From the Farmer's Perspective: Risky Business

Driving into the farm this morning, I'm amazed to see the change of seasons manifesting in our fields; there are a million things going on these days! Today we harvested our first carrots of Fall and the cabbage along the main farm entry road is starting to head up, and it looks like we'll see the first of the broccoli in about two weeks, as well as our first dill. We've started harvesting all kinds of radishes - red, watermelon, and black Spanish, and the first beets are out of the fields also! The harvest crew has no shortage of work these days, especially since all of our sunflowers and all of our green beans have matured at the exact same time - these will both be bountiful at all weekend markets. In the greenhouse we are approaching the last big week of seeding for fall, and we would love your help volunteering any day in the next week - just email us at volunteer@jbgorganic.com to reserve your spot. In the fields, Montana has been seeding lots of cover crop this week, a mix of fava beans, oats, and peas to add nitrogen and green matter to our soils. Also, I am planning to try some new Asian greens on the farm this fall, with fun names like mibuna, choi-sum, and hon-tsai ta, and this week we hope to get the first seeding of these new crops in the ground.

Fall is a little bit different every year, and with the "official" change of season this week, I've been reflecting on a few big risks we've taken at JBG, which have shaped the way that the fields look right now. The first is marked by an anniversary - this week, we celebrate one year without plastic mulch at JBG, an accomplishment I am very proud of. While plastic mulch has a number of benefits for farmers - weed control and water conservation for example - I hated the amount of waste we were producing on the farm using all of that non-recyclable plastic! Although my staff was on board with my decision to curb our waste, it has been a bumpy road readjusting our growing practices, and we've seen both positive and negative consequences from this decision.

The first and biggest plus, is that we've reduced our plastic waste by over half over the last year and kept a lot of rolls of this stuff out of the landfill. We're also spending much less time cleaning up our fields after the crop is harvested, since now we don't have to pick out pesky pieces of plastic from the soil before turning the field under. On the other hand, our labor costs have increased significantly - we've had to hire a 5 person crew nearly full time, year-round just to hand-weed beds, which costs a lot of money! We were also really surprised to see the effect that the heavy rains this year had on our bare ground crops. One important benefit that we did not realize until this year is that plastic sheds the rainwater from our beds, thus keeping our organic soils and amendments from being leached away by the rain. The extraordinary heavy rains we had this year resulted in a lot of material being washed away, so many of our crops suffered from reduced yields and smaller fruits in the spring and early summer.

It's been a year full of learning for us, and I'm grateful for the team at JBG for sticking with it and keeping the farm running with all of the changes. Moving forward, I feel that we made the right choice and will continue to grow at the Garfield farm without plastic mulch, learning even more as we move into our second year.

The second risky plan was a little more recent. After the floods in May and June, we were left with a farm full of potentially compromised fields. This year was the worst harvest of tomatoes we've ever seen, and pests have been putting heavy pressure on all of our crops left and right. While we worked our hardest to take care of the plants, my worry was that when the end of summer rolled around and the heat of late August and September set in, we might not have a great variety of crops for our customers. This just wasn't an option for us. We take great pride in providing for our year-round CSA program, and providing a healthy variety each week. This has been a mainstay of the farm since the beginnings in the backyard garden and I didn't want to let CSA customers down! So, when I saw a potential problem, we decided to take a risk and put in some fall crops much earlier than in most years. I wasn't sure how these early plantings would go - the summer heat is not always kind to leafy green crops - but I'm surprised and relieved to say that it was a great success. I don't like to gamble in Vegas, but I really do enjoy the gamble of farming!

Hopefully, you've been enjoying your summer veggies alongside greens like bok choy, kale, and chard for the last few weeks-  a result of this somewhat risky chance we took this summer. It's always a little scary taking a gamble like this, and while it doesn't always work, it tends to produce great results when it does! Farming is a profession that requires a lot of hope, and I think Will Rogers said it best - "A farmer has to be an optimist, or he wouldn't still be a farmer."

Interested in joining our CSA? We have two weeks left of a great promotion - first box free for all new customers! Just enter the code VEGNOW at checkout, and start getting deliveries of those tasty summer peppers, cukes, and squash in alongside your early fall greens this year.

For more of the farmer’s perspective, follow Brenton on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @farmerbrenton.