10th St. Farm & Market

At 10th Street Farm, we are focused on sustainably building soil, protecting ecology, and producing amazing food. A number of important principles drive how we grow:

 

Organic Practices / While we aren’t currently certified organic, we do follow all organic practices – and more. That means avoiding conventional pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and genetically engineered crops, among other things. We select organic seeds whenever possible, grow with long-term soil health in mind, and do everything in our power to avoid sprays that might compromise the health of our growing ecosystem. The organic system in the United States isn’t perfect, but it’s a great start down the path of growing food in a more sustainable and regenerative way.

 

Human-scaled / While we do have a tractor on the farm, it rarely makes it into our fields. (We mostly use it for moving heavy loads of compost, soil, logs, etc.) Instead, our fields are designed to be worked by people! This means we use hand tools like broadforks, push seeders, and hoes to work our fields and cultivate our crops. And because we use those human-scale tools, we’re able to plant our crops more intensively rather than spacing things out to accommodate large equipment. That means more veggies in less space!

 

No Till / Because we are human scaled, we’re also able to practice what is known as “no-till” farming. Essentially, that means we avoid breaking up the soil whenever possible, allowing the powerful microorganisms in the soil to work undisturbed by tillage. The result is high levels of organic matter in our soil, strong underground networks that make nutrients available in various ways, and overall happier, healthier and more nutrient-dense vegetables!

 

Diversity-minded / While large monocrop farms reap the efficiencies of scale, we believe there is strength and resilience in growing a wide variety of crops. This allows us to offer a huge selection of vegetables in our CSA and market stand, and it also means we’re less impacted by crop failures or disappointments in a given season. While we’re always thinking about keeping the crop mix manageable, we’re also always looking for new veggies and new varieties to be able to offer to our customers!