History and Story of Organic Farm

Mike and Melba Rabinowitz are Co-Owners of The Organic Farm. Although Mike was born in New York City and Melba on a farm in Tennessee, they both had an interest in growing vegetables.

	Melba’s roots goes back to generations of farmers. The picture to the left shows Melba's mother, Delois, working in the fields as a young women. Melba has fond memories of sitting on the back of a mule behind her older brothers as they rode past the family gardens breaming with strawberries, green beans and asparagus to take lunch to her Dad working in the back fields. Although he always wanted to be a farmer, Mike had no experience with gardening as a child and claims that Melba taught him everything he knows about farming. In 1966, they purchased a house and land in the Seattle area, where they moved for Mike’s work at the University of Washington. Melba still reminds him about the Saturday they decided to recover the over grown garden at the back of the house. She asked him to get a hoe from the tools left in the shed by the previous owners. In a few minutes, he opened the kitchen door, holding a rake in one hand and a hoe in the other, saying, “Which one is it? After a day with the hoe, Melba went out early the next morning and rented a small garden tractor. Before K-Mart closed for the evening, they had bought a similar tractor and spent the next day, putting it together, fully prepared to begin their adventures in home gardening. In 1975, soon after they arrived in St. John’s, Mike and Melba began to look for land. They found land in Portugal Cove, overlooking Conception Bay. Besides the beauty of the location, they knew this area was several degrees warmer in the summer than most locations within 15 minutes of St. John's, where they both worked. Although it was only 1 ¼ acres, it was adequate for building a house and a family garden.

In the summer of 1977, a few months before their house was finished, Melba and Mike bought a heavy duty, walk-behind tractor to turn over the sod for a vegetable garden. They soon discovered that gardening on the Avalon Peninsula of the province is a lifetime challenge. They had to combat topsoil that was acidic, dry, sandy, thin, and lacking in humus; and rocks that were everywhere, reappearing every spring. Sometimes the boulders were so large they could only be removed using a backhoe. From the beginning, because the soil was so impoverished, they recognized that in order to develop and sustain their land it would have to be an Organic Farm.

A number of events influenced how things unfolded on the farm. First, two adjacent properties were purchased, making a total of 21 acres by 2003. Secondly, the gardens were expanded to provide part-time work for our own children and other young people from the community. Third, Mike was invited to give a presentation on organic vegetable growing to a student group at Memorial University of Newfoundland. This encounter eventually led to the formation of two CSA (consumer supported agriculture) groups: The Veggie-coop, associated with the Organic Farm, and Lien Farm Share, associated with the Lien Family Farm. Fourth, a Sous Chef at the Fairmont Hotel, St. John's taught Mike and Louis, his eldest son, about many "new" herbs and vegetables. In so doing, he reinforced Mike's interest in biodiversity and his son's curiosity about the many vegetables, particularly the lettuce varieties and oriental mustards, that should have an honoured place in a really great "salad mix". The salad mix has become one of the most well-known products of the farm, both at Belbin’s Grocery and also among local chefs. Although the chef who taught us the tricks of his trade has moved, his spirit and influence is still visible in the edible flowers, herbs, and sprouts appearing on the Organic Farm.

A wide variety of berries, fruits, herbs, and vegetables are grown on the farm. As Mike says, "we grow something from A to Z, starting with alpine strawberries, artichokes and asparagus and ending with zucchini". Last season, multiple varieties of beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, tomatoes and squash were cultivated. Fava beans, along with garlic and basil, are becoming favourites at their on-site Farm Store. A chef, who is from the province and works for several embassies in New York City, told the CBC Radio host who accompanied him to the farm last summer, how surprised he was to find so many of the things he learned to use in New York City growing in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Everything at the farm is a work in progress. For the past four seasons, the farm has participated in the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Project sponsored by the Canadian government. This involved growing crops such as clover, rye and oats to add nitrogen and humus to the soil. As a consequence, the farm has become manure free. Compost Tea, a folio spray made by aerating fresh compost in sterile water for 24 to 36 hours, was first introduced in 2005 as were Latah tomatoes, a short season variety. Mike notes that after 30 years, "we are finally able to grow outdoor tomatoes on the Organic Farm!" The success with Latah tomatoes was a catalyst in trying to develop a wholesale "plant" business.

What’s New This Season?
An indoor growing system, developed by Louis, to supply live shoots, such as radish, sunflower, pea, orach, etc., to local restaurant for garnishes and organic salads is thriving. Louis and Melba recently offered the farm’s first workshop to teach people how to grow wheat grass. This is a service they hope to expand, especially for cancer survivors, who use wheat grass as a part of their health recovery regime. Also, for the 2007 season, the farm will make a variety of plants available to home gardeners through a local Canadian Tire Gardening Centre. Other new projects include developing a technology for growing melons outdoors, selecting seeds for earliness from two varieties of winter squash, cooperating with the local federal research station in evaluating several different raspberry cultivars under organic growing conditions, and producing wheat grass because of its nutritional qualities.

Promoting the importance of and contributing to making Newfoundland self sufficient in vegetable production, as well as introducing residents to the many varieties of vegetables that can be grown locally, still keeps Mike and Melba passionate about organic farming. Louis is passionate about trying new things and developing a landscape of vegetables, herbs and flowers that are not only wonderful to eat, but beautiful to experience as part of the farm landscape. The emphasis will continue to be on trying and developing new "early" varieties for the short growing season of the Avalon Peninsula, creating wholesale and retail markets for local agriculture, and increasing the customer base at the on-site Farm Store.