I am NOT a happy camper. I live in PEI, land of the potatoes. I own 3 acres of land, I live on one and the other 2 are used for hay by a farmer friend. I am bordered on 2 sides by fields owned by a neighbor, guess what was planted in those fields this year? Hmmmmm POTATOES.
The problem is not with the potatoes themselves of course, I like potatoes. There are 2 problems, the pesticides and the harvesting methods.
Problem number one: Pesticides.
There is supposed to be a buffer zone between public property and where a farmer would spray pesticides. The farmer who farms this ignores this rule, spraying ON my property. He turns the sprayer on as he turns around on my land because he did not leave a buffer space.
Problem number two: The harvest.
Today was the last straw for me. I watched as someone in a truck drove and parked on my property while they went to work on a tractor in the field. I went and left a note on the windshield that said: "for future reference, this is private property, if you would agree not to spray pesticides so close to my house, I wouldn't mind if you drove on it." Perfectly within my rights I think, after all I own the property! After that, I watched (and took pictures) as countless potato trucks, tractors and harvesters drove over my property time and time again. They drove over my survey pin many times, burying it, they drove over and "stole?" another marker I had at the other end of my property. Can't find it, gone.
At the end of the day, I noticed the owner of the farm, out there looking for something (my marker that they "lost") so I seized the opportunity and went to chat with him. I said "you made quite a mess of my property". I told him about the note I left on the truck. He said he knew and fed me a bunch of excuses of why he HAD to drive on my property. When I brought up the pesticides issue, he had excuses for that too and told me that the fact that our well water here on the Island is mostly contaminated with nitrates has nothing to do with farming. fertilizer or pesticides. He said it's all made up by the government.
I tried to end the conversation there, I told him I understood that it had been a rough year for farmers. I asked him just to reassure me that it would be different next year. He said it would. Then he told me there are just a few people who are CRANKY about this and that it's only the English people that complain about the pesticides!!!!! As much as saying if I was a GOOD Acadian that I would not be saying this. I walked away feeling kind of sorry for him and feeling like I did something wrong. Now I am just boiling mad!!!
My biggest concern from this is that there is a spot where the water runs down the field and creates a ditch on my property. When it rains, water runs down the field to this area. Part of the reason I am letting grass and hay grow is to help stop some of this run off. The trucks drove over and over this area today, making it deeper than ever and destroying the grass that was on it.
I am adding some pictures of the days activities. Feel free to comment, am I just cranky? Or do I have a right to say what goes on on MY property.
