The Farmer's Share

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Little Compton Rhode Island, where we visit with Skip Paul of Wishing Stone Farm. He shares all kinds of tips and tricks he’s learned over his 40+ year career as a farmer growing mixed vegetables and fruit, largely sold at farmers markets. We cover greenhouse production to have tomatoes in early May, including grafting, heating, and steaming, th...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Chittenden Vermont where we visit with Baird Farm. If you’ve heard of them you may recognize that they are NOT a diversified vegetable farm. They are a medium scale maple producer with about  15,000 taps. Vermont is known for its maple but what makes them unique is that 90% of their volume is sold directly to the consumer. They lean heavily on o...

Text me a message! Today’s Episode comes to you from Kingston New York where we visit with Bryn and Wes of Solid Ground Farm. They are growing on over a dozen acres, with 4 tunnels of mixed veg for their CSA.  We start of the episode with a tour of their wash/pack, cooler, CSA Space and growing areas before pulling up a chair in the kitchen to learn what motivates them to be a produce grower and h...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Fletcher Vermont where we visit with Bob Lesnikoski of Vermont Cranberry Company. He is the one and only commercial cranberry grower in the state! We start off the episode with a tour of his packing barn where they sort and box up fresh cranberries, press juice, and bottle seltzer. We then pull up a stool in the commercial kitchen and learn more...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Charlotte Vermont where we visit with Katie Rase Seward from Head Over Fields Farm. Katie Rose has been farming for 10 years and  half of those are here on her home farm. She sells organic veg from about 5 acres in production with several high tunnels through a retail year round farm stand, CSA, wholesale, and farmers markets.  We start off with...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Shrewsbury Vermont where we visit with Jess and Connor of  Stones Throw Farmstead. They are young farmers who are in their third season after moving to Vermont and focused on building up a 1 acre market garden to be part of the community and support the local farmers markets. We start off by looking at the farm stand, microgreens set-up, and how...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from South Royalton Vermont where we visit with Ashley Loehr of Hurricane Flats Farm. She’s got over 25 years farming experience, and is getting a good feel for the land as this is her 4th season since buying this farm. This episode starts off in the field checking out pretty much all the crops. We talk about field prep, inter seeding, cover cropping...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Hyde Park, Vermont where we visit with Jeff Carpenter from Zack Woods Herb Farm. They grow medicinal herbs and have been doing so for 26 years. We start off with a look into his high tunnel where they grow their starts, discuss the construction of their batch dryer, check out a field of perennial herbs and take a look inside their packing shed....

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Bakersfield Vermont where we visit with George van Vlaanderen of Does’ Leap Farm ( https://doesleap.com/ ). He shares how they developed the farm from raw wooded land while raising children, goats and living in a yurt all at the same time over twenty years ago. He shares now how his grazing system has evolved using electronet fences to wireless...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Williamstown Vermont where we visit with Jon Waner and Karin Bellemare of Bear Roots Farm and The Roots Farm Market. Together they’ve built up a 20 acre vegetable farm and local goods store in Central Vermont. Jon starts off by sharing how they got started in Long Island, and how they ramped up their business here in the Green Mountains. Karin j...

Text me a message! Today’s Episode comes to you from Brookfield Vermont where we visit with Kyle Dodda and Betsy Simpson of 1000 Stone Farm. They’ve got many balls in the air with a wide range of crops from veggies to perennial fruit, eggs and meat, hard cider and a restaurant. They sell retail out of a farmstore, wholesale, CSA & go to a farmers market. This seems like a lot to me for a coupl...

Text me a message! Today’s Episode comes to you from Bradford Vermont where we visit with David Pierson of Pierson Farm. After 42 years of running a mixed vegetable farm to supply a roadside farm stand, with 3 acres of strawberries being one of the big draws, he was able to retire, leasing the farm to a long time employee Dan. We start off the episode walking the farm where the crew is actively pl...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes from Granville Vermont where we visit with John Hirsch of Clearfield Farm. With over 10 years under his belt he’s refined his farm business to be lean on labor and focused in scope as his primary crops are wholesale carrots and potatoes. He’s also excited to be getting into grain and doing more intensive rotations with cover crops. We start off the episode...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Worthington Massachusetts where we visit with Trip Shaw of Four Corners Farm. He’s been growing over 16 years and produces over 8 acres of mixed vegetables for his newly built farmstand. We start off the episodes in this new farm building which has a front porch, farmstand, wash/pack space, walk-in cooler, and even a commercial kitchen space whe...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Plainfield Vermont where we visit with Kagen Dewey and Elise Magnant of Blackbird Organics. They’ve been farming since 2018 and have set their roots on their own farm with high tunnels and field production. We start off the visit with a tour of the greenhouses, walk around the fields, then circle back into a tunnel to hear how they are building...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Newbury Vermont, where we visit with Bob Gray of 4 Corners Farm. He and his wife Kim purchased the farm in the late 1970’s after finding success selling their abundance of vegetables at a farmers market and overtime built a highly diversified farm that supports them and their children. Bob shares about the importance of cow manure, greenhouses a...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Jericho Vermont where we visit with Spencer Hardy and Jake Kornfeld of The Farm Upstream (https://www.thefarmupstream.com). They are friends who are just setting roots on this new farm and share how they've structured their business to grow collaboratively to support multiple households.  Support the show Visit the website to see photos/vid...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Shaftsbury Vermont where we visit with Andrew Knafel of Clear Brook Farm. As he just farmed for the 30th season we reflect on how they grows on about 30 acres and in 11 greenhouses. He markets mixed vegetables and bedding plants mostly all   sold from his retail farmstand. We start off the episode with a look inside a couple of his high tunnels,...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Johnson Vermont where we visit with Tony and Joie Lehouillier of Foote Brook Farm. They grow sod, and 35 acres of vegetables for both wholesale markets and their on-farm store. We start off the episode seeing what’s growing in one of the greenhouses in early December, take a look in the farm stand, then talk about how they cleaned up from the fl...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Middlebury Vermont where we visit with Spencer Blackwell of Elmer Farm. He’s been growing for 30 years and built this property up from a homestead to a CSA & wholesale vegetable farming growing crops on over 7 acres. We start off with a tour checking out the wash and pack area, then hop in the truck during this rainy November day to take a l...

Text me a message! Today's episode comes to you from Post Mills Vermont where we visit with Tim and Janet Taylor of Crossroad Farm. They are recently retired from a 40+year farming career growing over 50 acres and 20 greenhouses of diversified vegetables. What started out as a garden turned into a business that was able to be sold and retired off from. The first half of this episode goes into...

Text me a message! Today's episode comes to you from Ely Vermont where we visit with Jake Guest of Killdeer Farm. Like many interviews we start with a tour around the farm where we visit his perfectly rectangular fields in sandy soil where he grows carrots and cilantro and spinach. Jake shares a bit about cover cropping, cultivation, and dealing with oak leaf goosefoot. After that we get out...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Shaftsbury Vermont, where we visit with Lisa McDougall of Mighty Food Farm. We start off the episode with a tour through her seven greenhouses and glance at some of the equipment that she’s using to farm over 14 acres of vegetables. We then pull up a stool in the greenhouse and have a deeper conversation about how she got started farming, And wh...

Text me a message! Today’s Episode comes to you from Danville Vermont where we visit with Jacob Mills of McDonald Farm Stand. We start off the show with a tour of a newly built 30x40 wash/pack space. Then continue through several high tunnels and talk about spinach, tomatoes, tulips and more. We talk about field production as well and wrap the episode with a brief tour of his sugarhouse before the...

Text me a message! Today’s episode comes to you from Charlotte Vermont, where we visit with Adam Hausmann and Jessica Sanford of Adam’s Berry Farm. Today’s visit is part 2. The previous episode was a farm tour and a field walk through the berry plants, high tunnels and barn. This episode shares the growing practices, farming history, and steps towards the development of this farm business.  Suppor...