All Over Albany

Digging in the dirt

A bill introduced in the state Assembly this week by Karl Brabenac (R-Warwick):

S 90. STATE SOIL. BLACK DIRT SHALL BE THE OFFICIAL SOIL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK AND THE BLACK DIRT REGION LOCATED IN SOUTHERN ORANGE COUNTY SHALL BE THE OFFICIAL HOME OF THE MOST FERTILE SOIL IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

Can you really legislate that something is "the most fertile"?

Anyway, if you're behind on your study of New York geology and soils, and not familiar with The Black Dirt Region, let us direct you to this 2007 New York Times article:

"With other soils, you're lucky if you have 10 percent organic matter," said Maire Ullrich, an Orange County agricultural extension agent. "In the Black Dirt, we have 30 to 50 percent and sometimes up to 90 percent organic matter. It's basically a giant bowl of compost."

About 12,000 years ago, when glaciers receded from what is now lower New York State, they left behind pockets of low-lying bogland that built up deep layers of decayed plant matter. It wasn't until the early 1900s that German, Polish and Dutch immigrants to Orange County drained the bogs with a network of ditches, revealing a sulfur- and nitrogen-rich black soil that in some places is 30 feet deep. In summertime satellite photographs of lower New York State, it's visible as a smear of blacks and browns at the bottom edge of the emerald-green Catskills.

The soil is excellent for growing onions and potatoes -- and it apparently imparts interesting and strong flavors to the vegetables.

BUT HERE'S THE STUNNING TWIST YOU DIDN'T SEE COMING:

New York already has an unofficial official state soil called "Honeyoe." From the federal Department of Agriculture:

The word "Honeoye" is from the Iroquois "Hay-e-a-yeah." Legend indicates that a Seneca brave was bitten by a rattlesnake, had to cut off the bitten finger, and later described the location of the incident as the place "where the finger lies."

Badass. Honeoye soil covers 500,000 acres of the state, mostly through the Finger Lakes region, according to the USDA.

Not that this should be news to legislators. The issue came up in 2013 when an earlier bill proposed making Black Dirt the official state soil. It sounds like it was a bit awkward.

We can only hope this new episode erupts into rival camps of upstate and downstate legislators slinging (actual) mud at each other over the topic.

(Thanks, A!)

Earlier on AOA: On state animals, vegetables and whatnot