Mid Atlantic Nursery Trade Show, MANTS, was held last week with an attendance of over 11,000 people. It continues to rank as the top horticulture show in the industry for the nursery and tree farmers. Abby Farms was there in full force with every member of our team spending time in the booth meeting and greeting our current customers along with meeting potential new customers.
The show highlighted a lot of our customers’ concerns about the availability of mainly 2.5”-3” trees. So we continued to encourage our current customers to get the early order program that we offer turned in quickly.
I was caught off guard by the camera crew at MANTS when they wanted to film me and ask what sustainable horticulture was. If you know me, I am a somewhat reserved person, so a non-prepared- for video segment seemed to go well after the loss of blood in my face. In the short taped version, we farm in a different manner by using natural inputs vs. chemical inputs. We feed the soil and let the soil feed the plants. The question and answer session could and should have been much longer, but with a time limit, the segment gave a quick overview. We receive the same question several times from curious potential new customers. What is Abby Farms? It’s difficult to pin point; we are a combination of carbon farming, sustainable, organic and permaculture. We include the following in our program:
- OMRI certified or natural inputs
- Natural nitrogen fix in the field “cover crops”
- Encourage nature to take the lead
- Predatory insect establishments
- Wild flower nesting stations
- Food grade products when possible for insect control
- Carbon farming with organic compounds to fortify the soil and increase organic matter
- Balance the cation exchange capacity
- Rigid testing of leaf tissue to see the energy level of the plant
- Horticultural sustainable habits through resource management
When we add all this up, we’re a hybrid of all the above, a sustainable permaculture with natural inputs which include total site management that works with nature.