Our Sustainable and IPM Practices
Ramsbotham's Riverview Farm is a sustainable and an IPM farm. Sustainable and IPM Farming is a movement to “save the earth” or another way to say it “earth friendly activities on a farm”. Reuse, Recycle and use less plastic, chemicals, water and energy are the goals to achieve a Sustainable Farm. As a Sustainable farm, we protect and improve the farm soil.
We have put into practice the following sustainable practices:
Reuse
●
Paper and plastic bags
● Planting flats, pots and
cells
● Cardboard boxes for customer
plant carriers
● Plastic lily boxes and wooden
● Greenhouse plastic trellis netting for several seasons
● Composted farm soil and plant matter
For
recycle
●
news papers, cardboard and scrap metal
Use
less energy
● Winterize
greenhouses
● Start up
largest greenhouse later in the spring (100 foot long)
● Start up
smaller greenhouses (25 ft.) first
● Stack planted lily boxes in smaller
greenhouse until they sprout, then transfer to the
lily growing area in the big greenhouse, saving 7 to 10 days of fuel
● Established new garden nearer to
farm, resulting in less fuel use for trucks and tractors
●
Combine trips to stores for
purchases
●
Keep all gasoline and diesel engines in good working order
● Replaced
two farmers markets, Manchester and Bedford, for closer Seacoast Farmers Markets
●
Use less energy for transporting seedlings by growing all of
our
cut flower transplants from seed on the farm. One order for all seeds needed.
●
Use ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys to clear the grass at the end of
flower gardens, instead of mowing
● Grow more field perennials and
bulbs which do not need to be replaced each year with new seedlings
Use less
chemicals
● We practice integrated pest
management (IPM)
It means we scout for insects regularly.
If there is a problem, only that area is sprayed.
● We do not schedule regular insect spraying on
our farm. We only spray when needed
● We
encourage beneficial insects. Lady Bugs and Bumble Bees are plentiful on
our farm. Praying Mantis and Lace Wings are in our fields
in small quantities.
We plant Dill which attract Beneficial
Insects in the field – less need to use insecticides
Use less plastic
●
Sell bouquets without plastic sleeves when damage to the flowers is
unlikely
●
Sell single stem flowers which do not require plastic sleeves
●
Encourage customers to require less plastic bags to cover flower stems.
Some bring their recycled bags to the market for this use.
Use less water
● Use drip
irrigation to conserve water instead of overhead sprinklers
● Use natural pond for farm
irrigation
Healthy Soil Practices
● Plow in green manure (the winter rye that was planted in the fall)
● Roto-till the soil as little as possible, since this practice brakes down the soil humus
● In the fall, grind up last summer’s crops and incorporate into the soil
● In the fall, plant winter rye to prevent washing away of top soil from fall and winter rains
03/10/2013