visit to oakley laurel farm csa

During the summer I signed up for a fall/winter Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription run by Robb Prichard. The CSA is small with four members this season. Robb is just getting started with the project and wants to keep things manageable.

I have been getting the boxes for the past five or six weeks. During this time I have received a lot of heads of lettuce, bok choy, green and red cabbage, sweet and bell peppers, carrots, shelled pecans, okra, beets, turnips, green and red kale, lacinato (dino) kale, leeks, dill, parsley and basil. I’m sure I have left something out, but everything has been great. It is great to be able to have a fresh salad every night of the week. The bok choy coleslaw that I made was from cabbage from Robb’s CSA. Last night a bunch of turnips and carrots went into some chicken soup that I pulled out of the freezer.

Yesterday I had a chance to go and visit the farm. Located in Castle Hayne, the farm is a quick ten minute drive from my house. That isn’t far compared to the other places that I buy produce from. Still, Robb had to come pick me up since I don’t trust riding a bicycle on no-shoulder roads.

Robb has tentatively named the farm Oakley Laurel. The farm’s main focus is on pasture management for raising and keeping horses. There are currently five horses on the farm. The pictures are of Eddie, a four year old horse. He was pretty friendly, constantly trying to eat my camera bag. I haven’t really been around horses that much, and I wasn’t sure if one was going to step on my foot or knock me over. I think horses are just a bit too big for my animal tastes. I much prefer goats and their scale. Goats are still friendly, and I think I could block a goat’s kick much better than a horses.

The pastures take up most of the eight acre farm, with about a quarter acre dedicated to the CSA garden. Robb rotates the grazing pasture every so often and removes most of the manure for composting. She also reseeds with various grasses in order to increase the density of forage and reduce the amount of hay she needs to buy.

The garden area is good sized for a small CSA. Robb wasn’t using every part of the plot and planned to expand the beds as the ground is worked. She is dealing with a shallow clay hardpan that has to be broken up before the roots have a place to go.

Robb uses multiple successive plantings to ensure variety in the CSA box. In one area there were mature lettuce heads and in another the seedlings had just been transplanted.

Plenty of cold weather brassicas – kales, cabbage, broccoli – as well as roots like turnips, carrots and beets.

With the drought that is plaguing North Carolina, Robb has taken to setting up a number of rain barrels to collect water from the barn roof. The barrels feed into drip tape and soaker hose run throughout the beds.

Besides the horses, there were also a couple of cats residing on the farm working to rid the place of moles and mice.

If you are interested in finding out more about Robb’s CSA, contact me and I will get you in touch with her.