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Stone & Thistle Farm

Appalachia & Allegheny Interior Forests Trust T1

Climate Zones: Humid continental climate with warm summers (Köppen Dfb); the Catskill plateau is cooler and snowier than the Hudson Valley, with a shorter growing season.
Regenerative Focus: Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, Regenerative Grazing

About this land node

Grass-fed and pastured meats, farm-to-table dining

Project Title: Stone & Thistle Farm
Ecoregional Location: Allegheny Highlands Forests, Appalachia & Allegheny Interior Forests (NA24)
Local Location: Western Catskills
Political Location: East Meredith, Delaware County, New York, United States

Biodiversity context: The Catskill Park and Forest Preserve protect one of the largest forested landscapes in the Northeast, home to black bear, bobcat, brook trout and northern hardwood forest; small farms in the valleys keep open land and edge habitat within that forest matrix.
Ecological corridors: The Catskill Forest Preserve and river valleys link to the Shawangunk Ridge, the Hudson Valley and the Upper Delaware, forming one of the Northeast's largest forest corridors.
Ecosystem unity: The site lies in the Catskill Mountains at the edge of the Allegheny Highlands Forests ecoregion, a landscape of forested plateaus, deep valleys and small farms in the headwaters of the Delaware, Susquehanna and Hudson river systems.

Climate Zones: Humid continental climate with warm summers (Köppen Dfb); the Catskill plateau is cooler and snowier than the Hudson Valley, with a shorter growing season.
Rainfall patterns: Precipitation is spread evenly through the year with no dry season; late summer and early autumn are slightly wetter, often boosted by thunderstorms and the remnants of tropical storms. Winter precipitation falls as snow, sleet and rain, and spring snowmelt drives peak streamflow in March and April.
Average Rainfall: Approximately 1,100 to 1,300 mm per year, with heavy winter snowfall.
Temperature Extremes: July highs typically reach 25 to 28°C. January lows average around -12°C, and cold snaps below -25°C occur in most winters; frost is possible into late May and from mid-September.
Average Temperature: About 7°C annually, from roughly -6°C in January to 19°C in July.
Watershed: In the western Catskills within the Delaware River watershed (West and East Branch Delaware) or, in Schoharie County, the Schoharie Creek and Mohawk–Hudson system; these are headwater streams feeding major rivers and New York City's reservoirs.

Elevation & slope: Gently rolling lowland and low hills, mostly between roughly 50 and 200 metres above sea level.
Landforms: Dissected plateau of flat-lying sandstone and shale, with rounded mountains, deep stream valleys and glacial till.
Soil Types: Stony, acidic loams formed in glacial till over Devonian sandstone and shale of the Catskill plateau, with better alluvial soils on valley floors along the rivers.
Renewable resource potential: Solar on barn roofs and field margins; composting of manure and crop residue; soil carbon in pasture and cover-cropped fields.

Land Acknowledgements: Stone & Thistle Farm lies within Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape people, whose Munsee-speaking communities lived in the headwaters of the Delaware and Hudson rivers in the Catskill Mountains. We acknowledge the Lenape and their descendants in the Delaware Nation, the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, whose relationship with this land continues.

Regenerative Focus: Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, Regenerative Grazing

Nearest urban centres: Oneonta, Delhi, Cobleskill and Liberty are the nearest towns; Albany is roughly 100 km east and New York City about 200 km southeast.