No sense in growing food if it isn’t absolutely delicious! We prioritize growing varieties that are actually tasty and that will inspire you along side the nutrition.
Farming with the earth in mind
Definitions get messy, you can call us “organic”, “regenerative” and more, but when it comes down to it we do what is right for the soil and for the planet.
One practice we use is No-Till farming. It means what you can imagine- we don’t ever till the land. Tilling is a method of farming that chops up the soil before planting. That chopping also destroys the fungal network that helps plants receive nutrients from the soil.
By choosing no-till, we hope to be growing the underground fungal networks and therefore optimizing the health of our plants. This helps us use less inputs (like fertilizers) overall and grow nutrient-dense veggies.
No-till is a lot of work to set up (and that’s why it’s not commonly chosen for large-scale agriculture). For us it means laboriously working the land with a broad-fork to open up the soil without tilling it up, digging the pathways, and adding lots of organic matter to loosen the soil over time.
Organic
Organic has a lot of meanings, so we can share what it means to us. When we say organic, we mean that we won’t be using any chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
The fertilizers we do use mostly come from local sources- like manures and compost. Eventually we hope to make all of our own fertilizers (hey, kelp fertilizer should be local here in San Diego!)
By choosing the no-till system, we hope to increase the plant health naturally, decreasing our need for pesticides in the first place. In addition, we use only organic-certified pesticides and as with fertilizers, we hope to be making our own pesticides soon.
Waste Is Evil
Alyssa’s dad used to ask his daughters “What is waste?” and they had to reply “Waste is evil” (likely in a monotone voice as that would make their dad chuckle).
We do our best to waste nothing and source most materials second-hand if not from the dumpster itself.
Time is a resource we can’t bear to waste. That’s why we want to spend our time growing healthy food, chit chatting with the people we love, and caring for planet earth.
Food2Soil Compost
Food2Soil is a local collective diverting food scraps from the landfill and turning it into nutrient rich compost. We use this compost in our soil to promote a diverse soil ecosystem.
To preserve the biodiversity in the soil ecosystem, we have installed a filter to remove chemicals from the water that may sterilize the soil and kill beneficial bacteria and fungi.
ranchitomilkyway.farm 