Happenings around the farm.

November 2006. Gingerich Farms is expanding. After a year of preparation 15,840 new members are joining the Gingerich Family. That is, we are planting our first acreage of organic blueberries beginning this year 2006.

We have been preparing the field and the soil for the last year and we are excited about our new addition.

Organic farming is as much about not using any man-made chemicals as it is treating the earth in a manner that preserves its integrity and keeps it viable for future generations.

In a sense we are only borrowing the land from future generations. We have worked hard the last year preparing the soil and the field. The picture below shows our tractor spreading sawdust. The sawdust works like a fertilizer giving the plants needed nitrogen, as well as encouraging the roots to spread out.

Another consideration for sustainable farming is water usage. Therefore we decided to use drip lines on our new planting as opposed to an overhead sprinkler system.

The drip line delivers the water directly to the plant and doesn't waste water. Using drip lines helps control run off as well as the leaching of the nutrients that the plants need to thrive. Therefore we can use the least amount of water possible to get the desired results.

After many months of preparation the big day arrived. We began putting 3 year old plants into the ground.

We watered them in sent them on there way to many years of production.

We are looking forward to continuing on our expansion of our organic and sustainable agriculture programs here at Gingerich Farms. We have always prided ourselves here on being on the “cutting edge” of agriculture practices.

In the end this is what the field looked like

We look forward to tending to our new field, and having many years of organic production. We are proud of our new addition here at Gingerich Farms. We look forward to our future, and being of service to our customers, our community, and our environment.

Well, that is it from Gingerich Farms Products. Until next time.

  ~Verne

If you have comments or want to contact Verne, send him an email directly, he would love to hear from you.