Bootstrap Acres

Here’s something that shocks some people. We’re not USDA certified organic, though we may participate in that program at some point. The word “organic” began as a description of farming the old, natural way, without using chemicals to push plant growth and kill weeds and pests. Now the government has annexed the word so that organic growers must pay money, create copious documentation, check every move with their certifier, and share revenue with the government in order to be allowed to breathe the one word that best describes what they do already. We think we can do better than that.

If possible we would rather let our customers talk straight to us to certify that we’re growing food right than paying government to declare that we jumped through their hoops to their satisfaction! We have nothing to hide, so let’s be transparent and we think you’ll love what we do. How’s this?

Our present leased land hasn’t been farmed for 10 years. We have not applied any plant food, pesticides, or herbicides.

Our soil preparation has used the following inputs, all of them to provide needed minerals and nutrients for our plants to use:

• Agricultural lime (provides calcium carbonate)
• Ca-Mg lime (provides calcium and magnesium carbonates)
• Gypsum (provides calcium and sulfur)
• Rock phosphate (provides phosphorus)
• Soy meal (provides gradual release of nitrogen, as well as some phosphorus and potassium)
• Greensand (provides potassium and many trace minerals)
• A small amount of bloodmeal (boosts nitrogen)

We mix these ourselves into a carefully-proportioned fertilizer that we apply to the top of our soil so rain, earthworms, and other friends can slowly break them down for our crops to use. All of these ingredients are directly from nature with minimal processing. Here’s what a batch of this custom natural fertilizer mix looks like:

We combine this with

• limited watering
• shallow tilling
• not enough weeding yet!  :-)

We strongly believe in feeding the soil ecosystem and treating the causes of weak growth and plant disease. We have not yet applied any plant food, herbicides, or pesticides, organic or otherwise. Should we desire or need to do so in the future, we will carefully research what treatments are best for the health of the plant, the soil, and especially the eaters—we’re nourishing our young family with this food, too!

We plan to compile a list with detailed information about all of our inputs: what’s in them, why we use them, and when we applied them. We won’t have such printed materials about our inputs ready for our first day at market on Saturday, but I want you to know that that’s something we care very deeply about.

Our goal is beyond “non-toxic food”, though of course that’s non-negotiable for us. Our goal is to grow nutrient-dense food. Vegetables, conventional or organic, can provide poor flavor and nutrition while still looking quite beautiful. We want to stuff our crops with health and nutrition rather than doing the minimum necessary to make an organism form leaves.

We will be glad to answer any questions at all about our practices and inputs. Please ask us anything at all!

Updated: removed a statement I couldn’t back up.