Why We Grow the Way We Do
/Our CSA is not just about providing a box of fresh vegetables. We are trying to provide nutrient dense food grown in a sustainable way to our local community - nourishing them, ourselves and the earth throughout.We have identified several sustainability indicators which we are trying to achieve on our farm:
Providing local food security
Conserving the natural resource base
Being socially responsible
We are trying to achieve these goals through:
Respecting all life on the farm - human, animal, plant and mineral;
Providing nutrient dense food to the local community at a price which reflects its true cost to produce;
Building soil life and soil humus;
Protecting soil life, our clean water supply and our ecosystem by not using industrialised inputs (such as pelletised chicken manure), pesticides nor fungicides;
Using energy efficient farming practices;
Trying to reduce our farm inputs and sourcing those that we do need locally;
Involving the community, through conversation and work share programs, in the story of how their food is grown;
Building relationships with the community based around the produce they are eating and we are growing in order to better provide for each other;
Using soil blocks (which are pressed seedling blocks that use no plastic) for our seedlings;
Using many recycled products on the farm such as recycled wood, recycled plastic seed trays, old farm machinery;
Reusing plastics that we need for several seasons.
Offering a fair wage and/or fair exchange to all those who work on the farm;
We are so happy to have our CSA members alongside us in this.