Late Season Lettuce

I was over on the North Fork of eastern Long Island yesterday on my way to Liz’s Ty Twybly farm to pick up some fresh, extra large, free range eggs when I drove past the irrigation gear pictured here. I’ve looked at those wheels and pipes in the fields for years, and I’ve photographed them in the past. But lately I’ver been asking the question, “why have most of the farms and fields been converted from growing vegetables to growing sod for lawns”? It is unbelievable how many acres are dedicated to growing someone’s new lawn. Eastern Long Island has always been an agrarian community, probably most famous for potatoes, ducks, and oysters. The duck industry left years ago because the electric utility became prohibitively expensive. There are only a couple of duck farms left, and only one duck processor is still in business. I’m happy to say that I purvey from them whenever I need ducks, and they are always happy to see me even if I’m only purchasing two or three birds. The Blue Point oyster from the Great South Bay is a distant memory, although there are still a few baymen working the waters for a meager harvest. And yes, there are still potatoes on the East End of Long Island.

But you’d think with the ever increasing population, and the demand for vegetables, that there would be enough profit motivation for the remaining Long Island farmers to grow vegetables instead of sod. And let’s consider this:  it takes a lot of water to grow grass. That’s water that comes out of our aquifer. Personally, I think a much better use for our fresh water would be growing vegetables, but who am I to say? Just the guy watching all our water being used to produce someone’s quarter acre lawn up island or multi-acre lawn for yet another Hampton’s mansion.

RMA

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