Our Story

Green Heart Garden is lovingly tended by Tony and JP. We founded our human scale farm in 2019 with the dream of providing local and healthy produce to our friends, family and neighbors, our community. We are proud members of the small farm renaissance and we hope to help grow a healthy future through a direct relationship with the Earth. We strongly believe in viewing the ecosystem as a whole with humans being a part of that whole. We strive to implement practices that are ecologically sustainable and biodiverse whilst providing nutrient dense, high quality local produce to the community. Our gardens are the heart of Green Heart Garden.

Green Heart Garden started as an urban micro farm. Neighbors provided the space for us to grow and we grew produce for our neighbors. For four years we grew as a business practicing this unique model of agriculture and were able to really honed our skills as growers.

In 2023 we jumped on an opportunity to expand our operation on an established farm in Gaston, Oregon. We now call Gaston home and we are settled in nicely into our tiny home.

Our Farming Practices

Good for the soil, good for our community

Low-till farming is a way of growing crops without turning over the soil too much. It helps to preserve the natural structure and health of the soil, and to prevent erosion and loss of nutrients.

Instead of using heavy machinery that burns fossil fuels, we use hand operated tools to create the holes to plant our starts in.

Low-till farming helps to;

Enhance the soil biodiversity and activity
Prevent soil erosion and nutrient loss
Increase the water-holding capacity of the soil

The bugs are our friends!

Using natural pest predators in farming is a way of controlling harmful insects and weeds without relying on synthetic pesticides or herbicides. Natural pest predators are living organisms that feed on or parasitize the pests that damage crops. We utilize natural pest predators such as ladybugs, parasitic wasps, lacewings and soil dwelling nematodes.

Natural pest predators help to;

Eliminate the usage of chemical pesticides, which can harm human health and the environment
Enhancing the biodiversity and resilience of the agroecosystem, by creating a more balanced and diverse food web
Make working on the farm much more enjoyable

How our seedlings start their lives

Most of the vegetables we plant will start in the propagation house from seeds. We use a technique called soil blocking, where we have a tool which forms the potting soil into pressed blocks and we plant a seed per block. This creates air pruning of the roots - once the roots reach the edges of the soil block they will not go much further. Then, depending on the type of plant, we either pot onto a larger soil block for the plant to continue to grow in the prop house, or they get transplanted into the field.

Since we plant our seeds in soil blocks instead of traditional trays, this greatly reduces the amount of waste our farm produces.

A picture of plant seed starts in a soil block

Everyone should have access to nutrient-rich food, regardless of their income

We're committed to making our produce accessible to everyone who would like to enjoy it. Not only do we accept payments for CSA memberships with SNAP, but we're also proud participants in the Double Up Food Bucks program. This program allows eligible SNAP recipients to get half of their CSA membership paid for by the program.

We also have options to let our members join us in making our produce more accessible. There's an option to sponsor a share for another family in financial need. If you're interested in sponsoring a share or know somebody who could use some financial help paying for a share, please contact us and we can go over options.

Finding good homes for all of our excess food

From time to time, we may find ourselves with excess produce. Maybe we grew too much of a certain crop or maybe someone didn't pick up their weekly box. It happens.

We strive to never let our produce go to waste. When we find ourselves with unclaimed items, we donate them to local non-profit food banks and shelters to help feed those in need.