Sway your Sweetheart with Season Extension: Eliot Coleman at UVA

Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman -- aren't they dapper?

Looking for something romantic to do this weekend?  Well look no further: join Charlottesville's garden and farm community this Sunday at a lecture and demonstration by one of America's most innovative and well-respected organic farmers: Eliot Coleman. I mean, what speaks of love and longing more than a full, warm greenhouse overflowing with vibrant, growing life in the long, cold days of winter?

Not buying it?  Ok, but you should still check this out, because if you've browsed a seed catalog or two in the decade, then you've probably seen Coleman (or one of his self-designed tools) among the pages, boasting a basket overflowing with utterly perfect, organically grown vegetables.

Known as the king of season extension techniques, Coleman has become the champion of the small organic farm in an age of large-scale industrial agribusiness, because, he says, small farms and market gardens simply grow better food. At his Four Season Farm in Maine where he's been farming for more than 30 years, Coleman supplies his community with tasty, fresh, organic food year-round. Year-round! In Maine!

Virginia, surely we have something to learn from him!

So if you've got some time this weekend, please join us. It's even free, so you'll be a cheap date. I'll leave you with a favorite quote from Coleman:  "Information is like compost; it does no good unless you spread it around.”

To recap:
Organic farmer Eliot Coleman will give a lecture and demonstration workshop at the University of Virginia's Hereford Residential College on Sunday, February 13, 2011.

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. Directions here.

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

Sponsored by Hereford Residential College, UVA Dining Services, Local Food Hub, and the UVA Food Collaborative.