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/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Farming... is it expensive to start, or not? A lot of people want to get into farming, but they stall out when it comes to the money side of things. The common cause of that stall out is land. Land is expensive to purchase. So most people immediately dismiss the idea of farming because they can't afford land. But people like Greg Judy, Joel Salatin, and us on this show, have shown that you don't need to own land to farm. There's a lot of land available to farm. Land you don't need to own, and land that you can gain access to through options like leasing.. If you can lease land either for free or inexpensively and if you are in a market where you can move product, then the potential upside to small scale farming is pretty attractive given the low start up costs and low infrastructure requirements? How low? Very low compared to other businesses. In his book Curtis gives an initial start-up estimate for a 1/4 acre farm at $7k to $17k. Curtis started his farm with just $7k. That's $7k that buys equipment and infrastructure which is portable and resellable. In good markets, the risk reward of small scale farming is usually favorable because small scale market farming startup costs are very low compared to many business out there. Yet, despite the minimal start up costs, the costs are still prohibitive, or at least perceived to be prohibitive by some people. Given that we'll dig into the farm start up numbers and see where costs can be cut and what costs are just unavoidable. And we'll also bring in some rationale to these numbers discussing why certain items are worth the cost, and why others aren't. Today we'll begin a multi-part series discussing the minimum that you could spend to start a farm, and we will begin with the base principles, what are the things that you need to think about before you spend any money, that's coming up on Season Two Episode 22 of The Urban Farmer. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
There are some wonderful examples of communities of practice growing around farmer-to-farmer extension of permaculture design principles in poorly served regions. How can the global permaculture community organize around the idea of putting permaculture at the heart of rural development, displacing the business-as-usual development programs that promote unsustainable farming systems, by making better use of resources that already exist – resources like the world-wide network of permaculture training centers, and the ubiquitous cell phone?
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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.Today's show is about time.
Specifically how precious our tiem is, and how we ought not to waste it.
I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This is one of the most common regrets that people have at the end of their lives. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people don't honor even a half of their dreams and die knowing that it is due to choices they had made, or not made.
How many people listening to this have unfilled dreams?
How many people are really living their lives the way they want?
How many people are listening to this as they drive drive to or from a job that they really don't like and in a perfect world wouldn't be doing?
A type of job that they only go to pay the bills because they have kids, a mortgage, etc, etc..
A lot of people live that life. And that's a life of fear disguised as practicality.
It's a sad way to live, because life is too short.
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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.Mycologist and author Peter McCoy of RadicalMycology.com takes on the question - I'm new to mushroom foraging, what are some of the unwritten rules of the game?
To learn more about Peter and see all of the ASK Peter episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/peter.
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Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/133 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support If your listening to this show then you probably have a garden or have had one at one point and time. And for most of you gardeners summer is your primary gardening time. And for most of North America that's a good time to garden because it's relatively easy. Plants like to grow because day lengths are long and temperatures are warm.. at least for most of North America. But what if you live in a part of North America, that doesn't fall under under the previously mentioned "most" category... That's where my guest today, Market Gardener Brian Kowalski finds himself living in Newfoundland... Summer as he describes it is something like this... "May is still cold here, ground is just unfreezing, June is cool, average temp is around 4-5 Celsius (40F), but usually sunny with warm days (10-14C, 57F) but May and June night time temps are generally below 4C. July or August will be normal summer weather, 20-30 C, 85F with nights 12-15, 57F, but one them is usually pretty crappy grey foggy and damp with temperatures cool to warm. ...Septembers have usually been ok but there's a noticeable slow down of growth of course as the nights cool and the days shorten. So to answer your question, July or August. Lots of cold frames and row cover." Living in Newfound weather is one challenge for Brian. He describes the climate as like farming in the shoulder season all summer, windy generally with occasional hurricane, cloudy. Despite the challenges Brian has made a go of it and is a profitable market gardener. What he is doing is working. Given that, the goal for this to take a look at how Brian is dealing with harsh conditions to help those of you who might not have such harsh conditions. Another use of this information is to take some of the techniques that Brian has to apply in the summer and apply them to the colder parts of your season, be in the spring or fall shoulder seasons, or the winters... Listen to the ideas and techniques that he is using and think about how you can apply them to your situation even if your season and his don't match up. And when it's cold and rainy in October, just be thankful that it isn't June, and you aren't trying to garden in the summer in Newfoundland. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/133 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - What are the areas on the homestead where it pays to pay up and not go cheap?
To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.
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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question - What are the areas on the homestead where it pays to pay up and not go cheap?
To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.
Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support "At too many companies, and in too many hapless careers, the number one imperative is to avoid failure and embarrassment associated therewith at all costs. My take, failure, supported by wildly imaginative hypotheses and incredibly hard work, is something that companies and individuals must embrace. Frankly at all costs. Unless you're stretching... wildly, you're not going to reach that brass ring called hyper success amidst a brawl with no rules." Tom Peters The market and nature of small scale farming is too dynamic. To succeed you have to be dynamic as well. That will mean trying things that don't work, and trying things not knowing if they will work. You're going to have to make assumptions and best guesses. You're going to have to adapt. And that's what today's episode is all about... adapting and switching it up on the fly... Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Are you thinking of quitting your day job? Taking that big leap & embracing a permaculture business as your way forward? Matt Powers did just that shortly after PV2, & it hasn't been a predictable path either. Hear about starting up, failing upward, branching out, creating niches, generating value through meaning, & fighting to maintain a family in the startup phases of a new business.
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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.
This show is a conversation that I had with Mark Shepard about the process of starting up his farm, New Forest Farm, in Viola, Wisconsin.
How did he start?
What was the process like - both on the land and off?
What were the real life financial struggles and challenges that he went through and faced?
Hint... It wasn't easy.
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THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE.
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