Organic Gardener and Farmer Eliot Coleman to Visit U.Va. Feb. 13

February 8, 2011 — Organic gardener and farmer Eliot Coleman will give a lecture and demonstration workshop at the University of Virginia's Hereford Residential College on Feb. 13.

The lecture is from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Green Room in Runk Dining Hall. The workshop will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. at Hereford College's mini-farm on Hereford Drive.

The events are free and open to the public. Free parking is available at the site.

Coleman is one of America's leading practioners of organic farming and gardening. He pioneered a "plant-positive" approach to horticulture that embraces sustainable agricultural principles. He has more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of organic farming, including field vegetables, greenhouse vegetables, rotational grazing of cattle and sheep and range poultry.

Elaine Durand, a Hereford fellow who teaches a course in cold-weather gardening at the residential college, praised Coleman’s work in extending seasons and being able to harvest vegetables year-round at his farm in Maine.

"It’s very practical and low-tech," she said. "It’s the deliberate planting of cold-weather crops. He also uses greenhouses and low hoop rows," a method of protected agriculture in which the plants are protected by hoops covered with plastic.

Durand said she had heard Coleman would be speaking in Danville and invited him to U.Va.

"He agreed to do a demonstration with the students and he sent us tools he designed and patented for use in four-season harvesting," she said.

Coleman lives in Harborside, Maine, where he runs a year-round organic farm. He is the author of "Four Season Harvest" and "Winter Harvest Handbook."

For information, contact Elaine Durand at 434-982-4935.

Hereford College is on Observatory Hill. From Alderman Road, turn west onto Stadium Road. At the stop sign, turn right on Hereford Drive. Runk Dining Hall is the first building on the right.

The events are sponsored by Hereford Residential College, U.Va. Dining Services, the Local Food Hub and the U.Va. Food Collaborative.

— By Jane Ford

Media Contact

Jane Ford

U.Va. Media Relations