PASA Soil Health Conference at Spiral Path Farm

September 28, 2017

Vitalis participated in PASA’s (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) third annual soil health conference, this year held at Spiral Path Farm. Organic farmers Mike, Terra, and Will Brownback opened their farm and shared how they are able to achieve impressive levels of soil fertility using mostly on-farm vegetable, grass, and legume inputs. Spiral Path is a 60 acre diversified organic vegetable farm. The Brownbacks make their own compost and potting soil mix using on-farm inputs, including worm castings from their expansive vermiculture system. This fertility is supplemented with intensive cover cropping throughout their 4 year crop rotations. It has taken the Brownback family years to develop their systems, but the effort has paid off, with high levels of soil organic matter, enviable soil tilth, and beautiful, healthy produce.