Brambleberry Farm

About Brambleberry Farm

We began Brambleberry Farm in the fall of 2003 on land that we share with Esprí’s

parents in the beautiful hills of Southern Indiana. Our garden beds lie on old meadow land that has not been touched by plow or tiller for over 30 years. Instead of plowing up the sod using heavy machinery, we decided to create garden beds using no-till methods.

The roots of the meadow plants acted like small plows over the years and have created a soil that is loose enough to grow quality produce. We simply apply composted manure and hay, straw, or leaves to create a thick mulch over the beds. This mulch breaks down slowly over time and acts as a slow-release fertilizer for the plants. It also serves as a tremendous weed-control, keeps moisture in the soil during drought, and wicks away excess

water during heavy rains. This last feature allows us to plant our crops very early in the spring. And most importantly, it allows us to largely forgo the use of petroleum-based machinery such as tractors and tillers, which compact the garden soil over time. We never use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers on our gardens, and follow organic farming methods. We believe that food should be healthy and nutritious not only to the consumers, but also to the larger environment.

We welcome most birds and wildlife into our garden, as they have many roles to play in pest control and garden health. To control the few species that are more harm than help, we first encourage natural predators to keep their numbers down, and only if that is not working do we resort to simple biologically-based pesticides that will not affect the quality of food or environmental health.

Currently we are developing a 3.5 acre pasture by rotating different species of livestock through it to improve the soil with their grazing, manure, and trampling behaviors. Plans are in place to start planting a mixed orchard within this system to increase the yields of the given acreage once the trees mature. We incorporate a small drove of pastured hogs in our rotational grazing routine. These are American Guinea hogs, a rare breed that is smaller, friendlier and more adapted to foraging. We now are also managing a fledgling herd of Finnsheep which we will breed up to be a major species component to the grazing regime. Finnsheep grow fabulous fine wool sought after by hand-spinners, and also have very fine flavored meat. American Buff geese are the third species we graze--these will eventually be breeding and we plan to sell pastured geese for the table at Christmastime.
Nursery stock is a growing component of our farm. We feel like the success of organic cultivation practices is dependant on selecting appropriate plant varieties. We focus on searching out and propagating fruit and berry plants that are pest and disease resistant, in order to help our customers succeed in organic homesteading.