NCPR News Staff: Todd Moe, Morning Host and Producer

A newly renovated home in North Creek was donated to the Adirondack Community Housing Trust this week. The housing trust program was formed over the past year with the help of a $1 million state budget allocation from Senator Betty Little. It’s one of about 200 such housing trusts around the country, including the Champlain Housing Trust in Vermont. The trust offers funding for homebuyers in exchange for an agreement to cap the resale price of the house. ACHT Executive Director Alan Hipps told Todd Moe that there’s a growing demand for affordable housing because most people’s income is not increasing at the same rate as home prices. For more information: 518-873-6888.

Hundreds of NCPR listeners and friends gathered at Asgaard Farm in the Champlain Valley for a day of music, art and food last Saturday. It was our UpNorth Music Concert and Artisan Show. Asgaard Farm was the home of artist and political activist Rockwell Kent. The historic farm boasts some of the most scenic and iconic vistas in the Adirondacks - views that are irresistible to artists.

An authentic British wooden bateau is being built on the grounds of Fort Ticonderoga this month. Two stalwarts in the preservation and re-creation of Colonial American traditions, Fort Ticonderoga and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum have collaborated on the project. Bateau were nautical “work horses," used for everything from ferrying troops to hauling supplies and farm animals. The bateau is taking shape under the skilled hands of Dale Henry. His crew is working only with hand tools and using construction techniques that date back to the 18th century. Henry told Todd Moe the boat itself is based on the remains of a bateau raised from the lake floor in 1960.

Keep a close eye on the summer Olympics coverage, not just for the athletes but the art, too. Two large, outdoor sculptures with ties to the Adirondacks are in Beijing’s Olympic Sculpture Park. The stone and metal pieces are two of fifty outdoor sculptures on display. The exhibition aims to promote international cultural links. Stone sculptors John Van Alstine and Caroline Ramersdorfer visited Beijing last year to supervise the start of construction. Both have installed art in galleries and public spaces around the world. This time, they’re among 50 people, 25 from China and 25 from elsewhere, displaying their artwork around Olympic venues. Todd Moe visited their southern Adirondack studio to find out what it's like for artists to make it to the Olympics.

You’re invited to a special centennial celebration at White Pine Camp in the Adirondacks this Sunday. Chances are you’ve passed its driveway along Route 86 between Paul Smiths and Saranac Lake White Pine Camp director Howard Kirschenbaum told Todd Moe that the architecturally unique Adirondack “great camp” served as a summer White House in the 1920’s.

The North Country lost one of its most influential voices for history and preservation this summer. Paul Malo, architect, author and advocate for all things historic and special in the Thousand Islands and the Adirondacks passed away last month in Granby, New York. He was 78. For many years, Malo discovered and documented some of the hidden treasures in the region, from Thousand Island Park on Wellesley Island to Sagamore, an Adirondack great camp. Todd Moe has this remembrance.

It was two years ago that beekeepers began reporting losing 30 to 90 percent of their hives. The phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Nationwide, beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year, compared to 31 percent in 2007. "No bees, no crops," was a common phrase heard earlier this summer at a House Agriculture subcommittee meeting in Washington. Farmers and business owners say food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved. But that devastating illness, called CCD, hasn’t affected North Country hives as much as other parts of the country, although it has made an appearance. Todd Moe spoke to a couple of beekeepers who are expecting a good honey harvest this year.

Music and mystery come together at the North Creek Depot Museum this Saturday. The historic depot is a Teddy Roosevelt National Historic Site. It’s the place where Roosevelt learned of the death of President McKinley and his own succession to the presidency in 1901. Saturday’s event will raise money for on-going restoration of the depot. Todd Moe spoke with Susan Murante, one of the organizers of the mystery train ride.

A number of communities across the North Country and New England are celebrating the contributions of French-speaking immigrants from Quebec to the cultural life of the region this summer. Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, The Vermont Folklife Center and the RISCA Folk Arts Program are hosting a Franco-American Homecoming this month in Plattsburgh and Tupper Lake. The events will include Quebecois music, art and food. Todd Moe talks with TAUNY Executive Director Jill Breit about the cultural exchange project.

Our monthly arts round-up Open Studio is on the road, broadcasting live from Keene Central School in Keene Valley, NY. Fiddler John Kirk and guitarist Trish Miller play traditional and original music, Chase Twichell shares poetry and conversation, and more.