Produce Application
Hole in the Woods Farm
Owner: Chad GardFarm Address:
6738 E 750 N
Culver, IN 46511
Pulaski County
United States
daytime phone: 574-968-7638
Web site: http://www.holeinthewoodsfarm.com
Application Date: 2010-07-28
Applicant Details
| Please briefly tell us why you are applying to be part of the Certified Naturally Grown program: | We want a succinct way to describe what we do to customers, as well as a way to reassure those who are not able to visit our farm that our produce is safe and easy on the environment. |
| 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? | Tiny Farm Blog, I think. Years ago... |
General Farm Information
| Farm Acreage you want listed as Certified Naturally GrownTM: | |
| Total Farm Acreage you actually GROW on: | 2.75 |
| Number of above acreage that you own: | 35 |
| Number of above acreage that you lease: | 0 |
| Do you have other acreage in "Conventional" Agricultural Systems? | no |
| General Listed Acreage Breakdown | |
| Veg Crops: | 2.2 |
| Fruit Crops: | 2 |
| Hay: | |
| Grains/Beans: | |
| Sugarbush: | |
| Other Acreage: | 31.8 |
| 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: | We just moved to our new farm in 2010. We are working towards adding nuts, fruits, more berries, poultry, etc. Only listing what we grow presently for now. We'll also be converting our apiary to CNG standards, but it does not yet qualify. |
| 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: | Rototiller, we till as infrequently and shallowly as possible. |
| Do you use Cover Crops? | yes |
| If yes, please list: | vetch, clovers, oats, wheat, buckwheat, soybeans, rye, cowpeas. We undersow some veggies, and have a 10 year rotation plan in the veggie field that involves two years "off" to grow green manure plants. The grains/staples are on a 5 year rotation that includes a year of green manure. |
| Do you use Compost? | yes |
| If yes, please note general sources (on farm, purchased complete, local grass clippings, local dairy, etc.): | on farm veggie compost. On farm manure composted for 2 years before using. We also get composted rabbit/duck/chicken/alpaca/goat/horse manure from our (organic) farrier. |
| 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". | primarily applied as mulch or sidedressing, 1-3 inches, depending on the crop. |
| Do you use Manure? | yes |
| If yes, please note general sources (local dairy, horse farm, etc.): | On farm alpaca-llama manure, horse-goat-alpaca manure from our farrier |
| 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". | As much as we can... Fresh manure to a depth of 2" Dec-Jan, |
| What time of year do you apply the manure? | Fall/winter, or summer on areas not yet under production |
| 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. | Manure from our farrier's own animals (goats, alpacas, ducks, chickens, horses), small amount of lime, greensand, bloodmeal used to create our soil block making mix for seed starting. Steamed bonemeal prior to planting asparagus. |
| 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. | Main problems thus far are grasses. Control by hoe, hand weeding, tilling, cover crops |
| 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. | Colorado Potato Beetle has been the only signifigant problem thus far. controlled by hand picking and straw mulch, and occasionally Colorado Potato Beetle Beater, a spinosad product, when populations get quite high. Though we haven't had many problems ourselves, we use floating row covers to prevent vine borers in vine crops, which cause much damage in the area. I presume we would have trouble if we didn't cover the crops. We remove the row cover when first female flowers appear. |
| 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. | no signifigant disease problems yet, other than blossom end rot in tomatoes early in the season, which is primarily weather-driven. We grow buckwheat ahead of tomatoes in the rotation as a green manure crop. Buckwheat accumulates calcium, which should reduce the incidence of blossom end rot. It worked well last year (our first on that plan). Hopefully these results will continue. |
| Please list the water source you use for crop irrigation. If source is public river, pond or lake, please note the name: | private well |
| 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? | no |
| 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 according to CNG methods |
| Do you purchase any transplants from outside sources? | no |
| Chemical/Spray Drift and Buffers: | |
| Is there any likelihood of Chemical/Spray drift contamination of your fields? | yes |
| If yes, please state the source (conventional farm field, golf course, etc.)and any details you can provide (type of pesticide, fertilizer, herbicide used, and/or what used for.) | Conventional farms in area, which seem to like using crop dusters a lot. For example, 3/4 mile to the east is 100 acres used for potatoes this year, crop dusted 3 times per week. Northwest 1/4 mile another field crop dusted 2 times late spring/early summer |
| 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. | Conventional field and residential yard to the East-from our veggies there is 325 feet to our property line, which is a tree-lined ditch. To the north there are residential areas and vacant land, about 175 feet from veggies to our property line. To the west, unmanaged woods that pose no threat currently. about 1000 feet to woods, and we own about 100 feet at the least, 700 feet at the maximum, into the woods (varies, due to lot shape). From veggies south to road that is our property line is about 1100 feet, including our home, a pond, and the site we hope to install a prairie. Accross the road is residential land, some in certified wildlife habitat and conservation reserve programs, and the Tippecanoe River. We do plan to expand our production area over the next several years, which will place our production areas closer to our property lines. We have signed up for Indiana Drift Watch, which requires chemical applicators to notify us of what and when they are spraying, as well as limit the weather conditions in which they can do so. We are presently building fence for an alpaca pasture arround the perimeter of our production areas which will put a minimum 65' pasture buffer around all of our production areas. |
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: | |
