This is from this week's Real Organic
Project newsletter. Legendary organic pioneers Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch are passing on the operation of their organic farm in Maine to passionate and competent farmers.
Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch of Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine are looking for new stewards of the farm.
Barbara Damrosch, Eliot and Clara Coleman.
I sometimes write about teachers and friends, the people who have changed my life as a farmer. Perhaps my best-known organic teacher is Eliot Coleman. He started his organic career as a first-generation farmer in the early 70s. Just to make a living farming was an achievement, never mind being new to agriculture. Traditionally farming is passed down from parents to the next generation. It is not something usually taken up by civilians. Being organic made it that much more difficult to figure out how to make a living.
Stuart Hill once told me that many of the organic pioneers were “difficult people.” He suggested perhaps that was necessary to survive the contempt they encountered. I never found Eliot to be “difficult,” but certainly he has been a contrarian, following in the footsteps of Helen and Scott Nearing, his own mentors. They were tough people who thought independently and acted on their beliefs.
Eliot has shared the
gift of his hard-won knowledge with thousands of people through his writings, workshops, and life example. He is the rare “authority” who has developed a deep expertise that one can literally taste. “Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mixed.”
The same is true of Eliot's partner, Barbara Damrosch. Barbara was a legendary gardener long before she met Eliot. Best-selling author and Washington Post journalist, she is Eliot’s equal in their joint adventure at Four Season Farm in Maine. Inclining towards flowers, she balances Eliot’s edible passions to create a complete table.
I could say much more about their lives, lived in that particular joy found in the fields, bent over with fingers in fragrant soil. Not lives without sorrows, but with a rootedness that grounds them in a place.
Eliot asked if we would share news of their farm’s transition to the next stage. At 84 years old, it has occurred to Eliot that his
land might now be better served by younger stewards. As he said to me, cutting spinach just isn’t as much fun as it used to be.
So we are sharing the news that Eliot and Barbara are looking for the next generation to run Four Season Farm. Their goal is to make the farm affordable to younger people who have the passion and
experience, but not the capital, to run a farm. Four Season is a beautiful farm that was created with the blood, sweat, and tears of many people. It was sold inexpensively to Eliot and Sue Coleman by the Nearings in 1968. Cleared by hand, the scarce topsoil was guarded and then developed until it grew into the spectacular farm that it is today. I have eaten of their harvests, and I have never tasted better food.
There is a much longer story here, but I promised Eliot that I wouldn’t eulogize him in this letter. This is a transition, not a death. Eliot and Barbara wish to pay it forward. Please share this letter and spread the word. If you know someone who might fit the bill, have them contact Eliot.
Dave Chapman
.
Lease Opportunity at Four Season Farm
www.FourSeasonFarm.com
Harborside, Maine
Opportunity
Founded by farmers and writers Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch, Four Season Farm is an internationally recognized model of small-scale year-round
sustainable agriculture. For the last seven years, the farm has been managed by Eliot’s daughter, Clara Coleman, and now the Coleman family is seeking a farming couple interested in leasing the land, infrastructure, and equipment to operate their own farm business while following the principles and practices of RealOrganic farming.
Offer
This is a turn-key farm operation, with all the existing infrastructure necessary to operate a 1.5 to 3-acre diversified, year-round, vegetable business operation. The total farm property consists of 40 acres, with approximately 14 acres of pasture, field crops, buildings, greenhouses, residences, and other farm infrastructure surrounded by a 6-foot
deer fence. The farm
footprint for the purposes of this lease is 7 acres, which includes all the present vegetable crop land.
Infrastructure includes: 9 greenhouses (4 @ 22’- 48’ and 3 @ 30’x48’ moveable unheated high tunnels, 1 – 22’x48’ heated seed starting
greenhouse, and 1 – 36’x96’ heated
greenhouse with a dedicated year-round wash/pack/walk-in cooler area at one end), an
irrigation pond and a 100 GPM drilled well; plus a seasonal farm stand, a barn w/Coolbot walk-in cooler, a timber framed work shop, two
root cellars (one climate controlled), a commercial kitchen w/bathroom, a two bedroom/one bath apartment with farm office, and three small rustic housing units for workers.
Equipment available: Two tractors – John Deere 870 & Kubota 4400, rotary tiller, chisel plow, potato harvester, under-cutter, sub-soiler, flail mower, brush hog,
hay rake, BCS walk-behind
tractor, Ram Pro-master 1500 delivery van, Jang seeders, wheel hoes and a wide assortment of hand tools for cultivating, sowing, transplanting, harvesting, and soil blocking.
Markets and Sales: Established direct wholesale relationships with the Blue Hill Coop &
local area restaurants including Aragosta and Tinder Hearth; popular Saturday farm stand that runs seasonally May thru October; opportunity to expand to new markets and sales outlets.
Profile Of The Ideal Candidates & Qualifications
We are seeking two experienced farmers to operate their own farm business at Four Season Farm for a lease period of up to 10 years with annual reviews and the option to extend as agreeable to all parties.
Minimum of 5 years’ experience farming diversified, small-scale operations in a four season climate.
Leadership and farm management experience, especially while farming together.
Extensive experience with high tunnel production, greenhouses, and four season farming practices.
Desire to operate and manage their own farm business on leased land with existing farm infrastructure and systems in place.
Attention to detail, record keeping, and work well done.
Excellent communication and organizational skills.
Willingness to coordinate with the Coleman family on specified farm stewardship practices.
Capacity for demanding physical work under variable weather conditions, especially during winter.
Application Process Begins Now
Selecting successful candidates will be a three-step process:
Submit resume, references, and a narrative that addresses the qualifications listed above to show that you are the right candidate for this opportunity. This submission
should be emailed to
eliot@fourseasonfarm.com
From these submissions, we will select and interview candidates to determine who is a good fit. A tour of the farm operation will also be scheduled with top candidates and further discussion of the particulars of the lease arrangement.
An offer will be made to the chosen candidates, and the lease agreement will be reviewed and finalized between all parties.
Ideally, so our devoted customers can continue to be supplied this winter as they have been in the past, the successful candidates will be available to arrive this fall for a seamless transition with the summer crew who will be departing in November.
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