A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE

We practice ecological and beyond organic farming approaches, paying attention to our soil microbiological community and plant nutrient uptake to ensure plant health and vegetable nutrition. We farm for ecological sustainability, food safety, and healthfulness. We believe in studying our farm's systems and deciding on the best course of action using our common sense and passion for the health of our farm's ecology, and for the food we grow.

From fall 2009 through 2010, we turned five acres of sod ground and returned long fallowed fields to vegetable production. We use cover crops and crop rotation to increase soil organic matter, prevent soil erosion, manage weeds, dissuade pests and diseases, and increase farm system health. Our tillage practices include shallow minimal tillage, in addition to borrowing equipment and wisdom from our generous Cape Elizabeth farmer-friends for breaking sod ground.

We manage our farm as natural habitat. We cultivate floral hedgerows (with pollen meals and nectar havens) to attract our insect allies to the farm for pollination and to predate farm foes such as aphids and tomato hornworms. By researching the lifecycles of insect pests and beneficial insect friends, as well as plant diseases and our farm ecosystem, we can be informed farmers, and be accountable to the native ecology. The vibrant wildness of Cape Elizabeth assists our farm in producing beautiful nutritious vegetables.

We practice integrated pest management, scouting for pests and diseases and using controls only when a crop's harvest yield is threatened. We prefer using row covers for barrier pest control. When necessary, we choose to use biological pest and disease controls that target a specific problem and are approved for organic production; these organic controls break down readily and are out of the farming system within 12 to 24 hours.

We use compost, trace elements and mineral soil amendments to enrich our soil and our crops' nutrient values. We fertilize crops with manure, lime, humic acid, alfalfa meal, fishmeal and worm castings. All of these products meet and exceed organic standards. As we grow our business, we are interested in gathering raw materials for on farm composting, to reduce our inputs from outside sources.

When we collect herbs and plants (red clover, wild roses, fiddleheads) from the wild, we harvest minimally, and are careful to monitor, respect and maintain wild plant populations.

We are fascinated by our agro-ecosystem, especially how we as farmers can increase on farm biodiversity, and influence our soil and the vitality and nutrition of our crops in cooperation with our local environment. Currently we save seed from flowers and culinary and medicinal herbs and some salad greens, in the future we hope to produce seed crops for use on our farm, and to breed our own vegetable varieties.

We are investigating applying for organic certification (now regulated by the National Organic Program of the federal government), to see how different it is from the academic side of sustainable and ecological agriculture we learned in school. Ask us how it goes!

Please let us know what interests you about how your food is grown; we'd love to hear from you.

If you are interested in 'agroecology,' the science of sustainable agriculture, see our resources page.