By Horse and by Hand Published on terrafoto Website...
By Horse and by Hand Published on terrafoto Website

Working a farm with draft horses is a joy for the senses: birds singing, insects buzzing, and the squeaking and rattling of the iron tedder; the scent of drying grass and the tang of horses’ sweat. Frank Hunter’s 70-years-old equipment may not do a perfect job, but he’s satisfied with the result: “I saved myself another tank of gasoline today.”

For over two years I followed life on Hillside Springs Farm, the small family farm of Frank Hunter and Kim Peavey in New Hampshire, USA. Every week, during harvest season, early June to late November, 50 families who subscribe to the farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program pick up their vegetables and fruits on the farm or at the nearby farmers’ market.

The farm is entirely horse-and-hand-powered. “The horses give us the opportunity to have a working partnership with animals that is rare and vital these days,” the farmers find, “and we greatly enjoy their good company!”

Now you can see and read their story By Horse and by Hand on the terrafoto website.

This is part 2 of my ongoing trilogy personal project Farming for the Neighbors.
Part 1 is Build Soil.


  Build Soil Published on terrafoto Website     Once,...
Build Soil Published on terrafoto Website

Once, about twelve years ago, when he was weeding carrots, American farmer Bruce Bickford found an arrowhead. “The very tip was broken off, but otherwise it was in really nice shape. I was holding something in my hands that somebody formed three to four thousand years ago. There were people here before me. I think about what an amazing spot this must have been (…). They had a spring that was revered, they had everything to be comfortable: water, good soil, and it’s a perfect area for wildlife, any game, obviously great fishing.”

For almost two years I followed life on Abenaki Springs Farm, the small organic family farm of Bruce Bickford and Kirsten Anderson in New Hampshire, USA. It is located just above and named for what was once a sacred water supply to the Abenaki, the People of the Dawn Land, a farming society that supplemented agriculture with hunting and gathering.

Neither Bruce nor Kirsten come from farming families, but they make it their business to grow nutrient rich food for their neighbors in a sustainable way. Now you can read their story 
Build Soil on the terrafoto website.

Build Soil is part one of my ongoing project Farming for the Neighbors.

Caption: Farmworker Briana Grosodonia and farmer Bruce Bickford harvest radishes on Abenaki Springs Farm.



  Introducing terrafoto     Six Farms, Five Countries,...
Introducing terrafoto

Six Farms, Five Countries, One Vision is the claim we from terrafoto proudly carry on our website.


‘We’ are visual storytellers 
Maren Preiß from Germany; Caterina Suzzi from Italy; based in France; and me, Ellen Kok from the Netherlands, alternately working there and in the USA.

For almost two years now we have been working on our international group project to raise awareness of the importance of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and other ways of local involvement with growing food in these times of climate extremes.


We tell the stories of a variety of community oriented farms during four seasons. This is a work in progress; the first stories, about coffee farmers in Mexico and the community garden of about 200 families in Bologna, Italy, have just been published on our website, with more from the other countries to follow soon.

High time to make some noise about it!

Especially since I posted my first write-up about becoming a CSA shareholder myself in our terrafoto journal.


Check out that bounty!



  School - In Love, Bored & Overslept...
School - In Love, Bored & Overslept
Fotomuseum Den Haag, the Netherlands

Photos from my book School will be part of the exhibition School - In Love, Bored & Overslept in the Fotomuseum Den Haag in the Netherlands from April 8 - August 6, 2023. The exhibition is a photographic journey through 150 years of Dutch education and a trip down memory lane back to everyone’s own school days.


School - In Love, Bored & Overslept

Ellen Kok

Ellen Kok is a photographer and writer from the Netherlands, who combines photo essays with written stories. She mainly works on long-term projects and self-publishes under her imprint Netherlight.
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