TIMES
WALLKILL VALLEY
Vol. 34, No 42 3 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016
3
ONE DOLLAR
Lady
Halloween
Panthers in Walden
in playoffs
Page 24
Page 46
www.WallkillValleyTimes.net
Digging In search of the Great Pumpkin
Pumpkin contest concludes summer season for Pine Bush Farmers Market
dirt
Neighbors concerned
about Bonnie Plants
By JESSICA COHEN
Bonnie Plants is raising hackles well
in advance of raising vegetables, in its
new location at 2290 Albany Post Rd., say
two neighbors, Vincent Riggi and Chris
Balogh. At a Montgomery town board
meeting recently, they confronted Town
Supervisor Michael Hayes with their
anger, frustration and legal questions
involving the national company that
grows plants in 70 locations for big box
stores and 5000 independent stores and
now intrudes on their lives..
Riggi and Balogh complained that
the company imposed a view-blocking
several feet high platform of dirt, all
night bright lights from trucks and
greenhouses, trucks arriving pre-dawn
with back-up beepers, workers swearing
and joking nearby, and construction that
disregards their site plan. A 33,000 gallon
propane tank neighbors feel is vulnerable
to hunters is also of particular concern.
“The dirt pile resulted from evening
out the land grade to make building
green houses viable,” said Balogh. “It
was not supposed to be that big according
to the plan approved by the building
department. It went 70-80 feet further and
10 -12 feet higher than planned, making it
18-20 feet higher than my property.”
So his windows overlook a big bank
Continued on page 4
Alli Patrick, owner of Four Winds Farm, holds her pumpkin that won the prize for Most Perfect.
By JESSICA COHEN
When Johnny King passed out
pumpkin seeds in June for the Great
Pumpkin contest at Pine Bush Farmers
Market, he gave some contestants
Atlantic Giant seeds. They can produce
200-pound pumpkins, if tended properly,
said King, owner of Royal Acres Farm, 20
acres in Wallkill, Crawford, and Florida.
But the pumpkins grew in different
places with different strategies, and the
outcome on Saturday was pumpkins
with varied shapes, sizes, and stories.
The biggest pumpkin, as judged by
farmers market steering committee and
staff, came from the garden of Lynn
Moore, in Matamoras, Pennsylvania.
However, she had to leave it in her
garden and bring a pumpkin that was
about 20 pounds smaller.
“Someone moved into the pumpkin I
wanted to bring, ” she said. “It had a big
hole in the back. Someone was living
in it, and I worried that whoever it was
would come out in the car.”
She guessed the inhabitant to be a
squirrel who “goes into the pumpkin
and takes bites.”
Moore started the pumpkin plant in
a flower pot and then moved it into
her backyard garden. She had been
at the Pine Bush Farmers Market the
day seeds were distributed because her
daughter, Red Dooley, has an Italian
food booth there. Moore is a retired
emergency room nurse.
Winner for the “most perfect
pumpkin” in size, shape and color,
was Alli Patrick, from Gardner. She
describes herself as a “certified organic
no till farmer”. At her Four Winds
Farm, she says, “The soil is never tilled,
and it’s the most amazing soil.”
Not disturbing the soil allows microorganisms to flourish, she said.“The
Continued on page 2
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL