Human-Scale Production
Our market garden area uses biointensive growing methods - a large number of crop plants and varieties are grown in a small space, using mostly hand tools and human power. The close spacing of plants in this style of growing makes very efficient use of the land area, allowing the plants to form a tight canopy of foliage that protects the soil from the drying effects of the sun and the erosive effects of direct rainfall, while helping to shade out weeds. The tight spacing means there’s no room for tractors or large machinery, but makes it very efficient to work by hand using appropriate, lightweight tools that don’t create pollution or compact the soil.
Biodiversity Below Ground
Organic crops get their nutrition from relationships with microbes in the soil. Because we grow a wide variety of crops and practice rapid crop rotation in this area, the microbiology in the soil is maintained at a high level of diversity, fed by the different growth habits and exudates that the roots of each crop provide. And because our main source of fertility here is compost that we make on farm from a wide variety of feedstocks, we maintain a high level of microbial diversity in the soil, helping to ensure that all the crops get the exact nutrition they need, when they need it, provided by the soil’s vibrant microbial ecology.
Biodiversity Above Ground
The market garden area of the farm is nested inside what we’ve always called the “food forest”. It’s an area with a wide variety of fruit trees, berries, shrubs, flowers, perennial herbs and water features, all of which provide habitat for beneficial birds, insects and amphibians that help us balance our pest populations. Paired with our high diversity of crop varieties, this creates a thriving agroecosystem that it’s a pleasure to grow food in.
Season Extension
Providing food year-round is a vital part of developing a vibrant local food economy. Our market garden system includes 13 high tunnels for protected winter growing that allow us to offer fresh greens year-round. The tight spacings of this growing area also make it easy to use row covers to protect crops, essentially providing a cozy blanket to keep frost-hardy crops safe from the worst effects of winter and extend their growing season.