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
Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com shares 7 Challenges and Concerns of Homesteading with Kids. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.
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It seems like a lot of people that get into farming and starting their own business are busy, all the time.
Is that a good thing?
Is busy a sign of success or is busy a sign of planning?
I think it's more the later, than the form.
"To me, 'busy' implies that the person is out of control of their life." - Derek Sivers
Some of you might here that and think, what, that's crazy. I am in control and I am busy.
Are you really?
After all, what is busy in the first place.
Is busy really a think or is busy a state of mind or is as Derek Sivers says the inevitable result of losing control and poor planning?
If you consider yourself someone who's busy a lot think about that.
Are you busy because you actually have a huge list of urgent and important things to do, or are you busy because you are just doing a lot of stuff.
Outside of the Emergency Room most of us are more likely are the latter. Not many of us have a lot of urgent and important things to do each day. We might have a couple things that fall into that category and then we have a lot of other stuff that we do because we need to, because we think we need to, because we've never really thought about it, and because we don't have a plan in place.
Busy might actually be in your control.
As Henry David Thoreau said, it's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
If you find yourself constantly busy. Ask yourself why. And ask yourself what are you busy about?
Remember, it's your life, and being busy all the time might not be optimum. Is that you really signed up for - being busy all the time? If not, then this episode may help you reframe what you are actually being so busy about.
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Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question - How do you know how much to feed your broilers?
To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.
Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd11
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This is Part 2 of the Ben Hewitt series and it is inspired by Part 1, the interview with Ben about his book Home Grown. If you missed that one and want listen to it, you can listen to it here.
For today's episode, I want to expand upon some of my thoughts form the interview and the book. My goal for this episode was to make it a though provoking one.
It's me dancing between idealistic life and reality. Let's call it realistic idealism. How can we realistically create a system that is close to ideal as possible?
A lot of this is me thinking a loud and hopefully getting you to really think about you life and how things are.
There are a few central issues to this episode - time meaning how precious it is and us as adults dealing with raising the next generation of kids; maybe through the K-12 public school system, but maybe not after hearing this one.
Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd11
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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks what to do when you spouse isn't into the idea of being a homesteader.
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
Most people don't get into farming to get rich.
Does that mean that you can't get rich farming, no it doesn't. But if you only motivation to farm is to get rich, then you better buckle up because you have rocky road ahead.
Because when it comes to amassing monetary riches the road hasn't historically been paved by good soil and a tractor.
That's not to say that there aren't rich farmers, because there are, but it's not the norm.
If are getting into farming only for the money, to get rich, then you better think about how you are going to do that, and why you are going to do that.
If money isn't your only motivator for getting into farming, then you better think about why you are getting into it, and how you are going to do it.
Either way it won't be easy. But either way can make you rich, it all comes down to, how you define rich.
Today's episode is a look beyond the bank account. It's a look at all of the other benefits and reasons to be an entrepreneur and to be farmer.
This episode is us kicking around ideas and brainstorming to broaden the idea of what being rich, truly means.
It's a definition that's different for everyone. And it's one that you need to define when you get into this. Because if you define it, it makes it a lot easier to become rich, and if you don't then it makes it a lot easier to stay poor.
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Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com gives his thoughts on growing hops (for beer) commercially. To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.
Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd10
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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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Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks how he prioritizes projects on his 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.
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support What if you are already selling at farmers markets, but you don't have enough of a diversity of products to design a CSA around? If that's the case one option might be create a collaborative CSA. The collaborative CSA allows you to expand your crop variety with competing with other farms and without diluting down your efforts on your farm. You grow what you grow best in your context, and source everything else from other farmers who are better setup to grow those specific products. It creates a win/win situation for you and the other farmers. Everyone grows what they grow best, and in theory sales go up. It's also a win for the consumer because they now have concentrated access to more local products, without having to sourcing these producing individually from each farmer. Aggregators, collaborative CSA's and food broker models, are these models perfect? No. But if they give you options. And if you are having issues moving product, then more options might be better than less options. You just need to look at everything and figure out which combination is the best fit for you and your market. In today's show we'll look at some alternative market streams for selling your vegetables, so to help you start thinking outside the box, so you can sell more boxes, of vegetables. It's currently May 2016. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
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