Some of you have heard us say that we primarily grow soil and the rest just happens. We believe our crops are nutritionally dense because they nurture themselves from a nutritionally-dense soil. So, yes, we believe in healthy soil and we take our soil very seriously. By healthy soil we mean a living soil. An ecosystem itself where microbial activity is the rule. In order to keep the soil system thriving we disturb the soil as little as possible. So we work a no-till system growing food in permanent raised beds. One of the key elements in our growing healthy soil is returning organic matter to the ground frequently. We do this by growing cover crops regularly and adding lots of compost to our soil. And by lots of compost I mean a lot. Our compost piles are big (we have to use a tractor to turn them). But despite the big volume we produce, we still rely on a locally-produced, super-high quality, compost from a company you may have heard of, Black Bear Composting. This company collects waste in our area and turn it into something that is often referred to as black gold. I proud myself of my relationship with that company (and you should too) because it is quite possible that when we add Black Bear compost to our soil we are returning organic matter that was once grown here. And that is a very good reason to be grateful.
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.