Certified Organic - Jane Growright, Part I

My first post on organic certification outlined the process for Joe Organic, from contacting a certifying agency to receiving a certificate. The last two posts gave a taste of the pen-and-paper application. This post has to do with an in-the-flesh step: Jane Growright inspects the farm.

Fortunately for me, Cornercopia was scheduled for an inspection last Thursday and Courtney Tchida, head farmer, let me tag along. While waiting at the new field for Brenda Rogers, Courtney explained that she chose the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association because they are conveniently located on the St. Paul Campus, convenient because inspectees pay for the inspector’s mileage. Also while we were waiting, I rustled around in the bushes picking ground cherries, a variety of tomato I’d never tasted before.

Once Ms. Rogers arrived, Courtney handed her a map of the new field with a list of all the crops growing there. We wove through the hot peppers in paper mulch, crossed the section previously dedicated to melons (got too weedy, was mowed down), and checked on the interplanted potatoes and beans. We paused at Casey’s research plot of tomatoes, and she explained how she’s been grafting Celebrity tomatoes onto various root stems to develop cold hardiness. The hardier the root system, the sooner you can plant and mulch the tomato.

We moved on to an onion patch, covered with landscaping fabric for weed control. Courtney is very excited about this project because a) it really keeps weeds down and b) they can roll up the fabric in the fall and use it next season. Synthetic mulch is listed as an option under Section 8 of the questionnaire, with the follow-up question, “If you use plastic or other synthetic mulches removed at the end of the season?” Courtney’s in the clear.

Having checked off every crop from Ms. Rogers’ list, we left the new field for the hoop houses (aka, high tunnels). The smaller of the two is new this spring and I have no idea what’s growing in there because in the high tunnel were the biggest, most profuse raspberries I have ever seen. I paid attention just long enough to hear that I was eating Caroline and Britten raspberries, which are ever-bearing, meaning they produce in the summer and the fall.

Before I could get a stomach-ache from the berries, we headed for the old field. There lies the Keyhole Garden, home to perennial herbs and flowers, and hops growing on a trellis (that was the students’ idea) and the corner garden. The latter field is where I first encountered purple asparagus and black raspberries. Even more fruit grows here: four plum trees, elderberries, black berries, choke cherries, and an apple tree.

Too soon, we left the corner garden for the more mundane parts of Cornercopia’s operation. The farmhouse stores equipment and last year’s hops harvest. The Plant Biology Building provides a place to wash veggies; spin-dry salad greens (a washing machine works great); and store turnips, seeds, and potting soil. Attached is the greenhouse, forlornly empty by late August.

This part of the process was surprisingly low key. Ms. Rogers literally walked around and looked at the plants. Occasionally she asked a question – whether grafting involved chemical, what plans Courtney had to control the quack grass in the keyhole garden - but mostly it was about verifying that Cornercopia grows what it says it grows, keeps its processing facility clean, and its storage facilities aloof from conventional crops.

Next up: Jane Growright grills Joe Organic.

Ground cherry by Jaspenelle, and Laura and Michael in a hoop house by Lance Brisbois.