About the farm
East Idaho Organic Inc is a new agriculturally based company based in Idaho Falls Idaho with a whopping two workers/owners. Kevin Hardy and Dewayne Arave. Together we are slowly transforming 7 acres of pasture land, used formerly for horses, into something more… We are growing slowly, organically in many senses of the word, lease of which is USDA Organic.
The first year we scratched the surface, dug a few garden beds, began relocating greenhouses from Blackfoot Idaho to our land, and made plans. By fall we had the frame of one greenhouse up. The first greenhouse went through the winter uncovered untill early spring 2009. Spring of 2009 was a tremendous amount of work for us. We covered the first greenhouse, put up the 2nd greenhouse and hand dug an extensive outdoor garden bed system with ditches to deliver our simple flood irrigation water.
The land began to take on shape. Like a potter working a lump of clay, lines began to become more cemented, paths took shape, buildings went up and windfences marked out growing beds. Through hard won effort one can now look at the farm and see a viable agricultural operation. Gone are the days where the neighbor of over 40 years can say “all that place ever was was a bare lot”.
This year saw Kevin and I , operating under the company EIO, start a CSA. CSA is short for Community Supported Agriculture. CSA is a type of share in the farm. Our CSA members purchased a years worth of vegetables up front and in return received the freshest possible produce (outside of growing it themselves and eating it right in the garden). The CSA was a new challenge but supplied much needed capital for the early months of the years growing season when outlays are high and income is slow. We took on 15 families. 15 families, 15 deliveries, 15 weeks of our life devoted to feeding people. We did more than feed people though, we nourished them. Nourished them with fresh vegetables, fresh ideas on how to cook (or how not to), new varieties of vegetables some had never heard or seen before.
And now October 1st is here, 2009 and we are preparing to let mother nature take a nap. Looking back on the this growing season is exhausting in itself. So much hard work went into that land in such a short period of time. As the seasons first hard freeze looms overhead and we scramble to remove the last tender veggies for our CSA members and farmers market stand there is a very real air of accomplishment as well as anticipation. Anticipation of a well earned rest.