This past Sunday the Brazos Locavores visited the csa farm of Mike and Amy Richardson, established in December of 2008 and located near Kurten, Texas (about 20 minutes northeast of Bryan via Hwy 21).
Welcome to Richardson Farms
The Richardson’s lease eight acres of land and are currently producing tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, squash, peas, cantaloupe, okra, israel melon and watermelon on its sandy top loam. Mike, a fire fighter with the Bryan Fire Department, grew up farming with his family in Rockdale (also Richardson Farms, see its recent write up in Edible Austin). Amy is a flight nurse and recalls gardening with her grandparents nearby. While Mike has experience growing vegetable crops conventionally, the aim of this csa is to produce crops with as many sustainable practices as possible. The soil is amended with composted manures and tilled in cover crops. Weeding is done mechanically, requiring no chemical control. Insects are controlled by naturally-occurring predators. Water is delivered by surface drip irrigation.
View of newly planted melon row with drip irrigation
While these methods of crop production are “more prevention than reaction,” they are providing Mike and Amy with many learning opportunities along the way. They intend to pass this learning onto their customers, educating them on the benefits and sometimes unpredictable processes of farming and sustainable food production.
Amy Richardson tends the tomato field
The Richardsons can currently provide produce for 15 csa share holders. One share costs $100 and is good for one year. It works much like a debit card, where each disbursement of vegetables is tallied and deducted from the remaining balance. Unlike most csa’s where the farmer determines the vegetables given each week, the Richardson csa model seeks input from its customers, delivering only what the customer wants, how much they want, and when they want it. Any remaining vegetable surplus is sold at the Brazos Valley Farmers’ Markets.
Mike Richardson extols the virtues of sustainable farming
The Richardsons’ enthusiasm for growing healthy products for their Brazos Valley consumers is inspiring. Here’s to healthy soils and a bountiful harvest…
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks good, drip irrigation is the only way to go! Where do you get your supplies from? I personally like Dripworks.com when it comes to ordering drip irrigation parts. They customer service is great and it seems like the UPS driver shows up to my door with my stuff before I am even ready to get started.
Hi Jason, thanks for your comment. I’m not sure where the Richardsons source their drip irrigation supplies, but I believe Mike mentioned ATS Irrigation in Brenham.
It is a useful information about drip irrigation. I am a farmer and we have very large fields, before drip
irrigation system was found it was a nightmare to irrigate all those fields because where i live is a place
that does not rain so much. Now we use drip irrigation, saving so many water and it is a lot easier to irrigate
the field with that. I am trying to read everything about drip irrigation and i recommend every farmer to use that
technique, so i am grateful for everyone who gives information about it. I also found a very good guide about drip
irrigation and it may be useful too for those who want to learn more information about that;
http://agricultureguide.org/
I do use ATS irrigation in Brenham, TX. They have been nothing but the BEST! Most times I go visit the store, but they will ship if you know what you are looking for. Very helpful when it comes to options and getting the best supplies for the money. Although we are focusing our farm on meat production now, we still raise sweet corn and cantaloupes for the Austin market locations. We use drip on these crops and it is very successful.