Why are cover crops so important?
Cover crops act as a barrier between the soil and the atmosphere. They are a huge benefit because they hold the soil in place during the fallow times of year, as well as feed the microbes in the soil that create vital nutrients that plants require to grow. Soil microbes, earthworms and insects are key to plant growth and development.

NOTE: Fallow is leaving a field out of production for a year so, while growing a cover crop, keeping it protected and rebuilding soil nutrients and overall health.

The cover crops roll in all of this is taking the carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it back into the soil which the microbes feed from. Without cover cropping the soil is more prone to deteriorate with no structure holding it in place, flooding and erosion, and/or being blown away. The first 2 to 3 inches of top soil is some of the most important for growing. Without cover crops farming would be much more risky and difficult.

Here are examples of cover crops that are vital to farming:

Winter Rye
This is a cool cover crop that is primarily used in the fall for holding the soil in place to prevent winds from taking it. This crop can germinate and grow in temperatures as low as 33F degrees. It also grows very rapidly giving lots of biomass and has an extensive root system for soil holding power. Winter Rye overwinters meaning it will keep growing in the spring again so it needs to be killed-off. The other benefit of Rye is it can be a forage crop meaning it can be cut for straw right before the rye goes to seed to make bales. This is a great way for farmers to bring in extra revenue while benefiting their fields.

NOTE: Biomass is plant matter. Grass that is produced from Rye and Sorghum cover crops are filled with nutrients that can be put back into the soil. 

Tillage Radish
This cover crop also called Forage Radish or Dicon Radish. This is a fall-seeded Brassica that has a very neat feature. This crop acts as a natural subsoiling tool. It grows a large taproot to breakup soil compaction by creating holes in the soil for water drainage to reduce erosion problems. Tillage Radish winter-kills after a few hard frosts and breaks down by spring.

NOTE: Brassica is the scientific name for cold weather crops, species such as cabbage, broccoli, and radishes. 

​Peas & Oats
These cover crops work well as companions to optimize soil health. Peas are just a field pea that can be used as forage for animals. They are also a legume crop meaning they collect and store nitrogen so it does not leach or volatilize into the air. Peas can also be harvested and sold to specialty restaurants for salad mixes as well. There are many different benefits to this cover crop. Oats have a shallow root system but grow fast in warm weather and act as great biomass cover for in-between crops. They hold lots of nutrients and act as a great "green manure" crop to incorporate and plant into soon after. Both are winter killed and work well together to serve dual purposes. 

​NOTE: Volatilization is when nutrients are essentially evaporated into the atmosphere and are no longer taken into the soil for plant growth.

NOTE: Green manure crops are cover crops filled with nutrients that can be incorporated into the soil to feed microbes. They are full of organic matter, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus sources. A pure natural fertilization.

Cover Crop Cocktails
A cover crop cocktail is a mix of 2 to 3 different cover crops that work together in unison. For example, I use a mix of Peas, Oats, and Tillage Radish as a cover for a field that is going to be planted with Asparagus the next year. I use this mix because it will all winter-kill and asparagus has to be planted early. I also use it as weed suppression because of the high amount of biomass. The Peas are an awesome nitrogen source for the new roots going in. The Tillage Radish is to create good drainage and water absorption capacity as well. 

Red Clover
​This is a low lying crop that does best in cooler seasons. Red Clover is a short-lived perennial used to supply nitrogen. Unlike other legumes, it fixes a lot of nitrogen even in high-nitrogen soils. It has shade tolerance so it can be over-seeded into small grains and incorporated in May of the following year. Since Red Clover seedlings tend to be slow growing, it benefits from a nurse crop. It forms tap roots and is useful for remediation of compacted soils. Red Clover is also good for weed suppression. This crop can be seeded as early as February to March for frost seeding or from April to September depending on what you use it for! Blossoming is something that needs to be controlled in warmer temperatures. Such a small plant with endless benefits!

Mustard
In the Northeast Mustard is used as a fall-planted cover crop that winter-kills. This crop thrives in cool conditions and can give 100% ground cover. It adds organic matter, breaks up hardpan, and suppresses weeds in the following crop. Soil-borne diseases may be suppressed by natural compounds found in the residue of crops such as mustard, cabbage, radishes. These act as natural defenses to certain soil borne diseases. There are three species of Mustard that behave similarly when sown in the fall. This is a very low maintain cover crop that offers a wide variety of advantages for your soil. It is best seeded between mid July and August. You will want to kill at the flower stage if not winter-killed already to prevent the Mustard from seeding-out and becoming a weed in the field. Great for a natural disease suppressant which is a great organic way of dealing with devastating diseases that are presented every season. 

NOTE: Seeding-out is when the plant is it's final reproductive stage where it has matured all the way to produce viable seeds that can be replanted again to continue the life of it's species. At this point all the nutrient from the plant is pushed into the seed and lost. Incorporating this into the soil will create two negative scenarios. One, adding dead biomass that will take longer to breakdown and create a loss of nitrogen in the soil. Remember, nitrogen is used to break down dead matter. And two, you are creating field weeds from all the mature seed.

Sorghum
Sudangrass and Sorghum-sudangrass are midsummer grasses suitable for short 8 to 10 week plantings. These grasses are the most heat and drought-tolerant cover crops typically grown in the Northeast. Sudangrass growth is easier to manage because the stems are narrower. It can be sown earlier than Sorghum-sudangrass, and suppresses weeds better. These crops provide abundant root biomass, which is useful for increasing soil organic matter. Mowing encourages root growth. They suppress Root-knot nematodes and inhibit weed germination if densely sown. These are warm season cover crops that generally can be seeded between June through August.

NOTE: Nemetodes are beneficial and non-beneficial microbial worms that are both pathogens that attack and hurt pants and/or help defend-off other diseases and help with plant development. ​  

I'm glad I was able to share my love of cover crops with you! There are so many varieties each with their own unique benefits. It's an endless opportunity for experimentation. We promise to keep you updated as we try different ones as the seasons progress.

First smiles of the 2017 season getting one of our first products out. It was a happy day to officially start the new season!

We might be a dysfunctional group sometimes but I couldn't think of a better way to spend some of my days this year working with some close Stockbridge friends!

Rebranding my business really made this season fun and exciting! Big thanks to my marketing guy and his business Rocket Strategies for making all this happen!

Being out on the tractor in the fresh summer air is my happy place. Turning over the field for the new season, planting the seeds, and watching the plants thrive, there's nothing better! 

Hard work really paid off this year. Seeing all of the beautiful vegetables harvested, one after another coming out of the fields brought endless smiles to my face!

"Trevor who are you calling?"..."the gourd goblin, hehe!"... shenanigans were a must on a weekly basis, many many laughs out in the field! 

Famers help farmers. Friends help friends. Couldn't ask for better! Love making memories with the people who have your back no matter what. 

Having Congressman Jim McGovern, along with many state agriculture and local farming representatives come tour my farm this past summer was a huge milestone for me. It gave me enormous satisfaction that they were excited to see what I was doing and offer resources to help our farm grow. It was an awesome day and I felt thankful we were chosen. Thank you again!

We took some big steps this year and ventured off the farm. Fun times at the Hatfield Harvest Festival and UMASS Farmers Market and they were a big success!
So many great connections, conversations, and memories. On top of it all our displays were kick-ass! Can't thank Rick and Kaitlyn for all their help with these events. 

Watching all of our produce going out on daily basis made me feel like I'm giving back, doing something for my community and helping others. I Wouldn't trade it for the world!

A biggggg shout out to my number one employee this season! I Wouldn't be where I am today without you. Countless hours out in the field with me. Countless hours of cleaning up after me and making this farm shine is all a big thanks to you. Your ideas, knowledge, and enthusiastic energy every day sure made working on the farm much more fun. You haven't been recognized nearly as much as you should have.

Also, a big thanks to my behind the scenes guy. I can't thank Rick enough for all the website editing, photo taking, and endless days of hard work to make our social media side of the farm shine! Not to mention all the hot days in the field and help with the farmstand when I couldn't be there. The days where you were ready to rip my head off because I was difficult... you're the best. You made this season that much better and was glad to share a piece of Bardwell Farm with you.  ​

Dad, your knowledge and experience when I was in a bind was always helpful! The times you came out to help without me even asking you were always appreciated even though I may not have shown it. I know you were super busy this past year and how much farming means to you. I cannot wait to get you more involved in the seasons to come. I love you.

I cant explain how awesome it is to wake up and go to sleep to the best sunrises and sunsets in the valley right here on the farm! ​

Its been a busy end of the year but we are glad to have so much progress on the new high tunnel. The snowfall has stumped work for the winter but we will be right back at it once the weather warms up. It'll be fully operational for the 2018 season!

Thank you everyone for sharing this amazing season with me. I couldn't have done it without the love, help and support from all my friends, family, and loyal customers.

Wishing you all a safe and happy new year!

I take this time to remember my grandparents who were two very big influences in my life. As we celebrate the holidays in their old home, now our new home, it’s hard not to reflect and be thankful for all the traditions we were brought up with and that homey feeling it brings. I think of them often. 

Christmas is also a brief time away from the farm to relax with friends, act like a young adult and have a little bit of fun before the next season comes. Sometimes I need this more than you know. ​

​The next steps to garlic planting is bed and field prep, just as we would normally do with cover crops. We plow, fertilize and harrow the land to prep the field. Next we use a bed shaper to make a raised bed for planting; this is a new tactic we are trying this year to see if this will improve bulb size, growth and water penetration. We are hoping the end result will be a better quality product when it's time to harvest. The final steps for planting prep is marking out the spacings to plant. We use our plastic transplanter and set up a system of three rows with 6" between seeds. This gives us a good template to have a uniform planting.

Next we plant! One clove facing right side up in each hole, one at a time. We use a soil knife to create a hole, then plant the garlic clove in about an inch into the soil.

After garlic is placed into their holes/slots in the raised beds we go over the top with a rack to brush soil into the garlic holes. 

The last and final step in the garlic planting process is to cover the beds with straw. It protects the seed and soil from winds, very cold temperatures (in case the cloves start to sprout), and weed suppression in the spring/summer. 

Now we wait until spring to watch the garlic sprout up out of the straw.

Many thanks Trevor and Kaitlyn for your generous help!

We want to thank everyone who stop by our booth last Sunday to say hello and make a purchase, it was so awesome to meet you all!

One question that kept coming up over an over again was how to prepare and cook winter squash. We've provided several basic recipes below to help you with that! 

Buttercup Squash with Apples
Make the most of winter squash when you pair it with apples and brown sugar!

​Ingredients
1 buttercup or other winter squash
1/2 c chopped tart cooking apple
2 tsps packed brown sugar
2 tsps butter or margarine, softened
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon or nutmeg

​Instructions
Heat oven to 400. Cut squash in half; remove seeds and fibers. Place squash halves, cut side up, in ungreased baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients; spoon into squash halves. Cover and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until squash is tender.

Basic Blue Hubbard Squash
You're asking yourself how the heck do I cook this thing...

​​Ingredients
1 Hubbard Squash (you pick the size)
1 stick butter, halved
salt and pepper

​Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 375. Fill a large casserole dish or baking pan with about ½ inch of water; set aside. Take the Hubbard squash and cut in half length-wise much like you would a watermelon (becareful not to cut yourself). Scoop out the seeds and discard them. Place the squash cut side up in the pan with water. Using a fork poke holes into the inside of the squash. Salt and pepper the squash. Add butter into each of the squash halves. Cover the pan with foil paper and bake in the oven for 1 to 1½ hours until the squash is fork tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Using a large scoop or spoon to remove the squash from the shell and mash until a smooth consistency. Eat as is or add herbs and spices.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Cinnamon Butter
A little bit of cinnamon goes a long way and it's so good!

Ingredients
2 acorn squash, unpeeled seeded and quartered
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss squash with oil; season with salt and pepper. Arrange on sheet, cut side down, and roast until easily pierced with a paring knife, 35 to 45 minutes.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, stirring, until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Immediately pour into a small bowl; stir in cinnamon. Place squash on a serving platter; top with cinnamon butter.

Cheesy Garlic Parmesan Spinach Spaghetti Squash
Cheese, garlic and parmesan, fu-get-about-it.
​
Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash
1/4 c butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 c parmesan cheese + more for serving

Instuctions
Preheat the oven to 400. Carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Place the halves cut side down in a shallow baking dish. Add a bit of water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook squash for 30 to 45 minutes. Squash is done when you can easily pierce the side with a knife. Allow squash to cool a bit, then carefully scrape the flesh out with a fork, which will separate it into spaghetti like strands. Heat the butter in a large skillet, over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add garlic and cook until it begins to turn golden. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the shredded spaghetti squash, basil, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Toss to with tongs to combine.