I would like to continue my market garden next year and expand into eggs by next summer. I just read that compost doesn't need to be certified but that you need to get it from a place that uses NOP guidelines. You have to get certified seed for a sprout crop (I am assuming this is lettuces and greens) but not for other crops (I am assuming any fruiting crops- tomatoes, squash, eggplant, etc). Getting chickens will be a whole new ball of wax- someone told me that they NEED to have medicated feed but I don't know if this is prohibited under the organic guidelines (an old timer near me laughed about the medicated feed- "I never used any of that stuff back when"....

Anyone know of a place that I can go to for advice in plain english that I don't have to pay for? Right now we are under the $5000 threshold but we don't want to make any mistakes now that could hurt us when we enlarge our operation.

Your certifying agency should be able and willing to answer your questions about the rules even if you aren't certifed (yet). There may also be an extension agent in your state dedicated to organic production. Also check out the New Farm website.

Remember that in order to have a field certified, you have to keep records for three years to show that no prohibited substances have been used on it, so you need to understand the rules thoroughly ahead of time, as well as what records your agency requires, etc.

Your certifier should have a list of local "approved" composters, or you could use one of the (expensive) national brands listed on the OMRI website.

A "sprout crop" is something like bean sprouts where you sell the seed along with the plant. Lettuces can be grown from uncertified seed, but since the goal of the program is to eventually have all aspects of it organic, your certifier will have a target for what percentage of your seed is certified.

Chickens don't NEED medicated feed. It makes it easier to start them without losses, but if you are interested in growing organically, the "easy way" isn't what you're interested in anyhow. Since they'll be in a healthy environment with access to the outdoors they will be less susceptible to disease anyway over the long run. Are you thinking of chickens for eggs or meat? (The meat processing regulations are another whole ball of wax!)

As you can probably tell, I'm a certified grower. I'll be glad to tell help you as much as I can, but you need to recognize that regulations vary from state to state and you'll have to do a quick reality check with someone at your certifier to confirm anything I say.

You will be surprised at how quickly you can grow. It will be to your benefit to get all your ducks in a row and be ready for the certification inspection when you cross the threshold.

Katey

We currently have most of our acreage leased out to a cow/calf operation that has a little over a year left on his contract. One of his requirements was to control the canada thistle problem in the pastures. He is getting tired of bush hogging (he only did it 3 times this year, grumble, grumble) and wants to spray an herbicide next year to knock them back. I am worried what that might do to our chances of getting certified after his lease is up. He also applied some sort of fertilizer to the pastures last spring and I have to get on him to find out what it was. I am hoping we aren't too far off from regulations but I have a lot of research to do. I figure if he has been using really screwy stuff that I can stop him now and then I will only have 2 years to wait for livestock certification. We want to have certified beef, too. I will probably find someone else to lease to for that operation since it would be a bit much to do with 1 preschooler and 1 toddler underfoot.

I do have areas that he doesn't touch and that is where I have my tiny little market garden and plan to have some chickens. I love the idea of goats for some of our rougher areas but if one got out and into my garden I would have to develop a quick love for goats meat :o)

We were thinking mainly of layers for now, although we would probably get a straight run of dual purpose chicks and cull the cockerels for meat. I live near a national park and there are a few B&Bs near us that have shown a big interest in eggs. One of the owners begged me to start raising chickens- she thinks it will be so neat to tell her patrons that the eggs are from a civil war farm. While I was talking to her I also sold her on charentais melons for next summer along with any other fruit I can provide and salad mixes. I am hoping that all of this interest will pan out and I will have an easy outlet for my products!!

check out the New farm site. TONS of information for the budding organic grower.

I was certified for 8 years but dropped it when the USDA took over. I find i do not need the certification to imporve my markets so it is not worth the time and cost to do it. Farming itself takes up enough time.

It is good to go through the certification, though. You will learn a lot about organics in the process that no book will ever teach you.

Right now I am in the process of moving to a certified organic farm so I guess will be doing the paperwork again for the certification. this one is a 160 acre farm with cattle grain and a nascent market garden. Will be working on getting the market garden together and improving the overall marketing, which right now is bad.

We get our seeds primarily from Fedco (LOTS of organic choices), Johnny's, and Territorial, with some other fun stuff from Nichols and Pinetree. All of these catalogs will open your eyes if you've been looking primarily at Burpee and the other big guys.

With regard to whether certification is worth the hassle and money: it depends on your market. If you are selling very locally, to people you know, who trust your word or can see how you're growing, you probably don't need certification. When you get bigger and are selling to markets or restaurants or caterers who don't know you as well, they may require certification. If you are going to go through the time and trouble and expense to grow organically, you might as well go whole hog and get the price bump to pay for it.

Philosophically, I think that organic practice is very important, but organic certification is only worth it if it improves your marketing prospects. Others will disagree with me, saying that we need to support the system in order to increase credibility. Remember, though, that since the National Organic Program has started, it is ILLEGAL to call your stuff organic unless you are strictly following the rules, even if you are under the $5000 threshold.

Some states have a rebate program going that pays for 75% of the cost of organic certification, but I don't know if Maryland is one of them.

Don't let your brush-hogger change to herbicide if you can avoid it. You'll have to answer questions about your market garden about what you did to avoid drift: which way the wind was blowing when he sprayed, etc. Find somebody else who is willing to do the work if he won't cooperate. Talk to other small organic growers in your area and find out who they use, or if one of them can do it for you. You're not allowed to use equipment that may be contaminated from work on conventional plots on organic land, either.

How did you start your seeds? You will need to find an organically approved seed starting mix, or make your own. Winter is a great time to research all of this stuff. Get started now and you won't be in a panic in the spring.

I think the best advice I can give you is to get plugged into the network of other small, organic farmers in your area and learn from them. The whole idea of certification seemed totally overwhelming to us until we did it; now it's just the way we do business and it's easy. I'd advise against having any sort of split organic/conventional operation as the record-keeping for that is a real nightmare!

Where are you in Maryland? I grew up in Annapolis and we have friends here who just moved from Upper Marlboro doing pastured organic poultry.

Katey

Katey, we are in Washington County, in Western Maryland south of Hagerstown. I grew up in Montgomery county near the beltway. I like our location right now. We are close enough to the DC area that we can easily sell in that market but we live in an area that is very protective of it's rural heritage. The county is -hopefully- going to enact some zoning that will help save farming in this area for future generations and not let us become yet another victim of sprawl.

This year I tried selling in my driveway for a couple of weekends and decided I didn't like that at all. Instead I did an ordering program with people who work with my husband. He sent out a message to his work's e-bulletin board about farm fresh produce and anyone interested emailed me and I put them on an email list. Every Wednesday night I would send out an email with what was available that Friday and they would email back what items and quantities they wanted. It was first come first serve and I usually ran out of most things each week. I was suprised at how popular green beans were- everyone wanted them and were on a waiting list for them. I found them to be the most time consuming crop- BY FAR! Then there were items like Swiss Chard that no one ever wanted. After telling some local people about my email list this year they asked to be added on next year. I didn't have many people on my list and they all knew that what I had was organicly grown. I would let them know about how I was using milk for powdery mildew and tobacco tea for stink bugs and I think they thought it was cool and quaint- whatever I can do to keep them interested, I guess.

I am worried about the government regulations over the use of a word. I wish I had another term that I could use that wouldn't cost me so much time and money but I do think that gaining the knowledge that comes from certification is important. I could probably market my produce without certification but I think that it would be more difficult once we have beef and chicken products.

I direct sowed all of my seeds this year. I bought peppers, tomatoes and eggplants as transplants, but I think i will start those myself next year so that I have more control over variety. I hadn't thought about the starter mix yet...so much to consider. The rebate program you mention, would that be run through the extension office or the USDA office? I have tried to contact an extension agent who I have been told is very into sustainable methods and is supposed to be very helpful. So far he hasn't gotten back to me. I tried to go on a pasture walk at an intensively grazed farm so that I could meet some people and learn about the systems and grasses. I knocked on the door of the farmhouse only to find out that the paper had been told the wrong weekend, It had happened the previous Saturday!! That was the last pasture walk of the year, too. Oh well, hopefully I can get in touch with people in other ways.

Thanks for the information, I am sure I will have other questions along the way.

"a non-profit alternative eco-labelling program for small farms that grow using USDA Organic methods but are NOT a part of the USDA Certified Organic program. "

See link below...

Kevin

Mark