Loading...
August 29, 2002 - Times, they are a-changingThe Suffolk Times • August 29, 2002 Times, they are aiiiiiiiliii,,i,,,,,chang*1ng Photos by Paul Stoutenburgh In the early days of farming on Long Island, potatoes were picked by hand and put Into baskets, then dumped Into burlap bags, which line the field above. PEOPLE OFTEN ASK ME what change, I've seen here in my lifetime. That's a pretty big request and it took some thinking. Probably the most rewarding change I have seen over time is in the attitude of more and more people becoming aware of their environment Forty or 50 years ago people thought little of what they were doing to the environment. There were fewer oeo- most people with some knowledge of our natural world. They are starting to understand that we have to change our ways or we're in for deep trouble. Take, for instance, the drinking water under us. All you did in the old days was get a point, which is a screen affair that's attached to the end of a pipe, drive it into the groundwater, then put a hand trump on the pipe and you had pie here then, FOCUS and a little destruction here ON and there had lit NATURE tle effect on thei lives, or so they by Paul thought. But Stoutenburgh through the years, education and the real need for concern found most people with some knowledge of our natural world. They are starting to understand that we have to change our ways or we're in for deep trouble. Take, for instance, the drinking water under us. All you did in the old days was get a point, which is a screen affair that's attached to the end of a pipe, drive it into the groundwater, then put a hand trump on the pipe and you had pure drinking water. (We actually did - just that when we built our own home. Once the pump was primed, we all sat there and had a drink of the best, cold- est water you could ask for. This was over 40 years ago.) Today that's still possible in certain parts of our island, but overall much of our water has become contaminat- ed with pesticides, oils, herbicides, road runoff and a multitude of other pollutants that are put on our land. I became aware of the problem some years ago when our household water was tested and found to be contami- nated with Temik, a spray that was used to control the potato beetle. We had to have a filter installed to correct the problem. Some of you might go back to the days when we had no garbage pickup. Some took their garbage to the Cutchogue dump; some would dig a pit in the back yard and bury it. I can remember my dad digging a big, deep pit in which the cans, bottles and garbage were thrown and then he covered it over with dirt. One time we looked in and there was a skunk down there. It had fallen in and couldn't get out. I'm not sure how he ever did get out. (In those early days when we had skunks, it was com- mon to see and, yes, smell them. We no longer have skunks here on the East End and I attribute it to pesticides. When the potato bugs were killed by pesticides, the skunks ate the dead potato bugs. The result: no skunks.) When we had the old open town dump, evervone brought everything from their old cars to table scraps and construction material to paint cans and old oil. Everything you wanted to get rid of, you brought to the town dump and just threw it over the edge, where it was pushed around by a bulldozer. We're learned the hard way that it fouled up our only source of drinking water. No longer can we continue with the old ways of getting rid of our garbage. We were literally forced by the state to change for our own good. Today we have a multi - million - dollar capping operation going on at the dump, or should I say landfill, in which we are now required to cover our past mistakes with a ig neoprene cap. Then soil will go over the top of that. All that to prevent any rainwater from percolating through the old dump material and contaminating our groundwater further. Another big change that I've seen is in agriculture. Potatoes ruled when I was young. Potatoes, cauliflower and sprouts were the backbone of the farming community in the '40s and '50s. There were some farmers who had cows who raised cattle corn and stacked it up in the field for use dur- ing the winter. Then through the win- ter they'd go out and haul it in to feed the cows, as well as their pigs and chickens. Before the '50s there was little or no irrigation and the loss of a potato crop due to a drought could be disastrous. To correct the problem, the first irriga- tion system was in the form of shallow wells and heavy, portable, galvanized pipe with sprinklers on every other pipe. And so, irrigation became a must in farming. The heavy galvanized pipe evolved into aluminum pipe for easier carrying. Today we see irrigation all about us on the remaining farms as well as on the sod farms, nursery stock and even some of our vineyards. Without it, farmers would be doomed today. And, of course, the crops have changed. Potatoes were once picked by hand by crews who were housed in labor camps. The camps have all but disappeared today. The potatoes were dug and dropped on the ground, to be picked up by hand, put into a basket (today these are antiques) and from there dumped into burlap bags to be picked up later by a truck. Later there would be a potato pick-1 er on which you rode along behind the tractor as the potatoes were dug. It gave you a chance to pick out the bad potatoes, weeds and dirt lumps before they went into the burlap bag that was attached to the back of the picker. As time went on more labor- saving devices were invented, namely huge combines with which rows of potatoes could be dug and rattled across the digger chains to shake the dirt and weeds out. As the potatoes came across the digger chain, they were conveyed directly into trucks that took them to the potato barns for storage and later use. (As teenagers we found work on the farms during the summer. We would be picked up by a big farm truck about 6:30 a.m., take our bag lunch with us and work on the farm all day. We picked potatoes by hand at five cents a bag. Dater, on the picker, we would make $2.50 a day. — Barbara) So farming has evolved mechanical- ly and also product -wise. Most pota- toes have given way to sod farms, vine. yards, greenhouses and building lots. Today it takes a little doing to find a potato farm here on the East End. Next week we'll continue with changes I've seen on the East End over my lifetime. Hope to see you