The Jiffy: A Podcast About Upstate New York

Send us a text While on a holiday break in December, I'm sharing this special episode featuring local news and gossip from the Rhinebeck Gazette of the 1800s, available through the Hudson River Valley Heritage Historical Newspapers Archive. I'll be back to normal programming soon. In the meantime, be sure to stock up on your boots, shoes, and rubbers! These news items are from the following issues: Rhinebeck Gazette: Dec. 1, 1857Rhinebeck Gazette, Dec. 8, 1857Rhinebeck Gazette, Dec. 22, 1857...

Send us a text What is the job of a County Clerk? In Ulster County, it can mean managing DMV processes, preserving 300-year-old land records, and keeping the legal paper trail of everyday life in order. But earlier this year, that job landed one local official, Taylor Bruck, inside a national constitutional standoff. Only a few months into his role as Acting County Clerk, Taylor received something unusual: a legal judgment from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, asking him to accept and proc...

Send us a text Sometimes things get too stressful here at The Jiffy, a podcast about upstate New York that really takes you places. And when this happens, I lace up my hiking boots and guide you on a restful Sleep Hike, where I do the hiking, while you do the sleeping. I've been told that my methods could use some training, so in this episode we visit Anna Yang and Alex Artymiak, the co-founders of Empty Space. Empty Space is a sound studio in Old Chatham, New York, with ancient singing bowls...

Send us a text It’s a brisk October afternoon in Kingston, New York, for the final game of the Vintage Base Ball 2025 season between the Kingston Guards and the Ulster Nine. We're at Herzog Field, beside the Catskill Mountain Railroad Station and the Hannaford parking lot, to watch two teams play baseball by 1864 rules. From “ballists” and “muffins” to hand-caught fly balls and gentlemanly arbitration, this episode dives into the language, spirit, and spectacle of vintage base ball cult...

Send us a text It’s peak leaf peeping season, and I'm bringing this episode to you from The Leaf Watch Desk deep in the Woods of the James Cave Instagram Feed. This year’s official Leaf Watch Leaf, as voted by listeners, is the Northern Red Oak, and it’s putting on quite a show. In this episode, I hike the Windham Path in the Great Northern Catskills with Francis X. Driscoll, a 12-year veteran “leaf spotter” for I LOVE NY’s Fall Foliage Report. Together, we talk about how New York’s iconic fa...