Produce Application
Elysian Fields Farm
Owner: Elise MargolesFarm Address:
5925 Oakley Rd.
Cedar Grove, NC 27231
Orange County
United States
daytime phone: 919-357-6793
Web site: http://www.elysianfarm.com
Application Date: 2010-02-05
Applicant Details
| Please briefly tell us why you are applying to be part of the Certified Naturally Grown program: | I would like my farm to be held to a standard that my customers can count on. |
| Are you currently third party Certified for your produce operation by any other organization (Organic, Biodynamic, etc)? | no |
| Have you ever been certified in the past? | no |
| Have you ever been denied certification? | no |
| How did you hear about Certified Naturally Grown? | Word of mouth. |
General Farm Information
| Farm Acreage you want listed as Certified Naturally GrownTM: | |
| Total Farm Acreage you actually GROW on: | 5 |
| Number of above acreage that you own: | 5 |
| Number of above acreage that you lease: | 0 |
| Do you have other acreage in "Conventional" Agricultural Systems? | no |
| General Listed Acreage Breakdown | |
| Veg Crops: | 3.5 |
| Fruit Crops: | 1.5 |
| Hay: | |
| Grains/Beans: | |
| Sugarbush: | |
| Other Acreage: | |
| Please check all items you grow and will market as Certified Naturally GrownTM |
Vegetables Herbs Berries Tree Fruits Grapes Grains Beans Hay Flowers Greenhouse Plants Other (please specify below) |
| Please Specify Any Other Items: | |
| Please check all markets you grow for (this will be displayed on your farm profile to help potential buyers find you). |
Farmer's Market Farm Stand Local Restaurants CSA's Coops Health Food Stores Groceries Regional Wholesalers www.LocalHarvest.org Commodities Other (please specify below) |
| Please Specify Other Markets: | |
Farmland Management and Practices
| Primary Tillage System: | I use a disc harrow to work in the cover crop, I throw up beds with a middle buster, then till the beds with a rototiller to prepare for planting. |
| Do you use Cover Crops? | yes |
| If yes, please list: | In the summer months I usually use crops such as sudan grass, millet, cowpeas or soybeans. In the winter months you can find wheat, rye, vetch or clover in the fields. |
| Do you use Compost? | yes |
| If yes, please note general sources (on farm, purchased complete, local grass clippings, local dairy, etc.): | I purchase compost from a local producer, Dean Brooks composting, who works with the county to provide a non-manure based compost. |
| Please list application rates. Give a specific amount or range (for example: one to two tons per acre, ten wheelbarrow loads per 1,000 square feet, or 1-2 inches deep). Do not answer "varies". | we shovel some down the bed as we go, a quarter inch deep maybe. |
| Do you use Manure? | yes |
| If yes, please note general sources (local dairy, horse farm, etc.): | I purchase manure from local chicken houses. If I apply it to the fields I apply before a winter or summer cover crop and don't grow food products in it until the following year. I also raise pigs and sometimes rotate them in the growing fields so their manure is put in place, then follow the same route: Plant cover crop and plant vegetable crop the following year. |
| Please list application rates. Give a specific amount or range (for example: one to two tons per acre, ten wheelbarrow loads per 1,000 square feet, or 1-2 inches deep). Do not answer "varies". | 3-5 tons per acre once every five years. |
| What time of year do you apply the manure? | Usually the fall. |
| Do you apply any non-composted Manure within 120 days of veg-crop harvesting? | no |
| Please list any other brought in fertility sources that you use (specific rock powders, lime, soybean / alfalfa meal, specific purchased pre-mixes, etc)and how often it's used. If you indicate a name brand product, please also specify the ingredient/s. | I purchase Feather Meal from Nature Safe, as well as from a local chix processing facility and use as my primary source of nitrogen fertilizer. I also use Potassium Sulfate from a local fertilizer distributor. I use this as my primary potassium nutrient source. |
| Have any chemical fertilizers been applied to the fields you are seeking Certification for in the last three years (36 months)? | no |
| Have any non-acceptable pesticides and/or herbicides been applied to these fields in the last 3 years? | no |
| Do you use Professional Soil Testing services? | yes |
| Describe your primary weed problems and methods of control. If you indicate a name brand product, please also specify the ingredient(s), what kind of product it is (a soap, microbial, oil, a botanical...), and how often it's used. | Primary weed control, hand labor with the use of hoes. Also some mechanical weeding with tractor implements. No products are used for weed control. |
| Describe your primary insect problems and methods of control. If you indicate a name brand product, please also specify the ingredient/s, what kind of product it is (a soap, microbial, oil, a botanical...), and how often it's used. | All kinds of insect problems. Colorado Potato Beetle: Control is Entrust (A form of spinosad...microbial? I think it is a fermented micro-organism)I usually only have to spray this once, maybe twice a season on the potatoes. I also use Entrust on my tomato plants, alternating with Dipel (microbial- BT) for the prevention of tobacco hornworm as well as tomato fruitworm. |
| Describe your primary disease problems and methods of control. If you indicate a name brand product, please also specify the ingredient/s, what kind of product it is (a soap, microbial, oil, a botanical...), and how often it's used. | Copper Kocide: Used to help prevent blight on my tomatoes, and this past year downy mildew on my cucurbits. I purchased Actinovate this year to try to help prevent against downy mildew but also phytopthera in the soil. |
| Please list the water source you use for crop irrigation. If source is public river, pond or lake, please note the name: | A pond on my own property, no name. |
| Are there any known contaminants in the irrigation water? | no |
| Are you a maple producer who seeks to certify your sugarbush? | no |
Seeds, Transplants and Buffers
| Do you purchase or grow using any Genetically Modified seeds? | no |
| Do you use any chemically treated seeds in your operation? | yes |
| If yes, please list types: | Honestly I am not sure, I order from seed companies such as Rupp that sometimes sends treated seeds. |
| Please note reason for purchasing treated seed: | I usually order seeds according to price, go for the lowest cost, if that is the ones that are treated, then I usually order them. I can change this, in order to be certified though, and in the future will use non-treated seeds. |
| I understand that the use of chemically treated seeds is not allowed under organic and Certified Naturally Grown guidelines. I will not label, or in any way lead consumers to believe produce grown from treated seeds are Certified Naturally Grown. | |
| Do you grow your own transplants? | yes |
| Are they grown using Naturally Grown/Organic methods? | yes |
| If they're not grown according to CNG methods, please list them here. This produce may not be sold as Certified Naturally Grown. (If they are, put "N/A") | They are grown in accordance with CNG methods. |
| Do you purchase any transplants from outside sources? | yes |
| From which sources do you buy transplants? | I purchase only my strawberry transplants in, all others I grow myself. I purchase these from Aarons Creek Farm in Buffalo Junction, Virginia. |
| Please list any bought-in transplants not grown according to CNG standards. This produce may not be sold as Certified Naturally Grown (except, in the case of perennials, after twelve months of CNG cultivation). | For now, the strawberry plants I purchase in are not grown organically prior to being purchased or planted on my farm. |
| Chemical/Spray Drift and Buffers: | |
| Is there any likelihood of Chemical/Spray drift contamination of your fields? | no |
| Do you have an adequate buffer to protect yourself from potential contamination? | yes |
| Please describe your buffer. Be as specific as possible. On all sides, how far is it from your crops to the next closest use (road, conventional crop, residential yard)? Be sure to specify what is grown on neighboring land that is in agricultural use. For example: To the north and east, a wooded area of at least 100 yards separates us from the neighbor's corn fields, to the south is a fallow field at least 100 yards deep separating us from the road, and to the west about 60 feet separates our crops from a field where conventional corn and soybeans are grown. | My farm is actually nicely set up so that the growing fields are all surrounded by tall trees and woods. There is a farm that is next to mine where they rotate in tobacco every few years that is grown conventionally. Therer is sufficient trees and distance from that field to my own. |
Agreements
| Please indicate your agreement with the following statements by checking the boxes. | |
| I will not label, or in any way lead consumers to believe that produce not raised in accord with CNG standards is Certified Naturally GrownTM. | |
| I understand that I have to complete at least one (and hopefully more) Certification Inspection(s) of another farm in my area each year, and that the inspection will NOT be of the same farmer that inspected me. | |
| I have reviewed the Certified Naturally Grown certification standards, I understand them, and I will abide by them. I understand that if I have any questions I may contact CNG for clarification. | |
| You may use this space to tell us anything else you think we should know about your farm: | |
