Cate Farm News Early May 2022

Plant Sales begin tomorrow! Cate Farm 2022 Plant Sales are on Fridays and Saturdays from 8am - 2pm starting May 6-7. We’ll be open Fridays and Saturdays for five weekends, through June 3-4. Come check out our wide selection of healthy organic starts for your garden: tons of vegetable varieties, culinary and medicinal herbs, plus annual and perennial flowers. Visit our website to browse our seedling cultivars and grow your best garden ever!

  Recent developments: Cate Farm is trying to reduce the amount of plastics used growing seedlings. We now offer certain varieties in Fertil fiber pots, the best fiber pots on the market in our opinion. Made in France in a zero emission hydro powered factory, Fertil uses sustainably harvested pine trees as the pots’ main ingredient. Plant roots easily grow through the fiber pot walls for natural air pruning, preventing any root circling. Pots readily decompose once transplanted into the garden, and reduce any transplant shock.

  How about no pots at all?! Cate Farm purchased a used soil block machine from the Netherlands that stamps out cubes of soil, which then get placed on wooden trays for seeding and growing out. Roots naturally air prune, and soil blocks make transplanting a snap. Come to the Plant Sales for a live demo, and check out our seedlings grown in blocks. 

  Our goal is for you to have the best gardening experience- we are here to help answer whatever questions you may have. We hope to see you at our Plant Sales!

 All the best from Richard, Sally and Flint and the team at Cate Farm.

Our soil block machine from the Netherlands ready to work!

February News

Vermont is in deep winter, and the snow is great for practicing some free heel ski turns in our woods and fields. Richard and Flint sometimes leave a few faceplant images at the bottom of some hills:) Despite the snowy environment, green plants are sprouting in our heated shop. Tasty tomato cultivars will soon be grafted onto vigorous tomato rootstocks, ala Flint’s skillful hands. By late March, those plants will be transplanted into the soil in one of our greenhouses, and then produce red tomatoes in late June! Yum!

  Gardening season is getting closer, and the days are noticeably longer. We just posted our 2022 seedling varieties on our website, click HERE to start planning your garden. Our Spring Plant Sales will be Fridays and Saturdays beginning May 6th. Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer our seedlings for online sales with curbside pickup. Sorry for any inconvenience, but we hope to see you here at Cate Farm for our in-person Plant Sales. Our plants will also be available at Hunger Mt. Co-op from late April to mid June.

   Winter is a perfect time for research and education. Besides pouring over seed catalogs and planning this year’s crops, we check out various videos online. Richard just watched two powerful and moving videos from the Real Organic ProjectMilk and Money and Protecting Organic. The two hour sessions feature speakers like Leah Penniman, Michael Pollan, ME Congresswoman Pingree, MN Senator Tester, Paul Hawken and many articulate farmers from around the country. Watch a 3 minute video introducing the symposium HERE. The Real Organic Project was created 3 years ago in response to the USDA Organic standards being weakened by Big Ag. Please check out the Real Organic Project and help strengthen the USDA Organic label to what it should and used to be.

   All the best from Richard, Flint, Sally and the Team at Cate Farm.