Nick Maravell, Owner of Nick’s Organic Farm. Nick has been farming organically for more than 40 years. After experimenting for several years, he started farming on a commercial basis in Purceville, Virginia in 1979. Concerned about the soil, environment, energy conservation, and fresh, local, healthy food, he began by selling vegetables to restaurants and local food co-ops, and at farmers markets. In 1980, he moved his vegetable operation to leased land in Potomac, MD. In the mid-90s, Nick and his wife, artist Tory Cowles, purchased a 165-acre farm in Buckeystown, near Frederick MD, while continuing operations in Potomac until 2012.
Nick’s Organic Farm uses a diversified organic farming system that combines plants and animals. Nick sells directly to consumers, other farms and a few retailers and restaurants. Various on-farm value-added activities include processing organic chickens and turkeys, grinding organic livestock feeds and cleaning and conditioning GMO free organic seed. The farm’s livestock products include 100% grass-fed Angus beef, sausages, jerky, pastured chickens and turkeys, free-range eggs and honey. The farm’s crop products include heirloom food-grade grinding corn and popcorn, fresh soybeans (edamame), ground poultry feeds, heirloom GMO free soybean seed and corn seed, small grain and cover crop seed, alfalfa and grass hays, straw and field crops such as corn, soybeans, barley, rye, and hairy vetch.
Committed to developing local and regional food systems, Nick has helped establish and operate several farmer cooperatives. He is also active in many local, state and national organizations dedicated to organic and sustainable agriculture. He is a founding member of the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA), the Maryland Small Farm Cooperative, and Future Harvest-Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (Future Harvest-CASA). Nick has also worked closely with other farmers and scientists at the Organic Farming Research Foundation to publish the National Organic Research Agenda. www.nicksorganicfarm.com/