MEMBER PROFILE 



The Spragues of Plainfield 



Rdgewater Farm 



a 



nee, maybe 13,000 years ago, 



a great dam of ice across the Connecticut River at 



Rocky Hill, just below Hartford, field back enough 



water to form a lake that extended all the way 



to Lyme, New Hampshire. 



This lake was called Lake Hitchcock. 



%)egetables 



"On newly opened ground, 

 production is good," Pooh 

 says and the crop was heavy 

 in the first years. Acreage 

 increased. Pick-your-own 

 berries — in spite of a tarnish 

 plant bug infestation in 

 1979 — becanne one of the 

 nnain threads in the compli- 

 cated weave of Edgewater 

 Farm. 



In 1979, Anne was teach- 

 ing fifth grade in the 

 Plainfield elementary school; 

 Pooh was playing guitar in 

 local bands. ..at Edgewater, 

 there was "some sweet corn, 

 a few pumpkins..." 



Today, 42 acres (15 of 

 them leased) are in produc- 

 tion, 13 of them in sweet 

 corn, ten in strawberries, 

 one in potatoes. Lettuce 

 (1500 plants per planting) is 

 sown every eight to ten days 

 from early April until Sep- 

 tember. There are three 

 sowings of cucumbers and 

 two each of zucchini and summer 

 squash. 



Crops are rotated; land in pro- 

 duction one year lies fallow the 

 next. This can require some flex- 

 ibility because Edgewater's land is 

 on four levels, each with its own 



Rivers fed by the great melting ice sheet ran into 



this lake and made deltas of gravel. \/arves, 



distinct yearly soil deposits {clay deposited under 



winter ice and coarse silt deposited in the 



turbulent waters of summer) were added 



year after year. 



This ancient lake stayed at the same height for 

 3,559 yean. But one day, the dam at Rocky Hill 

 was breached; the surface of the lake dropped 90 

 feet. A lower, more northerly lake formed behind 

 a new ice dam at Bennington, Vermont. 

 Scientists named this Lake Upham. 



When this second barrier broke, the lake drained 



unobstructed to the sea and the Connecticut River 



Walley, with its bluffs and terraces, 



assumed the topography it has today. 



Around 1830, on a varve terrace in Plainfield, New 



Hampshire, a cape farmhouse was built. Aw ell, 



a bam, a well house, and sheds were added. 



Crops were grown. 



Then, in 1974, Pooh and Anne Sprague bought the 



little grey cape and 30 acres of land. In 1975, 



an acre was planted with strawberries. In 1976, 



the first customers arrived.... 



These are the beginnings of Edgewater Farm. 



soil type. The seven acres next to 

 the river — probably present day 

 river alluvium — is the most difficult 

 to work because it's basically 

 beach sand, in summer it retains 

 heat (workers barefoot on other 

 fields wear shoes when working 



here) and not much water; 

 leafy crops can have a diffi- 

 cult time. 



There are irrigation capa- 

 bilities in all the fields. 

 There's a pond; and the 

 river; PTO driven pumps 

 carry water through under- 

 ground pipe. The system's 

 important in preventing frost 

 damage as well. 



Pooh sees the vegetables 

 he grows as "straight-for- 

 ward," but there's some ex- 

 perimenting in gourmet 

 items. Garlic is grown — and 

 arrugala, a French green with 

 a peppery taste. This year, 

 mesclun, a mix of miniature 

 greens — pricey, but very 

 tasty, is being grown for the 

 first time. 



A farm stand on Route 12-A 

 is the main sales outlet. A 

 20x17 pole shed with a 16x16 

 walk-in cooler built in 1984 

 "was a real benchmark in the 

 farm operation," Anne says. 

 Before then. Pooh sold sweet 

 corn from the back of his 

 pickup; "now we had a place to 

 sell things like basil and cut flow- 

 ers. It was great." 



At the beginning of lune, al- 

 though customers are still visiting 

 the greenhouses, the emphasis 

 shifts to the stand. Fruit (grapes. 



APRIL /MAY 1994 



