Learn how to grow more by improving the soil
Renowned for its rich soil and beautiful weather, Napa Valley is an ideal growing climate for vegetables, fruit, and flowers. Above the Valley in the rolling mountains you'll find our no-till market garden filled with diversity of all kinds. Over 40 different varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers growing alongside our soil ecosystem and wildlife. Here is where you’ll be able to learn hands-on regenerative farming.
Regenerative Principles
Many growers are trialing and experimenting with new and exciting farming methods making regenerative agriculture hard to pin down. There is no one way to do it, which makes it even more appealing. Often times farmers look for the holy grail when it comes to growing methods or standard operating procedures, but with regenerative agriculture, nature is all knowing. With innumerable variables and nuances happening within nature at any given time, it is folly to try and control it or even master its mechanics. But one thing is certain, soil is life. Soil is base layer 0 for our civilization. Everything came from it and will eventually return to it. Throughout the course of modern farming, our soil and its ecology has been damaged, but not beyond repair. Regenerative agriculture is to regenerate that which has been broken or weakened. By setting our sights on the thriving microscopic life under the surface of the soil, we are better able to understand its role in farming and our responsibility in stewarding it. The knowledge we can grasp of the trillions of microorganisms living in the soil is limited, as is our knowledge of the vast universe above us. As above, so below the soil. The best we can do is observe, learn, and grow with nature.
No-Till Methods
Regenerative farming is most often no till. There are important pillars to no till vegetable cultivation which aid in the creation of soil life, improve its vigor, strengthen its health, and reenforce its resiliency. All of which translates directly to plant health. No till farming or gardening means quite literally to farm or garden without tilling the soil - keeping the native soil structure undisturbed and in tact as much as possible. In doing so, soil texture and tilth improves, water retention increases, fertility strengthens, leaching and erosion is limited, and weeding is a thing of the past. The creation and subsequent cultivation of vegetables beds rely on an organic compost mulching system. Laying organic, good quality compost on top of beds to plant directly into creates the conditions necessary for strong roots. Organic mulches for pathways, borders, and beds feed the soil life so they are able to do the heavy lifting for us. Too good to be true? Often times the simplest solutions are the ones nature intends on providing for us.