Beech Hill Farm
Page by Nicole Gurreri '17 and Danielle Evers '18
Introduction
Beech Hill Farm is a 7-acre diversified vegetable farm owned and operated by College of the Atlantic. Since its inception in the early 1990’s, Beech Hill Farm has worked to provide fresh, organic produce to residents and visitors of Mount Desert Island. In addition to being a beautiful and productive property, COA’s Beech Hill Farm has interesting landscape and soil features which make it a great place to study geology.
This map of Mount Desert Island shows the general topography of the island. The star indicates our field site – Beech Hill Farm. Map made in COA GIS Lab
This map of Mount Desert Island shows the general topography of the island. The star indicates our field site – Beech Hill Farm. Photo taken by Wayne Bieble
Beech Hill Farm is located on a ridge which is oriented north/south. This north/south orientation aligns with many of the ridges and valleys on the island, which also match the alignment of rock fractures throughout Mount Desert Island. The valley east of Beech Hill Farm contains Echo Lake and the valley to the west contains Long Pond. Both of these bodies of water lie in U-shaped, glacially carved valleys which are north/south oriented. The general topography of Beech Hill Farm is evidence of glacial and tectonic history, reflected in the shape of its valleys and the consistent orientation of its ridges and valleys.
A rock pile along the field’s
edge at Beech Hill Farm. Photo taken by Nicole Gurreri
A rock wall at Beech Hill Farm. Photo taken by Nicole Gurreri
This is the surficial geology map of Mount Desert Island. As can be seen from the green star, Beech Hill farm is on top of till. Map made in COA GIS lab
As North America’s continental ice sheet retreated 18 thousand years ago, they left behind poorly sorted sediment known as glacial till. Farms with such till have to pick out big rocks/sediments from the field so the land is more accessible. The rock sizes vary from cobbles to boulders. The rocks are mostly igneous, such as granite. However, metamorphic rocks were also present, such as schist. Such deposited sediment do not necessarily come from nearby bedrock; the glaciers could have carried them from farther locations.
The soil at Beech Hill Farm is enriched with glacial till. This till is a poorly sorted sediment mixture left over from glacial activity in this area. Although the boulders and cobbles are picked out of fields by farmers, smaller pieces of till such as clay, gravel, and silt serve to enrich the soil’s structure and nutrient profile. The till also serves as a fluffy and permeable soil layer which allows water to percolate through the soil. In addition to the rich glacial till at Beech Hill Farm, there is another geologically derived soil component which enhances the health and productivity of the land. As glaciers receded from Mount Desert Island 18 Ka, sea levels were rising and were 230 feet higher than their present level. Because Beech Hill Farm is 230 feet above sea level, hypothetically it would have been a beach at that time. Beach deposits such as sand are great for soil structure and drainage. Because sand is mostly quartz, these beach deposits also add needed minerals to the soil.
The rich soil of Beech Hill Farm. Photo taken by Danielle Evers