A.T. Bittner Farm is a small urban farm located 15 minutes west of Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio growing fresh healthy produce for the local community.
Our goal is to produce the healthiest food possible using natural materials and sustainable growing techniques to provide the best product for our end customer: our family, friends, and neighbors.
The farm is operated by Andy Bittner Owner/Grower, Tracy Lake Grower/Sales, and his extended family and is supported by friends, colleagues and well wishers. We currently utilize controlled environment technology with container and field production to extend our growing season and support our young plant needs. www.ATBittnerFarm.webs.com
Why?
I want to produce fresh healthy food for the local community.
I really know the value of growing food. It sustained me through a challenging time. I found visionary/artist Ron Finley’s words to be true, “Growing your own Food is like Printing your own Money”@RonFinleyHQ Watch his Ted Talk inspirational to say the least.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la
And I also started to see the problems of the present food system and to learn of the science behind growing healthy organic food vs. using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Soon afterward I began experiencing the gap in the present food system where finding fresh healthy food off the farm started to become a challenge. I decided to take the knowledge I had from growing bedding plants, and started growing food with a goal of serving the local community.
During my ongoing research into producing food, I became interested in growing plants from seed and the value of “true to type” open pollinated and heirloom plants to all growers.This led to an interest in many traditional and alternative food crops grown from seed.
Our primary focus at the farm is production of tomatoes, peppers, culinary herbs, edible flowers and greens, due to the popularity of these crops and our ability to adapt these crops to our growing methods.
We are also conducting smaller grow outs using traditional and contemporary growing methods with these and other crops for viability and comparison.
With what?
The farm is located on 3.8 acres in Delhi Township, the floral paradise of Ohio, with 3 heated greenhouse structures, a large barn, 2 coldframe structures, many outdoor growing pads and about an acre of field production. I have grown plants at this location for 10 +years.
The property has been in use as a greenhouse complex since the 1930’s growing cut chrysanthemums and was farmland long before that. Delhi gained the moniker “The Floral Paradise” due to the large number of greenhouse growers in the area during that time.
The current property holder is Barb Broxterman who has been the owner since the 60’s and still runs a retail garden store adjacent to the farm and is an amazing person.
Goals
1. To provide fresh healthy produce and young plants to the local community.
2. Research and grow native, regional, and alternative food crops.
3. Explore and evaluate methods of sustainable growing techniques.
To provide fresh healthy produce and young plants to the local community
This is our most important goal. We want everyone to have access to fresh healthy food free from chemical fertilizers and pesticides. We believe that access to healthy food and growing your own food is the right of all people and we want to facilitate that right by providing great produce and young plants that will produce seed that is true to type. We have developed relationships with several local vendors and are familiar with the farmers markets in the area having sold bedding plants in the past. We are also in contact with the local food pantry and community outreach centers to provide product and information.
This is our primary goal although the following goals are essential to our continued success.
Research and grow native, regional and alternative food crops
We have recognized a need for a diversification of food crops and the preservation of genetic traits of food crops and we are making an effort to conserve, evaluate and improve the viability of these. We purchase seed from vendors for these crops and we have developed a relationship with USDA GRIN seed bank and are conducting research with germplasm received from them. We are currently researching sources for regional heirloom and open pollinated crops and we have also developed a relationship with local foragers, and seek to learn of alternative native food crops for evaluation.
Explore and evaluate methods of sustainable growing techniques
We plan to test and integrate various resource saving and reusing techniques into our current growing methods while researching alternative methods specific to the crop desired. The primary goal of this initiative is water and nutrient conservation. One example of this is our plan to install a drip irrigation system in conjunction with our current sprinkler system, that will then be fitted with a return and reservoir, that will finally be integrated into a fertigation system. We are also currently doing research with a small NFT (nutrient film technique) aquaponic system growing microgreens under T5 flouresecent lighting.
What we are asking for.
Very simply put your support in the form of funds, in exchange for gifts, to allow us to realize our goals.
We believe our mission is an important one and we are very grateful for the support from family and friends but we very much need support from our new friends to continue our efforts to build a sustainable model and further our efforts of growing healthy food.
We are very excited with the potential of Rockethub.com to showcase our goals for our supporters and to give folks a chance to further this worthy cause as well as ensuring their own supply of fresh healthy food for years to come.
We get to keep the funds we raise even if we don’t meet our goal and if we pass the goal we keep that as well.
How we will use the funds.
Drip Irrigation / Fertigation Systems
This is where the largest amount of the funds will be used. Water conservation and treatment is a big step toward healthier plants and sustainable growing.
Growing Supplies
These are costs associated with research and development. This includes, fertilizers, water testing supplies, containers and microbial soil inoculantes.
Construction Materials
Materials for installation of drip irrigation systems.
In Conclusion.
There are many projects we would like to complete but this is the most important to our farm at this time and we hope that others will take an interest in our goals.
The funds we are requesting in this project cover the first phase of a three phase plan to revolutionize our nutrient delivery system to mitigate waste and boost the productivity of our farm.
We appreciate your interest in our project. We hope you will join our journey. Thank You!