growing trust 119we took in the view of the creek valley below. Part of Paul’s work in dy-
namic housing design is to encourage people to think more broadly about
both construction materials (walls of stacked straw bales are his spe-
cialty), and how to use space creatively (e.g., dog on the roof ). I couldn’t
wait to see the gardens.
First, though, we had to eat the breakfast they’d made in their tiny, effi -
cient kitchen. Everything locally produced: yogurt and strawberries, eggs,
salsa made with Amy’s enviable tomatoes. We lingered, talking farming and
housing, but the day called us out to the fields, where rows of produce were
already gulping morning sun. Amy, a self- described perfectionist, apolo-
gized for the state of what looked to me like the tidiest rows imaginable—
more weedless than our garden on the best of days. Part- time interns
sometimes help out, but the farm runs on Amy’s full- time dedication.
A mid- June New En gland garden, two weeks past the last frost, is pre-
dominantly green: lacy bouquets of salad greens, Chinese cabbage, cilan-
tro, broccoli, and peas. A tomato of any type seemed out of the question,
until we crested a hill and came upon two long greenhouses. These are
the sturdy workhorses of the farm, with heavy- duty plastic skins sup-
ported by wooden trusses. Amy no longer grows tomatoes anywhere ex-
cept in a greenhouse. Cool spring soil, late frosts, and iffy New En gland
weather make the season too short for noteworthy harvests of outdoor-
planted tomatoes. But she doesn’t grow them hydroponically, as is the
norm for large- scale tomato houses. Her greenhouses are built over gar-
den soil, her tomatoes grow in the ground. “They taste better,” she said.
“It’s probably the micronutrients and microfauna in the soil that give them
that garden taste. So many components of soil just aren’t present in a
more sterile environment.”
Heating greenhouses through the Massachusetts winter didn’t ap-
peal to Paul and Amy either. After a few years of experiments, they’ve
found it most cost- effective to heat with a combination of propane and
woodstoves—or not at all. One of the houses is exclusively a cold frame,
extending the season for salad greens, spinach, and other crops that can
take temperatures down to the mid- twenties. Amy’s greens will sell all
winter for about $7 a pound. (In New York City, midwinter mesclun can
bring $20.)