So, we're gonna have Tams and Flanders and also an uh visiting to talk about the Wley farm plan and we're going to have uh Erica Roer here with I think Amy Lali to talk about another project. So, I I'm
kind of thinking here on the agenda. Uh has everyone had a chance to look at the March Mens? Yep. Okay. Um, I have a small edit which just kind of makes a couple
of details more general. I can go over them. Um, one. All right. One, two, three. Here, I'll just give this to you and we're done. Um, I I can't imagine anyone's too concerned about it, but
they just kind of generalized a couple of things. Um, thank you. Anyway, uh, anybody want to move that we accept those minutes with edit? Second. All in favor? Anyone oppose?
Cool. All right. So, minutes are done. Battery storage. Uh, number four there on the agenda. I I have kind of tuned it out and I don't have anything new. um on the pollinator quarter
meetings. Nothing has happened in the last month and I'm not sure when the next meeting is, but I'll let you all know. Um okay. Has everyone seen this pamphlet? This is number five on the agenda. Okay.
Does everyone like it? Yeah. Okay. Everyone see any errors or is there anyone we missed? because you got on the back you got the whole set, right? Okay. Um they're looking like Mrs.
Yeah. If you want any more or less vegetables, I got the tobacco or attempt a tobacco on there. So, anything else? The thing is, it's not that complicated to make a modification for the next time they get printed. I mean, it's not like
we're going to print 200,000 of these. Yeah. You just need a paid Canva account, which is 10 bucks. So, we're gonna we're going to try to find a five maybe five or six places where we can put a little box and have
people Take this. Take this wood on. See, I don't know how to print them on the front and back with the same piece of papers. It's your It's the printer. It's very complicated. Anyway, so that's coming.
So, what's the next step? I just just put it on like hit print, right? Yeah. this vote to approve it and hit print. All right. So, I move that we approve this as generation the first incarnation of a constantly updated shop weightly
hyper local farm guide. Second, all in favor. All right, let's print them and distribute them. Figure that out. Um, all right. Dave writes farm sign project. Yeah, we got the quote for they keep it under
$1,000 four signs in the artwork and it comes up in the line. Okay. All right. And uh he has no problem if say next year if we get more money we can take away. Yep.
Okay. Well, I talked to Peter a while ago now, but basically we need an invoice and then you got All right. And it's under the it's 950 no tax. Right. Right. Okay. You put a deposit or or you want the
whole thing. Oh, okay. Oh, I see. The deposit is so close to the total balance. I'm sure so this quote earlier I read it was like $1,600 or something. Right. That was [Music] for garage.
Well, great. We might need a couple more to keep it. Maybe a couple more PS, but I guess those people still leaning up against a somewhere that'll work. Yeah, car's bolts are cheap, but I guess, you know, they probably have to make money off of
anybody. All right. Well, let me um let me get this into uh get this into the town tomorrow. What's the turn around on that? I don't know. I don't think it's much. No, I see their signs there. They could do like
they're making a bunch for the Franklin County Fairgrounds and stuff. Yeah. Red ones and bread. They look really nice. Okay. And they've got the art all. Yeah. I got about I talked to them already originally. I wanted to get to the quote
there about green lettering, you know, and the tractor being red stuff. the man owner should have a problem with it. I'll get another call to Okay, what's going on here? Probably pay for the whole four
signs the hard work. Yeah, I'll go over and make sure. Okay, it would it might be smart here to just I think get approval for the It might it would be Let me just
make a note here. So, I should I should see if we need to get approval for the artwork. Oh, the picture. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's probably worth it just in case. Well, I'd rather ask than show them the pamphlet. That's where a picture is. Well, right. Right. Um,
basically, it's they'll see the pamphlet, too. Yeah. Two things at once. You know, it came out good that it Okay. Um All right. So, I guess I'll
talk to Peter about do we need to get the uh the artwork approved? And if not, I guess I'll hand him this. And that's where we're at on the piece. going to have a color.
I was just saying I think we're I think we're looking at green letters and red. Oh, I'm talking about the brochure. Oh, I think with the black because we're printing it at the printer here.
Okay. You want some color pretier? I guess that is true. Um maybe we see how it goes. Yeah, I I think Yeah, because this can be, you know, I don't think it makes sense to make more than couple hundred at a
whack. You know, we'll try to find like five places to to hand them out. Um, okay. So, um, what and then the last thing I was just going to mention is I don't know if I don't know if we're going to meet in May or not. We'll have to kind of let
the situation decide that for us, but um have in the back of your mind things that we might want to request funding for going forward and I have I have a list of thoughts here. I don't want to take up a bunch of
time because want to get to the folks that have come to visit. But um so just be thinking about any projects, ideas. is I mean I was thinking you know what could we do what could the adcom do for the school and then I thought well why don't we just ask someone at the school
you know instead of trying to figure is there something so you know maybe in the fall it makes sense to maybe we could have some school come here someone checks in and then we could maybe make a budget request and do something um for the elementary school I don't know we'll
see but just things like that if if I you get ideas like Dave signs um the earlier we start thinking about it, budgeting for it, the better. So, that's all um I don't know. That was pretty good.
Uh that was pretty fast. So, what um Yeah. Amy, you're here for this, right? Yes, I am. Okay. You want to Sure. elaborate. I'm not sure why I got voted by this group to talk to you guys because I'm like the
worst person, but I'll do my best. I'm sorry. Not at all. Not at all. So, um, myself and Julie Wagner, who's on the select board, and Eric Roer, who is our community development coordinator,
uh, kind of got together and started this, um, weekly giving, um, garden program literally like three weeks ago. Came up with this idea like, yeah, let's do it.
Um, it's kind of late now and I explain this to them as far as like planning to grow stuff and have everything in place for this
spring. But we are going to start with a seed and plant drive. Um, and what we want to do is we want to see if residents will would be willing to well, I say drive, but it's it's
really a swap. So, what we want to do is we want to see if farmers or residents have extra seeds that they would be willing to bring to a swap or um starts. We would love starts because they're a lot easier than seeds for people. And
what we the ultimate goal is to have a community garden. Um that's probably not going to happen realistically this year. We're looking at putting we are in talks with the library trustees of putting it behind the library. So that's the
ultimate goal. But aside from that ultimate goal, we want to do this um seed and starts program. every couple of weeks we will um be set up I I think we've decided at the library if it's okay with the trustees like I said it's
all very new um to have residents come and get seeds leave seeds pick up starts that they need leave starts that they have extras of. So, what we wanted to talk to you about was a seeing if any of the AGCOM members
wanted to be part of this group because that would be an invaluable resource for us and b it's funny that you have that pamphlet because the second thing I was going to ask is if you guys had a list of farms uh that we could contact to see
if any of the farms would be willing to donate starts or extra receipts and things like that. Sure. So, those are our two asks of the ad. Okay. Okay. Well, we I know we are in the process of
updating this database and I don't know exactly where we're at if that's something we're going to talk about I think next. Okay. Um yeah, I mean um I think it sounds like a
neat neat project. So we are um also working with the city of East Hampton because they are also starting a program just like this and their city. So we're going to be working back and
forth with them as well. And um you know we have lots of course you know you always have lots of ideas but implementing those ideas can be a lot more of a challenge than just yeah let's do it. Um you know we were talking about
maybe starting a farmers market once a month or something like that. And so we just wanted to kind of get a feel from your committee to see what you guys think or have any thoughts that as well. Yeah, I mean it sounds like a neat
project to me that would obviously evolve over time to be what it would, you know, it's a little thing that's end up maybe not looking like what you think it is right now, but is is there any weight gardening club or something like
that? We are aware of if anybody knows of one, please let me know. But we um so we put a lot of feelers out to residents and nobody's really you haven't
unless you No, I can't think of any I want to arrange my know some people do the only I I know I I will only share that when my kids with you were at the
elementary school and I had bought the Kogan property up and moved five there and there was about six acres of overgrown Christmas trees. Oh yeah. So we did a fundraiser for the school and we essentially I cut the trees and gave them to anybody who signed up for a
nominal fee and I you know it I was almost run out of town by the people who sell Christmas trees. Oh. So you know what I mean? So it like that was like a one-year only deal.
Um hope no one in this room sells Christmas. But anyway, so that's I don't know if there's anybody in town who sells starts who would be unhappy knowing that there were free things being handed out. I don't know that that
but that occurs to me. Okay. Yes. So we did we did think about that. Um, one of the things driving this is, um, in this economy I know Weightley's a little more
affluent than or places like that, but um, food insecurity can be an issue for people. And I know that we have so many amazing farm stands in town. Um but with the
prices of food going up even at the farm stands because farmers can't sell a tomato for 5 cents because they have to make a profit too, right? Yeah. So part of this is getting people to be able to grow their own food so they have more of
a of a stability security when it comes to that, especially our older folks in town. That was that was where the idea came from. I I would think that the the individuals involved are kind of amateurs. They they
they need some direction as to what be practical for them to plant it. Yes. And then get some sort of results. Yes. Versus, well, that sounds good, but Yes. How how do you grow it? Exactly.
Exactly. But yeah, I was I so I was speaking with them and you're absolutely right. There is there's a lot to learn. Um but they are and I are and I am
really willing to dive in and and learn it and figure it out. And I think that that's especially where you guys come in. So, do you have a a group that's meeting periodically? So, right now it's just myself and Julie and Erica. Yeah,
we are hoping to get to help out. Like I said, we're we just came up with this idea weeks ago. So, we're really kind of So, it sounds like if for the by May
17th, you're talking about pretty much starts that have already seeds and starts what we would like to do for like a Mother's Day weekend adult if anybody has anything. Okay.
Well, um we can we can I wonder if Tori, how how close are we to thinking the database is updated? I think there's just three fires I
couldn't get a hold of. So if it's like 95% done, ready to hand off. All right. So it sounds like we could give you that. Fantastic. And maybe I could communicate with you about, you know, I I'll talk to these folks. You talk to
those folks. Maybe I can squeeze some more stuff out of That would be great. Um I'm also I love that you guys have a pamphlet because I was going to make a pamphlet to print and that just to explain everything and Okay. Have something tangible as opposed
to just walking up to Dave and saying, "Hey, Dave, got any starts?" Yeah. Well, you're welcome to your copies of these gentle. Okay. Are you guys going to make those here? Yeah. Okay, good. I was going to
say I'll pay for Yeah, I'll pay for them to get printed. All right. So, from now on, we got to ask Amy when we want to send up. If it's legal, I'll do it. If you do get like a garden started, I
would donate the compost for it. Fantastic. Thank you. Um, do you have a do you have an idea of interest in this? Like how many people are you think are going to be interested in this? I I think that is a tough like I mean because if you start really talking to
some farms some of us think in terms of you know I mean obviously we're not talking about thousands of anything but you you need things in a form that a homeowner can use. Exactly. But not a tray of 200 kale plants. You need a six-ack of
Exactly. broccoli and cabbage. You need a wide variety of a relatively retail friendly pack. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um to answer your question, the residents
and people that we have spoken with and kind of put the word out so far have been super enthusiastic and that's a fantastic idea. see what it's always it's always fantastic and always enthusiastic when everything first starts and then in just
kind of when you even with garden so part of this is not just oh here's some seeds and some starts by it it's also going to be tied into keeping up with it and then when you when you get your 100 tomatoes
we'll have like canning classes and things like that because you have to do the whole follow grow. I mean, and a lot of people, they'll start their garden and then after like five or six weeks, it's like I'm not doing this any like your enthusiasm goes down like when the
weeds start and you have Well, it's really hard to grow food crops. Yeah. You have bugs and oh my gosh, geez, I'm pro like I missed one weekend of weeding and now it's overtaken. Never mind, I quit. Right. Right. one
night after my tomato plants here. So, um part of this is really we really want to go from start to finish with residents so they can have like an actual at the end product that they can
that they can actually use. That makes sense. I don't know if I'm explaining that. Yeah, definitely get it. And so, uh, but things like flowers are something you'd be happy to have donated as well. Or you Flowers are good because you need companion plants. Yep. Sure.
And so, but the focus is really food. The focus is food. Yes. But flowers are a necessity because you have to attract those bees and those pollinators to get your stuff growing. Okay. Well, um, so why don't we make
sure you get a copy of our database? Fantastic. Why don't you and I have a conversation one way or another and maybe I can try to, you know, put the screws to a couple people and um and we'll see if we can get together
for the 17th. Awesome. Thank you so much. Um I also put out a call to the tech school to see if they can help. So we would have to do probably race gardens behind the library. So, I put out a call to the tech school to see if uh landscaping or carpentry kids can
maybe do something like that because they don't have they don't have an ad program there. But, um Smith does but it's also the end of their school year, right? So, we So, I have to keep that in mind too.
But for now, starts in seeds. Yeah. Great. Okay. Awesome. Well, um yeah. So, we'll uh we'll just talk behind the scenes here. See, we get together. Great. Thank you so much. You bet. Have a good night. Hi, Sammy. Maybe I have a
friend. Oh, wait. Sweet. Thank you. All right. If I have called you Tasmin, I apologize. That's okay. Can I come sit with you then? Yeah. Um, do we mind our introduction? Sorry,
I wasn't here. Sure. I'm Doug Caldwell and I one of the owners of Full Bloom at Happy Valley. I'm Bill O'Reill Farm. Tim Nurse, retired. Nice to meet you. I know all these
names. Nice to meet you. Mike Bard Farm. Great. Nice to meet you all. Um I'm Tamson. I'm a land use and natural resources planner of the Furog, which is the regional planning agency. We're
located um in Greenfield on the top floor of the train bus station. Um and Erica Roer is working with some staff at the Furco to do a comprehensive plan that is
um um planning long kind of long range visioning document that covers everything that a municipality sort of has is has charge over basically. So, transportation, economic development, um land
use, um what are some of the other required subjects? Um uh community facilities. Um and then we decided to add agriculture chapter because it's so
important and weighty. Um and it ties into land use so much and some and economic development and all that. So, um I don't So, I So, Doug passed around, thank you, Doug, um for the beginning of the chapter. And the goal of that was to
sort of just describe what the existing conditions are for um the economic and farmland aspects of the agricultural economy here.
Um kind of what businesses are here. I got into history because I thought it was interesting. Um, and then it should sort of have a little bit of an analysis to it and then some recommendations for what the how the municipality can
support the goals of the agricultural community and and the community's goals for agriculture as a whole. Um, and so as I was writing, I had a gazillion questions for you and we don't have to answer them all because
um because we're not we don't actually have to finish this for another year, but I got I had time now to work on it, so I got started. Correct. Do you feel up for some of these? Yeah, I mean you you know our meetings end when the select board
meeting ends, but we are now self-sufficient. So we don't really nobody's going to come in and blink the lights on. So um yeah. So I mean in some ways I think there's like like discreet questions that you yall be will be able to answer
for me. And then um uh and then there's things that we might be like, "Oh, we actually want to put that question out to more people, not just us." And so, yeah, I'll be think we'll be thinking about that as we
go through my questions. a whole other dimen a whole other thing that I wanted I um is happening for me right now is that I'm I'm interested in what agricultural commissions are up
to these days. You seem like you have a more active one than a lot of towns. Yeah, I mean we were very inactive for a long time. um kind of the leadership fell to me and I'm I'm really horrible with any clerical work or anything like
that and so I kind of asked a lot of towns in in the area how how is your ad comp managed because we're not doing very well and they none of them had a functioning ad. Yes, great advice.
So then I thought, well, maybe what could we budget some money for administrative assistant? And so, uh, you know, I know Alan was on the he's the chair of the CPC. Okay. And so we thought maybe together we could each budget some money and now Victoria is
here with us and and getting us doing things. Um, so you know, we kind kind of came up with the idea of this uh this just sort of an evolving brochure that distribute. I actually might know someone maybe we can get
these out of Yankee Candle in Deerfield, but uh we did a brochure more detail quite a number of years ago. We printed up a couple thousand copies or what it was. Yeah. I thought I had
function already. Well, that that was that was more of a wasn't that more informative about what Weightley had, you know, the number of acres of Yeah, it it was that, but also there
was information about where the uh different farms were. Okay. And web addresses and phone numbers and all that. Okay. Was there a map on it? We're doing that with all the burns. I can't
remember. I really feel like dive in. I had a a box of about I don't know a few hundred of these things sitting in my closet where we keep supplies for, you know, office and all that. They're just not
there. Ask my wife because she things disappear sometimes. Things get purged. Yeah. Right. One thing I have access to, I don't know, do any of you remember back in 2015, um, another player at the Furcon, Mary
Chuin, did like, um, made some like graphics about lately farms with some statistics, but it was at the the study where they they had all the API ground and the 61A ground in a map.
I haven't seen all of them. Do you remember that? Yeah. Yeah, that was maybe it was a while ago. Yeah, I actually have a map. I made a map like that for you. That could have been 15 years
ago. Get to that. Um well, the I think there's there is I don't know if you've all heard of the Massachusetts farmland action plan and it came out
like maybe three years ago and it's goal is to sort of drive more faster protection of farmland for those people who want to protect farmland because Massachusetts is like the third I forget what the statistic is but it's losing
farmland at the third fastest rate of all states in the country and it you know like farmland is um Massachusetts unacre farmland is like some of the most expensive farmland in the country. So, it's just
um and the average age of farmers in Massachusetts are in their 60s and there's just a lot of concern that in the next decade there's going to be a lot of turnover of farm owners and potentially a lot of loss um of land
that if you know depending on what decisions get made or what opportunities people feel like they have available. So that what options people have available to them. I can see you all fidgeting a little bit more while I talk about that.
So the farm the farm I think it's like 75% of farmers in the country are 55 or 60 and older. They're all old. Yeah. Yeah. So there's this big push to put more money into the programs that um you
know the options that are available to support farmland protection um and farmland succession planning. Um and and another and so like part of that is a push to revitalize agricultural commissions because you all have a lot
of power actually. Um, you have the ability to um, uh, how do I understanding that commission? We we we report to the select. Yeah. We're an arm of the selectman in regard to agriculture.
Yeah. But as far as having any power, we we don't Well, one thing you do have the ability to do is own land on behalf of the municipality. Commission. Yep. And so there's and no town has ever that I
know of or actually I talked to somebody today. Well, I talked to Pete Westover today um who you some of you must know. He's an resident. um his group conservation works is actually has some is contracted with MDR right now to do
some technical assistance to agricultural commissions and he was saying that he doesn't know of a town that has actually exercised this right yet but but you know commissions under section AL which is the like
enabling legislation have the right to um purchase property on behalf of the municipal why would they want to own land when you have the APR program and and the town it's a big deal to even get $10,000. So, sure. Uh, I think it's so
that I mean I don't know if it's at all feasible because I don't know where the town comes up with that money, but I think it's so that if there's, you know, somebody doesn't feel like APR is an option for them because it's not enough money or they already did APR and they need
to sell the town could own the land and then lease it back to a farmer. Okay. So, the town could buy APR land, which I think the town has the right to do anyway, right? First refusal, right? That's under 61, not under. That's not
under. It's not under Oh, maybe it's not APR. Oh, yeah. But I don't think it is APR. I suppose, you know, the APRs do vary a little bit, too. Yeah. Well, that Yeah, it change it's changed since the originals.
It's more strict now. Yeah. APRs are APR automatically in 61A. Yes. No. So you have to you have to keep enrolling. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So then that's right. The uh I guess that's
probably an assumption that I made and therefore I would assume that an APR property would be subject to the right of first refusal, but it isn't automatically in 61A. So okay. I didn't know that. Yeah. Um okay. So, one thing,
so okay, I'm going to ask these questions about ad commissions in general, and then I'm going to get back to this comprehensive planning chapter. Um, so one thing you can do is create watch lists for important unprotected land. You can basically recommend to the
select board which pro which lands they should be acting on if they were to come under the right of first refusal under chapter 61. Um uh you you're charged you're one of the main groups charged with um conflict
mediation. You're aware of that. Um do you know about the push to map farmland of local importance? This is something that NRCS was working on with um the American farmland trust. a lot of it's
it's possible that discuss but I don't okay so you haven't done that mapping yet um farm surveys which you seem like you are you are actively doing that kind of
thing yeah um help with oh so these are opportunities that these are projects you could work on help with farm succession planning um helping farms understand awareness ess of the APR program, AL and other
protection programs like chapter 61 and then use of community preservation act funds to protect farmland. Um, and then what I was just mentioning, fee purchase of land to be leased back to farmers. Are any of those things that you things you would want to
learn more about or get like technical assistance with like have somebody come in and walk you through certain steps? Uh, no. I mean, I nothing there that you said is is jumping out at me is something I think quite active over the
years in working with farmland owners who want to put their land in 61A and APR. Yeah, I think you're right. I've been APR and um and also uh working
with them to get their share of community CPC money CPC money. So the I'm I'm just for the record what you're saying is we we have always advised people who are seeking
APR to get their yeah local match from the C the CP and and provide assistance in terms of yeah they need help building that's cool. So so farmers just know to reach out to that commission for help
with that. Yeah, I mean it as soon as it comes to the attention of the town hall or the community and historically I've gotten in touch with whoever it was and offered whatever support was necessary and sometimes it's nothing more than a
letter of recommendation. Some people are more savvy than others. I guess that way. Um, is there anything else that I didn't say that are things that you would be interested to get more help, get learn
about or get more help with? I mean, we had Yeah, I guess I'm not even sure what question to ask. Yeah, you know what I mean? I don't know. We seem to be doing all right with Yeah. I mean, if I I guess I've, you
know, I understand our mission is to sort of be basically advisory to other town committees. Yeah. And, you know, support the Yeah, there is the conflict mediation, the the dust and rooster law. Wait, say that again. The dust and
rooster cord. Um, you know, that's like um that's is that just like short short for the kinds of things people complain about. Those are the two things. Okay.
That's right. Right. So there is yeah I gota I don't know when the next scoop comes out but I'll I'll get something written for the scoop of what that all means. You have you have an existing right to farm by lottery. Yes. Yeah. So we had to we did that many years ago.
Yes. I think to become an egg commission that was one of the requirements to have a right to farm. Okay. Right. And you know, I'll just say it because we're talking about it, but there are typically historically the APR
funds have been 80% state, 20% local, but there were three things a town could do. And each for each thing it accomplished, the match shifted towards the state by five percentage points. Y. So we are 955. We're accomplishing
APRs as cheap as it can be done. Yeah. Um and an AP having a being right to farm community is one. Having an APR is Dcom is one. And then the third one is if you p we had to pass a bylaw that said I think
every everyone who pulls a permit in this town the land has to be reviewed for APR status and maybe also 61A status which I guess a couple times in other towns that
that's permits have been granted on APR land by the state. Anyway, that's helps. Yeah, I actually thought that that third criteria was something about you have a policy for what the how the select board
reviews a land that comes up a parcel that comes up under right of refusal. I wonder if it has more than one facet to it. Yeah. Yeah. But I asked I asked somebody at Endar about that recently and I think they might have gotten rid of that one. So I'll I'll send that
email to you third clarify. Okay. Um, well, that's good to hear. Um, all right. On to my questions. And I have copies of these if you all want to look at them now or take them
home. Um, and this is again, it's just a draft. It's going to be it's I can add to it whatever you all tell me to add to it or take away. Um and then we'll look at the math at the end. Um the way we structure these
chapters is that each one gets sort of like their vision, their own vision statement, their own guiding principle. Do you have anything? Do you all have any kind of mission statement or I think we do about agriculture and
wheatly what I mean what goals for protecting preserving promoting I mean I think that's the direct the kind of promoting promoting the interests of
agriculture so I think it's kind of baked in to being an egg. Yeah, but I don't know that we have ever I I don't think I've ever been trying to have a mission statement that was different than just
expectations. Yeah. If you were to say sort of what the guiding vision is for agriculture and weight, you come up with something right now. Can you say it again? Sorry. If you want if like uh let me set up a scenario for
you. Um we need a bumper sticker. Yeah, basically um but maybe like a full sentence of a bumper sticker. A bumper sticker that goes on. Um
well, I I've always liked you can't spell Weightley without hate. I understand that it's a widow. No, no, right convention here. I'll I'll come help someone with something. It'll be pretty generic and
bland and you can all react to it. I think it's just a common sense of quite a lot of open space for farming and overall the town
values it as the as the individuals that live in town for the open space as well as the value of the of the land that being farmed. But in our existence, we've
been supportive of that for those constituents. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll capture that sometime. Thank you. Was off the cup. It was
great. Um, do you So, this is in my the like historical rabbit hole I went down. Um I watched that cool presentation about the farm the first farming census in 1840 and
1850. Um so I was able to capture some like historic trends in farming. Do you have a sense of when um farming sort of peaked in lately as far as like number of farms
or this is not like required necessary in any way. sort of probably 1945. Yeah, I'd be interested. Yeah. So, something close to the beginning and end of World War II. Of course, the farms were overall smaller.
Yeah. We had bunch of dairy farms in town. Yeah. There was like there were five or six just from in West all cows. So, yeah. more than that actually. I wonder if the
historical commission wondered about that might have access to back then too we had more support dealers there was feed stores around there was everybody
there isn't a lot of support Yeah, that's a really good point. Thank you. places. Even the New Holland people are out of East now. box
CPS US Steel was good. Yeah. Company that you had groceries back then. Yeah. Now it's all up to you, right? Basically go online and
buy something. Yeah, I know. It's like even just getting if you need a part from a New Holland dealer, it's like I mean you can have stuff shipped obviously, but if you really want to talk to a dealer, you know, like Capital out in New York will
get stuff to you every couple of weeks. And I don't know. Yeah, it's it's uh it's changed. It's changed. Um what are what would you say are the current currently the like major crops
grown for export vegetables and tobacco export? Not export I just mean like that aren't solds kind of hyper locally. Oh okay. Better ship. Yeah. See a lot of sweet corn. Yeah, I would say vegetables and
fewer potatoes, much more sweet corn. Yeah, some no soybeans. No soybeans. Thank you. Tobacco and vegetables. Onions.
Vegetables. just said like cabbage. Yeah. Squash and squash. Yeah. Yeah. I mean other than I mean there's an incredibly long list kind of beyond that. It's a little of everything, right? Just got to say it's kind of like a little bit there, a little bit there.
If you take the wholesale side of it, it's it's what you guys do and man Mannheim and what's his name took over Jimmy Kesnik's place and you know lot of lot of folks
well okay Um, will the the database that you're finalizing show age? Did you collect that information? No, it was it was more of how can we maintain a
a list that we can inform? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um but before the Rogue did that study that APR and 61A ground that was all parcel
by acres. Yep. I have a total. So these [Music] are Oh no. But the town give you the the numbers of what's filed on the 618.
Now we can I have a third map and I guess I left it in the printer or never printed it out. Um these are farmland soils can pass them. I guess all the way around. Um Oh yeah. And then this
[Music] is this is um on this map. This is the estimate like the land you the estimate of land cover that is cultivated crops in orange and then pasture and hay in yellow.
And so I can pull those I can pull those numbers, but I didn't know if you guys had maybe more accurate numbers for what's actually in active use. So if 61A is filed in
town that would then you have they would have those numbers. Yeah. Look at theund like that was the uh that would be current. Yep. But not everyone's enrolled in 61 right surprised if they weren't. Okay.
Yeah. There could be a 3 acre parcel out back that isn't Yes. Certainly an incentive to do it financially. It's incentive to do it financially in 61 days. Yes.
tax rate. [Music] But that's what we were right. [Music] Um, so I have a a little paragraph in there about how the town supports
agriculture. And what I'm saying is it supports the adcom and you guys get a little bit of a budget. Oh, we can request money for us to do $1,500 a year up to $2500. Really? We
don't even know what to do with it all. Um the right to farm bylaw. Um there are some aspects of your zoning that are supportive to farming. I mean the fact that most of town is farmed residential
and agricultural together. Um and then I it's my understanding that the solar bylaw was written in some respects to protect farmland or to allow that land
that where solar is developed to be returned to farmland. Would you would you say does that feel true to you or would you argue with that? But I think that's a working I was gonna say I don't think that's finished is it? Not the battery storage
but the um the like uh solar sighting or whatever. Yeah. The what am I putting up solar panels exactly on agricultural land is evolving a b I believe this there's
something working in the state right now as well. Right, right, right. Okay, great. Right, great. Are there other ways that you feel like the town has policy or programs or just like by sort of their attitude is supportive agriculture?
I think they're generally supportive kind of everywhere like farming. Yeah. I mean, it's very much in your face. So, it's I don't know. So I think if you act, you know, act
ask your average resident, two or three of them, and the question came up about whether they appreciate farming in town, I think they all respond positively. Yeah. Actually, and there I think it's
like the I think it was cultural significance is what I called it. There's a whole paragraph about um when we did the survey for the kind of first phase of this comprehensive plan, you know, we always put out a
survey to see what people want so we can write and reflect to reflect that. Like every single question about what people valued when farmland was in the farming and farmland was in the question, it was like the number one thing people said.
So I think that is shown in the survey. I think that all was all true until day in March when the wind's blowing and the dust bowl everywhere. Yeah. Gotcha.
Um I would love to have a section on the opportunities and threats to farming. This is sort of I pulled a bunch of topics from Hatfield had a similar section in their comprehensive plan which they finished last year and I'm wondering
um which of these topics sort of feel particularly um pertinent right now and you're you know to the best of your knowledge um I'm just going to read them off. I don't know. You can like raise a finger
or just talk about it afterwards, but um soil fertility. I'm sorry. What? I'm not following. Yeah, I I don't have anything for you. This is not a list that you can look at, but Oh, um I don't think Let's see.
Yeah. So, under the this heading that has nothing under it, the future of farming in weight, I I'm thinking of just doing a little bit of writing about um like opportunities and sort of risks or like um challenges that farming
farmers in Weley face. And so, I'm just going to read off some of the topics I thought to that could be covered and you could you can tell me whether you think it's worth putting in the plan or not. Um so soil fertility, um the potential for development,
um succession and access to farmland, um labor supply, getting like getting farm workers, um markets, market access, um costs, cost of operating,
cost of everything. Yeah, I mean all those things are um taxes. I think those 61A compared to the 70s
um really the taxes I I don't think they're we don't have a huge tax. No, it's and that that can change but yeah for now they've been it's been
good. Okay. So, you're saying they're not bad to begin with, and then chapter 61A really helps. I wouldn't say they're not bad to begin with. 61A definitely helps. If those are house lots, well, that that'd be different. Yeah. And 61A.
Yeah. I pay more for my house on 1.13 acres than my farm of 118 acres base. That's That's by a lot. That's good information. Yeah. Really? By a couple thousand dollars. Pretty insane.
Um and then yeah funding potential loss of funding um and climate change. Anything I'm missing think that um source of
credit is a commodity and you're going to farm. Yeah, I would say regul Massachusetts is the most highly regulated state in the country when it comes to every everything, but
especially farming. Yeah. I mean, you know, look at what happened with the diamonds. Yep. You know, things like that'll come out of left field. I'd also say that it's that Yeah. The the public the public is the
biggest threat to farming because as someone who's younger No one in this country knows where their food comes from anymore. I mean, they just don't. And it gets worse every single year, right? It gets wor it's
getting worse in my mind exponentially right now. Yeah. Um like not to crap on the thing that was here earlier, but I think it's a great idea because I think everyone should know how to grow food, but super hard. And she's right. after three or four weeks, people are going to lose
interest and like or you can do everything right and then your tomatoes get blight like the day you're going to pick them and they're all or the squirrels finish off just you know what I It's it's people have seen that there's going to be food security from I mean I think it's
awesome that people are getting out there to garden and if there was a community garden and there were people hanging out up there in the evening you know weeding their broccoli or whatever that would be a great use of space but and is as far as it being like food
security I don't think that's I don't think it's that I don't you know unless we're really going would evolve into, you know. Yeah. I'd love to, you know, I just I think people are so unconnected with with the farm. Like, no one grows
up on a farm anymore. They just Yeah. I see it every day. Yeah. I mean, I I if I knew what they wanted, I I would have had everything they wanted for every two weeks. But if you're going to find out about it on the April 22nd, you know, so I mean,
you know, but it's evolving. They're learning. We're learning. Yeah. But I think this would be a great thing for the ad support, but I Yeah, I'll share a story. This all happened since our last meeting. Maybe it was evolving. Here's
the threat to agriculture. We were told by Whole Foods, by far our biggest customer, that we were not in compliance with their food safety requirements and that we had to have a a plan in place within 30 days to to to
move forward. And this was all um regarding our veg production, which of course we're not going to be selling anything to June. So they said we needed to follow the leafy greens um management agreement
LGMA which we had never heard of before and it's beyond the scope of FISMA. Uhhuh. So it's it's a group of very large greens growers in California got together and came and wrote a food safety
standard and you know Whole Foods adopted it. Uh because this isn't federal. I'm sorry. It's not federal. It's like No, it's private. Whole Foods. It's private. So, we're looking at it going through 108 page document trying to write all
this policy and everything and it's like we're we're not going to do this. But it doesn't work for you. No. And if it's and if we have to write it in our food safety plan, it's not like we can do do it for Whole Foods and not do it for our
other customers. Anyway, so we decided to stop growing vegetables. Well, and then and then the next two weeks, we got all of our rented land to other organic farms. We're working to try to
keep the sale locally and and then through all this, we're talking to Whole Foods back and forth. Are you really do you really need us to inject sanitizer into our irrigation water and stuff like this? This is is and then we're talking to Paul Harlo and Vermont, some other
greens growers. I know, what are you looking at? Are you seeing this? Anyway, so we're like, we're out. We're done. More veg. We stopped growing plants. Got our land to Kitchen Garden and Atlas. And then uh we got an email
from Whole Foods. We made a mistake. You're satisfying. You're you're you are currently satisfying our food safety. No further action is necessary. Yeah, there's a threat.
Somebody misunderstood something at a meeting. Yeah. The public, you know what I mean? A person in an office never been on a farm, right? Doesn't know what a farm is. Doesn't Yeah. Has no idea where their food comes from. Yeah. I sent an email to everyone
I know at Stop and Shop. Been with Stop and Shop for 30 years saying, "Thank you for all the support, blah, blah, blah. These are the reasons we're not going to grow fetch anymore." Didn't get one email back. So, I'm thinking, I bet they didn't get it.
So, I just followed up. Somebody was like, "Yes, uh, we saw your email. Thanks. Thanks." You know, so I mean, so it's it's fragile out there. Yeah. Yeah.
Nobody's talking about local anymore in my world. No, it's a big why. It's a big thing. They can't because it's Look how expensive food is anyway. No, I mean organics has
become I I don't want I It just means there's a less expensive version of this somewhere in the store. Yeah. Yeah. Used to have a niche with organic. They used to scream it had a niche.
That niche ain't there anymore. Now, now everything. In fact, I was just I was just at a big wide meeting today. The buzz the buzzwords are whatever's happening on Tik Tok. They like monitor Tik Tok and if
there's t cilantro trends or whatever on social media, they're like crazily buying cilantro because they'll get shelled in stores. And that's like I knew I knew I was done farming the day I
saw a variety of apple had a Facebook page and that I remember being at Big Y and Greenfield and I was like, "Yep, I'm done." Anyway, so I don't know those those that's a
threat, you know, just I would say the markets are There's not enough of them. They're too big. They They're just too involved in how you go about trying to manage your crops, right? Then you're farming profitably. I mean, that was that was it
for us. If we were to comply with the L LGMA, we wouldn't be running profitably. Yep. You know, I got on the board for Franklin County's Farm Bureau recently. And the first thing that it was it I didn't know
a lot about Farm Bureau and the first person to explain it to me basically said there's all these people who are trying to tell that have never been on a farm in their lives are telling you how to how to farm. Yeah. It doesn't make
sense. Yeah. And that's your experience of the Farm Bureau. No, that's just that's how that's why they explained it's important to be on Farm Bureau. because of the regulations and the and actually this that guy who told me that has moved on. He's got a different job.
He was uh oh, I forget the term now. He was one of our not broker. What is he? Staff person. No, like the guy who's going to bat on Capitol Hill for you. Oh, lobbyist. Lobbyist. Thank you. The Farm Bureau exists to counter the fact
that everyone that controls, right, the markets and the subsidies and blah blah blah don't know about far. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. Like your cows need a roof over their head or they're they'll get
wet. It's like, oh, if you put a roof over, they're going to go stand outside because, you know, Yeah. God made the cow, man made the barn. But you can't, you know what I mean? That's what Dr. H said the worst thing for was a roof. Yeah.
Um I I would you know I I was just one of the conversations I had with someone at Whole Foods about this. I mean they they said the young farmers today don't know how to grow anything.
They're all set with a coming up with a farm plan and a food writing a food safety plan, a sexual harassment, all this stuff. They've got they can meet, you know, just lay out the PowerPoint presentations or whatever
and and do this, but they can't they can't make they can't grade stuff. They can't they can't grow volume. They they can't grow the crops. That's the struggle that they're seeing. much younger growers or have but they've got all the compliances they have, you
know, because they're so horrified that if you don't have them, well, they grew up with Yeah. You know, I mean, if you know if you knew life before all this, it's tough. Watch that with the computer. See the perfect scenarios on the computer. You don't know hail stom
or come tonight. You're done. Yeah. You go look out in there field, there's 30 deer out there. Where do you go now? Everything's perfect on the computer, but it's not in real life. You always got to have your options open. They don't. That's
probably the reason why they can't grow it, right? Weather change it. Oh, I plant this on this field today. All a sudden two inches of income. I guess I got to go someplace else that crop over there. Your subject. Yeah, I'm here for it.
Um, okay. So, speaking of people that don't know anything about farming, the energy committee, I I also um have had a meeting with them regarding part of this plan um and they were
wondering if there's anything. Okay, basically it started with this pie in the sky idea about whether it's possible to use renewable energy of some kind like a little solar
panel out in the field or something to help power irrigation pumps. But then we were like but then they just started to be then we all realized we don't even know how irrigation works for the most part. I imagine the farms along the Connecticut are pumping from the Connecticut if you
can get there. If you can get there, right? And then um they're all they're all in diesel or propane because of the distance they get to the river and have an electric line there. Yeah. And to run an electric pump, irrigation
pump, you'd have a lot of solar panels, right? Or big batteries, right? And then are any is anyone irrigating from wells, private wells? I don't know
of anybody. Yeah, I think Kitchen Garden does. I mean, I'm sure people are. I think we we theoretically can. Um, but I don't think it's common. And do you have And there's there's one
aquifer that's contaminated, right? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Which is that? Well, the Oh, that's gone by. Is that Is that cleaned itself up yet or not? Yeah, that's it. That's something I'm curious
about. Well, the town water wells like for town water. Oh, just the the land here. Oh, yeah. It's that's Yeah. So, the municipal systems came in after the Sure. So, the TIC thing is down along
Plane Road here, right? And along and River Road. that consolidated with Oh, I don't know about that. I don't think that that was too I can't think of any humidation issue
that's ever been a issue with the einating water that I've heard. The word you used the T word chemic pesticide insecticide and it was
used in potatoes primarily a phosphate that's very residual. Yeah. And and that's that's what contain contaminated back in the 70s or so. Yeah. They put it in a water system. Um, okay. Any other big like any other
big picture objectives? Any other big picture things you're thinking about that the town of Wheatley should be thinking about to support farming in Wley? How are these poor bass going to survive? Okay. So, so I'm gonna just say this is
a document that the town acts on. So, it has to we have to be realistic about what's in the town's power. And if you can think of things, I'll put them in there. How about the animal excise tax, the tax of pay excise tax on your cows or chickens?
I've argued with them. I don't pay anything. I pay $456 to the state of Mass. I'm not giving a dollar to this town. That's in the I looked it made the assessor before she whatever. We looked it up from
1779 when it was written and because I'm we're a corporation. Oh, well that's different. Oh, right. And really? Every five or six years they she asked me to pay it and I said no, not paying it. We don't have to pay it. I have to pay my
$456 to the state of mass for whatever, right? Yeah, I guess. I don't know, but it's just you do your taxes, the state takes that money that it's just hasn't changed. And I've been doing the books for 20 years or whatever, you
know? Yeah. Yeah. Whatever tax it is. You're a corporation. If you have cows, we want $456. And what really comes down to is the state that has all these regulations. Yeah. In place and the town just
follows. So it isn't the town Yeah. can do, right? And they they've been supported of the egg comp and agriculture in general. So in that sense, trying to think of some ideas to like
throw out there for you to react to, but I think overall the town is very supportive of of farming. Just incredible. Yeah, as a you know, municipality, I'm I'm interested in this um the like that nobody's talking about local anymore
issue. Um so I moved here in 2010 and I worked on farm. I worked at Redfire for a year and then old friends for five years and then another smaller farm. And I feel like I showed up when local was really
big and farmers markets were really working for farms. And I watched a lot of farmers leave farmers markets because they got their wholesale accounts. And then and then you know like and then when Amazon bought Whole Foods like so
many farmers were pushed out and I don't like I've been I've been out of farming long enough that I don't really understand what markets look like anymore. Yeah. Are there like CISA CISA still exists and is still
doing that local hero all their local hero work. Is there more? And you're I'm interested in the fact that you feel like people don't um just really aren't connected to farms anymore, aren't connected like aren't on them, don't grow up on them, aren't on them, like
don't can't even visualize it. Do you feel like there's more there's like I don't know like what I'm I'm putting all those things together and I'm feeling like there's this loss of that local connection. I appreciate my local farms. I know my local farmer. I'm on my I
visit my local farm. I think a lot of people like the Pioneer Valley is pretty unique place, right? There's five colleges. There's a lot of educated people with money, but and everybody I think is trying to do the right thing,
but they just like people only go part way there and they don't like it's almost like what I see a lot of is people want the pat on the back. I did the good thing. I went and shopped at Whole Foods even though some of the food I bought came from China or whatever.
You know what I mean? It's like my neighbor who's not here has this great story who he goes to farmers markets. He bought the farm next to us three years ago, Bill, something like that. He has grown like he has put his back into it. It's crazy how much he's built in the
last three years. He's like, "I went to this farmers market in January and this woman was like with him that he didn't have asparagus." And he's like, "Well, it like it's winter." She's like, "Well, they have it at Whole Foods,
you know?" So, just bought the asparagus at Whole Foods and because they have it, that means it's local because it's Whole Foods, like they just don't. Or I I went to River Valley Market and you know, like I sell beef. Oh, I buy beef at River Valley Market. It must be yours. It's like, no, it comes from Maine. It
says it right on the picture there, but you just don't you don't go all the way. Just went to the store and that was good enough. Yeah. Hey, my mother used to save the PLU stickers off the butternut squash that she bought because she was always wanted to show me that she had bought three or four of our butternut
squash or whatever. So, she's puts them on the side of her cabinet. It's all Wall-E. It's all Wall-E's butternut squash. Even my own mother doesn't know she's not buying. Yeah. Which is fine. But Right. You know. Right. And I think it just some of it just comes from being
like you they just don't know. Like I didn't I didn't know asparagus was coming from Mexico right now. It says product of Mexico on the little thing band that's around the asparagus that's in the supermarket. But like you just it's almost like they take it for granted because of CISA and it's almost
like they're overeducated on it now where we just think it's everywhere like selling compost. You meet other unique people who think I think the Northeast produces 3% of the food we Yeah. we consume. Yeah. That is nothing. So like
again like it's this big huge we're doing all these great things. Not saying it's not a good thing, but like put it in perspective, people. Like, come on. You know what I mean? Like, they're just so out of touch. Yeah. And I don't know how I don't have like the answer.
What's going to bring people back not having food? Probably. Yeah. But I mean, it's you're only a couple two or three days away from not having food in the supermarket. Yeah. You know, if you have to buy an electric truck, which doesn't exist, again, regulations, like right now in the
state, you can't buy a new semi. The a company can't sell you a brand new semi unless they sell three electric semis first. They can't sell a diesel one. They don't have there's no such thing as electric semi. That's realistic. So,
you know what I mean? Yeah. It's nuts. I know. You know, we're selling some equipment now that we're not growing vegetables anymore. And we have a pre-emissions irrigation pump. Just barely pre-emissions. Yeah. It's worth more than then you paid for it. It's
worth more than a compliant new one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's it every it's I I just feel like every time you turn around, there's a new
requirement, some bit of paperwork, somebody telling you you've been doing it wrong, you're doing what you doing isn't right. But and uh you know, I mean, I don't think anyone complains about the basics of
the sort of regulation, but it just gets taken to such an extreme people. I just kind of Yeah, that I don't kind of pure depth what we're talking I think I can give you a
good example of what so we grow Roundup ready silage corn for the cows so you spray Roundup was it a quart per acre which is it's not a lot on corn that's 6 in tall but it's GMO seed so they want
you to trade that for and we no till most of our ground or minimum till Yeah, like you don't mold or plow. So they want you to no till, not use GMO seed, but still
produce something and you can't can't do it. Yeah. So if you're not going to use GMO seed, all right, well, we can grow old school. It's only hundred and something dollars a bag. I would love to buy that instead of $400 bag seed. Then I'm going to bullboard plow instead of using Roundup. CPS is going to come
spray atine, which stays in the ground forever and is a terrible chemical. Yeah. Well, they're just trading one bad thing for another bad thing. And it's just But uh you put the Roundup on and hits the ground and it's gone, right? But that but that's because you're a
farmer and you know what's going on. To the other person, they say, "Well, that seed has a mouse eye in it and that's how they made it in, you know, the seed company's bad." And you know, they go down this crazy rabbit hole. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. You know what? When hybrids first came
out, I can remember, you know, there it really hybrids came out long before I started whatever I did, but it was there was suspicion around that too, you know, right? And now you just take that for of course, you know, right? Yeah. Right.
It's it's never ending like the battle of what's what is important to the public now, I guess. Well, we want grass-fed beef. Well, we live in New England, so you can't have grass-fed beef. You can
have it if you have 10 beef cows and like they follow your chickens, but that's not farming. That's homesteading. And homesteading doesn't feed people. It feeds the people on the homestead. Hence the term. But and it looks great in a Netflix documentary, you know, but in
real life, if you're trying like we grow beef for Smith College, you can't do it that way. It just it doesn't work if you have if you live in Kansas where the buffalo used to be. I mean, yeah, you graze animals because it's giant and open and the grass is rich in nutrients
and the protein they need, but not here. So, if you want to buy local, you know, what does that mean to you? What are you willing to sacrifice or or you have to make some concessions? It's not it's not going to be perfect everywhere all the time. I think that's what people are
searching for. Yeah. But it's not available. No, it's perfect. No, I think that's that's all very evident for us to carry on this discussion. Okay, I'm going to bring up one more
potentially. um something else to discuss that might get us going um and then I'll be done. So when I hear all of this, I think about, okay, so I whether you agree with me or not, I um believe
in the climate science that says that, you know, precipitation patterns are going to change a lot. And for us, that'll be just a lot of variability like we've been seeing over the last years. But I think there's there's reason to believe that
there'll be a lot of water shortage, drought and water shortage in the southwest and southeast and that those places will become less able to grow food and eventually the farmland we have here in
Massachusetts especially the Connecticut River Valley will become more valuable again be just become more valuable for farming because of what's happening elsewhere. around the country and I don't know the time for this. How many years ago now? I don't know the time frame. That's the hardest thing about
this and making decisions. But I think that personally for me is a reason to keep farmland as farmland and not let it be develop not to let too much of it be developed or not let it be developed sort of willy-nilly because eventually
the economics will be back in the favor of growing food here. I'm wondering what you think about that as a philosophy just or like where you how you all because I know because I know you know
farming farmers their land is their most valuable asset in a lot of ways at this point and so nobody wants to take away farmers rights to pass down their inheritance the way they want to and I guess I'm wondering
like if you have any sort of comments for me and how I write about farmland protection and and and and the economics of owning land in this knowing knowing that that's sort of
like where my my mind goes. That's why I put down is farm credit to have a source of farm credit. Yeah. To buy land that's $15,000 an acre is you got to have a damn good banker. So,
uh, that's just one of the one of the pieces in the ply. I I think something that'll preserve farmland is demand for things that are produced on that land. Yeah. And if there's if there's
demand, then I think someone someone is going to farm it. But um certainly if that trails off I mean wasn't too long ago I mean people were fighting over land here and I I see a lot of unplanted land now. Yeah.
And uh some of it's getting overgrown that piece I know it's wet right near Christian Lane. It's an APR the uh across from the candle factory there. Oh
skis there's parsnips in there. Yeah. Yeah. You can see all full of weeds. They're there. Okay. They didn't know that. But that's that's so if you have these
rain events then all of a sudden your your drainage in their fields becomes something and you know the SCES spal conservation service they used to spend a lot of time engineering that so you you could so water can go someplace
rather than hang around and and that's that's the thing when all this big equipment that's been ignored And but it's still a basic U. Yeah. Paul Meski told me that that
ditch that runs down the back of his farm comes down Barrel to River Road all the way in the Hatfield was that every every owner it was his responsibility to keep the ditch open, right? You know, keep the grass out of the ditch so water
would flow. I mean, when was the last time that was dug out? The ditch is all filled up full, you know, uh with ground is not. Yeah. But So, you have to manage your crops for through moisture issues. Yeah.
Negative being irrigation or positive being drainage in order to survive. Yeah. Do you know I get I've heard CIA say that their drainage webinars are their most popular their drainage um ditch webinars are their most popular
webinars. I would presumably particularly I think a lot of people have a misconception that you can't like if you dig a ditch out you're going to get yelled at. Someone's going to complain. You're going to get slapped around. No I mean I think it's Yeah. compound
versus the add versus Yeah, you just can't put in a farm pond to irrigate out of anywhere either, right? There's restrictions against that. Yeah, you had the right place to put a pond in. Um, good luck. You have to
give how many layers of of writeoffs to to that. Yeah. Anyway, and that's wetlands protection act. That sucks. Yes. I'm just Yeah.
They tell you all the regulations just know that they're there. Yeah. Well, it's like a ditch. If you don't maintain a pond, you lose it. You know, it's a lot easier to maintain something that already exists than to make a new
one. Yeah. Go ahead. There is something with if it's on your map in NRCS and there's a blue squiggly line then it's if it's on their map and it's documented you can maintain it
and they may be doing so the barn we build we have we're doing trying to do the drainage with NRCS and they the engineer asked they don't call it a pond anymore it's a rain
or something and he was like, "Do you want to irrigate out of it?" So, I don't basically talking about building a pond. We don't call it a pond. It's a rain garden or whatever. So, I don't know if they are if that's their way of getting around that. Also, a mosquito breeding
ground. It's It was I don't know if it's because it's water from a roof structure. It may be. But yeah, it's just another set it with a with a ridiculousness of how it carries, right? Because it it doesn't goddamn matter what the water
is. It's it's how do you solve the problem, right? Yes. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time. Um, if anyone wants to send me comments on this, you could I should give you my email. Um, no, you do you
think you sent it to everybody? Um, or can it be in the notes again? Okay, I'll get that for you. Give the letters. Yeah, if Tori can send its What? What's my email? Yeah, it's T
F L A N D E R S. Anyone Simpsons fans? Yeah, the Flanders. My my dad is Nicholas Edward Flanders, the famous character on the Simpsons
named Flanders and my dad Springfield. So, and then what's the rest of it? At furog.org. How do you spell fr? No, sorry. F R O G.org.org.
It's on the chain. Yep. You are on the chain. I agree. Yep. Yeah. So probably um look at your the maps you're on. What's the deadline for comments? Um great
question. Do you guys want a deadline for comments? Sometimes it's it helps people. Um it's due next year. Let's do next year. Yeah, maybe like a six month like hey,
how about if we put it back on the agenda in the fall and um I don't necessarily have to be here, but you can just say does any does anyone like just a reminder to send Hampton if you have any comments.
This is just a draft. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's very well done. Okay, it's a lot of information. Yeah, it's good. I was kind of scanned. But maybe what I'll try to do is for um October, November um incorporate all the comments from our conversation tonight and then you can do
any final comments on that. Okay. Do you think anyone else wants a copy of Who's Eric? I I can give one one. There you go. That's a good idea. Well, I guess I we at
7:40 second. Let's go.