NORTH CANAAN — More than a year after it began, the Trescott Hill Road wetlands matter was resolved last week, with a consensus by Inland Wetlands Commission (IW) members that the agricultural use there does not need a permit.The 2.5 acre property, which is essentially either wetlands or within the 100-foot setback zone, came under scrutiny when it was cleared of brush to become a horse pasture. Owner Mary Ann Marschat and the Sebben Family, who were leasing the land, were ordered to do no further work until the situation could be sorted out. The question was whether or not they needed a permit for the clearing, stream diversion, road development and watering pad installed along the stream.Adjoining property owner and resident Bernard Re brought the matter to Inland Wetlands, along with statutes and case law and his appeal that work be stopped. At the Inland Wetlands meeting June 28, Re was the only agenda item. A week prior, the parcel’s new leasee, farmer Richard Segalla, plowed the whole site under to plant corn. Re, frustrated that he could get no one to enforce the stop order for work there, lay down in front of Segalla’s tractor. There was a confrontation, the police were called, and Re was charged with trespassing.Farming is ‘as of right’Marschat and her attorney, were in attendance at the meeting June 28. So were members of the Sebben family, but only as observers; they said they have no future plans for the property. Re gave a lengthy statement and presented photos of the property. Commissioners later voted to deny his request to be a legal intervenor, based mainly on their determination that the current use of the property is allowed by regulations.In North Canaan, and across the state, farming in wetlands is considered an “as of right” use. State statute allows that, but it also requires a review by the local Inland Wetlands commission of any proposed new activity. That brings it back to a decision the state Department of Energy and Environmental Development (DEEP) says can be based on local conditions. It allows local land use agencies to weigh the benefits, such as allowing a degree of wetlands impacts if it will create more farmland.It can be a complicated matter, with the law purposely written to be flexible. Town Attorney Judith Dixon was invited to come and give a general lesson and to help the commission come to a determination on this particular case. Dixon referred to a list of allowed agricultural uses in wetlands, including grazing, crops, nurseries and farm ponds of 3 acres or less, but cautioned that any of those activities would require a permit, or at least a review by Inland Wetlands. Much depends on change and the degree of impact to the property. A review will give the commissioners a chance to make sure the wetlands are used in a way that is acceptable.“You can’t just take a wetlands, clear cut it, drain it and start tossing seed around,” Dixon said. “You have to get a permit, and you have the right to say no if that action is going to create too much harm to the wetlands. For instance, you can have grazing in existing wetlands if you don’t touch it, such as bringing in sheep with no clear cutting or road building. Then you don’t need a permit.”Dixon said the Wetlands Act was not intended to ruin existing farming. Basically, if wetlands have already been disturbed, there is no issue. Oversight is required if there is an expansion or new farmland is created.She also said clear cutting refers to timber, not brush, as was the case on Trescott Hill Road. The road in question was already used as a dirt path for off-road vehicles, and so was determined not to be new construction. Reclamation or draining?The commission members and Dixon went on to discuss other legalities, such as granting intervenor status, cease-and-desist orders and enforcement. There remained some confusion as to whether or not there was a cease-and-desist order, possibly because the process was not clearly understood. In at least one prior meeting, members said there was a cease-and-desist order. Commission member Michael O’Connor said a letter was sent asking that the work be stopped and that the property owners and leasees were to come to a meeting. But he said he didn’t believe a cease and desist was ever issued.Dixon said the first step would more likely be a letter requesting activities stop and the parties involved appear before the commission. In the case of very serious destruction or the lack of response from a property owner, Inland Wetlands could seek a court-ordered cease and desist. Moving on to a discussion of enforcement, commission Chairman Gregory Polanski said they would call the state police, but Dixon said the state police do not enforce wetlands regulations. Not discussed at the meeting was Section 13 of the local Inland Wetlands regulations, which deals with enforcement. While it might be construed as pertaining only to properties that have been issued a permit, the first paragraph refers to all “actions or investigations necessary for the enforcement of these regulations.”It goes on to describe a precise process of deadlines for dealing with a “written order,” and it says the order remains in effect until the issuing agency “affirms, changes or withdraws the order.” In a discussion that led to the determination that the new cropland is an “as of right” use, commission member Matthew Freund spoke of his practices as a dairy farmer and in dealing with numerous wetlands areas. He also reiterated that the issue seemed to be more of a neighbor dispute. They talked about the approximately 30 years since the land was last farmed, and discussed whether this is a change of use. Stating they had no application and no cease-and-desist order, commission members consulted with Dixon on how to proceed with Re’s letter and intervenor application. Dixon said they have always been an open board and suggested they allow Re to make his presentation. Re essentially said that while he adamantly supports farming, the small piece of property should be restored as a nature habitat and would not be missed as farmland. He suggested Inland Wetlands is not following its charge to protect the wetlands, and therefore the well-being of residents by seeking to protect farmers rather than the wetlands.
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Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton\u2019s Main Street in 1985.
Provided
For Hermans, the award has prompted some reflection about why he has spent so much of his life involved in community projects.
“I was thinking about it this morning: Why do I do what I do?” he said. “And I think no matter what I’ve done, whether it’s been school board or rail trail, I’m trying to be useful to the communities I’m associated with.”
Hermans is perhaps best known as the longtime co-founder and steward of Oblong Books in Millerton, a business that began almost by accident. He and his first wife, Holly Nelson, were living in Millerton and looking for something to do during the winter. They had been painting houses, including the Grange Hall in Millerton, a job Hermans got through his aunt, who belonged to the Grange.
At the time, Hermans was also working in insurance for his father, doing collections.
“It was fine except I was doing collections, and it really kind of left me cold,” he said.
He and Nelson began thinking about what they might do together. Nelson was an avid reader, while Hermans had studied journalism and had worked in a record store. They noticed a chain of book and record stores operating elsewhere in the Hudson Valley and decided to follow that model.
And so Oblong was born.
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
“We really learned it by the seat of our pants,” Hermans said.
The business would eventually become a beloved and integral part of Millerton’s commercial life. But although Hermans may have learned the book business as he went, his affinity for retail — and for the connections that happen across a counter — had begun much earlier.
As a child, his second-grade teacher operated a little cardboard pencil shop in the classroom, and Hermans still remembers the satisfaction of selling a pencil for a nickel.
“I really liked selling somebody a pencil for a nickel,” he recalled. “I can remember that experience, and it was so pleasant.”
Later, while living in Arizona, he helped establish a food co-op and worked at the counter.
“I kind of knew that I liked doing that kind of thing,” he said. “It’s a nice way to be pleasant with people, but without making too much commitment to them.”
His relationship with Millerton also predates Oblong. His grandparents lived in the village, and he first came to Millerton as a baby. Over the years, he has watched the town change through several generations.
He remembers a Millerton with a much broader array of businesses, when stores such as Delson’s, the Main Street department store that stood for nearly 40 years in what is now Millerton’s Antiques Center, seemed to carry almost everything a resident might need.
“You could find everything from a set of dishes to a shotgun,” he recalled.
The rise of shopping malls changed that kind of downtown retail, he said, but Millerton has remained a lively commercial village.
“For us, it’s been a great place to have business,” Hermans said. “It’s a busy village.”
For Hermans, running a store was never simply about selling books and records. It was a way of being part of a place.
Music has remained another constant. Hermans continues to sell music at Oblong and hosts the radio program “New Harmony” on WKZE. The business of selling music has changed dramatically over the years, particularly with the rise of streaming, but Hermans has adapted.
He was initially reluctant to bring vinyl records back into the store because of their expense. But about four or five years ago, he began stocking LPs again, and they have become the main form of music the store sells.
He finds that many of the customers buying them are reconnecting with music they loved years ago.
“I do best with classic albums that people may have had when they were young,” he said. “And now that they’re retired, they want to hear it again.”
Hermans still reviews between 700 and 1,200 new music releases each week through the store’s distributor, Alliance Entertainment, carefully deciding what belongs on Oblong’s shelves.
That same commitment to place has led Hermans into a wide range of community projects. His work with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail is among the efforts he mentions when reflecting on his years of civic involvement. He has also served on the school board and has been involved with the Millerton Business Alliance and the Irondale Schoolhouse. He is now involved with The New Pine Plains Herald, which he sees as complementary to the work of The Millerton News and The Lakeville Journal.
“I really think that the important thing about this award is that people understand what a newspaper does to connect them to their community,” he said. “And if that means anything to their lives, they gotta support it.”
Hermans knew Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook and remembers them as people who were deeply conscious of their responsibilities to the community.
“They were really nice folks,” he said. “They were very conscious of what their role in the community was.”
There is, in fact, still plenty on his plate. Hermans admits he needs to scale back because he has taken on more than his current abilities can comfortably accommodate.
“To be given this award is very special,” he added. “But I don’t feel like I’m done.”
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Adamah Farm crew members planning out the day’s tasks on a late September day.
Janna Siller
Over my 15 years of growing vegetables in Falls Village, I’ve exerted my will over all kinds of conditions, from drought to humidity to crows with a taste for cantaloupe. That’s what farming is all about. You zip around the field, hopping on and off tractors, moving hoses and chasing weeds, all in an effort to arrange conditions in favor of your crops. It is the crops’ job to gulp up sunlight and move water through their stems, to transform solar energy into your next pesto or ratatouille or butternut squash soup. It is the job of the farmer to irrigate just enough but not too much, to slice dandelion leaves without damaging delicate cabbage roots, to pander and pamper and stay in tune with what plants need to thrive.
The easy part of farming is trusting plants’ resilience. I have seen bright green shoots barrel ahead out of a plant torn to shreds by hail. I’ve watched wilty, heat-stressed seedlings turn rigid overnight and greet the next morning with vigor. The hard part is letting go of what you can’t control. As our crops lapped up Friday’s gentle sunshine and I considered the weekend forecast, I imagined roots holding tight to wet earth and branches supporting each other in sideways, pelting rain. I made sure all of our storage crops were already harvested and tucked away. I battened down the sides of our greenhouses and wished the remaining field crops good luck.
The nor’easter didn’t materialize too dramatically in our corner of New England. A few broken branches and debris blown about, nothing like the July Fourth storm that sent half a tree crashing onto the deer fence and left crates of fresh veggies in coolers without power.
Fall storage crop harvests amid soil building cover crops at Adamah Farm in Falls Village. Janna Siller
Farming is an exercise in acceptance. To do it well and return year after year, you have to balance hubris and humility. The prize can often be a certain equanimity, a training in the art of moving into the next day even when the last one scrambled all your plans.
Epic change is not always about the unexpected. It also comes like clockwork on the seasonal calendar. As I type, the last of summer’s watermelons wait naively on the vine for a few hot days to finish ripening. Broccoli are holding their leaves wide as they did in June and July, only to find that the hours of sunlight decrease with each earlier sunset. Plants can’t pick up and go south or call the manager to order a bonus round of sunshine. Their growth slows and they get a resigned look to the hue of their leaves, so different from the frenzied growth of summer.
The release of fall is not tragic or gloomy. It is not an ending because so many fall tasks are about setting up for the new beginnings in spring.
We turn the vines that yielded thousands of pounds of fruit into the soil, where healthy microbes feast on their rotting stems. Then we plant cover crops — a mix of cereal grains like rye and oats and legumes like peas, vetch and clover. Cover crops hold the soil and its nutrients in place over winter, feeding the soil food web and adding organic matter that next season’s crops will need to grow.
We sort sprinklers and repair hoses. We inventory tarps. We take notes about which plants did well where and how we might try a new approach for this or that. We stack crates of cured garlic and onions and winter squash in a cool, dark room.
We save seeds from tomatoes and beans and lettuce, carefully labeling each variety for next season’s long, sunny days.
Janna Siller is the farm director at Adamah, a community farm in Falls Village offering CSA shares, educational programs and a food access program.
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