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Farm Happenings at Broadfork Farm
Farm Happenings for January 28, 2021
It got down to 19 degrees here at the farm two days ago! We keep our walk-in cooler at 37 degrees, year round. In the summer, we have to make clear to our children that no - you may not go in the walk-in cooler to cool down your body. It's only for the vegetables! However, the crates of vegetables1 read more »
Farm Happenings for January 21, 2021
Winter Farm Share, second half of January edition: We wash the field dirt off of Salad Mix during the warmest possible time during these winter weeks, but it's not usually "warm" this time of year!
Vegetable variety is a bit less for the next little while. There's still plenty of Salad1 read more »
Farm Happenings, week of Jan 11th
Happy second week of 2021. We hope we provide you comfort through nourishing food!
Greens, Carrots, and a few herbs are available, plus Butternut Squash and our Breads.
Blessings on your meals ~
Janet & Dan, plus the winter crew (Karen, Rachel, and the farm kids) read more »
Here's to 2021!
The farm is fairly quiet right now (relative to the flurry of activity during most of the year) and very, very saturated with water. We are not happy nor surprised that 2020 ended up as the 3rd wettest year in recorded history for this area. Do you remember what year was the 2nd wettest year? That1 read more »
About the farm
Owned and operated by Janet Aardema and Dan Gagnon, Broadfork is a small family farm in Chesterfield, VA providing the metro-Richmond area with Certified Naturally Grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
We use traditional European methods of biointensive, raised bed production while maximizing soil and plant health for nutrition and sustainability. No synthetic/chemical fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide is ever used in any part of the process of growing your food. Everything we sell is grown by us, and we farm full-time, supporting ourselves and our four children through our farm business.
Growing practices at Broadfork utilize only ecological methods: compost, cover crops, organic fertilizer, and minerals are used to feed the soil that feeds our plants. Raised beds are used to prevent soil-compaction, allowing for happier plant roots. We use organic potting soil and fertilizer, as well as amendments like fish emulsion and sea minerals. No chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides are ever used on your food and we are Certified Naturally Grown (which follows the same national standards used for Organic Certification). We are also proud members of the Virginia Association for Biological Farming and Slow Food RVA. Janet and Dan both hold Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology from Davidson and Lafayette Colleges, respectively. Janet holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. We both thrive on putting our biology backgrounds to use in a farm setting and share a passion for farm education.
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We use traditional European methods of biointensive, raised bed production while maximizing soil and plant health for nutrition and sustainability. No synthetic/chemical fertilizer, pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide is ever used in any part of the process of growing your food. Everything we sell is grown by us, and we farm full-time, supporting ourselves and our four children through our farm business.
Growing practices at Broadfork utilize only ecological methods: compost, cover crops, organic fertilizer, and minerals are used to feed the soil that feeds our plants. Raised beds are used to prevent soil-compaction, allowing for happier plant roots. We use organic potting soil and fertilizer, as well as amendments like fish emulsion and sea minerals. No chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides are ever used on your food and we are Certified Naturally Grown (which follows the same national standards used for Organic Certification). We are also proud members of the Virginia Association for Biological Farming and Slow Food RVA. Janet and Dan both hold Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology from Davidson and Lafayette Colleges, respectively. Janet holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. We both thrive on putting our biology backgrounds to use in a farm setting and share a passion for farm education.