HOW WE DO IT
Planting Techniques
We start virtually everything we grow from seed. Many crops are seeded directly in the field using a walk-behind seeding machine that cuts a furrow, drops the seeds, covers them up and tamps them down. Crops that we sow this way include salad mix greens/lettuces, beans and peas, corn, beets, carrots and turnips.

Head lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, flowers, etc., are seeded individually in flats filled with a mixture of peat moss, vermiculite, a pinch of lime, and screened compost. The medium is moist; the seeds are sprinkled on top of the medium; lettuce seeds are barely covered with additional vermiculite as they require light to germinate; other seeds are covered approximately 1/4" with additional vermiculite.

Once the lettuce, seedlings emerge and have their first set of true leaves, we prick them out from the flats, and plant them out directly into prepared field beds, "bare root." It helps to have a cloudy-- even misty -- day for this daring endeavor. And the tiny plants must be carefully watered-in. For bigger transplants (the foregoing salad plants plus tomatoes, peppers, brassicas and eggplants), we transplant the bare-root plantlets from the flat into recycled plastic four-packs. After a few more weeks of growth, these transplants are then set out in the field, watered in, fitted with drip tape, and mulched with barn compost.








Fertilization
At Cooper's CSA Farm & Maze our main goal is to nourish the soil, which in turn nourishes the plants (which in turn, nourish us!) We reason that since we are taking a lot of organic material (the plant body and its fruit) out of the soil, we must return at least an equal amount of material to the soil. Hopefully more. Building up the amount of organic material is the best way to make the soil healthy. This can be accomplished by cover cropping (planting crops which will not be harvested, but which will be turned into the soil before flowering and allowed to decompose) and composting. On our farm we use a combination of adding compost (from our goat herd) cover cropping, and good field rotations to build our soil.

We make compost by piling up the fresh goat manure (we call it the mountain) and letting it sit for six months to one year. This is passive composting. We rarely turn it or mess with it at all, and because of its volume, it works! At times we also do "sheet composting" where we fill pathways between raised beds with wheat straw that we purchase from surrounding farms. These conserve soil moisture, retard weed growth, make a nice soft footing, and decompose on their own. When the crop comes out and it's time to remake the raised bed, this new compost is shovelled up from the pathways onto the beds. This works extremely well for the strawberries.

At various times during the growing cycle of most crops, especially prior to fruit setting, we add a nitrogen-rich fertilizer such as feather meal, bat guano, or cattle-feed grade cottonseed meal. These fertilizers are scratched in around the plants (side-dressed) and watered in. Very few synthetic fertilizers are used (20-20-20, etc. however we do use a form of Magnesium because our soils are chronically low in this element..it's what the glaciers gave us 1000's of years ago.). By varying the type of fertilizers and by using cover crops and compost, we think our crops are getting a wide range of nutrients so that they in turn can be nutritious.

Cultivation
We use everything from bare hands, to hand tools, to hand hoes, to wheel hoes, to walk-behind tillers, to tractors, to prepare our planting beds and cultivate the crops. Although there are different situations requiring different tools, we generally hook-up the tractor tiller only as a last resort (it creates a hard pan in the soil). Most of our crops are planted on permanent raised beds. Using the tractor and hiller discs, we throw the bed up, lay down a line of fertilizer and compost, and then till it into the top few inches of soil. After the initial preparation, the tractor is retired. Several succeeding crops can be planted into these beds with only minor hand-tool work.

For cultivating existing plantings, or for working in fertilizer, especially after a pounding rain after the soil dries, we cultivate the top inch or so with hand tools. Rarely do we disturb this soil deeply, unless we are pulling out spent plants. Scuffle (stirrup) hoes or wheel hoes are excellent for stirring up just the top inch or so of soil, opening it up for air/gas circulation/water penetration, and of course cutting off little weeds early.

Irrigation
We are fortunate to have a good well of water on our farm. A 75 foot drilled well feeds our drip lines, waters the livestock and keeps the house going. This past winter we had a large pond dug on the farm which now guarantees that we will have water for all crops even in the driest years.

Pests
Everyone asks "what do you do about bugs?" Well, mostly, we leave them alone, but our philosophy includes:

Planting enough of the crop to yield at least a little bit for us! Avoiding spraying anything at all, unless it is absolutely necessary as insecticides, even organically approved ones, kill good bugs as well as bad bugs, thus upsetting the natural order. And it seems that, once all bugs are wiped out, the bad ones come back first and strongest (or maybe it's our imagination!)

Sprays: We do use BT to control worms, and, since we are after all, human, we can't stand to see spider mites take down a perfectly good strawberry planting, so we spray the plants with a mixture of horticultural oil, soap, fish emulsion, and seaweed, every two-three days for about three sprayings. If this doesn't work, we seek alternatives.

Generally, after years of the above methods, we usually find (except for stinkbugs, weevils and worms) that when we see aphids for instance, if we just back off and wait a few days, the beneficials, like ladybugs, will come to our rescue or we get lucky and get a pounding rain which can set them back. We also notice more problems at the end of a season, they are saying "If you don't get rid of this crop; we will!" And we concentrate on our soil, believing that a healthy soil yields a healthy plant, able to resist most insect attack.

Weed Philosophy - Not Control!
In our opinion, the difference in price between chemical farm produce and organic farm produce is rooted in the subject of weed control. Most chemical farms rely on quick-acting herbicides to prevent weed competition from reducing crop yield. Organic farms must use mechanical control, mulching, and/or hand pulling. On our farm we think that the proper attitude helps also! When the approved plants are small and struggling, we keep the beds relatively clear of weeds which are competition for space and nutrients. We cultivate with wheel hoes; we hand pull; we mulch; and finally, we give weeds a reason for being. After all, if there's no time for a "cover crop," weeds will volunteer for the job, first as a soil holder and soil shader; and then, when they are mowed and plowed under, they feed the soil. Weeds, like roosters, have gotten a bad name! We must adjust our attitudes when confronting them, and remember, the seed is cheap and plentiful!

As an aside, some weeds are edible and extremely nutritious. Amaranth (amaranthus retroflexus) is a delicious summer "weed" that is full of calcium and vitamin A. We harvest it as a cooking green when it is under 12" tall. Lambs' Quarters (iron/vitamin A, a member of the spinach family) and Purslane (omega-3 fatty acids) are other summer greens that you might find on our market tables. When you can't beat 'em, eat 'em!

Harvesting
Much of our time is spent harvesting the fruit of earlier labour. Most crops are harvested within 24 hours of Market; many are harvested the morning of Market. Some, like hard squashes and potatoes, are harvested and stored. Most of the harvesting takes place in cool parts of the day, early morning and evening, as heat can compromise quality. When they say farmers work from "light to light," they speak the truth. As soon as crops come out of the field, they are washed if needed, and placed quickly in the walk-in cooler, which is maintained at about 45 degrees. Most vegetables don't spend much time in the cooler--in fact, many come out of the field directly to the market tables, ready to go home with you.