We're not officially certified organic, but there's not a bad chemical anywhere on the farm.
So here's what we do to grow such delicious vegetables. 

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Rich, healthy soils produce rich, healthy vegetables
So we do everything possible to start with healthy soil:

• Different crops use different nutrients, so we rotate them across plots.

• We also rest the soil, planting "cover crops" which add back important nutrients, and then plough them back into the soil as a sort of "green manure."

• Here's an example: we plant a legume called hairy vetch which pulls nitrogen out of the air and returns it to the ground, where future crops can use it.

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Outsmart pests

Rather than killing pests, we outwit them:

• We fool insects by planting different crops in different places every year 

• We cover crops with spun polyester to keep flying insects out but let sunlight in

• For crops which are pollinated by bees and can't be covered, we spray natural clay which irritates them

• A perimeter fence keeps deer out of our fields. 

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Weed out the weeds

Weeds are just other plants, but they are also competition: for nutrients as well as for sunlight, so we keep them at bay.

• We cultivate with tractors that act like big hoes to cut weeds between rows.

• We use hand hoes and hand weed for more delicate crops

• We use plastic mulch and straw mulch, especially for heat-loving and vining plants

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There's one thing we can't control: the weather.
So in any given year, some crops will thrive and others will fail. It's why we plant so many different ones, but inevitably there will be a year with very few onions, or one with tons of peppers, all lessons in the realities of agriculture.

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