Sustainability is the main goal behind the farming practices we use. This means we strive to maintain the health and productivity of our soil year after year, without heavily relying on the annual addition of inputs. We do this primarily through the use of crop rotation and cover crops we have divided each of our gardens into thirds and crops are rotated each year, with two thirds in garden and one third planted in an annual crop that will not be harvested, but rather mowed (to encourage more growth) and later worked back into the soil. The cover crop provides many benefits: increases organic matter in the soil, decreases soil compaction and decreases weed cover. We have also started adding composted sheep manure during cover crop years to further increase organic matter as well as macro-nutrient concentrations. We have implemented an annual soil sampling program to monitor the health and trends of our soil. If required based on observation and/or soil sample results, we will add synthetic fertilizers to maintain a soil nutrient balance.
We primarily control weeds through mechanical and hand weeding methods, however we do also use approved pesticides as another tool in our arsenal when necessary. Weed infestations can significantly reduce crop yields and take years to control if they are allowed a chance to establish – so we take them very seriously! We hope by implementing these practices, our small piece of land can continue producing high quality food for our family and yours for many years to come.
