Tea Farm Philosophy

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Traditional agriculture made use of local resources to grow organic food in a harmonious way with the environment. Modern agriculture is overly dependent on fossil fuels, toxic pesticides and global transportation systems. While corporate chemical farming provides cheap food, the hidden costs are slowly accumulating and the system could collapse at any time without warning.

Permaculture is the concept of creating a sustainable “Permanent Agriculture” which mimics the natural efficiency of ecological systems. All the elements of the farm are integrated. Waste from one process becomes a resource for another, and thus a self sufficient loop is created, elminating dependence on the fragile global economy.

As we maintain our vegetable fields, we feed the weeds to our sheep, Eva and Rueben. The sheep in turn produce fertilizer for the fields, and we get wool in the process. Our kitchen scraps are fed to chickens, who produce fertilizer for our crops and eggs for our breakfast. Companion planting is another important technique which allows us to grow organic food without pesticides. Oregano is grown around the veggie patch to repel insects. Mint is also a deterrent for many bugs and so we are planting cabbage and other vegetable right inside our mint fields. The fallen leaves from fruit trees grown along the north side of fields decompose and become nutrients for the soil.

We are still learning as we go, and we encourage staff and interns to develop their own ideas and experiment with new techniques. Our goal is to bring organic and sustainable agriculture to a high level of productivity so that it may replace current destructive and toxic agricultural practices and leave a healthier world for the generations to come.