Home

My son stood among our packed bags in our kitchen yesterday and asked, "So, is East Eden, ´home´?" 

I said, "Yes." 

"Then what do you call this," he asked as he pointed to the floor.

I resisted answering with something trite like, "home is where the heart is," so I just said, "home."

That got him and his sisters thinking, and me too.  Once a place is your home, once your roots are there, it will always be home no matter how many places you re-plant yourself.  Sure, it is about the people that are in the place you call, "home," but I think there is something to the dirt too. 

I love the way everyone at home smiles a friendly greeting whether they recognize you or not.  I love the way people at home say, "hello."  I love the way farmers wave from the truck or the tractor by raising one finger from the steering wheel and giving a nod of the head, or even sometimes, a tip of the hat.  I love all of these things.

Without them, I would still love the way the air hits my memory because it is mixed with the dust from the fields, exhaust from tractors, smells of cut hay, pollen, and echoes of children playing or a cow giving birth.

My daughter asked, "can I call East Eden, ´home,´too?"

I said, "I hope so."

Olfactory Memories of East Eden

 hay silage turned over after a long summer rain

pony’s breath warm with the scent of grain

 pitchfork striking in the straw/horse manure

 autumn chill running down the spine reassures

 leaves succumbing to wet and worms

 running back home before the skies turn

 saw dust flying as walnut boards go tumbling

 barn door creaking on its hinges: crumbling

 snow sucked from mittens of wool

sight of the stars from the snow on the hill

chimney smoke commingled in fog

 sound of the axe splitting a log

 strawberries rotting soft and hot

 sound of her yelling, “Do not!”

bark peeled back from and old dead stump

beetle climbing across the leaf dump

 film on the pond thick and greening

 sound of the fishing line careening

milk and soap washing down the floor drain

view from the milkhouse through the broken window pane

So one little smell in a faraway place, can bring a person around

To a memory of a different type: sight, touch or sound.

See you in East Eden!

(c) 2016 Cathy Lynn

Respect Posted Property Please

Trespassing on posted property threatens the safety of the community and damages the resource the conservation easement is there to protect.  For examples:
 

1.      Hunting on the property without authorization  and without notification to the landowner at the time of the hunt poses significant safety risks to invited hunters and the landowner and disrupts the wildlife balance of the protected area

2.       Vehicular traffic in the wetland areas of the property.  Wetlands are not only protected from destruction by the conservation easement, but by federal law (National Environmental Protection Act, Clean Water Act) and enforced by the NY DEC, US EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers

3.      Tapping Sugar Maple trees deprives the landowner of the financial benefit of high value saw logs. Sugar Maple is the most valuable hardwood tree in Western New York.    When the landowner manages the property to optimize tree growth and forest health, the tree tapping trespass interferes with this objective significantly. 

Protecting the values conserved by a recorded easement involves the help of the public to respect posted signs at the property boundaries.

Protected Conservation Values:

1.       Scenic Beauty
2.       Wildlife Habitat
3.       Watershed Resource (Eighteen Mile Creek; Lake Erie East End/Niagara River Drainage Basin)
4.       Water Quality (downstream fisheries)
5.       Recreational opportunities for the landowner and invited guests
6.       Conservation Activities and Education
7.       Agricultural Productivity (Rural Working Landscape)
8.       Sustainable Forest Management
9.       Open Space
10.   Historical Attributes
11.   Carbon Storage
12.   Landscape Corridor (connectivity to other protected land)

Since December 2007, Winkelman Farm Conservation Corporation, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, has been monitoring a conservation easement it holds on 115 acres of farm and forestland (since 2015, 170 acres).  The WFCC easement protects the land from development but does not diminish any of the other rights held by the landowners.  

 

Winkelman Farm is proud of its record of partnering with farmers in Western New York to support them in their efforts to conserve the values we all hold dear.  We have to trust that the community who benefit from the scenic open space, will do their utmost to help us in our conservation efforts by respecting the rights of the landowners.

Thank you.

More Farmers Please...

Check this out.  Keeping farmland in farming may not be the only solution to locally grown food.

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/general/150813FreightFarms.php

just another link about food...with an important message

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/01/18/463109192/thou-shalt-not-toss-food-enlisting-religious-groups-to-fight-waste

EDMAR Farms is protected by a Conservation Easement!

It was such a nice moment: I was in my kitchen in Europe cheering champagne glasses with four people sitting at a kitchen table in East Eden thanks to FaceTime.   The Parysek farm is finally protected by a conservation easement, which means it will stay farmland forever. 

As the phone was passed around the table, I was moved to see each face:  Martha, the wife of  the late Eddie, the bus driver who protected me during the vulnerable grade school years, who loved the land and the view because it represented peace on earth; Karen, their daughter who, with her sisters Linda and Marcia love the farm so much that they cannot envision another purpose for this spot, and whose down-to-earth voices remind me of their brother Kenny, Winkelman Farm's first president; Lucille, the Notary Public, who is the mother of my best friend during those years that Eddie was protecting me; and finally Sam, who gives his time and energy to Winkelman Farm because he believes that this corner of the world is special and deserving of protection for the public's enjoyment.

We can all celebrate tonight, for all those good people whose last glimpse of life would have been enriched by the thought that this view would last forever.

Thank you for your support!

Merry Christmas.

 

Why Contribute to Winkelman Farm?

I was recently asked to set up a table to display Winkelman Farm at a charity bazaar in Switzerland. The point of the Bazaar is to raise awareness and fundraise for charities. I was asked to join because friends presenting at the Bazaar know that I also support Winkelman Farm.  I instinctively hesitated to participate because our cause of farmland conservation in Western New York State pales next to the other causes:  schools and orphanages in developing countries. 

Charity is about helping those in need, so Winkelman Farm is there to address a need in Western New York to keep farmland in farming.  Winkelman Farm is also about justice, that is, fair play and equity.  Is it fair that the farmer who takes care of the open spaces we all enjoy is not compensated for that service?  By “farmer” I mean the small family farmer that treats the land as the inheritance of her children.    This farmer stretches pennies to keep things working, to provide food for our tables, to ensure that crops are rotated for our drive-by viewing pleasure, and to conserve the spaces for wildlife to thrive in our watersheds and wooded areas.

In this case, charity is righting a wrong: it is an injustice that the people that work their backs off to feed us cannot afford to keep the land that we enjoy, open over generations.  They are not in a position, in their retiring years, to make gifts - even tax-deductible ones - to the public of scenic fields and forested land.  We, the public, do not pay enough for our food to give them this luxury, even as our food is transported further and further from the field to our tables.

Winkelman Farm addresses this injustice by using charitable funds to purchase conservation easements on farmland so that retiring farmers can comfortably hand the land down to their children, or sell it to another farmer, so that the land produces benefits for all of us forever.

So, no, I will not present Winkelman Farm at the charity Bazaar in Switzerland.  I will go and support the children who need help in Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Nepal and South Africa.  At the same time, I will continue to support Winkelman Farm because I believe that farming communities are important to our children’s future in Western New York.

 

 

I had to share this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21j_OCNLuYg

Jon is a farmer from northeastern Thailand. He founded the Pun Pun Center for Self-reliance, an organic farm outside Chiang Mai, with his wife Peggy Reents in 2003. Pun Pun doubles as a center for sustainable living and seed production, aiming to bring indigenous and rare seeds back into use. It regularly hosts training on simple techniques to live more sustainably. Outside of Pun Pun, Jon is a leader in bringing the natural building movement to Thailand, appearing as a spokesperson on dozens of publications and TV programs for the past 10 years. He continually strives to find easier ways for people to fulfill their basic needs. For more information visit http://www.punpunthailand.org

Our current project is 55 acres in Boston, NY. Have a look.

https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloNiagara/photos/pb.108283242531334.-2207520000.1440469746./1041324869227162/?type=3&theater

Eden

See what's happening just around the corner in Eden:


http://wnylc.org/land-protection/current-projects/eden-farmland-protection-program/

Response to Azaelia Banks' Hatred toward Farmers

Today it was reported that hip-hop performer Azealia Banks made a comment about "conservatives who live on their farms."  (I omit the “racist,”“white,” and “fat,” labels to make a simple point about the ill-informed use of “farms”.) Clearly, she was trying to paint mid-America with a broad brush.  Fine:  fight stereotypes with more stereotypes, but don't fight ignorance with ignorance.  Ms. Banks is obviously an intelligent and fearless woman who stands up to bigotry, albeit with language that is a bit offensive to the Midwestern mindset that she so flippantly calls “fat.”  If I am right about her intelligence, then she should appreciate a little edification on the farm-front.

First, farmers span the entire United States and cannot, despite urban sprawl, be so effortlessly shoved to the category of the “fat” of the “middle” of America.  Farmers are a vital part of America’s food system and the more we push them to the middle, the more our food will cost and the less healthy it will be.

Second, farmers are people too: just people.  Farmers cannot be painted into a corner of one political stripe or another.  If you were choosing paint samples, you’d be better off sticking to the red/blue map of party affiliation.  Geography has more to do with political beliefs than profession and (see the first point) farmers are everywhere (including rooftops in New York City).

Third, Banks is entirely correct that farmers LIVE on their farms, though the insinuation seemed less than complimentary.  Certainly, sitting casually is the last thing they do before going to bed at night, if you don’t count the hours sitting on a tractor or the proverbial milking stool.  Farmers are up before dawn, eat lunch in the field, and often take dinner after dark.  What we may not know is that they grab a few Z’s before evening chores so that they can stay awake to chop corn in the headlights of the combine long after dinner.  I can assure you that there is nothing in between the alarm going off and the alarm being set that is not LIVING.  Farmers experience life and death at regular intervals and have hours surrounded by the glory of nature to reflect on it. If anyone knows how to appreciate every hour he or she is given to live, it’s a farmer.

Finally, Azaelia Banks might take note of this post.  Perhaps we should all take note of her other points:  as a nation, we carry a weight per person that is disproportionate to our individual contributions; personal inflexible views about other people hinder the exchange of ideas for the greater good; and extremism crowds out all compassion.

More from NPR: farming is a labor of love

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/05/07/310399100/for-many-farming-is-a-labor-of-love-not-a-living

An Excerpt from the Winkelman Farm Baseline Report:

"Forest occurs on approx. 29.5 ac, or 26% of the Winkelman Farm.  The forest type consists of Mixed Northern Hardwoods, including the species of Sugar Maple, Black Cherry, Beech, Ash, Birch, and Hemlock.  The forested areas of the Winkelman Farm contribute to several conservation values.  This forest lies within the 18 Mile Creek watershed and helps to regulated hydrologic output through dispersion and filtration of surface water and precipitation and the forest cover keeps stream water temperatures low which is beneficial to aquatic life.   Wildlife habitat is created by the presence of the forest.  Animals seek shelter in the forest and forage or hunt for food that occurs there.  Beech nuts produced in the forest provide fat and protein rich mast and the Black Cherry trees produce fruit that is consumed by many species of wildlife.  The hemlock trees provide shelter from cold and wind during the winter months, and are a roosting site for many species of birds.  As the forest grows it is acting as a carbon sink accumulating carbon in the tissues of the trees through the process of photosynthesis, producing wood fiber that can be converted to valuable wood products. Periodic tending and thinning of forest stands generates the forest products which can then be turned into veneer, lumber, furniture, paper, and other commodities used by society. The forest also contributes to the scenic beauty of the area, provides recreational opportunity, and open, undeveloped space."  Dec. 2011

Support FFA

I was an FFA member and a huge Paul Harvey fan so I want to share this ad again with you because with every viewing and "badge sharing" Dodge promises a donation to Future Farmers of America.

http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/keepplowing/

A Raw Deal for Dairy Farmers

NPR continues to tell stories that resonate with us.  Thank you NPR.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/01/23/170015186/farmers-and-their-cooperative-settle-lawsuit-on-fixing-the-price-of-milk

Sustainability and Culture: the milk cooperative

NPR is doing a lot to promote the case of the local farmer.  Check out this article on how the return of the milk cooperative might be an answer:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/25/155685027/struggling-dairy-farmers-find-a-moo-business-model

Animals and Dirt: Good for Kids

See this post on NPR's Health Blog:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/06/11/154593662/to-sniff-out-childhood-allergies-researchers-head-to-the-farm

When the Gas Man Comes Knocking (again)

Whether you already have a gas lease in Western New York or not, it is possible that the Gas Man may come knocking again looking for opportunities in shale gas as fracking technology improves.  Here are some points to consider:

1.  Get yourself a lawyer, because they have a team of them, but do NOT do this right away.  Save some money by doing some online research yourself , making a list of questions for the Gas Man, and then talk to them to get a list of what they are looking for.  Then get a lawyer before you sign any papers.  You'll need help drafting language to protect your interests. Look for a lawyer with experience in the natural gas arena, experience working for the landowner, knowledge of the local situation.  See mineralweb.com

Finding a competent and experienced mineral-owner-focused oil and gas attorney is challenging because  attorneys know they can’t bill their mineral owner clients like they can the Gas Man and often they attempt to structure deals that cut them in on a percentage of the bonus and/or royalty. 

2.  Remember:  a boilerplate lease is not a negotiated contract and no language is written in stone before you sign the deal.  Everything is negotiable.  Your power in negotiating is directly proportional to the number of acres you are negotiating about.

3.  The threat to pool your neighbors' property without you ("forced pooling") is not an empty one.  Organize with your neighbors and family; pool your resources (mental, physical and legal) before your natural resources are pooled; and find out who the Gas Man is also talking to in your area.  Be careful!  Coalitions do make negotiations much longer and more complicated.  It is a good idea to stick together to stay informed, but perhaps not to sign a deal.

4.  When you already have a lease, understand the language and POLICE your lessee gas company.  There may be a chance to end your lease if they are not holding up their end of the bargain ("The lessee failed to develop and operate the property as a reasonably prudent operator.").  For example, if you do not have "no storage allowed" language in your lease, the gas company could keep your lease alive forever by pumping gas into the well space to store for later withdrawal.  Look for "shallow" versus "deep" gas language and understand that they are not the same so if your existing lease is only for shallow gas (or "gas from the surface to so many feet beneath the surface"), a new lease must be negotiated for the deep well gas.

5.  When/if the subject of fracking comes up, do not assume your existing lease covers it.  Require a surface agreement no matter what (properties larger than 10 acres).  Strike all surface access language from any lease for property less than 10 acres.  If you grant access, make sure you have a suitable surface location first, then include language to give you the right to participate in and approve of the surface location.  Make the Gas Man agree, in writing, to negotiate payment for surface damages at the time the Lessee Gas Man decides to drill (your property might be worth more when they finally come around to drilling).

Know the risks to your surface and how long the process could take.  Talk to your neighbors and stay informed.

6.  Know who you are dealing with:  a leasing agent, oil company landman, middle-man.  Then research the individual and/or the company on-line and by asking around.

The American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) (www.landman.org) : members are bound by a code of ethics and code of conduct. Most lease brokers and E&P companies now require their land agents to be a member of AAPL.  NYS lease forms must include a disclosure as to whether the agent representing the Lessee is a member or not. A lessor can confirm membership status by contacting AAPL.

7.  Ensure that you have one lease per tax parcel to avoid problems for future owners or generations.

8.  Do not "warrant and defend" the chain of title to your mineral estate.

8a.  Strike any confidentiality agreement language.  You probably want to discuss the details of the negotiations with your family and neighbors.

9.  Look for "unrestricted use of fresh water" for the gas well operations and strike that language to negotiate a fee for freshwater at a minimum.

10.  The gas company might probably try to put pipelines on your property to collect gas from other properties.  Make them pay for it!  Separate payments should be made for Pipeline, Water Lines, Electric and Telecom, Access Roads, Limits of Surface Disturbance, Metering Stations, Well Sites, Compressor site, Tie-Ins, etc.

11.  Specify that development must take place wtihin so many years; with so much royalty; minimum revenue; so many wells; and/or so much production.

12.  Rather shoot for a higher royalty than a higher bonus...on a case-by-case basis.  It’s important for the mineral owner to do some research on NYS DEC web site, where they track all production by County and Town. If a mineral owner is in a county that has no established production, or very low production, the bonus may be more important than the royalty.

13.  Without development within so many years, do not give a Right of First Refusal without another royalty payment to be paid by the gas company.

14.  Finally, if you have concerns about how your gas operator is handling your property, it is better to call the Department of Environmental Conservation twice in vain, than to call them after damage has been done.  Document everything. Take photos, talk to the field crew, engineers and sub-contractors. Get to know the folks you “partnered” with on a personal level. Most mineral owners would be surprised to learn how accessible these people are and how willing they are to make sure things are done right and problems are addressed and corrected.

15.  Lease Term: Usually 5 years. A Lessee might be willing to reduce this if drilling is imminent. Otherwise, 5 years is a short period of time. Shoot for 4 or 3 year primary term. However, be prepared for the Lessee to offer less upfront bonus for a shorter term (and possibly more for longer than 5 years).

16.   Option to extend: There was a period of time in the mid-2000s where Gas Men were willing to strike the Option to Extend language in a lease. NY’s moratorium has adversely impacted the striking of this provision and most companies now try hard to include it. Attempt to strike the language so they’ll have to revisit the lease at the end of the primary term.

17.  Surface Access: Granting unfettered surface access can be a cause for concern. You can place certain logical restrictions on surface access (no closer than 400’ to an inhabited structure, no drilling during hunting season, no transportation of foreign gas, surface access only if XXX portion of the property is included in a spacing/production unit, etc.).  In NY, the drilling location does not have to be inside the unit boundary so in essence, a company can lease your property – gaining surface access rights – and located a drill pad without including any portion of your property in a production unit.

18.  Very few leases include strong enough liability language and even fewer include indemnification against environmental liability.

19.  It is quite common to be paid “double stumpage”  for timber damages; that is, the Gas Man pays for loss of timber and the surface owner gets to keep or sell said timber and retain the profits.

20.   Free gas: In the past the Gas Man would allow the Lessor (if the Lessor’s surface was drilled) to hook into the oil and/or gas line to use for home heating. With modern high pressure, high volume wells, this has quickly become an additional liability the Gas Man does not want. In lieu of “free gas” they will agree to make payment based on XXX cubic feet of natural gas. This is highly negotiable.

21.  Clarify which events constitute Force Majeure. Pay close attention to this provision as it could serve to toll the term of the lease indefinitely without compensation to the mineral owner of any kind.

22.  If your property is subject to a mineral severance, typically that mineral reservation language grants the mineral owner “executive rights” to use the surface for the purpose of exploring for and extracting oil, gas and minerals.  Closely review  the OGM reservation document to determine if the language prohibits or restricts surface disturbance.


Thanks to Dave P for his contributions to this post.

An informative article from Pennsylvania that sheds light on gas lease disputes:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-west/court-allows-gas-driller-to-cut-trees-in-beaver-county-629180/

Common Sense on the Farm

Read this article from npr.org.  It's the ending that is so refreshing: farmers don't need to be looked after by people who "know better" but have never been on a farm themselves.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/12/148320219/children-face-dangers-on-farms-but-not-from-farmwork

An Invitation to Blog with Us

We are here in order to find like-minded donors to help us raise money to add to the 114 acres we have kept in farming.  This is consistent with the aim of the Town of Eden* to maintain its unique characteristic as a farming community.  Please send us your written recollections about the character of East Eden that is worth retaining.

(Donations are welcome too.)

Winkelman Farm Conservation Corporation
winkelmanfarm@gmail.com

*The 114 acres in conservation easement thus far are technically in Boston, but that's another characteristic of East Eden isn't it?

Looking Forward - another poem

I wrote this last year while pushing the baby stroller on the remaining paths through the fields of rural Switzerland, where I now live.  I was thinking about sprawl and the farms of home.  You see, the land here is so pricey, people build large rectangular apartment buildings in former corn fields straight up to the sky in order to maximize the price per square meter.  The landscape is changing so quickly, we cannot remember what things looked like a year or even a month ago.  Can you imagine it in your own backyard?  Here is another poem:

Feet on the ground

Family farm

Head in the clouds

Building ground

Planning our Paradise

My kids and I

High-rise rectangles

Touch the sky

View past the lake

Unobstructed

Cell phone towers

There constructed

Top of the hill

Valley below

Green

And brown

And yellow glow

Asphalt

Concrete

Black and white

Sunlight bouncing

Steals my sight

The hoof

The boots

The little shoes

Follow the path

That is the view

Under the fence

Or over the bale

Leaving only

Some pony tail

In the grass

Ankle deep

Under rocks

Where crayfish sleep

Hidden treasures

Predator, prey

Along the creek

Slipping away

Gone are the fences

That never excluded

Absent the stink

That hadn’t intruded

Soon sitting clean

In cozy apartments

With a view at the back

To the neighbors’ compartments.

excerpt from "The Chain Letter Incident" by Cathy Lynn (c) 2011