We do not use chemical sprays or synthetic fertilizers. This keeps our soil and water clean and our farm full of pollinators and beneficial insects. Our no till farming method and raised beds reduce our reliance on the extremely polluting fossil fuels, while hosting a thriving ecosystem of insects, microbes, and fungi. We only use clean, organic, and almost exclusively local inputs for fertility. This includes local straw, alpaca manure, wood chips, and leaf compost. We only use organic mulch which greatly reduces our use of plastics. It also feeds the soil and reduces water usage while keeping weeds down.
There are many reasons we have chosen to farm with a no-till method. Tilling is primarily employed for weed control. By tilling the soil, as much as a foot of the soil can be disturbed and overturned. This disrupts the life-cycle of pests and weeds in the soil, but also damages the healthy microbial life within the soil, exposes the soil to erosion, and eliminates topsoil, the layer most rich in nutrients from previous crop residue and amendments.
No-till farming is soil conservation farming. It is also a practice in water conservation. By not disrupting the topsoil, we are leaving much of the crop residue from last year which nearly eliminates soil erosion. The soil's water retention is also increased, meaning less water evaporates and the amount of water needed to water a given crop is reduced. No-till farming also promotes vast biodiversity in the soil. The microbes and organisms aren't being disturbed, and therefore flourish, creating a more balanced and nutrient rich environment for growing delicious, clean, healthy crops.
