Seven Springs Organic Farm

"The History of a Fantastic Project"

    Seven Springs Organic Farm attained USDA certified organic status and the vegetable production levels were very impressive. However there was a lack of a sustainable market in the North Mississippi area which I would largely credit to economic and educational issues.  The average consumer is not willing to pay extra to purchase organic vegatables in this market. Gross sales were miniscule at times and most repeat customers were those concerned with health issues and families of medical professionals. The rewards for operating this farm were certainly more intrinsically than monetarily rewarding. It was a great and very enjoyable project. The owners of the farm are in the ministry and have re-located to serve in another area thus the project is suspended for now. However ownership of the land has been maintained and if the Lord's will is in it then the project could well start again if the owners are called back to minister in North Mississippi.

      "Located in a remote hilly area it remains one of the few places in our state that has been free of pesticides and chemical residues left normally in agricultural areas that dominate other regions.  It is located in South Central Lafayette county on or near the transitional area of the upper thin loess soil area to the Northern coastal plain and topographically consists of Semi-flat ridgetops with a loess mantle and steep to moderate side slopes with narrow bottomland areas or drainages. The name Seven Springs is derived from the numerous springs and brooks that flow through every hollow. In fact the plot you seen above is surrounded by clear, gurgling springs on every side except from the high point from which the picture was taken and you can note the ferns at the bottom of the picture which signal another spring just underground."

     "Instead of focusing solely on the plants we like to focus upon the living organism which is the soil!  The difference is that our soils are teaming with life from earthworms to microbes and they all come into balance to supply all of the nutrients that plants need! Chemicals can kill these organisms along with the soil and make it sterile.  We believe that chemically saturated foods can result in cancers and all sorts of terrible ailments. God created the ecosystem to work in a certain way and man has continually tried to do things the way he sees fit and is finding himself continuously into more trouble."

"As you can see there is no shortage of giant rich green leaves and stalks  The top two photos come from a ridge top garden which used to be an old logging ramp. Bulldozers pushed away most of the loess topsoil and the remaining equipment severely compacted the remaining red clay.  When we first acquired the property the area did well to grow scraggly sage grass and a few saplings here and there. It was then used for a wildlife food plot for about 5 years and finally as a garden area! It was a terrible garden and the corn did good to grow 2 feet high and die.  After two previous years of organic methods the corn was almost 15 feet tall where some of the butterbeans were planted this past year.  The soils' color and texture have already drastically changed and I look forward to seeing what happens in the future. As you can see we are not to adverse to a little grass growing here and there amongst our crops as long as it is under control."

"The bottom picture here is in another Spring bottom plot shown in the first picture at the top. This fall garden was planted in July but managed to make a very impressive fall showing in just a few months! It really shocked us and fall gardens used to be out of the question due to droughty conditions from July-October. The organic methods and soil enhancement have really made a difference!"

"These next few pictures were taken in late October in our Spring bottom Plot.  These plants were not even three months old and thrived in the late summer heat and dry weather!

As you can see there are a variety of vegetables here and they are thriving. The wheelbarrow is full of natural organic amendment which is applied to the crops and soil. There are butterbeans and peanuts as well as okra. The insects love the okra flowers and we encourage lots of frogs and predatory insects which keep our pests under control naturally.  Sure, our plants get a little bitten from time to time but the bugs need their food too!"

"These late summer tomatoes should have been fizzled out but were still trying to grow "unimators" where they would all grow so large they would clump together into one huge fat one!"

"Shiitake mushrooms are one of those little known miracle foods that originated in the Far East.  These suckers have the richest and most wonderful flavor in any mushroom that I know of and are downright tangy!  These delicacies have wonderful medicinal and nutritional properties!  They supply several hard-to-get amino acids and have incredible immune boosting properties!

They love to grow on moist logs in an unpolluted environment. We started to inoculate logs with the spore this spring and by fall they were already popping out!  They love it here and we love them here as well.

Hopefully we will not eat them all ourselves and will find a good home for them in someone!

You can see here and in other pictures how our practices really occur right in the middle of nature!"

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©2002 DW