Farm Small Farm Smart Daily

The latest trend in marketing is story marking.  Telling your story in a way that unique, honest, and in a way that resonates with your target market.   But not all stories are created equal.  And not all stories should be told by anyone.  Because a good story told poorly is in affect a bad story.   So what makes a good story?   It's a bit like pornography; you know a good story when you hear it....

Everyone enters the world of farming for different reasons. Reasons spanning from environmental concerns to bringing high quality food to their local market to creating a path to a more independent future… For my guest today, Travis Schulert, farming became a mode of a change, because prior to farming Travis described his situation as… "I was stuck in a dead end lifestyle, living in a trailer park...

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support 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...

Shannon Jones, a young farmer from River Hebert, Nova Scotia joins me to talk about what it is like to be a young farmer on her farm, Broadfork Farm. She started the farm with her partner Bryan Dyck in 2011. Both Shannon and Bryan farmed on other farms for many years before they started their own farm. The lived simply and knew what they could get by without. That made the transition to farming a...

Geoff Lawton joins me today to talk about permaculture. Geoff talks about his early days in permaculture, where we are in permaculture today, and where we need to go in the future. He touches on what he has learned along the way and what he finds most valuable. Geoff then goes on to answer a lot of audience questions about tree systems, water harvesting, his new chicken tractor for composting, and...

When it comes to this world of farming small, what is this world? Is it a bunch of small farms each operating independently? For the most part, I think the answer is yes. Given that, what's the next step. Is it more small farms operating independently or is those small farms growing to be larger small farmers. Now I am not talking 1.5 acre farms scaling to 100 acres, I am talking about 1.5 acre fa...

Today's a special episode. It's an interview that I did, but on the other side of the microphone. The episode you will hear today is a replay of an interview I did with Oliver Goshey of The Abundant Edge. The focus of it all centers around the lessons I have learned doing what I do every day. If you like what you hear in this episode and you want to hear more from Oliver, check out theabudnantedge...

What's the organic inspection process really like? It's probably a big hassle, right? Let's find out straight from the source, in this episode with independent organic inspector Laura Murray Last episode with Scott Murray covered the topic of why organic and what goes into getting certified. Today's episode builds on that episode and we go a rung higher on the ladder taking on questions such as: O...

Will Harris III from White Oak Pastures joins me to talk about his inspirational journey of converting his one time factory farm to a beyond organic farming operation that celebrates polyculture and closes the loop on wastes. Will runs the largest USDA organic farm in Georgia farming 1200 owned acres and 2000 leased. He has over 2000 head of cattle and raises 60,000 pastured chickens. He has built...

Organic certification. We all know what that is, seeing that green stamp on products in the grocery store and on signs at the farmers market. But, is it worth it? Is it only for large farms? I use organic methods, do I need the stamp? What goes into getting certified? Should I get certified organic? These are all common questions that I hear being asked with the small scale farming community. They...

Today is Part 2 of The Anti-fragile Property Series with Rob Avis of Adaptive Habit. If you missed Part One, go back and check that one out, Episode 222. In that episode we looked at the idea of owning land as insurance, today takes the discussion of finding an anti-fragile property a step further, and take a look at how you should approach purchasing a property if you are worried about things lik...

When you are only growing a 10 day crop, how much of an affect does light quality and temperature have on the crop? A lot. Chris is in Vancouver where he sees day lengths change from 8 hours at the winter solstice to 16 hours at the summer solstice; a large change which affects how much light crops get to grow. Less light in winter means slower or no crop growth. If you are a farmer, you get this....

Zach Weiss of Holzer AgroEcology discusses his experiences working on projects designed by Sepp Holzer. He also gets into Sepp's ideas and design philosophy. This is the recording of a presentation that Zach gave at a workshop at VersaLand in October 2014. Show Notes: www.permaculturevoices.com/b013 Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

To celebrate episode 100 I take a look back at the 100 combined episodes of The Urban Farmer and what is now Farm Small, Farm Smart focusing on the highlights, some backstory, and where the show is headed in the future. See some of the highlights from the first 100 episodes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support Thanks for listening!...

Richard Perkin's Ridgedale Permaculture site in Sweden, a prime example of what a permaculture farm is and could be. A site that has undergone remarkable changes in just a few years.  Going from your average rural farm to the penultimate functioning permaculture farm that's right out the pages of a book.  And one that would also become a book. Unlike many permaculture demonstration sites, Richard'...

There's one event that happens in many people's lives which instantly changes their life forever. Overnight, instantly, everything is different. Your life, your approach to life, how you view life, and how you go about living life all change. It's an event that some people aren't ready for and one that others are ready for, but one where no one is ever REALLY ready. It's the birth of a child. A be...

Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd10 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today's show centers around Ben Hewitt's book Home Grown; a great book that has had a profound effect on my life. It's one of those books that I couldn't put down and at the same point it was hard to read because I got so lost in thought reading it. It's a rare must read category book fo...

While the prospects of starting a small market farm that grosses over $100,000 is lucrative and attractive, it's not for everyone or possible in every location. And that's the topic of today's episode with Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm.... A lot of what you hear about in the small scale farmer movement are the uber-successful small farmers that are grossing 1, 2 or $300k per acre.  They...

Paul Wheaton joins me to talk about his new Kickstarter and what he's learned over very successful Kickstarter campaigns.  He also discusses what makes a good PC, choosing the right PDC, and how he deals with the constant hate that people throw his way.  We wrap up the conversation talking about doing epic s*** versus living a boring grey life. Support Paul's Kickstarter at www.permaculturevoices....

Today I'm talking to a grower who's admittedly "I'm a little bit obsessive about growing high quality produce." It's an obsession that's fueled his farms growth, and an obsession which is a bit necessary to fuel the farm's growth to bring his fiancé onto the farm full-time. And while Elliot Seldner of Fair Share Farms' obsession may be on growing high quality produce, it's not only on growing high...

Whether it's MMA or becoming a freelancer or business owner, the punches will be thrown, and they will hit you. But as Mike Tyson said, "Everybody has a plan until they punched in the face. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze." When life hits you in the face what are you going to do? Are you going to freeze like a rat, or are you going to come back like Mike Tyson and be that baddest ma...

If customers keep asking if you have certain crop, and you don't, should you grow it? It depends. And that's the focus of today's show: When, How, and Why to Start Producing A New Microgreen Crop Today microgreen grower Chris Thoreau and I are talking about new crops - specifically how do you start growing them? On the surface that may seem like a simple and straightforward question, but there's a...

In honor of Earth Day, today's show is a replay of the interview with the original Earth Day lead organizer Denis Hayes. Denis Hayes talks about a lifetime of work in environmentalism - the challenges, successes, the changing environmental problems since the 60's, and how he has endured numerous political changes in Washington. Denis was the organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, headed the Sol...

Today I'm going to be talking to another small scale farmer who's greatly benefited by growing smaller, not larger. A few years ago farmer Alex Bertsch started farming on half an acre.  Not a ton of land, but enough to make it hard for one person to manage.  Add in the fact that the half an acre was being farmed part-time, and that half an acre seems a little more daunting.  Then place that half a...

Welcome to world of Farming Small and Farming Smart, it's The Urban Farmer. When you are starting any new business it can be very overwhelming. You have a lot to do all at once - building infrastructure, creating your brand, marketing, cultivating a customer base, customer service, and of course producing a product. All essentially full time jobs, but full time jobs that need to be done all at onc...