Growing Practices

Care for the land and its various inhabitants is of utmost concern for us. We strive to constantly enrich the garden and campus ecosystem to create a healthier, more resilient, and biodiverse landscape.

To accomplish this goal, we use the following practices:

• We go beyond organic practices on all of our campus-grown produce and herbs. We never spray any pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides -including those deemed to be organically-approved- on our crops.
• We feed our plants by feeding the soil food web through the application of compost and other natural amendments such as manure, mulch, and rock powders.
• We use no-till and low-till methods to ensure a healthy soil ecosystem. This has the effect of sequestering carbon in the humus-rich soil where it acts as a sponge for water and a source of food for the bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and worms that support the fertility cycle.
• All of our annual plants are rotated on a yearly basis to ensure that no diseases or pests have a chance to build up their populations.
• We save seed from our own plants whenever possible to ensure that each season our crops are better suited to the particulars of our terroir. When necessary, we buy organic and non-GMO seed from regional seed purveyors.
• We use hand tools and human-power to minimize our fossil fuel use.

Food Safety Practices

The safety of our products is of utmost concern for us. We strive to ensure that all of our products and produce are of the highest quality. Some of our food safety practices include:

• All processed products such as jams, syrups, and jellies are made in certified commercial kitchens.
• All products are made under the supervision of a Serv Safe certified facilitator.
• We ensure 100% traceability of all items through careful record-keeping.
• All of our processed items never come in contact with common allergens such as gluten, shellfish, nuts, peanuts, and soy.