Our Pledge to You~Updated 5/28/2021
- Our Farmhands are trained in CDC guidelines for hand washing and sanitizing and and everyone who handles food — in the field, in the packing barn, or in the market.
- Our team is educated on CDC Mask guidelines and understand the privacy of our team and guests is of utmost importance.
- All Farmhands certify that they are temperature and symptom free before each shift.
- Frequently touched surfaces are sanitized regularly during operation.
- We will provide hand sanitizing options before entering the field for our farmhands and PYO guests.
- We will provide new containers for pick-your-own for guests.
- Our CSA Farm Shares will be packed in single-use liner bags, which will be sealed with tamper-evident tape. That way, members can be sure their food has been touched by only the picker and the packer.
Your Pledge to Us
- CDC guidelines protect you, as well as our other patrons and employees, and you agree to take responsibility for understanding and following the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) while visiting the farm.
- If you are sick, have been exposed to COVID-19 in the past 14 days, or have symptoms of COVID-19 (including a fever, cough, or shortness of breath), you will stay at home and will not enter the Farm Market or PYO Fields.
- For PYO Reservations and Advance Tickets, you agree to arrive on time and complete your visit within your ticket window.
- You agree to wash/sanitize your hands and assist your children in doing so prior to and after picking produce and frequently while visiting the play area.
- You agree to not sample any fruit in the field to comply with the guidelines from the Virginia Department of Agriculture.
In the last post, we talked about switching to no-till in order to preserve the soil’s micro-biome, which is crucial for bringing crops to their full nutritional capacity. This post focuses on another reason not to till: weeds.
Regenerative agriculture is a way of farming that fosters the health of our ecosystem in this moment, while also building toward a healthy future. This approach has many components, one of which we instituted last year: no-till planting. That means that instead of preparing the fields for seed by overturning the soil from a depth of six to eight inches below the surface, we’re leaving the soil intact and transplanting seedlings from the greenhouse directly into undisturbed topsoil.
This change is a big deal. It means far less wasted food, both for you and for us. It means you can eliminate unwanted items from your box, and add extras if you like. It means we can add some unusual crops to our growing plan, knowing that people who want them will get them. It means you have an easy way to buy surplus items in bulk, and we have an easy way to sell surplus items. 
