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, except in the organic potting soil we buy for sprouting. 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 current property came with side fences, but we are trying to re-create the low, wildlife friendly cover with our berries and understory trees planted in rows, 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 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!