By Deborah Wechsler (2003)

Nicolas Donck
Crystal Organic Farm
425 N. Johnson Street
Newborn, Georgia 30056
madnic@mindspring.com

Years in commercial operation: 9
Total acreage: 175
Acres in organic production: 25 (10-12 in crops, rest in grass and orchard)
Acres in non-organic production: None
Soil type: Sandy loam
Climate zone: 7

Crops: Leading crops include greens and tomatoes. Others are peppers, eggplant, okra, melons, squash, flowers, lettuce, turnips, rutabaga, onions, leeks, potatoes, beets, carrots, herbs. Some eggs and bedding plants. This year, trying 1000 strawberry plants. Fruit plantings (apples, peaches, pears, figs, and blueberries) are young; they should be fully bearing within four years. Also raising a few chickens for eggs to sell.

Equipment: 47hp tractor with tiller, chisel plow, subsoiler, cultivator, hay equipment, fertilizer spreader; Troybilt tiller, hand tools.

On-farm facilities: Packing barn, equipment barn, two 16 x 96 hoophouses, one for crops, one for seedlings

Labor: Nicolas Donck, full-time; his mother occasionally helps out with flower production; his wife takes care of their two small children and has little direct farm involvement. 2 or 3 paid laborers (local young adults) working 30 hours/week year-round, paid $7/hour.

Weeks/year in production: 52 Total weeks making sales: 52

Certification: Previously with Georgia Organics, now QCS. Not planning to certify again after this year.

Markets: 30% through organic growers co-op that delivers to restaurants in Atlanta every week, year-round; 50% through a Saturday farmers' market, year-round; 20% through a Friday farmers' market, April-October.

Value-added products: None

Special expertise: Winter growing with minimal protection; Saving seeds

Born in Belgium, Nicolas Donck moved to the United States when he was 16, joining his mother on this 175-acre farm in Georgia to which she had moved a few years earlier. As a child and teenager he helped in the family garden, but only reluctantly. As an adult, after unsatisfying experiences in the business world, he suddenly realized that he wanted to farm and that he had had this farm available to him all along. He started small, learning by doing. The farm has grown gradually, as he added more and more of the considerable acreage available into production. He put up the first hoophouse three years ago and the second last year. Nicolas pays the annual taxes on the land as well as a monthly rent to his mother.

The farm and its markets have grown together-Nicolas is a founder of the Morningside Farmers' Market and one of the early members of the Georgia organic growers' co-op. The crops he wholesales to restaurants through the co-op tend to be leafy greens such as arugula and braising mixes, baby vegetables, and herbs, including many varieties of mint. His climate allows him to grow most of these herbs outdoors year-round.

From the beginning, he has hired workers, but only recently been able to keep them on year-round. He also has occasional short-term workers through the WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) network, perhaps 3-4 a year. For these, a cabin is available. However, such international visitors, especially non-English speaking ones, sometimes require more hosting than he has time for. He and his wife live about five minutes away from the farm.

Crops at Crystal Organic Farm are generally raised in 5-foot beds, with cover crops planted in between. Preferred cover crops for the cool season are rye, crimson clover, and Austrian winter peas; for summer cover, Nicolas uses lots of buckwheat and some millet and sudangrass. The rotation is informal and intuitive, though detailed records are kept.

Off-farm inputs include feather meal, greensand, gypsum, lime, azomite (volcanic ash for trace materials), kelp, and worm castings (to put into compost). Foliar sprays and biodynamic preparations are also used. Composting is small-scale and the compost is used in potting mix for seedlings. Nicolas makes a lot of mulch on-farm, mostly baled rye, and mulches as much as possible. He estimates that he needs about 800 bales a year. He's been producing 400-500, but this year, he expects to come very close to that goal. More and more of the crops are grown from transplants, set out by hand. Most weeding is by hand hoeing, a very little by tractor. This year, he is experimenting for the first time with black plastic, using it with a small planting of strawberries. Irrigation is by drip tape with well water.

He has few pest and disease problems and tends to do little about them. Strategies include hand-picking, companion planting with nasturtiums, radishes, and marigolds, and succession planting-for example, he plants five different crops of tomatoes over the season. Flea beetles are a problem some years, but not others. Saving seeds is a priority and this year he has a small area dedicated to seed saving for farm use and possibly for sale.

Income from the farm has been increasing each year. He estimates that he now grosses about $80,000 with a net income of about $35,000. 25-35% goes to pay hired labor. Nicolas's goals are to increase production without increasing crop acreage and to increase winter cash flow. To accomplish these goals, he is thinking of investing in some high tunnels and expanding his cool-season and winter crops. About a year ago, says Nicolas, he suddenly realized, while watching his small son in the garden, that farming is the best job he could hope to have.