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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.

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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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6 Comments
Vanessa Quiñones
6/18/2015 02:25:34 am

I think what you are doing is AWESOME! I really appreciate and enjoy the Farmer to Farmer podcasts. The information and stories are so valuable. I love hearing everyone's journey. Thanks Chris for all of your great work!

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Chris Blanchard
6/22/2015 03:19:10 am

Thank you so much, Vanessa!

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Cree Bradley
6/25/2015 01:48:47 am

Chris, I just listened to your recent podcast with Nick Olson. Thanks to both you and Nick for the mention of my name and work with Holistic Management, and for going deeper with Nick around the relationship/communication topics with your interview questions. Thanks too for raising awareness about Farm Beginnings and Journeyperson. It was a wonderful podcast!

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Chris Blanchard
6/29/2015 06:25:04 am

Cree, I really appreciated Nick's willingness to talk about the relationship issues, I think they're one of the hardest things to navigate on the farm - and I think some of the Holistic Management tools can make a real difference. I just loved your explanation of the three-part holistic goal that Nick shared. It's always made sense to me, but your explanation just made it pop!

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Eric
11/12/2016 10:56:36 am

Do you have an updated link for the kale harvest video?

Reply
Chris Blanchard
11/15/2016 04:59:31 pm

I tried to find an updated link for this video, but wasn't able to. Sorry!

Reply



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