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020: Pete Johnson Talks Large-Scale Vegetables in Vermont

6/25/2015

2 Comments

 
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Pete Johnson of Pete’s Greens farms ninety acres of vegetables – with three under cover, and an additional 130 acres in hay and cover crops, in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, with sales through a CSA and farm stores, as well as through wholesale markets. Pete shares his strategies for extending the season with roots and greens storage, in addition to winter growing. We also get into Pete’s efforts to develop new weed control strategies on his large-scale farm to help mitigate risk with a changing climate, managing employees and projects, and scaling equipment for your operation.

Sponsors

Fertrell: A friend of nature since 1946, Fertrell has the products and knowledge to help you grow healthy, natural plants and animals, no matter your level of experience or the size of your operation.

Osborne Seed Company: Founded by seed professionals and dedicated to serving professional growers of all scales, Osborne Seed provides quality seeds, excellent customer service, and a fantastic selection.

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Ortomec salad harvesters from Sutton Ag

Harnois TunnelPro multi-bay high tunnels are similar to the more popular Haygrove tunnels, but made to withstand more wind. I’m a big fan of Harnois greenhouses and tunnels, as is Pete.

Pete uses a Lely Tine Weeder, but wants to experiment with the Einbock. The main difference is that the tines on the Einbock can all be adjusted at once; on larger units, individual sections also float free.

I made mention of a great book, the E-Myth Revisited, which goes deep into the structure of entrepreneurs and management in a growing, developing business.
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019: Nick Olson on Starting a Farm as a Beginning Farmer Educator

6/18/2015

6 Comments

 
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Nick Olson and his wife, Joan, own Prairie Drifter Farm in Litchfield, Minnesota – out on the edge of the prairie. They raise about six acres of vegetables 90 minutes west of the Twin Cities, selling most of them through a CSA and the rest to stores and restaurants. Nick has also coordinated the Farm Beginnings courses for the Land Stewardship Project for a number of years. We talked about how his experience with that program influenced the decisions that he and Joan have made on their farm over the past six years, covering topics from holistic management to relationship management. I had a lot of fun talking to Nick, and I learned a lot. I think you’ll find the conversation as valuable as I did.

Sponsors

Fertrell: A friend of nature since 1946, Fertrell has the products and knowledge to help you grow healthy, natural plants and animals, no matter your level of experience or the size of your operation.

Osborne Seed Company: Founded by seed professionals and dedicated to serving professional growers of all scales, Osborne Seed provides quality seeds, excellent customer service, and a fantastic selection.

Show Links

Farm Beginnings Program – The Land Stewardship Project (Minnesota) Farm Beginnings program was the first, and spawned the Farm Beginnings Collaborative, a national alliance of independent regional groups of farmers and farmer-training support organizations working together to promote the Farm Beginnings training model.

We talked again about Holistic Management – the book is great, and you can find more information about Holistic Management at the Savory Institute website or at Holistic Management International.

Nick and I also talked about the Farm Service Agency’s microloans program. FSA also has a guide to farm loan programs.

Nick mentioned the National Young Farmer’s Coalition’s work to promote changes in the FSA loan programs.

The Farm Business Management program in Minnesota was important to Nick. I’m not sure just how many of these programs exist in other states.

Nick couldn’t hold himself to just one favorite tool. He highlighted the Valley Oak Wheel Hoe, the Farmall Super C, and the Club Car Carryall as the tools that really get him excited.

Finally, if you haven’t seen it, here’s the video Nick mentioned that Mike Bollinger had shared about harvesting kale. I’ve always thought I was pretty fast, but this puts the lie to that idea…

On A Personal Note...

I mentioned the recording setup for my end of this podcast, which we recorded late on a Friday night. My partner and I bought a house in Madison, Wisconsin, two weeks ago, but we’re not moving for another two weeks. On Friday night, I was heading back to my house in Decorah after spending the week at Angelic Organics, in northern Illinois, and I stopped in the empty house to spend the night and record this episode. Empty houses are full of echoes, so I had to set up a temporary studio in the hall closet to try to cut down in the echo.
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018: Annie Salafsky and Susan Ujcic on Building a Farm around Personal Needs

6/11/2015

2 Comments

 
farmer to farmer podcast_guest_annie salafsky and susan ujcic_helsing junction farm
Annie Salafsky and Susan Ujcic share the story of how two women – one from suburban Chicago and one from suburban New Jersey – started and grew Helsing Junction Farm in western Washington. Annie and Susan have raised produce for their CSA since 1992. Chris and Annie and Susan discuss improving nutrient density, farming in a business partnership, using online customer relationship management software to improve logistics, and how they’ve built Helsing Junction around their families and personal needs.

Sponsors

Fertrell: A friend of nature since 1946, Fertrell has the products and knowledge to help you grow healthy, natural plants and animals, no matter your level of experience or the size of your operation.

Osborne Seed Company: Founded by seed professionals and dedicated to serving professional growers of all scales, Osborne Seed provides quality seeds, excellent customer service, and a fantastic selection.

Show Links

Annie talked at length about Sea-Crop fertilizer, which they use to provide a diversity of nutrients to their crops.

Helsing Junction has benefited from the PCC Farmland Trust, which is dedicated to preserving farmland for organic farmers in the Northwest.

Helsing Junction uses Farmigo to manage customer relationships, ordering, and logistics.

Annie and Sue also mention the reusable CSA boxes they prefer to use from Farm Wholesale Ag.
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017: Greg Garbos on Engineering Successful Farms

6/4/2015

11 Comments

 
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Greg Garbos brings his training and experience in conventional engineering to his work as a small farmer and with small farmers. He is the owner and cofounder of Four Season Tools, a greenhouse and horticulture supply company that also provides farm design consulting, as well as the owner and founder of City Bitty Farm, a grower of microgreens for Kansas City area restaurants. Greg and I dig into using intentional decision-making as a basis for developing a farm around sound principles.

Sponsors


Fertrell: A friend of nature since 1946, Fertrell has the products and knowledge to help you grow healthy, natural plants and animals, no matter your level of experience or the size of your operation.

Osborne Seed Company: Founded by seed professionals and dedicated to serving professional growers of all scales, Osborne Seed provides quality seeds, excellent customer service, and a fantastic selection.

Show Links

Greg mentioned Breaking Through Concrete, by Edwin Marty, Food Policy Manager for Austin Texas

Greg suggested hightunnels.org as a resource, and as an original resource that got him into the world of agriculture.

I’ve bought BCS two-wheeled tractors from a couple of different suppliers. I bought my last one from Earth Tools – like Greg said, this is the place to get them. I won’t buy another one from anybody else.

Coolbot

Greg talked about the way that his alarm systems from La Crosse Alerts help put his mind at ease.

A trolley system has come up multiple times in the short history of the Farmer to Farmer Podcast. Four Season Tools has a good one available here: https://www.smallfarmtools.com/trolley-systems-info

Greg asked me to post a picture of the small pallet system we put in place at Rock Spring Farm. This was modified from a standard hand cart by a local welding shop, and the pallets were built locally by a small pallet manufacturer for less than $2.00 each.
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Followup on November 11, 2015: In response to comments below, Greg sent us a picture of the grass shears his team uses to harvest salad greens.
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