BEYOND ORGANIC

When we first began farming in the UP, we were admittedly neophytes to anything more than backyard gardening.  We had been planting ginseng in the woods and tending the apple trees on family land near Escanaba.  We had planted a garden in the yard with mixed results, and we had fruited some shiitake and oyster mushrooms.   Our philosophy was to start small and hopefully our mistakes as we stumble along will seem small as well.  We knew we wanted to grow a diversity of things and not put all our eggs into one basket.

Another important part of our philosophy was that we wanted to grow things organically.  During this time we saw organic certification as an important step and were certified organic by OCIA and OGM for three years.  This time taught us much about certifiable organic practices as well as all the things required for proper certification.  As our farming and the demand for our produce have increased, so have we slowly increased our production.  Keeping our production diverse allows us to fill a local market, and also allows us to get to know our customers well.  We soon began to realize that a third party certifier seemed less and less necessary, as most of our customers know us by name and quite often visit the farm.  We began to wonder, why should we spend large amounts of money and time to have the certifier tell us we are doing a good job?  Weighing the costs and benefits of the system, we have chosen to drop organic certification.  This helps to keep our costs lower and saves much time spent on unneeded red tape.  Most small farms estimate they will spend at least 100 hours and $2000 per year pursuing certification.  They have no choice but to pass this cost on to their customers.  We would suggest that there is no better judge than you when it comes to your food.  We have no secrets at our farm and invite you to come see for yourself rather that count on a third party to tell you how your food was grown.  We participate in local farm tours, have a member open house, and invite anyone to volunteer for a day and see firsthand the way their food is grown.

We believe all plant, animal, and human health comes from the soil.  This has led us to focus first on the rebuilding of the soil in our fields.  We do this in a number of ways, but what it all boils down to is that we are trying to feed the organisms and microorganisms that live in and comprise the thing we call dirt.  Some of the foods we provide to the soil are animal manures, composts, green and brown (carbon) matter, kelp, high calcium limestone, azomite, rock phosphate, greensand, humates, dilute ocean solids, fish emulsion, paramagnetic rock, worm castings,  and biodynamic preparations.  One of the most beneficial things we can do for our garden soil is to move our mobile laying hen flocks over the area each year.  Not only do they clean up insects and weed seeds, they also leave behind a healthy fertilizer that we can visually see in the next season’s growth.  Areas in the pasture where the flocks have roamed always stand taller and greener that the area around it.    These are all extra steps we take that are not required by organic certification but that we consider necessary to healthy food production.

This is all aimed at remineralizing the soil to mineralize the produce that comes from the farm.  Studies show a marked loss of minerals in average food stuffs over the past century.   Much abuse of the soil in conventional agriculture has exhausted the soil’s supply of minerals and nutrients in many areas.  Simply put, if it is not in the soil, it is not in the plant.  We go to great lengths to put minerals back in the soil.  This is not required in the organic standards.  When we view the system as a whole, we see this not only benefits the consumer with more nutritional produce, but also comes back to the farm as well in the form of healthier plants and animals, higher yields, as well as less disease and pest problems.

We weigh the decision to not be certified organic heavily. While we feel it is a system we can operate outside of, we also see that it is the only method for consumers to be somewhat sure of how their food is produced.  We buy certified organic food when possible and realize this is the only guarantee that something produced out of our area, say olive oil, was produced in a chemical free and sustainable way.  Our goal is to stay diverse, grow for a local market, and let our farming speak for itself.  We are member certified.