Our Pledge to You
Our goal is to deliver safe and superior food to our community, devoid of harmful pesticides and herbicides. Healthy soil means healthy food, which we believe is the best way to reduce pest pressure. Our garden does not and will never use dangerous pesticides, herbicides, or rodenticides. Rather, we believe in building a healthy, natural ecosystem on the farm to help reduce harmful pests and invite beneficial insects like ladybugs and praying mantids to our crops. We often see frogs, snakes, and plenty of bees roaming our gardens, indicators we are doing it right. Our priority is always prevention. Before we intervene to control pests, we utilize companion planting, aromatics, and native flowers and perennials that attract beneficial insects. When we are confronted with an immediate danger to our crops, such as out of control aphids or flea beetles, we utilize neem oil and 100% food grade diatomaceous earth to handle the issue. The farm also has three shepherd dogs who roam the pasture surrounding our gardens, and work as a natural means to rodent pressure. Our soil is amended with pure aged compost. Whatever we cannot produce ourselves, we source from safe local providers. A majority of the scrap waste from our crops goes back into our compost pile, which in turn will give nutrition to future harvests. Whatever doesn’t make into the pile goes to our goats and chickens, to keep them happy and healthy. We hope to see you at an upcoming farmers market, where we always love to discuss good food and farming. Cottonwood Farms sees it as our duty to grow food that our community can enjoy and feel safe eating.
