Stay ConnectedInsights for vegetable farmers and market gardeners who earn, or want to earn, a living growing vegetables profitably.
In each episode, I talk with a beginning or experienced farmer, diving deep into their story to find out what makes their market farm successful. I focus on in-the-field farming. Soil preparation, weed management, post-harvest processing, appropriate technology, farm tools and equipment, and growing crops.
Hosted and produced by Diego Footer’s Modern Grower Podcast Network.
Copyright: © Modern Grower
This new season of The Profitable Mini-Farm kicks off with farmer and educator Jodi Roebuck joining host Diego to talk about the challenges and techniques of managing excess water on the farm. They also dive deep into cover cropping: what do you do to your production beds when the farm slows down? Farmer Jodi shares his cover cropping strategies: which crops he uses, seeding rates, termination techniques, and Jang tips to accomplish everything. Learn more about Jodi: https://www.roebuckfarm.com/ @roebuckfarm
Kwik Hoops are eligible for NRCS low-tunnel grants. Protect your valuable crop from rain, wind, cold, and insects using Kwik Hoops and InsectaNet.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99
In this episode, host Diego and farmer Alec talk about farming in the peak season: summer. They dive into the challenges that come with being a solo farmer surviving the summer season by balancing production, ensuring having enough crops to sell, expanding the product variety, and potentially tapping into additional market streams to include restaurants.
Click here to check out farmer Alec and Crop Culture Farm.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99
In this episode, Diego and Alec talk all about tools. If you plan on starting a farm, you're probably thinking about a mountain of tools you think you need to get started, but waiting to buy every single one might be setting you back a while. Farmer Alec shares the few tools he used to get his farm up and running on a shoestring budget. Lastly, Diego and Alec touch a bit on fertility and how getting your soil fertility down can help boost production.
Click here to check out farmer Alec and Crop Culture Farm.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99
In this episode, farmer Alec and host Diego are joined by a special guest: veteran market gardener Cassie Pierce of Peace of Prairie Organic Farm in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Cassie shares some of her insights on Alec's farming journey and her thoughts on some of the misconceptions she hears being passed on to younger farmers. She then unpacks the disconnect between her experience as a market gardener and the pseudo-myths she hears about small-scale farming such as the need for a high-end market, and that only growing a few select crops is the key to profitability.
Click here to check out farmer Alec and Crop Culture Farm.
Click here to learn more about farmer Cassie and Peace of Prairie Organic Farm.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99
Farmer and educator Jodi Roebuck of Roebuck Farms in Taranaki, New Zealand jumps on the show to discuss how they grow microgreens as part of their market garden operation. Farmer Jodi shares some interesting ways they leverage microgreens as a way to expand their product offerings, such as enhancing existing salad mixes and picking up the slack by filling in production gaps when field crops are having issues.
Learn more about Farmer Jodi and Roebuck Farm on Instagram and their website.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools and microgreen seeds at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF
Chris's online course Growing Your Profitable Microgreens Business https://microgreens.teachable.com/courses
Watch and listen to more on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@InSearchofSoil
Exploring the Fascinating World of Fungi with Dr. Elizabeth Koziol:
From Dumb Luck to Mycorrhizal Wisdom Elizabeth is a mycologist whose accidental journey into the world of fungi turned into a lifelong passion. She shares her experiences from her career working with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, debunking common misconceptions and explaining the intricate relationships between fungi and plants. Learn about the surprising mechanisms of fungal-plant communication, the role of fungi in agriculture, and the potential of microbial inoculants like MycoBloom. Whether you're a gardener or a researcher, this talk offers valuable insights into the unseen world beneath our feet.
Dr. Kozoil's research: https://scholar.google.com/citations?...
Dr. Kozoil's company MycoBloom: https://www.mycobloom.com/
Subscribe and Listen to the audio version of In Search of Soil:
iTunes - http://bit.ly/soilpodcast
Spotify - http://bit.ly/insearchofsoil
Enjoy the show? Drop me a line @diegofooter - / diegofooter
In this episode, farmer Alec and host Diego talk about the finances behind two ways of starting a farm: when the farm starts out as a side hustle, and when the farm starts out as the main hustle. Farmer Alec talks about where he falls on that spectrum, as well as the challenges around navigating the financial landscape of running a first-year farm.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF
Blake Cowling and Austin Collins on Scintilla Farms in San Diego, California share their microgreens journey starting on a very small scale and expanding to growing in a warehouse to service over 30 restaurant customers. They also share why they chose to sell to restaurants, how they built their solid customer base, and their strategy for curating their crop offerings based on their customers' needs. Lastly, they also talk about their future plans to expand their microgreens business to include mushrooms.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools and microgreen seeds at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF
Chris's online course Growing Your Profitable Microgreens Business https://microgreens.teachable.com/courses
In this episode, host Diego and farmer Alec talk about the challenges that come with growing vegetables in the heat of summer—scheduling crop succession, dealing with the difficulties of maintaining greens, and adapting to the market's changing demands.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF
Joe Naiman-Sessions of N Bar S Microgreens in Helena, Montana shares his microgreen growing journey, from reaching out to other microgreen growers in the area and selling to grocery stores, to broadening their product offering to include edible flowers, to their success in selling live cut microgreens at farmer's markets. Joe also shares his edible flower cultivation methods, his plans to expand to market gardening, as well as how he effectively keeps on top of bookkeeping and cashflow management.
Get time and labor-saving farm tools and microgreen seeds at shop.modern grower.co
Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:
Check out Diego's book Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF
Chris's online course Growing Your Profitable Microgreens Business https://microgreens.teachable.com/courses
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