Farm Small Farm Smart

Today I'm going to be talking to another small scale farming making a go of it as we go to Sebastopol, CA to talk to Caiti Hachmyer of Red H Farm. Caiti's a farmer who started out her farming career on the advocacy side of things. She was living the Bay Area advocating for farmers and looking to play her part in changing hte food system. But after a while she felt something was missing. And she felt like she needed to get on the ground and see what life was really like for some of the farmers that she was advocating for. So she picked up her California roots and moved to Minnesota to spend some time working on a production farm. It was step that would change her life forever. Giving her perspective of the on the ground side of things which helped her on the policy side, and one that would give her a nice experience ot have in her back pocket. One that she would need to draw on when she moved back to California and needed work. Caiti's gone on to continue her work on the ground and policy side of things. It's the dual nature of her work that we focus on today. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today I'm going up to Vancouver to talk to Microgreen Farmer Chris Thoreau with the goal of focusing in on 10 base principles for growing high quality microgreens. Think 10 things that are critical to growing a good crop regardless of where you are growing them, when you are growing them or how you are growing them. These base principles help ensure that you get a successful crop that is free of disease and of high quality. It's not enough just to go through a successful process without knowing why you are doing what at different parts of the process. Because if you don't know, and a variable changes, you need to be able to know how to react and adapt. While everyone's process is likely different based on the crop that they are trying to grow, today's show it's all about what's the same, the base principles. Learn how Chris grows microgreens in his online course: http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

"Farming is as much about growing yourself as it is about growing vegetables." One of the big lessons shared in this episode with farmer Chris Gilbert from Bettendorf, Iowa. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Today farmer Taylor Rogers talks about how he started his farm and sells to restaurants - his primary market. He currently grows of 20 different crops, and it's that variety that has been one of the keys to his success. In this episode he'll also talk about some of the other things that have made him successful such as growing what chefs want, how they want it, and bringing it when you say you're going to bring it. All keys to his current success and keys he learned before he even got into farming when he saw these problems first hand working behind the scenes in the kitchen. Taylor's going to share a lot of information and insight in this one about working with chefs. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today is another episode where Curtis and I will be widening the scope, stepping back and zooming out from the tools and techniques and his 1/3 of an acre farm, to take a look at some of the macro issues surrounding agriculture. The focus today is on employees. Curtis will take about his thoughts on hiring employees, and what he looks for in employees. We'll also get into some of the complications that having employees bring to a business owner and what other options other than hiring someone are available. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

When you start your farm business, one think that you need to think about is your business structure. Sole proprietorships and LLCs are common ways to go, but there are also other options, like co-operatives... That's how farmer Chris Thoreau of Food Pedalers structure his business, and that's the subject of today's show... Today I'm going up to Vancouver to talk to microgreen farmer Chris Thoreau about a topic that you don't hear discussed a lot in small scale farming circles - how he organized his business.. Chris initially started his business as a sole proprietor, but as he began to grow, both in the size of the business and the amount of people working in the business, he realized he needed to change that. After looking at all of the options, Chris decided that he wanted to do something different, something that went more against the status quo, and something that was equitable for everyone involved - so Chris organized his business as a co-operative. It's an interesting business structure and it's one that most people wouldn't think of when organizing their business. If your business is growing, or if you are thinking about expanding your team, then a coop structure might make sense for you... Today Chris will talk about why he chose that structure, the advantages and disadvantages of it, and what it takes to have a successful member-owner business. Chris's online course Growing Your Profitable Microgreens Business http://bit.ly/learntogrowmicrogreens Follow Diego on IG https://instagram.com/diegofooter Small Farm Tools and Microgreens Supplies https://www.paperpot.co/ Support my content while you shop at Amazon: https://amzn.to/32FYCqW

This week I'll pick up where last week left off with market gardener Ray Tyler of Rosecreek Farms. While last week's episode was more inspiration, this week's more of the perspiration side of things as Ray talks about some of his production methods and big changes that he made turn go from grossing $35,000 in 2015 to $120,000 in 2016 on less land. Ray's going to go talk about some of the big changes that made that huge increase in gross sales possible. He'll also get into how he controls weeds on the farm, and how he established a market for his product early on given that he only lives in a town of 2000 people. Today it's all about production and sales, with Ray Tyler of Rosecreek Farms in Selmer, TN. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

From laid off and in debt to grossing $120,000 on one acre. Ray started out like a lot of people who get into farming, he was inspired by to get into farming by Joel Salatin's You Can farm... He started raising livestock, and then life got real... Imagine yourself as a new farmer running a full time livestock operation raising 50 pigs and a few thousand chickens a year. And then imagine running a two acre market garden on top of that... And along the way the, your 5 year old daughter gets caner... It was a moment that put Ray's farm and life on the ropes... it's the story of Ray Tyler or Rosecreek Farms. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today, we are going to start out by taking a look at interns and farms. What's good, what's bad, and what could be improved upon. It's an issue that's really relevant and timely, because it's one that Curtis is dealing with right now, doing something that I never, ever, thought he would do, get an intern. Let's find out why, in this episode of The Urban Farmer. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today I will be talking with someone who likely inspired many of you to get into farming, to consider farming, or to farm better, not bigger. I'll be talking to market gardener, Jean-Martin Fortier. We'll start out talking about his days before he farmed and how he figured out exactly who Jean-Martin Fortier was and what he was about. And we'll end up in the fields talking about something that still gets JM excited today, the soil. Growing Your Microgreens Business Course with Chris Thoreau: http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

When you think about what your selling, don't forget that what you are selling isn't just what's in the cooler behind your booth. You're selling yourself, your story, and the role that you play in a bigger movement; all intangible assets that can allow you to succeed without having a diversity of products. But if you want to grow, and you don't have more products to sell to customers, then you need to find more customers, and that likely means diversifying beyond the farmers market. That's the subject of today's show where farmers market is one of the market streams that we dig into as Chris talks about his experiences selling to a diversity of market streams without a diversity of crops. Growing Your Microgreens Business Course with Chris Thoreau: http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Chris has shown what's possible. And given that and the relatively low capital investment required to start a microgreens business, it's a business that attracts a lot of people. People that likely focus on the high dollar value per tray, and people that dream about how much money they can make. This is where it gets dangerous, because you can't just look at the income side of the business. You have to look at the expenses as well. When you do that with microgreens that high dollar per tray, isn't as high as it might appear. There are a number of cost that need to be considered - the soil, the seed, and the big one - the labor. There's a decent amount of labor that goes into producing each tray of microgreens. Labor that needs to be priced into the product, and labor that might turn some people off from growing microgreens. When over 60% of your time will be spent harvesting, cleaning, and sanitizing trays, some of the allure of that $50 tray goes away. Add in the need for rigorous observations and recording keeping, and you will find yourself in a position that Chris describes as part automaton and part scientist. Not for everyone. Especially when people enter the business looking to make a quick buck. If you are thinking about starting a microgreens operation, there's a lot to consider, especially the negatives. Growing Your Microgreens Business Course with Chris Thoreau: http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

"They weren't just buying the product, they were buying the whole package." That's how Chris Thoreau was able to go to a farmer's market selling one crop. Just one. Sunflower shoots. He was able to go to market with just one crop because he was selling a product that had a great story. There's a lot in this one and at its core this interview focuses heavily on core success principles - relentless testing and experimentation, constant record keeping and analysis, and knowing what to focus on. Growing Your Microgreens Business Course with Chris Thoreau: http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

About one year ago Season 1, Episode 37 aired. It was us taking a look back at Curtis production for the 2015 season. Today we will do something similar for 2016, because a lot has changed. Let's start by rewinding the clock and go back that previous episode from December 2015... "We are officially out of the main season and for the most part, Curtis is now done producing crops off of his farm. In this episode we will take a look at what Curtis produced on the farm in 2016, and how much of it he produced. And as a hint, he produced a lot. All in Curtis produced about 17,500lbs of product off of his farm this year. That's a lot of food coming from a small space. Remember Curtis is only farming off of 15,000 sq.ft. which is spread out over 5 plots. And this year he made the most of it producing over 17,000lbs of produce on those 5 plots. And we aren't talking corn and potatoes here. For the most part many of the crops which he produced really aren't that heavy, he simply produced a lot of product. 3000lbs of tomatoes, 2500lb. of radishes, 2500lb. of spring mix, 2000lbs of turnips. Big numbers for a small farm." That was then. Now let's go to present day of December 2016. And while a year ago the production season was over, this year, it's not. We are still in production season, because Curtis's farm now produces year round, with sales every week of the year. That's just one of the many changes that took place at Green City Acres this year. As we look back at 2016, it was a year where Curtis farmed less land than 2015, cut back on certain crops, and added others. Part of those changes came as a result of changes in his market streams as he cut back on restaurant sales, eliminated the farmers market, and started selling a lot more to local grocers. Big changes, that have had a big effect on what he's growing and how much he's producing... Let's jump into it and take a look at Curtis 2016 farm production... what was produced, what wasn't, and why it changed. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Anytime that you do something for a long time, over and over again, how do you keep it fresh? Let's be honest, any time that you do something for weeks and years, eventually that honeymoon phase wears off. As should be expected, things changes, life changes, and you change. If that think that's getting old is your farm, and your livelihood is dependent upon it. How do you battle this evolution of getting stale? One way is to branch out and do other things. Maybe that's research and development, maybe that's teaching, maybe that's furthering a cause and maybe crowdsourcing inspiration globally as you try to get more people interested in farming. That's where Curtis finds himself now. After seven seasons of full time farming his farm has changed dramatically since day 1, and even going back to the beginning of 2016 things have changed quite a bit. It's those changes and the desire to grow and innovate that's helped Curtis stay motivated and keeps things fresh when it could just as easily get old... That's the topic of today's show on The Urban Farmer. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today we are going to start the series, by going back to the beginning. This is the story of how urban farmer Chris Thoreau started his microgreens farm almost 10 years ago. Chris will take on questions such as: Why microgreens? Why did he start with microgreen? Who did he model and how much did he start with? And how did he handle startup and work life balance. As you will hear it was tough at times, because Chris started his farm at what on paper looks like an inopportune time. He started this part time while in school full time and 2.5 months into his first semester his son was born. Despite life presenting challenges that some people would say aren't worth the risk, Chris made a go of it taking on these early challenges he has managed to grow his operation to one that will do around $200,000 in sales in 2016. And all that sales are coming from a farm that's in a shipping container taking up 320 sq. ft. That's where Chris is at today, but it didn't happen overnight, let's get into it and find out how it all started. Growing Your Microgreens Business Course with Chris Thoreau: http://www.permaculturevoices.com/microgreens Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

A lot of people who want to start farming, don't start because they focus too much on what they don't have and not enough on what they do have. Land's too expensive. Lack money to start a farm. Common complaints that you hear about starting up a farming enterprise. And I will fully acknowledge that those constraints are very real. But let's put those constraints aside today, and focus on what is possible. Possible by all of us. Everything that we are going to talk about today deals with getting better and NOT spending money. If you stop and think about it, there are a lot of things that you can do to improve your business, make your business more competitive, and attract more customers that's free. If you ever feel like you are at a disadvantage because of what you don't have, start looking at the situation in terms of what you do have, and what you can do, because it's a lot of those things that will make the difference and give you a leg up on the competition, money or not. Today's episode is us exploring this idea - of what are some of things that you can do to make your farm better, without spending any money. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Curtis is on vacation, so I am joined by bio-intensive farmer Jodi Roebuck. Jodi's been farming and studying under the originator of the Grow Bio-Intensive form of farming, John Jeavons, for 18 years. Jodi's well known for using Jeavon's bio-intensive method to build soil. Soil that's deep and loose enough to literally put your arm into up to your elbow. It's a soil that well known grower JM Fortier has called some of the best soil that he's ever seen. It's from this rich soil that Jodi farms, growing his own fertility, his own food, saving seeds, and educating the next generation of farmers. He's traveled the world studying under the masters and visiting a lot farms along the way. This summer Jodi made a stop in North America where he visited the home farms of both JM Fortier and Curtis. As a result, he's very familiar with their market gardening style. The question then becomes how can he apply his knowledge of bio-intensive practices to the context of market farming, and that's where we pick up the conversation today. Where do the worlds of bio-intensive growing and market gardening collide, and what's possible... Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today Curtis takes on the question - Let's say you are starting a a new farm. And I gave you a bunch of land, 15 acres. All pretty flat, all pretty usable. How would you go about deciding how much of that land you would farm? We get into the ideas around how much land he would farm and why. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Whenever you do something why are you doing it? Are you doing it because that something is pulling you towards it, is it the opposite, are you forcing yourself to do something and pushing yourself towards it. There's a big difference there. And depending on the answer to that question, it mean the difference between doing big things and setting out to do big things, but never really getting anywhere. To further explain this concept I turn to the brilliant personal development specialist Anthony Robbins... "I think you have to have something larger than yourself that you are after because [otherwise] you will let your fear dominate you. But if you have something—your children, your mom, your dad, a friend, a mission—something you want to do that really pulls you [the fear disappears]. Because push never lasts. 'Push' motivation is I'm going to make myself do that. You can do that for a while, but you are eventually going to [regress]. When you are pulled toward something larger than yourself, you'll make the sacrifices; you'll do what's necessary because it's not just about you. I really believe life supports what supports more of life." This is what we are focusing on today. It's a loose conversation based around this idea of push and pull. And finding something that meakes it easy to choose to be great. Something that you feel compelled to do, and you feel off when you aren't doing it. When you hear about someone like Curtis putting in a ton of hours working in the farm, and you think, why does he work so much, you are missing the point, because maybe that thing that you think is work isn't work after all... Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today is part three in our series focusing on more money, less land, where we are brainstorming ideas to make more money off of your farm without, without adding more land. Over the last few weeks we have focused on a variety of ways to sell more product and produce more product without adding more land. Today we will get into the last primary concept... Raising Prices Specifically how can you do that? What are the different ways that you can change what you are selling to justify a higher price? There's a lot of ideas in here. Some easier to implement than others. Each with has their own costs and benefits. As with the previous episodes, there's a lot in this one. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today is two in our series focusing on more money, less land, where we are brainstorming ideas to make more money off of your farm without, without adding more land. Last week we focused on two of the primary concepts that had a lot of ideas under them: If you aren't moving all of your current product, sell it all. Selling all of your current product, but you know there is more demand... Today we will focus on a third primary concept: Change Your Product Profile and Crops It's all about making more just by changing what you grow and when you grow it. There's a lot in here, enjoy it... Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Say you're a vegetable farmer and you want to make more money. How do you do that? How would you do that? If this was an episode of Family Feud one of the top answers on the board would likely be 'grow more products'. And if we took this line of question on iteration further the asking how do you grow more crops? One of the top answers would be 'get more land'. More land means more vegetables can fit in that space. A more vegetables means more to sell. Simple enough right. What if you couldn't get more land? Because it wasn't available or it was too expensive or it would change the dynamic of your farm... what would you do then? You want to make more money... but you can't add land. What are your options... you could raise prices or lower input costs, those would work, but there are a lot of other options available. That's the topic that we are taking on in this multipart series – more money with less land. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

It's currently September 15, 2016 and the end of the regular farming season is near. Along with it is Curtis's tenure at the Kelowna Farmers Market. After 7 seasons at the farmers market, Curtis is moving on. It's part of a larger effort to simplify the farm and match the farm to his lifestyle. At this point in his career Curtis is trying to simplify his farm. Not grow bigger just to be bigger. Instead choosing to grow better becoming more efficient and effective. That means focusing on the market streams that work, the products that sell, and moving to plots located even closer to his homebase. Part of those changes involve dropping things like the farmers market which has done since the beginning of his career. But it's a market stream that requires getting up on Saturday for 8 months of the year and it's a market stream that isn't growing anymore. And It's one of the many changes taking place at Green City Acres, resulting in a farm that will look very different come April 2017. Today we will take a look at the many changes coming to Green City Acres, along with they why behind those changes. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

The last few episodes have focused on stuff. The tools of farming. Today we are talking about the flip side of tools, the opposite of the physical. The mental side of things, in particular hustle. The best tools and the right stuff without the business sense, hustle, and effort won't mean anything. The tools make the job easier. Just owning them doesn't mean anything. You have to do the work. And it's that hustle to do the work form preparation to production to sales that can give you the advantage over people who just have the money and the stuff. As Stephen C Hogan said. "You can't have a million-dollar dream with a minimum-wage work ethic." Because if you do, where's that going to get you. Left with an unsuccessful business and collection of expensive stuff. A lot of success isn't quantifiable with a dollar sign, instead being measured in pure blood, sweat, and hard work. And the beauty of it is that none of this costs any thing and can be applied by literally every person on the planet regardless of their particular situation. Today, we will get into the importance of the hustle, and the areas like sales and preparation, where hustle makes the difference between you and the person who isn't hustling as hard. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Part three of our series on Small Scale Farming on the Cheap - What's the least you could spend to start a farm? Last week in Episode 23 we started going through the equipment needed, or perceived to be needed, when you start a farm along with the costs and advantages associated with that equipment. Given that this is Part 3 it probably makes more sense to listen to Part 1 and Part 2 first. Last week we left of the talk on equipment wrapping up with the tiller. We'll start today with a little bit of warmup on macro business talking before jumping back into the list discussing hand tools. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Part two of our series on Small Scale Farming on the Cheap - What's the least you could spend to start a farm?. Last week in episode 22 we covered the base principles costs and equipment associated with farm startup. We established the point that tools are simply one leg on the stool of success. The tools should never hold you back. It's never going to be just the tools that make you successful. Yet, good tools can make job easier. That show focused on the concepts and the ideas behind the why. Today's show focuses on the what. What do you actually need and how much does it costs. This episode is the first of a few digging into that question. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Farming... is it expensive to start, or not? A lot of people want to get into farming, but they stall out when it comes to the money side of things. The common cause of that stall out is land. Land is expensive to purchase. So most people immediately dismiss the idea of farming because they can't afford land. But people like Greg Judy, Joel Salatin, and us on this show, have shown that you don't need to own land to farm. There's a lot of land available to farm. Land you don't need to own, and land that you can gain access to through options like leasing.. If you can lease land either for free or inexpensively and if you are in a market where you can move product, then the potential upside to small scale farming is pretty attractive given the low start up costs and low infrastructure requirements? How low? Very low compared to other businesses. In his book Curtis gives an initial start-up estimate for a 1/4 acre farm at $7k to $17k. Curtis started his farm with just $7k. That's $7k that buys equipment and infrastructure which is portable and resellable. In good markets, the risk reward of small scale farming is usually favorable because small scale market farming startup costs are very low compared to many business out there. Yet, despite the minimal start up costs, the costs are still prohibitive, or at least perceived to be prohibitive by some people. Given that we'll dig into the farm start up numbers and see where costs can be cut and what costs are just unavoidable. And we'll also bring in some rationale to these numbers discussing why certain items are worth the cost, and why others aren't. Today we'll begin a multi-part series discussing the minimum that you could spend to start a farm, and we will begin with the base principles, what are the things that you need to think about before you spend any money, that's coming up on Season Two Episode 22 of The Urban Farmer. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

"At too many companies, and in too many hapless careers, the number one imperative is to avoid failure and embarrassment associated therewith at all costs. My take, failure, supported by wildly imaginative hypotheses and incredibly hard work, is something that companies and individuals must embrace. Frankly at all costs. Unless you're stretching... wildly, you're not going to reach that brass ring called hyper success amidst a brawl with no rules." Tom Peters The market and nature of small scale farming is too dynamic. To succeed you have to be dynamic as well. That will mean trying things that don't work, and trying things not knowing if they will work. You're going to have to make assumptions and best guesses. You're going to have to adapt. And that's what today's episode is all about... adapting and switching it up on the fly... Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

If you are a single worker farm then you only have so much time and energy to spend on the farm. If you spend a massive amount of that working with weeds then that's time take away from other farm tasks or other non-farm tasks like spending time with your spouse or kids. What are the weeds worth? For most people, they aren't worth enough to deal with when you zoom out, and take all of the factors into account, and therefore the weeds get cut, literally. That's the focus of today's show. Weed management, where we discuss various methods of preventing weeds from establishing themselves on the farm in the first place, and how to deal with them when they do. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Farming, it truly is a lifestyle. And one that a lot of people seek out. This leads people down the road of thinking about how can they start or transition into small scale farming. And when they go down that path they inevitably run into issues. Because startup isn't always clear, or easy, and there are always unique challenges. Today we will take take a look at one listeners plan to transition into farming and startup an urban farm of his own. This is the story of Michael from LA, and Michael wants to be a farmer. He has a lot of resources, constraints, and questions. And that's what we'll be digging into today, in Season Two, Episode 19 of The Urban Farmer. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

This is Part 2 of that series and today we specifically focus on the pro's and cons of selling to restaurants taking into account high maintenance versus low maintenance. Given that this is Part 2 it probably makes more sense to listen to Part 1 first, Episode 17 - All Customers ARE NOT worth Selling To, An In-Depth Look at High Maintenance versus Low Maintenance Customers. But you won't be totally lost in this one if you haven't heard that episode. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

"Put another way, you are more upset about losing $50 than you are happy about gaining $50," the paper states. In addition, bad events wear off more slowly than good ones." Hopefully know this can help you do a few things. Try to force yourself to really think about the positive things more and have more gratitude for them, bounce off of the negative situations quicker, and rid yourself of the negative relationships that produce negative emotions. That's the focus of today's episode as we explore the differences between high maintenance customers and low maintenance customers. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Heat causes issues on the farm. Not just with the farmer, but with the crops. Crops bolt quickly, pest pressure increases, water usage goes up, seeds dry up, transplants fry. How do you deal with those issues? How do you raise the crops that your customers want in a way that works and gets you a saleable product, and in a way that doesn't cause you to burn out? There are a whole bunch of active and passive strategies that you can employ to From harvesting early in the morning to harvesting and late in the day, there are options, and this episode is all about dealing with the heat on the farm for the farmer and for the crops... Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today's show is all about farmers markets. And a big part of the conversation is dedicated to free samples. Are the beneficial or are they a waste? Do samples work in every case, with every product? No, but they are one way of tackling issues that every product has. Highlighting product quality, unique product attributes, getting feedback, and telling your story are all things that you need to figure out to do somehow. Free samples are just one of the ways to do it. Samples aren't without their negatives either. They cost money, they take up time, they get in the way of doing transactions, and they may require additional levels of compliance if you are handling food. But like anything and everything, it comes down to do the positives out weight the negatives for your particular context. If they do then free samples might be the way to do. And as you will hear today, for some farmers market vendors samples work really well and they are one of the many tools in the salesman's toolbox to help you sit back and count the money. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

We all have this great chance to go great places. Yet we all don't take it. Today's episode is a look at the opportunity and why some people squander it, and why some people don't. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Think about an established farmers market with an established customer base. Everyone shopping at that market has their preferred vendors. They buy lettuce from this guy and they buy tomatoes from that girl week after week. They don't switch it up. If you then enter that market as a new vendor, how do you knock someone out of the preferred vendor spot in a customer's mind? How do you get the customer to switch to buying lettuce or tomatoes from you instead of that guy or that girl? Because that's really what you need to do. Either you need to get existing customers to switch or you need to pick up market share from new customers. The bad news is that once a person commits to a particular product or brand in their mind it's very hard to get them to switch. Look no further than you own habits. How often do you go to different grocery stores or gas stations by your house or how often do you change brands of laundry detergent or ketchup? Probably not very often. You made a decision long ago, and as long as things do change, why switch. Given that, how do you compete in a crowded farmers market? Why is a farmer's market customer going to choose your booth versus the booth that they always shop at? You have to be unique.. Again, look at the landscape of the market, if there are already 5 vegetable vendors at your market more or less growing what you grow, and they are established, then you either have to be unique enough to go in and compete with them hand try to knock one of them out of the top 5 in terms of market share, which is hard, or you have to be unique enough so you don't actually have to compete against them. Instead positioning yourself in the customers mind as the preferred choice. How do you do that, make yourself unique? One way is to specialize in something. Part of that specialization might mean differentiating your product so you position yourself as the category leader; a category that you own; one that you create. For example, say a lot of vendors are selling loose leaf lettuce. There's already an established hierarchy there in terms of market share for the category of loose leaf lettuce. How do you compete? You don't, avoid competition, and you create your own category. Maybe that category is head lettuce or romaine. Or maybe it's organic lettuce. Or living lettuce with the roots still attached. You differentiate your product just enough to move it to its own category. Then you become first to market in that category and have an competitive advantage. That's a far cry from going into a competitive market and competing on price. And when you think about it it wasn't really that hard. You didn't have to create or invent anything new. You just supplied an in demand product to a market that wanted it, but didn't have anyone to buy it from. That's one of the many benefits of specializing in a product. And it's that benefit and the many others that we will be talking about today, on The Urban Farmer. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Today we will be looking at 17 different things that you think you might need or might need when you start your business. Even though we will be looking at each of the items on this list through the lens of someone in their first 6 months of farming, this information extends to established business owners. Maybe you have been in business for a while and you are thinking about redesigning your website. Should you? And does that matter? Our analysis and methodology for breaking down each of these items can be applied to many aspects of business at any time, regardless of how old the business. There are a lot of distractions that come into play when you are running a small business, hopefully this episode will help you focus on the distractions that matter, and forget the ones that don't. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

It seems like a lot of people that get into farming and starting their own business are busy, all the time. Is that a good thing? Is busy a sign of success or is busy a sign of planning? I think it's more the later, than the form. "To me, 'busy' implies that the person is out of control of their life." - Derek Sivers Some of you might here that and think, what, that's crazy. I am in control and I am busy. Are you really? After all, what is busy in the first place. Is busy really a think or is busy a state of mind or is as Derek Sivers says the inevitable result of losing control and poor planning? If you consider yourself someone who's busy a lot think about that. Are you busy because you actually have a huge list of urgent and important things to do, or are you busy because you are just doing a lot of stuff. Outside of the Emergency Room most of us are more likely are the latter. Not many of us have a lot of urgent and important things to do each day. We might have a couple things that fall into that category and then we have a lot of other stuff that we do because we need to, because we think we need to, because we've never really thought about it, and because we don't have a plan in place. Busy might actually be in your control. As Henry David Thoreau said, it's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? If you find yourself constantly busy. Ask yourself why. And ask yourself what are you busy about? Remember, it's your life, and being busy all the time might not be optimum. Is that you really signed up for - being busy all the time? If not, then this episode may help you reframe what you are actually being so busy about. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Most people don't get into farming to get rich. Does that mean that you can't get rich farming, no it doesn't. But if you only motivation to farm is to get rich, then you better buckle up because you have rocky road ahead. Because when it comes to amassing monetary riches the road hasn't historically been paved by good soil and a tractor. That's not to say that there aren't rich farmers, because there are, but it's not the norm. If are getting into farming only for the money, to get rich, then you better think about how you are going to do that, and why you are going to do that. If money isn't your only motivator for getting into farming, then you better think about why you are getting into it, and how you are going to do it. Either way it won't be easy. But either way can make you rich, it all comes down to, how you define rich. Today's episode is a look beyond the bank account. It's a look at all of the other benefits and reasons to be an entrepreneur and to be farmer. This episode is us kicking around ideas and brainstorming to broaden the idea of what being rich, truly means. It's a definition that's different for everyone. And it's one that you need to define when you get into this. Because if you define it, it makes it a lot easier to become rich, and if you don't then it makes it a lot easier to stay poor. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

What if you are already selling at farmers markets, but you don't have enough of a diversity of products to design a CSA around? If that's the case one option might be create a collaborative CSA. The collaborative CSA allows you to expand your crop variety with competing with other farms and without diluting down your efforts on your farm. You grow what you grow best in your context, and source everything else from other farmers who are better setup to grow those specific products. It creates a win/win situation for you and the other farmers. Everyone grows what they grow best, and in theory sales go up. It's also a win for the consumer because they now have concentrated access to more local products, without having to sourcing these producing individually from each farmer. Aggregators, collaborative CSA's and food broker models, are these models perfect? No. But if they give you options. And if you are having issues moving product, then more options might be better than less options. You just need to look at everything and figure out which combination is the best fit for you and your market. In today's show we'll look at some alternative market streams for selling your vegetables, so to help you start thinking outside the box, so you can sell more boxes, of vegetables. It's currently May 2016. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

To set the stage... Curtis had a next door neighbor. That neighbor used to own Curtis's house, and he rented that house from them and farmed in the back yard. When his neighbor decided to sell the house, Curtis then purchased the house from his neighbor. Subsequently that same neighbor went on to move to another house in the neighborhood, and began renting out the house next door to Curtis. In the process a conversation began about Curtis farming his neighbor's backyard now that it was a rental. The conversation eventual led to an agreement, one where Curtis would take down the fence between his yard and his neighbors, and extend his farm into his neighbor's back yard. It's a process that was built on the back of respect and social capital, and facilitated by old fashioned conversation. Today we'll take an extended look at the transition of that back yard from lawn to production farm, and all of the challenges and successes that went with it.. It's currently May 11, 2016. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Most of the tomatoes that Curtis grows fall into the cherry and saladette category - the smaller tomatoes. These types of tomatoes offer several advantages - they are pretty vigorous, they have a relatively short DTM, and because chef's like them. And when much of your sales are for restaurants, you grow what they want to buy. Over the years Curtis has evolved his system for tomato culture. And he now looks at them as a bit of a bonus crop given the way that he grows them. Many home gardeners dedicate full rows to tomatoes and give the plants wide spacing's. Curtis does the opposite. He interplants his tomatoes; dedicating most of his bed space to another crop, while squeezing his tomatoes into the out 2 edges of each bed. This strategy works for several reasons. It takes advantage of more of the soil strata. The tomatoes are planted deep, so their roots occupy the deeper layers of soil. While the main greens crops in the beds have shallow root systems. So while the plants are planted in the same space competition is minimized. Another reason why the competition is minimized is that the tomatoes occupy more of the vertical space. If you time the plants strategically during the year plant growth and sun angles allow you to get more plants in the same space with no shading. Overall, inter-planting has been huge for Curtis's farm. It's what's allowed him to hundreds of pounds of greens and hundreds of pounds of tomato, in same relative space. Not a bad bonus yield in a situation where most farmers would simply leave the tomatoes out. Look around your garden at the extra space and think about that next time you plant your tomatoes. It's currently May 4, 2016. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Greens are big business for Curtis' farm. Both in terms of volume of product, and dollars generated for that product. His customer base, which is mainly made of restaurants, buys a lot of greens. And they pay good money for them. But like many things on the farm there is a seasonality that goes along with restaurants and the products that Curtis sells to restaurants. Typically spring is a slower time of year for restaurant sales, and thereby farm sales. Things just aren't as busy. But this year is a bit of an anomaly, because Curtis's revenue is way up for the season. That increase in revenue can be attributed to a couple things. First, he has picked up a few new wholesale customers outside of restaurants, and second, he is selling all of his customers more high value product, specifically greens. More demand, means more production, so Curtis' production of greens on the farm is way up this year. But it's not just as simple as planting more beds of greens. There's a lot of nuance involved... When the beds were planted, how far apart the successions are, when do you harvest whole beds versus halves. Logical considerations, but not always the simplest to wrap your head around. That's what we will be focusing on in today's episode. It's currently April 26, 2016. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

What would the 2000 sq.ft. farm, let's call it a micro-farm, look like? How could you best utilize that space and take many of the techniques that Curtis uses on his current 1/2 acre urban farm, to make the micro-farm generate some decent cash flow. How much could you make on a micro-farm of just 2000 square feet? Really it depends on what you are growing and who you are selling it to. But grossing 20,000 on that 2000 square feet isn't crazy talk. And even half that, $10,000, is a realistic target to shoot for. When you think about that, that's a pretty lucrative given the space involved. I think most people can get access to 2000 sq.ft. That's essentially fits well within your average American lawn. The 2000 square foot micro-farm has a lot of things going for it. It's manageable, yet scaleable. It's big enough to matter to start you thinking and implementing a lot of these systems, yet it's not over whelming. It makes a great transition plot for someone looking to transition into farming or just get their feed wet. Given that today will be a case study looking at the 2000 sw ft micro farm. We'll break down what this farm might look like. How you would want to manage it. What types of crops you would want to focus on, and put some a basic framework in place that you can build off of. As, you see, you can do a lot with 2000 square feet, and it might not be that small after all. It's currently April 19, 2016. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

It's currently April 12, 2016. We start off today talking about whether you should start farming with a greenhouse or not. The conversation quickly turns into reasons why people succeed and don't succeed. Hopefully this episode is a welcome kick in the ass for those who need it. And motivation to keep kicking ass for everyone else. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

It's currently April 5, 2016. Today's episode focuses on starting and transplanting Salanova via micro soil blocks. Curtis will talk about how he starts Salanova lettuce using the blocks and the advantages for doing so. We also run a quick time and cost analysis of starting lettuce in blocks versus cell trays to show the comparison. At the end of the episode I go over a recipe to use for the micro blocker and some basic techniques for using it. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

It's currently March 30, 2016. And over the past few months Curtis has literally been all around the world. I today's episode we'll look back at some of the places that he visited and what he took away from those visits. From the high tech innovation being done at Jean-Martin Fortier's Le Ferm de Catra Taaamp in Quebec to the low tech soil building techniques used by Jodi Roebuck to build soil in his bio-ingestive garden in New Zealand. It's not just all fun and stories, there's a lot of good information in this one such as do these techniques scale, how can you build soil, and how can you combine tarps and soil to really build soil. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

If we go back to where we left of Season One of the show, it was December and there really wasn't any crop production happening on the land itself for Green City Acres. At that time some of the land was sitting fallow waiting for future planting in the spring, and some of the land was occupied by dormant crops that had been planted a few months earlier in the fall. Let's find out how much Curtis' total farm has been quietly in production throughout the winter, with beds holding overwintered crops, and why. This episode also covers overwintering crops, prepping beds with tarps and stale seed bedding, and dealing with the shoulder season day length changes. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

All of the guests for this episode are listeners of the show. Listeners just like you. A few months ago I asked for feedback on the first season of the show, and I received a ton of it. Today, I will share some of it with you. If you submitted feedback for the show and gave me the OK to read it, thank you, this episode is yours. As humans I think we live in a guru culture. A culture that puts people on a pedestal. And that can be dangerous because it creates limiting beliefs. Beliefs that we could never be like them. Beliefs that we aren't good enough. Beliefs that we have some sort of unfair disadvantage. Beliefs that we can't do what they do. Because they are an expert, and we aren't. A lot of people view Curtis as that expert and put him on that pedestal of knowledge. They create limiting beliefs in their mind and tell themselves, I could never do what Curtis does. I have sat in workshops with Curtis and heard it first hand, time and time again. And if you believe that, that you could never do what Curtis does, then Henry Ford said it best... Whether you think you can, or think you can't - your right. This episode today is for the people who think they can. If you ever feel stuck or stalled or find yourself struggling and wondering if you can actually do it, then here's an episode for you. An episode full of stories of "ordinary" people doing the hard work to go after what they want in life, and showing that it might not always be easy, but it is possible. Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ