Hi Everyone,
Illogical as it seems, this is my Thanksgiving email message. I have to sit down and write this message
now as I will be away much of the week on scallop work. I have a few things on my mind so please let me clear them out first.
If you don’t want to read the vituperation, just skip to the last paragraph for the Thanksgiving Specials.
I
spent last week at sea testing our new scallop dredge design and it seems to work well. This means the enviros will be filing
another lawsuit shortly. Actually, I should take the time to explain something here so if you are not interested in sea turtles,
skip to the next paragraph. Sea turtles get caught in scallop dredges at a rate of about one turtle per 1000 hours of towing
in the highest risk areas. They stand a good chance of getting injured when they are brought up in the dredge and dumped on
deck; maybe as many as 500 were injured in the peak year. So I invented “turtle chains” which have been 100% effective
in keeping turtles out of the dredges thus avoiding the risk of injury on deck or in the dredge. The turtles may still be
encountering the dredges underwater. We can not observe interactions underwater though we have been trying by using video
cameras on the dredges. Anyway, the enviros have filed a notice that they intend to sue the government if they allow turtle
chains. Their reason is that the government can no longer count observed turtle takes since there will not be any to observe
because the turtle chains keep the turtles out of the dredges. If this sounds a little like we must blow up the village in
order to save it your right. Illogical?
The media is an amazing piece of work when it comes to illogic. The spinach
scare was based on the fact that two people died from the contaminated crop. Check the data; 5000 people die each year from
that same strain of e-coli. Now we hear the oceans will be empty of fish by 2048. I am not going to even comment on that piece
of “work”; at least not today. There is no doubt that we are screwing up the world’s ecosystems but there
is hope that we can deal with these issues and solve the problems we are generating locally. That is why I took the giant
step of becoming a Town Meeting Member. I was never very political but events over the last few years are pushing me in that
direction. I was out to sea during the elections last week but really didn’t care about who won the House and/or Senate.
As a representative of the scallop industry, I send stuff down to Congressional staffers all the time. It goes into a big
hole I can’t comprehend. My consulting team partner on this was Gerry Studds, who was able to explain a lot of this
process to me over the years, and his death will be a loss for many reasons. What I do know is that we can change things locally
and lead the world by example. Let us skip over the Cranberry Bog issue, Falmouth’s Iraq, for one moment and go to the
Route 151 re-zoning issue, Falmouth’s North Korea.
I went to the Coonamessett Inn Saturday morning where the
proponents for re-zoning hosted a meeting with coffee and pastries. I went to listen, and to eat pastries, and drink coffee.
Here is my nutshell opinion. I think Don eLinks has a good argument for getting back the zoning that was taken away
from him as long as the Town insures that what is ever done to the property has zero impact on the water supply. That includes
run-off, rain water infiltration rates as well as contamination issues. We should be doing that to all property anyway. Carl
Cavossa has a good argument as well; he is already doing what he is doing. Let him do it by right with the requirements that
exist in his various permits. Maybe some people think the Town should not have allowed him up there in the first place but
he is there so work out the best deal.
This leaves us with the 31 acre parcel. I am against everything the developer
wants to do there for many reasons. However, as long as the property can be developed, I do not think the community has the
moral high ground to stop them. The community can make its wishes known through the various permitting processes and insure
that the development complies with the myriad of laws. Unless the community buys the development rights, or takes them, the
property will be developed to maximize profit. At the current zoning of the parcel; that means houses. Until the community
buys land, or development rights, to preserve its future options to support local agriculture, energy production, and waste
management we have no moral right to tell others what to do with their land other than comply with the law. If Falmouth does
not buy the development rights to the 31 acre parcel; it will be developed. Houses or ice rink, it does not matter to the
goal of preserving future options as I escribed.
Regarding waste management, I am totally against sewers; they
are too expensive to build and operate. There are many ways to deal with excess nitrogen on land, under the land, and in the
water. Some of the other contaminants in the waste stream are a little more problematical. We have the technical capability
to address these problems in ecologically sustainable and economic ways; we do not have the local political leadership. Anyway,
now I am a Town Meeting Member.
Back to the farm: As I said in the beginning of this diatribe, Thanksgiving is upon
us next week. The farm will be open Tuesday and Wednesday before the holiday. We are taking pie orders now. These famous fresh
baked pies include fruit of the forest, apple, blueberry, pumpkin, and pecan. Pies ordered by Sunday will be discounted $1.00;
fruit pies costing only $11.95. Pumpkin and pecan pies will cost $10.95 when ordered by Sunday. Here is an incentive for those
ordering pies from the farm. We will have a sale on fresh vegetables needed for home-cooked Thanksgiving dishes; potatoes,
onions, winter squash, yams, and carrots. Other great incentives; you can order our soups to go; order before Sunday and get
a 20% discount. Don’t forget our great cornbread and salad mix to round out your table. We are also discounting
the left-over Bliss ice cream; $4.95 a quart. Order three pies and get a quart of ice cream free! Call now; 508-563-2560 or
email your order to
cfarm@capecod.net. By supporting your farm you can swim here in the summer; ice skate here in the winter, and pick you own Whole Foods.
It’s the Ag-zone way!
