Friday, August 27, 2010

Dayton "Dirt" - August 15, 2010

The middle of August is most likely the time when your pulling a lot from your garden as far as the heat-loving vegetable group; that is tomatoes, peppers, sweet corn, beans, cucumbers and squash.

One of the questions we have had periodically is if the our produce is organic. My answer is no as we deal with a variety of farms including Amish growers and all of them are not strictly organic.

At least one of our produce suppliers does have a GAP rating (Good Agricultural Practices) that is certified by the State Department of Agriculture.

These good practices include:

- control of soil erosion
- Minimal pesticide use
- Control of runoff water
- Low water usage from drip irrigation

These points are just some of the major ones that a farmer must satisfy through rigorous inspection in order to be granted the GAP certification.

We will have some produce in the future that will be certified organic but I must say that I don't think we will be totally organic.

With our fall festival coming up on September 18th, I'm excited in that we'll be able to showcase the new Owl Barn and all the bounty of surrounding farms.

While Wolf Creek Gardens is still coming around, we will make even bigger strides in late September and October in tweaking the plantings as we have a small lull in the amount of projects that have to be done at the nursery.

One of the fall projects in Wolf Creek Gardens will be an addition to the blueberry patch that I think will be open for limited picking next summer.

Tom

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