Big Little Farm - Helping growers grow
Farm or Garden, or What?
Yes, we are a small farm, but how big is an ant farm?
The Big Little Farm is hard to describe. Briefly, we are a multi-faceted gardening/farming enterprise:
- We have grown microgreens and salad greens on a small scale in the past. After a brief respite this summer, we will start this fall a new salad mix/greens plot to distribute into a CSA;
- We produce organic soil amendments, and provide the services to apply them;
- We teach and inform people on how this process works, and how it benefits them, their property, and the environment in the long term;
- We help growers grow, whether it be a garden, lawn, flowerbed, farm or ranch.
The farm exists in four places:
- a suburban backyard in the Mid-Cities area of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex;
- at my living abode;
- on leased property on a former shrimp farm in Wise County, TX; and,
- in my head
We are a proud American business, as we produce tangible, physical items you can hold, smell, taste - who produces things any more? - and organic practices and products ONLY are used throughout this enterprise.
Although we are not currently raising any microgreens or produce, we do want to help others who ARE growing things, and we do that by producing biochar, worm castings on a limited basis and fresh on-demand aerated compost tea.
Especially with this current corona virus fiasco, and the ongoing implosion of our food system's various supply chains, it is becoming quite evident (and we believe) that small-scale local organic/natural gardening and farming can and does work to take pressure off those supply chains. People are beginning to learn that by growing your own clean food, you and your family can have better health, cut food costs, provide a fun and educational activity the whole family can be involved with, and improves the quality of your property. These are just a few things growing your own food can provide.
Another facet of our operation is the application of our proprietary compost tea blend to hay fields, pastures and residences. We are providing to the soils of these hay fields and pastures minerals and trace elements which they have haven't seen in decades. In one case on one ranch where spraying has begun, we have had a 3 times increase in yield, with a cost on par with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Homeowners have begun to see thicker, denser yards with less weeds, pest and disease problems as a result of our soil-building spraying program, and landscapes around those homes have become lush, thick and dense.
We hope this site will encourage readers to begin growing and maintaining your lawns, landscapes and food gardens with organic products and practices. If you are in the DFW area, we can help you get started with planning, installation, and maintenance of your garden. Call or e-mail us with your questions or suggestions, and if anything, just to chat.
The Big Little Farm's long-term goal is to purchase land to start a small regenerative farm expanding on what we have learned on a small scale. Follow us as we start that journey.
Organic Soil Building vs. Synthetic Fertilizers . . .What's the Difference?
We here at the Big Little Farm subscribe to organic growing systems and products only. Organic simply means "having carbon". All living things contain carbon, and all living things consume carbon in one way or the other. Essentially, carbon is life. In science fiction terms, EVERYTHING living is a carbon life form.
An organic program focuses on building soil health by partnering with and utilizing microbial life in the soil by providing food, energy, minerals and trace elements to microorganisms consuming and being consumed by other life forms present in the soil, and by increasing carbon within. These microbes (both soil, and in the ingredients we apply) then provide food to the plants efficiently through their life and death. The plants, in turn, provide root exudates to those microbes.
God has produced a wonderfully complex arrangement, in which we get to participate! In an organic program, you feed the soil, and the soil takes care of the plant. An organic program also reduces pest and disease infestation and helps improve the soil's water-holding capacity, among many other things.
Synthetic fertilizers (basically, ammonia in it's various forms, which is basically nitrogen) take a HUGE amount of energy to produce. The Haber-Bosch process is the most common way of producing the world's supply. Natural gas is super compressed with air and heated to a very high temperature, which produces liquid ammonia. It contains no carbon, and also produces salts. Salts "preserve" things by killing microorganisms. When you apply synthetic fertilizers, you are essentially killing soil life, which is the antithesis of an organic program. And, if that nitrogen is not taken up by the plants soon, it either volatizes into the atmosphere, or is washed into ground water sources.
We help you apply life.
Please let us know how we can help you do that.