The Ferment Farm
"Like Mother Nature intended"
"Field to Ferment, Garden to Gut" (for Moonstone Ferments)
Everything is local home grown "organic/ sustainable/ permacultured/ biodynamic/ synergistically" as possible. We grow as much fermentables as we can.
Learn all about fermented foods at www.ItsAllAboutTheGut.com.
Thirty five years of experience in DEEP mulch gardening gos into our Ferment Farm. MulchGardening dot com (we piggyback all the other sites on it - much cheaper) has a shwack of info on how to make deep mulch gardens. And now we use this practice for growing fermentables in a field!
"Synergistic" is a new name recently coined for this practice by a French woman. It is also called "till-less farming" as the organic matter is NOT tilled, but rather naturally allowed to decompose on the soil surface. I call it "like Mother Nature". Bare soil is not natural. Covered soil grows better bugs/microbes that plants love.
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This gardening practice has many benefits that include no weeding, less water loss from evaporation, superior microbe development, no fertilizers or pesticides, and greater yield from healthier plants.
Last year was a great success. We grew and fermented well over 1000 pounds of the tastiest sauerkraut and have gotten a business license to sell this locally grown, commercial kitchen prepared and fermented food. We call it Moonstone Ferments because we do krauting around full moons, use large quarts crystals as brine weights, and use old stoneware crocks or glass fermentation vessals.
This is taking growing food to another level and will provide locally grown year round products year round. And all by traditional food preservation practices that use no energy. Lactic acid bacteria fermentation has been used for thousands of years without refrigerators.
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 | Tennille workin the patch.. Dilly Carrots-to- be! |
 | Daniel is such a poser! |
 | Harvesting |
 | Farmers turn their field. We have to turn ours 90degrees from North/South to East/West. Tons of organic compost needs to be moved to cover the freshly tilled soil before weeds start to grow again. |
 | Little by little we are moving garden #4 into its new spot from running North South...... |
 | to its new orientation East West. Plant height can be much better optimized to maximize sun exposure. |
 | It was alot easier to put straw & silage down last year. Moving the garden a couple hundred feet and running it east west is done! |
 | The Leaf Crew! We managed to get 75 bags into this load. One of many to cover the ground into deep mulch for the winter. |
 | Goatees in the Garden.....November 18th and ground still not freezing. |
 | Getting into Deep Mulch Gardening! Prepping the carrot beds for spring seed planting. Only the very tops of these beds will be exposed for seed germination. All else is will be covered so no weeding!!! |
 | Tennille Garlicking. A few hundred feet of our own garlic will be nice to have for our ferments. |
 | Having a break from leaf spreading |
 | Almost done! Over 1500 bags of leafs collected and spread! |
 | Gaining Ground at the ferment farm. |
 | still lots of beets under the leafs. |
 | Lifting up the old straw was a LOT harder than putting it down! |
 | last years ground cover didnt make it for a second season |
 | we took apart old bales and fit them together like pavers and put sprouted soy beans between. No weeding! |
 | The new Ferment Farm has straw pathways from the recycled old one |
 | Here is the beginning of our first crop of cabbages |
 | Uncle Shpuds knows how to grow cabbage. All us Russians grow great food! |
 | The cold frame filled up with over 600 plants! |
 | Watering our Ferment Field is NOT like turning a tap on.Our irrigation dich needed to be cleaned out before water is diverted from Mission Creek. |
 | Andrew helped get starter soil from Dean Dacks Classic Compost |
 | Ten helped do all the big lifting |
 | And the ToyTruck did the rest |
  | We then dragged old irrigation lines to our new area. |
 | A special thanks to Kiwi Steve for helping out. I made him feel at home with a fly hat and Veggiemate. |
 | Ten is the BEST helper! |
 | Lawnmowing the perimiter is an extra..... |
  | one of our cabbages hid in a box outside all winter. It started to grow babies all on its own, so, I planted it! |
 | Ten wanted to get in the pic of the cabbage sprouting flowers. She still had to finish picking all the carrots from last year. Deep mulch saves them all winter for harvesting. |
 | Maddie was amazed at how easy beets stayed fresh under the mulch too. |
 | I let her get dirty to absorb the best soil microorganisms through her skin. This is a three row carrot bed. Note the "mountains" and "Valleys". the mountain tops get the carrot seeds, the valleys get leafs compacted into them. |
 | Just gotta pose for the camera |
  | This is a double row. |
 | Ten is stuffing carrot seeds |
 | starting seeds on onion skin paper in plates makes for easy transplanting |
 | Big Larry, the Worlds Laregest Pickle, and his seedlings! |
 | Big Larry babies hittn' the dirt! |
 | Ten is in cold frame #2. Its been so warm this year we almost didnt need it! |
 | Spring Planting Frenzie! |
 | Plugging in the babies! |
 | So nicely grown! |
 | Seed Saving... Cabbage plants moved from old patch were allowed to fulfill their lifes journey to propigate their DNA into the future. |
 | Moonplanting.... With fellow Garden Knome & Favorite Youngest Son Adam |
 | Its nice to have something to help put up the irrigation |
 | another shot of irrigation possibilities |
 | Nice and wet!! |
 | Main overhead spray heads will let small fish heads through without filtering! The irrigation ditch has thick water! |
 | Our secondary little rotor line |
 | of course a one inch hose is big enough! |
 | So much for no weeds in the garden. Still have to mow around it. |
 | SLUGS!!!! |
 | CATCH! |
 | and RELEASE! |
 | Farmers Market was too full again on Saturday. So.... would anyone stop their car for one word? |
 | we left the booth setup overnite but missed the church crowd |
 | look at all the sexy garlic! |
 | a strange irrigation head? |
 | new winter cabbage babies getting planted |
 | harvesting beets |
 | second harvest done! |
 | and a pose, of course! |
 | No weeding was required once the silage got rolled out. Silage is sauerkraut for cows. They produce twice as much milk and are never sick because of this fermented grass. I wonder if kraut does the same for lactating humans. |
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2015 pics below
 | Me and my Ho! |
 | Planting first cabbages |
 | Our first cabbage row was planted a bit close together, but quick and easy. |
 | Spreading BIG bags of leafs! |
  | Found some rolls of silage from Armstrong way |
 | No weeding was required once the silage got rolled out. Silage is sauerkraut for cows. They produce twice as much milk and are never sick because of this fermented grass. I wonder if kraut does the same for lactating humans. |
 | Best helper! |
 | Favorite Youngest son Adam helped plant. |
 | Irrigated and growing! |
 | We planted a section JUST for making miso from organic soy. Its our versionb of "square foot" planting. we pout seedlings inbetween the sheafs of old straw. No weeding necessary again! |
 | Mid summers Full moon over the Ferment Farm |
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