In the Country - 3

 

Wheatfield.

We went up on a nearby ridge on a gorgeous day last weekend, and drove through the central New York farmland. This area, in general, is quite depressed economically, and every time I've gone recently I've been able to see the deterioration, which seems most apparent to me in the towns, where more and more shops are empty or boarded up, and increasing numbers of individual properties seem to be in disrepair. Unemployment is high, and several factories have closed or moved. Yet, in the grocery stores, where a lot of people looked pretty down-and-out, prices were higher than in Montreal.

Beans in the foreground; cabbages (blue-ish) in the middle distance beyond the trees and grass.

Corn. Everywhere.

Family farms have been hard hit here, as they have been all across the country. But recently things have seemed a bit better. One development in recent years has been an influx of Amish and Mennonite families from further south. They, and some other enterprising local farmers, are leading a revival of community supported agriculture, through CSA food-basket shares, and the sale of cash crops, eggs, crafts, and baked goods at the farmers' markets which are becoming a feature of small town life. Milk prices have been more stable, too, since the remarkable growth of a yogurt company, started in 2005 in a closed Kraft plant, which now makes a new brand of Greek yogurt, Ciobani; the factory buys most of the milk produced in this part of central New York, and it's all hormone-free.

The region seems divided, however, about a much more contentious issue: energy. I already mentioned the windfarms which have gone up in Madison County, but I haven't spoken here about the natural gas wells. During our drive we were astounded at the number of wells in the area. The gas companies enter into long-term leases with the farmers and landowners, many of whom have been so impoverished that they don't want to refuse; we heard of some who later wanted to get out of their contracts, only to find out that this was impossible. The area sits on the Marcellus shale, which is rich in natural gas and desireable for fracking. (As I understand it, the type of well shown above is a straight gas well, not the result of fracking, but perhaps a reader of this post who knows more can explain better.) New York State has put a moratorium on fracking while the longterm effects on groundwater are studied. I can hardly blame local people, who already feel forgotten and hopeless, for signing up for a chance for guaranteed income, but I'm very sad about what may happen in the future.

Meanwhile, the land continues to bowl me over me with its beauty.

Comments

[marly youmans]

Out of all your recent NY pictures, I think the last one here is my favorite...

[Lucy]

I'm commenting on this one rather than you post on commenting as that one's already got 25 and this one deserves not to be neglected!

I love your landscape photos, and the reportage on the agro-economic aspects is interesting. Good news at least that the Amish are succeeding in reinvigorating some aspects of this.

Keep on doing what you're doing Beth, Cassandra always produces quality content. Sometimes here, I find that I go away thinking about what I've read and seen, and continue to do so, but don't always feel I've got a ready comment formulated, and that what you've said deserves more consideration. I often mean to come back, but therein lies the problem! Things move on and I just don't get around to it. But the thoughts prompted do stay with me. I find I neither comment nor receive as many comments as I used to either.

[Sharyn]

We drove through that area when we collected our kittens from a place near Corning. It is gorgeous and would be a great place to have a farm. And we have driven through more of the state on our way to a video job in Missouri and saw how depressed a lot of it is. I love rolling hills, better than the mountains I live in now. Love your photos.
I think people don't comment as much on the blogs they read regularly. I have lost comments by getting through the spam filters but also, I think it feels repetitious. I have a number of blogs I like to read and appreciate and I usually read the comments too, they are like a conversation. Partly, FB has taken some of that place, I check it everyday because the younger members of my family all post their doings and we use it to stay in touch.
The fracking issue is a difficult one for someone in financial stress. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't pay my taxes and then was offered a lot of money to drill.

[Beth]

Hi Lucy, thanks for this thoughtful response. I often feel the same way about your posts - they make me think more, and deserve a fuller response, but I don't come back although I had intended to. The fact that some of us are still reading one another's blogs after all these years is what says the most: we keep finding things of value there, and we care about the person who's writing and posting the images.

Sharyn -- we should be friends on FB, then! The repetition thing is key, I think. Hope you're having a good summer, and I'm glad you liked the pictures!

[mike]

Yes, there are down and out looking people in the grocery stores here, and I suspect that after a long day of roofing in the hot sun, in some raggedy clothing and driving the rusty half of my truck collection, I could be viewed by many as falling into this category. I now stop at the Service Pharmacy, (part of which was once your parents' long time real estate office),for many grocery items, often finding savings of 50% or more. With gas prices so high, many folks realize that driving 25 miles to a grocery store with better prices is at best a break even proposition. Of course, there are many needy people coming to our church food pantry for boxes of free food, and we are urged almost weekly at Mass to donate non-perishable items. Sadly, past efforts by local gardeners to supply food pantry clients with fresh vegetables was met with almost complete rejection by the clients, who seem to prefer canned goods and more processed and packaged items. And of course there are the 30% of "needy" applicants who arrive in the latest model cars sporting $40 manicures, amply employed people seeking to stock the cupboards of their relatively opulent houses and apartments. Of course, the parish volunteers who are serving these types are arriving in buckets of rust. Living standards, particularly when viewed globally, cover quite a continuum. Many, though certainly not all of the "down and outers" here, have opted for 4G cell phones and $500/month car (and of course full sized, x-cab truck) payments, and have run credit cards to unpayable levels to purchase every other new toy or sneaker fad in sight. Now they are left unable to afford gas to get to the store for laundry detergent.

[Beth]

Thanks for this expanded description and comment, Mike. I feel better having it come from you than me, since I'd mostly be speculating on where their (small amount) of money or credit has gone, and I'm loathe to judge ("judge not," cautions the good book, and I try to remember.) Two of the things that shock me, whenever I "come home" - besides the depression and deterioration - are the size of the people and the size of the cars. You simply don't see that in this part of Canada. The toll of all this obesity on the healthcare system is tremendous - it was the same in Vermont - and yet this is a conservative area where many people think healthcare reform will cost them even more money. Here, the price of gas is currently around $1.30 a litre, or just under $5.00/gallon. People drive small cars, use public transit, walk, or ride bikes, but in a rural area those options are often impossible both for work and normal life. For me, much of the problem comes down to a failure of the educational system and economic stress that has fractured family life, combined with immersion in a Darwinian consumer society where the rich prey on the poor, and most people's expectations of what constitutes "the good life" have radically changed.

[Pablo]

I'm a boy (at 65) from the Berkshires but you're photos of NY always resonated with me. Thanks for the memories (was that Bing or Bob?)
Pablo