Years ago when we grew vegetables in our city-home backyard, one crop I particularly took pride in was beets. We always had beautiful, round, deep purple beets crowned with shiny green leaves. I used to refer to that crop as a very easy one to grow. Since we have been growing food commercially, however, I have not been able to grow beets of the same quality as those in our backyard. For years we have been testing different varieties and learning all about them but we have not been successful. Crop after crop have been marginal at best and I now regard beets as a difficult crop to grow. This spring we introduced a new protocol for growing them. It involves more cultivation than before and frequent foliar applications of compost tea and boron, which I have learned is a mineral that beets absolutely need, particularly for shiny leaves. And we were winning. Two beautiful beds of beets just starting to mature. Deep green leaves and no black spots. Ten-times better looking than the ones some of you have already seen in your boxes. Until... Somehow deer broke in and, as if guided by GPS, went straight to the beet patch to destroy in one night my dream of perfect beets. I don't hold it against the deer, though. Quite the opposite. Their particular interest in beets and their precision finding them I take as a sign of how an awesome crop we were growing (funny that the previous crop of beets--the one I was not particularly excited about--was directly across the field block and the deer simply ignored it). And so, here we go again. We will be transplanting two new beds this week, hoping that the weather, the soil, and the care are favorable and that deer stay out. I can't wait to grow the perfect beet.
About the farm
We are a small family farm located in Grottoes, Virginia, serving the city of Harrisonburg and the counties of Rockingham, Augusta, and Greene. We produce high-quality food using sustainable practices and ethical principles of care for the common good. Having witnessed the healing power of good food in dealing with family health issues, we started farming in 2015 in an effort to sharing with others the benefits of fresh, nutritionally-dense food, grown in a clean environment, using integrative agricultural methods. We believe that in order for food to be healthful, the environment in which it grows has to be healthy. To that end, we integrate animal and plant systems in ways that, in their natural interactions, they create an ecological balance leading to abundance and quality.
We grow over 50 different vegetable crops, perennial vegetables and fruits, and raise pastured pork, as well as ducks and chickens, for meat and eggs.
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We grow over 50 different vegetable crops, perennial vegetables and fruits, and raise pastured pork, as well as ducks and chickens, for meat and eggs.