Aimless Farm
What is a market farm?
Traditionally it is a small homestead that sells produce locally. The advantages of eating food produced by your neighbors are numerous and obvious.
Contact Information:
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A sneak peek under row cover (bug protection for broccoli and hitchhiker chard)
Inside the Seed Starter Greenhouse
Inside Remay (hardening off) GreenHouse
Three recycled greenhouses
(side view)
Inside Clampett Greenhouse
Chicken Tractors at Work
Organic Strawberries interplanted with onions
Chicken Tractor Clearing New Land
Baby Greens (Spicy Salad to come)
Elephant Garlic
Snap Pea Row
Baby Potato /Trench Method (French Intensive)
Garlic
Early Peppers/Andrew
Shitakes!!
Early Lettuce
Greenhouse
Chicken Tractor II
with winter hay house (also portable)
Spicy Salad Mix
The Bee Hives..I am so new at this...
it is so addicting
Speckled Bibb Planted in Garlic Beds
Beans and Chard
Another way to Recycle....Winter Dog House/Summer Mulch
New Patch/Will be cover cropped for two seasons
Seed Saved off this huge Tomato Plant
....we will see!
Raspberries
Sweetgum Grove where we harvest our
Shitake Logs
Mottled checking out one of the worm bins
MOST IMPORTANTLY-SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS
(do a little research into what your eating when you buy your food from major suppliers-you’ll be shocked and dismayed by what you discover.)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
History:
Aimless Farm is the result of a continuing evolution in farming practices, community friendships, and cultural awareness. After years of farming independently, two farms joined together and became Aimless Farm. Andrew and Rob began working on projects, trading labor and equipment. This soon grew into a full fledged partnership. We easily agreed to the same growing philosophy and a pledge to never produce anything using unethical means. We farm a mere 2 acres of our 17 acres. Many people often chuckle at our name and we enjoy the many different perspectives people view it with. The truth of the matter though, is that the name Aimless represents our absolute belief that thinking to much gets in the way of hard work. Goals are great, and planning is necessary in sustainable farming...but life goals-those are up to the divinity that surrounds us. We just figure, we’ll keep working hard and we’ll be doing what we are supposed to be doing.
FACTS:
-No synthetic chemical pesticides used!
how do we protect against the bugs: (over planting, beneficial insects, companion planting, handpicking, and organic sprays made with cayenne peppers, etc..)
-No synthetic chemical fertilizers used in the field)!
how do we fertilize: (cover crops, alfalfa, soybean, blood meal, our own chicken manure, bone meal, and our very own compost and worm castings!)
-Everything is about BALANCE!
how do we balance the ecosystem: (this is always developing, a good example is our strawberries. They are planted with onions which keep away the slugs. They are left uncovered while flowering so the birds can pick off the caterpillars and the bees can pollinate. Once they begin fruiting, they are covered during the day to keep the birds from eating the berries.....etc...)
-Why did we choose the organic method: This is the easiest question to answer! With children and the recent research regarding chemicals and our health-enough said!
ORGANIC RANT: by Rob
I recently attended the CFSA organic certification workshop and though I have often complained about the federal guidelines and their effect on small farmers, I am much more informed about the process and problems then I was before. It is absolutely true that organic certification doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable. Nor does sustainable equal organic. In many ways they are similar, but in regards to community activism and environmental awareness a mix of both is essential. For instance, Organic Strawberries from California have a huge petrol cost both in transportation and the farming methods (plasticulture) that they use. Yet, traditionally grown strawberries are so pesticide ridden, I wouldn’t put them in my compost pile, much less my children’s bodies.
Another issue that really effects small farmers is that to grow sustainable crops most farmers use cover cropping as their main method of enriching soil and creating natural fertilizers (for instance, planting clover in the fall adds both biomass and nitrogen to the spring soil). In order to be officially organic, the cover crop seeds must be labeled organic. A local dealer will sell a fifty pound bag of clover seed for around 60.00. In order to get an “organically certified” bag of clover, the farmer has to have it shipped in and it can cost well over 200.00 for the same fifty pound bag of clover, and adds in the evils of petrol to the equation.
Small scale sustainable farming is not a lucrative business, it is a lifestyle and belief system. Thus, such extreme costs often discourage small sustainable farmers from going after the organic certification. Also, many small sustainable farmers are still rightfully angry that the government made regulations and laws that created ownership over the very word and system they helped create, “Organic”, and thus refuse to “play”.
As a consumer, you must make up your own mind. There are many farmers who are not certified organic who practice responsible sustainable methods that are better overall for the Earth then is required through the law for organic certification. Also, there are farmers who are Organically Certified, who use such nasty petrol strategies, that they are downright horrible. But truth be told, most small farmers use a mix of what is necessary for their land and location in order to produce wonderfully locally grown food.
It is my experience that farmers are honest. Ask them how they grow their food. Ask them if they use pesticides, chemicals...plastic. Don’t assume that a booth at the local farmers market means the farmer is practicing organic or sustainable methods..ASK!!! Find out what is right for you and go support the people who provide it.
At Aimless, we are transitioning to become officially organic. We are choosing this path because we would like to pursue wholesale options and CSA’s more then face to face farmer’s markets. Thus, it fits in with our plan. Otherwise, we would never bother with the huge paperwork and costs involved with following each and every regulation. Instead we would just do what so many farmers do-the right thing!
