Nojoqui (Nah•ho•wee) Farms is nestled in the grassy, partially wooded rolling hills of southern central California. Nojoqui Creek meanders through the farm. Deer, coyotes, blue herons, hawks and bobcats are seen almost daily. Being just five miles from the ocean gives us an ideal, almost year-round growing season. The Chumash, a local Native American Tribe, called this area "Nojoqui", meaning peaceful valley.
1991
Nojoqui Farms becomes an organic farm. It had previously been a horse ranch with 27 acres of irrigated pastures. The organic matter provided by the roots and leaves of the irrigated pasture grasses helped by the horse manure made the deep, loam soil very fertile. The soil is rich, dark brown and very crumbly. Nojoqui is an organic farmer's dream come true.
1992
Extensive work is done to remove a crisscross of pasture fences, level the fields, line the reservoir and landscape with rows of poplar and cypress trees.
1993
We begin planting and harvesting thirty different vegetables. Every few weeks we plant just a few rows of each to learn what likes to grow here and in what season. Leaf lettuce, spinach, beets, cilantro, chard and parsley grow extremely well almost the entire year. Peppers, cucumbers, green beans and squash love our summer weather.
1994
We acquire an additional 15 acres of farmable land. The new field adjoins the original fields but is on the other side of Nojoqui Creek. At one location, we can easily cross Nojoqui Creek because the bottom of the creek is bedrock, which prevents us from getting stuck in the mud except in the winter when the creek is impassable.
1995
We construct a packing house which is a building where we receive vegetables from the field and get them ready for shipping. We build a walk-in cooler where we keep the vegetables cool. We also purchase an old vegetable washer and convert it into a hydro-cooler. With a forklift we can load 100 or more boxes of freshly picked vegetables into the hydro-cooler. Ice water showers down over the boxes for 20 minutes. Not only does this wash the dirt off the vegetables, it also rapidly lowers their temperature. This process gives the vegetables the ability to last much longer in your home refrigerator.
On the new 15 acres, we wait for the winter rains. When they arrive, we plant our first crop: oats and vetch. In the Spring when we disc the three-foot tall green mass into the soil, we call it green manure. It feeds the living organisms in the soil. Also in 1995, we drill a well to provide water for the 15 acres.
1996
The vegetables grow exceptionally well. Our chard leaves were so big, people were complaining they wouldn’t fit in their refrigerator.
We plant a half acre experimental plot of asparagus. We also start experimenting with sweet onions.
We install an underground pipe from the well to and through the new 15 acre field. It has eleven risers from which we water the rows of plants. We also fence the fields to keep the deer and cows out.
1997
Yields are down over 200 boxes per acre.
1998
Yields are down even more this year.| Year | Boxes per acre | | 1996 | 1138 | | 1997 | 877 | | 1998 | 727 |
|
We conduct organic fertilizer trials with a grant from the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF).
The Winter of 1997-98
The heavy rains of El Nino destroy our creek crossing isolating the new 15 acres. By the time we are able to get into the field, it is full of seven-foot tall weeds. We lease a special mower to chop them down. Obviously, we miss our spring planting and settle for a late Summer planting. In August we start watering from the new well which had been drilled three years earlier. The well, which was supposed to yield 50 gallons per minute (gpm), went dry. (Actually, it was pumping 10 gpm of very muddy water, which destroyed several pumps. It was also leaving a gray deposit on the leaves and soil.)
The Winter of 1998-99
The original 27 acres has a well that provides 450 gpm of which we use only 150. So we engineer and build a pipeline crossing to deliver water to the new field. The pipe is suspended like the Golden Gate Bridge. It spans 120 feet (tower to tower) and is 40 feet above the creek bottom. After five years of disappointments, words cannot express the joy of finally seeing 60 sprinklers spraying out clean, clear water on beautiful vegetables.
1999
We conduct organic fertilizer and green manure trials. We are not funded by OFRF this year, so the trials were limited. We also conduct no-till trials
2000
In January we lease an additional 40-acre field. The last time chemicals were applied to that field was late July 1999. Organic vegetables will be harvested there in autumn of 2002. During the three-year transition to Organic, we are growing crops such as Sudan grass, oats and vetch and allowing animals to graze it. This new acreage has its own well, reservoir and underground pipeline. We look forward to seeing this new field growing organic vegetables.
After four years of experimentation, we debut our sweet onion, Nojoqui Sweets. We package them in a yellow mesh bag with a beautiful informative label.
Every year, since 1995, the amount of boxes we harvest per acre has decreased. I have been very busy doing most of the tractor work and have little time to spend on my other responsibilities. We hire Guillermo to do most of the tractor work. Not only is he an adept tractor operator, but he also comes with valuable experience from having worked on another organic farm. This allows me more time to “walk the fields” and “tune in” to the soil, insects and plants. (See “Walking the Fields” on this website.) Yields are up 190 boxes per acre.
Another valuable helper, Eliberto, has been with me since 1995. He makes sure all the vegetables receive timely water and that all the fields are properly hoed. He also makes sure only the highest quality vegetables are picked and sent to you. He is another set of eyes and ears in the fields that can alert me to any potential problems.
We conduct organic fertilizer and green manure trials. We are funded by OFRF. After three years of trails, we learn when what I have always suspected: when fertile soil is properly cared for with green manure and modest amount of compost, additional fertilization of the plants is not needed. (There may be exceptions to this findings.)
We also conduct a strip-till trial.
Winter 2000-2001
During March, fourteen inches of rain falls in a 48 hour period. Fortunately most of our fields are in covercrops which protect our soil from being washed away. On the small, unprotected areas, where young vegetables are just starting to grow, one inch of soil is lost off the tops of our beds. Our creek crossing washes out again.
2001
Because bell peppers grow well in our climate and on our soils, we plant seven acres of peppers along we all of our many other vegetables. We purchase a bin dumper and a pepper washer with a conveyor from which we sort and pack the peppers. We place the pepper-line on a freshly poured concrete slab and cover the area with a shade structure
We retain the services of an entomologist to help observe the insect life on our farm.
We experiment with several vegetables we have not grown before: celery, cauliflower and fennel. We plant them every two weeks to see when they like to grow in our climate and what special care they need.
We develop our website.
We conduct another strip-till trial.
With four years of knowledge from our 1997 experimental planting of asparagus, we plant five more acres which we will start harvesting in 2003.
Per acre yields increase again. We harvest an additional 32 boxes per acre. | Year | Boxes per acre | | 1996 | 1138 | | 1997 | 877 | | 1998 | 727 | | 1999 | 705 | | 2000 | 899 | | 2001 | 931 |
|
2002
Over the years, we have enjoyed giving tours to many elementary school students. This year Michele starts a non-profit corporation called Singing Garden Foundation. This will enable us to seek funding to expand and develop an educational outreach program.
|
