If you are a gardener or farmer you are hopefully thinking about spring and preparing your fields or looking at seed catalogs. This is my favorite time of the year.
I find it inspiring to research new ways to farm and grow plants. Don and I recently attended a two day conference, “The 5th. Annual High Plains Organic Farming Conference”. We are motivated to certify our farm as “Organic”. Although we have not used harmful chemicals on our property for 20+ years, we feel strongly to take the next step to become an Organic Certified Farm. Hemp is extremely efficient in pulling both good and bad from soils and storing it in the plant. Having healthy soils for this reason is extremely important. For anyone looking at becoming organically certified here are two books that were highly recommended at this conference:
“THE ORGANIC FARMER’S BUSINESS HANDBOOK: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff – And Making a Profit.’’ BY: Wiswell, RICHARD
“The Farmers Office: Tools,Tips and Templates to Successfully Manage a Growing Farm Business”
By: Shanks, Julia
Both of the books are geared to help farmers to organize their records in order to apply and stay in compliance once organic certified.
We also are exploring the idea of no tillage soil management to create a living soil. This was another major topic
supporting organics at this conference. We are excited to start implementing this practice on our farm. Farmers need to know that many companies are asking for lab reports showing no chemicals, heavy metals or residues in the hemp and raw oils. I feel that having living soil is good for the earth and a must for medicinal hemp products.