Buy Geek: Get Your Veggies From Local Organic Farmers

Posted by 5x5 on October 20, 2009 under Geek Talk | Read the First Comment

What does buying geek have to do with local organic farmers?  There is a lot of geekery that goes into those veggies!

Our summer Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) subscription was with Beausol Gardens out of Pittsboro, NC.  Harry and his wife Deb always sent a weekly newsletter where they eloquently described the wildlife interactions and plants on the farm.  We asked Harry a few questions, so you can see some of the geekery and hard work that goes into organic farming.

1. What are some of the things you need to think about when planning for a season and deciding which vegetables to plant?

Harry: A lot goes into planning a season:  we consider how many CSA shares we intend to offer, which crops – taking customer suggestions into some consideration, what varieties do well here or might be interesting to try and how much of each crop. Then, based on projected yields, we order the proper amount of seed.  We track where crops have grown in seasons past so that we can “rotate” a crop to a different location each year.  We  calculate backwards from when transplants go into the field to determine the proper time to start seeds.

2. Is it true, some plants grow better with others and some dislike each other? (If true, do you have examples?)

Harry: Companion planting is a new method we are trying.  Carrots and lettuce are supposed to both benefit by growing together.  The problem we discovered this year is they can’t be planted TOO closely since the lettuce grows about 100 times faster and shades out the carrots.  Beets and Brassica family members are supposed to be good companions also.  This was a little more successful this year, but again the broccoli shaded the beets a bit too much, we feel.  So adjacent beds, rather than shared beds may be the solution.

3. What methods do organic farmers like yourself use to keep the soil healthy year after year?

Harry: We feed the soil.  We don’t really feed the crops, the soil and soil dwellers do that, except when we foliar feed with compost tea or fish hydrosylate.  We nurture a healthy soil by adding compost (which is made from manures, leaves, straw, old mulch and crop residues), mined minerals, worm castings, biodynamic “preps,” and by growing cover crops that when tilled under add organic matter and nutrients back into the soil.  The cover crops, in addition to reducing erosion, suppressing weeds, protecting the soil from compaction by rain and providing an environment for beneficial soil biota, take up and store mineral nutrients like calcium, potassium and phosphorus from the soil and also fix and accumulate atmospheric components like carbon and nitrogen, all of which are added back to the soil when the cover crop is tilled under.

4. How many hours would you say you put into the farm each day?

Harry: My “work week” varies.  I usually spend from 8 to 14 hours a day – often 7 days a week working in the field, making deliveries, starting seeds, running errands, etc. Even winter is not hibernating down-time since there are improvements to make, repairs to be done – and now that we are offing a winter CSA there is field work (planting, weeding, harvesting, scouting for pests and disease, etc.) almost every month. Rainy days and evenings are often spent running errands, doing administrative tasks or reading about new techniques, tools and crops and preparing for the next set of tasks.

5. Would you say organic/ sustainable farming is more of an art or a science?

Harry: Organic/sustainable agriculture is probably both art and science.  Much of what we do is adapted from other farmers’ efforts and university or extension service research.  Many of these other techniques are not directly applicable for any number of reasons.

6. I heard Harry use to be a chemist.  What made you switch to organic farming? What drew Deb to organic farming?

My formal education was focused on chemistry and botany.  After about ten years of synthetic organic chemistry, my “second incarnation” was as a computer programmer and support specialist.  After we moved to the farm and started growing food for our family and quickly surpassed our personal demand, we started “market gardening” part time.  When my first wife died in 2003, I quit the corporate world and decided to try to support my daughter by farming full time, my third incarnation.

7. Is there anything else either of you would like to share about organic farming or sustainable agriculture?

Harry: Organic/sustainable agriculture is about working WITH nature as much as possible. You can read more about our philosophy by going to our web site http://beausol.com.

8. Are there still available shares for your upcoming Winter CSA? (If so, cost and contact info you’d like posted)

Harry: We no longer have shares available for the 2009/10 winter CSA season.

Additional information you might find of interest:

How does a CSA work?  Harry describes it best in one of his weekly newsletters,  “In addition to building a community of mutual benefit, producing safer and healthier food and fresher flowers, supporting farmers, and improving our environment, farmers and members share the risk inherent in agriculture.”   What is this risk he speaks of? Buying a share in a CSA is like buying shares on the stock market.  When the farm does well, shares pay out more veggies.  When the weather is harsh or if the plants do not fair well for other reasons, you can expect shares to contain less.

You can find a CSA subscription near you on LocalHarvest.org. If you live in the RTP area of NC, you might wish to try Beausol Gardens’s tasty produce for yourself!

For more information on organic farming, stop by a farmers market near you and talk to one of the farmers yourself.  Many of them will be more than happy to talk to you about their farm and farming methods.

Be healthy and maintain your planet.