The cooler spring has most crops looking beautiful despite the drought. There is plenty of green growing in the gardens and plenty of green growing on the edges. And one edge crop that is absolutely thriving this year is the infamous poison ivy. It really is a beautiful plant, though. But it is a plant for the eye and not for touching (or eating) for most of us. Our children are well trained to spot it but no matter how careful we are, every year we get it somehow. The goats absolute love eating them and that is our primary mitigating strategy. No one is allowed to kiss the goats on the lips for obvious reasons :) Other than goat food, we have no use for it. We don't spray it because we stay away from chemicals but, depending on location, sometimes we just pull them or flame torch them (the latter works but there is a risk of urushiol fumes landing on your skin--so be cautious).
Back to Farm Happenings at Saint Isidore Homestead and Permaculture
One crop you won't see in your CSA box
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.