Jeff says that sustainability starts with the soil, and organic gardening is the best way to ensure that soil will remain productive and healthy. For over 20 years Persephone Farm has planted cover crops of vetch and clover in the off season and then tilled them into the soil before planting a food crop. Because of the nutrients that the cover crops provide, Jeff uses less and less fertilizer.

The fertilizer that Jeff does use comes from the chickens in a neighboring farm. However, he doesn't consider the chicken manure entirely sustainable, since the chickens are fed grain grown in the Midwest. He supplements this manure with manure from Persephone's own 200 laying hens, which he moves among the farm's fields in two "egg mobiles" every three or four weeks.

Besides fertilizing the fields, the farm's hens eat weed seeds and bugs that prey on Persephone's crops. Jeff says that he's seen a reduction in broccoli soft rot where the chickens have been put to pasture. To help reduce pests further he plants "insectories"--plants that attract and feed insects that prey on pests like aphids. Insectory plants include alyssum, orach, calendula, marigold, and even dill and cilantro. "We used to plant dill for the beneficial organisms, and then we found out that people want to buy it!" Jeff says.

On the farm, Jeff takes steps to reduce energy use to further lower his impact on the earth. He's purchased an electric tractor, swapped out all the farm's incandescent light bulbs for fluorescent, and asks the farm's workers to drive at 55 mph or lower. When his old cooler broke down, he purchased a new, more efficient model and reduced his overall electricity use by a fifth. Two-thirds of the farm's power comes from solar panels.

Jeff estimates that the farm's investments in energy efficiency may take as long as 25 years to pay off, but he says, "We don't get too hung up on the long payoff because we feel electricity is under priced, anyway. It doesn't take into account the costs of pollution and environmental damage that producing the electricity causes."

For the most part, farming isn't known as an easy way of life. Why, then, take the more difficult and sometimes more expensive route of sustainable farming? Jeff is realistic. "I don't feel that I can make a substantial difference by myself," he says, "But it's the right thing to do."

This might be something to remember the next time you're looking for tomatoes in July.