The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
Melissa is a journalist with experience as a reporter and editor, combined with work for nonprofits. As the Explorer's digital editor, she serves as editor of Adirondack Almanack.(com) and helps manage the Explorer's website. When not online, she enjoys hiking, camping and other outdoors activities, and spending time with her husband, their twin daughters, and rescue animals -- two dogs and two cats.
By Melissa Hart
The Hub on the Hill, a food hub/food distribution facility in Essex, has launched an online ordering system. The site — https://hubonthehill.localfoodmarketplace.com/Products — offers local food and products with the added convenience of home delivery, within 100 miles of its location in Essex. (Place orders by Monday and then choose a delivery day.) The project…
By Melissa Hart
Newcomb's business was booming before the pandemic pause. To some, the momentum points to a dream come true.
By Melissa Hart
Author/editor John Davis, of The Rewilding Institute spends a lot of time reading, even when it’s not a pandemic. Davis, who lives in Westport, recently shared a list of books of regional interest and/or environmental bent that he’d suggest to neighbors sheltered at home and looking for new ways to pass the time during COVID-19…
By Melissa Hart
The Adirondack Council awarded 10 micro-grants totaling over $32,000 to local farmers, in an effort to address COVID-19 and climate change. The seven environmental projects being funded by the micro-grant program cover a variety of projects, such as solar-powered refrigeration, storm water runoff management, rotational livestock, grazing, solar-powered fencing and irrigating, super-efficient greenhouses, crop diversification…
By Melissa Hart
Has the pandemic led you to buy more or less locally sourced food? Adirondack Harvest wants to hear from you! Take this short survey to share your thoughts: https://adirondackharvest.com/please-take-our-survey-local-food-and-covid-19-learning-through-experience/
By Melissa Hart
“You want to advance your cause in the Adirondacks? Then temper your idealism with realism.” That’s the advice Paul Schaefer gave a group of students on Earth Day a generation ago. Dave Gibson of Adirondack Wild looks back in this essay on Adirondack Almanack. At the time, Schaefer challenged the students to start at his…
By Melissa Hart
In St. Lawrence County, the greater Clifton-Fine community is facing its own challenges with food access. The region’s newest “food desert” saw the closing of the only area grocery store, the Great American store in Star Lake, at the end of 2019.
By Melissa Hart
The Saranac Lake Farmers Market was one of the first in the region to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, quickly pivoting to an online ordering system (https://tinyurl.com/FarmersParkIt) and curb-side pick up to reduce interactions. Dubbed the “Farmers Park-it,” customers place their orders by Thursday night for pick up from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays…
By Melissa Hart
To address food insecurity, nonprofit AdkAction has teamed up with Hub on the Hill commercial kitchen/local food distributor to put together emergency food packages (EFP) with a week’s worth of locally produced food and ready-to-eat meals. Each EFP contains eggs, bread, apples, healthy snacks, yogurt, greens, granola, soup, and two large trays of frozen entrees.…
By Melissa Hart
Saranac Lake resident Gail Brill wanted to do something to help out during the COVID-19 crisis. So she put her creative skills to work, mobilizing a team of sewers scattered around the Tri-lakes area. They’ve been keeping busy sewing and distributing cloth masks to frontline workers around the region. Read about it in the Adirondack…