(#1) One Hour Prompt on "Dirt"

Here on our organic farm we believe in the soil.  We know what possibilities lay just under the surface out there in your garden.  We want to maximize the soil, and we do it with some not-so-conventional techniques Some new and some old, all in support of the soil.  Building the soil up, keeping it drained, and supporting microscopic life to thrive.  That’s us doing everything we can to have the best veggies and the biggest harvest.

Soil structure is an incredibly important factor to us.  Keeping that soil structure allows for roots to grow freely and develop into large healthy plants.  To keep that soil structure we try and manage the level of compaction in the soil.  One way we do that is to be careful of working the soil in wet or rainy conditions.  When the soil is moist, if driven over it tends to become compacted, hard and thick like cement.  This makes drainage difficult and just cycles the problem more.  Some big farms aren’t as concerned about such soil structure.  You can tell just by the machines they have parked out back.  If you have ever seen a wet lime spreader you can tell.  They have four to five foot wide wheels made for one purpose, to help float on wet fields when they’re spreading fertilizer.  Those conditions would be just about the least likely that you’d find us spinning our wheels in the field.  So hopefully those tires really help them float, or else they’re going to end up with some pretty dense soil.   

When it comes to what we put on the soil, it’s a whole different ball game than that of the big guys.  We don’t tend to use any of their chemically synthesized herbicide and fungicide.  We stay to the nature friendly side of things, using manure and natural sources to enrich our soil.  And we don’t just use one kind, oh no, we always have two or three different kinds when it comes time to spread.  Lately it’s been a mixture of chicken, cow, and sometimes pig manure.  Now while that whole concoction sounds lovely going into the mix for my veggies, I sure as heck don’t want a load of it to be dropped off in my front yard to wait while it gets spread.  But when it does happen, it reminds you that it’s just one more reason why this is a labor of love.

The manner in which we rotate our crops in the fields is also different than most conventional farmers.  Now in a rotation, each year you have a different crop on each field.  For conventional farmers the norm tends to be a 2-3 year crop rotation with just a few crop types to maximize production of a single crop.  But on our farm we do a four year rotation.  That gives the soil time to heal after a particularly demanding crop is grown there.  This increase in time for the field to rest is for multiple reasons.  It gives our soil a little more time to recover from growing our main crop, potatoes, and allows for more time to replenish the soil with all of that lovely manure.  The addition of rotating crops with long and short root structures has also shown to do great work for soil structure.

  We’re all called farmers.  But we all tend to do things a little different.  And when you compare us organic guys to the conventional, the differences can be stark.  But that’s what makes our products stand out.  It’s the quality, plain and simple.  When you’re on the scale of most of the big potato famers around here you’re concerned about one thing and one thing only, “Who is going to by your crop for French fries?”  That scale just doesn’t work for us.  Working at that scale means you’re going to cut corners and more than likely rather often.  But we here aren’t about settle for that.  We are steadfast by our promise to take the most time and care to raise these vegetables right.  For you, from us.