Farm Small Farm Smart

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...

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...

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 chang...

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...

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:/...

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...

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 nee...

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 ha...

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...

"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 - rele...

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...

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...

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 p...

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 Fort...

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 Tr...

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 anywh...

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...

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...

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...

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. In...

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...

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 w...

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. Y...

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 n...

"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...