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October 02, 1997 - The North Fork: A Plane's Eye View6A • The Suffolk Times • October 2, 1997 The North Fork: A Plane's Eye View Last week my oldest son was flying up irrigation took off, so much so that farms to see one of his suppliers in New without it were hard to sell. Today it's Hampshire and asked me to go along for part of the general equipment of every the ride. We'd leave at about 9 after he farm. got all of his men off to work. The day If you were a farmer who lived along was clear and cool so it had promise for a the bay side of the East End (generally great flight. below Route 25), you were lucky, for On the way to Focus then your farm would be close enough to the airport in water that you could put in a shallow well Mattituck I could or an irrigation pond. North of Route 25 tell by the roadside on usually meant the flowers that fall Nature farmer had to go into was on the way. a deep well with cas- Goldenrod truly by Paul ings and pump eight, glowed in every Stoutel*Wgh 10 or 12 inches in vacant lot and the diameter, and to elusive false foxglove was in its full yel- power these big deep low along the roadside. Wild asters had wells, diesel units not shown their full colors as yet, perhaps were usually em- because of the lack of rain. This has been ployed. A lucky per - the driest summer and fall that I can son living south of remember in a long, long time. the Main Road could When farm irrigation was just in its usually get his water infancy and we had a dry summer like the through a series of one we've just experienced, I then small points into the worked for an outfit called the Long Is- shallow aquifer and if land Produce and Fertilizer Company you were really close (LIPCO) selling irrigation systems. In to water, you could that day potatoes were king here in Suf- dig a pond down into folk County. It was during that dry spell the groundwater and we couldn't keep up the demand for alu- pump from that. minum irrigation pipe fast enough — and Interesting to note the to get a well drilled was just about impos- pumps for these units sible, for every farmer wanted water for (shallow wells) were his crops. We even flew in a plane load of Chrysler -Hale emer- aluminum pipe and fittings from Eugene, gency firefighting Ore., the demand was so great. Those pumps that were used who didn't have irrigation suffered terri- in New York City and bly and those who had it ran their units other areas during the day and night and paid for them in one war. Some of these year with a bumper crop. From then on, Hale pumps are still being used today. We still use sprinklers on our lawn and field crops but on permanent plantings, like nursery stock and grapes, they are using a much more cost - effective system of irrigation. It's one that merely drips water through long, small- diameter plas- tic hose. In this way, only the plants get the water and not the neighboring weeds and unnecessary areas. Needless to say, this system conserves both water and energy and is also much cheaper to install and run. It's even being adapted for the home gardener where one just wants to water the trees and shrubbery around the property. Meanwhile, we at home have to do what we can with our garden hose, which isn't much when you have to cover the lawn, shrubs and trees around your place. Without water, trees and shrubs going into winter can be severely damaged. It's most important to water them now. ISLAND WILDUFVS FALL SEED SALE October 2nd to 6th only LOWEST PRICES OF THE YEAR BETTER SAVINGS THAN EARLY ORDER SALES AV W,417Il1� fOR DEUVf&f (516) 734 -6758 27960 MAIN ROAD CUTC1I0f1UE (Near the Historic Cutchogue Diner) and who knows where it would have led to if I hadn't gotten married. Peter's plane is far advanced from the little Piper Cub we flew in those early days. The instrument panel alone boggles the mind compared to the few in- struments we then flew by. We rolled the plane out of the hangar and it seemed in no time we were ready to taxi down the north -south runway. There is a green by as they headed south for the winter. Lakes and streams now showed up as we moved northward, the wet areas already turning the red and yellow colors of fall. In the distance was a narrow layer of clouds. More chatter with the air con- troller and we moved up to 7,000 feet to get over the cloud layer. We could feel the turbulence of the clouds as we moved through them, leveling off to smooth fly- Suffolk Times photo by Peter Stoutenburgh FROM THE AIR —Can you recognize this aerial view of the North Fork? It is the second scene mentioned in the article as we returned from our New Hampshire flight last week. Off to the Airport Peter and I drove to the airport and out to the hangar where he keeps his plane under cover. The airport hasn't changed much since years ago when I learned to fly out of there under the GI Bill. I had grandiose ideas of being a bush pilot in Alaska, so I learned to fly a float plane. Later I would get my license on land as well as sea. It was a wonderful experience open grassy buffer between the end of the airstrip and the bay. In my early days of flying we brought the seaplane right up on the beach there. Peter checked his instruments, called that he was taking off, revved up the engine and then down the runway we raced. In no time we were off into a brisk northwest wind. Immediately Marratooka Lake slipped by on our left along with Mattituck School and its yellow school buses. The blue open water of the Long Island Sound was ahead of us as we grad- ually gained altitude and swung on our course to New Hampshire. How beautiful it was up there. The sparkling Sound under us, Connecticut ahead of us. The visibility was unlimited. Soon I could see New London to the east and the silvery ribbon of the Thames River winding its way northward. We were cruising at about 5,000 feet. Dots of tiny cars moved along the ribbons of road below us. Now and then there'd be a farm but for the most part we were flying over what seemed to be woods and greenery. Occasionally houses would dot the woods. Peter talked to the air controllers all along our route. He set the plane on au- tomatic pilot and both of us relaxed, enjoying the panorama that unfolded before us. A flock of snow geese drifted YOU CAN FEEL BETTER. Most insurance accepted as full or partial payment. I nCALL FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT TODAY. SLER CHIROPRACTIC ND REHABILITATION - the village of Cutchogue • 734 -5700 ing above. Every once in a while we'd get a report of "traffic in your area." Peter would then point in a certain direction where we'd both search the area and, sure enough, there would be the plane exactly where the traffic controller said it would be. It made one feel good to be in the hands of people who were concerned about your safety. Now a low group of mountains loomed up ahead and in back was Lake Winni- pesaukee. Our goal was a small private airport to the north. We were right on tar- get. In a lefthand pattern we swung around, came into the wind and landed. Then it was in a rented car and off to see Peter's supplier. Trees were starting to change to their flamboyant colors, telling us fall was in the making. It had been 36 degrees that morning at the airport in New Hampshire. Business taken care of, we did a bit of sightseeing and then back in the air by 3 p.m. On our way back we flew up the spine of the North Fork. First in sight was Plum Island with its coffeepot lighthouse. A few boats jigged for blues in the Gut. Familiar landmarks showed up: Hallocks Bay with its lush wetlands, Shelter Island with Coecles Harbor nestled behind Little and Big Ram islands, Paradise Point jut- ting out into Southold Bay, the Peconic Estuary with the jewel of Robins Island in its center, and then we looked for the airstrip and we were home. It was a special treat to see our North Fork from the air, and it makes you real- ize just how small and fragile it is. We are, land -wise, small compared to the towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead, South- ampton and East Hampton and yet our lit- tle North Fork has so much to offer with its bays and creeks, our farmland and still -open space. Let's hope it will always remain our wonderland.