Production Philosophy
Our soils on the farm are classified as a light "Burford loam". This soil type is a natural for vegetable production. We feel it is one of the reasons why our customers comment that our vegetables taste so good.
It is important to understand that vegetable crops deplete the soils significantly through-out a growing season. It is necessary to replace the nutrients and organic matter consumed by the plants. To address soil depletion we adopt a natural approach to our vegetable production.
In our gardens we apply manure, natural fertilizers made from seaweed, kelp, fish, and molasses to add nutrients to the soil. To replace organic matter we rotate vegetable crops with cover crops such as rye grass, clover and alfalfa. This practice also provides natural forms of nitrogen in the soil which is then used by our vegetables throughout the next growing season.
Mechanical and hand weeding, as well as cover crops replace the use of conventional herbicides used to control weeds during the growing season.
Our biggest challenge is to control the many insects that attack our crops. We practice the following methods to replace the need for chemical insecticides.
- Companion planting (intercropping)
- Organic mixtures
- Beneficial insects