We’ve finally got some much-needed rain. Two inches in three days makes for happy crops and very grateful farmers. And with the rain it feels as if the weed season has gotten into overdrive. There is a saying in permaculture that there is no such a thing as weeds but crops in the wrong place. The majority of them play very important roles in our system. But among those weeds there is a particular summer one that I admit to dislike: the obnoxious spiny pigweed. This variety of the amaranth family grows incredibly fast and produces flower heads with millions of seeds. They root themselves hard in the ground and are hard to pull. Breaking them with hoes does not help much as they regrow in no time. And pulling them requires the use of heavy gloves because they prick—badly. Our strategy is to get them as soon as we see them coming but they are spread out our property and we are going to have to put up with them for years to come. Even so, I’m grateful for pigweed. I see it as a reminder that every day we have to put up with difficult tasks. And I offer up dealing with it. After all, there are many more worse things that people deal with every day, everywhere. We are blessed.
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Here comes the Pigweed
About the farm
We are a small family farm located in Grottoes, Virginia, serving the city of Harrisonburg and the counties of Rockingham, Augusta, and Greene. We produce high-quality food using sustainable practices and ethical principles of care for the common good. Having witnessed the healing power of good food in dealing with family health issues, we started farming in 2015 in an effort to sharing with others the benefits of fresh, nutritionally-dense food, grown in a clean environment, using integrative agricultural methods. We believe that in order for food to be healthful, the environment in which it grows has to be healthy. To that end, we integrate animal and plant systems in ways that, in their natural interactions, they create an ecological balance leading to abundance and quality.
We grow over 50 different vegetable crops, perennial vegetables and fruits, and raise pastured pork, as well as ducks and chickens, for meat and eggs.
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We grow over 50 different vegetable crops, perennial vegetables and fruits, and raise pastured pork, as well as ducks and chickens, for meat and eggs.