On Wednesday, Ulster County Deputy Executive Robert Sudlow told the Daily Freeman that the enormous ravine that Tropical Storm Irene cut through Oliverea Road in Shandaken would open to traffic on Friday (today).

You may remember this ravine from our reporting during Irene -- I went there and did some astonished on-the-spot reporting. The ravine was huge -- 30 feet deep and 100 feet wide. 

The Oliverea ravine has cut off residences and businesses from the outside world since August. To get to the Frost Valley YMCA or the Winnisook Club, you could either drive to the ravine and then leave your car behind and walk, or take the long way around -- a huge detour into Sullivan County.

Above: Story Laurie groovin' in the garden. 

Laurie McIntosh didn’t mean to become a musician. The Andes-based artist (full disclosure: she is a Watershed Post advertiser), began her career as a storyteller, spinning tales for kids at schools and libraries around the region. But soon, a guitar and her trademark strong, clear vocals crept into McIntosh’s storytelling repertoire. Now McIntosh is less Mother Goose and more “modern-day troubadour” -- each tale she tells comes with a melody.

Above: Jim Eklund stands before freshly slaughtered beef at the Eklund Processing facility in Stamford. Delaware County officials toured the Catskills' new slaughterhouse on November 30, 2011. Click on any photo to read its caption. Photos by Julia Reischel.

There's a huge demand for local meat in the bustling metropolis a few hours' drive south of us, and yet it's tough for Catskills farmers to sell to it. One of the missing links is access to local slaughterhouses, which have become scarce throughout the Northeast.

Yesterday, Eklund Processing, a slaughterhouse and meat-processing facility in Stamford, NY, took a small step towards bridging the gap between Catskills meat and Manhattan tables when it celebrated the opening of its 5,600 square-foot facility with a tour for local officials and press.

Bill and Jim Eklund, the father-and-son team behind the project, have been talking recently to both local and national audiences about how vital facilities like theirs are to farmers and the rural economy.