A masked man forced his way into a house on Stone Fort Road in Kortright in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning, assaulted its elderly residents, and stole cash before fleeing on foot, police say.

According to a release from the New York State Police, the man broke into the house around 2am, when the occupants were asleep. Police say he assaulted the victims -- ages 80 and 81 -- by striking them with a long gun. 

State police are looking for information about any cars that were parked on State Route 23 or Stone Fort Road in the early morning on Thursday, April 25. Anyone with information about the case should contact the New York State Police Oneonta Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 607-432-3211.

Photo by Dan Century of cicadamania.com. Published under Creative Commons license.

Brood II: It sounds like a low-budget horror movie. But it's real, and it's poised to engulf the East Coast from Georgia to Connecticut, an onslaught of giant bugs that have lain dormant underground for the last 17 years.

The periodical cicada is the Methuselah of insects, spending long years underground in larval form before emerging en masse in tremendous numbers. Groups of 13-year or 17-year periodical cicadas that emerge together are known as 'broods,' and New York State is home to several of them, along with several species of annual cicadas that emerge every year. The last mass cicada emergence in New York, of the 17-year Brood XIV, happened in 2008.   Read more

Above: We're giving away these seeds and a gift membership to the Hudson Valley Seed Library. Details for how to get them at the bottom of this post. 

The sun is shining, the birds are signing, and gardeners across the Catskills are itching to get their fingers in the dirt. 

Want to know where you can get your knees dirty this spring? We're tracking public garden events and projects across the Catskills. Help us list them all by posting a comment on this post via Facebook or by emailing julia.reischel@watershedpost.com with your garden project's info. We're also giving away some gardener goodies from the Hudson Valley Seed Library, so read on.

CATSKILLS COMMUNITY GARDEN EVENTS 

Today at 1pm, the Andes Community Garden opens with tours and seed sales, and an invitation to community members to sign up for a 4-x-8-foot plot this summer. The Daily Star wrote a whole article about the planned festivities. 

This Saturday, April 27, in Hobart is the Hobart Annual Seed Sale & Spring Gardening Event at the Hobart Community Center from 10am to 3pm. The seeds are Non-GMO & Organic with proceeds benefiting Project Independence. According to Nicole Day Gray, who is helping organize the event, there will be "lots of kids activities, a garden book swap (so bring books to trade), a mini farmers' market, gardening advice, garden tools for sale, the Ate O Ate Food Truck, and goats, chevre and milk from Dirty Girl Farm." For more info, email nicole@agriforaging.com. 

This Sunday, April 28, the new Shandaken Community Gardens group is hosting a groundbreaking, and all weekend long a Shokan art studio will be donating partial proceeds from a sale to support the garden. 

Also this Sunday, April 28, the Seeds to Supper workshop series continues at the Pine Hill Community Center Community Garden. Veteran farmers Madalyn Warren and Andrew Messinger help gardeners plant in the center's community garden. 

The village of Fleischmanns is building a community garden next to the park and across from the Village Pool. Raised beds are in the words and plots will be assigned in May, according to the Fleischmanns NY Facebook page. 

The town of Lexington, which is celebrating its 200th birthday this year, is building a Bicentennial Community Garden. 

On May 7, Roxbury Central School will introduce its community garden to the world, according to Farm Catskills. 

On May 11, the village of Margaretville is hosting a day-long GardenFest from 10am to 3pm on Main Street, with vendors and farmers showcasing everything from seeds to adorable baby animals. The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will have it own booth, where you can drop off contributions of perennial herbs, flowers and foliage plants for new gardens to be established at their pond-side property this summer. You can also drop plants off at the HSM Hall, 778 Cemetery Rd., Margaretville, on Saturday, May 25 between 9 a.m. and noon, or earlier in the week – just leave them in the shade near the door. If you can spare some time to help plant them May 25, that would be wonderful! Call Diane at 586-4973 to make other drop-off arrangements.

On May 18th at 9am, the Common Ground Garden Club is going to erect a beautiful gate and arbor entryway for the Andes Rail Trail. They will follow that with native plantings later in May. This is a community project of the club and they are donating most of the funds for the structure and plantings.

The Halcott Community Garden's "A Natural Selection" sale fundraiser of is happening on Sunday, May 26th, 11 am  to 3 pm at the Halcott  Grange. The Halcott Community Garden is now sponsored by The Hudson Valley Seed Project, which donates 10% of online sales by supporters to the garen. To contribute to the garden, use the code "Halcott Community Garden" on the seed library website while you shop. 

The 15th Annual Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Master Gardeners Great Plant Swap and Sale is Saturday, June 1 at the CCEUC Education Center located at 232 Plaza Road in Kingston. Plants to swap can be dropped off that Saturday morning between 9:00am and 10:00am. Swappers return at 11:00am to swap vouchers for plants! At 11:30 the swap will open to the public for sale. 

SEED GIVEAWAY

  Read more

Two Catskill men who allegedly forced their way into a private home in Durham on Sunday have been arrested and charged with burglary.

After an investigation, New York State Police arrested 27-year-old Victor Iamunno and 26-year-old Angel Agosto and charged both with burglary in the first degree, according to an NYSP statement. Iamunno is also charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, and Agosto is charged with petit larceny.

Police say that during the break-in, the two physically assaulted the homeowner and took cash and other personal property.

Iamunno and Agosto were arraigned in the Town of Durham Court before Justice Raymond Kennedy, and remanded to the Greene County Jail without bail. Both are scheduled to reappear on Thursday, April 25 at 3pm in the Town of Durham Court.