Other Voices

Erick McCandless is returning to the place where he started. 

He grew up in Slingerlands, was trained in forestry, and now — after a sometimes far-flung career in environmentalism — he is the new project manager for the Bender Melon Farm Preserve.

McCandless says a bullet was dodged when a grassroots uprising prevented a mega-mall from being built on the rural land, which is now undergoing development on its perimeter.

In December, the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy paid $1 million for the 176-acre former Bender Melon Farm, near the corner of routes 85 and 85A in New Scotland.

To help pay for the purchase, the conservancy sold 20 of those acres along Route 85 for about half-a-million dollars to Ron Kay, who plans a hamlet-type development with retail and residential spaces.

At the start of the 20th Century, Charles Bender’s farm was famous for its melons, which were served in New York City’s finest restaurants. The farm was sold to William Taylor in 1939 as public tastes and farming itself changed.

McCandless, from his childhood, remembers the Bender property as a dairy farm, seeing cows wandering around in the fields.

He is interested in preserving its history and says in this week’s Enterprise podcast that there are still remnants of the famous Bender melons in the old barns on the property. Preserving the viewshed and the open space is also important to McCandless.

Read the full profile at https://altamontenterprise.com/02182022/come-out-and-enjoy-it-and-support-it-says-new-manager-bender-melon-farm-preserve