Farming Practices

Our farm is our home. We strive to maintain a healthy environment for our children, our neighbors, our animals, and the fields, forests, wetlands and wildlife that surround us.

We firmly believe in sustainable farming practices and land stewardship. We never use pesticides or inorganic fertilizers- we have nature’s best fertilizer thanks to our animals! The pastures are managed in an intensive rotational grazing system, in which the cows have access to fresh pasture at all times during the growing season. Our cows are vigorous and well-adapted to our climate. Through a well-managed diet, clean, comfortable environment, and low-stress handling, we are able to maintain healthy cows and avoid the routine use of antibiotics or hormone treatments.

Our vegetables, fruit, and flowers are grown by methods that adhere to and even surpass the organic standards set by the USDA, though we are not certified. Though we understand that third party certification is useful for consumers, we strongly believe that transparency and communication is the best way for consumers to truly know where their food comes from and how it was grown. We encourage all of our customers and community members to come to the farm and talk with us about our practices.

We are lucky to have good soil and a great source of nutrients (composted manure) in which to grow our vegetables. We also understand the need to give our soil a deserved break from production, thus we have a plan for rotation, rest, and cover cropping to replenish and feed the soil that feeds us. We never use pesticides, even certified organic ones. We believe that with good planning and timing, we can avoid the use of these products. This does mean that at times we may suffer the loss of crops due to pests and pathogens- outbreaks cannot always be controlled. However, growing a diversity of varieties of different crops helps us to ensure that we won’t have a complete crop failure, and growing beneficial plantings of flowers, herbs and trees can help us build populations of beneficial organisms to help us fight the pest and pathogens that attack our crops.

We love that our children can freely roam the farm barfeoot, and eat food straight from the field. We want your family to feel confident about the food we produce. We encourage you to come visit and see for yourself!