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MEMBER 



PROFILE 



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makes us very labor intensive." All 

 transplanting (606s, 4 1/2" pots, 

 some 3 l/2s — green whenever pos- 

 sible — aesthetics are important) is 

 done by hand; a bench, pots, and 

 bags of Promix are moved to each 

 house All watering is done by hand 

 ("we are looking into some automa- 

 tion, but we're not sure what yet"); 

 feed is applied with a dosatron 



They do buy in some perennials 

 and nursery stock, but "all the annu- 

 als are our own " The houses are 

 only twelve feet apart ("just wide 

 enough to get a tractor with a 

 bucket loader in for snow removal") 

 and the tightly spaced range frames 

 two sides of the central selling area. 

 Material brought from the houses is 

 set out on weed control mat. Under 

 an old Macintosh apple and a Black 

 Tartatian cherry — "which is in full 

 bloom — and just beautiful — around 

 Mother's Day," is a table with a 

 cashbox and a couple of chairs. 

 There are no little wagons, but a 

 pile of trays people can use to carry 

 their purchases. 



There's signage — right now it's 

 name and price in magic marker, 

 but signage "saves a lot of time 

 spent in answering questions" and 

 next year it may be commercially 

 made, with basic cultural informa- 

 tion and a color photo of the plant 

 in flower. 



Durwood and Barbara are enthu- 

 siastic gardeners and their own gar- 

 den is right across the driveway. 

 Personal and obviously not a show 

 garden — the feeling is "country," of 

 an overgrown cottage garden, with 

 lots of roses and iris and a long 

 bank of delphiniums about to come 

 into bloom. An unintended result is 

 in sales: "people buy what they see 

 blooming — they know they can grow 

 it here." 



There's very little spraying — 

 Durwood dusts the seed with Cap- 

 tan before sowing and Subdue is in- 

 corporated into the soil mix. There 

 may be some Captan applications 



(for botrytis) — but unheated green- 

 houses in winter are an excellent in- 

 sect and disease control. 



IN MID-SUMMER, the farm stand 

 opens. A wooden frame painted red 

 and covered with a canvas roof, it's 

 built onto a trailer that's hitched 

 onto the back of their truck and 

 driven each day to the Country 

 Spirit Plaza in downtown Henniker. 

 "We sell what we grow — we don't 

 buy in" and emphasis moves to 

 their three acres of vegetable pro- 

 duction. 



The land is a ridgeline of clay/ 

 sand/gravel. Every spring, they pick 

 up rocks, then spread cow manure 

 and broadcast 23-12-18. 



Crops ("everything but peas") in- 

 clude three varieties of potatoes, 

 several of lettuce (the number is ex- 

 panding) and peppers, herbs, Indian 

 corn — and lots of sweet corn. They 

 grow "outstanding" cantaloupe and 

 watermelon — "People don't believe 

 they're grown here. We start the 

 plants in the greenhouses and trans- 

 plant them around Memorial Day." 

 (This year, the corn was started in 

 the greenhouses as well.) 



Everything's grown on plastic; 8- 

 16-16 is applied to the row and 

 transplants are given a start of wa- 

 ter. The land holds moisture well 

 and there seems to be no need for 

 irrigation; insect control consists of 

 "a lot of hand-picking of squash and 

 potato beetles." 



Ultrasweet tomatoes ("we tried 

 five varieties — we all agreed these 

 were the best") grown in hoop 

 houses are ready in mid-|uly. 



Through mid-September, veg- 

 etables are harvested every morn- 

 ing, cleaned with a hose on an out- 

 side table ("we are very particular"), 

 and packed onto the farm stand by 

 8:30. They set up in the plaza park- 

 ing lot and are open at nine. They 

 stay open until six five days a week; 

 on Saturdays, they close at one 



Barbara and Zoe take turns at the 



stand (the other is selling plants at 

 the farm). If the stand runs out of an 

 item, the person there calls the 

 farm; whoever's there picks, cleans, 

 and gets it down to the plaza. They 

 sell to restaurants as well and deliv- 

 eries are made in the afternoons... 

 it's a busy time. 



Unsold produce is stored over- 

 night in a bank of refrigerators in 

 the barn, but, as Zoe says, "we are 

 very particular." 



In the fall, they sell mums at the 

 stand — along with squash, pump- 

 kins, corn. ..when the corn runs out, 

 the season ends and Durwood and 

 Barbara go to Florida until February; 

 Zoe and Michael stay to sell hay 

 (they mow 50 acres), maintain the 

 animals (some "all-natural" chickens 

 raised for meat and Scottish High- 

 land beef cattle — "very thrifty: they 

 grow well on just grass"), and keep ! 

 the snow off the empty houses. Un- \ 

 sold perennials — and mouse bait 

 boxes — are laid between two layers 

 of weed control mat; snow is < 

 counted on for insulation. 



EXPANSION IS CAUTIOUS— without 

 debt and without violating a firmly- 

 held aesthetic of "country." They ac- ,i 

 quire "old stuff" — used furnaces, for ') 

 example: each house has two — a 

 main furnace and a backup — most 

 are second-hand, any needed re- 

 pairs being done by Durwood and 

 Michael. Not everything's second- 

 hand — there are backup propane 

 units and, most recently, a new gen- 

 erator ("five or six years ago, power 

 was off for five days — we're at the 

 end of the road and the last to be 

 fixed") 



An extreme example of "old stuff" 

 is the shop. A new neighbor reno- 

 vating an old house decided to re- 

 move a three-season porch. The 

 structure was jacked onto a flatbed 

 truck and brought to its present lo- 

 cation. This year, it's in place; next 

 year, it'll have electricity. 



Both Zoe and Barbara have expe- 



ls 



THE PLANTSMAN 



