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During my visit to Soil Born Farm, I got to experience a small look into what urban farming is all about. I was able to plant different lettuce blends and better understand how these vegetables grow. To my surprise, a lot more work goes into growing lettuce than I imagined. Putting lettuce in the ground is one thing, however, making sure they flourish is another. 

Soil Born Farm uses a fun and creative system to germinate its seeds. They use an old freezer and hook a thermostat onto it. This is so they can set the freezer to the exact temperature needed to properly germinate the seeds. If the box gets too warm the freezer will turn on to bring it back to the set temperature, but if the box gets too cold? The crock pot that is hooked up inside, kicks on to warm it back up to set temperature! After the seeds sprout, they are placed in the nursery and are then slowly transitioned into the fields. 

We got to plant small lettuce heads for 3 hours and by the end of it I was exhausted! But this is what these farmers do every day rain or shine and I have so much respect for this type of work. Once the sprouts are placed in the fields they have to be covered with thin mesh to shade out 30%-40% of the sun. We then have to haul sandbags down the rows of plants and place them on each section of the sun coverings.

After that has been done it’s time to water the plants. However, the time you water the plants is very important. If they water the plants when the sun is shining bright on the leaves, the water can actually burn the leaves. Who would have thought? This means they have to water the plants when the sun is not shining bright. These are just a few of the many difficult tasks these farmers have to do. 

Soil Born Farm takes so much pride in the produce they grow and deliver. They take the extra step to ensure that you are getting the best quality produce available; which supplies fresh produce to our local Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op and our surrounding community. Having had this hands-on experience was not only fun but educational. I’m grateful to have been able to learn and grow figuratively and literally about where our produce comes from!