The Boondocks blog, No. 70 for the week starting May 26, 2008.
Internet Service to Rural Areas in Schoharie County Mulled
Truckers Upset As New York Governor Bans Trash Haulers from Back Roads
With Migrant Workers in Short Supply, a Farmer Looks to Machines
Looking Toward the Future Adirondacks
Three Interesting Things About Vermont
Some Farms Outsourced to Mexico
With Gas Costs Rising, Farmers Take to Mules
Iowa Farmers Cling to Springtime Planting Ritual
At Cooper-Hewitt, Designers Teach Glass New Tricks
Suddenly, Ricotta’s A Big Cheese
Higher Gas Prices Lower Exurban Home Values
For Texas Farmers, Production Costs Are Spiraling Along With Crop Prices
Hemp Bill Now on Governor's Desk
Rising Energy Prices Spur Gas Leasing Among Landowners Who Don't Know How to Get Best Deal
Authorities Investigate Case of Stolen Mower
Proposal for Burning Ban Criticized By Rensselaer County
Bethlehem Man Complains About Seeing Dirt on Town Land
Lyme Disease Gets a Serious Look
DOH Ticks Off Ways to Avoid Lyme Disease
Natural Gas Leases Are Topic of Cobelskill Forum
Assembly Passes Ban On Under-18 Riding in Beds of Pickup Trucks
The Sheepherder's Ball: Hidden Basque Kitchens
Meeting Examines Leasing Rights for Gas Drilling
Letter from Langdon: Gird Up for the Farm Olympics
Energy looks at high energy prices and our future.
Enviroman looks at man and the environment.
Hayseeds looks at politics and life in our nation.
Individual looks at myself and how I'm changing
Outblog is all about my outdoor experiences.
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
From the Daily Gazette reports that parts of Schoharie County un-served or under-served by high speed internet may soon be getting it.
SCHOHARIE COUNTY — The head of a Syracuse-based company told county supervisors Friday he can provide a new high-speed Internet and telephone service to rural customers throughout the county by the end of next year.
“Our technology uses the existing electric grid,” said Carmen N. Branca Jr., president of New Visions Powerline Communications.
The system, starting at $28.95 per month per subscriber, is already being hooked up in some Syracuse area suburbs in conjunction with National Grid and the village of Solvay municipal power company, according to Branca.
Internet over electrical wires seems like a promising solution that could be a low cost way of bringing Internet to rural areas, without having to lay new fiber optics. In a place like Schoharie County, population 32,277 with 83% living in rural areas, it probably makes a lot of sense.
Read Internet Service to Rural Areas Mulled in the Daily Gazette.
From the Landline Truckers Magazine:
New York trash haulers struggling to eke out a living as high fuel prices continue to punish their bottom lines have been dealt another blow – this time by Gov. David Paterson.
Paterson announced at a press conference on Monday, May 12, in Skaneateles, NY, that trash haulers will no longer be allowed to take the back roads through upstate New York. Instead, truckers will be required to stay on the state’s major interstates as they travel to landfills in upstate New York.
The state’s Department of Transportation has until June 1 to come up with a plan to set routes and procedures for policing truck traffic on back roads in upstate New York, including state routes 79, 89 and 41, and also on U.S. Route 20.
The new regulations will require trash haulers to use the New York Thruway and other highways, while municipal and state police will patrol these back roads. According to the regulations, companies who fail to comply will be fined.
Paterson announced the new regulation by way of an executive order, which means he doesn’t need the approval of the state’s legislature.
(Thanks to NYCO for the link.)
Read Truckers Upset As New York Governor Bans Trash Haulers from Back Roads in Landline Magazine.
The New York Times noted the changes in the labor market and the impact on farms across our state.
Scores of Jim Bittner’s cherry trees are now just heaps of roots and sticks, piled in his fields here along Route 18. Some of the branches lying on the ground are dotted with small blossoms, the season’s earliest evidence that sweet cherries were on their way. But for Mr. Bittner, having sweet cherries would have meant hiring someone to prune the trees and harvest the fruit, and he was not sure that he could do it this year. So he cut his trees down.
“We always assumed we could find the labor we would need,” said Mr. Bittner, who has managed Singer Farms since 1991. “We’re not making that assumption anymore.”
Mr. Bittner said he was planning to grow blueberries, or tart cherries for use in pies, because those crops could be harvested by machine and did not require migrant workers.
Others managing the fields and dairies of western New York State are starting to make the same calculation. For the last several years, crackdowns on illegal immigrants and the lack of comprehensive immigration reform have increased anxiety among the region’s farmers, many of whom rely on a migrant labor force from Latin America to work their fields. Some have begun making changes in their operations to reduce their reliance on that labor force.
Thank you the bigots in Congress trying to appease some constituents who believe that illegals are taking all their jobs.
Read With Migrant Workers in Short Supply, a Farmer Looks to Machines in the NYTimes.com.
From the article:
Any sustainable Adirondack future will gauge biomass consumption against forest preservation, water quality by threats to fish, healthy trees by soil composition and roots.
While ecoscience is a huge part of regulating the Adirondack landscape, said Adirondack Park Agency Chairman Curt Stiles, a healthy debate is the way to sustain the future.
"We (APA staff) probably say yes more than we say no," he told a meeting of scientists recently as they discussed Adirondack Park research and policy.
"But working to get to that yes is the difficult part."
Stiles said the future of the Adirondack Park lies in an approach that brings people together, not separates them.
He said challenges go beyond issues of preservation and affordable housing to convening a healthy dialogue where controversy and dissent are vetted in public debate.
Read The Press Republican - Article: Looking Toward the Future Adirondacks.
“There’s no doubt about it, Vermont is a fascinating and exotic place. Drive up Route 7 and it’s like you’re crossing into a different country. For example: 1. Gun laws. In Vermont they’re virtually non-existent. They require no permits or registration and you can pretty much buy as many as you want. And in Vermont you can carry a concealed handgun as long as you don’t do so in a school or government building.”
From the article:
Supervising lettuce pickers in central Mexico, Martinez earns just half of the $1,100 a week he made in the U.S. But the job has its advantages, including working without fear of immigration raids.
Martinez, now a legal employee of U.S.-owned VegPacker de Mexico, is exactly the kind of worker more American farm companies are seeking. Many have moved their fields to Mexico, where they can find qualified people, often with U.S. experience, who can't be deported. "Because I never moved my family to the U.S., I was always alone there," said Martinez, 45, who could never get a work permit, even after 16 years in agriculture in California and Arizona. "When I got the opportunity to be close to my family, doing similar work, I didn't even have to think about it."
Read Some Farms Outsourced to Mexico in Time Magazine.
“Two Tennessee farmers have found an old-fashioned solution to the problem of high prices at the gas pump: They've hitched their farming equipment to two mules named Dolly and Molly. T.R. Raymond and his son Danny say it's a lot cheaper to fuel their mules than to fuel their tractors.”
“For many people, the annual gamble of spring planting has become a remote — almost exotic — experience. In a six-part series, NPR is following farmers Craig and LaVon Griffieon of Ankeny, Iowa, for a year to study life on an American farm.”
“Dogs may soon be able to run freely in two town parks, but leash laws will be tightened in all other areas of Clifton Park if a proposal by the Town Board is approved.”
“Summer hadn’t quite arrived in the city over the Memorial Day weekend, but in the garden of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, on upper Fifth Avenue, it was several hundred degrees in the shade. Onstage in the Corning Museum GlassLab, four sweat-beaded men in black T-shirts rotated elongated rods — tipped with molten glass hot enough to ignite anything it touched, whether metal, wood or flesh — with the nonchalance of baton twirlers. ”
“Much discussion is rightly devoted to the division between haves and have-nots in the global economy, but the world’s poor are themselves divided between those who are experiencing high growth and those who are not. The rapid economic expansion in countries like China, India and Vietnam tends to sharply increase the demand for food. This is, of course, an excellent thing in itself, and if these countries could manage to reduce their unequal internal sharing of growth, even those left behind there would eat much better. ”
“Ricotta is often described as a byproduct of mozzarella production or as a grainy Italian version of cottage cheese, but there are more flattering possibilities. “Traditional ricotta is made with what’s left over after cheesemaking,” said Jason Lippman, the cheesemaker and creamery manager at the Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in Old Chatham, N.Y., which produces a billowy ricotta, lightly golden with milkfat, from the farm’s 700 Frisian ewes. In Italy, ricotta makers start with whey, the liquid that’s left after the milkfat and proteins have been removed from milk by the cheesemaking process; it’s a “re-cooking” of the milk, hence the name, and the grainier texture. ”
“Rising prices for gasoline have lowered the price of houses distant from the center of densely populated cities. Will the rural housing market suffer in a time of high gas prices?”
“Farmland values are increasing in the double digits. Prices for commodities such as corn and cotton are up an average of 41 percent over last year, driven by global demand. And farm household income is averaging more than $89,000 annually. But for Lloyd Arthur, who grows cotton in Crosby County northeast of Lubbock, there's just not much cause for celebration. Mr. Arthur has seen his diesel, fertilizer and herbicide costs skyrocket right along with commodity prices in the last year. ”
“The Hemp for Vermont bill (H.267) has finally made it through the end-of-session backlog and is sitting on Governor Douglas' desk right now! The Governor has until Thursday to decide what to do - and, if he does nothing, it is a veto because the legislature is adjourned for the year. We need him to sign the bill for it to become law. ”
“Here's a story that could be done by lots of rural journalists, and probably needs to be done by many, to keep their readers, viewers or listeners from getting taken. The Associated Press reports, "Unsuspecting property owners around the country are getting trampled in an old-fashioned land rush by natural gas companies and speculators trying to lock up long-ignored drilling rights quickly and cheaply. Stories of fast-talking industry representatives using scare tactics to strong-arm people into signing lowball leases are popping up in rural areas and suburbs from New York to West Virginia to parts of Indiana and Texas."”
“Kentucky honors pistol licenses from other states including New York. Tom took advantage of it. I, however, opted for open carry which is perfectly legal. First time I’ve had an opportunity to try it. I walked to Saturday’s “Celebration of American Values Banquet” through downtown Louisville with my PPK in a Safariland paddle holster. It went well with my suit. As far as I could tell I was the only one doing it. The reaction? Nothing. Nobody said anything and the police ignored me. Same thing on the way back except for two guys I passed outside the parking garage who said hello.”
“The Cayuga County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in finding a stolen lawn mower. ”
Once again they've spoken up against a proposed permanent state-wide burn ban.
The Rensselaer County Legislature Republican majority wants to stop a state effort to ban the open burning of brush and debris in rural communities, fearing it would be a financial burden for towns and farmers.
"We believe this law would be overly restrictive for rural residents and in particular be a real negative for farmers and agricultural business. The state should allow the current law to remain in place," Legislator Lester Goodermote, R-Hoosick Falls, said in a statement.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed making the ban on open burning statewide. Since 1972, communities with a population of 20,000 or more have had to adhere to this rule.
"This new law would mean new expenses for small town and village governments. Unfortunately, those costs would be passed down to local property taxpayers," Legislator Martin Reid, R-Sand Lake, chairman of the Local Government Committee, said in a statement.
Not that this is at all new. They've been arguing against the proposed burn ban since the DEC stated that it was something that they would propose. Indeed, as I noted two weeks ago on this blog, there are real problems with this proposal.
After spending last weekend out in Schoharie County, I was reminded how much of a problem a permanent open burn ban will cause for residents. First off is the question of disposal of large amounts of brush after a major storm bringing down trees in rural areas.
A bigger problem is the lack of transfer stations in Schoharie County—while every town has a dumpster for paper and Glass-Metal-Plastic recycables, there is only one facility for trash in Howes Cave. Schoharie County, population 32,000 with 83% living in rural areas does not nearly have the problems with conflicts with nuisance burning that some of the more urban counties have.
Read Proposal for Burning Ban Under Fire in the Times Union.
In the latest episode of stupid suburbanites, the Times Union is featuring one who can't stand to see a little dirt on town land.
“State Health Commissioner Richard Daines posts a pamphlet about ticks at his Dutchess County farmhouse and asks his guests to check themselves in "places the sun doesn't shine." He pulled a tick off himself this week.”
“More than 77,000 New Yorkers have contracted Lyme disease since it became reportable 22 years ago, and the state Health Department wants to keep that number from rising.”
“In response to reports that field agents are beginning to seek rights to explore for possible underground natural gas deposits in the region, an informational forum is planned tonight at the State University at Cobleskill. The 7 p.m. session in Bouck Hall auditorium is sponsored by the Schoharie County Four Partners, the New York Farm Bureau, county government, the Chamber of Commerce and the educational community, according to chamber Executive Director Jodie Rutt.”
“It is hard to love a land you don’t understand, and for most of my life I had no idea why anyone would ever live in the Great Plains – let alone love the place. Flat, featureless, boring. Those were the words I heard growing up whenever someone would mention the plains. My view was informed by Dorothy’s Kansas, which looked scary and Gothic even before the twister took her house and Toto, too.”
The bill A.227, if passed by the State Senate (unlikely), would ban kids under 18 from riding in the back of pickup trucks on all public roads and parking lots but not farm fields.
The memo explains the current law (few restrictions on kids in the back of pickup trucks) and what it proposed to change:
EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER:
Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1222 allows the operation of an "autotruck" with persons under the age of eighteen in the body of such truck,for a distance of less than five miles. Section 1222 also allows suchoperation with passengers under the age of eighteen for more than fivemiles, if at least one person over the age of eighteen also rides in thebody of such truck.
Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1233 allows persons of any age to ridein the open, uncovered cargo area of a truck with the permission of theoperator.
JUSTIFICATION:
Increasingly, people have been purchasing trucks for personal, ratherthan non-personal use. Given the limited seating capacity of these vehi-cles, children sometimes ride in the cargo area of pickup trucks.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),more than 200 people annually die as a result of riding in the cargoarea, and more than half of these deaths are children and teenagers.
Riding in the cargo area of a truck, whether covered or not, is verydangerous. Passengers there are exposed not only to the possibility ofbeing ejected from collisions, swerving, braking on rough roads, butalso to carbon monoxide from exhaust fumes. When properly used, childrestraints have proven to reduce critical or fatal injuries to children.No child should be exposed to the dangers of riding unrestrained,compounded by the additional dangers unique to riding in the cargo areaof a truck. This bill is intended to prevent deaths and serious physicalinjuries to children.
Since the provisions of this bill would apply only while a truck isbeing operated on a public highway, private road open to public motorvehicle traffic, and any other parking lot (see Vehicle and Traffic LawSection 1100 subdivision (a)), it will not affect the ability of theagricultural community to carry out the various tasks associated withfarming.
The Farm Bureau opposes this bill or has done so in the past, and the State Senate has refused to take it up. That said, they made passing this bill in the Assembly a priority today and they did it first, so who knows what the Senate will do.
“Maybe you've been to Sparks, Nev., to John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino. He's been there for nearly 50 years. We were interviewing Mr. Ascuaga for our story "Liberace and The Trinidad Tripoli Steelband" for our Lost & Found Sound series. He began to tell us about his Basque heritage and what led him to Nevada. The "Hidden Kitchens" series was not on the horizon then, but like we always do, we began asking him about the food of home. ”
“If anything seemed clear Thursday to about 300 people hearing about the natural gas speculation in the region, it was that there’s a lot to consider before signing a mineral rights lease. “We’re investing a lot of money, and the geologists we have say there is gas here, and we believe we can get it out and make money,” said Scott Lee, local office manager for Indiana-based Mid-Central Land & Exploration Inc.”
“Reaching back into the annals of sports-farming, Richard Oswald recounts the thrill of victory, the agony of buffalo burrs.”
