Worms on the move

Fishing season will soon be upon us. After searching the world over I have secured a light bulb for the bait machine in Hammondsport. When I first put that machine in front of the car wash I think every drunk in a 20 mile radius tried to get a soda out of it. I can only imagine the mind bender it must have been for them in their state to punch a couple of bucks in the coin slot and open the cup to find night crawlers in it. Maybe for a few it was a moment of enlightenment as to whether they wanted another drink.

So many of us depend on the clean water we have here, whether it be in the lake or the run-off. I have a wonderful supplier for my bait, but a lot of the worms come out of my yard. If you go buy I am out there with my flashlight picking the crawlers just like Grama Egresi taught me to do so many years ago, (almost 40 now) so we could go fishing up in the pond, (which is no longer accessible to anybody but the part of the family that now owns it, which is sad, but true). As kids we all went fishing in that pond with Grama and it was what perfect memories are made of. It all went right to hell years later.

We have our vineyards that depend on the clean fresh rain water run-off. It is what makes New York State wines some of the best in the world. The grapes make the best jams and jellies found anywhere. As residents here we all have suffered the misery of the Keuka Watershed Association telling us where, how, when; and how much we need to sell our first born for to have a septic system here. We have had to endure the breach of our privacy when they trespass on our property because they "think" we might have a septic issue. We have gone through all this for years and the next thing you know we are looked at as a place to dump toxic-radio active waste---what a mind bender this has all been!

Anyway, I have noticed that over the years, actually since1998 when I started selling worms that I can tell how healthy the environment around my house is by the worms. Some years they have been stringy, or better put not very meaty. I figured out that it was the grape spray from the vineyard behind me that was killing the worms. I was going to clean up a spot I have in my back yard of old boards and the like, but decided to let it grow over to protect my worm hunting ground in my back yard. It has been rather successful except last year the wind must have been blowing in the right direction because the spray killed the little poplar tree in the middle of my back yard along with the small shrubs I had started there. I am a little worried about how "well" my yard crawlers will be this spring.

I was thinking on selling ice this year too. I have freezers left from the Diner I could keep it in, and since we don't have a store, gas station, or restaurant in town maybe it would be handy for folks in the summer to have some place to buy some. My brother sells ice as a wholesaler and can't sell to the public in small amounts because of our sales tax system. It is hard for people to understand this concept unless you know the legalities of it.

So it is time to get out all that fishing gear and seeing what needs to be replaced, and untangled. Waiting til the last minute only ends up in frustration. Smelt will be running pretty soon too. When I was a kid one net swoop equaled 5 gallons, now you gotta fight over them in the creeks. Boy how things change don't they? Speaking of change, Happy Birthday Ashley!!

Have a good one....
Deb