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Fruits and Vegetables About Us Bootstrap farm is a brand new 8-Acre vegetable farm started by Don Drury and Chelsea Coleman in July 2008. The name is no joke, we're "bootstrapping it." What we don't have in knowledge and experience we make up for in nerve, commitment, and elbow grease. Browse through our Products for Sale Practices (our standards for raising or making our products) Here at Bootstrap Farm we believe that you deserve the highest quality fruits and vegetables we can grow in the Oklahoma sun at a reasonable price. We grow our produce the old fashioned way, with no herbicides, fertilizers or other synthetic chemicals. It is picked at the peak of flavor and delivered to you within days, bringing that garden fresh taste to your table! Our soil is difficult to work with but we do everything within our power to build it up and conserve it. This means not disking or chisel plowing when the soil is too wet (compaction is bad) or when the soil is dry and the wind is up (it would blow away). We don't plow any ground that is too steep or carries water in heavy rains. Let me describe our fertility management program. We test each of our three 2.5 acre plots before planting our horticultural crops. So far, our micronutrient levels have tested unusually high so we have only amended macronutrients. Our main source of nitrogen and phosphorus has been chicken litter. Chicken litter is an ideal source for nutrients because it has lots of organic matter and releases its nutrients slowly. Chicken litter has gotten lots of bad press because most of it is contaminated with arsenic. Ours is not. We only use litter from companies that do not add arsenic to their chicken feed. Our fields are all surrounded by ample pasture and woodland buffers and are far from open water. We carefully calculate our application rates and never apply more nutrients than the soil can absorb. Even if there was any nutrient runoff it would benefit the adjacent pasture rather than polluting waterways. We used furrow irrigation last year and found that it was not sufficient to germinates small-seeded crops like lettuce and carrots so we have fully converted to drip irrigation. It uses water much more efficiently, and puts it exactly where the plants need it without spreading disease like sprinklers. We reuse our drip tape from year to year to reduce waste. Let me describe our disease and pest management system. It has two themes: prevention and vigor. Our prevention strategy centers on rotation. Rotating unlike crops on the same soil prevents the buildup of pathogens and limits pest populations to a manageable level. We prevent fungal diseases by managing when we work in the fields. For example, harvesting and weeding while there is dew on the ground can spread fungal spores from plant to plant. We avoid that when we can. Finally, keen observation can prevent many problems. The sooner you identify a problem, the more effective your management strategy will be. Prevention is the first step to pest and disease management, but without plant vigor it wouldn't be enough. Our plants are vigorous because we maintain high macro and micro nutrient levels and soil organic matter. Healthy plants can fight their own diseases and outgrow pest damage, so we don't have to spray dangerous chemicals. Not only are agricultural chemicals dangerous to your health but they destroy the soil organisms that build and maintain our soil. We don't use any agricultural chemicals or synthetic fertilizers on our farm. Additional Information We have product liability insurance if this is important to you, and would be happy to provide proof if you need it. Highlights this Month Fall came early this year - get your pie pumpkins before they are all gone! |
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