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
Toby Hemenway joins me to talk permaculture - how permaculture has changed and how we can work more permaculture into our lives.Toby also talks about being one of instructors for the new Ecological Landscaper Immersion Program that is being put on by the Erik Ohlsen and the Permaculture Skills Center.
Key TakeawaysIt really benefits anyone in almost any field to be able to think in whole systems. Someone who embraces permaculture can do a lot more than teach and design property. Apply permaculture techniques and principles to what you do. Find good mentors. Many people want to help others. You just have to ask.Some standard economic training is good. You can get a great toolkit and then apply it however you want. Standard training is a tool, a means to an end if you goal is ecological design. Catch kids while thinking in whole systems. Before they are trained out of it into compartmentalized thinking.Starting with soil fertility and building organic matter is a good idea. It is almost a universal panacea along with being careful with water. Move to the highest generalization. For example, do you want to open a store, or do you want to make a living providing good products for your community.Find the things in life that you are really good at and do those things. It gives you good feedback and then you start building confidence and making forward progress.Want to transition careers? Find ways to make it less scary - lower expenses.
Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/37
Darren Doherty discusses soil mineralization, value adding on farms, and farm water systems.This is the fourth podcast that takes you to one of Darren's open consultancies. The consultancies themselves are workshops that center around a real world farm planning and development process. The hosts and Darren open up the process so you can learn from a real world application of theory.This audio was recorded at Darren Doherty's Regarian Open Consultancy at Markegard Family Farm on October 22 and 23, 2013. The workshop was open source, so thanks to Darren for allowing me to share this with you all.
Darren Doherty walks Doniga and Eric Markegard through some basic farm design. Working with contour maps. Where to hold water in the landscape. Various uses for tree systems on the farm.This is the third podcast that takes you to one of Darren's open consultancies. The consultancies themselves are workshops that center around a real world farm planning and development process. The hosts and Darren open up the process so you can learn from a real world application of theory.This audio was recorded at Darren Doherty's Regarian Open Consultancy at Markegard Family Farm on October 22 and 23, 2013. The workshop was open source, so thanks to Darren for allowing me to share this with you all.
Dave Whitinger of All Things Plants joins me for a to chat about different [permaculture] plants that he grows.
Most of these plants are class permaculture plants. They are plants that perform multiple functions within a system. Many of these are sadly considered weeds - comfrey, lambs quarter, dandelion, yarrow, mint, and more.
Dave talks about his experiences with each of the plants, what functions they perform, and some of the ways that he is using the plants in hi system.
Dave also talks about potato growing and how he uses plants to feed his chickens in a paddock shift system on his Texas homesite.
Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/b007
Kevin Muno is on the show talking about his new start-up restoration agriculture style farm, Montado Farms.
Kevin talks about why he is doing what he is doing against a lot of heavy odds - highland prices, limited water in Southern California, and he doesn't come from a farming background. He touches on all of the big issues like how do you fund a $1M farm as start-up.
Kevin is approaching the farm as a business and we address everything that goes along with that - the farm business structure, raising capital, and cash flows.
If you don't think anyone besides Mark Shepard is farming these types of systems, you are mistaken. These systems are starting to come on line and Kevin is one of the ones leading the ay.
There are a hundred reasons that you could give Kevin on why he shouldn’t do what he is doing and why it might not work. But, I don’t think he cares about why it can’t be done, because he is focusing on getting it done. That’s what makes his story different. He doesn’t have that farming background that you would expect him to have, but he has the drive and determination to leverage the skills that he has to figure out a way to make his dream happen.
Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/36
Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture joins me to talk about the business of permaculture - a right livelihood.We live in a world where we are surrounded by environmental liabilities that have a real economic impact. So why not solve those problems and earn a living in the process?Rob talks a lot about approaching permaculture as a profession. What opportunities are out there. What works in permaculture based business and what doesn't. And how we in the permaculture community should embrace business, charge an appropriate price for our services while we solve the world's problems.This episode should dismiss the myth of the pauper and permaculture. There are legitimate large scale problems that need to be solved. And permaculture provides a matrix of solutions to solve those problems. There are a huge number of business opportunities out there do what you love to do, earn a living, and make a better world. The hardest part? Just getting started.Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/35
Grant Schultz joins me to talk about developing a perennial polyculture in the middle of row-crop corn and soy country Iowa.
He discusses a lot of the innovation and developments taking place on his farm, including some really innovative ways of doing GPS keyline design.
We spend a lot of time talking about the business of farming. The importance of monitoring cash flows and being cash flow positive. And how Grant is using USDA funds to help pay for pieces of his system and getting moving in the right direction.
Key Takeaways:
Importance of making your operation cashflow the whole time. Expenses will pile up so start getting cashflow and a customer base early.
Consider buying rootstock and graft it over later. It is much cheaper to go that route and grafting isn't that hard.
Get plant systems going early on. It is fairly inexpensive and gets the system starting to advance.
Have a plan but evolve as you go. Having an end in mind gives you a goal and a direction to head in, but things will change along the way as you learn the intricacies of the system.
Plant the earliest maturing fruit trees downslope. That way when you are browsing them the manure runs downhill.
How do you want your system to look at maturity and what are the action items to get you there? Then the thing to do is the one with the most impact. What has the earliest yield to get you to the move to the next impact item.
Do not underestimate the importance of monitoring and planing out cashflows.
When you are farming on broad acres you have the same advantages that conventional farmers have. Crop insurance.
Consider using a nurse crop that also cash flows. Grant's example of raising oats for cover crop seed.
Consider the balance of high value versus high labor. Is the value worth the labor?
There is a huge need for more local genetic permaculture plant material.
Recognize the importance of planting dense. Buy trees in mass. It gets cheap and doesn't cost you more to plant at high density. You take advantage of genetic selection and protect yourself against losses.
Irrigate your trees if possible - think keyline, swales. Growth rates of trees that are irrigated versus those that aren't is huge when the trees have consistent water availability. Consider the economic impact of the yield with water versus no water. The work now can make you a lot more money down the line.
Take advantage of all available resources: USDA, NRCS, EQIP. When starting out pre-sell as much as you can. Build a local customer base from Day 1.
Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/34
Patricia Foreman the author of City Chicks joins me to talk about backyard chickens, chicken tractors, and general chickenery.We will talk about all of the great things that chickens can add to a permaculture homestead - fertilizer, pest management, food, disturbance, baby sitters. :)Pat will touch on soil building using chickens in composting systems and chickens tractors. And how chickens can be used to close the loop on our waste stream... and in some case even save tax payers money.
Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/33
Darren Doherty walks Doniga and Eric Markegard through the Holistic Design process. This is the second podcast that takes you to one of Darren's open consultancies. The consultancies themselves are workshops that center around a real world farm planning and development process. The hosts and Darren open up the process so you can learn from a real world application of theory.This audio was recorded at Darren Doherty's Regarian Open Consultancy at Markegard Family Farm on October 22 and 23, 2013. The workshop was open source, so thanks to Darren for allowing me to share this with you all.
Javan Bernakevitch of Permaculture BC joins me today to talk about finding your niche in permaculture.Javan will take you through some of the insight he has for finding your niche.Javan is a permaculture teacher and designer who has worked with countless students helping them sift through the everything that is permaculture to help them figure out what really fires them up, and what’s just OK.If you want to turn permaculture, or anything, into a career, just having the knowledge isn’t enough. You need to really think about where you fit into it all. Where do you want to go and what will give you a the fulfilled life you want? One key piece of figuring that out is discovering where opportunity and your passion overlap.
Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/32
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
