In the famous movie Powers of Ten, directors Charles and Ray Eames take us on a "zooming in" and "zooming out", from a human scale, to the stars, then into atoms. Sometimes, I feel the farm, both what it gives us and the nurturing it requires, happens on so many scales.
The fields, while small in comparison to the giant, sprawling midwest agribusinesseses that now provide so much of the fruit and vegetables for New England, seems endless when tending, from managing the soil to putting up the fences. And it is certainly big enough to add to the character of Madison's Boston Post Road (Route 1).
The plants themselves are just one order of magnitude smaller than the human scale. They are fragile this time of year, and need a hands-on approach. Kingsley and I personally handle virtually everything we grow. Each one can provide clues, to amount of water needed to readiness to be picked.
It is this scale that make it to our stands, and to your tables. It is the intense green of the salad or the freshness of fresh zucchini that make a meal.
But the real action of the farm may be at the tiniest level. It is the richness of the soil, the varieties we select and the absence of chemicals that produce the intense flavors of the farm.
It is the healthier food that may be the most important value we can protect and deliver and the most important reasons so many people are now buying directly from the farm.
