I’ve read that nothing shocked or upset the Native-Americans more than the willingness of white settlers to destroy forests and farmland. To the Europeans, America was a vast wilderness with more land than one could imagine.

Up here, we tremble a the sight of our beautiful hills and farmlands and just wonder how long they will be left alone, away from developers.

The earth and the animals are paying the price for our greed and obliviousness, absolutely nothing is sacred. When I moved up to the country not too long ago, this apple grove – a few miles outside of Saratoga Springs, ran on to the horizon.

Saratoga Springs is 40 minutes away from Bedlam Farm. Close enough for a ride, far enough to feel safe from development.

This field was a popular vantage point for people to see the Saratoga Memorial.

The orchard was framed by the Memorial, the tower in the background. I always assumed this memorial – the Battle of Saratoga was a key turning point in the Revolutionary War – and the rows and rows of apple tree would be left alone forever.

The view of the memorial is scarred now, and this can’t be taken back.

Hundreds of American and British soldiers died in that battle, hundreds more were wounded. I’ve always had the idea that we owe people who died for our freedom some dignity.

But the picture tells another story than the one I imagined.

Every square inch of land around Saratoga Springs, a booming magnet city for retiring wealthy New Yorkers is being gobbled up for development and the view of the memorial is now framed by split levels going up between the orchards and the battlefield.

The photo tells the story of America in some important ways. Not much is preserved.

Nobody needs a lecture from me on the environment or historical preservation, but I would love to see precious and sacred land win a battle with real estate developers somewhere in America – just once.

To me,  this is a sanctioned, legal desecration. We don’t have long memories and don’t mind our natural world being gobbled up and overrun. We are beginning to pay the piper. It just doesn’t look right to me.

We stopped at Saratoga Apple across from this orchard tonight to buy some groceries and to pick up some Jamaican take-out from a wonderful new pop-up family restaurant. I stopped along the way to take some photos.

I was masked and socially distant. I took some photos along the way.

Please join me on The Ride To Takeout.