Spring has sprung for the Suffern Farmers’ Market, which has a special grand-opening Saturday. The market is up and running through 4 p.m. today.

The Suffern Market works hand in glove with the Suffern Chamber of Commerce. The Suffern Chamber has launched an initiative promoting the good things about the village and area, including it’s solid, walkable main street and the surrounding county and state parklands. There’s hiking and climbing and some biking in those Ramapo Mountain hills.

One of the 30-second spots features a welcome to Suffern greeting from Suffern Chamber President Aury Licata, Suffern Mayor Trish Abato and Suffern Police Chief Clarke Osborn. Another spot features Handy Hardware’s Bill Tarantino.

The buzz about bees and blueberries

A difference of property us has sprung up in the Village of Montebello at Spook Rock Road and Marget Ane Lane. Osterberry Farms is a new enterprise by the Oster brothers of Osterberry Farms, a local u-pick blueberry farm effort that began as a backyard effort in Monsey.

The brother Osters show off their little helpers at the new Osterberry Farms location in Monetebello.

The Osters bought an empty 1.3 acre lot in Monetebello to transplant their growing blueberry bushes and u-pick business, as well as their two “backyard” bee hives used to pollinate the blueberries. The idea is to have the enterprise up and running for the spring blueberry season. But Osterberry Farms received a Violation Notice from Montebello stating that beekeeping is village’s use table, therefore it is a land-use violation and prohibited.

Osterberry created a Change.org petition to convince the village that backyard beekeeping is not actually a land use violation. The Osters are promoting that small-scale fruit and vegetable cultivation in  semi-rural area is important to the quality of life of the community.

Osterberry Farms received a Violation Notice from the Village of Montebello related to their two bee hives used to cultivate blueberry bushes.

Attorney Ryan Karben sent a letter to Village of Montebello Attorney Warren Berbit, reminding the village of “Rockland’s agricultural heritage” and how the county has spent of millions of  dollars over the past twenty years to preserve farming in the area — farming was at onetime a major industry for Rockland County.

“The demise of Rockland’s once proud agricultural tradition is being revived on this lot- at a time when every other property conceivable is being claimed for large scale development,” wrote Karben on behalf of the Osters. “A lifelong resident bought a beautiful property to foster his family’s love of the threatened
Rockland landscape.”

Montebello requires 10 acres for an enterprise to be recognized by the village as a formal farm. Small scale fruit and vegetable cultivation is a gray-area in terms of village oversight.

Bees are an important ingredient to food pollination cycle. There has been a growing backyard bee keeping movement to counter urban pesticide use and to help revive bee populations after the recent collapse of large concern bee colonies across the country. According to Back Yard Bee Keeping Association, “urbanization has radically decreased the area available to bees to forage.”