Wishing Stone Farm Leaders of the organic movement when it first began, Liz Peckman and Skip Paul started Wishing Stone Farm in 1981. Thirty years later, they now manage over 40 acres of land and utilize some of the most innovate greenhouse techniques. Their home farm is the hub of seven total farms – everything passes through here before going out.
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At their main farm, the soil is a wet heavy clay, making water percolation extremely difficult They combated this by raising up the soil about 18 inches in places to be above the water table The largest limiting factor in the winter is the sunlight à From December 5th – January 31st there is little energy for plants
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Practice cover cropping in the winter to retain and replenish soil nutrients Throughout the beds, they intercrop plants; one comes right after the other and in between à such as kale and turnips Uses Remay Cloth even in the greenhouses as a heat blanket Every four years, they take all of the parcels out of production for one season to give the soil a rest, opportunity to rejuvenate, and sustain life for upcoming seasons Creates over 12 tons of compost yearly o Plans to build 2 paddocks for his younger compost in layers 4 feet deep o He will place corn seed at the bottom and pigs on top à the pigs naturally and instinctively turn the compost in an effort to get the corn seed
Weed Management: Since most of their growing is done in the greenhouse, they can control the water, which has a major influence in weed management. Skip explained the weeds are never really bad because it depends a lot on the ability to control water.
Certified Organic: • Puts the quality of the soil at the same importance as the plant • Importance of compost, animal manures, biological cycles, embraces diversity and complexity • Although they have tried, they have found that they cannot grow peaches organically against the New England bug and bacterial invasions • Their peaches are grown using Integrated Pest Management (spray as little as possible, only when needed) and never spray two weeks before people receive them • Shifting towards “BIO-RATIONAL ORGANIC!”
Bee Hives: • 35 bee hives for honey production • Spread out hives on all farms à need nectar plants and pollen • In the winter months, the bees ball up around the queen
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Seeding: • Seeds are bought rather than saved • 80% of crops are started as plugs (after being seeded in controlled containers in the main greehouse) • Tomato plants are started on January 10th
Future plans to install solar rays for powering the farm, but because RI is such a small state, its hard to get funding In 1985, they installed a 10 kW wind turbine and its still running! The main farm has 450 egg layers! Wishing Stone also has a full operational kitchen where they make and sell: pies, salsa, dips, soups, cookies, pesto
What does sustainability mean to Wishing Stone? Produce as much of the input yourself and bring in as little as possible to make your farm work!
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