, I am not growing that kind of crop, I leave the herbalist to do that because they know what they are doing. It grows via tap root and travel throughout the garden as efficiently as pachysandra. The issue I have with some native wildflowers and shrubs is that they may be great for soil and pollinators, but honestly, I don’t want my garden looking like the side of an interstate road filled with vines that blanket across every living shrub and tree standing. The wood asters, goldenrods and mugworts do just that, they quickly turn a garden to a wilderness woodland scene, but in my opinion in a negative way.

My answer to this issue is to cultivate a few of the views that are important to me, making it look like a Piet Oudolf (..in my dreams lol) landscape, but cut the undesired plants down, scratch desired seeds into the surface and let nature take its coarse. The native plants take care of the soil, the surface gets a chance to germinate seeds, and let the whole process march at its own pace. And we all live happily ever after.