At Oxen Hill Farm, we are a small family operation that prides itself on delivering wholesome quality produce in a sustainable farming system. The 28 acre farm that we use in our production has been in our family since the mid 1800s. When we started our operation in 2009, we made a conscious decision to use many organic strategies in our production, and we are continuing that focus for 2012.

While we have not pursued the costly and extensive process of organic certification, we do use the National Organic Program as a guide for the large majority of our production. In addition, we make it a priority to communicate all of our production practices to our customers, so they are well informed about the membership they've purchased and the food they feed their families.

Some of our crop production strategies include:

*Extensive use of compost and fish-based organic fertilizer

*Promotion of soil fertility through crop rotation and cover crop planting

*Variety selection based on taste, quality, and natural disease resistance (did you know that many 'Heirloom' variety tomatoes we grow last year are naturally resistant to the late blight?!)

*Reduction or elimination of pesticides and chemicals whenever possible

*Biological pest control and integrated pest management

*Extensive use of 'plastic mulch' to eliminate the need for difficult hand weeding, herbicide application, or the use of costly mechanical cultivation

*Use of 'flame weeding' and stale seedbed preparation for many crops (greens, carrots, radishes)

At Oxen Hill Farm, you can be sure that the food we produce is of the highest quality and care. It has to be - because we're share members as well! The tasty wholesome vegetables that our members pickup are the same food that we share with our own family. So dig in!