It’s our historic first Jiffy of all time!

This is The Jiffy, the newsletter for the James Instagram Feed!

This is the place for more James Cave Instagram Feed content, delivered right into your cozy inbox. I didn’t really like the old name for this newsletter, so I asked my wife, Jess, for her thoughts on my new shortlist of replacement names (The Brand Opportunity; Out On A Limb; The Jim-Jam).

She didn’t like those and supplied The Jiffy, “because it’s the newsletter for the James Instagram Feed.” I loved it! And when I eventually take the James Cave Instagram Feed on the road, all the way over to YouTube, and maybe even over to TikTok someday, “The Jiffy” will still evoke these fun naive days of our Instagram roots, so it works.

I think The Jiffy can really take us places. If I want to start an online store, I can call it The Jiffy-Mart. If I want to organize an awards ceremony, I can and obviously should call them The Jiffies. There is no stopping us!

• Who?

• What?

• Where?

• When?

• Why?

• The Mountainous Month

• The Treasury of the True

• The Jiffies

• Finally, a Poll

This month’s centerfold is Al Roker!

Who?

I’m James, a (recovering?) brand-storyteller for a Big Tech Media Company and journalist with imposter syndrome. I learned a lot about working in the ads side at Yahoo as the global editorial director for its branded content studio, and was an editor in newsrooms before that. But here, I feel weird about calling myself a journalist, because while I’m writing stories I’m also in charge of brand partnerships and sponsored content… Not the most ethical combination. Adding to that conflict of interest, I’m also the head of social media, video producer, copywriter, researcher, executive assistant, intern, and graphic designer, and now head of newsletters, and for some reason I keep adding more roles.

What?

The Jiffy is an extension of the storytelling I focus on through my main channel, Instagram. The James Cave Instagram Feed wouldn’t be anything without Instagram and the community of friend-followers we’ve made there. In some ways, I started with IG because it’s where I already had the most friend-followers, but I also have plans to expand to YouTube soon. A lot of people tell me YouTube is a better fit for this approach to storytelling + has a better rev share model if this could ever become my full-time job. But newsletter first!

My mission for the IG feed extends to this newsletter, which is to tell entertaining, informative, or inspiring stories about the people and places that inspire me and make upstate New York so fun. Sometimes we’ll dig deep into a topic over a series of videos (like my series on farmstead cheese), and sometimes a story might be a one-off profile or feature, or part of a longer series told over the years. Or maybe we’ll do photo essays, or maybe we’ll do a lot of other random things that this newsletter platform, Beehiiv, will let us do with their new features here. Ultimately, I want to know about what it means to be alive in the Hudson Valley in this moment, and share it through social media and this newsletter here.

I have two subscription levels:

• The Jiff-Free free tier, which will always be free and will supply you with newsletters every month. And I also have the:

• J’Fay Supreme subscription level, which will grant you access to the very fanciest of content — travel maps for jaunting, relaxing sleep hikes, exclusive recipes, and other expert advice (not from me, from REAL experts) — all for the low price of $5/month.

Where?

I’m exploring the dubious boundaries of the Hudson Valley region, the Berkshires, New England — pretty much most of the northeast. Let me know if there’s a village, bookstore, or person you want to know more about.

When?

I’m still scaling into this, so I’ll likely publish at the first of the month, and aim for a bi-monthly bonus issue.

Why?

Instagram is fun but I want to build a community of our — rather than Meta’s — very own. A newsletter also opens the door for top secret content for paying subscribers.

Now, behold: February’s centerfold.

On to the content:

The Mountainous Month

January was a big month for us here at the feed: It was our first ever dance with Ms. Corona 😷; we hugged Hank the Miniature Donkey (for good luck, SUPPOSEDLY, not sure why we got Covid…); we launched “Table of Content,” our new series that celebrates local chefs and their beautiful cookbooks; and we survived our first nor’easter of the 2024, The Weather Channel’s “Winter Storm Ember”!

The Treasury of the True

Here’s something very true that I learned this month.

While on a recent trip to Frederic Church’s mysterious riverside mansion known as Olana, it appears that there once lived a whole town’s worth of cows, horses, oxen, beef cattle, mules, donkeys, chickens, pigeons, white geese, and peacocks, and flapping down the halls of his Victorian and Middle-Eastern motifs and Mexican sombreros flew his personal pet owl! He also apparently loved donkeys, and should you venture up the hill one of these days, you might spot Hank the Miniature Donkey, hamming it up for a hug! He’s a special guest there from time to time.

The Jiffies

This is where we highlight outstanding extra-specialness through the Jiffy Awards of Notable Recognition.

🏆 Congratulations to these James Beard Award Semifinalists, representing the Hudson Valley:

• Clare de Boer, Stissing House, Pine Plains, NY

• Doris Choi, Good Night, Woodstock, NY

• Efrén Hernández, Casa Susanna, Leeds, NY

• Shaina Loew-Banayan, Cafe Mutton, Hudson, NY

• Chris Mauricio, Harana Market, Accord, NY

• The DeBruce, Livingston Manor, NY

• Mel The Bakery, Hudson, NY

🏆 Excited to try out Bimi’s new Canteen Club, which launches on Fri, Feb., 9, 2024, to celebrate the Lunar New Year. There will be four of these special dinners throughout the year, each crafted around a theme, to introduce you to new tastes, ideas, and your neighbors! For this dinner, Chef Jesse Curtin will prepare a traditional Chinese feast with a unique spin, and the restaurant and bar will be closed to the public for the evening, with dinner seated communally so that guests can mingle and meet their neighbors. We love making new friends! Follow Bimi’s to stay updated.

🏆 And shout-out to Kiera Wright-Ruiz, longtime friend of the feed and author of the wonderful book, “I Want To Be Spaghetti!” which was featured as an NPR Book of the Day last week! Listen, buy, read!

Finally, a Poll

I need help knowing what kind of newsletter to write for you. If you could take just a few minutes and answer this one-question poll, I would be much obliged, and it will help me know more about the types of stories you're looking for. Thank youuu!!

In the next issue: