About Us:

Nick’s Organic Farm encompasses a 165-acre certified organic farm near scenic Buckeystown, Maryland, in the fertile Frederick Valley, which we purchased about 20 years ago, and our home plus a few acres in suburban Potomac, Maryland.

From 1980 to 2012, we also organically farmed a 20-acre plot of land leased from Montgomery County public schools adjacent to our home along Brickyard Road, but that land has now reverted to the school system and currently is not being used for any purpose. In 2012 the site was operated as the Brickyard Educational Farm by our daughter Sophia Maravell.

We aim to minimize off-farm inputs through our diversified and integrated farming system, which combines animals under management intensive grazing and an 8-12 year crop rotation to raise vegetables, hay, pastures, grains, seed and livestock. Our practices are designed to constantly improve the quality of our soils—which for us is the basis of our organic farming system.

We raise Black Angus cattle, chicken, turkey and eggs, grains and other crops at our farm near Buckeystown. Our 100% grass-fed cattle receive certified organic pasture, certified organic hay (in winter), water and mineral salts mixed with sea kelp, but never grain. The cattle are not fed any hormones, antibiotics or animal products.

We grow our own grain and grind our own organic poultry feed from organic grain we grow and occasionally buy from other local organic farms. Our poultry receive this certified organic feed and graze on our organic pastures. We also sell our certified organic poultry feed to other organic farmers and to customers for their personal flocks.

From the start in 1979, we have been committed to a constant improvement in our organic farming methods. We have conducted on-farm research with federal, state and non-profit agencies to refine our organic practices. With the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), we conducted research to improve our organic crops and to breed and manage our herd so that it has maximum natural resistance to disease without the use of synthetic chemicals. We have also participated in a university study documenting the nutritional advantages of grass-fed beef.