Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

Catskill Farms was building in Barryville long before it became trendy - now the farmer's market sells out in a few hours on a sunny Saturday Morning.

Catskill Farms has been adding great houses in Narrowsburg since 2003 with a big uptick in activity in the last 3 years.

With the Pig Fest, the Eagle Fest, the firework-less July 4th and now a sizable grant from Sullivan Renaissance, Narrowsburg seems like the place to be.

Which makes me wonder if the subtle impact of our homes and the subsequent homeowners is a lot greater than I give them credit for.  And that's saying something since I'm not afraid to say that our homes have a lot of impact.  I think we have 19 homes within a few miles of the town, including Farm 1, 2 & 3, where each day it seemed less likely we were going to make it out of the dangerous infancy of a business.

Now, the only thing to avoid will be a self-inflicted shot in the foot, which is typically par for the course for these small towns and their small town politics. Provincial charm is nice up to a point, and typically that point is where it impacts your wallet.

This inspired Cottage on Glasco Turnpike, 5 miles from downtown Woodstock, 7 miles from Saugerties is just getting started.  A very challenging building lot, but now that we have it figured out, well worth the effort of all the engineers, inspectors, surveyors and the like to make it happen.

And we do that a lot - 'making it happen' - with all the things that can come in the way of the finish line, or actually the starting line, Catskill Farms has a great record of helping families figure out what they want, and then the strategy to make it happen.  It's not easy, but our end to end integrated approach leaves few persons swallowed up by all the seams and crevices inherent in the process.

Cottage 40, in Bearsville, is inspired by Matthew and Sarah's Cottage 36 in Narrowsburg, and now it appears we will be doing a deal on Cottage 43 in Saugerties on a house that is similar.  It's always a double-edged sword bitter-sweet pill for our clients that pioneer a new path or design - it's quite the compliment to have persons with good taste choose a design you had a hand in designing, specially since these new folks are typically quite discerning.  But at the same time, some of the absolute purity is lost when we do a design more than once, but in the end it's the nature of the beast, and typically, the similarities are basically the structure, with the finishes and design approach in general being fresh and unique onto the new persons aesthetic.

Cottage 2 is Cottage 6 is Cottage 18 is Cottage 22 is Cottage 38 is Cottage 41.  Little bigger, little smaller, darker, lighter, bigger porch, finished basement, red, brown, natural, blue.

This 3 bedroom 2 bath home has been a winner since it was built, inspiring a few families to pull the trigger (and I don't even think I can give all of the credit the subtle decorating humor of Cottage 36 owners).  It's just a hot little house with a lot of punch.

In this home the cabiny/stain approach was taken a step further than the previous version, with the great room ceiling and the upstairs bedrooms and bath getting the 'rustic' 'woodsy' treatment.

It's a good design and we spent a few hours nailing it down and making it work.  That's Carl, from Glasco Cottage fame, checking out what we are doing at Cottage 40 and the Craftsman over in Saugerties, either for inspiration or in order to continually gauge our professionally.  I'm fine with either.  The more people see us in action, be through the blog or in real life, the more they believe they can pull this 'build the perfect little house' thing off.

Tito the painter stays right with us, which is quite the accomplishment considering how many homes we have going at any point.  While we have 2 framing crews and several masons and excavators we only have one painter, and he's good at what he does.

The Thing about the Herman Miller Eames Lounger is its arrogance.  I have one in my office, on my polished concrete floor, underneath my vintage typewriter collection.  It's comfy, but the angle is not adjustable - these designers in the 1950's just decided they knew what was best, and how to get most comfortable in a seated position to read or relax.  And they designed and marketed a chair based on their feeling that they knew best.

I feel the same way - at this point, we know how keep our clients aligned for success, and we are very serious they keep the chair in the right position.

The River Distorter has struck again with its multi-year propaganda campaign concerning anything related gas drilling.  If it can be spun, they spin it.  If it doesn't match the pre-set Fox News-like filter criteria, they can omit it.  In fact, what they don't choose to report is actually where they do the most harm.

Anyways, a letter to the editor boldly lumps me in with the 'fanatical pro-gas drillers' and typically they wouldn't allow something like this to run, but I guess they're mad cause I've been saying their newspaper isn't really a newspaper but actually a wholly- propagandist rag that has no regard for anything other than their righteousness.

But just to clarify matters - I'm not a fanatical pro-gas guy, but it's pretty clear that if you aren't going to use the gas under our feet, and you continue your use of fossil fuels without alteration, then you are a 'pro-foreign energy' person - that's where the energy comes from duh.  I'm not sure why that simple piece of logical would get Laurie McFadden's panties all tied up in a knot and motivate her to write a mean libelous letter about me.

It really hurts my feelings.

It's Fair season, and we happen to have a real good one real close over outside of Honesdale PA, celebrating its 150th yr.  Wayne County Fair with funnel cakes, cotton candy, sausage sandwiches and milkshakes.

Here's the Mayberry squad car, circa 1955.

And the quintessential fair stand above.

So I'm sitting on my porch Saturday morning killing some time before my 10am meeting with John and Sidney about building a home up near Catskill, and I realize I've ventured into some national geographic oasis of activity.  You really don't understand the foundation to some of those cliches out there until you experience them -

Take for instance, 'busy as a beehive' - jeez, as I was sitting there I was hearing this low drum murmur and after awhile I got up to check it out and christ there is this huge wasps nest right under the eave of my porch roof.  And there was a lot of activity around it ( and now I look out the window to see a turkey, its child, and a squirrel running around - and yesterday when I went to pick Lucas up, there was a deer in broad daylight standing in the front yard, all nonchalant-like - its absurd at times)

And then below it is this big ass spider web -

With a big ass spider -

And wouldn't you know it, a wasp gets caught in the web,

We it exhausts itself trying to break free...

and we can't forget about the robin's nest and 5 chirping babies...

and this is literally within a 10' foot area of my front porch.

So Wayne and George from the Bank and Eric from the Insurance company and I set out Friday afternoon for a round of gold at Woodloch Pines, quite a nice well-tended course.  We played for some money on the back 9.  I had a $45 exposure, and maxed that exposure out by the 18th, but then George and Wayne didn't collect (figure they already have enough of my money) which always makes me reflect on what's wrong with me, since I definitely would have collected if I was on top of the stroke/hole count.

Then Micah, son of Heather of Micro 4 fame and their french speaking friend from France and Lucas were out in the woods prior to going to the fair.

Then off to the fair, stopping first at the Poultry barn for some pedigreed roosters.  Don't believe the rumors that roosters just crow at the crack of dawn - from my experience, they crow all day long and they just get lucky that it coincides with morning time.

Lucas was doing the fair bare-chested.

Pigs in a Blanket.

Pig Pen.

3 shirtless boys hugging near the sheep barn.  Why, no one really knew.

2 cows resting.

Pig's Butt.

Goat and Sheep barn.

Llama area.  Learned that there are 2 types of llamas, defined by the genetic length of their hair.

Good rides for a small fair.  Lucas didn't meet the height requirement for most, though I argued his puffed out country curly hair put him over the limit.

Boys like their cars.

Not only great hats, but awesome license plates behind them.

Two dudes at the fair.

A sign that speaks for itself.

Poor puppies.  Seriously like 10 days of being manhandled by kids, dropped, squeezed, petted, pulled, etc...

3 boys and their dogs.

Back at home with Mr Big Hair (talk to his mom).

And the owner of Catskill Farms, way too sexy for his John Deere hat (I know, what an asshole!!)

Gotta get up early on Sunday, be in Bearsville outside of Woodstock by 11 to meet some prospective customers, then to Saugerties by 1 to meet some possible customers then back to my apartment I keep in Saugerties to watch the Bed Race down Partition Street, then meet up with the owner Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty for pizza around 5ish.  Got my deal closer Lucas in tow, so should be a real profitable Sunday afternoon.