Weeding, from Jeanne

When people think about the difference between growing vegetables organically vs. conventionally, what generally pops into their minds is that they are different methods of handling insect pests–conventional growers use chemical pesticides while organic growers don’t. This is certainly true. However, as far as growing methods is concerned, an even bigger difference between the two types of agriculture is in how they deal with weeds. Conventional growers often use chemical weed killers before planting their crops (or even after the crops are planted if the crop is resistant to that weed killer—like the new genetically modified “Round-Up Ready” crops.) Organic growers control weeds through only non-chemical methods.

Of course, organic growing encompasses more than just different ways of killing weeds and pests. It is a whole different approach to farming, in which organic farmers regard the farmland as a living system, trying to foster a healthy biosystem within the soil and surroundings, while conventional methods focus on sterilizing the soil and eliminating all life except the crop. But let’s focus on weeds for the moment.

Because we do not have an easy way to clear weeds from our fields, we need to stay on top of them or they can quickly get out of hand. The many hours of extra labor costs spent on weeding are the main factor that makes organic vegetables more expensive to produce. Here on our farm, we remove weeds by hand weeding, flame weeding, and mechanical weeding. We use different approaches for different crops and at different stages of maturity, and there are too many variations to go into here.

This Allis Chalmers G tractor is one of the best tools we have for weeding. This is a small early-1950s tractor with cultivating knives under the belly that are spaced to fit around the rows of vegetables to clean out the weeds in between the rows without pulling up the crop. The farmer can see the ground and cultivating knives under his feet while he drives through the field. You have to be careful, because if you get just a little bit off, you might pull up a few feet of the crop you are trying to weed! I took these pictures last week of Steve weeding some new plantings of lettuce and fennel. In the background you can see the crew weeding with long-handled hoes. After Steve drives through with the cultivator, they only need to get the weeds that are in between the crop plants within each row.

Steve will give a tour of our Lewis Road farmland this Saturday starting at 1 PM (to about 4 PM). If you’re interested in how we grow our crops this is a good opportunity to come out and see for yourself. This is a simple walking and talking tour around the farm—wear long pants and comfortable shoes that can get dirty. Kids are of course welcome to come and romp while we chat. Scroll down for driving directions.