lettuce tell you about our growing practices

our growing practices

At Lester's Farm Market, providing safe, healthy food is the foundation of our farm. Being a family ourselves, we know the importance of having access to fresh, local goodness and are happy that we have been able to share our farvest with you since 1994.

But how do we grow vegetables?

With much information out there at the tips of our fingers, we wanted to make sure you hear directly from us on how we do what we do.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

Wanting to know about your food, where it comes from and how its produced is a common question of many consumers. It is a question that is often thought about but not always asked. We encourage all of our visitors to learn about their food!

Being a generational farm, it has always been of high importance to us to farm sustainably so that we can continue to have this lifestyle that we love dearly.

Sustainable farming means that we use a varietly of techniques to ensure the longevity of our soil health, grow safe produce while also maintaining a bountiful harvest. All the while producing a product that we are proud of.

FARMING TECHNIQUES

We use an IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, on our farm. Through this system our farming techniquest are integrated and adapted to each season.

Some techniques that we use are: crop rotation, using varieties that are compatible to our climate, checking and monitoring our fields each day, setting multiple lots of each crop, using our greenhouses, using plasticulture and blankets, carefully planning out each season.

Each season does present different challenges, but we have adedicated farm team who are as proud of our roots as we are.

spraying

What can get confusing is the term "spraying" as both conventional and organic farms can avail of this technique.

As our main goal is to farm sustainably, we use spraying as a way to combat major problems, pests or diseases when absolutely necessary to save a crop. A targeted action towards the problematic insect only. We only spray insecticides in the evenings and early mornings so as not to harm any foraging insects, ie: honeybees or other pollinators.

Any spraying that we do is monitored and applied by our certified applicators who keep up to date with regulations

We love being able to chat to our customers and share with them our growing practices. Feel free to chat with our staff anytime in our market, through our social medias or over the phone.

We truely believe that you can't BEET fresh veggies and are happy to share our practices with you anytime.