We currently follow the NOP (National Organic Program) guidelines for all of our vegetable production and received our organic certification from Oregon Tilth in the spring of 2010.

The organic standards are just a guideline for our decision making on the farm. We hope in our long lives as farmers to perfect methods of soil stewardship, closed loop nutrient production, and biologically based methods of managing farm “pests” and diseases that go above and beyond the organic standards.  We do feel organic certification is an important step along the way and a good way of showing accountability to our customers and our ecological surroundings. The best way to learn about our growing practices is to visit the farm and engage with us!

Covercrops

Some of the practices that we follow include covercropping. This practice not only protects the soil while it’s resting and out of vegetable rotation, but the crop- often vetch, phacelia, clover, peas or buckwheat, is tilled back into the soil, breaking down into organic matter and feeding the millions of biological organisms living in the soil. A common philosophy in organic and ecological farming is to feed the soil, which in turn feeds the crops that are harvested.

Pests and diseases

Oh my are there lots of critters, visible, invisible, and just hard find, that like to eat our vegetables! Our biggest pest challenges thus far have been in this order: slugs, flea beetles- they leave in the summer, and cucumber beetles- they never seem to leave. We’re trying lots of different methods to create an ecological balance on our farm- a balance that of course will always have “pests”, but will hopefully be less damaging to our crops than in the past.

Some of these practices include beneficial insect plantings- flowers, shrubs, and grasses- some permanent, some annuals alongside our veggies- that attract insects that prey on less desirable insects.  Many of these flowering plants also attract and feed the beloved and invaluable pollinators like bees. We are lucky that our farm already has many plantings of  native “stoolbeds”- dense, perennial plantings used for dormant cutting stock for our native plants projects. These, and an additional riparian restoration planting done with the help of Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District in the spring of 2009, add a huge amount of habitat to our farm for all kinds of critters. The stoolbeds also border many of our vegetable fields, adding beauty, wind protection and “human scale” feeling to the farm.

Our plan for this summer is to bring chickens onto the farm, not only to add fertility to the soil as they rotate among covercrops, and produce nice eggs for us to eat, but hopefully to help cut down on our slug population over time.

Rotating our crops, being vigilant and identifying potential diseases, and just plain good luck, have left us free of any major disease problems thus far. Biologically active soil helps keep plants healthy and able to resist disease.