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147: Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds on the Patience of Seeds, and the Art and Craft of Plant Breeding

11/30/2017

1 Comment

 
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Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds in Philomath, Oregon, supplies seed companies, farmers, and gardeners with seeds that are selected and grown in a real organic environment. With his wife and business partner, Karen, and five employees, Frank grows certified organic seeds on about eight acres. Wild Garden Seeds is unusual in the seed business because they grow everything that they sell right there in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Frank shares his story of getting started on his market garden in 1980, and how he developed a gourmet salad greens business that shipped salads to top restaurants nation-wide. This high-end salad greens business allowed and encouraged him to start selecting the best plants for organic salad production, as well as to begin to develop new, custom varieties for his farm.

We also dig into his on-the-job education in seed breeding, how he and Karen made the transition from salad growers to seed company, and how Wild Garden Seeds has worked with partner farms to grow their seed business.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

​Local Food Marketplace
: Providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Manage multiple product and price lists with ease.  Maximize your sales by selling multiple product pack sizes out of the same inventory.  Local Food Marketplace will help you reach more customers and save time in fulfilling your customer’s orders.

Quotes from the Show

Organic farmers don't use crop protection chemicals. We don't use concentrated highly soluble fertilizers. Our plants actually are different, and Wild Garden Seed, from the beginning, our intention has been to supply seeds that give better results for people that use organic methods.

When you grow lettuce for seeds, it's a long term process and getting that beautiful head of lettuce is only the first part of it.

Actually, becoming a farmer was a natural selection for me, I think because I wanted to be independent. I wanted to be self-reliant. I wanted to be creative and I wanted my time to be my own and when you started thinking about it, there's not too many jobs that offer you those things other than farming.


The salad business provided me with an economic way to accomplish plant breeding over a long period of time.


I can't imagine a more productive partnership than a seed-organic produce partnership.


We've been changing since the day we started farming.

Show Links

When Frank started farming in 1980, he bought Growing Garden Seeds, Rob Johnston’s book on saving seeds.

J.L. Hudson, Seesman was the first commercial buyer of Wild Garden Seeds’ seeds. It’s still a pretty interesting seedhouse.

We talked about how John Navazio had influenced both of us, and the organic farming and seed movement in general. John was my guest for Episode 074. He’s also got a great book, The Organic Seed Grower.
​

The Organic Farming Research Foundation funded the Hell’s Half-Acre Trial at Wild Garden Seeds. They continue to support all kinds of great research for organic growers.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers.  Visitosborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. And byCoolBot, allowing you to build an affordable walk-in cooler powered by a window air-conditioning unit. Save $20 on your CoolBot when you visitfarmertofarmerpodcast.com/coolbot. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
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1 Comment

146: Dylan Strike of Strike Farms on Scaling Up Big Time, Grocery Store Sales, and Management Systems

11/23/2017

3 Comments

 
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Dylan Strike has been the owner of Strike Farms in Bozeman, Montana, since 2014. In 2017, he increased production from four acres to fourteen in order to edge out national produce players in his local grocery stores. Strike Farms also markets through a CSA throughout the greater Bozeman region.

We dig into the nuts and bolts behind the dramatic expansion at Strike Farms, including how Dylan financed the expansion and associated land purchase. Dylan gets real as he discusses the challenges of putting together the financial package, managing staff and systems through the expansion, and the impact of what Dylan says was the “worst weather year imaginable.” We also dig into the changes in equipment and production approaches, and the administrative systems that allowed Strike Farms to grow, as well as crop rotations, distribution strategies, and breaking into new grocery accounts.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

​Farmers Web
: Making it simple for farms, farm cooperatives, and local food artisans to streamline working with wholesale buyers. Lessening the administrative work that comes with each order helps producers create a more successful relationship with their buyers and can help them work with more buyers overall.

Quotes from the Show

Instead of hoping that we can get everyone to convert to going to farmers markets, or becoming a CSA member, [we’re trying] to just get the food where people are already shopping, and ask them to make a small change.

A really big part of the goal of this was also to just really standardize things, and kind of make it so that it's easier to plug people in.

All these bad things happen, I'm kind of glad it happened, because now I know what can happen.


But at the end of the day, money is just money, and I think once you get on a bigger scale, you can kind of look at what your mission is, and what you're trying to accomplish, and then make the money work around that, instead of just trying to figure out a way to make enough money.


What they like to do is work and get stuff done, and when you're a manager, you don't get to do that. Your job, you never get to just finish a task. Your job is to just make sure that everyone else can be working at full capacity all the time.

Show Links

Richard Wiswall’s book, The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, had a big influence on Dylan’s approach to the business of farming business.

Dylan’s Forigo stone burier made it possible to delegate bedmaking to other tractor operators.

Strike Farm uses Farmers Web software to manage wholesale sales, and Member Assembler  to manage CSA memberships.

Strike Farm uses Sustane for biological fertility without weed seeds.

Dylan mentioned that he had just visited Johnson’s Backyard Gardens in Texas – farmer Brenton Johnson was a  guest on the show for Episode 062.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers.  Visit osborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. And by CoolBot, allowing you to build an affordable walk-in cooler powered by a window air-conditioning unit. Save $20 on your CoolBot when you visit farmertofarmerpodcast.com/coolbot. Additional funding for transcripts provided by North Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
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3 Comments

145: Corinna and Kurt Bench of Shared Legacy Farms on Creating a Marketing and Retention System on the CSA Farm

11/16/2017

0 Comments

 
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Corinna and Kurt Bench raise a little under ten acres of certified organic vegetables at Shared Legacy Farms in Elmore, Ohio. With 400 CSA shares and a 78% retention rate, Corrinna and Kurt have created a values-based business on family land that is supporting them in their tenth year of business.

We take a deep dive into how Corinna and Kurt create a connection with and market to their CSA members – a system that has resulted in them being 94% sold out seven months before their CSA program starts. We get some great insights into their focus on just five delivery sites, the customer research they’ve done to identify the mindset and practices of their long-term CSA membership, and how they’ve used that information to create a marketing system that attracts dedicated and highly qualified prospects to their CSA program. Then, we learn how they’ve created a system to provide new and renewing members with a roadmap to CSA success.

We also discuss the transition to full-time farming after years of splitting Kurt’s attention with an off-farm job, and how they’ve created – and continue to create – more downtime during the season to rest and rejuvenate.

Sponsors

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

High Mowing Organic Seeds
: The first independently owned, farm-based seed company proudly serving organic growers with a full line of 100% certified organic and Non-GMO Project verified vegetable, herb, flower and cover crop seeds. Professional quality seeds grown by organic farmers, for organic farmers. Purchase your seeds early and receive a 10% discount through our Community Supported Seeds.

Quotes from the Show

[Corinna] I needed to figure out why people were leaving, but perhaps more important I needed to figure out why the ones who were staying, were staying.

[Corinna] I was really dialing into what are my superstars saying about my farm because I want to attract more of those kinds of people.

[Corinna] I think we need to stop trying to turn everyone into a CSA convert. And instead, identify the characteristics of our ideal customer, and do whatever we can to attract them.

[Kurt] We're in this for the long haul. And we're trying to get those right kind of people that are in for the long haul with us as well.

[Kurt] I get my batteries charged when I see my customers going crazy over my food.

Show Links

Corinna put together a swipe file of the email campaign she used to get 78% retention from her current members.

Corinna uses CovertKit to manage customer emails. (That’s an affiliate link, so I’ll get a little something if you use it to sign up for ConvertKit yourself.)

Kurt mentioned how important Mike Bollinger was to helping them find their direction for the farm. Check out his episode on the Farmer to Farmer Podcast!

Corinna really likes Amy Porterfield’s Online Marketing Made Easy podcast - I also recommend checking this
out as a way to really get into online marketing.
​

Corinna also recommends the Social Media Examiner podcast.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers.  Visitosborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. And byCoolBot, allowing you to build an affordable walk-in cooler powered by a window air-conditioning unit. Save $20 on your CoolBot when you visitfarmertofarmerpodcast.com/coolbot. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.​
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0 Comments

144: Marja Smets and Bo Varsano of Farragut Farm on Growing and Selling from the Most Remote Market Farm in the Country

11/9/2017

2 Comments

 
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Marja Smets and Bo Varsano raise an intensive three-quarters of an acre of vegetables at Farragut Farm, located across a lot of water from Petersburg, Alaska. Selling vegetables for eight years in what may be the most remote and difficult-to-access vegetable farm in the country, Marja and Bo make a living moving their vegetables to market on a boat when the tide is high.

We dig into the details of farm management when local amendments are the only real option, and when you get 120 inches of rain a year because you farm in a temperate rainforest. Bo and Marja provide details of the mobile high tunnel system in their high-wind environment, dealing with Alaskan wildlife, and farming off of the electrical grid.

Marja and Bo also share how they maximize produce sales with visits to town on an irregular schedule, and how they are working to address food insecurity in Petersburg.

Sponsors

BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

Local Food Marketplace: Providing an integrated, scalable solution for farms and food hubs to process customer orders – including online ordering, harvesting, packing, delivery, invoicing and payment processing. Manage multiple product and price lists with ease.  Maximize your sales by selling multiple product pack sizes out of the same inventory.  Local Food Marketplace will help you reach more customers and save time in fulfilling your customer’s orders.

Quotes from the Show

[Bo] We think we're probably the most remote and difficult to access commercial farm in the country. That might not be true, but we can't imagine anyone stupid enough to try and farm in a place that has worse access than ours.

[Marja] We live what we consider to be a very rich life and have all that we need.

[Bo] It turns out if you leave a weed on the ground in Southeast Alaska it doesn't really care that you’ve pulled it out and its roots are in the air, it just keeps growing.


[Marja] Soil is pretty unusual in Southeast Alaska.


[Bo] We have moose, which that can be pretty interesting. Sometimes we chase them, sometimes they chase us.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers.  Visitosborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. And byCoolBot, allowing you to build an affordable walk-in cooler powered by a window air-conditioning unit. Save $20 on your CoolBot when you visitfarmertofarmerpodcast.com/coolbot. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
Download Episode
Download Transcript
2 Comments

143: Wendy and Asher Burkhart-Spiegel of Common Thread CSA on Community Engagement, Apprenticeship Realities, Tractor-Scale Permanent Raised Beds, and Season Extension

11/2/2017

0 Comments

 
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Wendy and Asher Burkhart-Spiegel raise about twelve acres of vegetables at Common Thread CSA in Madison, New York, in the central part of the state. With twenty years of experience doing CSA, Wendy and Asher have continued to emphasize CSA in their current operation, with additional sales at farmers markets and to wholesale accounts.

At Common Thread, Wendy and Asher maintain a community-focused vision for the farm. Prior to Common Thread, Wendy and Asher managed a non-profit CSA farm in Poughkeepsie, and we talk about how moving to their own farm had an impact on the experience of engaging with the community, as well as other aspects of their farming experience. We dig into their programs for subsidizing shares, their education-focused apprenticeship program, and the realities of an increasing minimum wage in New York.
​

Out in the field, Wendy and Asher share their development of a tractor-scale permanent raised bed system, and how they’ve sourced and modified tools to support that system. We also talk about the solutions they’ve found for successfully cultivating in their raised bed system, season extension in the field and the cooler, and the planning they do for CSA program that includes boxed deliveries and free-choice on-farm pickup.

Sponsors

High Mowing Organic Seeds: The first independently owned, farm-based seed company proudly serving organic growers with a full line of 100% certified organic and Non-GMO Project verified vegetable, herb, flower and cover crop seeds. Professional quality seeds grown by organic farmers, for organic farmers. Purchase your seeds early and receive a 10% discount through their  Community Supported Seeds program – visit highmowingseeds.com/save.

Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.

​BCS America
: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.

Quotes from the Show

[Wendy] We're a more rural place, so we've had to push the edges [of the season].

[Asher] We may call them apprentices, but the department of labor considers them employees.


​[Asher] Your tires do a better job breaking up clods than any tillage implement that you could ever find.

Show Links

Asher and Wendy use a Kelly manufacturing disc bedder to raise up their beds; this picture is intended to give an idea of what they are using.

A customized Perfecta field cultivator levels and finished the beds.

A Jiffy Hitch system on the two large tractors and large tillage equipment makes it easy to manage large,
heavy implements.


​Wendy mentioned the Gokhale method for posture and pain relief.

Transcript

The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers.  Visitosborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. And byCoolBot, allowing you to build an affordable walk-in cooler powered by a window air-conditioning unit. Save $20 on your CoolBot when you visitfarmertofarmerpodcast.com/coolbot. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
Download Episode
Download Transcript
0 Comments

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