Who: Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman, authors of many garden books, including The Garden Primer, Four Season Harvest, The New Organic Grower, and The Winter Harvest Handbook.
Where: Harborside, ME
What: Four Seasons is an Organic Farm is an experimental market garden that produces vegetables year-round. It has become a nationally recognized model of small-scale sustainable agriculture. The farm hosts a farm stand, local events, and scientific lab for the authors to research more gardening methods. Eliot first arrived in Cape Rosier, Maine after graduating college in 1968. He worked with renowned homesteaders Helen and Scott Nearing, who later changed into his life-long mentors. He wanted to learn to live off the land, and small-farm life sounded like an adventure. Within the Four Seasons Organic Farm, Eliot and Barbara work a quarter-acre home garden, along with many other cultivated acres that supply the farm stand and their wholesale restaurant business with produce. They also raise chickens, using portable coops, on the property and mentor young farmhands who want to lean more about organic farming. According to the New York Times, the Four Season Farm grossed $120,000 last year from crops grown on 1.5 acres. The majority of their winter crops are grown using hoop houses that are equipped with wheels, or are small enough to be moved by two people, that allows crops like onions, leeks, carrots, spinach, and other cold loving greens to thrive. Once the produce is harvested, the soil is amended with compost and replanted with another crop. When May rolls around and temperatures get higher the hoop houses are removed and seeding begins.
Why: I chose to do a case study on the Four Seasons Organic Farm because of the ideals of Eliot and Barbara and their history. They’ve developed a system that allows them to grow food year round from old time methods and experiments. The New Organic Grower has inspired many people to grow and start their own farming methods, and I see it as a definite contributor that could change the direction of this project. Working with the seasons, not against them is key to this succeeding.
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