| AUGUST 2004 -- "These are absolutely delicious," he says as he snaps off a handful of the elongated greens and throws them onto a bed of manure and mulch.
For nearly seven decades, Eliason, 87, has nurtured his chemical-free gardens of lush vegetables, flower blossoms and billowing fruit trees that dot the 24-acre landscape of his Parsonage Hill Road home.
Impressed by his respect for biological diversity and allegiance to nonsynthetic farming methods, Totoket Grange 83 named Eliason its citizen of the year.
Grange member Marion Bradley said the title is fitting for a man who continues to promote a form of agriculture the society is modeled after.
"He seems to be part of our roots," Bradley said, noting that Eliason "stuck by" organic methods even when pesticides made them less "stylish" years ago.
Born to Scandinavian immigrants, Eliason sowed the seeds of his adult passion whiling away his boyhood years on his family’s North Haven farm.
"All farming was organic in those days, except possibly in orchards," Eliason recalled.
During and after World War II, however, pesticides were introduced to the farming market, he said, with hard-working farmers becoming "easy victims" to the chemical experimentation.
His initial reaction to reject the new products stemmed from his leeriness about the effects chemicals would have on people and food products’ nutritional value.
Rodale Press Publisher J.I.
Rodale only solidified Eliason’s theories in 1942 with the advent of Organic Gardening magazine.
"He really introduced it as a movement," Eliason said. He explained that following the magazine’s techniques yielded him an impressive 800 cucumbers in one season from only a few plants.
That was too many cucumbers for only his family to eat, he joked, noting that he doesn’t sell his crops, as he is not a certified organic farmer.
As far as his own techniques, Eliason maintains his garden by fertilizing the soil’s natural microbes and bacteria through manure compost.
He also uses polyester sheets to protect his rows from insect infestations, frost and disease, and keeps away birds with handcrafted roosts featuring a harmless sticky paste.
"They may lose a tail feather or two, but they never come back," he said.
However, black rot has forced him to recently use a minor chemical spray to rid his grapevines of the aggressively destructive fungus.
He quickly noted that he is trying to mend his chemical indiscretion by experimenting with a natural peroxide spray. He is working on the proportions.
"I’m optimistic ... I’ll be successful," he said, adding that he always tries his best to stay true to nature. |
