 |
Website created
and maintained
by Debbie Roos,
Ag Extension Agent.
©2010
North Carolina
Cooperative Extension
Farm Photos:
Piedmont Farm Tour
Photos by Debbie
Roos, Agricultural Extension Agent.
Page 3 |
Maple Spring Gardens
In business since 1984, Maple Spring Gardens produces over 100 varieties of vegetables, herbs, berries, and cut flowers on what was once a tobacco farm. You can find Maple Spring Gardens at the Carrboro Farmers' Market and the Durham Farmers' Market. They also offer produce through their community supported agriculture program. Visit the Maple Spring Gardens website to learn more about the farm. |
One of the high tunnels at the farm. The tunnels are passively heated and provide season extension for both cool-season and warm-season crops. |
Tomatoes and cucurbits get a head start inside the tunnel. |
Farmer Ken Dawson tells how he converted an old tobacco farm to a diversified organic farm by slowly building healthy soils that support a variety of crops. |
Newly incorporated winter cover crops decompose and provide organic matter and nutrients while improving soil health. Ken uses cover crops to build populations of beneficial arthropods and microorganisms below ground, which helps protect crops from pests and diseases. |
Spring crops include kale, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cut flowers, arugula, strawberries, and much more. Black plastic mulch warms the soil and provides a little earliness, keeps crops clean, conserves moisture, and helps with weed and disease management. |
Another view of spring crops. |
Ken encourages visitors to sample the lettuce crop. |
Wild Hare Farm
Wild Hare Farm produces cut flowers, vegetables, and strawberries for the Carrboro Farmers' Market as well as local restaurants and florists. Visit the Wild Hare Farm website to learn more about the farm. |
Much of the production at the farm is inside these high tunnels, also called hoophouses. Farmer Leah Cook demonstrates how the sides of the high tunnel can be rolled up for ventilation. |
Leah checks on her Delphiniums and other cut flowers inside the tunnel. |
Don't these tomatoes look healthy? |
Customers flock to Leah's stall at the farmers' market to snatch up her yummy strawberries! |
Okay, I snuck this photo in, even though it was taken about a month before the farm tour. But I wanted everyone to see Leah with her tulips - aren't they lovely? |
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This page last updated January 9, 2011.
North
Carolina Cooperative Extension, Chatham County Center
P.O. Box 279, Pittsboro, NC 27312
919-542-8202
Website created and maintained by Debbie Roos, Agricultural Extension Agent.
URL: www.growingsmallfarms.org
North
Carolina Cooperative Extension is an educational partnership helping people
put research-based
knowledge to work for economic prosperity, environmental stewardship and
an improved quality of life.