Elm Tree

There is a line of philosophy, backed by scientific evidence, that there is a deep connection between humans and certain colors in nature. Over the course of our generations these bonds have strengthened and are felt when we encounter the deep green of grass, for instance. Its an instant optical phenomenon that strikes so profoundly that it goes unnoticed, quite often. Green, though, is not the color of interest here - its orange - the hue of carrots and pumpkins. When Eli, he of Elm Tree Organics, grasped at a bunch of carrot tops and slowly dislodged the tapered roots from the dark, moist soil the entire orange spectrum seemed concentrated upon their skin. Since the weather for the past month has been relentlessly rainy or overcast the carrots were a re-

MOUNT JOY, PA

minder that despite the gloom there is vibrancy hidden under the ground. So, too, were the spaghetti squash which were laid out as if they were a thousand golden emblems on a wool blanket. Even with these flourishes, Eli was worried, we definitely need sunshine, lots of sunshine. And would it be too perfect if the sun at that moment emerged from the clouds covering the sky? It did and the warmth was such a strange artifact of a summer that was for two months a fiery brute. These days Eli along with his wife Emma and his brother Chris are making the best of what the weather has given them. It gave them a swath of standing water where the cucumbers were - putting an abrupt in to their waning production. It is giving

them squash that are precariously bedded in saturated soil. It is giving the weeds more time to establish than they have to maintain them. But they are still harvesting the squash and the carrots by the bushel. All things considered, however, Eli has serenity about him. It might be due to growing up on a farm while learning the tricks of organic growing from his father, John, a member farmer at Organic Willow Acres. While washing off the carrots he had just picked in the over-crowded processing room, Eli and Chris were at a loss for a specific reason why they continue to farm organically. We wouldnt even know how to spray chemicals if we had to, admitted Chris. Eli displayed the cleaned carrots and they glowed even more - its a wonder what some water will do. There is 20 acres of pristine land at Elm Tree being worked this season, with four times that in the brothers good stewardship. Eli started on his own seven years ago in the spring of 2005. The land had been acquired from a farmer who had been doing things organically for thirty years and was real choicy about who he let on here, Eli stated. There are still odd structures from the previous owner, a giant twenty foot tall metal tunnel and a tall, slender corn crib with posts fashioned from unmilled tree trunks, bark and all. From the get go Eli became quite successful with the spaghetti squash and it has become a signature of his. He has since expanded his repertoire of winter squash to include the Red Kobocha, Green Acorn and the Queensland Blue. Theres a lot of good eating in one of those, Eli admitted referring to the Queensland. Adjacent to the squash are rows and rows of carrots, both

the Red Core Chantenay and the Bolero varieties. There is a promising cover crop of winter and daikon radish where the cucumbers once grew. These radishes and carrots ought to take him up to and hopefully through Thanksgiving when he will utilize the hoop house for an extended growing season. The processing room was a hive of activity in preparation for the LFFC truck. Meanwhile, Eli had some planning to do for Saturday which he can expect to be even busier. Fortunately, Elm Tree doesnt show much harm from the tropical storm which ravaged this part of the Susquehanna Valley. There was one notable survivor that endured all the rain: a hundred pound pumpkin at the border of the property where the driveway meets the road.