Hole in the Woods Farm Filosophy
In the future, we hope to expand on some of these short little blurbs, to let you see a bit more about how we think about what we're doing. A list of articles about our philosophy follows this paragraph. In the meantime, though please enjoy our lovely corporate-style mission statement, and a brief discussion of our guiding principles. We know it's a bit academicy - but much of the verbiage here is stolen from our business plan.
Hole in the Woods Farm is a diversified, organic, family- and community-oriented small farm, producing and distributing high-quality, organic fruits, vegetables, and animal products in the most ecologically sustainable manner possible.
The pressure on farms to become very large and very specialized has proven ecologically and fiscally irresponsible. Farm products which were once revered as valuable sources of fertility become toxic waste; interactions between cultivated flora and fauna are lost, their roles only to be replaced with synthetic chemicals; and monocultures and confined animal feeding operations become targets for pests and diseases with little capacity to combat them.
A diversified farm brings back the synergistic and ecologically sound farm management practices of our forebears. It also reduces the impact of a crop lost to disease or pests, and reduces exposure to economic events, such as unfavorable changes in commodities markets.
Farming methods emphasizing synthetic chemicals for pest and disease control and fertility are unsustainable, and produce food with inferior flavor and nutrition. Over the long term, organic and natural methods are both safer and more productive when applied to a small-scale diversified farm.
Food brings people together. The production of food should as well. Sustainable agriculture thrives when both production and distribution are directed toward families and the local community.
Hole in the Woods Farm seeks to engage both our own family and the families of our community in the production of our products and the care of our land. Further, by emphasizing local marketing of our products, we will encourage the economic security and improve the food safety of our community.
Good stewardship is critical to the future of our planet and our society. Some of the greatest ecological impacts of human activity center on the production and transportation of food. By practicing good stewardship on our small farm, emphasizing local distribution of our products, and utilizing local sourcing of our inputs, Hole in the Woods will become part of the solution for our collective future.
*note that that is "small 'o' organic." We really should use a different term here, as we are not USDA certified organic, and the term organic now officially has a political, not an agronomic meaning. According to current law, our sales are way to small for us to be forbidden to use the term, but we're sure that will change in the near future. We are, however, "Certified Naturally Grown," which we would contend is more authentic and riggorous when it comes time to "walk the walk."