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
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/141 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Stefan Sobkowiak of The Miracle Farm is encouraging more vegetable farmer to consider planting some fruit trees. And to start planting some trees now, so they are established and producing when you or the vegetable farming gets old. Now you may be saying, "I barely have enough time to do the work that I am doing now." Establishing this orchard might not take as much time as you think. And the slow growth of trees might be on your side. As Stefan will talk about in this episode he manages his whole operation on just 50 hours per year. That includes all pruning, training, irrigation, spraying, clean-up, the whole lot. And he thinks that one person could maintain 4 to 6 acres. Overall making it a doable takes that makes your farming enterprise less fragile, while adding some diversity to your famers market booth or CSA box. If that sounds intriguing stay tuned. Overall Stefan brings it in this one. He walks through what a typical season is like. Talks about why you want to be a price maker not a price taker. Talks about the pros and cons of a u-pick model. There's a lot in this one, and I am willing to bet that it will have you looking at small scale o Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/141 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Anytime that you do something for a long time, over and over again, how do you keep it fresh. Let's be honest, any time that you do something for weeks and years, eventually that honeymoon phase wears off. As should be expecting, things changes, life changes, and you change. If that think that's getting old is you farm, and your livelihood is dependent upon it. How do you battle this evolution of getting stale? One way is to branch out and do other things. Maybe that's research and development, maybe that's teaching, maybe that's furthering a cause and maybe crowd sourcing inspiration globally as you try to get more people interested in farming. That's where Curtis finds himself now. After seven seasons of full time farming his farm has changed dramatically since day 1, and even going back to the beginning of 2016 things have changed quite a bit. It's those changes and the desire to grow and innovate that's helped Curtis stay motivated and keeps things fresh, when it could just as easily get old... That's the topic of today's show on The Urban Farm Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - What are your thoughts on looking for local strains of mushrooms to cultivate out versus ordering or receiving genetic material from someone from a strain that isn't indigenous to your particular area where the strain will be grown?
To learn more about Peter and see all of the ASK Peter episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/peter.
Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/140 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support What if you live in a suburban or urban area on a small lot? A lot of those the chickens living in those areas live in degenerative systems, spending their days on mud runs and dirt patches that are more of a net negative than a net positive. What can be done to avoid this issue? This is where we turn to the techniques that are used on broadacre properties and look to scale it down, rotating birds over a portion of an acre versus multiple acres. It's an idea and concept that I have been playing around with my 3/4 acre property here in San Diego and it's one that I think holds a lot of promise, and it's the subject of today's show. Earlier this year I was contact by a Canadian name Shaw McCarty. Shawn raises his 16 layer chicks on his property which is just under an acre. He rotates the birds through several small paddocks on that small suburban lot. His overall goal is to advance the system while giving the chickens access to as much fresh forage as possible. And so far it's worked. As Shawn stated.. "I thought the chickens would help me by 'mowing' the pasture but their actions have caused it to grow faster, and thicker than it has in the past. With 16 chickens I still need to cut the grass in each paddock a couple times a year to keep it fresh and palatable, once it gets too long the chickens will choose other forage." Shawn's system is one that could be implemented on most small plots, it shows you what's possible. The goal here is to get you thinking. Too many chickens in small urban lots live out their lives on dirt patches. Here's a system that might inspire you to change that. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/140 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer
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A lot of people who want to start farming, don't start because they focus too much on what they don't have and not enough on what they do have.
Land's too expensive. Lack money to start a farm.
Common complaints that you hear about starting up a farming enterprise.
And I will fully acknowledge that those constraints are very real. But let's put those constraints aside today, and focus on what is possible.
Possible by all of us.
Everything that we are going to talk about today deals with getting better and NOT spending money.
If you stop and think about it, there are a lot of things that you can do to improve your business, make your business more competitive, and attract more customers that's free.
If you ever feel like you are at a disadvantage because of what you don't have, start looking at the situation in terms of what you do have, and what you can do, because it's a lot of those things that will make the difference and give you a leg up on the competition, money or not.
Today's episode is us exploring this idea - of what are some of things that you can do to make your farm better, without spending any money.
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We are experiencing the end of an era as a new era in human civilization is beginning. It is a time of great risk but also a time of great potential.
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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.We now know that it is possible to restore large-scale damaged ecosystems. It is possible to sequester carbon and re-regulate the hydrological system. It is possible to restore natural fertility and to remove toxicity from contaminated soils and water.
We are required to do this so that future generations will live in peace and abundance.
For humanity to further evolve it is necessary to transition from a society dedicated to consumption to a society dedicated to ecological function.
Although sometimes obscured by the collapse of the old order this heralds a time of full employment, equality, purpose and fulfillment.
This is THE GREAT WORK OF OUR TIME and we are called to understand and participate in it.
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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.PV2 Audio: permaculturevoices.com/pv2audio
Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - What are the current roadblocks to being able to consistently grow your own morel mushrooms?
To learn more about Peter and see all of the ASK Peter episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/peter
Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/supportLearn more at permaculturevoices.com/javan
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There are many reasons that we can do something. To survive, to get paid, to compete, to make ourselves better, to achieve a goal, to seek fulfillment, the list goes....
All valid reasons. None of them more universally right than another.
Some are more applicable to some people at a given time in a given situation. It all comes down to context. It comes down to what are you seek.
Something short term and material, something quantifiable, or something bigger, something bigger than yourself that you really can't put a finger on...
To further explore this idea, let's go to the classic fable of the Three Stone Cutters as told by then Harvard University president Drew Faust...
"A man came across three stonecutters and asked them what they were doing. The first replied, "I am making a living." The second kept on hammering while he said, "I am doing the best job of stonecutting in the entire county." The third looked up with a visionary gleam in his eye and said, "I am building a cathedral." The first stonecutter is simply doing a day's work for a day's pay, for the material reward he receives in exchange for his labor. The substance of his work, the purpose of his work, the context of his work do not matter.
The second stonecutter has higher aspirations. He wants to be the best. The second stonecutter is an unshakable individualist. He believes in the power of the human mind, and its capacity for reason, in the drive for quality and results, and in the usefulness of reducing complex reality to a simple equation. His world is competitive and meritocratic. It is cosmopolitan; he measures himself against the "whole county" as the story has it—even the whole world.
Yet somehow the vision of the second stonecutter is also incomplete. The focus on the task, the competition, the virtuosity, is a kind of blindness. Consumed with individual ambition, the second stonecutter misses the fundamental interconnectedness of human kind, of societies and of economies. This stonecutter fails to see that there would be no stones to cut if there were not a community building a cathedral.
The third stonecutter embraces a broader vision. The very menial work of stonecutting becomes part of a far larger undertaking, a spiritual as well as a physical construction. This project aspires to the heavens, transcending the earthbound—and indeed transcending the timebound as well, for cathedrals are built not in months or even years, but over centuries. A lifetime of work may make only a small contribution to a structure that unites past and future, connects humans across generations and joins their efforts to purposes they see as far larger than themselves."
An idea that we will explore in this episode.
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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - Basic advice, suggestions and learnings on breeding chickens on the homestead?
To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.For notes related to this episode visit permaculturevoices.com/growmicrogreens. Over the last two episodes [Episode 1, Episode 2] we looked at How Chris started and grew his microgreen business, and we have taken a look at what's possible with that business when it grows. And if you just stand back and look at the numbers, their jaw dropping. Let's be honest. Grossing $200,000 growing 10 day old crops in a shipping container that takes up 320 square is jaw dropping. It almost seems unbelievable. But it's real, and that's where Chris is at with his business after 10 years. Chris has show what's possible. And given that and the relatively low capital investment required to start a microgreens business, it's a business that attracts a lot of people. People that likely focus on the high dollar value per tray, and people that dream about how much money they can make. This is where it gets dangerous, because you can't just look at the income side of the business. You have to look at the expenses as well. When you do that with microgreens that high dollar per tray, isn't as high as it might appear. There are a number of cost that need to be considered - the soil, the seed, and the big one - the labor. There's a decent amount of labor that goes into producing each tray of microgreens. Labor that needs to be priced into the product, and labor that might turn some people off from growing microgreens. When over 60% of your time will be spent harvesting, cleaning, and sanitizing trays, some of the allure of that $50 tray goes away. Add in the need for rigorous observations and recording keeping, and you will find yourself in a position that Chris describes as part automaton and part scientist. No for everyone. Especially when people enter the business looking to make a quick buck. If you are thinking about starting a microgreens operation, there's a lot to consider, especially the negatives. For notes related to this episode visit permaculturevoices.com/growmicrogreens.
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