At Thurston Organic Farm, most of our market gardening is done by hand. We use basic garden tools, like rakes and hoes. We also use light powered equipment, including a walking rototiller and a heavy duty weed eater for clearing borders and paths! Big tractor work is limited to the beginning and end of the season, for preparing new beds and cleaning up. In 2004, we added a compact tractor to the power line-up, and use it through the season for compost management (front-end loader), some tillage (rototiller), and mowing the perimeter and main paths (mower deck). Finally, a small riding mower is used to haul a wagon that serves as a carry-all for tools, materials, and harvested crops. Also in 2004, we built our first greenhouse, which is a steel-framed hoophouse covered with an air-inflated double layer of greenhouse plastic, and is used mainly for seedlings. To date, we only do spot irrigation, using a combination of low volume methods: drip tape, soaker hoses, lawn-type sprinklers, and a hose-with-nozzle, all moved around and applied as required, using well water. Which means, we rely on the rain!

The entire Farm is about 60 acres, all certified organic, but the actual production area is much smaller, about 2.5 acres in seasonal veggies, and there is no intention of expanding significantly in the near future. This approach is sometimes called microfarming—by staying small and concentrating on soil quality, crop and variety selection, production efficiency, and additional human labor, an incredible amount of food can be grown. There is almost no end to the improvements that can be made from year to year, that result in real harvest gains. Combine that with the same amount of effort and experimentation applied to local marketing and sales, and small can look mighty good! Why get "big" for the sake of getting bigger, when with care and knowing your land, you can sell from 2 acres what "normally" may take 5 or 10?

If you're particularly interested in market gardening gear, and how it relates to farm size, here's a handy equipment chart outlining the needs of various sizes of relatively small-scale organic vegetable farms.