|
Journal
of an organic farm worker
| For
now we are just glad it is spring, though it still gets
chilly up here. Besides the weather, we can tell the season
finally changed because the pear and cherry trees are
in bloom, and the apple trees are budding. Tadpoles wriggle
in the swampy areas of the field where last month’s
rains still linger. And one of the cats has four kittens
in a box filled with old t-shirts by the front door. |
The
kittens in their box
|
Unseasonable
cold and rain made the beginning of this past spring "the
worst in 30 years of farming," according to Mike Tabor. His
Licking Creek Bend Farm, situated in a beautiful green valley
six miles north of the Maryland border in Needmore, Pennsylvania,
grows affordable organic fruits and vegetables to sell at
markets in Washington D.C. and Takoma Park. So the four workers,
one baby and I, who live on the farm and run it with Mike,
had many things to do to make up for lost time before the
summer growing season.
On the
first of April we started planting seeds for this year’s
vegetable crops in warmed dirt beds. We are still working
on planting hundreds of tree seedlings for the Christmas tree
harvest in years to come. And the apple trees had to be pruned
before they flowered.
|
Setting
out the tents
|
Once
the ground warmed and dried, Mike plowed three long rows
in a field by Licking Creek. He showed us how to nestle
two year-old asparagus roots in the furrows atop composted
manure and rock phosphate. Then we covered the roots with
the spongy, loamy soil that is enriched when the creek
overflows its banks and leaves a fresh layer of mud and
organic matter in the field. The asparagus spent the winter
in refrigeration to make them think they were hibernating
in the ground. In a few weeks they will send up tasty
ferns. |
In the
middle of the month, we rototilled the garden beds and planted
them with onions on the outside and leafy, cold-hardy crops
down the middle of the rows. The strong scent and taste of
the alliums will keep some bugs away from the lettuce, spinach,
sorrel, chard, beets and radishes.
Floating
row covers should keep the rest of the bugs away. After we
finished putting seeds or transplants in a bed, we set long
white tents over the cultivated soil. The tents are a fine
weave of fibers that let light and water in but keep bugs
out. They act as mini-greenhouses by trapping heat, speeding
spring growth, and keeping the young plants from freezing.
We rely
on these natural controls because we don’t want to have
to protect ourselves from our own crops and the poisonous
chemicals conventional agribusinesses use to manage pests.
Nor do we want toxic runoff to flow into Licking Creek and
eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.
What we
do is not harder or easier than conventional farming. We simply
choose to work with nature rather than against her. This makes
us much less reliant on chemicals and machinery purchased
from agricultural corporations.
Instead
we use the time tested methods that worked for people for
thousands of years and non-invasive modern technology. Plus,
we enjoy our vegetables without a side of diazinon, dursban,
and a host of other appetizing-sounding but unhealthy chemicals.
| When
we stick our hands in the soil it is an intact ecosystem
that is home to a wide range of worms and insects. It
is a joy to turn the earth and see that all the creatures
on the farm are in good health. |
Licking
Creek Bend Farm, Needmore, PA.
|
—Andrew
Mefferd
|
