The Way We Work

 

 

Sustainable Growing means different things to different people. What it means to us is that we work with our hands to build the soil, encouraging diversity above and below the soil surface. We do not irrigate, making the most of rainwater with constant sheet composting and mulch, grown onsite as much as possible. We plant directly into the nutritious clay soil, allowing deep roots that do not need frequent watering. We save seeds when possible to adapt them to our challenging conditions. We do not use any sprays or purchased fertilizers at all. Compost is made from our our kitchen scraps, some donated restaurant compostables and the bedding from our ducks, as well as cuttings of whatever is growing onsite, all mixed with lots of municipal woodchips and collected fall leaves. At our old location, we attempted to grow a hedgerow in lieu of a fence around the property. The new property came with side fences, but we have attempted to re-create the low, wildlife friendly cover by planting berries in rows at the new site, including along the alley where there is no fence. We minimize the use of plastics in the garden, using lots of burlap to smother weeds and make paths rather than tarps and individually protecting fruits rather than using plastic netting. And we maximize our interplantings of flowers, to attract lots of different kinds of good bugs (and great bug eaters!).

 

Our ducks and chickens live in our home backyard; they spend their days in the outdoor poultry area, and are shut into their house with an attached bottomless run nightly for protection from predators. They are fed a homemade and fermented all organic grain/seed/pea mix daily, as well as peelings and leftovers from our kitchen (not all organic). We love their eggs!