Meet an Eco-Farmer: Quail Hill Farm/Peconic Land Trust

Quail Hill Farm Summer Crew

Why did you begin farming?

I lived for a decade in Love Lane Cottage and Studio, Mousehole, on the Penwith Peninsula, Cornwall, England. When I learned that the cliff meadows, located at the end of our lane, were considered part of “the earliest ground in Britain,” how could I refuse?

Have you always been an eco-farmer, or did you make a change?

Always. As a child of the 1960s, not having been raised on a farm, I asked the most obvious question: Why would I disrupt the ecology of a place with substances I had no part in producing and with no knowledge of the long-term effects?

What was the biggest hurdle you have overcome?

Facing the conservative stance of an intransigent system — relatively new, yet in the grip of a powerful industry — and adamantly resistant to change.

What do you enjoy most about farming?

Sun, wind, rain, the texture of soil, late light brilliant on the hedgerows, the sound of the air reflected through a hawk’s wings, the miracle of a tiny seed able to produce a 12-foot stalk, and a flower and food as nourishment. I also admire the shine on the steel shanks of the chisel plow.
(more…)