Stay ConnectedDaily farm and garden talk. All about growing vegetables profitably and efficiently on small farms and in gardens.
Each episode focuses on one specific topic – growing practices, how-to, farming challenges and struggles, sales and marketing, soil preparation, weed management, farm startup, market selection, and work-life balance.
Hosted and produced by Diego Footer’s Modern Grower Podcast Network.
Copyright: © Modern Grower
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Today's show centers around Ben Hewitt's book Home Grown; a great book that has had a profound effect on my life.
It's one of those books that I couldn't put down and at the same point it was hard to read because I got so lost in thought reading it.
It's a rare must read category book for me.
It should appeal to the homesteader, the wannabe homesteader, the parent, the soon to be parent, and the millions of people who are feel like the system did them wrong by sending them off on the wrong path in life destined to a life of track homes and cubicles.
It's a vicarious look into the life that many of wish we could live, but don't...
The subtitle of the book is Adventures in Parenting off the beaten path, unschooling and reconnecting with the natural world.
Ben describes it as his sharing of stories,
"They are not merely stories about all we are learning but also about all we are unlearning and about our imperfect quest to inhabit a balanced place that allows us to remain part of a broader world while also living in a way that is true to our values and vision. In a sense, for us this has been the easy part. I have found that the harder part is determining how to conduct our lives in a manner than honors these values and this vision, even as we are continually confronted with evidence that such a quest is impractical, if not downright naive."
The book is deep, and I hope that it gets you thinking.
This episode and this book is one that is very important to me because Ben's book had such an impact on me and as the title of this episode says, it got me to stop worrying and to start living. I hope that it has an impact on you, if you are in need of one.
Ben Hewitt and I, two father, talking kids and life, here it is.
Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd10
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While the prospects of starting a small market farm that grosses over $100,000 is lucrative and attractive, it's not for everyone or possible in every location. And that's the topic of today's episode with Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm.... A lot of what you hear about in the small scale farmer movement are the uber-successful small farmers that are grossing 1, 2 or $300k per acre. They are inspiring stories, but those stories all share one thing in common, their markets. Typically small farmers grossing big dollars are able to do that by selling their produce into larger, higher end urban market streams - market streams which will pay top dollar for microgreens, salad mix, and baby root veg. What if you don't live near one of those large urban markets? What if you don't have high end farmers markets and restaurants to sell product too? What do the prospects of your rural farming career hold? Today, I am talking to a farmer who faced that exact problem, making farming work in very rural Amish Kentucky without high end restaurants and with a sleepy farmer's markets. In this episode Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm located in very rural Crab Orchard Kentucky will share his story. It's an inspiring story about a husband and wife making a small farm work, by approaching farming in a very smart way. A necessity, when your local customer based is used to buying vegetables at prices like 3 for $1 or $1 per dozen sweet corn. If you're interested in farming, but you are nowhere near a large city, then this episode is for you. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support
Paul Wheaton joins me to talk about his new Kickstarter and what he's learned over very successful Kickstarter campaigns. He also discusses what makes a good PC, choosing the right PDC, and how he deals with the constant hate that people throw his way. We wrap up the conversation talking about doing epic s*** versus living a boring grey life. Support Paul's Kickstarter at www.permaculturevoices.com/paul
Today I'm talking to a grower who's admittedly "I'm a little bit obsessive about growing high quality produce." It's an obsession that's fueled his farms growth, and an obsession which is a bit necessary to fuel the farm's growth to bring his fiancé onto the farm full-time. And while Elliot Seldner of Fair Share Farms' obsession may be on growing high quality produce, it's not only on growing high quality produce, because Elliot realized the importance of work life balance and the need to have a time and place to enjoy the other things created on the farm. Today Elliot is going to talk specifically how they do that, in part by focusing intentionally on making the farm more efficient through appropriate technology, no till, and optimizing equipment. Elliot's also going to talk about how he and his fiancé are approaching farm transition. Because she's current employed a schoolteacher, a necessary step in their farms evolution, but one that's only a step, where the long term goal is to get her onto the farm full time. Looking into the future, it's the farming methods that Emma and Elliot use which will make this all possible, a farm that provides multiple incomes on just over half and acre... Let's get into it, with one of the masters of farm efficiency, Elliot Seldner. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support
Whether it's MMA or becoming a freelancer or business owner, the punches will be thrown, and they will hit you.
But as Mike Tyson said, "Everybody has a plan until they punched in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze."
When life hits you in the face what are you going to do?
Are you going to freeze like a rat, or are you going to come back like Mike Tyson and be that baddest man on the planet?
The hard reality of that question, is that it truly is up to you to decide.
What would you do?
Let's find out what a former MMA fighter turned farmer did, and find out from out what's it's like to get punched into the face by life, and someone else...
Read more at permaculturevoices.com/yourstory2
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Music: www.purple-planet.com
If customers keep asking if you have certain crop, and you don't, should you grow it? It depends. And that's the focus of today's show: When, How, and Why to Start Producing A New Microgreen Crop Today microgreen grower Chris Thoreau and I are talking about new crops - specifically how do you start growing them? On the surface that may seem like a simple and straightforward question, but there's a lot of specifics involved in answering that questions, and the specifics are where profits are made or money is lost. You have to consider things like can you actually grow the crop - meaning can you get a good yield from in within your system that's already setup to grow other crops; or does the crop's harvest schedule fall in line with your other crops and your current harvest schedule. If you plan on scaling the crop, can you actually buy enough seed? And can that seed be bought at a price that makes the crop profitable. All legitimate considerations which need to be considered, anytime you take on the decisions to grow a new corp. If you are thinking about starting a farm or adding some new crops to the mix, then this episode is for you. Chris will put the theory to reality and talk about his experiences and failures introducing new crops, like basil. What his methodically and thought process was and why. As you'll hear, not everything always works, regardless of how much experience you have, and sometimes some crops are just better off not grown. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support
In honor of Earth Day, today's show is a replay of the interview with the original Earth Day lead organizer Denis Hayes.
Denis Hayes talks about a lifetime of work in environmentalism - the challenges, successes, the changing environmental problems since the 60's, and how he has endured numerous political changes in Washington.
Denis was the organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, headed the Solar Energy Research Institute under President Carter, and is now president of the Bullitt Foundation. In 1999 Time Magazine named him Hero of the Planet.
In this episode we go through his early life in a polluted Washington paper milling community to how he became an environmental activist. We also discuss the creation and organization of the first Earth Day in 1970 and how the scope of the environmental problems have changed since then.
Learn more about Denis at permaculturevoices.com/cd3.
Today I'm going to be talking to another small scale farmer who's greatly benefited by growing smaller, not larger. A few years ago farmer Alex Bertsch started farming on half an acre. Not a ton of land, but enough to make it hard for one person to manage. Add in the fact that the half an acre was being farmed part-time, and that half an acre seems a little more daunting. Then place that half an acre 40 minutes from where Alex lived, and you now have a hard farm to manage for anyone. It was a situation that was further complicated by growing a large variety of crops. Despite these first year challenges, Alex persevered and came out the first year ahead. Then he did something wise, he accessed the situation and he scaled back. He cut his farm down from half an acre to just 500 square feet and some indoor growing space, and he moved the farm from the remote location to his back yard. Also, as part of his strategy he dramatically reduced his crops selection down to just salad greens and microgreens. It was a big change of going smaller and simpler that changed everything for Alex. It made his life and his farm more manageable, and it's one that he continues to grow today. Growing Better by Growing Smaller - Going From Half an Acre to 500 Square Feet with Alex Bertsch of Epic by Nature Farm. Stay tuned every Monday, for a new episode at www.permaculturevoices.com/grassfed Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support
Welcome to world of Farming Small and Farming Smart, it's The Urban Farmer.
When you are starting any new business it can be very overwhelming.
You have a lot to do all at once - building infrastructure, creating your brand, marketing, cultivating a customer base, customer service, and of course producing a product.
All essentially full time jobs, but full time jobs that need to be done all at once, by one person, you.
It can be very overwhelming.
Where do you start?
After all you can't just focus on producing good product without cultivating a customer base or you have no one to sell that product to. And you can't start producing product without having some way to clean and store that product.
Given that you really need to start everywhere, doing it all in parallel.
For a lot of new farmers this is where analysis paralysis sets in, and it's the topic of today's episode.
Here it is Conquering Analysis Paralysis By Starting a Whole Farm at Once in this episode of The Urban Farmer.
Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart
Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support
This episode is a special episode, it's a replay of another podcast, specifically someone else's podcast. The episode that you will hear today is an interview that Marianne West did with me on a subject I am very passionate about - being a dad. Marianne is going to talk to be about being a dad and how that first experience of being a dad dramatically shook up my life, and not just in a good way. Marianne did a great job with the interview, and it's an episode that I am very proud to have been a part of. If you like what you hear in this one, and you want to hear more be sure to check out more episodes with Marianne and her co-host Janice at www.sustainablelivingpodcast.com. With that, let's get into it, with me on the other end of things for a change, it's me on being a dad. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/podcast Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support
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