2019 September Issue
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One of the central tenets of no-till organic gardening and farming is to never leave soil bare, especially through the winter. Planting a cover crop at the end of the season is one way to do that, but it can be challenging in the fall to get a good crop started before the cold weather sets in, and challenging again in the spring while you wait for it to size up before planting your main crop.
On my farm, I address these challenges by mostly avoiding seeded cover crops, and instead applying lots of what I call “nature’s cover crop”: leaves, and lots of ‘em. I aim to put about 4” of leaves on all my garden beds beginning as soon as I can get them, usually late October through November.
Worms love leaves and the soil environment that they provide, and the worms do most of the work of breaking them down over time, leaving me with a rich, loose, fertile soil the following spring, still covered with a nice layer of mulch. At planting time I usually rake the leaves on the beds into the paths, allowing the soil to warm quickly, and then add it back by the handful or forkful as the season progresses. Unlike hay mulch, you won’t get stray weed seeds in your leaf mulch, except maybe an acorn or two.
This September we are focusing on Soil Health, with statewide events focusing on healthy soils practices and indicators taking place on the first and last days of the month and many days in between.
Julie Rawson and Jack Kittredge will kick off the month on September 1st with a detailed farm tour emphasizing their methods for increasing the productivity and resilience of their farm through stacked enterprises and farming practices centered on enhancing soil health and building soil carbon.
For the middle of the month, we will offer a free series across the state entitled “What’s Going on Down There? Soil Health & Fertility Assessment for Growers.” The focus of these short, on-site workshops is to help gardeners and farmers understand how to utilize different tests to determine the health and fertility of their soil environment, how to inform their input and management decisions, and how to start understanding the ways that management practices, inputs, and soil biology intersect. Participants will go home with a Soil Health Field Test Manual (instructions and data sheets) and a handout of resources for labs where you can send samples of your soil.
NOFA/Mass advocates for policies that bring us closer to our vision of healthy landscapes that feed our communities and restore our environment. Working with our statewide network of ecological farmers and gardeners, we organize for progress at the local, state and federal level. Our policy committee is working on a variety of issues, yet we need more active participation from our organic movement (that’s you)! To get involved, please contact marty@nofamass.org
As the state legislature comes back from summer and the harvest season begins, our advocacy work to promote organic landscapes and healthy communities really picks up. We are grateful to have people across the state educating and organizing their communities to reduce pesticides and we have several state policy efforts that need your help.
Chockalog Farm is a 36-acre farm in Uxbridge, MA offering vegetables and meat grown in a regenerative, integrated farm system that includes a market garden, high tunnel, food forest, pastures and woods.
How did you get interested in no till?
I don’t really remember! It was about 10 years ago, we would have read a book about it and decided to start out that way—but we read so many books that I am not sure what the first one was. Two early influences on our no-till thinking were Fukuoka’s One Straw Revolution and Ruth Stout’s No Work Garden Book, which focused on a permanent mulch system.
As the changing seasons conduct the activity of growers across the United States, the low hum of machines running on biofuel, the calls and cackles of chickens, and the occasional donkey song can be heard emanating from the south facing hillsides of Vermont Compost Company in Montpelier, Vermont. Karl Hammer started operations on this land in the capital city after decades spent in the fields, learning from elders and landcrafters, using their traditional wisdoms to fuel new innovations.
Karl began farming full time in his youth, and his passion for connecting culture back to its roots in the soil has aged into a dedicated team of people running a company focused on making products aimed to support the efforts of professional growers. Everything from material sourcing to daily operations have been refined down to a sort of alchemy where science, lab testing, customer feedback, and intuition are combined to create soil media that is reliable, productive, and ethically produced.
Here at NOFA/Mass, we are excited that our fellow Conservation Innovation Grant Awardee, the American Farmland Trust (AFT) came out last month with some results from its case study analysis of healthy soils practices and farm profitability.
Using partial budget analysis to estimate the net economic benefits on their farms, AFT assesses the investments of four farmers in specific healthy soils practices, including tillage reduction, cover cropping, nutrient management, and applications of mulch and cover crops. They also used tracking and modeling tools from USDA to estimate water quality and environmental benefits.
Being a small nonprofit gives us many strengths. Our small staff allows us to know each other well and build meaningful relationships with our collaborators. Our small central infrastructure (an office at Many Hands Organic Farm) and remote staff gives us flexibility and connections to all parts of the state. Our fearless Executive Director, Julie Rawson, is able to be involved in all facets of our work from on-farm workshops to policy and communications. We are nimble, can respond to farmers' needs quickly and efficiently, and can operate a lean yet effective organization. We would never want to grow into a big clunky organization.
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NOFA Summer Conference
NOFA Summer Conference with keynote Tim LaSalle
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Organic Certification
We can help with your Organic Certification
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Raw Milk Network
Buy fresh, unpasteurized milk from a local farm.
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Soil Carbon Restoration
Read our Soil Carbon Restoration white paper
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Soil Technical Assistance Program
Help with soil balancing