The mission of Saint Basil Farm is to spread the light of Tradition, pointing to God, by being a year-round local source for high quality food grown in cooperation with God's natural order without chemicals.
Natural Growing Practices
We believe that growing without synthetic chemicals, the way people have grown throughout the centuries, is the best way to grow. The chemical-drenched status quo that has been normalized throughout the world is a new innovation, and we don't know all the long-term effects. God, though, has provided a way to grow in cooperation with His creation, and we seek to work with the natural processes of the earth to grow delicious, nutritious, safe food without the health risks that can come with conventional farming practices.
We are Certified Naturally Grown, which is a peer certification that we follow a set of practices free of synthetic chemicals and GMOs, and that we are focused on building soil fertility. Unlike the USDA organic certification program with its paid non-farming inspectors, Certified Naturally Grown means a fellow farmer with similar growing practices, who knows what soil-building looks like firsthand, has inspected our farm and found it in compliance with the CNG rules. We believe CNG is a better certification because it is peer-based rather than governmental; but we believe all forms of certification help us be better farmers.
We always seek to exceed the minimal standard required of us as CNG farmers; we seek to improve soil life and to avoid all forms of sprays, even natural, when we can do so without sacrificing our financial sustainability. As CNG farmers, we never use chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, or chemical herbicides; we also never use genetically modified plants, or natural substances extracted from genetically modified organisms -- to preserve our soil and our crops, we rely primarily on compost for fertility, crop rotation for disease prevention, physical barriers for pest prevention, and frost blankets and unheated greenhouses for season extension.
Community
We believe it is important to be part of our community, and are always seeking better ways to build our community. Community Supported Agriculture is our newest initiative, with a group of like-minded customers building relationships around good food, and a group of like-minded farmers making sure our customers gets great food every week. We also seek to build our farmers markets to be better, and donate to them toward building a culture where farmers markets happen every week year-round.