Mike Eisenstat, 60, said that other than taking on a few part-time jobs, he's been involved in agriculture most of his adult life.

A peripatetic farmer who's tried his hand at several aspects of agriculture, he's now growing all-natural pork, eggs and produce on his 110-acre Toboggan Hill Farm, 8 miles southwest of Waynesburg.

Every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. throughout the summer, you can find him selling his goods from a booth at Washington's Main Street Farmers' Market.

After growing up in the Cleveland suburb of Mayfield Heights and graduating from The College of Wooster where he majored in geology, Mr. Eisenstat put in a three-year stint with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"I got interested in agriculture in 1972 when I read a book titled 'Malabar Farm' by Louis Bromfield while on an oceanographic survey ship out of Seattle," he said.

Following a transfer to Michigan, he left the NOAA in April 1974. While waiting for his wife, Donna, to finish working on her doctorate in linguistics at the University of Michigan, he took a year of classes in forestry and botany.

"After Donna got her degree, I persuaded my mother to sell her house in Cleveland and buy a 50-acre farm near Chautauqua, New York, where we raised mostly produce, goats and hogs," he said. "In the winter, I spent my time pruning grape vines for area growers."

The couple's next move took them to Vermont, where he managed a small farm program at a Quaker camp for a year and a half, followed by an 8-month stint working on a Vermont horse farm.

When Mrs. Eisenstat secured a teaching position at Waynesburg University in 1989, the couple moved to Greene County where they resided for five years before buying Toboggan Hill Farm.

"I learned how to farm through a combination of reading, what I learned from my neighbors and what I picked up in my forestry and botany classes," he said. "From day one, I tried my hand at produce, which has since tapered off because my hog program takes up so much of my time."

The Eisenstats added chickens to their endeavors during their first year at Toboggan Hill Farm. Currently, their flock of 130 Gold Comet hens are good for 45 to 50 dozen eggs a week.

"These hybrid brown egg layers are good producers and fairly popular," he said. "Although I pen them up at night, they roam around wherever they want during the day in free-range style."

In February, Mr. Eisenstat bought this year's first batch of 50- to 80-pound feeder hogs, a Yorkshire-Hampshire-Duroc cross he buys from Wil-Den Family Farm, a Mercer County grower. After raising the hogs outdoors and feeding them a diet of standard pig mash free of antibiotics and a little corn, he takes them a few at a time on his pickup truck to J. Samuel Whiting Fresh and Smoked Country Meats in New Wilmington, Lawrence County, where they are processed for sale under federal inspection.

"I make between 20 and 22 round trips up north a year," he said. "As you might guess, I spend a lot of money on gas. Currently, a high percentage of our family income comes from my wife's teaching position at West Virginia University Institute of Technology, which is supplemented by income from the farm."

Mr. Eisenstat sets up his stand at three farmers' markets. From a large chest freezer, he sells 40 different pork products, including 16 versions of sausage and ground pork; regular, cottage and Canadian bacon; boneless, bone-in and smoked chops; hams; roasts; steaks; and cutlets. He also carries organ meats and bones for dogs.

"Everything I sell -- pork, eggs and produce -- is all natural and grown without the use of pesticides," he said.

Ted Flickinger, of Claysville, who's been buying Toboggan Hill Farm pork for several years, said "it's a very good product, the prices are good and it's local. I particularly like the breakfast links, which are very tasty."

Another regular customer, Nancy Dryden, of Washington, has been buying the Eisenstat products for at least 10 years and vouches for their quality.

"My husband, Richard, really likes the eggs, ham and spare ribs," she said.