Back to farm profile
Farm Happenings at Rora Valley Farms
Flipping Beds for Fall Planting!
Believe it or not, July and August are some of the most important months for fall planting. Right now I am working on pulling out played-out crops and replacing them with fall crops. Here are the most common steps we take when we flip a bed.
1. Remove the previous crop. Typically by hand. We1 read more »
Thankful for Irrigation!
It has been really dry, and I am so grateful that we have irrigation. There are three main types of irrigation that we use in the gardens.
Drip Irrigation: Drip irrigation uses tubing with built-in drip emitters every 6 inches. All you have to do is run a drip-line down the row that you want to wa1 read more »
Heat and Harvest!
It's hot! Summer is here and production is in full swing. Weeds also seem to grow overnight, as well as the grass, and we have to be very focused to keep everything running smoothly.
It is a hard balance to find trying to get out to the garden early yet get enough sleep where we have the right amou1 read more »
We are Back from Teaching Organic Gardening in New York!
This past week my wife and I flew to upstate New York to teach a horticulture class. Lamplighter Ministries hosts a Guild each year for students both young and old to come and learn how to excel in various arts and disciplines. In addition to our horticulture class there were classes on film-making1 read more »
Boys on the Farm
One of the main reasons that I wanted to farm was so that I could be more involved in the lives of my kids. My wife and I have been blessed with three boys and one little girl, and although parenting is never easy, it is a blessing to be around them every day. The farm provides a great environment1 read more »
Keeping it Coming!
This week will be the first without salad mix this season. The recent heat caused the plantings of lettuce to get bitter. But our goal is to keep it coming despite the heat! To that end we are continuing a succession of plantings and are using shade cloth to help protect the seedlings from too much1 read more »
Happy Chickens
The weather has been hot and dry here on the farm, and we have been thankful for irrigation in the gardens. This week I am setting out sweet potato plants!
The eggs in your Farmship Bags are raised by my cousin, Luke, and his family. They have a new, small farm (Shipbrook Farm) a couple miles down1 read more »
Elephant Garlic Coming Soon!
When I first started farming I wanted to grow elephant garlic. Not sure where the inspiration came from, but I saw an ad in the Alabama Farmer's Bulletin for some seed garlic grown by an Alabama farmer. When I contacted him he said he had been growing it for years and saving cloves each time to gro1 read more »
Learning to Grow Good Tomatoes
In the past I have grown lots of tomatoes. Lots of tomato PLANTS that is. Which doesn't always equal lots of tomatoes.
I remember some years that I had hundreds and hundreds of tomato plants out in the field, loaded with tomatoes. As the season progressed the work would get away from me and t1 read more »
About the farm
Rora Valley Farms is located in beautiful rural Coosa County, Alabama and is owned and operated by the Sanders Family and was established in 2009. Currently my wife Dorothy and I (Noah) oversee the vegetable and bakery operations while my cousin Luke Sanders and his wife Kristin oversee the meat and egg production. Our kids help out as well! Here at Rora Valley Farms we strive to produce real food. Many industrial foods today put on a good show, but fail to provide our bodies with the nutrients we need to function properly. When God designed our bodies, He also designed amazing foods to fuel them. But most industrial foods have strayed from that original design, and we have reaped the consequences. Through building healthy, living soil and utilizing natural systems of production and management we strive to harvest food that feeds our bodies, as well as our taste buds.
Go to farm profile