Farming Practices

Farming Practices

Compost:
We compost our horse manure, some field residue, leave, and vegetable scraps to create a fertile compost to add to our fields. We do apply organic manure fertilizer, but we would eventually like to produce all of our fertilizer on the farm.

Green Manures/ Cover Crops:
Cover cropping is crucial in building the health of your soil and increasing microbial activity. We use cover crops throughout the year in our fields. Some favorites include winter rye, vetch, clover, buckwheat, field peas, triticale, and oats to prevent soil erosion, add nitrogen, biomass, fertility, improve the soil structure, and to out-compete the weeds, just to name a few. There is nothing more beautiful than a green field of healthy cover crops.

Biological Pest Controls:
This is an alternative to using pesticides that can contaminate crops. We release predators into the greenhouse to control the aphid population during our winter greens production. We do use some certified organic pesticides on our potatoes crop to control the Colorado potato beetle and leaf hoppers and on our brassicas for flea beetles. We use this sparingly and in a timely fashion.

Crop Rotations:
We rotate our crops with cover crops to let our soil rest and maintain its fertility, health, and prevent a build up of pests and soil-borne pathogens. All of our land is certified organic, which gives us greater flexibility in rotations.