Four farms - No.1

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Over the last 5 or 6 days we have visited 4 farms - one twice.  Each has been special in its own way.  I'll do a post on each over the next few days.

Number one was Eliot Coleman's Four Seasons Farm in  Harborside, Maine (Sic - it's Americans who can't spell harbour - not me).  This is a very special farm - growing vegetables mainly - in a quite inhospitable climate.  Coleman has made a specialty of growing vegetables using poly tunnels and a lot of smarts.   

The attention to detail was obvious.   Everything was very tidy - just sort of obsessively so perhaps.  There were so many things I was interested in - from the hand carts to his trellising system to the heating system in the poly tunnels - to the chicken tractors.  

James the Trailer Doctor is going to have some things to make for me.  The cart in particular is quite similar to one we used to have on the farm when I was growing up.  We called it the U-cart.  The American version is called a Vermont Cart.

Eliot's version was particularly stylish.  It is so much better than a wheelbarrow - for everything except concrete.  

I actually hate wheelbarrows - I've skinned my shins on on the cross bar too many times.  They all have handles too short for someone my height.

The second thing I really liked was the chicken trailer.  It's not quite so obvious that I'll get one built, but I like the lightness of it, the perches at floor height, the mesh floor and the integrated next boxes. 

Four Seasons Farm has a farm shop and also sells through farmers' markets.  People from the area say the prices are high, but the quality is brilliant.  I bought some fennel, baby leeks, white onions, carrots and zucchini and grilled them as an accompaniment to a nice piece of sirloin.  They were very good - in spite of a bit of a scorching.

Four Seasons Farm seems to employ 'interns' - who work for a period to learn - and then go off to start their own farms.  Cheap and motivated labour.  Other farms we visited seem to also use this system.  Not only is it difficult for a farmer to earn a living wage rate - it seems to be hard to pay for help.

Overall ..... very impressive!
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