The Pump Station!

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 The Pump Station was built in 1961 by the Army Corp of Engineers as part of the Five Mile Creek Watershed project. To preserve the Mucklands in Prattsburgh and Wheeler. It replaced a gravity fed system that was inadequate  to drain the 550 acres drained swamp. It was referred to in Prattsburgh Folklore as the Great Swamp! It is currently powered by 2 200hp diesel powered pumps. One primary pump pumps 18000 gallons per minute and the secondary pump pumps 28000 gallons per minute. That pump is used for flash flood situations. 

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The swamp is protected  by a manmade dike that is roughly 5 miles around the perimeter of the mucklands.  The 550 acres of land has 12 cisterns that connect underground drainage to cisterns  that pump to the dike.  A unique feature of the Prattsburgh Muck is that there is a ditch that divides the muck into three townships, Prattsburgh, Wheeler and Urbana.

Over the last 3 years all the drainage systems have been up dated. That’s another story to be told.

Without the pump station and all of the drainage the muck looks like these photos of flooding before the new drainage systems were installed.

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Guest writer today is Greg Squires.

 

Where does the Sassy come from?

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When we made the move to Prattsburgh we decided we needed a brand name for our onions. I believe it was my dad that remembered a photo he had taken of Cass when she was about 3? The photo was added to our bags and the brand of Sassy Onions was born!

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P.S. That little girl has grown into a Savvy yet still Sassy business women!

Be kind to the Truckers

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10016_10200195210994559_293655951_nOnions and Bear 155Onions and Bear 155 Onions and Bear 157 Onions and Bear 156After 4 months of classes and driving time Greg got his CDL Class A license. That is the license to drive Tractor Trailers. We have always hired trucking companies to haul our onions to the city but this year we broke down and bought a truck and trailer. The grandchildren thought it was the biggest truck they’d even seen and I think they were right!

For the next 4-5 months the truck will be on the road delivery onions to Orange County in NY. So if you are on the road and see Greg behind the wheel give him a big wave! And if you are a kid and give the old “arm Pump” aka honk your horn I am sure he will lay on the horn for you but watch out cause it’s loud!

But mostly I would like you to say a prayer for all truck drivers… stay safe and come home to those who love you.

 

So close yet so far

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When the harvest gets close to the end it is always the hardest. The weather gets colder and snow begins to be  part of the mix. The onions seem to bunker down in the dirt and when the sun comes out so do they. The last 20 acres always seem to take the longest.  With any luck they will finish this week.

They have started to put the rest of the onions inside the building and the cold, crisp days are great for that! The onions are loaded on the trucks and driven to the main storage where Greg starts the job of piling them away. All of the guys are great at driving the forklifts but to watch Greg whip around the storage and to pile them 5 and 6 high in perfect rows is still amazing to me.

The soybeans are all harvested and waiting in the bin to be sold. DSCN0248

I must admit that this fall harvest  has been very long. The end of harvest means the beginning of packing the onions to be shipped out. For anyone who thinks that the farming life is easy. It is not. Greg, Jeff and Mark are not just managers of the farm, they are part of the labor force. They don’t watch others do the work, they lead them. They are the first to be at the farm and the last to leave.  I am so very proud of them. Every season. Every crop.