Growing Philosophy
Healthy soil drives sustainability. To achieve the fertile soil for the crops to thrive in, Gibbs Farm produces rich compost of manure, sawdust from the sawmill, and other vegetable matter that is alternately spread in a two-year cycle on the market gardens, orchards, and pastures. Pig tractors, small movable corrals for hogs, are moved between eight market gardens on a four-year cycle. Chickens move through the orchard in similar portable pens and cattle graze the pasture. The nitrogen from their manure makes the role of animals vital.
The hay grown in the pasture and orchard feeds cattle and also provide habitat for many types of beneficial insects that fight off crop-damaging pests. A variety of grains are grown and harvested which are used to feed the chickens and hogs. Unsellable fruits and vegetables are also fed to the animals to supplement their diets, and their manure is added to the compost pile, completing one of the many mutually beneficial relationships between plant and animal.
Water is another key ingredient to a happy farm. To conserve water coming from two wells, a low-pressure direct application drip tape is used to irrigate the garden plots. To ensure the water quality of the farm's stream, a natural buffer of wild vegetation grows along its banks, thereby reducing sedimentation. Trees in the natural buffer shade the stream, creating cool temperatures for fish (including the threatened Bull Trout species), and provide nesting opportunities for local and migratory birds.
Different crops use and give off different soil nutrients and so garden crops are rotated each year to ensure balanced soil. Each section of garden is on a four-year cycle in which corn is grown the first year, followed by a tuber the next year, then a leafy green. The final year is a legume and also on this year a pig tractor is moved through the garden beds.
The forests on the land are selectively thinned and managed for sustainable use as lumber. The wood is cut with the on-site sawmill powered by a Volkswagen engine and used as building material for projects on the farm.
The hay grown in the pasture and orchard feeds cattle and also provide habitat for many types of beneficial insects that fight off crop-damaging pests. A variety of grains are grown and harvested which are used to feed the chickens and hogs. Unsellable fruits and vegetables are also fed to the animals to supplement their diets, and their manure is added to the compost pile, completing one of the many mutually beneficial relationships between plant and animal.
Water is another key ingredient to a happy farm. To conserve water coming from two wells, a low-pressure direct application drip tape is used to irrigate the garden plots. To ensure the water quality of the farm's stream, a natural buffer of wild vegetation grows along its banks, thereby reducing sedimentation. Trees in the natural buffer shade the stream, creating cool temperatures for fish (including the threatened Bull Trout species), and provide nesting opportunities for local and migratory birds.
Different crops use and give off different soil nutrients and so garden crops are rotated each year to ensure balanced soil. Each section of garden is on a four-year cycle in which corn is grown the first year, followed by a tuber the next year, then a leafy green. The final year is a legume and also on this year a pig tractor is moved through the garden beds.
The forests on the land are selectively thinned and managed for sustainable use as lumber. The wood is cut with the on-site sawmill powered by a Volkswagen engine and used as building material for projects on the farm.