A new barren field on 116

[2Bwacco]

On Saturday a wind event stirred up a lot of the moonscape dirt on the clear cut south of Andy's Market on Hwy. 116. The dirt storm obscured nearly all vehicles on the road in that vicinity!

This has to stop.

The dirt could be seen in the air as it moved east over residences in that area!

Who knows what harmful powdery substances are in that dirt that folks are breathing in!

[p.s. congrats to Barry on appointment to Seb. Chamber]

[Barry]

On Saturday a wind event stirred up a lot of the moonscape dirt on the clear cut south of Andy's Market on Hwy. 116. The dirt storm obscured nearly all vehicles on the road in that vicinity!

I happened to drive through that dust storm. I shows how nature abhors barren land. Does anybody remember what was there before and what is being put in? I imagine more grapes...

[Eileen M.]

cough... cough... I remember what was there..... it was an apple orchard. Since the work is being done by Dutton Ranch Corp. (823-0448) I would assume they won't be planting string beans.

[Sebastosteve]

I drove through that too. I bet they lost a foot of topsoil on their whole property. I would be pretty upset if I was in the neighborhood to the east of that field. I noticed the people who were walking on the trail had to walk for at least 100 yards of that heavy dense dust storm. It was crazy looking.

[Damien]

While the Duttons were boasting their sponsering the Apple Fair their machines were laying waste to another apple orchard.

[oliviathunderkitty]

Yes, it's a Dutton endeavor, on an apple orchard (20 acres, I think) purchased from Hale's. So sad to see Hale's go. They removed the trees, dug up all of the roots and then began discing, which is what was happening during the dust storm, which I drove through, too.
They will be planting pinot noir, which is already sold to a Napa vintner. The first commercial harvest will be, I think, five years down the road. This seems to be a newish trend--Napa wants Russian River pinot noir and they are either buying property to plant or signing contracts, frequently for grapes that haven't been planted yet.

[Sara S]

I think that the land belongs to Hale's Apple Farm. A couple of years ago, after a long, hot summer, I begged Mr. Hale for some windfall apples to feed the deer; he gave me two buckets full, and in our 'phone conversation told me that they weren't selling enough apples, and that he might try something else. I said, "Grapes?" and he said no, maybe vegetables.

Over the years that the vineyards have become ubiquitous, and because I lived for many year out in the far country and got to know some old-time ranchers, I began to see the difference between a farmer who has been on the land for generations and has to plant whatever crop will pay the bills, and a "Calistoga Carpetbagger", which is what I named a guy who was just that; one who elbows his moneyed way into some land to plant grapes, often, as in the case of Mr. Hobbs, ripping out all the native trees to make his name in the wine industry. The man who did this in my neighborhood, Ehren Jordan, never lived on the land he bought, as all of us back-to-the-land hippies did, and never employed local labor. I had a fantasy of an ultralight plane crop-dusting his vines with Roundup.....

cough... cough... I remember what was there..... it was an apple orchard. Since the work is being done by Dutton Ranch Corp. (823-0448) I would assume they won't be planting string beans.