Four Town Farm

Four Town Farm is a beautiful family farm in Seekonk, MA. The farm is comprised of 150 acres on which they grow a large variety of vegetables, gourds, fruits, and flowers. It has been family owned and operated by the Clegg family for the entire duration of the farm’s existence. Today, three generations of the family work on the farm. When the farm first started, their produce was mostly sold as wholesale to grocery stores. In 1972, the Clegg family began a farm stand. It has been so successful that the stand is now where they sell majority of their products. They also sell wholesale to local restaurants through Farm Fresh’s Mobile Market. Chris, the youngest family member working on farm, (compared to the oldest who is ninety-one) was gracious enough to show me around. I particularly enjoyed my visit to Four Town Farm because Chris answered me honestly and in great detail. As a result of this experience, I was better able to understand why certain changes occur when a farm increases in size as well as learn about educated pesticide use, and the benefits of a multi-generation family farm.

"Screw Lettuce"

The land of Four Town Farm is a combination of owned and leased acreage. Due to its size, it is much more efficient to drive around the fields than it is to walk.  Even with a car, it is difficult to operate that much land. Chris explained that his family works every day, and when you do take a day off, it’s not a day off; it’s falling a day behind. There is always work to do! When we drove around, there was lettuce that was overgrown; it looked like a grooved nail was emerging from the center of a beautiful head of lettuce. Although it looked interesting, apparently the lettuce grew too much before the family had time to pick it. Even though there are plenty of employees on the farm, the amount of work outweighs the number of workers. Even with multiple employees, no days off, cars, and conventional farming practices, the work on a farm never ends.

The mass amount of never ending work also explains Four Town Farm’s conventional farming practices. The farm does use pesticides, however, they use them admirably responsibly. In Chris’ truck, the back seat is filled with books that are used to identify pests. They never spray casually. If there are too many pests on a plant, they identify the pest, and use the most pest- specific, preferably organic pesticide that has the fewest side effects. This process is very time consuming because before they use any products, they spend ample amounts of time researching the issue and the solution so that they use pesticides as responsibly as possible.

Plastic Mulch

The farm also uses other farming practices that benefit the environment. Four Town Farm cultivates a broad spectrum of crops because it is better for the soil’s health. In addition, they rotate what crops are planted where. This also benefit’s the soil’s health because when these two practices are used together, they reduce the risk of depleting the soil’s nutrients.  Also, if anything is past its picking point, instead of discarding it, they remix the crop back into the soil to increase the soil’s nutrient levels.

The large amount of land also allows for their farm stand to be very busy and full of a variety of products. Also, by not having to deal with the pressures of providing to grocery stores, they can pick all of the crops at their prime, not when an order is due.  Having their main source of income derive from their farm stand also provides more flexibility in other ways. On their website, they encourage customers to suggest any new crops they wish for Four Town Farm to grow. They also make individually requested flower boxes, hanging baskets, and bouquets! The farm stand also dramatically reduces the costs of their products. Since they do not have to pay for gas, packaging, or shipping, everything is reasonably priced. I purchased about four days worth of food for less than twenty dollars!

Yummy Produce from Four Town Farm
(Excluding the Spinach)

            

Another benefit that comes with a farm of this age and size is knowledge.  All of the family members have worked on the farm since their youth. This means that each farmer began learning the tricks of the trade at a young age. Just like any skill, time, practice, and experience is what makes you better. The family farm model has provided each family member more years of farming experience than other farmers in the area. Since Four Town Farm is a multi-generational farm, older members of the family have also shared their knowledge with the younger generations. Each family member who farms has been able to acquire many generations of farming skills, which results in a more productive farm overall.

Some of the flowers that they grow
and with which they can make personal bouquets and flower hangers

            When talking to Chris, he said that one of his favorite parts about farming is using this familial knowledge to perfect growing certain crops. He said it is very humbling to work on a farm because nature is constantly testing your knowledge. It can take a whole life to figure out how to best grow a crop, so having many generations of farmers is quite beneficial for improving one’s cultivating practices. As a result of this multi-generational knowledge, Four Town Farm is now incredibly well known for its corn. Such knowledge has also allowed them to improve their quality of lettuce by using plastic mulch that reduces the amount of dirt in the leaves. With the combination of: generations of knowledge, decades of farming experience, and the patience to make meticulous adjustments in farming techniques, Four Town Farm is able to provide notably high quality produce. The time and effort that they put into their farm definitely pays off. The skills that come with a multi-generational farm is one of the main qualities that really make Farm Town Farm stand out as a local farm to support. You can visit their farm stand or spend a day picking your own at 90 George Street in Seekonk, MA. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.4townfarm.com.

Chris next to one of the tractors