The Family Farm at the ^ ''We need open space for water retention, hunting, tourism, and room to breathe'

b\ Kri llarnrtt OII.IJ SPRING — David Cresse would like it Rut he might wonder what happened to the horses The farmland he bought May 13, IMP on what is now Seashore Road is' still producing good things to eat. Knough good things to make David’s ' great-great-grandson Jonathan Sayre virtually self sufficient, just as most 19th Century farmers were. There have been a few changes in 141 years Half of the original 96-acre property had been disposed of before the farm passed to Sayre, and he has sold another 3 acres, but the remaining 45 are

llrlrn & Jonathan Sayre still full production. Sayre and his wife Helen named the farm "Landsi'air" for the unique combination of those elements in Cape ■May CPtnty. It docs seem Ito have a ring to it that’s lacking'in “the cresse place,’’, as it was known in the 1800s JONATHAN (Jack to his intimates), trim, graying and with an early June tan like a lifeguard's m August, is retired after teaching agriculture for 28 years at the County Vocational School. All that he learned at Rutgers University and the years

r on the cover— 1 Krportrr/pbotographrr Bob Shlle* took (M« and other photos of Utr Sayrr family at work on their family farm, less than two miles from downtown < ape May.

of teaching- is being applied at Landseair, which he acquired in 1951'. Sayre's descent goes back to David CresSe’s daughter, Jane Cresse Crowell, who inherited the farm on her father's death, Jane's daughter, M@ria v J-eaming Crowell Sayre,,With her brother David, in turn, inherited in 1921. Maria bought out her brother’s interest and lived on the farm until she died at the age of 98. IF SOME OF THE names seem familiar, it’s because they can be found on street signs throughout the southern part of the county. During the years .that Maria owned the farm, her son, Louis " James Sayre, conducted a small dairy operation, but died before he cduld Inherit. Local farmers rented land from the Sayres from 1927 to 1950 to raise hay, corn, vegetables and pigs. For years, Maria’s grandson Jonathan tried to prevail on her to sell him the farm. She agreed in 1951, and Landseair had its beginning. Today, after a program of soil rotation, cover cropping, and hedgerow planting, the soil which has borne crops for 140 years is still, says Sayre, as rich as it was in David’s time'. VEGETABLES, including tomatoes, corn, beets, potatoes and s\veet corn; and strawberries, raspberries and blueberries . line the fields. Some go into the underground root cellar, Mason jars or the freezer to sustain the family. Qthers are sold at nearby roadside stands. Hay is grown and sold, mostly to local horse fanciers. Salt hay is harvested from the meadows at the back of the farm and used for mulch. To a city-oriented visitor, there's a let more to Landseair than meets the eye from the fron-

THE LAND, THE SEA, THE AIR roadway and rails. tage on Sfashore Road. A circumnavigation of the property along a lane just wide enough to accommodate Sayre’s van proved that. Over much of the way, honeysuckle lined the path and provided a fragrant offset to the lingering memory of a couple of fish which had inadvertently been left overlong in the back of the van after a recent fishing trip. THE WAY LED PAST an acre of Christmas trees. Each year, families come to the farm early and tag their own evergreens for the holidays. They return at Christmas, and Jonathan chops the trees down. A pond, complete with ducks, was constructed to correct a mosquito breeding problem. A second pond, fed with salt water from the meadows which stretch to

come together at a point on the Sayre farm

Spider’s Creek, has a pair of resident mallards too. The pond also serves as an outdoor food storage bin. Clams are brbught in* from their original beds tmd deposited to lie quietly absorbing nutrients and getting fatter until they are harvested to K ace the Sayre dinner table. As a nus, the pond also provides a partial supply of crabs to the family»menu. A LARGE HAYFIELD bears a lush growth, which Jonathan says includes too many weeds. It will be turned over and replanted with alfalfa to repeat the productive cycle which began six years ago. A nearby field will be planted to soybeans, which will be turned under to enrich the soil for another sort of crop. A sizeable plot is set aside for a

CHRISTMAS TREES, left rear, in several stages of growth, form one boundary for the large vegetable garden. Salt hay mulch surrounds the tomato plants. IO/'lMy I 1991