Growing For Market Podcast

Community supported farm research with Anna Wallingford of New Hampshire Community Supported Research

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Anna Wallingford) — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:00:17 +0000

When Anna Wallngford got fired (twice) by DOGE from her job doing entomological research for the federal government, she formed New Hampshire Community Supported Research to keep the work she was doing on behalf of farmers going. If you can do community supported agriculture why not community supported research, right? Hear about the research she was doing for the government, what it was like to get one of the infamous “fork in the road” emails, and her plans for NHCSR.

Along with the projects she’s got lined up for 2026, we talk about how research is funded, since this affects what research gets done and on whose behalf. Anna gives us lots of insights on biological control, pheromone technology and other integrated pest management topics. And she’s looking for input from farmers to help decide which projects get done by NHCSR, so we talk about the prospective projects for 2026, and you can weigh in if one would be helpful for your farm!

Connect With Guest:

Website: nhcsr.org

Instagram: @nhcsr_ipm

@seriousgrower

The Serious Grower Podcast

Podcast Sponsors:

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Tilth Soil makes living soils for organic growers. The base for all our mixes is NOP-compliant compost, made from the 4,000 tons of food scraps we divert from landfills each year. And the results speak for themselves. Get excellent germination, strong transplants, and help us turn these resources back into food. Try a free bag and learn more at tilthsoil.com/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Farmhandis the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more atfarmhand.partners/gfm.

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure -- usually in a single day.Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Farming is hard. Running it shouldn’t be. Tend helps you plan your season, map your farm, and track every task from seed to sale. No spreadsheets, no guesswork, just seamless workflows. Tend is the all-in-one farm management platform that brings together planning, field mapping, fulfillment, real-time inventory, sales, labor, traceability, and accounting in one easy platform. Built for small market gardens, CSAs, and large diversified farms. Get started with a free account at Tend.com. No credit card required.

If you grow for market, you know performance is everything. That’s why so many farmers are turning to Burpee’s Farmers Market. Dedicated to professional growers, Burpee is now offering non-GMO seeds in larger quantities – bred and selected for standout flavor, strong yields, and the kind of visual appeal your customers crave. Burpee’s been doing this for 150 years, and they’re still creating new varieties with growers like you in mind. You can check out the full lineup at Burpee.com/FarmersMarket.

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Building a 24-hour collective flower market with Colleen McCoole Payne of the Kansas City Flower Farmer Wholesale Market

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Colleen McCoole Payne) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:07:08 +0000

In this week’s interview we hear from Colleen McCoole Payne about how she and more than 20 other growers built the Kansas City Flower Farmer Wholesale Market to help them sell more to florists by working together. In 2023 Colleen started working with a few growers to create a wholesale market similar to a farmers market where they did not need to create an LLC and each grower would invoice the buyers that bought from them. Fast forward three years and now the market just moved into its own permanent space after using temporary and pop-up locations for the first three seasons.

Though the focus is on the market, we couldn’t resist talking about how Colleen overwinters dahlias in the field, dahlia harvest stage for maximum vase life, and raising brix for pest control. Back on the market side of things, we discuss how they structure the market, the digital sales platform they use and what fees they charge. One of the most innovative parts of the market is how they plan to enable 24-hour sales for florists. We believe cooperatives and collectives like this one are part of a growing trend that will allow local flower growers to access bigger markets by banding together, so listen to this interview for all the details of how they set up the market!

Connect With Guest:

Website: farmstrongflowers.com

Instagram: @laylasmarket

@kcflowerfarmerwholesalemarket

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Seven Springs Farm Supply is a farm-based supply company focused on serving market gardeners and has been in business for 35 years. Our catalog includes a comprehensive selection of approved-for-organic fertilizers, pest & disease controls, growing mixes, cover crop seed, and more. We offer custom fertilizer blending and seasonal cooperative purchasing opportunities, and our experienced team is ready to help guide you to the best solution for your farm's needs. Request a free paper catalog and learn more at sevenspringsfarmsupply.com or give us a call at (540) 651-3228.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America.

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How small farms can stand out from big food using good marketing with Jakub Kosmowski of Farma Wola in Poland

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Jakub Kosmowski) — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 19:09:22 +0000

Jakub Kosmowski left a career in marketing to start the vegetable CSA farm Farma Wola in Poland. In this interview, he tells us how he adapted the marketing principles he used with Fortune 500 companies to develop a market for and sell CSA shares for his farm. Jakub tells us how any type of farm can use the four Ps of marketing- “product, place, price and promotion” to think about the big picture before putting effort into marketing. Then we compare the merits of the different marketing channels- email vs social media vs paid advertising- to decide which channels make sense for your farm and how to repurpose the same content across multiple channels.

In the process we talk about how to avoid some of the mistakes that even big companies make with things like Super Bowl ads, and how to set realistic objectives for marketing campaigns. He has suggestions for how to fix campaigns that are getting good reach but not generating sales. Jakub tells us how he uses affiliate marketing with local businesses to drive CSA signups. We also discuss how and why it’s important to think like your customer, and lots of other tips that will help you raise your marketing game this season!

Connect With Guest:

Website: jakubkosmowski.com

farmawola.pl

Instagram: @farmawola

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

Subscribe to our magazine- all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-day trial!

Customizing POS systems for farmers and farmstand tips with Lindsey Lusher Shute of Farm Generations Cooperative and GrownBy

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Lindsey Lusher Shute) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:20:44 +0000

Most point of sale (POS) systems were designed for businesses like restaurants and retail, and aren’t perfect fits for farm businesses. In this episode, Lindsey Lusher Shute tells us how she has been working on customizing POS systems for farmers, and how she has been beta testing the system in her own farm’s store. Innovations include being fully customizable to support a range of farms, being able to process SNAP/EBT, customer and sales tracking, and integration with scanner, printer and cash register.

We also hear how she re-established her own farm’s store after having been used in the past by previous owners of the farm. Lindsey tells us how a combination of signage, location and expanding their offerings over the years turned their farm store from a CSA pickup location into an important revenue driver for Hearty Roots Farm.

Connect With Guest:

Website: GrownBy

Instagram: @grownbyapp

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

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Folks who help farmers: how to find and work with them with Sarah Geurkink from the Organic Association of Kentucky

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Sarah Geurkink) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:52:58 +0000

In today’s episode, we explore the range of people who whose job is to help farmers, and how to get the most out of these relationships. We refer to these people as a group as technical assistance, or “TA” providers, and it can include extension agents, people at nonprofit or NGOs, professors, etc. And our guest today is one of those people- Sarah Geurkink is the Organic Production Specialist for the Organic Association of Kentucky [OAK].

Sarah draws on her own farming background and experience working with farmers at OAK to help growers understand how to find TA providers and what kind of assistance they can provide for farm projects. Listeners who want to learn more can find the article Sarah co-wrote from the February 2026 Growing for Market Magazine, “How to work with extension agents and other folks who help farmers,” linked in the show notes.

Connect With Guest:

Website: The Organic Association of Kentucky

Instagram: @organicassociationofkentucky

Sarah’s article from the February 2026 Growing for Market Magazine:

How to work with extension agents and other folks who help farmers

Here’s a link to some of the tools Sarah has built for farmers:

OAK Farming Resources- tools and templates

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

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Boost farm revenue by adding dried herbs to your crop plan with Emily Springer of Meeting House Farm and Collaborative in Maine

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Emily Springer) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 15:29:10 +0000

Most flower and vegetable growers can add herbs to their existing crop plans without changing what they’re already doing- and dried herbs can complement the fresh crops by providing a year-round income stream. On this week’s podcast we talk with Emily Springer of Meeting House Farm and Collaborative in Maine about how she grows herbs on the farm and sells them through the collaborative. Emily started the collaborative so growers can use the online sales platform to connect with buyers nationwide and ship herbs from their own farms.

She tells us how over 80% of the herbs sold in the United States are imported, and the $12 billion dollar market is expected to double over the next decade. We discuss which herbs are in demand, how to grow and dry them, how to join the collaborative, and the profitability of growing herbs. Though many overseas producers have a lower cost of production, domestic growers can compete on quality and transparency in the herb market. The conversation also covers harvesting, processing, pest management, and how much of the labor associated with drying and processing herbs can be done in the offseason when the farm is less busy.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @meetinghousefarm

Emily’s article from the March 2026 Growing for Market Magazine:

Add herbs to your crop plan to strengthen both land and profit

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

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Sweet corn- can you make money on it? And best practices with Dan Fillius from Iowa State University

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Dan Fillius) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:43:09 +0000

Everyone loves sweet corn, but can you make money on it? This pod episode sets out to answer the age-old question, and shine light on the best practices that will give growers the best chance of being profitable with this summer favorite. We also discuss whether sweet corn can function as a “loss leader,” i.e. come for the sweet corn, stay for the tomatoes and salad mix theory that might justify growing it at a loss to get customers in the door (or the farmers market stand, as the case may be).

This podcast episode is a complement to Dan’s article in the January Growing for Market Magazine, “Sweet corn without chemicals: can the early bird beat the (ear)worm?” But we didn’t want Dan to have to repeat everything he said in the article, so the article is linked below in the show notes. Though the article covers most of the basics for early and profitable sweet corn production, we cover some additional pests, sweet corn types, and ideas that we didn’t have space for in the article.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @iowa.veg.pro.support

Dan’s article in the January 2026 Growing for Market Magazine:

Sweet corn without chemicals: can the early bird beat the (ear)worm?

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

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The future of market farming in the era of digital sales with Amelia Ihlo of Rooted Farmers and Jill Shea of the Connecticut Flower Collective

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Amelia Ihlo, Jill Shea) — Tue, 3 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

What does the future of market farming look like in the era of digital sales? Our guests this week, Amelia Ihlo of Rooted Farmers and Jill Shea of the Connecticut Flower Collective had the bright idea to take the 35th anniversary of Growing for Market Magazine as an opportunity to step back and look at the last 35 years of market farming, and think about what is going to shape the next 35 years. As we discuss, the number of farms is going down every day, lots of food is wasted before it even makes it off the farm, and costs are up on pretty much everything.

On the other hand, the widespread adoption of digital sales during the COVID-19 Pandemic helped many farms find new markets. In this interview we explore how online sales are continuing to evolve for farmers, and some best practices for increasing sales and reducing friction with customers. Listen and learn how you can make the most of digital sales for your own farm!

Connect With Guest:

Website: Rooted Farmers
Connecticut Flower Collective

Instagram: @rooted_farmers, @connecticutflowercollective

Podcast:
Rooted Barn Talks Podcast
Use code GFM2026 for $100 off a Rooted Farmers Individual Farm Essentials or Pro subscription.

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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How to send better farm emails with email expert Angie Machado

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Angie Machado, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:57:29 +0000

Though Angie Machado is now an email expert, she got her start in the flower world, so she understands the unique needs of farm businesses. In this episode she shares her journey from working with flowers to specializing in email marketing. This interview covers how to build an effective email list, create engaging content, balance sales and value in emails, and avoid common pitfalls. Angie also highlights the significance of personalization and segmentation in email marketing, providing practical tips for farmers to enhance their email marketing efforts.

We talk about the big questions, like why you would spend money on email marketing when you can advertise on social media for free (spoiler alert: you don’t own your social media audience so you can lose it at any time). We also discuss how much to sell via email, what to email your audience about in the non-sales emails, how to get people to open your emails, why bots sign up for your email newsletter, and everything else you need to know to up your email game. So, whether you send emails to CSA members, farmers market customers, or prospective shoppers, listen to this episode to learn how to make those emails better.

Connect With Guest:
Website: Etereas Email Studio
Instagram: @angiemachado_

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

This episode is brought to you by Tend, the all-in-one, AI-powered farm management platform trusted by modern growers. Tend helps you cut through the busywork, so you can focus on growing and selling what matters. With Tend, you can plan your crops, assign and track tasks, manage inventory, and handle your sales and accounting, all in one smart, easy-to-use platform. Whether you run a 1-acre farm or manage a large operation, Tend adapts to your scale and style, supporting everything from manual labor to fully mechanized workflows. Try it for free at Tend.com, no credit card required.

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A conversation with one of our farmer/writers on how immigration enforcement is playing out in Minneapolis and its effect on farms with Sam Oschwald Tilton

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:49:05 +0000

In this bonus episode of the Growing for Market Podcast, we hear from long-time GFM writer, farmer and Minneapolis resident Sam Oschwald Tilton about how immigration enforcement is playing out in Minneapolis. In an industry with an estimated 40% of workers undocumented, the way immigration laws are enforced probably has a bigger impact on farming than any other industry. Many farmworkers with legal status- for example those on H-2A, refugee, asylum or H-2B visas- have been detained in the current immigration enforcement.

The fact that even documented workers are being detained is disrupting both farms and families as workers wonder if their documentation can be relied upon and farm employers wonder if their employees will show up for work. We connected two articles from Growing for Market Magazine about the H-2A visa process below as both a resource for farmers and an example for how the expansion of the guestworker program could provide a framework for foreign-born workers to legally meet the demand for farmworkers in the United States.

Article: Demystifying the H-2A program from Growing for Market Magazine

Article: Navigating the H-2A guestworker visa program from Growing for Market Magazine

Switching from veg and flowers to seeds + tips from 30 years of farming with Sebastian Aguilar of Summertime Seed Co. in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sebastian Aguilar, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:31:32 +0000

Sebastian Aguilar started farming in 1997, and for much of that time he was growing flowers and vegetables for market with his family. Learn why they made the switch to seeds, and how their operation changed when they went from market farming to seed farming.

It’s not all about seeds, though- there are plenty of practical tips from Sebastian’s 30 years of farming experience. We discuss how they maintain permanent beds with a tractor, how they have been using a tine weeder to work down the weed seed bank in cover crops, and how they use an app called Coda for planning, logging, inventory and managing SOPs, and more!

Connect With Guest:
Website: summertimeseed.com
Instagram: @summertimeseed

Podcast Sponsors:Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Since 1972 Ohio Earth Food has been the go-to source for soil testing, consulting as well as the highest performing and most cost effective granular and liquid fertilizers, seed starting soils, foliar sprays and disease and insect controls. All approved for use on organic farms. Start seeds in The Seed Catapult soil with mycorrhizae and put Re-vita Pro fertilizer in the soil before you plant. Learn more at ohioearthfood.com.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

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Building a farm with smart borrowing and pivoting from wholesale to retail with Brian Bates of Bear Creek Organic Farm in Michigan

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Brian Bates) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Brian Bates and his wife Anne run Bear Creek Organic Farm in Petoskey, Michigan. A little over a decade after starting their farm, they are grossing over $1.5 million from their on-farm store- which is surprising considering that before COVID, their farm was mostly wholesale, whereas now most of their sales come from on-farm retail. In retrospect, it’s easy to think the last decade was an uninterrupted period of growth; however in this interview, we’ll talk about the bumps along the way and how they overcame them. We also talk about the big pivot that changed their farm from wholesale to retail, how they have used smart borrowing over the years to grow their business, and how they farm year-round and take direction from their customers to make sure they’re providing what their customers want.

Connect With Guest:
Website: bearcreekorganicfarm.com
Instagram: @bearcreekorganicfarm

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

“Lower the noise” on the farm with detailed planning and systems with Luke Sheldrick of Terramor Farm in Ontario

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Luke Sheldrick) — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 15:53:36 +0000

Luke Sheldrick and his partner Dana run Terramor Farm in Burnstown, Ontario, about an hour west of Ottawa. After a decade of growing vegetables and cut flowers for a CSA, local restaurants and retail as well as farmers markets, Luke uses a number of systems to plan out the farm year and keep the plan on track through the haze of the season. In addition to hearing about the farm, we’ll discuss how this all comes together to plan crops, keep in touch with customers and keep track of employees.

Luke is also a partner with the Market Gardener Institute, where he serves as a community expert in the Masterclass and teaches the Crop Plan Accelerator program. We also talk about Luke's three different bed preparation protocols including no-till, minimal-till and mow-till. So listen to this episode for tips on selling to restaurants, how to find the sweet spot between over-and-under diversification in markets and crops, plus market cards vs a traditional CSA and more.

Connect With Guest:
Website: terramorfarm.com
Instagram: @terramorfarm

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

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How farmers are changing cropping strategies in response to a changing climate with Masha Vernik

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Masha Vernik, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

This week’s podcast guest Masha Vernik interviewed nearly 30 farmers in the Pacific Northwest about how they are changing their cropping strategies in response to climate change for her master’s thesis at The University of Washington. In the process, she collected a lot of data and anecdotes about all aspects of how farmers in the region are being affected by, and adapting to, climate change.

In addition to her academic work, Masha has also worked on several farms in the region. Regardless of where your farm is located, there is a lot to learn from this interview about how climate change is playing out, and strategies for increasing resilience in the face of increasingly erratic weather.

Connect With Guest:
Website: mashavernik.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Changing mum bloom time with light deprivation and recovering from natural disaster with Rose and Rick Bengtson of Ice Moon Farms in Texas

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Rose and Rick Bengtson, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:56:32 +0000

During their first full season, Rick and Rose Bengtson of Ice Moon Farms suffered catastrophic damage from wind and flooding. As devastating as that was, they bounced back and we can learn from the way they rebuilt and the strategies they used to prolong cashflow later into the fall to make up for some of the income they missed in the summer.

One of those strategies was holiday wreaths and amaryllis- another was using light deprivation to get chrysanthemums to bloom earlier. Learn how this worked out in practice and considerations if you’re thinking of doing the same thing. Plus, hear about their homemade bed shaper, their pest and other challenges, how they overcome them and more in this week’s podcast interview.

Connect With Guest:
Facebook: @icemoonfarmsllc

Instagram: @icemoonfarmsllc

Free companion article:

All about chrysanthemums by Rebecca Kutzer-Rice from Growing for Market Magazine

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Late-season superstars: heirloom chrysanthemums from propagation to sale with Kate Dagnal of Goose Creek Gardens in Pennsylvania

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Kate Dagnal, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Heirloom chrysanthemums fill an important role for local growers- as very late bloomers they can be one of the last flowers in the fall to keep cash flow going after others have succumbed to the cold. Our guest this week, Kate Dagnal of Goose Creek Gardens, grows thousands of bouquets every year for grocery stores, and heirloom chrysanthemums are the anchor flower she uses to finish out the season. In this interview we go deep on everything you need to know to grow great heirloom chrysanthemums, including propagation, growing, harvesting and postharvest.

We discuss why new varieties of mums aren’t being sold in the US (thus the term “heirloom”) and some important differences mums have from other flowers- they need to be propagated from cuttings, and day length is what triggers them to bloom. Heirloom mums come in a wide range of shapes and colors- from big focal flowers to delicate sprays- so they can play many different roles in late season design work. They also have excellent vase life if handled properly- listen to this week’s interview for everything from how to propagate, what stage to harvest, how much frost protection they need, how to handle after harvest, favorite varieties and more!

Connect With Guest:
Website: goosecreekgardens.com
Instagram: @goosecreekgardens

Free companion article:
All about chrysanthemums by Rebecca Kutzer-Rice from Growing for Market Magazine

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Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

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Perennial vegetables to plant once and harvest many times with Michalina Hunter of Cicada Seeds in British Columbia

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Michalina Hunter, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 6 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000

This week Michalina Hunter tells us how she got so interested in perennial vegetables that she started a seed company specializing in them, Cicada Seeds! In this interview with host April Parms Jones, we hear about the advantages of vegetables that you can plant once and harvest many times, including crops like skirret, spinach vine, perennial kale, perpetual leeks, perennial celery, sweet lettuce and more.

They also talk about how to propagate perennial crops, since some of them involve techniques like cold stratification or vegetative propagation to get them going. Lastly, they discuss how to prepare ground for crops that are going to be there for the long haul, including the importance of soil health, and the participatory research project Michalina is starting to get feedback from growers on these perennial crops.

Connect With Guest:
Website: cicadaseeds.ca
Instagram: @cicadaseeds

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Breedng biodiverse Pacific Northwest-adapted seeds with Andrew Still of Adaptive Seeds in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (andrew still, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 14:43:04 +0000

This week Andrew Still tells us how Adaptive Seeds started in 2009 as an outgrowth of the Seed Ambassadors Project to steward and keep rare and heritage vegetable and flower varieties alive. In the intervening 15+ years they have furthered their mission of preserving open pollinated varieties and breeding new ones that are adapted to the Pacific Northwest. Interviewer Andrew Mefferd had the pleasure of visiting the farm where they grow much of their seed a decade ago- now we get to catch up and hear about how this farm-based seed company has grown in the intervening decade.

We hear about how Adaptive Seeds started after sourcing hundreds of heritage varieties on a seed exploration trip to Europe, how they have decided which varieties to add to their catalog, and why they leave variation in some varieties and mixes. We also discuss balancing flavor and productivity in breeding, the importance of transparency in seed sourcing, and how dehybridization can be used to “preserve” favorite varieties that have been dropped from the seed trade. We round out the conversation out with the importance of biodiversity, the impact of intellectual property on seed innovation, and how growers can try breeding their own varieties.

Connect With Guest:
Website: adaptiveseeds.com
Instagram: @adaptive_seeds

Podcast Sponsors- Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

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Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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The fertilizer you make every day: fertilizing with urine with the Rich Earth Institute

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Rich Earth Institute, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:56:20 +0000

Farmers are used to the idea of fertilizing with manure, however one species’ output is usually not used: our own. This is despite the fact that effluent from water treatment is a large contributor to excess nitrogen in our waterways and the nutrient pollution that’s responsible for the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. If we could recapture those nutrients, not only could it give farmers a cheap, readily-available source of fertility, but it would reduce the amount of pollution going into our waterways.

Our three guests this week just finished a SARE grant project looking at using urine as a fertilizer. Tatiana Schreiber and Abe Noe-Hays are from the Rich Earth Institute, and Deborah Aller is at Cornell University, and on this week’s podcast they tell us what they learned looking at the soil health impacts and farmer perspectives on using various forms of human waste and control treatments for fertilizer. They tell us what products they used, how farmers can make use of them, and how this technology might be scaled up in the future.

Connect With Guest:
Website: richearthinstitute.org
Instagram: @peecyclers

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Breeding regionally adapted vegetables with Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers in Virginia

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Edmund Frost, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:57:49 +0000

There are very few one-size-fits-all solutions in agriculture- most things depend on the weather, soil, pests, diseases and a host of other conditions for a particular farm. One of the most exciting trends in agriculture right now is the development of varieties that are suited to specific regional conditions. Common Wealth Seed Growers breeds open-pollinated vegetable varieties that are adapted to their region- in this case the southern USA.

This week’s guest Edmund Frost has managed seed production and research at Twin Oaks Seed Farm in Central Virginia since 2008. He also leads Common Wealth Seed Growers, a small, farm-based seed company with a commitment to regional production, adaptation and research based in Virginia. In this interview we discuss what traits they are breeding for in the Southeast, how they breed for resistance to the pests and diseases of the region, dehybridization, tropical pumpkins, new types of sweet corn that may have an advantage in the South, and more!

Connect With Guest:
Website: commonwealthseeds.com
Instagram: @commonwealthseed

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

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Healthy soil as a remedy for pest and disease problems with Jen Aron of Blue Raven Farm in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (jen aron, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 9 Dec 2025 12:10:02 +0000

Jen Aron is an agroecologist and owner of Blue Raven Farm in Corbett, Oregon. She also worked as a farm educator for seven years with Oregon State University Extension. About five years ago, Jen wrote four articles for Growing for Market Magazine talking about how she built her farm on raw land east of Portland, Oregon, focusing on creating a healthy soil ecosystem and dealing with a whole slew of pest and disease problems along the way.

The thread running through Jen’s work and her articles is both the wonder and the power of healthy soil to grow healthy crops, and how to deal with the challenges we have in farming through soil-based solutions. So, I wasn’t entirely surprised to hear that Jen recently went through an intensive 650-plus hour agro-ecology course with Nicole Masters, which has completely reshaped how she approaches on-farm consulting, education, nutrient applications, biology, soil testing, and weed management. Listen to this podcast episode for a deep dive into soil health and hear how Jen is applying what she’s learned at the decade mark of Blue Raven Farm.

Connect With Guest:

Free article by Jen Aron from Growing for Market Magazine: Microbes for land repair: A 5-year eco-farming trial

Website: blueravenfarm.org

Instagram: @blue_raven_farm

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Urban flower farming on multiple plots with Elizabeth Lutz Kelly of Happy Dragon Flower Farm in Ohio

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Elizabeth Lutz Kelly, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 2 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0000

When Elizabeth Lutz Kelly’s flower growing hobby turned into a business, it outgrew the space she had available in her yard in Akron, Ohio. Even though there wasn’t a lot of open space, she asked around her neighborhood and found places that could be growing crops that weren’t. Thus she was able to expand her business with one of the most viable strategies for growing a farm without having to buy more land.

In this interview we hear about Elizabeth’s strategies for growing a lot of flowers in a small area, what crops she grows and how she markets them locally. We also hear about how her dahlia breeding project has led to submitting a variety for possible naming by the American Dahlia Society. We also hear why she’s planting more perennials for cut flowers all year round, how she moves them through her farmstand, and more in this week’s interview with host April Parms Jones!

Connect With Guest:
Website: happydragonflowerfarm.com
Instagram: @happydragonflowerfarm
Facebook: Akron Garden Share

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

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Harvest Bucks- making farmers market SNAP dollars go twice as far with Emily Grassie of the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Emily Grassie) — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 20:56:32 +0000

This week we welcome Emily Grassie, the Director of Food Access Programs at the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets (MFFM) to talk about Harvest Bucks, an innovative program that helps SNAP recipients double their dollars when spent at farmers markets. MFFM works to fund and administer the program so when SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) shoppers use their benefits at participating farmers markets, CSA farms, farm stands, and food co-ops, they receive “bonus bucks” (usually in the form of a coupon) to redeem for fruits and vegetables.

These “bonus bucks” add a percentage to the value of their SNAP benefits, up to doubling the benefits at farmers markets. This is the type of program that could be set up in other areas to increase income for farmers while helping those with food assistance afford more fruits and vegetables. Emily tells us about how the program started, how it works now, and the recent challenges with the uncertainty of grant funding.

Connect With Guest:

Website: mainefarmersmarkets.org

Instagram: @mainefarmersmarkets

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

If you have never attended an ASCFG Conference, there is no better time to invest in yourself! The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers is welcoming Growing for Market readers to register at the ASCFG member rate for the 2026 Conference in Albuquerque on January 13-14. Register at ascfg.org.

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How to price your flowers with Lennie Larkin of Flower Farming for Profit

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Lennie Larkin) — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 12:58:31 +0000

Flower pricing can be tricky with so many factors affecting value, between different crops, different markets and varying types of arrangements. You want to make sure you’re putting the price of your flowers high enough so you’re making a profit, but not so high that you price yourself out of the market. Listen to this week’s podcast with Lennie Larkin for pricing strategies to make sure you can keep your business going.

As a flower farmer herself and business coach for other flower farmers, Lennie put her experiences and business expertise into the book Flower Farming for Profit, and the Sell Your Flowers Summit, which you can attend for free starting November 20. In this conversation, we cover how to price the same blooms for different markets, how to de-commodify your flowers, and how to market them. If you know how to grow flowers but are anything less than confident in how to sell them, this conversation will help you develop the confidence to ask for a fair price for your blooms!

Connect With Guest:
Website: flowerfarmingforprofit.com
Instagram: @flowerfarming.forprofit
Sell Your Flowers Summit

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Improving tunnel tomato production by picking the low-hanging fruit with Vern Grubinger from the University of Vermont

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Vern Grubinger, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 17:07:09 +0000

As the Vegetable and Berry Specialist at the University of Vermont for 35 years, Vern has a lot of experience with helping growers improve their high tunnel tomato production. One of the best ways to find out what is working on actual farms is with a survey- in 2024 Vern and his team did a survey of 48 tunnel tomato growers (heated and unheated) that included growing practices and yields, in order to correlate the best practices to the best yields.

In this conversation, we talk about the conclusions we can draw from this survey, highlighting the best practices and prioritizing the smallest changes that can have the biggest impact on yields. We discuss everything from variety selection to grafting, root zone heating, planting density and biological controls. Ultimately, the biggest changes came from: using the long-term high tunnel soil test, adding up to 4 drip lines per bed, improving ventilation with gable end vents and HAF fans, and automating roll-up sides. We break it all down with Vern and if you'd like to see the slides made from his study results, they're in the show notes below.

Connect With Guest:
Website with slides from the study: newenglandvfc.org
Instagram: @uvmextcommhort

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Introducing the Western Arid Growers Network (WAGN) with Nella Mae Parks and Maud Powell in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Maud Powell, Nella Mae Parks, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 4 Nov 2025 14:24:18 +0000

We get together with Nella Mae Parks and Maud Powell this week to discuss the challenges of farming in arid environments, and a new network they are forming for growers in those climates! Nella Mae and Maud are from dry parts of Oregon, and they are starting the Western Arid Growers Network (WAGN) to facilitate farmer-to-farmer learning for arid growers. A lot of people think “rainy” when they hear “Oregon.” But Nella Mae and Maud share stories from their own farms to illustrate the peculiarities of farming in their climate, which has low rainfall and wide temperature swings from hot days to cold nights.

They also tell us about a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant they are working together on, highlighting the role of the SARE program in supporting sustainable agriculture and the launch of the WAGN. Their SARE project will use on-farm research with moisture monitors to help growers in arid climates evaluate how much water they actually need to use for optimum crop growth. This is particularly important in arid environments where water is limited- if less water could be used without compromising growth, that would make the water that is available go further. Stay tuned for the results of this research project.

Connect With Guest:
Website: aridgrowers.org
Instagram: @aridgrowernetwork

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Sarah Gretsinger of The Kale Next Door on scaling down and intensifying production in Akron, Ohio

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sarah Gretsinger, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:10:03 +0000

Sarah Gretsinger worked for other farms for over a decade before starting her urban farm, The Kale Next Door, on the land around her house in Akron, Ohio. Hear how she scaled down techniques she had practiced on larger farms in order to grow intensively on a small land base. Host April Parms Jones, one of Sarah’s CSA customers, gets all the details of how Sarah gets the most out of not a lot of space.

They do a deep dive on garlic, just in time for garlic planting season. Sarah outlines the practices she uses to encourage healthy soil, and explains how flowers fit in with the veggies in her CSA. Sarah also discusses the ways urban farming can help relocalize the food system and how others who have land in urban areas can start growing on it or make it available to others to help solve the issue of land access.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @thekalenextdoor

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

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Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Making and evaluating biologically active compost with Jason Gearheart of Integrated Elements Compost in Indiana

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Jason Gearheart, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:08:09 +0000

Whether buying or making your own, how do you tell if compost is any good? We go deep on this question with Jason Gearheart of Integrated Elements Compost in Columbus, Indiana in this week’s podcast interview. Jason honed his compost-making skills as a student of Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School, and now he makes a variety of products including vermicompost, biologically active compost, compost tea and more.

Biologically active compost goes beyond macronutrient analysis to make sure compost has enough of the beneficial microbes to build the soil life that is so beneficial to plants. In this interview we talk about what classes of microbes we are looking for, how to identify them and how to encourage the right ones during the composting process. We also discuss the merits of different compost feedstocks, composting temperature and turning intervals, and how to know when compost is done in this exploration of one of the most important soil amendments!

Connect With Guest:
Website: iecompost.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

End of year tax and accounting strategies from farmer/CPA Sarah Scott of Scott Farm & Flower in New York State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sarah Scott, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 11:20:53 +0000

As we approach the end of the year, we wanted to check in with farmer/CPA Sarah Scott to ask about tax and accounting best practices to make sure growers aren’t leaving money on the table and are ready to move into 2026 as strong as possible. Sarah and her family run Scott Farm & Flower and Allegiant Tax & Accounting Services, so she understands both the accounting world and how farm businesses operate. In this episode, we make sure your accounting software subscription is paying for itself by discussing how to get the most out of the records you’re already keeping, so they’re not just for tax compliance but also help you make better farm decisions.

We also talk about tax-smart ways to invest a profit in equipment or your retirement. We discuss how farm income averaging can help you on taxes, especially if you have one unusually good year, so the profit can be averaged over multiple years. We also consider when accelerated depreciation can be useful, how to do next year’s budgeting with this year’s numbers, and more in this week’s Growing for Market podcast!

Connect With Guest:

Website: allegiantfinancial.net
Instagram: @scott_farm_and_flower

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, at grownby.com.

Since 1993, Vermont Compost Company has supplied premium living soils and compost-based amendments to thousands of successful growers all over the country. All ingredients used in

Vermont Compost products are approved for certified organic production. Each fall, Vermont Compost Company offers a Prebuy Sale to incentivize ordering your spring soil before winter settles in. Early Bird customers save 20% on orders placed, paid for and shipped by October 31st. For more information, visit vermontcompost.com/prebuy, or call at (802) 223-6049. Vermont Compost Company - living soils for organic growing since 1993.

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Ellen Polishuk on what she learned from 30+ years of farming and how to keep learning from other farmers

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Ellen Polishuk, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 7 Oct 2025 09:00:00 +0000

After retiring from more than 30 years of farming, much of it at Potomac Vegetable Farms in Virginia, Ellen Polishuk started Plant to Profit to keep teaching the next generation of growers. In this interview, we talk about the farm trends she is seeing with her clients, and how the farm business landscape has changed over the years. We discuss the perennial problem of farm labor, possible solutions, and how year-round growing is changing the kind of worker that farmers need.

We also talk about whether it’s possible to make more money by scaling down, whether loss-leaders make sense for market farmers, and strategies for dealing with increasingly wilder weather. Be sure to catch this episode for ideas on how to dial-in your farm’s fertility, ways famers can learn from each other, and more in this week’s Growing for Market podcast!

Connect With Guest:
Website: planttoprofit.com
Instagram: @planttoprofit_farmerellen

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Since 1993, Vermont Compost Company has supplied premium living soils and compost-based amendments to thousands of successful growers all over the country. All ingredients used in Vermont Compost products are approved for certified organic production. Each fall, Vermont Compost Company offers a Prebuy Sale to incentivize ordering your spring soil before winter settles in. Early Bird customers save 20% on orders placed, paid for and shipped by October 31st. For more information, visit vermontcompost.com/prebuy, or call at (802) 223-6049. Vermont Compost Company - living soils for organic growing since 1993.

From October 7th to 9th, the Market Gardener Institute is hosting the very first Global Market Gardeners Summit: a free, live online event with conference, round table and much more. Over three days, you'll hear from expert growers, educators, and consultants from around the world, with inspiring and practical sessions on. Reserve your free spot and connect with thousands of farmers worldwide who are building a better future, one small farm at a time at themarketgardener.com.

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Turtle Tree Seed founder Beth Everett on 45+ years of farming at Meadowlark Hearth farm in Nebraska

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Beth Everett, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Learn about the origins of Turtle Tree Seeds, and why co-founder Beth Everett returned to her family’s fourth-generation farm in this week’s podcast with host April Parms Jones. Founded in 1994, Turtle Tree Seed grows and sells exclusively biodynamically certified seed. Beth has continued to grow and sell seed from her family’s farm in Nebraska, called Meadowlark Hearth.

Hear how they use a CoolBot to overwinter biennial crops like Celeriac that need to survive the winter in order to produce seed, and lots of other practical information like how to use isolation distances to keep varieties breeding true in this week’s Growing for Market Podcast.

Connect With Guest:
Website: meadowlarkhearth.org
Instagram: @meadowlarkhearth

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Discover innovative packaging solutions at A-ROO Company, your one-stop shop for customizable and eco-friendly packaging across various industries, including floral, produce, and specialty packaging. Explore stylish and eco-friendly Kraft Paper Sleeves and sheets at shop.a-roo.com today and enjoy an exclusive 15% discount with code "GFM15" for Growing for Market listeners. When it comes to quality and innovation, A-ROO Company is the name you can trust.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

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Scaling up, scaling down and finding the right farm size over 20+ years of farming with Chris Jagger of Blue Fox Farm in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Chris Jagger, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000

After starting the farm over 20 years ago, Chris Jagger and his family scaled Blue Fox Farm from very small up to about 45 acres, including a lot of wholesaling. When the wholesale market changed, they scaled back down. Learn why Chris says his current farm size puts him in a farm “economic dead zone,” so you can consider farming on either side of it.

Chris farms in the Applegate Valley, a sparsely-populated, very dry part of southern Oregon that also has a lot of cannabis cultivation. Hear how the rise and fall of the cannabis industry has affected market farms in the area, what cannabis growers can learn from vegetable farmers, and more in this interview with host Katie Kulla.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @bluefoxfarm

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Discover innovative packaging solutions at A-ROO Company, your one-stop shop for customizable and eco-friendly packaging across various industries, including floral, produce, and specialty packaging. Explore stylish and eco-friendly Kraft Paper Sleeves and sheets at shop.a-roo.com today and enjoy an exclusive 15% discount with code "GFM15" for Growing for Market listeners. When it comes to quality and innovation, A-ROO Company is the name you can trust.

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

How to plan for and bounce back from flooding with Noah Poulos of Wild East Farm in North Carolina

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Noah Poulos, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Wild East Farm was one of many in North Carolina that suffered from catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Helene in September 2024. Parts of the state received 15-30 inches of rain during the storm, resulting in flash flooding and extensive tree blowdown. Almost a year after the storm, we caught up with Noah Poulos to talk about the lead-up to the storm, how they tried to save their animals and crops, and the aftermath.

Noah shares insights into the farm's recovery process, the importance of diversified farming in spreading risk, and the community's role in supporting local agriculture during extreme weather events. In an era when extreme weather is becoming more common with climate change, we also talk about farm planning considerations and setup in order to anticipate and manage risk in a future with more volatile weather.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @wildeastfarm
Website: wildeastfarm.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand is the virtual assistant built for farmers—helping CSAs scale sales, run error-free fulfillment, and deliver 5-star service. Whether you’re at 100 members or 1,000, Farmhand helps you grow without burning out. You’ve heard us—and our farmers—right here on the Growing for Market Podcast. Explore more stories and learn more at farmhand.partners/gfm.

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Raising standards for produce and soil quality with Laura Llewellyn of Chimalow Produce in Washington State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Laura Llewellyn, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 9 Sep 2025 11:44:46 +0000

With over 20 years of farming experience, hear how Laura Llewellyn grew Chimalow Produce to maximize soil and veg quality, based on the idea that healthy soil will lead to better vegetables. Learn how Laura encourages biological life in the soil, how they balance minimizing soil disturbance with mechanical cultivation, address deficiencies and encourage mycorrhizal fungi. Drawing on her experience as the manager of a retail produce department, Laura shares the strategy she uses to set up market displays to make them engaging and easy for customers to shop.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @chimalowproduce
Website: chimalowproduce.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Farmhand is the all-in-one virtual assistant created for CSA farmers. With five-star member support, custom websites, shop management, and seamless billing, Farmhand makes it effortless to market, manage, and grow a thriving CSA. Learn more and set up a demo with the founder at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Scaling up and growing 60,000 dahlias with Grace Lam of Fivefork Farms in Massachusetts

Andrew@growingformarket.com (grace lam, Rebecca Kutzer-Rice) — Tue, 2 Sep 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Scaling up means different things for different farms; hear from Grace Lam how Fivefork Farms has scaled up to the point where they are growing 60,000 dahlias both for flower and tuber sales and over 700 dahlia share members.

They don’t just grow dahlias though- there is a lot of practical info in this interview, including how to keep up with labor and water needs as the farm grows, when and how to mechanize, and specialty crop insurance programs that can help insure your growing farm. Learn how they keep their farmstand thriving and steps they have taken to make the farm more resilient in the face of increasingly extreme weather in this interview with host Rebecca Kutzer-Rice.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @fiveforkfarms
Website: fiveforkfarms.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

How farmers can help breed varieties tailored to their farms with Michael Lordon of the Organic Seed Alliance

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Michael Lordon, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Discover how farmers and researchers are collaborating to develop seed varieties tailored to farmers' needs with Michael Lordon of the Organic Seed Alliance. Since vegetable and flower varieties are not one-size-fits-all farms, Michael tells us how the OSA is working to breed varieties that will thrive on farms without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Michael highlights ways farmers can participate in developing better varieties, including working with breeders, trialing, on-farm breeding and collaborative variety trials with a new platform called SeedLinked. Dig into this conversation about the future of seeds and where our next favorite variety is coming from with Michael and host April Parms Jones.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @organic_seed_alliance
Website: seedalliance.org

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Discover innovative packaging solutions at A-ROO Company, your one-stop destination for customizable and eco-friendly packaging, including floral, produce, and specialty packaging. Enjoy an exclusive 15% discount with code "GFM15" for GFM Podcast listeners at shop.a-roo.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Insects as a solution to food waste and a new farm “crop” with Pat Crowley of Chapul Farms in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Pat Crowley, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0000

“Get your fresh local insects, and frass too!” If Pat Crowley had his way, insects and their byproducts (most notably frass used as fertilizer) would take their place alongside vegetables and flowers as profitable enterprises for local farms. And the best part is, they are fed on a widely-available byproduct: some of the 100 million tons of food waste that is currently going into landfills in the United States.

Pat is the founder and CEO of Chapul Farms, which designs, builds and operates insect farms, having featured on Shark Tank in 2014. If you saw that episode, the company has changed a lot since then, changing their focus from raising crickets to raising black soldier fly larvae (a protein source for other animals) and their frass, i.e. the excrement and exoskeletons of the flies that can be used as fertilizer. This interview with host Katie Kulla is fascinating both for the insect’s potential as a new farm product, as well as learning how Chapul Farms has raised funds, including the regenerative funding platform where they raised $2 million in an hour.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @chapulinnovationcenter
Website: chapulfarms.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

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30+ years of scaling up without lowering standards with Jack Hedin and Abby Benson of Featherstone Farm in Minnesota

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Abby Benson, Jack Hedin, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Over more than 30 years, Featherstone Farm has grown their CSA and wholesaling to the point where they are now growing on 135 acres and have scaled up some of their major crops- for one example, they are storing 120 tons or more of carrots every year. These are distributed through their CSA and wholesaling. Though Featherstone has gotten a lot bigger over the years, they have remained committed to high agricultural standards with a Real Organic Project certification and high standards for the nearly 50 farm workers that they employ.

Jack Hedin started the farm with his wife in 1994, and Abby Benson is the farm’s production manager and part of the leadership team. In this interview with host Katie Kulla, Jack and Abby discuss overcoming the production and logistics challenges that saw the farm grow from a much smaller size to having as many as 1400 CSA members in some years. Farming is never without a challenge, though, and they discuss how changing weather patterns are resulting in prolonged wet periods that threaten many of their crops with increased disease pressure, and how they are planning for other challenges to keep the farm healthy into the future.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @featherstonefarmmn
Website: featherstonefarm.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Expanding regional markets for farmers with Anne Massie and Virginia Pleasant of Region Roots Local Farm & Food Hub

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Anne Massie, Virginia Pleasant, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 5 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Anne Massie and Virginia Pleasant share how they’ve grown Region Roots Local Farm and Food Hub to increase opportunities for famers to feed their regional communities. “The Region” is how the area of Northwest Indiana where they are based is known locally. Both co-executive directors of the NWI (Northwest Indiana) Food Council, they tell us how they’ve rapidly grown their grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a just and regenerative food system.

They discuss considerations including how big of a population can be supported by a food hub, effective programs, how to get funding, and how they’ve been dealing with the cancellation of promised funding by the federal government this year. This food hub is really helping open up markets for farmers and getting more local food into the community, and the conversation emphasizes how to actually get community collaboration, farmer support, and public policy to work together to shape food policy.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @region_roots_food_hub
Website: regionroots.org

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Building soil to feed your plants with Josh Kruszynski of Tilth Soil

Andrew@growingformarket.com (tilth soil, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:19:26 +0000

Tilth Soil composts millions of pounds of food waste every year, and we’ve got their soil guy Josh Kruszynski on the pod this week to talk about how to build soil including not just compost, but also microbes, micronutrients, Ph and everything else we’re learning about how to encourage healthy soil.

We talk about the markers of healthy soil as a starting point for evaluating our own soil and figuring out what steps to take to improve it. In this interview with host April Parms Jones we hear how healthy soils can help with many of the challenges farmers face, including erosion, water holding capacity, fertility and even pest pressure.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @tilth.soil
Website: tilthsoil.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

The business side of growing a farm and balancing family with Diane Aboushi of Halal Pastures

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Diane Aboushi, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Growing up in Brooklyn with a career as an attorney, Diane Aboushi of Halal Pastures farm did not follow the most traditional path to becoming a farmer. However, researching how to provide the healthiest food for their kids prompted Diane and her family to start a meat business that eventually led to moving out of the city and adding vegetable farming to the mix.

In this conversation with host Katie Kulla, Diane discusses the importance of halal food, the expansion of her business from meat to organic vegetables, and the significance of growing culturally important vegetable varieties for their customers. Diane emphasizes the role of education and community engagement in her farming practices, as well as the challenges of balancing family life with farm operations. She highlights the importance of organic certification, diversification for sustainability, and the value of direct marketing through building your own email list.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @halalpasturesfarm
Website: https://www.halalpastures.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Decades of incredibly diverse CSA farming with 7th generation farmers Steve and Lisa Cooper of Cooper’s CSA Farm in Ontario

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Steve Cooper, Lisa Cooper, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Though their family has been farming in Ontario for over 200 years, success looks different in the 2020s than it did in the early 19th century! Hear how the Coopers changed their family farm in order to steward it into the future by becoming early adopters of the CSA model.

Learn how the business has evolved over the years and how they manage a diverse range of products, both on the farm and the business side of things. The Coopers and host Katie Kulla also discuss the importance of succession planning, finding a balance between cashflow and equity building, integrating technology into the farm, and how to maintain a fun and positive environment on the farm to stay in it for the long haul.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @coopscsafarm
Website: www.coopersfarm.ca

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Sharing the lessons learned growing from urban gardens to Unvarnished Farm in Indiana with Megan Ayers

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Megan Ayers, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 8 Jul 2025 12:37:46 +0000

On this week’s podcast Megan Ayers shares what she learned as she built Unvarnished Farm from a series of urban gardens into the farm in southeastern Indiana that it is today. A first-generation farmer, Megan focused on regenerative practices and soil health as she scaled her farm. She and host April Parms Jones discuss concepts that apply to farms of any size, including the ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio for farm soils, evaluating the quality of compost, cover cropping and how chemical fertilizers can harm microbial populations that could otherwise help plants.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @unvarnished_farm
Website: unvarnishedfarm.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Pushing back on the weakening of organic standards with Linley Dixon of the Real Organic Project

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Linley Dixon, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 1 Jul 2025 12:35:41 +0000

Linley Dixon discusses some of the challenges facing organic farming, particularly the issues of greenwashing and the need for maintaining organic standards in this week’s podcast interview. Linley is the Co-Director of the Real Organic Project (ROP), in addition to running her own Adobe House Farm in Durango, Colorado. She emphasizes the importance of transparency in agricultural practices and the impact of lobbying by agribusiness to weaken organic standards. These issues have an impact even on farmers who are not certified organic, because when standards are not maintained, it causes consumers to doubt standards in general.

The conversation also touches on the role of fraud in organic certification, the need for accountability, and the importance of strong regulations to protect organic integrity. This is the second episode on maintaining organic standards; the first one with Dave Chapman focused on the issue of allowing hydroponics in organics, while this episode focuses on maintaining humane standards for organic livestock and combatting organic grain fraud. Linley also delves into her academic background in soil science and plant pathology, emphasizing the significance of soil health in sustainable agriculture.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @realorganicproject

Website: realorganicproject.org

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Nifty Hoops builds complete gothic high tunnels that are easy to install and built to last. Their bolt-together construction makes setup straightforward and efficient, whether it's a small backyard hoophouse, or a dozen large production-scale high tunnels- especially through their community build option, where professional builders work alongside your crew, family, or neighbors to build each structure- usually in a single day. Visit niftyhoops.com to learn more.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Greenhouse planning, siting and building with Tomm Becker of Nifty Hoops

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Tomm Becker, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Planning and siting have a lot to do with the success of a greenhouse project. Whether building your first or your fifth greenhouse, learn best practices for site prep, drainage, snow and wind management and more with Tomm Becker of Nifty Hoops. The company began as a community initiative to support local farmers in Michigan and now offers to build any of the greenhouses they fabricate entirely for growers, or they’ll help build along with friends and family as a “community build,” anywhere in the USA.

In addition to the process of building and installing greenhouses, we also talk about essential considerations like orientation, dealing with rocky soil and whether to cover with a single or double layer of plastic. We also discuss the status of the NRCS high tunnel grant program, which has not been affected as much as many of the other federal ag programs and is currently running more or less the way it has in years past. If you have questions about the status of the NRCS high tunnel program you can contact Nifty Hoops at the address below.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @niftyhoops
Website: https://www.niftyhoops.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

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Growing mushrooms for market with Erin Hamilton of The Mushroom Conservatory

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Erin Hamilton, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Whether you already grow mushrooms or are looking to diversify your market offerings, Erin Hamilton of The Mushroom Conservatory tells us about the varieties and methods we should consider for mushrooms that can be cultured and grown for market. Erin, an expert mushroom grower and agricultural educator, shares her passion for mushrooms and their ecological significance, including how spent mushroom spawn can improve your compost pile. She discusses the role of mycelium in plant growth, types of mushrooms you can cultivate, and the ongoing debate surrounding golden oyster mushrooms.

Erin also provides practical advice on how to start growing mushrooms, focusing on oyster mushrooms and functional varieties. She provides a detailed guide on growing mushrooms, discusses the health benefits of functional mushrooms like Lion's Mane, and offers practical tips for selling mushrooms at farmers markets and building relationships with restaurants. This includes ways to dehydrate and package mushrooms that come back from market for sale later in this conversation with host April Parms Jones.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @themushroomconservatory
Website: https://themushroomconservatory.com

Podcast Sponsors: Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Harnois has been pioneering greenhouse design since 1965, working with farmers across North America to deliver turnkey greenhouse solutions. Designed to withstand high snow and wind loads, their greenhouses optimize brightness, boost yields, and offer a rapid ROI. And in 2025, they’re introducing a new tunnel starting at just $2 per square foot- and as a GFM listener, you’ll receive an exclusive 5% discount on all new structures at Harnois.com.

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Why preserving organic standards matters for all growers with Dave Chapman of the Real Organic Project

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Dave Chapman, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Dave Chapman tells us about the origins of the Real Organic Project, and why preserving organic standards is important for all growers whether certified organic or not in this week’s podcast. Dave is the co-director of the Real Organic Project (ROP) and owner of Long Wind Farm in Vermont. The ROP is active in preserving the standards of the National Organic Program (NOP) in the face of lobbying by agribusiness to relax them, particularly in the areas of allowing hydroponics to be certified organic and enforcing animal welfare standards in organic production.

This is the first of a two-part conversation about the ROP, this one focusing on hydroponics and the forthcoming episode will focus on preserving animal welfare standards. Dave highlights the impact on consumer trust that comes from weakening the NOP, and the future of organic standards as corporations push for changing them. The conversation also touches on the challenges posed by container production and herbicide use in “organic” farming, the health impacts of chemical agriculture and the growth of the Real Organic Certification initiative.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @realorganicproject
Website: realorganicproject.org

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Setting standards for floral crops and writing the book Floral Standards with Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Diane Szukovathy, Rebecca Kutzer-Rice) — Tue, 3 Jun 2025 12:09:00 +0000

Diane Szukovathy of Jello Mold Farm tells host Rebecca Kutzer-Rice how the need for standards for floral crops at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market (SWGM) led to the creation of the new book Floral Standards: A Practical Guide for Harvesting and Delivering Professional Quality Products. They also discuss Diane’s journey in flower farming, the establishment of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, and the importance of quality standards in the floral industry. Diane highlights the collaborative efforts of local growers to create the Floral Standards book, which serves as a comprehensive guide for harvesting and delivering the highest quality flowers.

The discussion also covers specific crops like dahlias, hellebores and sweet peas, emphasizing the need for careful handling and understanding of harvest stages to ensure product quality. She discusses the importance of harvesting methods, managing geotropism in flowers, and postharvest handling for getting flowers to market with as much vase life as possible. The conversation also touches on unique crops for local growers, pricing strategies in the flower market, and how the group at SWGM collaborated to write the book that will help growers know what the standard is for a wide variety of floral crops and how to meet it.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @jellomoldfarm, @seattlewholesalegrowersmarket

Website: jellomoldfarm.com, swgm.coop

Buy the book: swgm.coop/book/

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Taking sales online after decades of farmers markets with Robert Arnold of Pleasant Valley Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Robert Arnold, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 27 May 2025 14:39:53 +0000

Started in the late 1980s by Sandy and Paul Arnold, Pleasant Valley Farm in Argyle, New York, helped innovate and share winter growing techniques that lengthened local food season on many market farms. After decades of selling at farmers markets, during the pandemic they switched to online sales only out of necessity. Listen to this interview with their son Robert Arnold to find out how they made the transition on short notice, why they never went back to farmers markets, and tips from how they manage their 100% online sales.

We also get some tips from the farm, including an innovative method for long-term storage of head lettuce. In addition to growing up and working on Pleasant Valley Farm, Robert has his own business called Smart Farm Innovations that helps farmers automate tasks around the farm. Robert tells us how and what processes farmers are automating to save time and gain peace of mind.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram:
@pvfproduce
@smartfarminnovations

Website:

http://pvfproduce.com

https://www.smartfarminnovations.com

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Food system accountability by farmers with Sarah Carden of Farm Action

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sarah Carden, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 20 May 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Farm Action is a nonpartisan agricultural watchdog organization led by farmers, and Research and Policy Development Director Sarah Carden joins host April Parms Jones to discuss how they provide food-system accountability for farmers. Farm Action advocates for a fair and sustainable food system that empowers farmers and rural communities by focusing on holding large corporations and the government accountable for their actions in agriculture. Hear why specialty crop producers often receive less support compared to commodity crops, and the impact on food pricing and diversity, which is part of the reason why processed foods are often cheaper than vegetables.

United States food and agriculture policies currently enable a handful of the world’s largest corporations to control our food and farming system at the expense of farmers, workers, and all of us who eat. Hear how Farm Action encourages consumer awareness and education about food labeling as essential parts of supporting local agriculture, and advocates for accountability from both our government and large corporations within the agricultural sector.

Connect With Guest:

Facebook: @FarmActionUS

Website: https://farmaction.us

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Connecting 6,000 customers with 30+ farmers at Mali Plac food hub in Slovenia

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Ana Ljubojević, Nikolina Kovačević, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 13 May 2025 09:00:00 +0000

In this interview Ana Ljubojević and Nikolina Kovačević tell us how they grew Mali Plac, an innovative food hub in Slovenia that connects farmers directly with consumers. They discuss the mission of Mali Plac, how it helps people “find their tribe,” their customer demographics, the logistics of operations, and the pickup model that allows farmers to interact directly with customers. The conversation highlights the importance of building relationships and respect within the community, showcasing how Mali Plac has evolved over the years to become a vital part of the local food system.

They discuss the evolution of their order management system from spreadsheets to implementing the Local Line platform, and how it accommodates the evolving needs of farmers and customers as their food hub grows. The discussion also covers the agricultural landscape in Slovenia, highlighting seasonal variations, types of crops grown, and the innovative solutions they employ to minimize food waste and enhance communication with their community. Ana and Nikolina discuss the importance of cash payments in local markets, the unique payment systems and taxation in Slovenia, and how these factors contribute to community building. They also discuss the cultural aspects of food consumption, advice for starting a food hub and the challenges and opportunities of expanding into new markets.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @maliplaczaprihodnost
Website: www.maliplac.si

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Getting ambitious local ag projects done using for-profit/nonprofit partnerships with Amber Lambke of Maine Grains

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Amber Lambke, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 6 May 2025 11:42:14 +0000

Have you ever thought of a project that would be perfect for your farm, except that it’s not profitable? It might be possible with a for-profit/nonprofit partnership! In this episode we explore these partnerships with Amber Lambke, cofounder and CEO of Maine Grains. We’ll hear how such a partnership helped her start a gristmill in a repurposed Victorian-era jailhouse, which has spurred the revival of grain production in Maine.

Amber shares insights on the challenges of building a business in a rural area, the complexities of funding agricultural projects, the role of nonprofits in supporting local economies, and the implications of tax laws on grant funding. We explore innovative funding models to enhance agricultural sustainability and food security, the intricacies of forming and operating a nonprofit organization, the importance of having a clear mission, understanding the legal requirements for nonprofit status, and the challenges of securing funding through grants. As an example, interviewer and GFM editor Andrew Mefferd describes a greenhouse project for his farm to see if Amber thinks it might be a good candidate for such a partnership.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @mainegrains
Website: mainegrains.com

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Farming in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, with Tyrean Lewis of Heru Urban Farming

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Tyrean Lewis, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0000

With a background in management and education, it wasn’t always obvious that Tyrean Lewis would become a farmer. But after taking stock of how few options there were for healthy food in his area, he decided to start a farm in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Coming from a long line of farmers, Tyrean is the fifth generation of his family to farm.

In this interview with host April Parms Jones, Tyrean tells us how he founded his first farm on a vacant lot, and that farm was so successful that he has continued to expand it. There are lots of great tips in this interview whether farming in urban areas or not, including how to find a good farm site and how to improve the soil using materials like compost and leaves that may be available for free. He also shares a lot of great ideas for how to network with the community regardless of whether you’re looking to establish a farm or a market, and explains how their farm incubator program is training the next generation of farmers.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @heruurbanfarming
Website: heruurbanfarming.com

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Getting the most out of your greenhouse tomatoes with Guillaume Lambert of Orisha greenhouse automation

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Guillaume Lambert) — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Tomatoes are the biggest income generators on a lot of market farms, so this week we’re nerding out on how to get the most out of your greenhouse tomatoes. We talk with Guillaume Lambert, co-founder of Orisha greenhouse automation, about how to get more from your protected tomatoes, ranging from low-tech options that don’t require heat, to some more high-tech solutions that require heat and automation to achieve. Even if you don’t have heated greenhouses, this conversation can help you decide whether or not it’s worth heating and automating in the future.

We start the interview with a bold claim- that many growers can double their tomato yields by implementing best-practices, including the right spacing, the right number of drip tapes and pulse irrigation, managing humidity and more. Disease management can be as simple as choosing resistant varieties to common GH diseases if you don’t have climate control, or you may be able to grow susceptible varieties if you have good climate control. We also discuss how to monitor plant growth and how to balance it between vegetative and generative growth. This discussion was sparked by our discussion of Orisha’s new greenhouse tomato course, which is available for free to the GFM audience through this link.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @orisha_auto
Website: https://www.orisha.io

Free link to Orisha's greenhouse tomato course: https://www.orisha.io/learn/6-steps-to-15000-inscription

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What it's like to farm in suburban California vs rural Minnesota with Kelley Rajala of Clear Lake Gardens

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Kelley Rajala, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 17:55:27 +0000

Kelley Rajala of Clear Lake Gardens in Aitken, Minnesota, shares what it was like to start a farm in California and then relocate to Minnesota in this interview with host April Parms Jones. Hear about moving the farm, and the differences between market farming in the two areas, with the new Minnesota location being much more rural than where they started out in the Santa Rosa area of California (e.g. there’s one stop light in the new county). Listeners can learn a lot from the process of finding customers in the new location, including outreach, building relationships with local markets, and introducing customers to new crops with promotions and events to get the community involved.

Kelley discusses the challenges and rewards of farming, the significance of crop diversification, and the need for resilience in the face of climate change. They also discuss the value of unusual crops like golden raspberries, the concept of food as medicine, and the joys and challenges of running a farm stand. Kelley offers strategies for how to educate customers about local produce, the benefits of being part of a farmers union, and the legacy of cooperative farming.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @clearlakegardens
Website: clearlakegardens.org

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Stewarding the farm into the fifth generation and beyond with Kristin Graves of Fifth Gen Gardens in Alberta

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Kristin Graves) — Tue, 8 Apr 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Kristin Graves shares her journey as a fifth-generation farmer in Alberta, focusing on her passion for garlic and the importance of female representation in farming. She discusses her transition from a career in healthcare to farming, growing garlic and other crops in Alberta, and her new book, 'The Garlic Companion,' which combines growing advice with recipes. Kristin emphasizes the significance of embracing femininity in farming and the supportive environment she has experienced, while also addressing the pushback she faces as a female farmer.

Kristin also shares her extensive knowledge and experience in garlic farming, covering everything from the harvesting process to innovative planting techniques, weed and pest management, and marketing strategies. She points out the importance of adapting to challenges in agriculture, such as weather conditions and market demands, while also discussing the role of social media in connecting with customers and promoting her products. She also discusses the sustainability and conservation goals of her family farm, and the economic challenges faced by farmers today, emphasizing the value of local food systems and the potential for a resurgence in gardening and local food purchasing as consumers navigate financial uncertainties.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @fifthgengardens
Website: fifthgengardens.ca
Book: The Garlic Companion

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The power of regionally adapted seeds and herbs with Bevin Cohen of Small House Farm in Michigan

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Bevin Cohen, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 1 Apr 2025 14:53:25 +0000

Bevin Cohen of Small House Farm shares his unexpected journey into seed production, the importance of rare and unusual seeds, and some of the unusual value-added products they take to market, including seed oils and apothecary products. The discussion with host April Parms Jones highlights the connection between seeds and community, the significance of regionally adapted seeds, and the value of growing unusual varieties. He also talks about the significance of seed saving for his farm, the cultivation of local food, and the journey of producing sunflower oil.

Bevin emphasizes the importance of connecting with nature and the community through food and herbal products. The discussion also covers the creation of herbal remedies and the value of understanding seasonal herbs. You can read more about it in Bevin’s brand new book, Herbs in Every Season!

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @small_house_farm
Website: smallhousefarm.com
Bevin's new book: Herbs in Every Season

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20+ years of full-diet CSA with Kristin and Mark Kimball of Essex Farm in New York State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Kristin Kimball, Mark Kimball, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:11:20 +0000

Mark and Kristin Kimball pioneered the full-diet CSA model when they founded Essex Farm back in 2004. Now 20 years later, they reflect on where they’ve been and where they’re headed with host Katie Kulla. Katie is especially well positioned to ask them about the joys and challenges of a full-diet CSA, since she transitioned her farm from a more traditional CSA model to a full-diet CSA for a few years, inspired directly by the Essex Farm model. Mark and Kristin share their journey into farming, the challenges and successes of running a year-round farm, and the details of the full-diet CSA model they have developed.

They talk about how they train their members to eat seasonally with the full diet provided by the farm, the changing role of horses as work animals on the farm, and how their farm bridges political divides through food. Mark and Kristin discuss how the farm has changed over the years, how they have learned to build a strong farm team to support complex year-round farm operations, and so much more, you’ll want to listen to this fascinating interview whether you want to start a full-diet CSA or not!

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @essexfarmcsa @farmerkimball @kristinxkimball
Website: essexfarmcsa.com

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Strategies for dealing with the federal funding freeze with Gale Livingstone of Deep Roots Farm and Ari Memar of Farmhand

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Gale Livingstone, Ari Memar, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 09:00:00 +0000

With thousands of farmers dealing with the uncertainty of the federal funding freeze, we wanted to hear from farmer Gale Livingstone about how the freeze has affected her farm, and some strategies she’s employed to deal with the disruption. She’s been able to leverage her CSA network and extended farm family through her farm store and email newsletter which are managed by Farmhand. Ari Memar, founder and CEO of Farmhand, tells us about how the Farmhand network has been able to help farmers deal with all kinds of disruptions, from the funding freeze to natural disasters.

Gale tells us about how her CSA network stepped in and donated funds to cover some of the shortfall created by the uncertainty. We also hear how people in her community created a new CSA “porch pickup” location with at least 17 new members after hearing the story of how her farm was affected. Ari explains how keeping in contact with CSA members on a regular basis can help them feel more connected to the farm, so they are more likely to want to help out in difficult times. We also hear about how Gale is launching a seedling sale for the first time through her Farmhand store to help with spring cashflow.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @deeprootsfarm
Website: deeprootsfarm.us

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Year-round marketing vegetables and flowers with Corinne Hansch and Matthew Leon of Lovin’ Mama Farm in New York State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Corinne Hansch, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Having started several farms before their current Lovin’ Mama Farm in Amsterdam, New York, we hear from Corinne Hansch and Matthew Leon what they learned from their previous farms, and what they did differently this time. They discuss their journey from California to New York, the challenges of adapting to a new climate, and ways they are trying to find work-life balance on a busy, year-round farm.

In order to sell year-round, and hang onto good crew members by not having to let them go at the end of the season, they have branched out into new markets like Etsy, along with several farmers markets and more traditional outlets. Hear how they sell flowers and produce that come back from market (hint: it involves a lot of drying). They also discuss how a strong commitment to regenerative, Real Organic certified practices is the foundation of their farm in this great interview with host Katie Kulla.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @lovinmamafarm
Website: lovinmamafarm.com

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Full-diet CSA and longtable dinners in the high desert of Oregon with Sarahlee Lawrence of Rainshadow Organics

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sarahlee Lawrence, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 4 Mar 2025 14:04:08 +0000

This week we hear from Sarahlee Lawrence, who runs a full-diet CSA plus events like longtable dinners on the farm she grew up on in the town of Sisters, Oregon. She took the livestock elements her parents pioneered, and added vegetables and more, so they can fill out the menu year-round for their full-diet CSA members and farm-to-table dinner events. Which is all the more impressive due to the fact that the central Oregon high desert climate is not an easy one to grow in, with little precipitation and frost a possibility almost any day of the year.

Sarahlee emphasizes the role of her team and apprentices in managing the diverse operations of the farm, as well as the unique culture that has developed around it. She discusses the challenges and realities of farming in a frequently smoke-affected region, the complexities of navigating regulations for animal products, and the management of dairy production, in addition to many greenhouses of vegetables and field production. She also shares insights into their unique full diet model that emphasizes community engagement and sustainability, as well as the evolution of hosting events on the farm to foster connections through food. In this conversation, Sarahlee discusses the intricacies of managing events on her farm, the importance of creating memorable dining experiences, her journey in writing a book, the challenges posed by climate change, and her deep love for farming.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @rainshadoworganics

Website: rainshadoworganics.com

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How a fifth-generation farmer is growing sustainability and profitability for the next generation with Graham Christensen of Christensen Farms in Nebraska

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Graham Christensen, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 12:39:20 +0000

This week we hear from Graham Christensen about the wide range of regenerative practices he’s using on his family’s farm in Nebraska. Graham and host April Parms Jones discuss the importance of ecological farming practices for profitability as well as sustainability, the legacy of family farming, and the methods he is implementing on his family’s 800-acre farm that was founded in 1867. He shares insights on keeping farms in the family, the challenges faced by farmers today, and the work being done through Regenerate Nebraska to build community connections and advocate for sustainable food systems.

They also touch on the importance of global collaboration in regenerative agriculture, emphasizing the need for farmers to connect directly with consumers. They explore the role of solar energy in enhancing food security and the significance of organizations like the Nebraska Farmers Union in empowering farmers, as well as Graham’s businesses GC Resolve and GC ReVolt. GC Resolve was founded in 2015 and is a consulting and communications company focused on environmental and equity issues. Key issues for GC Resolve include regenerative agriculture, agriculture competition and concentration, agricultural market development, rural socio-economic trends and pressures, agricultural workforce inequality, intergenerational land transition, biologicals vs biotech, water and air quality, and living soil. GC ReVOLT is a solar and alternative energy development company designed to both educate the public about alternative energy and develop renewable energy projects in and around Nebraska.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @grahamchristensen11

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Going from a career in banking to full-time market farming with Jacqueline Jackson of Mattie's Garden in Birmingham, Alabama

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Jacqueline Jackson, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Jacqueline Jackson, owner of Mattie's Garden, shares her journey from a successful banking career to establishing an urban farm in Birmingham, Alabama. She and host Katie Kulla discuss how Jacqueline started thinking about growing food instead of banking, and the careful planning that led to her leaving her job and starting her own farm. They also talk about the sustainable growing practices she uses, what a food desert is and how local farming can help reduce food insecurity.

They also discuss the joys and challenges of urban farming, the importance of community engagement, and Jacqueline’s approach to selecting crops based on market needs. The conversation highlights the evolution of her farming operation, soil and growing conditions in Alabama, and the lessons learned from her grandmother about food accessibility and generosity. Mattie’s Garden is named after Jacqueline’s grandmother, who had plenty of strategies for resilience to pass on after growing up as one of eleven children during the great depression.

Connect With Guest:
Instagram: @mattiesgarden

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Putting the farm back in solar farms with Elise Couillard with the Couillard Solar Foundation

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Elise Couillard, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0000

How farmers can integrate solar panels with growing crops, so they can effectively harvest the sun in two different ways, is the subject of this week’s podcast with Elise Couillard and host April Parms Jones.

They explore the benefits of solar for farmers, including financial savings, sustainability, and the ability to create microclimates that may improve the growth of certain crops. Elise shares her journey into the solar industry, the importance of tailoring solar solutions to individual needs, and the economic advantages of solar energy. The discussion also highlights the significance of community support and collaboration in adopting solar technology, as well as the integration of minimalistic living with solar energy.

Elise is a consultant focusing on renewable energy, agrivoltaics and sustainability and the treasurer and a board member of the Couillard Solar Foundation. She uses her degree in behavioral ecology and past experiences in environmental science to inform her work advising conservation organizations about how to incorporate solar energy and energy efficiency into their operations. Elise advises clients on planning, designing, financing, and monitoring solar projects, especially nonprofit projects.

Elise holds a Masters in Biology and a PhotoVoltaic (PV) Associate Certificate from NABCEP. In addition to her consulting work, Elise takes on grant writing services and has won, oftentimes as part of a team, over $800,000 in grants for clients. Elise lives in a tiny house and is an advocate for minimalistic and sustainable living.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://couillardsolarfoundation.org

Instagram: @couillardsolar

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How to build a regenerative food brand with Samuel Taylor of Long Table

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Samuel Taylor, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 4 Feb 2025 14:17:21 +0000

How does one go from Shakespearian acting to starting a company making regeneratively-grown heirloom-grain pancake mixes? Well, it involves an appearance on Shark Tank, eating pancakes five times a week for years, the pandemic, and so much more than we have room for here.

Listen to this episode for some great ideas on how to build a local foods brand, why they use popped popcorn for their pancake mixes and how they gauge customer demand in order to get their products into new stores, in this interview with host April Parms Jones.

Connect With Guest:
Website: https://longtablepancakes.com
Instagram: @longtablepancakes

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Learn from 50+ years of organic vegetable farming with Jim Crawford of New Morning Farm in Pennsylvania

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Jim Crawford, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Jim Crawford founded New Morning Farm in Pennsylvania in 1976, starting and selling at multiple markets in Washington, D.C. He and his wife Moie are now semi-retired, having run the farm until they transitioned it to new ownership in 2019. They also founded the Tuscarora Organic Growers Cooperative that helped growers in rural Pennsylvania aggregate produce to reach the Washington, D.C. wholesale market.

This interview by host Katie Kulla is packed with useful information from one of the first wave of certified organic farmers, including starting farmers markets, tips for farm profitability, founding a cooperative, getting apprentices to stick around for multiple years, selling produce from other growers, and how to transition when it’s time for someone else to run the farm.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://www.newmorningfarm.net
Instagram: @newmorningfarm

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Scaling urban agriculture with Romondo Woods of Urban Youth Agriculture in Detroit, Michigan

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Romondo Woods, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 14:26:50 +0000

Romondo Woods of the Urban Youth Agriculture Farm in Detroit, Michigan, tells us about how he is producing food for the city, while at the same time giving children hands-on experiences at the farm. Romondo started the farm a decade ago and has been scaling up ever since in order to make it a growing source of produce for the city. In addition to letting kids know where their food comes from, they are helping make Detroit a leading example of how cities can implement natural farming practices that make the city a healthier place for people to live.

Romondo was interviewed by host April Parms Jones while he was attending the 2024 Slow Food Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy, where he was serving as a delegate for Slow Food USA. Romondo recently got certified as a produce safety teacher so he can help train other farmers in how to keep their produce safe through postharvest handling as they expand their farms. Lots of ideas and inspiration in this podcast for both how to run the educational as well as the food production aspects of a farm!

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://uyadetroit.com

Instagram: @u.y.a.detroit

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The art of growing uncommon flowers organically with Matt Dell of Treadlight Farm in New York State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Matt Dell, Rebecca Kutzer-Rice) — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 05:00:00 +0000

In this conversation, host Rebecca Kutzer-Rice speaks with Matt Dell, co-owner of Treadlight Farm, about their journey into organic flower farming, the transition from retail to wholesale, and the unique challenges and strategies involved in scaling their business. Treadlight Farm focuses on uncommon flower varieties, and Matt discusses how they built relationships with wholesalers, and the techniques they use to manage production effectively. This covers quite a transition since Treadlight Farm started with hand tools and a small greenhouse, and they now manage about 20 acres with a number of greenhouses.

Matt talks about how being certified organic affects their production, the importance of sustainable practices, and the role of native plants in horticulture. He explains the mechanics of organic certification, and shares practical tips for small and mid-sized farmers and, as he puts it, making a name for themselves by “growing weird stuff that you can’t find anywhere else.” The discussion highlights the environmental impact of flower farming and the potential for a shift towards organic ornamental plants.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://www.treadlight-farm.com

Instagram: @treadlightfarm

Link to free article about starting lisianthus from seed, by host Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, that was mentioned in the episode

https://growingformarket.com/articles/planning-and-starting-lisianthus-from-seed

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If you're an experienced vegetable farmer, don't miss out on the 2025 Organic Vegetable Production Conference! In its 9th year, this conference fills that "expert-level" niche you're looking for. With online sessions on January 23rd and 24th for only $75 and in-person sessions on January 31 and February 1, in Madison, Wisconsin, you can plug in no matter where you are. Register today at bit.ly/ovpc-2025

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Plan your marketing calendar for the year with Corinna Bench of MyDigitalFarmer and Shared Legacy Farms

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Corinna Bench, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 7 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Corinna Bench learned digital marketing by doing the marketing for her family’s farm, Shared Legacy Farms. They grow certified organic vegetables for a 400-member CSA in Ohio, and Corinna offers classes and coaching for farm marketing through MyDigitalFarmer. Whether your goal is to get more people to your market stand or sell out your CSA by the New Year, don’t underestimate the importance of marketing to grow your business! In this interview, we talk about what she has learned from running her own farm’s marketing campaigns.

Corinna tells us how to identify products ripe for a promotion, plan around important dates, set revenue goals, and create marketing peaks to maximize sales. The discussion also covers nurturing customer relationships through engaging content and using lead magnets to attract and retain customers. Since this is the first episode of the new year, Corinna tells us how to plan out a promotion calendar for the whole year. Corinna offers marketing classes and coaching at mydigitalfarmer.com.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://mydigitalfarmer.com

Instagram: @mydigitalfarmer

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Rogue Farm Corps: Building on the farm apprenticeship system with Kait Crowley and Geoffrey Van

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Kait Crowley, Geoffrey Van, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Rogue Farm Corps grew out of the age-old network of farmer-led apprenticeships, to help make the apprenticeship system compliant with modern labor laws and fulfil its educational component, while continuing to give people real-world farming experience on the way to starting their own farms. In the process they’ve added many opportunities in addition to traditional apprenticeships, forming a robust training program to the benefit of beginners and current farmers alike.

Geoffrey Van and Kait Crowley tell us about Rogue Farm Corps on this week’s pod, a non-profit that trains and equips the next generation of farmers and ranchers in Oregon. RFC's Farmer Training Program seeks to train an inclusive and diverse next generation of farmers through on-farm training and mentorship; classes, farm tours, and discussions; networking in the agricultural community; and connecting with other beginning farmers. RFC's Future Farms Program addresses systemic barriers to accessing land, capital, and other resources by providing the education and networking for farmland leasing and transfer; farm business technical assistance; and resources and assistance on collaborative models of farming.

Both Geoffrey and Kait have many years of involvement in farming. Before becoming current RFC’s Farmer Training Program Manager Kait completed an advanced apprenticeship with Rogue Farm Corps in 2018. Kait also co-founded PK Pastures, a certified organic and Animal-Welfare-Approved pastured livestock operation.

Geoffrey was born and raised in Hong Kong. After school, he began working on farms in New Mexico and Oregon. In 2017, Geoffrey and four friends started Spoon Full Farm in Thorp, Washington, where they primarily raised livestock, grew vegetables, and made value-added products. In late 2020, Geoffrey began working at Rogue Farm Corps where he is Director of the Future Farms Program.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.roguefarmcorps.org
Instagram: @roguefarmcorps

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Decentralizing the food system with a steward-owned sales platform for farmers with Pete Russell of Ooooby

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Pete Russell, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Pete Russell used his experience in the food industry to design Ooooby, a sales platform for farmers to sell directly to the public. Their goal is to put local, ecologically sound growers back at the heart of the food system. Ooooby integrates all the apps one would use to build an online farm store into their software to simplify the process for farmers and offer a seamless experience for the customer.

The platform has been available in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and is now becoming available in North America. One of the ways they keep the platform true to its values is by steward ownership- where the people who work for the company and the users all have buy-in. Learn how it works in this week’s podcast interview!

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.ooooby.com

Instagram: @oooobyhq

Podcast Sponsors:

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There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started.

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Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm in New York on land access, soil health, seed keeping and more!

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Leah Penniman, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

In this interview Leah Penniman tells us why and how she started Soul Fire Farm, along with what she would do differently for those starting out or starting over. She discusses her most recent book, Black Earth Wisdom, and the recent adaptation of her first book, Farming While Black, into a documentary movie of the same title. She discusses how, in 1910, about 14% of farms in the United States were Black-owned, compared with about 2% today, and how her books are an effort to help Black farmers reconnect with their agricultural heritage and reclaim it from racism, discrimination and dispossession.

In the conversation with host April Parms Jones, they explore land access, soil health, seed keeping, and the cultural connections to farming, emphasizing the importance of community and resilience in the face of challenges. Leah's insights provide an understanding of the historical and spiritual ties that Black communities have with the land, and the ongoing efforts to reclaim and nurture these connections through sustainable practices.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.soulfirefarm.org

Instagram: @leahpenniman

@soulfirefarm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started.

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Learning the business of flower farming with Jenny Marks of Trademarks Flower Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Jenny Marks, Rebecca Kutzer-Rice) — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 13:31:16 +0000

Despite growing up farming, Jenny Marks didn’t think she could make a living at it. So she worked in agriculture supporting other farmers, where she learned more about the business of farming; that led her to start her own Trademarks Flower Farm in New York State. Now, in addition to her own farm, she teaches the business of flower farming to other growers with her business Trademark Farmer. She’s doing a free masterclass the first week of January, for more info go to her website trademarkfarmer.com.

In this interview with host and fellow flower farmer Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, Jenny discusses the importance of focusing on a few key crops, and the strategies she employs to maximize efficiency and profitability. Jenny also delves into the structure of her flower CSA, the significance of partnerships with local businesses, and her approach to dahlia tuber sales. Jenny also goes into the business aspects of flower farming, including budgeting and marketing strategies, while offering advice on how to succeed in the industry.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://www.trademarksflowers.com

Instagram: @trademarkfarmer

Free article mentioned in interview: Managing gray mold in cut flowers

Podcast Sponsors:

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There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started.

PanAmerican Seed brings to market novel, high-quality vegetables for the fresh market grower and hobby farmer. This year, to help make choices for vegetable programs easier, we’ve grouped our assortment into four categories where these edible favorites perform their best. Look for our easy-to-identify symbols in our latest brochure! Visit panamseed.com/vegetables to learn more and find a seed supplier today.

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Strategies for dealing with the loss of farms due to climate change with Maud Powell

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Maud Powell, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 3 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Maud Powell, former co-owner of Wolf Gulch Farm in Oregon, shares her farming journey and the impact of climate change on her land. After experiencing drought and a devastating heat dome, Maud and her husband realized they had to leave their farm and find a new property with more water, despite having made decades of investment in the farm. In response, Maud started the Oregon State University Extension Ag Climate Grief and Support Initiative to help farmers cope with the emotional toll of climate change.

The initiative offers workshops and resources to address climate grief and stress. Maud emphasizes the importance of community support and resilience in the face of climate challenges. The project aims to create a supportive community for farmers and provide resources to address climate grief.

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started.

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Maximizing the storage life of vegetables with Sam Knapp of Offbeet Farm in Fairbanks, Alaska

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sam Knapp, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 10:00:00 +0000

If you store vegetables for any length of time, you’re going to want to hear this interview with Sam Knapp of Offbeet Farm. Sam has practiced “storage farming” for years, growing during the summer for off-season sales from stored crops deep into the winter. In this interview, he tells us about how he figured out his own best practices along the way, as there was little available information on modern veg storage techniques that would keep produce in top shape over an extended period of time.

The product of all this learning is Sam’s brand-new book, Beyond the Root Cellar. It covers every aspect of storage farming, from which crops to grow for storage, to how to grow and harvest them, to what kind of a structure to build for long-term storage and the conditions that will keep vegetables fresh for as long as possible. We cover a lot of it in this interview, though for all the details, you can order Beyond the Root Cellar, which is now shipping from Growing for Market; magazine subscribers always get 20% off all books, including Beyond the Root Cellar.

Connect With Guest:

Sam’s book Beyond the Root Cellar: https://growingformarket.com/store/products/264

Website: https://offbeetalaska.com

Instagram: @offbeetalaska

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started.

Growing seeds for sale or for your own farm with Dan Brisebois of Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Dan Brisebois, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Dan Brisebois has over 20 years of market farming and seed growing experience as a founding member of Tourne-Sol Cooperative farm in Quebec, Canada. In this interview and discussion of his new book, The Seed Farmer, we hear how his interest in seed growing goes all the way back to the beginning of his farming career. Now, he can tell us from experience what it’s like to grow many seed crops, since roughly half of the farm income derives from seed sales, with the other half coming from a 500-member CSA.

This interview and Dan’s book cover the practicalities of how to grow a seed crop, whether for your own use or for sale. Topics covered include choosing a crop, pollination, isolation distances, inbreeders vs outcrossers, harvest and processing for good germination, storage and more! This interview gives an overview of the differences between growing for a crop of fresh vegetables vs. for seed. For the nitty-gritty details, order The Seed Farmer, which is now shipping from Growing for Market; magazine subscribers always get 20% off all books, including The Seed Farmer. Dan is also the author of the book Crop Planning for Vegetable Growers and founder of the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy that offers courses in farm planning, including a seed farmer mentorship.

Connect With Guest:

Dan’s book The Seed Farmer: https://growingformarket.com/store/products/262

Website: https://www.fermetournesol.qc.ca/en

Farmer spreadsheet academy: http://spreadsheet.farm/bcp

Instagram: @danbrisebois.farm

Instagram: @fermetournesol

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

There are a lot of farm sales platforms out there, but there’s only one that’s cooperatively owned by farmers. That’s GrownBy — your all-in-one solution to simplify farm sales. From start-up market farms to complex and scaled-up CSAs, GrownBy makes online farm sales easy and affordable; setting up your shop is free, and you only pay when you sell. Join over 900 farms who have already signed up for GrownBy, and you’re eligible to join the co-op and become a member-owner after your first sale. Visit grownby.com to get started.

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GrownBy: Building a cooperatively-owned farm marketplace app with Lindsey Lusher Shute

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Lindsey Lusher Shute, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 13:01:42 +0000

You may know Lindsey Lusher Shute from co-founding the National Young Farmers Coalition, but what we talk about on the pod this week is her work with GrownBy: the only cooperatively farmer-owned farm marketplace app. During her decade as the Executive Director of the NYFC, one of the needs that was identified was a flexible way for farmers to sell a wide variety of products online. That need is what led to her founding the Farm Generations Cooperative that runs GrownBy.

Now, over 900 farms use GrownBy to sell vegetables, flowers, goat petting sessions (listen to the interview!) and more, straight to the public. Very competitive selling fees are made even more attractive by the fact that as soon as farmers make a sale through the platform, they are invited to join the Farm Generations Cooperative, and potentially get some of their fees back as a coop co-owner. You can also run a CSA through GrownBy; for all the details, listen to this week’s Growing for Market Podcast!

Connect With Guest:
Website: https://grownby.app
Instagram: @grownbyapp

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Making compost out of food waste destined for the landfill with Nathan Rutz of Tilth Soil

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Nathan Rutz, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 5 Nov 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Tilth Soil was born out of a desire to keep some of the millions of pounds of food waste that is discarded every year out of landfills, with their mission to “feed people, not landfills.” Hear about how their sister company, Rust Belt Riders, started out hauling food waste in bicycle trailers, and has subsequently scaled up to trucks in order to handle just some of the scraps generated in Cleveland, Ohio- in 2023 they composted over 10 million pounds and that’s not even all the food waste generated by Cleveland!

Tilth Soil/Rust Belt Riders encourages and provides resources for others who want to divert food scraps from the waste streams of their own communities. So, whether you have interest in starting a similar business in your own community, or want to start collecting food scraps for your farm, listen to this interview to hear about what it’s like to build a business sourcing food waste for composting. Or, if you’re interested in the finished product, Tilth Soil offers a wide range of compost and soil blends for farmers and gardeners.

Connect With Guest:
Website: tilthsoil.com
Instagram: @tilth.soil

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Producing regionally adapted seeds for the Upper Midwest with Driftless Seed Company

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Cody Egan, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Driftless Seed Company is part of an encouraging trend we are seeing with regional seed companies producing seed in and with adaptations to their specific region. On this week’s podcast, we have Cody Egan and Dylan Bruce of Driftless Seed Company, telling host April Parms Jones how they went from farming and working for a seed company to founding one. Dylan had to leave part way through the interview due to technical difficulties, so we get the rest of the story from Cody.

Driftless Seed Company focuses on providing regional, open-pollinated seeds to farmers and gardeners in the Midwest. The company works closely with growers to understand their preferences and what grows well for them, and they offer different models for growers to earn income from seed production, including a commission-based model. They emphasize the importance of joy and inspiration in farming and seed work, and supporting local seed economies and building relationships with growers and communities.

Connect With Guest:

Website: driftlessseeds.com

Instagram: @driftlessseeds

Podcast Sponsors:

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Do you have more tasks on your farm than you have time? Stop interruptions and focus on what matters most. Delegate repetitive duties in your tunnel to Orisha, get rid of diseases for good and get the most out of your tunnels. Sleep better, knowing that they’ll call you if anything goes wrong in your greenhouse. For tips and tricks on how to simplify your farm activities, check out their free ebooks at orisha.io/tools and sign up to Orisha’s newsletter at orisha.io/newsletter.

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Balancing farming and parenting with Katie Kulla, author of the new book Farm-Raised Kids!

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla) — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 13:00:34 +0000

Farming and parenting can each be demanding jobs by all by themselves, so it can be a real challenge to do both at the same time! Katie Kulla talked to over 25 farmers about their experiences and how they strike a balance between the two, and it’s all in her new book, Farm Raised Kids: Parenting Strategies for Balancing Family Life with Running a Small Farm or Homestead! The book will be available at the end of October, and you can pre-order it from Growing for Market Magazine’s online store now (subscribers always get 20% off all books).

Katie shares her own experience as a farmer and parent, as well as insights from interviews with a diverse range of farm families. The book covers topics such as involving children in seasonal traditions, bringing kids into farm work, ensuring their safety on the farm, the challenges and joys of raising children on a farm, managing the needs of older children, and making educational choices. Katie and host Rebecca Kutzer-Rice discuss the importance of prioritizing family time, finding a balance between work and parenting, and the unique experiences and opportunities that come with farming, as well as the benefits of having children on the farm.

Growing for Market podcast listeners will recognize Katie as one of the hosts of this podcast, and magazine readers will recognize her as a long-time contributor to the magazine. Here’s a link to an article Katie wrote for the magazine on the topic, “Strategies for balancing parenting and farm work.” Photo © Shawn Linehan. Used with permission from Storey Publishing.

Connect With Guest:

Buy the book- GFM subscribers get 20% off: Farm-Raised Kids: Parenting Strategies for Balancing Family Life with Running a Small Farm or Homestead

Website: katiekulla.com

Instagram: @katiekulla

Podcast Sponsors:

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New host special episode with Rebecca Kutzer-Rice of Moonshot Farm in New Jersey!

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0000

We’re so excited to be welcoming Rebecca Kutzer-Rice to the podcast team as one of our co-hosts, we wanted to make sure and record an episode to properly introduce everyone to her! Growing for Market Magazine readers will recognize Rebecca from her articles in the mag, including many about flower growing written from her experience running Moonshot Farm, a specialty cut flower farm in East Windsor, NJ. She grows flowers year-round including in a geothermal greenhouse, for retail markets in and around NYC.

She has also written about topics as varied as cybersecurity, tillage vs. no-till, farm profitability and more. Her article from the magazine, “Eleven things we did to make our farm profitable (finally)” is linked below. Podcast listeners will remember her from episode 50 where she talked about quitting her job to grow flowers full-time, which is also linked below. In this interview, she and host Katie Kulla discuss her farm’s markets, how other growers can find grants like the ones that have helped Rebecca grow her farm, how they are making use of the H-2A guestworker program to meet farm labor needs, and more!

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.moonshotfarm.com

Instagram: @moonshot_farm

Rebecca’s previous GFM pod appearance:

Quitting your job to grow flowers 52 weeks of the year

One of Rebecca’s articles from Growing for Market Magazine:

Eleven things we did to make our farm profitable (finally)

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How farmers can get help preserving farmland with Addie Candib of American Farmland Trust

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Addie Candib, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 8 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0000

On this week’s podcast we talk with with Addie Candib, who oversees American Farmland Trust’s programs and policy advocacy in the Pacific Northwest. You might be familiar with American Farmland Trust from their “No Farms No Food” message that shows up on bumper stickers throughout rural America. But their work is much bigger than just that campaign, as we will learn from Addie.

In addition to their other projects, American Farmland Trust has protected in perpetuity over 6.8 million acres of farmland and ranchland using agricultural conservation easements. Addie explains how conservation easements work and ways farmers can preserve their own farmland or gain access to preserved land. Along the way we cover topics such as diverse as intergenerational land transfer, policy advocacy, and the challenges farmers face today, including climate change and the emotional toll it takes, emphasizing the importance of community, resilience, and addressing the social and emotional aspects of farming in the face of climate change.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://farmland.org

Instagram: @americanfarmlandtrust

Podcast Sponsors:

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How to help new farms get started with Rowan Steele of the Headwaters Farm Business Incubator Program

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Rowan Steele, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 1 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0000

On this week’s podcast we talk with Rowan Steele, farmer, farm advocate, and Manager of the Headwaters Farm Business Incubator Program for the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. Headwaters Farm is located just east of Portland, Oregon. As manager, Rowan supports experienced, conservation-forward farmers get their farm businesses off the ground. On this podcast we’ve interviewed several farmers who got their start via incubator farms, so we’re excited to hear more about how this concept works from someone who helps manage such a program.

The Headwaters Farm Business Incubator Program provides affordable land, infrastructure, and equipment, as well as training and technical assistance to beginning farmers. The goal is to address common barriers, such as access to capital, farm knowledge, networks and markets. The Headwaters Farm is a 60-acre site with irrigated crop land and shared facilities. The conversation covers the five-year program structure, the importance of financial viability, the criteria for selecting program participants, the transition process after graduation, the challenges farmers face today and more.

Connect With Guest:
Website: https://emswcd.org/farm-incubator/headwaters-farm/
Instagram: @emswcd

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Bazile Panek of Good Sky Guidance on respectful agricultural learning and collaboration with Indigenous communities

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Bazile Panek, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000

On this week’s podcast, we talk with Bazile Panek about what farmers can learn from Indigenous knowledge in agriculture. Panek, CEO of Good Sky Guidance, shares his work on Indigenous knowledge, cultural revitalization, and environmental initiatives. He discusses the importance of conserving wild rice and the threats it faces, adapting to changing weather patterns and the use of controlled burns in ecosystem management.

Good Sky Guidance is a consulting firm specializing in the use of Indigenous Knowledges in environmental initiatives and advising institutions on respectful tribal community engagement. Bazile highlights the need for relationship building and explores Indigenous foodways and the benefits of local, sustainable agriculture, and suggests leveraging Indigenous authors and scholars.

His roots come from the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe where he was born and raised. Bazile primarily serves as an Indigenous Consultant for the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). In his role with ITEP, he is co-facilitating the creation of the Status of Tribes and Climate Change Report, Volume 2. Bazile also works as the Fire-Plan Research Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin- Platteville for a National Science Foundation-funded project that combines various ways of knowing to help heal fire dependent lands and cultures in the Great Lakes region. Bazile's guiding philosophy in life is to honor his ancestors by becoming an honorable ancestor for future generations.

Connect With Guest:

Email: bazile@goodskyguidance.com

Website: goodskyguidance.com

Instagram: @goodskyguidance

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Pest control by birds of prey with Alina Blankenship of Sky Guardian Falconry in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Alina Blankenship, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000

In case you’re wondering — this sounds cool, but why are we talking about falconry on a farming podcast? That’s part of what we’re going to talk about today, but the short answer is that one of the services Alina and other modern falconers offers is agricultural abatement — that is, using falcons and raptors to protect crops from bird damage. This is something that Oregon’s wine industry is beginning to embrace but there are potential applications for many crops. We’re going to talk about that and more today.

Alina is an Oregon Master Class Falconer and has been flying falconry abatement for 8 years. Her 501(c)(3) PERCH provides public education using raptors to teach about their unique ecology and physiology as well as to financial and logistic support for wildlife rehabilitators. Birds of prey are one of the best ways to guard against birds that can wipe some crops out in a very short amount of time. This interview is a fascinating combination of ecology and psychology, since it’s important to understand both the pest birds and which birds of prey can be most effective against them.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://skyguardianfalconry.com/

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Optimizing your online sales and marketing with Nina Galle, co-author of Ready Farmer One: The Farmer’s Guide to Selling and Marketing

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Good marketing makes your web presence stand out so customers can find you. Nina Galle, co-author of Ready Farmer One, The Farmer’s Guide to Selling and Marketing, and head of marketing at Local Line, discusses how to optimize your farm’s online sales and marketing so you can reach a wider customer base and increase sales. Galle shares how online sales can also help boost in-person sales at farmers markets, CSAs and food hubs.

She discusses the importance of offers and incentives to attract and retain customers, the role of visual assets in building brand trust, the back-end processes of order management and fulfillment, storytelling and creating a memorable brand, and strategies for social media engagement. Whether you are setting up an online store for the first time or have been taking online sales for years, if you’re selling farm products online, this conversation can help you grow your online presence along with your farm.

Connect With Guest:

Email: info@localline.ca
Website: https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0
Read her book: https://readyfarmerone.com
Instagram: @locallineinc

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Nina Planck on replacing the industrial food chain with local foods values

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Tue, 3 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Nina Planck tells us about doing farmers markets as a kid growing up on Wheatland Vegetable Farms in Northern Virginia in the 70s and 80s, and how that experience led to her starting a series of farmers markets in London, England. We talk about how growers can optimize their own farmers markets, emphasizing the need for them to expand their offerings beyond fruits and vegetables to include meat, dairy, seafood, wine, and anything else produced locally.

We also talk about how ideas and recipes from some of Nina’s books, including The Farmer’s Market Cookbook and The Real Food Cookbook, can help market shoppers who are not used to cooking with whole foods break out of the routine of using processed foods. Zooming out, we discuss the impact of agricultural subsidies on the food system, and talk about how to re-make the industrial food chain with local foods values.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.LFM.org.uk

Website: www.NinaPlanck.com

Instagram: @NinaPlanck

X: https://x.com/ninaplanck

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Advocating for the rights of farmers to sell directly to the public with Alexia Kulwiec, Executive Director of the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Alexia Kulwiec, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

There are a lot of regulations that cover farm products, and running afoul of them can be costly or even put you out of business. Alexia Kulwiec, Executive Director of the Farm-To-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) is on the podcast this week to talk about how her organization protects the rights of farmers to sell directly to the public. This is especially important since, with a patchwork of state and federal regulations, sometimes the wrong regulations have been applied to farmers, or been applied improperly.

The FTCLDF is helping farmers proactively, by working to influence state and local policy to ease the regulatory burden placed on farmers, and they also help farmers who are facing inspection and other regulatory issues. In this interview with host April Parms Jones, hear what the legal issues are that farmers have been facing, how FTCLDF is helping, and why this can help decentralize of our food system.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://www.farmtoconsumer.org

Instagram: @farmtoconsumer

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Learn from decades of natural farming experience with Jeff Poppen of Long Hungry Creek Farm in Tennessee

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Jeff Poppen, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Jeff Poppen, longtime farmer and owner of Long Hungry Creek Farm in Tennessee, discusses his farming journey and the principles of biodynamic farming which led to his new book, Barefoot Biodynamics. Jeff shares his approach to farming, including the use of compost, cover crops, and crop rotations. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the specific needs of the soil and the benefits of incorporating diverse elements into the farm. He shares how he got started in farming and the transition to organic and biodynamic methods.

Jeff emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the accumulated wisdom of farming and studying pre-chemical farming practices. He also talks about the unique aspects of his farm, including the diverse landscape and the role of animals in maintaining fertility. Jeff explains the climate in Tennessee and how he manages without irrigation. He delves into the philosophy of biodynamics and Rudolf Steiner's teachings, highlighting the importance of observation, consciousness, and the connection between humans, animals, plants, and the environment. Throughout the conversation, Jeff's down-to-earth and accessible style shines through.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://barefootfarmer.com
Instagram: @barefootfarmer
Facebook: Barefoot Farmer
Jeff's Book: https://chelseagreen.biz/product/barefoot-biodynamics/

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From farm worker to farm owner with Virginia Herrera of Eloisa Organic Farm in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

On this week’s podcast we hear from Virginia Herrera about what it’s like to own the farm she worked on for so many years. After working on Spring Hill Farm in Oregon for 20 years, Virginia got the opportunity to buy the farm when the owner retired, and she christened the operation Eloisa Organic Farm, named after her mother.

Virginia shares her farming journey- she grew up farming in Oaxaca, Mexico, and started working at Spring Hill Organic Farm in Oregon when she moved to the United States. When the owner of Spring Hill retired, he offered Virginia and her husband the opportunity to rent the land and equipment, and Eloisa Organic Farm was born. They grow a wide range of certified organic vegetable crops and sell through their CSA, farmers markets, and wholesale relationships, and talk about some of the growing strategies that make their produce exceptional.

Virginia discusses the surprises and difficulties of being a farm owner and the changes she has made to the farm. She emphasizes the importance of following the laws and regulations of starting a business and saving money to overcome the challenges of obtaining bank loans. She shares their marketing strategies including participating in farmers markets, expanding the CSA program, and differentiating themselves through branding and product variety. Virginia discusses the need for more flexible loans for farmers and the limitations faced by those without social security numbers. She also emphasizes the importance of valuing the work of farmers and appreciating the labor behind the produce.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @eloisaorganicfarm

Email: eloisaorganicfarm@gmail.com

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How growers are using Farmhand, the first virtual assistant built for farmers, with Carolyn Givens of Something Good Organics, Melanie Cunningham of Shakefork Community Farm and Ari Memar of Farmhand

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Tue, 6 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Virtual assistants have been around for a while in fields like business and marketing, but until recently there hasn’t been a VA built specifically for farmers. Farmhand changed that, with a combination of automations and a team of humans streamlining operations and doing many of the things a back-office staff would do for farmers.

We were curious how farmers were using Farmhand, so we invited back Ari Memar, founder and CEO of Farmhand, along with Carolyn Givens of Something Good Organics and Melanie Cunningham of Shakefork Community Farm, to hear how they are using Farmhand on their farms. Carolyn and Melanie tell us how Farmhand has made an impact, from CSA management to customer communications, web design, help with newsletters and more. In addition to getting more done with less of the farmer’s time, Carolyn and Melanie tell us how ultimately Farmhand helps them build stronger customer relationships so they have more time to focus on growing exceptional produce.

Melanie Cunningham runs Shakefork Community Farm in Humboldt County, California. Carolyn Givens runs Something Good Organics in Santa Barbara County, California. Ari Memar is the founder and CEO of Farmhand; for more on Ari and Farmhand, listen to the Growing for Market Podcast episode #74 “Building a virtual assistant for market farms with Ari Memar of Farmhand.”

Connect With Guests:

Email: hello@gofarmhand.com

Website: https://www.farmhand.partners/gfm

Instagram: @gofarmhand

@somethinggoodorganics

@shakeforkcommunityfarm

Podcast Sponsors:

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Farmhand is the only ready-to-ride assistant made by and for farmers.Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take one of our many time-saving tasks for a test drive to see firsthand how Farmhand can help you earn more, and work less at farmhand.partners/gfm.

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Suburban farming on a small footprint with a full-time job with Michael Bell of Dallas Half Acre Farm in Dallas, Texas

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Talk about leveraging constraints, Michael Bell runs Dallas Half Acre Farm without running water or electricity, with a full-time job, on about half an acre. On this week’s podcast, we talk about how he makes it all work. We discuss why almost all his crops are grown under cover, and how he makes that work with the intense summer heat in Texas. We also talk about why he harvests and delivers produce almost every day of the week, and how that works with his job as a teacher.

We also discuss some of the difficulties of farming in a neighborhood where the authorities don’t always understand agriculture, and how Michael has worked with local officials to keep growing. His modified CSA is a great model for those looking to get a lot out of a small space or start farming in an urban/suburban area. Michael is also a big advocate for urban farming- hear his advice for aspiring urban farmers, and how he helps them get started.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @dallashalfacrefarm

Podcast Sponsors:

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Tired of admin work and technology trouble? You need Farmhand on your team. Farmhand is the all-in-one software platform and virtual assistant built by and for independent farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take the quiz to see how much you can save at farmhand.partners/GFM

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Designing with dried flowers with Hannah Muller of Full Belly Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Hannah Muller, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Dried flower arrangements are one of the best ways of ensuring a year-round supply of domestically-grown blooms, as gaps in the harvest season can be filled in with dried flowers. Hannah Muller just published Designing with Dried Flowers, a gorgeous and practical book written from her experience as farmer/florist on Full Belly Farm, one of the nation’s largest certified organic flower farms, among other crops. An additional benefit of using dried blooms is that flowers that don’t make the cut for fresh use can often be used for dried flower arrangements and wreaths.

Hannah shares her personal journey of growing up on the farm and finding her way back to it as an adult. She discusses the role of dried flowers in extending the farm's season, provides tips for getting started with drying flowers, including experimenting with flowers already grown and growing specific varieties for drying. She shares tips on crops, growing and harvesting flowers for drying, setting up a drying room, dealing with pests, arranging and more! Subscribers get 20% off this book and all books at growingformarket.com.

Connect With Guest:

Read her book, Designing with Dried Flowers- subscribers get 20% off at growingformarket.com

Website: https://fullbellyfarm.com

Instagram: @farmerhands

@Full_Belly_Farm

@wreathroom

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

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Training farmers for the future with an endowment from the past with Megan Larmer and Nicole Scott of the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming in New York State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Megan Larmer, Nicole Scott, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Learn what consumers find the most compelling reason to join a CSA, what a CSA guest token is, and how changing weather is making farming more difficult for Megan Larmer and Nicole Scott at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. Megan and Nicole are both part of the large team of people supporting the work of Glynwood, a food and farming non-profit located on a 225-acre farm in New York’s Hudson Valley. They have a wide range of programs fulfilling their missions of training farmers and supporting future farmers, providing local food for every table, educating stakeholders to advance regional food, and building producer coalitions. And they do all this work with a guiding value of equity and inclusion.

Megan Larmer is the Senior Director of Programs for Glynwood. She leads projects that convene food and farming professionals to execute training, collective efforts, and creative projects that further the development of a regional food system in the Hudson Valley. Primary amongst these are Glynwood's Cider Project, the Hudson Valley CSA Coalition, and the Food Sovereignty Fund.

Nicole Scott first joined Glynwood in 2017 as a Livestock Apprentice, then returned in 2019 as the Assistant Livestock Manager and is now the Director of Livestock Operations and Farm Outreach. She is responsible for all aspects of Glynwood’s diversified, certified Animal Welfare Approved livestock operation. In this role she manages herd health and nutritional management of all stock, as well as teaching apprentices how to manage five different species in a pasture-based system.

Connect With Guest:

Email: info@glynwood.org

Email: @glynwood.org

Website: www.glynwood.org

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How to make pick-your-own more profitable than other markets with Megan Neubauer of Pure Land Farm in McKinney, Texas

Andrew@growingformarket.com (megan neubauer, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 9 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Pick-your-own is an underused marketing channel for local vegetable and flower farms, one that could be transformative if PYO were implemented on anywhere near the scale of farmers markets or CSAs. Megan Neubauer of Pure Land Farm in McKinney, Texas is here to tell us how, after struggling with farmers markets, she made PYO more profitable and efficient for her farm. She used these experiences to write the book, Pick-Your-Own Farming: Free Yourself from Farmers Markets and Join the Agritourism Revolution.

Learn how to deal with “customer blight,” why she charges admission, how they choose good PYO crops, and what veg and flower crops those are. It all adds up to making double or triple what they made at farmers markets in just eight weeks of PYO (though of course it takes more than eight weeks of farm work to make that happen).

Megan didn’t start her career in farming — she has a BS in Biology from Boston University and worked for several years in biotech and scientific research. But in 2012, Megan and her father started their farm together using regenerative growing methods on three acres of thornless blackberries and two acres of diversified fruits and vegetables, exclusively marketing their products using agritourism. They offer their local customers a uniquely diverse pick-your-own or u-pick experience, which you can hear about on this week’s Growing for Market Podcast.

Connect With Guest:

Read her book: Pick-Your-Own Farming: Free Yourself from Farmers Markets and Join the Agritourism Revolution

Email: megan@purelandorganic.com

Website: www.purelandorganic.com

Facebook: @purelandfarm

Instagram: @purelandfarm

TikTok: @purelandfarm

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Using data to identify profitable flower crops, biofumigation, and so much more with Bruno Maciel of Florista Lina Farm in Barcelos, Portugal

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Bruno Maciel, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 2 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Bruno Maciel is the third generation managing his family’s flower farm, Florista Lina Farm in Barcelos, Portugal. We hear how his experience working in the flower industry around Europe has guided the changes he is making to the farm, including adding greenhouse production, doing more winter production, dropping unprofitable crops and focusing on quality over quantity. Farmers in North America can learn a lot from Bruno and his data-driven approach to flower farming, and will probably recognize more similarities than differences between flower growing on the west side of the Atlantic and the east.

Bruno also explains how he has used biofumigation with mustards to control soilborne diseases that had been devastating in the past. This method has the advantage not only of controlling diseases without chemicals, but also feeds the soil with organic matter as the mustards are mowed and tilled into the soil to release the biofumigants. For all the details, you can read the article Bruno wrote for the May Growing for Market Magazine, Improving soil quality and treating root pathogens with biofumigation here.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @floristalinafarm

Facebook: @Florista-Lina

Read the article Bruno wrote for the May Growing for Market Magazine, Improving soil quality and treating root pathogens with biofumigation here.

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Getting the most out of farmers markets with Catt Fields White of Farmers Market Pros

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Catt Fields White, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Catt Fields White is the founder and CEO of Farmers Market Pros, the director of San Diego Markets, and the founder of the Little Italy Mercato in 2008 as a source of fresh food for her neighborhood in San Diego, California. In this interview, we draw on her years of experience helping growers figure out if farmers markets are the right outlet for their farms and then setting them up for success at markets. We discuss the challenges she faced in founding the Little Italy Mercato, how it has become San Diego County's largest weekly year-round market, and how that experience led to the founding of Farmers Market Pros.

This interview has a lot of practical ideas for success at farmers markets, and some to avoid, including why racing to the bottom on price isn’t a good idea. We discuss the four Ps of market success (product, packaging, people and professionalism). We also talk about how much to specialize, how much to diversify, and much more from Catt’s years of experience running farmers markets and helping farmers succeed at them.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @farmersmarketpros

Facebook: Farmers Market Pros

Website: farmersmarketpros.com

Email: connect@farmersmarketpros.com

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Farmhand - Tired of admin work and technology trouble? You need Farmhand on your team. Farmhand is the all-in-one software platform and virtual assistant built by and for independent farmers. Through a simple text or email to Farmhand, you can offload admin tasks, automate your CSA, update your website, and sell more to your customers. Learn more and take the quiz to see how much you can save at farmhand.partners/GFM.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Building a virtual assistant for market farms with Ari Memar of Farmhand

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Ari Memar, April Parms Jones) — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The good news is that local farms are reaching more customers than ever through their websites, email, text messaging, search engine optimization and more. The rub is that most small farmers already wear so many hats, it’s unlikely they’re making the most of all those platforms for finding and communicating with customers. That’s why founder and CEO Ari Memar created Farmhand- so their team can handle the digital side of the business, and you can stay outstanding in your field.

With his background in tech, Ari knew the potential these new technologies could have to elevate local farms and how to maximize it. But from his hobby farm in California and seeing the farms around him, it was clear most market farms were not getting the most out of these new technologies. Which is why Ari created Farmhand- to take care of the digital side of the business for farmers. Hear how Farmhand can streamline operations for farmers with website design, SEO, email newsletters, text messaging, CSA management, communications with wholesalers, and more in this week’s interview with host April Parms Jones.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @gofarmhand

Website: gofarmhand.com

Email: hello@gofarmhand.com

Podcast Sponsors:

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Meet your new host, a special episode with April Parms Jones!

Andrew@growingformarket.com (April Parms Jones, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

It's a new host special episode! We’re so excited to be welcoming April Parms Jones to the podcast as one of our co-hosts, we wanted to make sure and record an episode to properly introduce everyone to April. She has a wide range of agricultural experiences and interests that inform her perspective as an interviewer. In addition to founding a farmers market, April has contributed to publications including Growing for Market, Mother Earth News, The Natural Farmer, Grit and more.

Based in Akron, Ohio, April grows a variety of crops, is a member of the Ohio Farmers Union, and was a delegate for Ohio at the National Farmers Union Convention. In this interview she shares her passion for and activity in the movements for seed sovereignty and creating a more just food system. Much of her work focuses on the intersectionality of food, culture, and sense of place. There’s so much more than we have space for here, you’ll just have to listen to get to know your new podcast host!

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Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @pinehurstfarmersmarket

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Flexible CSA logistics: Alex Ball of Old City Acres in Michigan on out-of-home delivery, website customization, last mile logistics and so much more

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Alex Ball, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 4 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Alex Ball started his farm when he was 14, so he’s had a lot of opportunities to refine the model over the years! He shares how and why he has moved the farm many times, and how he landed on the flexible CSA model he’s now using. This model allows for flexibility for the farmer by sourcing some of the produce from other growers. Plus, the credit-based system allows a wider group of people to participate, who might not otherwise be able to commit to a full box of food every week.

We also talk about what last mile logistics is, and how Alex has used it to make CSA drop off efficient for him with out-of-home delivery, and efficient for the customer as well by finding dropoff sites in high-traffic locations. He tells us how he has made extensive use of plugins in a Wordpress website to get a customized CSA interface that lets his customers choose exactly what they want from week to week. Alex is also one of the hosts of the No-Till Market Garden Podcast, and we talk about how he found his voice as a podcaster interviewing fellow farmers.

Connect with Alex:

Website: https://www.oldcityacres.com

Instagram: @oldcityacres

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support!

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at site.localline.ca/claim-your-offer-growing-for-market

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The rise of selling local food and flowers online with Cole Jones, founder and CEO of Local Line

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Cole Jones, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 28 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Cole Jones tells us how he went from selling potatoes from local farmers out of his car for chefs to founding Local Line, which now helps thousands of farmers sell food and flowers online. Though Local Line was founded in 2015 as a matchmaking service connecting local farms with chefs, we discuss how the COVID-19 Pandemic accelerated their business overnight as farmers tried to cope with disrupted markets. Cole tells us how most of the farmers who went online during the pandemic have maintained their online storefronts post-pandemic, because selling online has opened up so many more opportunities for local farmers.

We discuss how one of the highest-profile opportunities for local farmers to sell to a large chain exists with Chipotle, who uses Local Line to buy from farmers close to their restaurants. Whether you’re already selling online or thinking about it, this interview is a must-listen for local growers to understand the full range of opportunities for selling to other businesses and directly to consumer. As it has grown, Local Line has developed a wide range of services that are customizable to an individual farm’s needs, including online sales, marketing, and multiple price lists to serve customers from individuals who want local delivery, to grocery stores and restaurants.

Connect With Guest:

Email: info@localline.ca

Website: www.localline.ca

Instagram: @locallineinc

Facebook: Local Line

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

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Going from dairy farming to vegetable farming with humor, wisdom, grit and lots of good farm advice with Jaymie Michelle Thurler of Rutabaga Ranch in Ontario

Tue, 21 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Jaymie Michelle Thurler tells us how she went from a dairy farming background to start Rutabaga Ranch, a certified organic bio-diverse market garden in Brinston, Ontario. At Rutabaga Ranch, they have a farmstand, sell at two farmers markets, have a CSA and sell to local restaurants. Jaymie conveys a lot of farm wisdom with humor, including advice on how to find a farm, how to stay married, and how some peculiar local ag laws led to them starting their on-farm store in a silo, which ended up being much more successful than they ever imagined.

Hear how Jaymie started the farm after burning out on her first career, which involved the huge task of rehabbing a very old house and removing 17 chest freezers from the property! She talks about what they learned from big box stores that has helped make their farm store a success. An important part of their focus as a farm is on spring season extension, since they heat their farm exclusively with waste wood from Jaymie’s husband’s arborist business. As Jaymie says, “We love great grub and having a great time growing it!”

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://rutabaga-ranch.com/

Instagram: The Rutabaga Ranch

Facebook: Rutabaga Ranch

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, lighting, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer.

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Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Aquaponic flowers and leaving two successful careers to start a flower farm with Sarah Daken and Tom Precht of Grateful Gardeners

Tue, 14 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

We cover a lot of ground in this interview, including how Sarah and Tom decided to leave their careers to start a flower farm, how Grateful Gardeners is the only cut flower farm we know of to be incorporating aquaponics, and what the heck aquaponics even is. We talk about the ups and downs of raising money from investors to help establish a farm- and how this is routine in Silicon Valley but in farming, not so much. We discuss how outside investment could accelerate the development of local farms; however one of the barriers to attracting investors to farming is that the returns are not typically as high as from the tech sector. So investors have to have a desire to help advance regenerative farming in addition to the capital to get investment to work in farming.

We also talk about how the Grateful Gardeners’ business and markets have changed as their farm has grown, and their work to incorporate aquaponics into the farm. Aquaponics is a soilless growing system, where the fertility is provided by fish living in tanks connected to the water for the plants. Instead of adding fertilizer, the fish provide the fertility through their natural biological processes moderated by bacteria that naturally occur in the environment, though there is an art and a science to managing the system. Hear all about it on this week’s pod!

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.gratefulgardeners.co

www.floraponics.co

Instagram: @grateful_gardeners

Facebook: Grateful Gardeners

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Ball Seed and Ball ColorLink are your complete source for quality cut-flower seeds, plugs, liners, and bulbs. Ball works closely with the world's top breeders to bring you a wide selection of all the best genetics in the top-selling classes. Connect with Ball Seed today at ballseed.com/cutflowers or call 800-879-BALL.

BCS America BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

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Improving access to fresh food and farming in Chicago with Joshua Hughes of the Urban Growers Collective

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd, Joshua Hughes) — Tue, 7 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

This week we hear from Joshua Hughes, who is the Fresh Moves Logistics Coordinator for the Fresh Moves Mobile Market, one of the many programs of the non-profit Urban Growers Collective in Chicago. Host Katie Kulla talks with Joshua about the UGC and their work in general, but more specifically about how the organization is working to “close the food access gap.” Expanding access to food is something we’ve talked about before on this podcast and it’s something that motivates many farmers and organizations to think outside the box when it comes to marketing and distributing produce — UGC and the Fresh Moves Mobile Market represent some truly innovative thinking on the part of many people committed to evolving food systems.

As the manager of UGC’s Fresh Moves Mobile Market, Joshua works to further assist the development of food security in Chicago as a continued action in social justice. Joshua has worked in food access with UGC since late 2019 through the height of the pandemic and emergency food distribution. He has helped lead the Fresh Moves Mobile Market to create new sustainable systems to better serve Chicago’s South and West Side communities.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://www.urbangrowerscollective.org

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

A fresh update on micronutrient fertility from the sea that was decades in the making with Michael Sileck of Sea-90 Ocean Minerals

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Michael Sileck) — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Growers have long used deposits from ancient seas as a source of micronutrients- and over 50 years ago, Dr. Maynard Murray started researching the use of minerals- naturally dried and derived from mineral-rich seawater- as a source of micronutrients. Today on the podcast we talk with Chief Mineral Officer Michael Sileck about how Sea-90 Ocean Minerals continues the work of Dr. Murray today, through their naturally-dried, unprocessed and unrefined soil amendments.

We talk about how the benefits of sea minerals were discovered and established, where SEA-90 is made in the original location in the Sea of Cortez identified by Dr. Murray, and how the natural drying process preserves the natural minerals and trace elements that can help feed soil bacteria, enzymes, and fungi, and ultimately your plants. Find out why SEA-90 is combined with organic humate, what micronutrients it provides, how to apply it and more!

Here's a link to a GFM article about how fungi can help improve micronutrient availability-

Understanding the basic ecology of mycorrhizal fungi to benefit your farm

https://growingformarket.com/articles/20190729_1

Connect With Guest:

Email:

hello@sea-90.com

Websites:

https://www.bajagoldsaltco.com

https://www.sea-90.com

Instagram:

@sea90

@bajagoldsaltco

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Johnny's Selected Seeds - Johnny’s Selected Seeds has provided superior seeds, tools, information, and service since 1973. Consider us your trusted growing partner when you need proven varieties you can count on and detailed guidance from seeding to harvest. Turning to Johnny’s means you can plant high-quality, trial-proven varieties with confidence, knowing that our expert staff is ready to help with first-hand knowledge—because we’ve grown them ourselves. We’re here to help you grow good food.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Neptune’s Harvest is a family company that makes organic fertilizers from the by-products of the fishing industry, in Gloucester, MA. Products from the cold, mineral rich, North Atlantic Ocean contain all the nutrients to make your soil and plants healthy. Available in retail and bulk sizes at neptunesharvest.com.

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Streamlining the REKO ring model of pre-selling to the public with Tyler Taggart of REKO Hub

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Tyler Taggart, Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

REKO rings gained popularity during the pandemic as a way to keep selling direct to the public when markets were shut down. One of the obstacles to more widespread adoption of the REKO system- reliance on closed Facebook groups to communicate with customers- has been eliminated by Tyler Taggart and REKO Hub. They have developed software to facilitate REKO rings without using Facebook, plus the software is free for producers to use. Instead of charging producers, a small fee is charged to customers when they place an order through REKO Hub.

In case you aren’t already familiar with REKO rings, REKO took the farmers market model and moved the advertising and ordering to a closed Facebook group. Rings correspond to producers in a given geographic area, so during the pandemic, growers from a farmers market that was shut down might have started their own REKO ring to duplicate the farmers market, but in a prepaid format. Buyers perused grower offers and placed orders through the Facebook group, the transactions took place online, and the group of producers in any given REKO ring show up at a predetermined place and time to deliver the pre-ordered goods (think of it like a pre-order farmers market).

For more on the REKO model, click here to read the article from Growing for Market Magazine about REKO rings. And to hear more about how REKO Hub has taken much of the friction out of the REKO model for producers and customers, listen to our interview with Tyler Taggart! We talk about how the model is paid for by customer fees, how making a product posting is as simple as making a social media post, and how REKO Hub can help customers find local food and flower growers.

Here's a link to the GFM article about REKO rings mentioned in the podcast-

Reko Ring: A new way to pre-sell online

https://growingformarket.com/articles/reko-ring-new-way-presell-online

Connect With Guest:

Email: tylert@thefoodapp.org

Website: www.RekoHub.com

www.RekoNow.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TylerTaggart1

Text: 801.404.4307

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Managing a diverse collective farm with Hannah Rose Weber and Nate Lada of Green Things Farm Collective in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

This week we talk with Hannah Rose Weber and Nate Lada, two of the owners at Green Things Farm Collective in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Green Things is a majority women-owned farm business that has evolved out of several businesses. Nate and his wife Jill first started Green Things farm in 2011 at a local farm incubator program. Then they purchased 64 acres where the farm is now settled. In 2020, Green Things joined with Ann Arbor Seed Company and the Land Loom to expand production, share management of running a diverse farm business and develop a model of sustainable, cooperative, and responsible farming. They offer seasonal vegetables and flowers to their local markets through various channels as well as beef.

Hannah takes the lead on market, sales and personnel development. Nate leads vegetable production, infrastructure and production systems innovation. They are joined by a crew of dedicated farmers, including Jill Lada and Michelle Brosius who are also co-owners.

Often on this podcast, we like to discuss people’s personal farming journeys as much as the business side of the discussion, but in this case, it feels like the Green Things Farm Collective almost has a soul and spirit of its own that far transcends what the individual owners and farmers bring to it. So, we get the chance to hear more about the farm itself, how it has evolved, how the people involved are working to meet their goals of sustainability and more!

Connect With Guest:

Facebook: Green Things Farm Collective

Website: www.greenthingsfarm.com

Instagram: @greenthingsfarmcollective

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

A-Roo - Discover innovative packaging solutions at A-ROO Company, your one-stop destination for customizable and eco-friendly packaging across various industries, including floral, produce, and specialty packaging. Explore stylish and eco-friendly Kraft Paper Sleeves and sheets at shop.a-roo.com today and enjoy an exclusive 10% discount with code "GFM10" for Growing For Market Podcast listeners. When it comes to quality and innovation, A-ROO Company is the name you can trust.

Neptune’s Harvest is a family company that makes organic fertilizers from the by-products of the fishing industry, in Gloucester, MASS. Products from cold, mineral rich, North Atlantic Ocean, contain all the nutrients to make your soil and plants healthy. Available in retail and bulk sizes.

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Overcoming barriers for local food and farmers with Jean-Martin Fortier

Andrew@growingformarket.com (JM Fortier, Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 9 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

We step back and look at the big picture in this wide-ranging conversation with Jean-Martin Fortier, talking about the systemic barriers to local food and farmers and strategies to overcome them. We also talk about Jean-Martin’s many projects, including the recently-released Heirloom farm planning software, and his forthcoming podcast.

We also catch up on his other projects, including the Old Mill farm-to-table restaurant in Quebec, which was named one of the top ten new restaurants in Canada, the Market Gardener Masterclass, Growers and Co. tool and clothing company, and how he works with a team to keep all those plates spinning!

Connect With Guest:

Websites: https://themarketgardener.com/

https://growers.co/

https://heirloom.ag/

https://www.espaceoldmill.com/en/

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Creating community around food and farming with Brian Campbell and Crystine Goldberg of Uprising Seeds

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Growing For Market Magazine) — Tue, 2 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

On this week’s pod we talk with Brian Campbell and Crystine Goldberg. They own Uprising Seeds, the Certified Organic, farm-based seed business in Bellingham, WA. Brian and Crystine started as fresh market growers in 2004, growing specialty produce for local restaurants, food coops, and farmers markets. During that time they also started one of the country's first food-stamp based CSA programs.

Brian and Crystine launched Uprising Seeds in 2007 as a small threefold catalog of primarily farm-grown seeds and eventually transitioned entirely to seeds as their market crop by 2011. Now in their 17th year, they maintain and sell a catalog of over 450 varieties of organic vegetable, flower, and herb seeds, growing on about 5 leased acres of cultivated space and working with a network of about a dozen additional seed growers around the Pacific Northwest. Uprising Seeds’ catalog highlights the capacity of varieties with cultural and culinary significance to create community around food and farming, and their seed work is very much rooted in social justice.

Photo by Shawn Linehan

Connect With Guest:

Website: uprisingorganics.com

Want to give seed saving a try? Here's a link to a GFM article, Wet seed processing and saving

https://growingformarket.com/articles/wet-seed-processing-and-saving

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Give Growing for Market Magazine a try with a FREE 28-Day Trial:

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Becoming the face of your farm and breeding the Floret Originals varieties with Erin Benzakein of Floret

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Kaite Kulla) — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Erin Benzakein pioneered connecting with people who want to support local farms through social media. In this podcast we talk about how to use your own story to connect with potential customers. Read more in an article she wrote for Growing for Market Magazine called “Become the face of your farm,” linked in the show notes.

We also talk about the years of work that went into breeding the first round of seeds for Floret Originals that were released this winter, including dahlias, celosia and zinnias. We discuss the mechanics of breeding, including converting many of Erin’s hoophouses to net houses, and filling the net houses with flies for pollination. In addition to details about how you can breed and save your own seeds, Erin will be releasing a free seed saving mini-course this summer!

Link to article: Become the face of your farm by Erin Benzakein

https://growingformarket.com/articles/become-the-face-of-your-farm

Connect With Guest:

Email: support@floretflowers.com

Website: https://www.floretflowers.com

Instagram: @floretflower

Facebook: Floret Flower Farm

YouTube: @floretflowerfarm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Vermont Compost Company - Since 1992, Vermont Compost Company has supplied premium living soils and compost-based amendments to thousands of successful growers all over the country. All ingredients used in Vermont Compost products are approved for certified organic production. In addition to product consistency, growers can depend on Vermont Compost as an invaluable resource for a breadth of soil and plant knowledge and the technical expertise it takes to grow organically in an ever-changing environment. Why Grow Alone?

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Making natural liquid fish fertilizer from a fishing byproduct with Ann Molloy of Neptune’s Harvest

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Ann Molloy) — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Fish fertilizer is one of the oldest natural fertilizers out there. On this week’s podcast, hear how it’s made, and what sets hydrolyzed fish fertilizer apart from fish emulsion. Ann Molloy of Neptune’s Harvest in Gloucester, Massachusetts, tells us how her dad realized waste from the fishing industry that was being thrown away could be made into natural fertilizer.

We also talk about best practices with fish fertilizer, how to apply it and how to get the most out of fish fertilizer. Understanding the manufacturing process explains why fish hydrolysate, which is stabilized with an organically-approved nutrient that plants need, doesn’t smell as bad as fish emulsion, until you mix it with water. Which is why you have to use what you mix with water within a few hours, otherwise it will start to smell like fish again!

Connect With Guest:

Email: ann@neptunesharvest.com

Website: https://www.neptunesharvest.com/

Instagram: @neptunesharvest

Facebook: Neptune's Harvest

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

A-Roo- Discover innovative packaging solutions at A-ROO Company, your one-stop destination for customizable and eco-friendly packaging across various industries, including floral, produce, and specialty packaging. Explore stylish and eco-friendly Kraft Paper Sleeves and sheets at shop.a-roo.com today and enjoy an exclusive 10% discount with code "GFM10" for Growing For Market Podcast listeners. When it comes to quality and innovation, A-ROO Company is the name you can trust.

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

How rootstocks increase yield and disease resistance in grafted tomatoes with breeder Martijn van Stee of Enza Zaden

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Martijn van Stee, Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Grafting tomatoes onto vigorous, disease-resistant rootstocks is one of the biggest advancements in tomato production ever. We’ve been getting lots of questions about grafting and rootstocks lately, so we leapt at the opportunity to get some answers straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, by interviewing Martijn van Stee of Enza Zaden seeds about what makes tomato rootstocks so vigorous and disease resistant. Martijn has worked on breeding rootstocks for years, and we really enjoyed this conversation from the Netherlands, where Enza is based (zaden means “seeds” in Dutch).

Tune in to find out why rootstocks are the mules of the vegetable world, and how they are able to convey such a vigor and disease resistance increase to varieties they are grafted onto. Hear why it is worth grafting even if you don’t have disease problems, how to turn the extra vigor into yield, and what the trends in rootstock breeding are. If you’ve ever wondered whether grafting makes sense for you or how it works, this interview is for you!

Here's a link to an article from Growing for Market Magazine that talks more about rootstocks and tomato grafting:

https://growingformarket.com/articles/Greenhouse-tips-for-hoophouse-growers

Connect With Guest:

Email: m.vanstee@enzazaden.nl

Website: www.enzazaden.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijnvanstee/

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Growing a bioregionally adapted seed system with Don Tipping of Siskiyou Seeds in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Don Tipping) — Tue, 5 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Don Tipping stewards over 700 open-pollinated varieties of seeds at Siskiyou Seeds in Oregon, and we discuss the importance of having a bioregionally adapted seed system, and how farmers can get involved in their regional seed system in this week’s podcast. We also talk about Don’s North Star vs. his mission, and how farmers can clarify their goals by understanding the difference between the two.

Siskiyou varieties are selected for resilience to pest and disease pressure, and we discuss how market farmers can decide whether or not seed growing is something they should add to their farms. This is particularly important since, as Don points out, with climate change it’s not only the weather that is changing, but the pests that are active in a given region are changing along with the climate. See the linked article below about dry seed processing and saving if you’re interested in saving your own seeds.

Here's a link to an article from Growing for Market Magazine about dry seed processing and saving

https://growingformarket.com/articles/dry-seed-processing-and-saving

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.siskiyouseeds.com

Instagram: @siskiyouseeds

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Making flowers accessible with a CSA, home delivery and more with Tracy Yang of JARN Co. Flowers in Washington State

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Tracy Yang) — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Though she comes from a flower growing family, Tracy Yang of JARN Co. Flowers wasn’t always planning on following in the family business. Now, Tracy and her family farm four acres of flowers in Monroe, Washington, located about 45 minutes northeast of Seattle. Hear about how she decided to grow flowers for a living and the process of establishing her own farm, which involved clearing raw land and a lot of blackberries.

Starting her own farm included some new strategies, like a steadily growing flower CSA and home delivery. JARN Co. Flowers sells 80% of their flowers direct-to-consumer because Tracy values the direct connection they have to their community, something I bet many of our listeners can relate to! Tracy is a first-generation Hmong-American and second-generation flower farmer. Hear how she makes it easy and enjoyable for her customers to buy from her, how she’s making flowers more accessible, and how she uses pop-up markets to build brand awareness.

Connect With Guest:

Email: hello@jarncompany.com

Website: http://www.jarncompany.com

Instagram: @jarncoflowers

Facebook: JARN Co. Flowers

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Breeding local food systems that are more resilient to climate change with Chris Smith of The Utopian Seed Project

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Chris Smith) — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Ultracrosses and tropical perennials grown as annuals are just two of the many innovative breeding strategies being used by Chris Smith and the Utopian Seed Project to help make local food systems more resilient in the face of climate change. Based in western North Carolina, they are pioneering unusual breeding strategies that can be used by farmers and breeders anywhere to help develop varieties that can adapt to our changing climate.

Underlying their work is the fact that many vegetable varieties are bred for specific regions, and need a high level of inputs for them to succeed. “The Utopian Seed Project is anticipating a less than utopian future as climate changes threaten crops and growing environments,” as Growing for Market Magazine writer Jane Tanner put it in her story about USP, which is linked below in the show notes. Learn how they are using these unusual breeding strategies, along with classical breeding and selection, and how you can access some of their varieties and use their strategies on your own farm in this fascinating episode.

Here's a link to an article from the Nov/Dec 2023 Growing for Market Magazine about Chris Smith and The Utopian Seed Project

https://growingformarket.com/articles/the-utopian-seed-project

Connect With Guest:

Website: theutopianseedproject.org

Instagram: @utopianseedproject

Facebook: The Utopian Seed Project

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

A lifetime of organic farming and activism with Jim Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Farm in Maine

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Jim Gerritsen) — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Jim Gerritsen of Wood Prairie farm is a legend not only for his over four decades of organic farming, but for his activism. As the founder and president of The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA), a national non-profit membership organization committed to protecting, promoting, and developing the organic seed trade and its growers, he was part of the group that sued Monsanto in 2011 challenging the validity of Monsanto's transgenic/GMO patents and seeking court protection for innocent family farmers who may become contaminated by Monsanto seed.

He's also been involved in defending the integrity of organic standards by opposing the certification of hydroponics as organic here in the USA, along with the Real Organic Project. We talk about all that, in addition to organic seed potato farming, best practices for potato growing, and how Wood Prairie Farm and farming have changed over the years since starting the farm in the 1970s.

Here's a link to a free article on greensprouting potatoes from Growing for Market Magazine that was mentioned during the article:

https://growingformarket.com/articles/planting-and-greensprouting-potatoes

Connect With Guest:

Email: orders@woodprairie.com

Website: www.woodprairie.com

Blog: https://www.woodprairie.com/blog/

Newsletter: https://www.woodprairie.com/wood-prairie-farm-newsletter-archive/

Facebook: Wood Prairie Family Farm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Growing a profitable flower business with Lisa Mason Ziegler of the Gardener’s Workshop

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 6 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0000

On this week’s podcast, we draw on Lisa’s years of flower farming experience to talk not just about growing flowers, but the business and practical tips needed to grow a profitable flower business. Lisa’s new book, The Cut Flower Handbook, is full of information on the growing side, and in our interview we talk about how to put it all together to sustain the passion with a profitable business. We discuss workhorse flower crops, when to harvest, how to ensure the best vase life, and the practical tips that will build a cut flower business and keep it going.

Over the years, Lisa’s farm, The Gardener’s Workshop, has grown to include online courses, seeds, and flower growing tools and supplies. Lisa is also the author of the books Cool Flowers, Vegetables Love Flowers, and The Cut Flower Handbook. She has been selling cut flowers since 1998, including to Colonial Williamsburg, florists throughout the Hampton Roads region, supermarkets, farmers markets, a members-only on-farm market, and a bouquet drop-off subscription service.

Connect With Guest:

Website: thegardenersworkshop.com

Instagram: @gardenersworkshopfarm

The Cut Flower Handbook

Order the book from Growing for Market- magazine subscribers always get 20% off all the books we sell.

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

For 33 years, Growing for Market Magazine has been the only publication focused solely on news and information for vegetable and flower market farmers. Published ten times a year with articles written by farmers, for farmers, whether you do farmers markets, CSA, farmstand, local wholesaling, or florist sales, subscribe to Growing for Market Magazine to learn from other farmers about growing, marketing, and the business of local farming.

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Advanced greenhouse control and automation with Guillaume Lambert of Orisha

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Meffered, Katie Kulla, Guillaume Lambert) — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

We go deep on greenhouse control and automation in this second conversation with Guillaume Lambert. The first time we talked it took us a whole episode to cover the basics, but season extension is so important to market farmers, we decided to have him back to make sure and get to advanced greenhouse growing. We discuss how to use automation to control pests and diseases, how to use automation to conserve heat and save money, and how to use climate control for vegetative/generative steering of vining/fruiting crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplant.

Guillaume Lambert is one of the founders of Orisha, a company that is democratizing greenhouse systems control through software that growers can manage from a smartphone or computer. By bringing the cost down and increasing the precision, Orisha is making high-level greenhouse control accessible to smaller growers. In this interview, we discuss how systems including temperature, irrigation, fans, roll-up sides and more can be automated.

Through the use of the Orisha software, more complex goals can be achieved than with human control alone, including humidity, watering in response to solar radiation, optimizing for cloudy days vs. sunny days, and more. Though benefits of computerized automatic climate control include increased production, better crop health, and time savings, we were surprised to find out that the number one benefit Orisha customers report is the peace of mind of not having to worry about their greenhouses. Regardless of what crop you grow, listen to this interview to hear how and why to get the benefits of greenhouse automation.

Connect With Guest:

Email: guillaume@orisha.io

Website: orisha.io

Instagram: @orisha_auto

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Vermont Compost Company Since 1992, Vermont Compost Company has supplied premium living soils and compost-based amendments to thousands of successful growers all over the country. All ingredients used in Vermont Compost products are approved for certified organic production. In addition to product consistency, growers can depend on Vermont Compost as an invaluable resource for a breadth of soil and plant knowledge and the technical expertise it takes to grow organically in an ever-changing environment. Why Grow Alone?

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Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Vegetable and flower farming on cooperatively owned land in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, with Angela and Paul Neufeld of Kingfisher Farm Market

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Angela and Paul Neufeld have been farming vegetables and flowers in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, for 18 years. As Kingfisher Farm Market, they have been committed to regenerative, sustainable farming practices from the beginning. They’ve been slowly building up their farm business on land they share with other families. In a recent newsletter, Angela shared that in 2014 they made $977.50. Fast forward to 2023 and they made their main livelihood off the farm.

They now host a bustling one-day-a-week market at the farm as well as roadside sales throughout the week with a few restaurants that they supply with weekly lettuce mix and other veggies. They also sell flower bouquets from April-October at their roadside stand, through weekly flower subscriptions and through their DIY buckets. Listen to today’s episode to hear about the organic growth of their farm, living and farming in community and their many marketing outlets!

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.kingfisherfarmmarket.com

Instagram: @kingfisherfarmmarket

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Since 1972 growers have been feeding their soil with organic inputs from Ohio Earth Food. Start seeds in The Seed Catapult soil with mycorrhizae and put Re-vita Pro fertilizer in the soil before you plant and rest assured that your plants will have all of the nutrients and energy for whatever comes their way. These natural blends utilize compost, kelp, and humate and are low salt index safe for high tunnels and approved for organic production. Visit them at ohioearthfood.com and call for larger orders Ohio: 330-877-9356 and Wisconsin: 608-489-3600.

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Why and how to automate your greenhouse for peace of mind and better production with Guillaume Lambert of Orisha

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Guillaume Lambert) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Connect With Guest:

Email: guillaume@orisha.io

Website: orisha.io

Instagram: @orisha_auto

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Establishing a farm growing 40 different vegetable crops on 30 acres with Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou of Brisa Ranch in California

Tue, 9 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Today we hear from Cole Mazariegos-Anastassiou, who is a co-owner-operator of Brisa Ranch along with his wife Veronica and their friend Cristóbal Cruz Hernández. They started Brisa Ranch in 2018 and now grow about 40 different organic crops on 30 acres in Pescadero, California, which is 45 miles from the Bay Area. The sell 90% of their produce directly to businesses and institutions throughout Northern California. They were named California New Farmers of the Year by CAFF (the Community Alliance with Family Farmers) in 2021.

Growing on 30 acres might seem like a big farm to many members our audience, but by California standards, Brisa Ranch is still relatively small. We hear from Cole how Brisa Ranch got their foot in the door in what is a packed California farming landscape and market, and how they’ve shaped their farm through their core values.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.brisaranch.com

Instagram: @brisaranch

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) offers peer-review certification to ecological farmers and beekeepers producing food, flowers, and fiber for their local communities. Demonstrate your commitment to sustainable growing practices with a certification that fits your farm’s scale, budget, and community values. Learn more and apply at the link! www.naturallygrown.org

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Quitting your job to grow flowers 52 weeks of the year with Rebecca Kutzer-Rice of Moonshot Farm in New Jersey

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 2 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Rebecca owns Moonshot Farm, a specialty cut flower farm in East Windsor, NJ. She and her husband Mark started the farm in 2019 with big goals of providing sustainably grown flowers year-round — literally 52 weeks of the year. They thought their goals were so lofty that it informed their farm’s name — they are trying to “shoot the moon,” as they say. However, it must be working, because they do in fact grow flowers year-round, including in a geothermal greenhouse, for retail markets in and around New York City.

Rebecca clearly has tons to share with our audience and we were excited to hear about growing flowers, how they are making this work to harvest year-round in their climate, and also her recent shift to quitting her off-farm job so that both she and Mark could work full-time on the farm. Rebecca wrote a great article for the September 2023 Growing for Market about that move, including interviewing many other farmers who have made the same leap. It’s a big decision, and we talk about the successes and challenges she and others have faced.

The link to the article “Making the leap to farming full-time” is available below; Rebecca’s other articles are available in the archive and in back issues for Growing for Market Magazine subscribers.

Free article by Rebecca Kutzer-Rice from Growing for Market Magazine:

Making the leap to farming full-time

Connect With Guest:

Email: info@moonshotfarm.com

Website: www.moonshotfarm.com

Instagram: @moonshot_farm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full range of colors, great for keeping farm seedlings separate from retail, or just for fun. For all that and more, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Quitting the corporate life to build Mount Liamuiga Farm in Colorado with Keshaun Joseph

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kula, Keshaun Joseph) — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

The path from accountant to farmer is not the most commonly taken one, so hear how Keshaun Joseph came to reconsider the corporate life and start Mount Liamuiga Farm in Colorado on this week’s podcast. The first year of the farm included a car accident, negotiating water rights, and hungry packs of rabbits, all of which made this self-described “recovering perfectionist” slow down, ground himself, and build resilience and plan for the next year. Keshaun and host Katie Kulla discuss his family background in farming, growing unusual crops like hibiscus, the farm he worked on before starting Mount Liamuiga, and the innovative farm incubator that helped him gain experience and find the land to start his own farm.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.mountliamuigafarm.com

Instagram: @mountliamuigafarm

Facebook: Mount Liamuiga Farm

Free article:

Farm infrastructure: what and when to build by podcast host Katie Kulla

https://growingformarket.com/articles/Farm-infrastructure-What-and-when-to-build

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

If you’re an experienced vegetable farmer, don’t miss out on the 2024 Organic Vegetable Production Conference! In its 8th year, this conference fills that “expert-level” niche you’re looking for. Farmer presenters share the nitty-gritty details of their production practices and also speak on a wide range of topics - from fertilizer injectors and pest management with beneficials, to seed saving and labor retention. With online sessions on January 25th and 26th and in-person sessions on February 2 and 3 in Madison, Wisconsin, you can plug in no matter where you are. Register today at https://dane.extension.wisc.edu/organic-vegetable-production-conference/#link

Certified Naturally Grown - Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) offers peer-review certification to ecological farmers and beekeepers producing food, flowers, and fiber for their local communities. Demonstrate your commitment to sustainable growing practices with a certification that fits your farm’s scale, budget, and community values. Learn more and apply at naturallygrown.org.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Bootstrap Farmer - Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, lighting, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Balancing four different enterprises on a single family farm with Zoe Bradbury DeSurra of Valley Flora Farm in Oregon

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Zoe Bradbury DeSurra) — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Hear how Zoe Bradbury DeSurra of Valley Flora Farm balances four different farming enterprises between herself, her sister and her mom on one farm. The farm started in an unorthodox way- with a property trade- and overcame a healthy sense of skepticism about whether its rural Oregon location could support a vegetable farm at all, to become the multi-enterprise, matriarchal farm, where everything from the coolers to the draft horses run on solar power today.

Zoe shares the story of how the farm grew over the years, how the different businesses on the farm split revenue, and how she overcame self-imposed limitations to make her farm what it is today. She discusses with host Katie Kulla how she got interested in and learned to use draft horses for farm work, how they have struggled with and solved labor shortages, and how their markets have evolved over the years. Beginning and experienced farmers alike a lot to learn from the evolution of this unique farm in Southern Oregon.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.valleyflorafarm.com

Instagram: @valley.flora

Facebook: Valley Flora Farm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

https://www.naturallygrown.org

Organic Vegetable Production Conference - If you’re an experienced vegetable farmer, don’t miss out on the 2024 Organic Vegetable Production Conference! In its 8th year, this conference fills that “expert-level” niche you’re looking for. Farmer presenters share the nitty-gritty details of their production practices and also speak on a wide range of topics - from fertilizer injectors and pest management with beneficials, to seed saving and labor retention.With online sessions on January 25th and 26th and in-person sessions on February 2 and 3 in Madison, Wisconsin, you can plug in no matter where you are. Register today at https://tinyurl.com/26285ax5

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at site.localline.ca/claim-your-offer-growing-for-market

Vermont Compost Company - Each fall, Vermont Compost offers a prebuy program to incentivize ordering your spring soil before the snow flies. With Vermont Compost’s prebuy program, you can receive 15% off on orders placed, paid for, and shipped by December 21st. Listeners of the Growing for Market podcast will receive an additional 5%, bringing the total discount to 20%. Visit vermontcompost.com/gfm for more details, or mention this podcast when you place your order.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Ways to keep pests and diseases in check without spraying with Dr. Surendra Dara of Oregon State University

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Dr. Surendra Dara brings over 25 years of experience to his work as an Oregon State University professor and director of NWREC, the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Oregon. In this podcast, we talk about integrated pest management (IPM) tactics growers can use to keep pests and diseases in check without getting to the point of spraying, even if the sprays are organic. We discuss controls as diverse as physical barriers, irrigation, nutrient management, biostimulants, biological soil amendments and more to develop sustainable agricultural solutions.

Before moving to Oregon, he was based in California where he worked with strawberry and vegetable growers. Throughout his career, he has worked on numerous invasive and endemic species of arthropods and plant pathogens. His research and extension covered commodities such as alfalfa, cassava, cotton, small fruits, and vegetables serving agricultural communities locally, regionally, and internationally. Dr. Dara has authored/co-authored more than 400 scientific and extension articles, which include three co-edited books, four co-edited special issues of journals, 25 book chapters, and more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles. He has extensive international outreach experience training farmers in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, Kosovo, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe.

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/surendra-dara-7529778

Website: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/users/surendra-dara

Website: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/people/surendra-dara

Website: https://ucanr.edu/JEB

Website: https://ucanr.edu/PestNews

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

If you’re an experienced vegetable farmer, don’t miss out on the 2024 Organic Vegetable Production Conference! In its 8th year, this conference fills that “expert-level” niche you’re looking for. Farmer presenters share the nitty-gritty details of their production practices and also speak on a wide range of topics - from fertilizer injectors and pest management with beneficials, to seed saving and labor retention.With online sessions on January 25th and 26th and in-person sessions on February 2 and 3 in Madison, Wisconsin, you can plug in no matter where you are. Register today at https://dane.extension.wisc.edu/organic-vegetable-production-conference/#link

BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. BCS has select tractors and attachments on sale now through the end of the year. Visit bcsamerica.com to find sale pricing and your nearest dealer.

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Vermont Compost Company - Vermont Compost Company - Each fall, Vermont Compost offers a prebuy program to incentivize ordering your spring soil before the snow flies. With Vermont Compost’s prebuy program, you can receive 15% off on orders placed, paid for, and shipped by December 21st. Listeners of the Growing for Market podcast will receive an additional 5%, bringing the total discount to 20%. Visit vermontcompost.com/gfm for more details, or mention this podcast when you place your order.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Growing a profitable flower farm with Lennie Larkin of B-Side farm and author of Flower Farming for Profit

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Lennie Larkin) — Tue, 5 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

No one gets into flower farming because they love business analytics, however if you don’t know how to make sense of your business and make a profit, you’re not going to stay in business for very long. Luckily we’ve got Lennie Larkin of B-Side Farm to help us cut through the clutter and tell us how to plan to make a profit in our own flower farm businesses. She’s on the pod this week, telling us about her new book, Flower Farming for Profit, which will be out in January.

We talk about how to evaluate your whole enterprise from the close-up, such as whether an individual crop is making you money or not, to zooming out to tell whether an entire market is right for you or not. For example, we talk about how even though the same stem that sells for a dollar to a wholesaler might be worth many times more at a wedding, there are a lot of other costs associated with getting an individual stem to a wedding. So if you’re more of an enjoy-my-time-on-the tractor type of person, you might be more suited to wholesaling and foregoing the big markups associated with weddings and other events. We also talk about the process of moving Lennie’s own farm from CA to OR, how to avoid engaging in magical thinking, and how to get prices above the market average for your flowers.

Pre-order Flower Farming for Profit (magazine subscribers get 20% off):

https://growingformarket.com/store/products/252

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.flowerfarmingforprofit.com

Instagram: @flowerfarming.forprofit

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

If you’re an experienced vegetable farmer, don’t miss out on the 2024 Organic Vegetable Production Conference! In its 8th year, this conference fills that “expert-level” niche you’re looking for. Farmer presenters share the nitty-gritty details of their production practices and also speak on a wide range of topics - from fertilizer injectors and pest management with beneficials, to seed saving and labor retention.With online sessions on January 25th and 26th and in-person sessions on February 2 and 3 in Madison, Wisconsin, you can plug in no matter where you are. Register today at https://dane.extension.wisc.edu/organic-vegetable-production-conference/#link

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at https://hubs.la/Q02bpWQV0

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The best idea in local farming you’ve never heard of: the “farm stop” with Kathy Sample & Bill Brinkerhoff of Argus Farm Stop

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

One perennial problem for market farmers is how to make local food and flowers available to customers every day, without having to spend seven days a week standing behind a table or giving up most of the value to a wholesaler. The farm stop is the most innovative answer to this problem we’ve heard of in years, and Kathy Sample & Bill Brinkerhoff of Argus Farm Stop are on the pod this week to tell us about it.

Billed as a “year-round, everyday farmers market,” it isn’t a replacement for farmers markets, but a complement to them. In fact, many farmers make deliveries to the farm stop on and between market days. The Argus Farm Stop is a local food grocery store, stocked with products from over 200 farms and producers, where farmers own the produce, set the prices, and keep 70% of the sale, and customers know who grew the food and flowers. Hear how the model works, where they got the idea, how they minimize waste, how they work with farmers, and more on this week’s Growing for Market Podcast.

Connect With Guest:

website: www.argusfarmstop.com

Instagram: @argusfarmstop

Facebook: Argus Farm Stop

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Local Line is the all-in-one sales platform for direct-market farms and food hubs of all sizes. Increase your sales and streamline your processes with features including e-commerce, inventory management, subscriptions, online payments, and more! Get 15% off marketing services and one premium feature for a year with the code Growing4market at site.localline.ca/claim-your-offer-growing-for-market

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The farmer’s office: business skills you need to run a profitable farm with Julia Shanks

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Julia Shanks, Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Nobody gets into farming for the spreadsheets, however almost no one will stay in business if they don’t get good with the business of running a farm. Even with farm businesses we are passionate about, it’s important to do more than just survive from year to year. The difference between gardening and farming is making a profit, and that’s necessary to pay everyone including the farmer, plan for retirement, and have a little extra for a “rainy day,” like when the tractor breaks down, someone gets injured, or the farm needs to grow.

Luckily, we have Julia Shanks to help us plan for our farms to be profitable businesses. She has used her background in the food industry and accounting to help hundreds of farmers make sense of their numbers. On this week’s pod, we pick up on the trends she has noticed over the years and talk about important ways to understand farm business metrics, like calculating the breakeven point, figuring out cost of production, profit per hour, whether growth or specialization is the right strategy for profitability, and more! We cover everything from pivoting, to the entrepreneurial mindset, to how to get excited about digging into your numbers, even when you aren’t.

Buy one of Julia's books:

The Farmer's Office

https://growingformarket.com/store/products/177

Read Julia's article that was discussed in the pod, "The magic of breakeven and how it can help set sales goals," in Growing for Market Magazine:

https://growingformarket.com/articles/the-magic-breakeven-and-how-it-can-help-set-sales-goals

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.juliashanks.com

Website: www.thefarmersoffice.com

GFM Podcast listeners can get a discount on Julia's farm business course starting December 4, The Farmer's Edge:

https://juliashanks.com/thefarmersedge/

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The Nourishing Asian Kitchen (and Farm!) with Farmer/Author Sophia Nguyen Eng

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Sophia Nguyen Eng, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Sophia Ngueyen Eng was a successful marketer in Silicon Valley, in March of 2020. When the world shut down Sophia immediately realized the importance of food security. She quickly expanded her garden and even ventured into raising chickens. As Sophia's connection to the land grew so did her connection to her heritage as she tapped into traditional Asian gardening practices. Within years she and her family adopted the homesteading lifestyle and moved away from the city and on to 7 acres.

Now, she pursues her passions for sustainable farming and nourishing Asian cuisine on her farm in Tennessee, where she employs regenerative practices to raise grass-fed dairy cows, beef cattle, laying hens, broilers, ducks, sheep, goats, turkeys, and traditional Asian practices to grow a variety of produce for her multi-generational family and local community.

She has put it all down in her new book, The Nourishing Asian Kitchen, which spotlights healthy recipes from several different Asian traditions that can be made with farm-fresh whole foods. Her book draws parallels between soil and human health, for example how she feeds the soil with the same kind of fermented microbes as we can feed ourselves, with foods like sauerkraut and kimchi, and lactic acid bacteria from Korean Natural Farming for the soil. Learn how to feed yourself as well as you do your soil with this podcast and her book, The Nourishing Asian Kitchen.

Connect With Guest:

Email: sprinklewithsoil@gmail.com

Website: https://www.freedomfundings.com

Website: https://www.homesteadingrealtor.com

Website: https://www.sprinklewithsoil.com

Instagram: @freedomfundings

Instagram: @homesteadingagent

Instagram: @sprinklewithsoil

Podcast: https://www.thecalltofarms.com

Substack: https://sprinklewithsoil.substack.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sprinklewithsoil

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The Lean Micro Farm with Ben Hartman of Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Ben Hartman) — Tue, 7 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Learn how Ben Hartman cut his farm down to 1/3 of an acre from an acre without taking a pay cut on this week’s pod. Ben Hartman is well known for adapting LEAN principles from manufacturing to his farm in order to cut out waste and maximize efficiency; that is the subject of his previous two books, The Lean Farm and The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables. However, even after LEANing up his previous two farms, he found he was working too much at the expense of family, friends and community.

So he and his wife and farming partner Rachel embarked on a quest to radically LEAN up their farm, and that is the story of his new book, The Lean Micro Farm, and this podcast. Hear how, though skeptical at first, he was able to make as much income and support the family off of 1/3 of an acre instead of the one acre they were previously farming, which in itself is a big reduction from the 400 acres his family was farming when he was growing up.

In addition to the ideas underlying efficient micro-farming, this episode is packed with practical information for how to maximize efficiency on a farm of any size, including a simple plan for farm-based fertility, how to find markets for all your produce within a few miles of the farm, quick two-step bed flips, and crops to focus on to maximize income from a small area. Growing for Market Magazine subscribers always get 20% off all books, including The Lean Micro Farm, at growingformarket.com.

Buy One Of Ben Hartman's Books:

Book 1: The Lean Micro Farm (Preorder now- available late Nov 2023)

Book 2: The Lean Farm: Guide to Growing Vegetables

Book 3: The Lean Farm: How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficiency, and Maximize Value and Profits

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.ClayBottomFarm.com

Instagram: @claybottomfarm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

BCS America - BCS two-wheel tractors are designed and built in Italy where small-scale farming has been a way of life for generations. Discover the beauty of BCS on your farm with PTO-driven implements for soil-working, shredding cover crops, spreading compost, mowing under fences, clearing snow, and more – all powered by a single, gear-driven machine that’s tailored to the size and scale of your operation. To learn more, view sale pricing, or locate your nearest dealer, visit BCS America. Tractors and Attachments are on sale through the end of the year. Visit bcsamerica.com to find sale pricing and your nearest dealer.

Subscribe To Our Magazine -all new subscriptions include a FREE 28-Day Trial

Two decades of farm collaboration with Lyn Jacobs of La Finquita Del Buho and Polly Gottesman of Pumpkin Ridge Gardens

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Sometimes we can be stronger when we collaborate, and on this week’s pod hear from two growers with over 20 years of experience working together. Lyn Jacobs @la_finquita_del_buho and Polly Gottesman @pumpkinridgegardens each run their own vegetable CSA farms, and they’ve been collaborating to sell vegetable and flower seedlings, fresh cut flower bouquets, dried flowers and wreaths since 2002. This episode is packed with lots of great ideas and growing info, including how to keep your flowers distinctive at markets with other flower growers, how they manage the cooperative business arrangement between their two farms, and how to keep the personal relationship strong along with the business after more than two decades of collaborating.

Connect With Guest:

Email: lynjuve@msn.com

Email: pumpkinridgegardens@gmai.com

Website: www.finquita.com

Website: https://pumpkinridgegardens.com/

Website: https://pumpkinridgegardens.square.site/ (our farmers market website)

Instagram: @la_finquita_del_buho

Instagram: @pumpkinridgegardens

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

PFAS contamination of farm soil with Caleb Goossen, Organic Crop Specialist at MOFGA

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

PFAS are toxic chemicals that are widely used and have accumulated to dangerous levels in agricultural soils in some areas. On tomorrow’s pod we talk with Caleb Goossen, an Organic Crop Specialist at MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) about why Maine may be the canary in the coal mine for this type of contamination, and how farmers in other areas can know whether their properties are at risk for contamination. As the Organic Crop Specialist for MOFGA he has been helping farmers deal with the repercussions of PFAS contamination, and we talk about the effects on human health, and how to deal with the situation if farm soils are contaminated.

Resources Mentioned In Episode:

Article: https://pubs.aip.org/avs/bip/article/18/3/030501/2894789/Evidence-of-compost-contamination-with-per-and

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.mofga.org/pfas

Instagram: @organiccropspecialist

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Spreading risk through crop diversity on a new farm with Noah Poulos of Wild East Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Noah Poulos, Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Diversity of crops is one way to spread the risk in farming, and on this week’s podcast we talk about what Noah Poulos of Wild East Farm grew in this first year on his farm outside of Asheville, North Carolina. In addition to vegetables, crops include pastured meats and agroforestry, and we discuss how the short-term crops help them get into farmers markets and generate income while the longer-term crops grow. We also discuss their unusual lease that was set up to keep the property in farming, recap how the first year on the property went, what he learned managing other farms, and more!

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.wildeastfarm.com

Instagram: @noahthefarmer

Instagram: @wildeastfarm

YouTube: @wildeastfarm

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Bootstrap Farmer offers a complete range of growing supplies including heat mats, ground cover, frost blankets, silage tarps, irrigation, and trellising. They also make all-metal, all-inclusive greenhouse frames, constructed of steel made in the USA and fabricated in Texas. Their heavy-duty, Midwest-made propagation and microgreens trays will last for years and are available in a full spectrum of colors. For all that plus experienced support for everything they sell, check out Bootstrap Farmer at bootstrapfarmer.com.

Vermont Compost Company - Each fall, Vermont Compost offers a prebuy program to incentivize ordering your spring soil before the snow flies. You can receive 20% off orders placed, paid for, and shipped by October 31st. Listeners of the Growing for Market podcast will also receive a free 60-quart bag of Compost Plus container and transplant booster mix with your order. Visit vermontcompost.com/gfm for more details, or mention this podcast when you place your order.

Want to learn more about going full-time into your life's passion? Here is a link to September's article "Making the Leap to Farming Full-Time" By Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, from the Growing for Market Magazine.

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

70 sustainable plants that will change the way we eat, with Kevin Hobbs and Artur Cisar-Erlach

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Podcast host Katie Kulla illustrated a new book! In this episode she interviews Kevin Hobbs and Artur Cisar-Erlach, the co-authors of the book, "Edible: 70 Sustainable Plants That Are Changing How We Eat." Over half of the modern diet is based on just a few plants, however with a rapidly changing climate, plants that can thrive under more challenging conditions will become more important in ensuring food security.

This interview focuses on the crops from the book that have commercial potential and could be grown by market farmers, with the added bonus for growers that the crops are selected for resiliency. The fact that most of these crops are not currently widely grown in the USA by market farmers means growers may be able to set their farms apart by growing some of these crops. Plant nerds everywhere will enjoy learning about edible crops they never have heard of, some of which just might become your next favorite crop!

Buy Edible: 70 Sustainable Plants That Are Changing How We Eat

https://growingformarket.com/store/products/249

Connect With Guest:

Kevin’s Instagram @florafanatica

Artur’s Instagram @artur_cisar_erlach

Artur’s website: https://arturcisar-erlach.com/

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Urban flower farming with Mimo Davis and Miranda Duschack of Urban Buds City Grown Flowers

Tue, 3 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Mimo Davis and Miranda Duschack grow flowers at Urban Buds City Grown Flowers in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and we love this interview where we talk about rehabbing a legacy farm property including an old glass greenhouse, what it’s really like to grow flowers in the city, and what their markets are with so many potential customers nearby. We talk about how to get the most out of a small area, favorite floral crops and growing tips, why they keep growing ginger along with all the flowers, the impact of urban farms, and so much more!

We’d like to thank the sponsors of this podcast, BCS America and the Vermont Compost Company. It’s with their generous support that we can bring you this podcast for free so show them some love. They’re making it easy right now as both sponsors are having sales- Vermont Compost is doing their annual prebuy program now through the end of October to incentivize ordering your spring soil before the snow flies. You can receive 20% off orders placed, paid for, and shipped by October 31st. Listeners of the Growing for Market podcast will also receive a free 60 quart bag of Compost Plus container and transplant booster mix with your order. Visit vermontcompost.com/gfm for more details, or mention this podcast when you place your order. And, BCS has select two-wheel tractors and attachments on sale now through the end of the year. Visit bcsamerica.com to find sale pricing and your nearest dealer.

Connect With Guest:

Email: citygrownflowers@gmail.com

Website: www.citygrownflowers.com

Instagram: @urbanbuds

Podcast Sponsors:

Huge thanks to our podcast sponsors as they make this podcast FREE to everyone with their generous support:

Subscribe To Our Magazine - FREE 28-Day Trial:

Our Website: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Balancing farming on Whidbey Island and teaching farming in Seattle with Eli Wheat of SkyRoot Farm and The U of WA

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Eli Wheat, Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla) — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Eli Wheat is both a farmer and a teacher, splitting his time between SkyRoot Farm on Whidbey Island, WA and teaching at the University of Washington. On this week’s podcast, we get to hear how he balances both, taking the ferry back and forth between the island and the city, and how different the University of Washington urban farm is from his farm! We love this interview where Eli and host Katie Kulla talk about how working with new people has shrunk the farm’s footprint to roughly half of what it was without reducing revenue, how going no-till has changed the farm, innovative ways to market your produce, what an amazing place Whidbey Island is to farm, and more!

Connect With Guest:

Email: wheat@skyrootfarm.com

Facebook: SkyRoot Farm

Instagram: @skyroot_farmers

Website: http://www.skyrootfarm.com/

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The Winter Market Gardener with Catherine Sylvestre of Ferme des Quatre-Temps

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Catherine Sylvestre) — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Harvesting vegetables all winter long is what we discuss on today’s podcast with Catherine Sylvestre of Ferme des Quatre-Temps, in Hemmingford, Quebec, Canada. Catherine is an agronomist and director of vegetable production and leader of the market garden team at the farm. She is also the co-author of a new book, called The Winter Market Gardener, along with JM Fortier. She develops, implements, and teaches best practices for cold season growing, specializing in crop protection and greenhouse production for northern climates. We talk about how to time plantings as growth slows in the winter, how to use a variety of structures to spread out the harvest, we answer some listener-submitted questions, and more! Whether this is your first winter growing or your twentieth, there are plenty of ideas here to help dial-in winter vegetable production.

Connect With Guest:

Email : catherine@fermequatretemps.com

Instagram : @fermequatretemps

The Winter Market Gardener Book : Buy Here

Catherine's article from the August magazine, "Year-round carbon neutral greenhouse production," https://growingformarket.com/articles/yearround-carbon-neutral-greenhouse-production

Link to contest to win one of three copies of The Winter Market Gardener: https://kingsumo.com/g/ackxye/book-giveaway-the-winter-market-gardener-3999-value-3-winners

Link to winter planting dates calculator: https://app.orisha.io/#winter-harvest

FREE 28 day trial of Growing for Market Magazine- cancel anytime:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Staying healthy through a lifetime of farming with Cynthia Flores of Labor-Movement

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd, Cynthia Flores) — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Farming can take a toll on the body, and this week’s podcast guest Cynthia Flores founded Labor-Movement to help farmers stay healthy through many seasons of farming. That’s because after 20 years of farming herself, she has felt the toll it takes on the body, and decided to do something about it! As a certified personal trainer and licensed massage therapist, we have a lot to learn from her about how to stay healthy through seasons of farming, including how to move to reduce injuries, how to recover from injuries, and how to get stronger in the off-season. Podcast host Katie Kulla and Cynthia discuss common farm injuries, ways to make our bodies more resilient, and farm systems and equipment to reduce injuries in the first place.

Connect With Guest:

Email: cynthia@labor-movement.com

Website: https://www.labor-movement.com

Instagram: @labor_movement_

Free 28 Day Trial - Cancel Anytime:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Strategies for farming in clay with Nella Mae Parks of Nella Mae’s Farm in Cove, Oregon

Tue, 5 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Nella Mae Parks went from a farm with lots of topsoil to one with lots of clay, and in the subsequent decade she has learned a lot about clay! Nella Mae’s Farm is in Cove, Oregon. Podcast host Katie Kulla and Nella Mae talk about the advantages that clay can provide (high water and nutrient holding ability), as well as the disadvantages (can be hard to work with, can turn into a brick if worked at the wrong time).

They also discuss how to open up clay soil whether you till or not, how to deal with the difficulties associated with both direct seeding and transplanting into clay, why she’d take clay over sand, and more!

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we talk about strategies for using low tunnels in the winter. We discuss how in areas with very cold winters, low tunnels inside a greenhouse can not only keep crops alive for winter sales, they can also be used to keep crops looking good for spring sales. In milder climates, low tunnels can be used the same way but in the field.

Thanks to our collaborator on this podcast Neversink Farm. They make this podcast free to everyone with their generous support. For tools designed and made by farmers, check out www.NeversinkTools.com

Articles Mentioned In This Episode:

"Strategies for farming in clay" by Nella Mae

Connect With Guest:

Website: https://nellamaesfarm.com/

Instagram: @nellamaesfarm

USDA Soil Survey Website: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/natural-resource-concerns/soil/soil-survey

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Part 2 of Managing your wash/pack system for safe, clean produce with Billy Mitchell, Chris Callahan and Andrew Chamberlin

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Growing for Market podcast, host Andrew Mefferd invites guests Billy Mitchell, Chris Callahan, and Andrew Chamberlin to discuss efficient systems and organization for packing sheds. We discuss the principles of good flow in a wash/pack situation and how to optimize cold storage in post-harvest handling. The guests emphasize the significance of creating a comfortable and efficient work environment by considering factors such as walking paths, space, lighting, and ventilation. They provide practical tips to improve work flow, such as identifying bottlenecks and rearranging workstations or introducing hanging shelving.

The episode also delves into the five-step cleaning and sanitizing process for wash pack areas, with the addition of a crucial fifth step: drying surfaces after sanitization. The concept of dry-cleaning (not like laundry) is discussed as an alternative to wet-cleaning surfaces, with brushes, brooms, vacuums, or compressed air for debris removal. The importance of cold storage in maintaining produce quality is highlighted, with recommendations for small CoolBot rooms and considerations for larger spaces. The conversation concludes with resources including tools, articles, and informative materials to help optimize post-harvest handling practices and create efficient and safe work environments.

In this episode we discuss:

0:03:11 - Improving the Design of Greens Bubblers

0:09:22 - Container Options for Efficient Farm Operations

0:14:01 - Cleaning Tools

0:22:26 - To Wash or Not to Wash

0:27:54 - Design Principles for Good Flow in a Wash Pack Situation

0:34:59 - The Five-Step Cleaning and Sanitizing Process

0:35:56 - Cold Storage as the Endpoint of Wash Pack

0:40:37 - Common Mistakes in Wash Pack Operations

0:42:33 - Cultural and Communication Challenges

0:43:17 - Investing in Quality Tools

0:45:19 - Continuous Improvement and Problem Solving

0:52:24 - Future Focus: Sustainable Packaging

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss strategies for using low tunnels in the shoulder seasons. Low tunnels are a cheaper way than greenhouses to nurture and hold crops when temperatures are outside of the ideal, stretching the season as temperatures climb in the spring or drop in the fall. We talk about how a little bit of extra temperature protection can make your farm much more competitive and profitable.

Free articles mentioned in show:

Beat the heat in postharvest handling

https://growingformarket.com/articles/beat-the-heat-postharvest-handling

Love is Love Cooperative Farm Profile

https://growingformarket.com/articles/love-love-cooperative-farm-profile

Connect With Guest:

https://blog.uvm.edu/cwcallah/2018/11/14/bins-buckets-baskets-totes/

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Managing your wash/pack system for safe, clean produce with Billy Mitchell, Chris Callahan and Andrew Chamberlin

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Strategies to create a clean wash/pack environment that guarantees good food hygiene and workflow is the topic of this week’s pod, and for the first time ever we have three guests! With three guests and such an important topic, it’s no surprise this became the first of a two-part episode, with the second part following next week. In addition to getting produce clean and safe from pathogens, a good packing shed will facilitate workflow that keeps the produce moving and people comfortable. In this episode, we have the privilege of hosting Billy Mitchell, Chris Callahan, and Andrew Chamberlin, who share their expertise and insights on the importance of hygienic design in wash-pack systems.

In this episode we discuss:

00:01:00 - Importance of Food Safety,

00:05:13 - Ensuring Good Wash/Pack Production Flow

00:14:05 - Basics of Food Safety for Growers

00:15:10 - Key Points for Food Safety

00:15:58 - Simplifying Food Safety

00:20:12 - Importance of Cleaning

00:24:59 - Water Safety for Washing Produce

00:27:31 - The Use of Sanitizers in Wash Water

00:30:48 - Hygienic Design Principles

00:35:51 - Inspection vs. Audit

00:37:43 - Food safety starts in the field

00:41:30 - Color Coding for Organization and Cross-Contamination Prevention

00:42:05 - Using Shallow Totes and Mini Pallets for Field Efficiency

00:43:33 - Mobility Solutions in the Wash Pack Area

00:44:45 - In-field Cooling Strategies

00:48:25 - Forced Air Cooling for Extended Shelf Life

00:55:09 - The Importance of Cooling Methods

00:56:26 - Scale and Applicability of Hydrocooling

00:57:32 - Low-tech Cooling Techniques

00:58:29 - Water Quality Considerations

01:00:06 - Conclusion and Resources

Chris Callahan is the Extension Associate Professor of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Vermont- he works with food producers, processors, and distributors to improve the efficiency, quality and safety of post-harvest practices and storage processes like water management, environmental control, drying, humidification, and refrigeration systems. Andy Chamberlin is also with the U of VT, farmers with their post-harvest processes to increase efficiencies and profitability while maintaining safe food handling processes. Billy Mitchell is with the Southeast Region of the USDA's Transition to Organic Partnership Program and works with partners across the Southeast and nationally to provide educational opportunities to organic and transitioning to organic producers and the workforce that supports them.

In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss how to use low tunnels in the summer. Though it’s common to associate low tunnels with winter production, we talk about the strategies that make low tunnels effective in the hotter part of the season, most notably with shade cloth, which has the advantage that it can be watered through, unlike floating row cover and many of the other commonly used coverings. We also discuss how not using weights to hold down row cover saves time and offers more flexibility than having to move weights every time you need to access the crop.

Free articles mentioned in show:

Beat the heat in postharvest handling

https://growingformarket.com/articles/beat-the-heat-postharvest-handling

Love is Love Cooperative Farm Profile

https://growingformarket.com/articles/love-love-cooperative-farm-profile

Connect With Guest:

The guests' food safety resources are available at:

https://blog.uvm.edu/cwcallah/

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Overcoming adversity with Anthonie Conner of 4A Market Gardens in Torrington, Wyoming

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore, Anthonie Conner) — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Adversity is something all farmers will have to overcome at some point in their careers, and on this podcast episode we talk with Anthonie Conner of 4A Market Gardens in Torrington, Wyoming, for a dose of inspiration. Anthonie overcame alcohol addiction, then threw himself into starting his market garden during the pandemic, in addition to holding down an off-farm job as a welder. We talk about perseverance, and how to stay motivated when you have weeds as tall as you are. We also talk strategies for building a farm business in a lightly populated rural area, including working with aggregators and finding ways to stand out at markets.

In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss why, how and when to broadfork. We talk about how if you’re not tilling (or even if you are!), broadforking can be a great way to aerate the soil with a minimum of disturbance. We talk about why and how to use a broadfork, how much to broadfork, and when you may be able to decrease the amount of broadforking or stop completely.

FREE Article discussed in the show:

An introduction to Korean Natural Farming

https://growingformarket.com/articles/an-introduction-to-Korean-Natural-Farming

Connect With Guest:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/4A-Market-Gardens-100076359093869

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Breeding more flavorful vegetables with Culinary Breeding Network founder Lane Selman

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Lane Selman, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 8 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

The Culinary Breeding Network helps plant breeders to develop the kind of varieties that market farmers want to grow, i.e. vegetables that taste good. While it might seem obvious that vegetables should taste good, a lot of the effort that goes into vegetable breeding focuses on traits like yield, shelf life and looks, without considering flavor.

In tomorrow’s episode of the Growing for Market Podcast, we talk with Lane Selman, creator and director of the Culinary Breeding Network. Lane grew up on the citrus farm her Sicilian great-grandparents planted in 1919 in Florida. She studied agronomy and entomology at the University of Florida before moving to Oregon in 2000. As a Professor of Practice at Oregon State University, Lane has worked with organic vegetable and grain farmers, managed collaborative research projects, and executed marketing campaigns and outreach events for over 15 years. In 2011, she created the Culinary Breeding Network to build communities of plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, produce buyers, chefs and other stakeholders to improve quality in vegetables and grains.

The Culinary Breeding Network organizes culinary explorations, conversations and celebrations that inspire connection and collaboration throughout the food system. We’ll talk a lot more about what that looks like in action and the enthusiasm Lane brings to helping farmers, chefs, and eaters all explore the fabulous flavors available in fresh seasonal produce. Lane has been immersed in agriculture her entire life and host Katie Kulla was excited to talk about her experiences and work.

In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss broadfork design, and the design features that make one unbreakable vs. the design features that make one effective. We talk about why and how to use a broadfork, and why Neversink Tools hasn’t launched one yet, despite working on a design.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.culinarybreedingnetwork.com

Instagram: @culinarybreedingnetwork

Website: https://www.eatwintervegetables.com/

Website: https://www.chicoryweek.com/

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Building a honey farm business with innovative marketing, agritourism and education with Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Tara Chapman, Katie Kulla, Conor Cric, kmore) — Tue, 1 Aug 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Just your typical CIA to honey farmer story on this podcast! Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey talks with host Katie Kulla about starting and scaling a honey business, with education and agritourism as important parts of the plan. After a decade of working for The Agency, Tara quit her government job to work for a beekeeper in East Texas, and was inspired to start her own unique honey business.

Two Hives Honey sells raw honey direct to consumers through its online store and a monthly subscription program. They also offer multiple education opportunities through on-site honey tasting, tours, and beekeeper classes. In addition to an interesting story, we learn a lot along the way about pitching an ag business in a tech world, operating a lean business and scaling up only as needed, and incorporating education and agritourism into a farm business model.

Tara also has a lot of insight to share with our listeners on how she built a business out of honey and beekeeping through an innovative combination of farming and marketing. Two Hives Honey has quickly evolved and has grown into a socially conscious business and team that aims to educate their community, provide unique honey and bee experiences, and share why real, raw honey is the best honey!

In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss how to get the right spacing for different crops with paperpot transplanters is the subject of this episode of Shop Talk. We talk about what spacings are possible with paper chain pots and learn when it is appropriate to use techniques like skipping cells for spacings outside of what is sold off the shelf, to get the right spacing for any crop.

Connect With Guest:

Website: twohiveshoney.com

Instagram: @twohives

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Farm stress: strategies and resources for dealing with the mental health repercussions of farm-related stress with Anne Schwartz and Rachel Van Boven

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Farming can be very stressful, and as we’ll discuss today there are recent studies that back this up. Chronic farm-related stress can lead to or exacerbate existing mental illnesses, and mental health care is harder to find in the rural areas where many farmers live. This is a huge topic, one that the USDA and others are actively tackling through multiple arms, and in this episode, host Katie Kulla has on two guests who can provide us some specific insight into farm stress, farmer mental illness and resources.

Anne Schwartz is a lifelong farmer. In 1979, she started Blue Heron Farm in Rockport, Washington, where she has grown a wide range of certified organic vegetables and fruits with a focus on berries. She has also served as a volunteer firefighter and EMT for over 40 years.

Our other guest, Rachel Van Boven, has worked as a hotline operator with Farm Aid since 2021. She comes from a long line of farmers and worked on a handful of small farms and completed Viva Farms’ farmer training. She also trained to be a chaplain and completed a Masters in Theology with a focus on food justice and farming. She also coordinates a small community garden growing food for a mutual aid food justice project in Bellingham, Washington.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we talk about how to get perfectly clean cut greens as quickly as possible without bruising them and compromising shelf life. We discuss how to use a jacuzzi motor to make your own cut greens washer, and then how to move them and dry them efficiently.

Connect With Guest:

Email: rachel@farmaid.org

Website: www.farmaid.org/resources

Farm Aid Hotline: 1-800-FARM-AID (1-800-327-6243)

Farm Aid Farmer Resource Network: https://www.farmaid.org/our-work/resources-for-farmers/

Crisis Lifeline (24 hours): call or text 988

Crisis Lifeline website: www.988lifeline.org

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Planning and planting for the flower holidays with Dave Dowling

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Flower-giving holidays can generate a month’s worth of revenue in a day. In this episode, we discuss planning and planting for the flower holidays with Dave Dowling of Ball ColorLink and The Gardener’s Workshop. We talk about which crops can be grown for which holidays, planting timing, color palettes, and how to hold flowers if they are ready too early.

Dave brings years of experience from his own cut flower farm to helping growers make the most of Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We also discuss the Growing for Market Magazine article by Rebecca Kutzer-Rice, “Growing flowers for all the major floral holidays,” which is linked in the show notes.

We talk about how to have efficient, effective bed prep and field seeding in this episode of Shop Talk. We discuss how to keep pathways from creeping into the beds, how to use a gridder to keep plant or seeds spaced evenly, and the best seeders for different crops.

Articles Mentioned:

"Growing flowers for all the major floral holidays" By Rebecca Kutzer-Rice

Free PDF Mentioned:

Planning & Planting For The Flower Holidays

Connect With Guest:

Email: ddowling@ballseed.com

Website: https://www.ballseed.com/cutflowers/

Instagram: @davemdowling

Online Flower Farming School: https://thegardenersworkshop.com/product/bulbs-perennials-woodies-and-more/

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Ground lease farm transfers and much more with Jeremy Barker Plotkin of Simple Gifts Farm

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, we discuss an innovative farm sale method that keeps the land in farming called a ground lease transfer with Jeremy Barker Plotkin of Simple Gifts Farm in Amherst, Massachusetts. Simple Gifts Farm is currently up for sale via a ground lease transfer, and we talk about how this method works. We also discuss his experiences over 17 years at the farm, including several SARE grants, innovative no-till systems, nutrient balancing greenhouse tomatoes to control aphids, and sales growing 6X over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss how to keep mice from eating germinating seeds in the propagation house. Since mice will hoard seeds for winter when they can get them, sometimes poor germination is actually due to mice stealing the seeds, or nipping them off shortly after germination. We discuss methods to keep mice from getting to your seeds while they are germinating in flats.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.simplegiftsfarmcsa.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplegiftsfarmamherst

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplegiftsfarmamherst/

Farm Sale Info: https://newenglandfarmlandfinder.org/property/simple-gifts-farm-farm-business-sale-33-acres-under-long-term-lease-amherst-ma

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Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Going from starting farms to editing Growing for Market Magazine with editor Andrew Mefferd: from farmer to editor (Part 2 of 2)

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Katie Kulla, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 4 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, the second of two talking with Growing for Market Magazine editor and podcast co-host Andrew Mefferd, we discuss what he learned from his own farm, and the “green greenhouse” project he was preparing for before taking over GFM. We talk about mistakes made while trying to do too much as a young farmer, why he decided to take over Growing for Market from founder Lynn Byczynski, and why we have to be deliberate as we steward our farms into the future.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how to ensure good germination when starting seeds in flats. Even though the factors for good germination are simple- heat and moisture- just one day with the wrong conditions can throw off the whole process. We talk about how a germinator can ensure good germination every time.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @growingformarketmagazine

Facebook: @growingformarketmagazine

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Going from working on farms to running Growing for Market Magazine with editor Andrew Mefferd: From apprentice to farmer (Part 1 of 2)

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we talk with Growing for Market Magazine editor and podcast co-host Andrew Mefferd about going from working on farms in six different states, to starting a farm (twice!) before taking over GFM and running it from his farm in Maine. We talk about becoming aware of the imbalances in the current farming system, what it was like traveling around the country working on farms and starting two, and what he learned doing vegetable trials for seven years at Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss using the Qlipr trellising system for cucumbers. We talk about how one of the main advantages of the Qlipr system, in addition to time savings, is the ergonomics- it keeps workers off ladders, and all the work can be done standing up between waist and shoulders, eliminating bending over.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @growingformarketmagazine

Facebook: @growingformarketmagazine

Website: https://growingformarket.com

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Reflecting on 50 years of Johnny's Selected Seeds with founder Rob Johnston

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Rob Johnstone, Conor Crickmore, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0000

January 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Johnny's Selected Seeds, and we talk with founder Rob Johnston about the need the company was born from, developing overseas contacts in the early days when there was little variety in the US seed market, and changes and surprises in the seed industry over the years.

We discuss the years of development went into the Subversive, Neversink Tools’ modernized version of the paperpot transplanter, and we discuss some of the improvements that were engineered into it in this Shop Talk episode.

Connect With Guest:

Email: robj09500@outlook.com

Website: www.johnnyseeds.com

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Creating positive labor experiences for farm owners and workers with Sarah Janes Ugoretz of the FairShare CSA Coalition

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Finding and retaining good workers is a perennial issue on farms, and both sides of the labor equation have a lot to gain from getting the relationship right. When farm owners get it right they have loyal, returning workers, and if farm workers get it right they end up having a good work experience and contributing to the farm.

Luckily, Sarah Janes Ugoretz is working on the issue of how everyone can have a better farm labor experience with the FairShare CSA Coalition, where she supports the Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship. She also just finished her PhD focused on creating positive labor experiences on diversified vegetable farms. We have a lot to learn from Sarah, including how farm owners can find and retain good labor, what kind of support farm workers need, strategies for diffusing conflicts, and more.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how to do a quick summer greens no-till bed turnover. We discuss how summer heat can be used to quickly decompose the residue from leafy greens crops and turn beds over without going through time-consuming steps like physically removing the plants.

Connect With Guest:

Email: sarah@csacoalition.org

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

New podcast co-host special episode, with Katie Kulla of Oakhill Organics!

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 6 Jun 2023 16:19:44 +0000

It's a new host special episode! We’re so excited to be welcoming Katie Kulla to the podcast as one of our co-hosts! You may remember hearing Katie on the podcast back in the winter, podcast episodes 8 and 9, discussing her series of articles about balancing farming and parenting. Well, we enjoyed talking with Katie so much, and she brings so much experience from her own farm to the podcast, that we’re stoked to announce she is joining the podcast as a co-host.

We wanted to make sure and record an episode to properly introduce everyone to Katie, because even though she has been on the pod before as a guest, she was mostly not talking about herself, and she brings a wealth of experience to the pod from her farm, Oakhill Organics in Oregon. Katie has been involved with Growing for Market magazine since way before we had a podcast, writing over 20 articles for the magazine over the course of a decade.

Just looking at her article titles shows the breadth of experience she will bring to her interviewing. She’s covered many CSA-related topics (including running a full-diet CSA), farm infrastructure, on-farm events, writing farm newsletters, farm equipment, and so much more, all of which can be read as archived articles at growingformarket.com.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how important it is to have enough water for all farm needs, including irrigation and washing. We talk about how when drilling a well, there is a limit to how much water any given well can pump, and how to try and get an idea of what that capacity is when the well is being drilled.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.KatieKulla.com

Instagram: @katiekulla

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The Ecological Farm with farmer/author Helen Atthowe: A Minimalist No-Till, No-Spray, Selective-Weeding, Grow-Your-Own-Fertilizer System

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Helen Atthowe, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 30 May 2023 15:14:18 +0000

Hear how “The Ecological Farm” author/farmer Helen Atthowe developed a minimalist no-till, no-spray, grow-your-own fertilizer method over decades of research and application on her own farms. Helen has been applying and refining the principles of soil, plant, and whole farm ecosystem health for decades, and we’re glad she finally wrote it all down in one place!

This interview is of personal interest for interviewer Andrew Mefferd, as he had the pleasure of visiting her Woodleaf Farm in California 20 years ago when he was a farm apprentice. For farmers who aspire to “close the circle” and stop relying on off-farm inputs, this conversation has a lot of ideas for how growers can farm more self-sufficiently, as well as ecologically. It is also a realistic book, acknowledging that developing an ecological farm may in many cases take years of development; in the meantime there are recommendations for interventions for pests, diseases and other problems so growers can stay in business until ecosystem-based solutions are fully functioning.

In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss methods and timing for stale seedbedding. Stale seedbedding is a technique to intentionally let weeds germinate before a crop has emerged, in order to eliminate them using quick methods like flame weeding or blind cultivation without risk of damaging the crop. Though stale seedbedding can be done multiple times over the course of a season, we discuss a simple method for knowing when to time your last weeding pass just before the crop emerges, to reduce competition as much as possible.

Order The Ecological Farm book- GFM magazine subscribers always get 20% off books:

https://growingformarket.com/store/products/246

Connect With Guest:

Website 1: http://woodleaffarm.org/

Website 2: http://veganicpermaculture.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/AgrarianDreams/videos

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Growing cut flowers six stories above the San Francisco Bay Area with Joanna Letz of Bluma Flower Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Joanna Letz, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 23 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, hear about growing cut flowers six stories above the San Francisco Bay Area with Joanna Letz of Bluma Flower Farm @blumafarm. Hear what it’s like to grow flowers in a bustling metropolis, differences between field and rooftop growing, and some of Joanna’s favorite varieties. We discuss the advantages and challenges (yes, there are weeds up there) of farming on top of a building in the city. As both farmers and cities realize the benefits of urban agriculture, hopefully there will be more opportunities for growing crops on rooves, and we hope this episode will give growers the confidence to make the leap!

We were inspired by Joanna’s example of hyper local production, cutting the flower miles on her blooms down to almost nothing by growing in the city where many of them will be enjoyed. As we look for ways to cut down on the amount of transportation that goes into food and flowers, we want to encourage growing on rooftops and other city spaces that we don’t often think of as productive farmland. As an added bonus, green rooves can help mitigate urban heat islands and help reduce flash flooding by absorbing some of the water that would otherwise run off. Whether you’ve ever wondered how to get into rooftop growing, or just wondered what it’s like to grow cut flowers over a bustling metropolis, give this episode a listen.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how to know when seedlings in paper pots are ready for transplanting. If they are planted too soon, seedlings may not be fully rooted and can fall out of the pots during transplanting. If you wait too long, the paper pots may start to break down before they are transplanted, and roots and tops may become tangled, making transplanting difficult. We talk about how to find the sweet spot for paperpot transplanting success in this Shop Talk segment.

Articles mentioned in the interview for show notes (all are already free/public):

Profile of Joanna and Bluma Flower Farm in June 2018 by Ellen Polishuk

https://growingformarket.com/articles/farmer-to-farmer-profile-bluma-flower-farm

Setting goals, taking risks and prioritizing your time in an unsettled season from 2020

https://growingformarket.com/articles/setting-goals-taking-risks-and-prioritizing-your-time

Rooftop farming on the rise: The mechanics of farming six stories up from 2021

https://growingformarket.com/articles/rooftop-farming-the-rise

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.blumaflowerfarm.com

Instagram: @blumafarm

Email: bluma@blumaflowerfarm.com

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Unraveling why root maggots may have been worse than usual this spring with Caleb Goossen of MOFGA

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore, Caleb Goossen) — Tue, 16 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, we talk about why root maggots may have been worse than usual this spring with the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s Organic Crop Specialist Caleb Goossen. One thing that some growers have noticed this spring is a higher than usual rate of seedlings failing to emerge, or dying shortly after emergence, due to seedling-feeding maggots.

We discuss how to tell whether seedlings have succumbed to maggots instead of other causes like damping off; how to reduce seedling maggots next year; and whether it’s important to tell apart the primary culprits: seedcorn maggot, onion maggot or cabbage maggot. Since timing is critical for control measures, Caleb explains using Degree Day models to predict the emergence of maggots, the importance of early detection, and damage control measures.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how to choose whether to start crops using transplants, paper pot trays or direct seeding. We talk about how practical considerations like speed of germination, crop spacing, and even how much greenhouse space you have will factor into how you decide to propagate which crops.

Connect With Guest:

Email: cgoossen@mofga.org

Website: https://www.mofga.org/

Instagram: @organiccropspecialist

"Seedcorn maggot and other maggots fact sheet" mentioned in the interview: https://www.mofga.org/resources/fact-sheets/seedcorn-maggot/

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Growing 15 acres of organic flowers with mother/daughter team Dru Rivers and Hannah Muller of Full Belly Farm

Tue, 9 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, we talk with mother/daughter team Dru Rivers and Hannah Muller of Full Belly Farm about growing 15 acres of certified organic flowers. Dru is one of the founders of this landmark California organic farm that has been growing since 1984, and she and Hannah manage the flowers, all of which are grown in the field. We cover strategies for keeping farm crew year-round, favorite flower crops and new varieties, the importance of playing hard when you’re working hard, educating wholesalers and customers on the importance of organic flowers, and having big events on the farm.

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how to have an awesome farmers market setup. We cover the importance of signs and two important things that must always be on them, farmers market layout and displays, crowd management and more.

Connect With Guest:

Email: dru@fullbellyfarm.com

Email: hannah@fullbellyfarm.com

Website: www.fullbellyfarm.com

Instagram: @full_belly_farm

Instagram: @dru_rivers

Instagram: @farmerhands

Instagram: @wreathroom

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Compost science with Robert Pavlis

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Robert Pavlis, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 2 May 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Today we talk about what makes good compost with Robert Pavlis. Robert is a well-known speaker and educator with over 40 years of growing experience. He is the author of several books, including a whole series demystifying important growing topics, including Soil Science for Gardeners, Microbe Science for Gardeners, Garden Myths and Compost Science for Gardeners. He has a background in chemistry and biochemistry which allows him to research topics and explain the underlying science. He uses that understanding to present complex growing topics in an easy-to-understand style that is both informative and fun to read.

Robert’s books do a great job explaining the background and mechanics for a lot of the aspects of plant care that are important for market farmers. He will help you understand the why behind how to take care of plants. As the owner and head gardener of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden in Southern Ontario, Canada, he grows over 3,000 varieties of plants.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss the history of tilthing that goes back hundreds of years. Tilthing refers to a very shallow cultivation action that can help smooth out a compost layer and work amendments into the top inch or so of soil. After losing popularity to deeper cultivation methods, like rototilling and spading, tilthing is gaining ground again as a way to even out fertilizer and compost applications on top of a bed and get it ready for gridding, transplanting or seeding. We also discuss how tilthing fits into the order of bed preparation.

Magazine Articles Mentioned In This Podcast:

"Making great compost at scale: The tried and true windrow system" by Ellen Polishuk

Connect With Guest:

Published Books: Garden Myths, Plant Science for Gardeners, Soil Science for Gardeners, and Building Natural Ponds

Blogs: Garden Myths and Garden Fundamentals

YouTube Channel: Garden Fundamentals

Facebook Groups: Garden Fundamentals and Building Natural Ponds

Owner of Aspen Grove Gardens

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Making the move from the military to agriculture with Charley Jordan of Jordan Farms in Tennessee

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Charley Jordan, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Today we talk with Charley Jordan about making the move from the military into farming. Charley is the owner/operator of Jordan Farms, in Indian Mound, Tennessee. After serving nearly 30 years in the Army, flying Chinook helicopters with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Charley retired in 2017 and found a new mission in agriculture and has devoted himself to helping other veterans and beginning farmers find their purpose in agriculture. Charley was also in the inaugural cohort of a horticulture therapy certificate program launched at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Jordan Farms specializes in fresh-cut flowers, forest-grown mushrooms, and other farm-fresh products. Charley is a nationally featured advocate for veterans transitioning to agriculture and the mental health benefits of therapeutic horticulture. We think it would be great if we had more farmers in more communities; and at the same time, with over a million people in the active-duty military, when they decide to leave the military, veterans are an important demographic that could contribute to the numbers of farmers.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss soil blocks, what makes them such a good medium for seedlings, their difficulties, and the alternatives with the same benefits and fewer drawbacks, such as Winstrip trays and paper chain pots.

Connect With Guest:

Internet search: Charley Jordan Veteran Farmer

Website: www.jordanfarmstn.com

Instagram: @jordanfarmstn

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Growing good broccoli in a bad climate with Jan van der Heide of Bejo Seeds

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Jan Van Der Heide, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Today we have the pleasure of welcoming Jan van der Heide to the podcast. He is the Northeast Market Manager for Bejo Seeds, a Dutch vegetable seed company that has breeding stations and distribution all over the world.

Jan has a depth of knowledge about brassicas, and we’ve been getting a lot of contact lately here at Growing for Market about how to avoid the many disorders that can cause broccoli and cauliflower to grow poorly. Now, if you are a brassica grower, you are probably all too familiar with the symptoms of messed-up broccoli and cauliflower: examples include tiny, unmarketable heads that formed prematurely, properly sized but poorly formed crowns, crowns that have some beads that are starting to open and flower when other beads are still undersized, and a seemingly unlimited range of other disorders that reduce yield and marketability in brassica crops.

Broccoli and cauliflower are very sensitive to the wrong climatic conditions, which is why over 90% of the broccoli consumed in the USA is grown in coastal California, where the conditions are particularly good for broccoli. Though because, by definition, local, direct-market vegetable growers cannot all be in California, nor are all areas of California equally great for broccoli, direct market growers need to figure out how to grow in a range of climates.

Jan, however, is based in a region that is much less naturally kind to broccoli: the Northeast US, where unpredictable weather and wide temperature fluctuations can make getting a good broccoli crop difficult. In fact, Bejo is working with Cornell University and other collaborators in what is called the Eastern Broccoli Project in order to identify varieties that will do well with the variable weather east of the Mississippi. We discuss everything from scheduling to variety selection to similar crops that can be grown instead of broccoli, in order to meet customer demand without putting too much risk on the grower.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss tray dibblers, why Conor dibbles all his flats, and the advantages of a good dibbler. We talk about why he doesn’t cover his flats after seeding, and how this helps him get flats out of the germinator when the seed has just cracked, before the shoot has any chance to get leggy, and how a good dibbler can also be used to pop seedlings out of a flat.

Connect With Guest:

Email: j.vanderheide@bejoseeds.com

Website: www.bejoseeds.com www.bejo.com

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Getting farm-friendly legislation passed with Sara and Symbria Patterson of Red Acre Farm in Utah

Andrew@growingformarket.com (sara patterson, Symbria Patterson, Megan Robertson) — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, hear Sara and Symbria Patterson talk about farming in Utah on Red Acre Farm and founding the Red Acre Center for Food and Agriculture. In addition to the challenges of farming at elevation, Sara and Symbria discuss how they have gotten over 15 bills passed through the Utah legislature. They highlight the relationship-building process they have used successfully with legislators to pass pro-local-farm legislation despite sometimes facing skepticism from both sides of the aisle. Sara talks about what it was like to found the farm at age 14, and how Sara and Symbria went on to found the Red Acre Center for Food and Agriculture in order to promote and protect local farmers.

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm @neversinkfarm we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss propagation house efficiency, specifically, efficiency of space with rolling greenhouse tables.

Greenhouses are the most precious real estate on most farms, and rolling tables help to minimize the amount of space wasted on pathways; because rolling greenhouse table tops can be moved, it cuts the need for pathways in a greenhouse down to one, and tables are rolled out of the way when a path is needed. We discuss how these work as well as the benefits of building them yourself vs buying a kit.

Connect With Guest:

Email: Howdy@RedAcreFarmCSA.org

Website: redacrefarmcsa.org

Website: redacrecenter.org

Website: utahfarmconference.org

Instagram: @rerdacrefarm

Instagram: @redacrecenterut

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

The origins of Growing for Market Magazine with founding editor Lynn Byczynski

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Lynn Byczynski, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 4 Apr 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, hear Lynn Byczynski talk about founding Growing for Market Magazine over 30 years ago in 1992. We’ll talk about how Lynn’s background in writing, combined with the lack of information about market farming in the early 1990s, pushed her to start Growing for Market. While researching solutions for issues on her farm in Lawrence, Kansas, she started publishing GFM as a way to connect market farmers to each other and hard-to-find information. We’ll also hear about her book, The Flower Farmer, passing the magazine on to current editor Andrew Mefferd after 24 years of running the magazine, and how her family came to run Seeds From Italy. Link to full podcast episode in profile.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss Seed to Plate- a new video series that Neversink Farm is releasing on YouTube. Each episode of the series, shot in high-definition video during the pandemic lockdown, documents the journey of one vegetable from seeding to eating on Neversink Farm. Check it out both for a slice of life on Neversink Farm, plus some farm tips along the way.

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.growitalian.com

Instagram: @lynnbyczynski_flowers

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Farming and pregnancy: Birth and postpartum healing for the farmer (Part 2 of 2)

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In today’s episode, the second of two parts, hear Katie Kulla from Oakhill Organics in Oregon talk about how farmers who have just had a baby can smooth the transition into parenthood while keeping the farm running. This conversation is an elaboration on Katie’s article "Birth and postpartum healing for the farmer" from Growing for Market Magazine. Part 1 of the podcast (and the article) discusses how preparations in the lead up to a baby can help get farmers ready for the new arrival, as well as keep the farm running as smoothly as possible.

Katie has written 3 articles on the subject of farming and parenting for Growing For Market Magazine & interviewed many farmers on the subject. She brings her own experiences parenting & farming in Yamhill County, Oregon with her husband and two homeschooled kids to the conversation. This episode focuses on the time after the baby arrives, in order to help smooth the addition of a new member to the farm and family.

In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss the long history of wire weeders, and their recent resurgence in popularity. For beds that have been kept clean of deeply established weeds, they offer a less aggressive, more efficient way to get weeds at the germination stage, and quickly keep beds weed-free.

GFM Articles Mentioned:

"Farming and pregnancy: Balancing the physical and emotional demands" By Katie Kulla

"Birth and postpartum healing for the farmer" By Katie Kulla

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.KatieKulla.com

Instagram: @katiekulla

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Farming and pregnancy: Balancing the physical and emotional demands (Part 1 of 2)

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Katie Kulla, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 21 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Today we’re talking about balancing farming, pregnancy & kids on the farm with Katie Kulla, who has written 3 articles on the subject for Growing For Market Magazine & interviewed many farmers on balancing farming & parenting. She brings her own experiences parenting & farming in Yamhill County, Oregon with her husband and two homeschooled kids to the conversation. This episode focuses on preparations before the baby comes, in order to smooth the addition of a new member to the farm family, and keep the farm running at the same time. It is an elaboration on Katie’s article "Farming and pregnancy: Balancing the physical and emotional demands" from Growing for Market Magazine.

In this week's Shop Talk, we discuss how to maximize efficiency with the paperpot transplanter, including which crops are best suited to it, which crops don’t work as well, and how to get good stands of crops with poor germination using the transplanter.

GFM Articles Mentioned:

"Farming and pregnancy: Balancing the physical and emotional demands" By Katie Kulla

"Birth and postpartum healing for the farmer" By Katie Kulla

Connect With Guest:

Website: www.KatieKulla.com

Instagram: @katiekulla

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Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Demystifying the Guestworker H-2A visa program with Gretel and Steve Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Steve Adams, Gretel Adams, Andrew Mefferd) — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 09:00:00 +0000

This conversation is an elaboration on Gretel's article "Demystifying the H-2A program" from Growing for Market Magazine, which is available to read for free on the website (see link in the show notes below). The H-2A "guestworker" visa is a program of the US government so farmers can hire workers from other countries to fill temporary/seasonal positions on farms when local workers aren't available. In this interview, Gretel and Steve talk about how the H-2A program has worked on their flower farm, where approximately a third of their 24 person crew was H-2A workers this past year. They talk about who the program is for, how to enroll, whether to do the paperwork yourself or hire someone to do it for you, and the benefits, commitments and responsibilities of having H-2A workers.

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how and when ranunculus is planted on Neversink Farm, and why it is such an important crop for one of the biggest days for cut flower sales- Mother’s Day.

GFM Articles Mentioned:

Demystifying the H-2A program

Early season income with ranunculus and anemones

Connect With Guest:

Facebook: Sunny Meadows Flower Farm

Instagram: @sunnymeadowsflowerfarm

Instagram: @flowerfarmette

Instagram: @flowerfarmer

Website: www.sunnymeadowsflowerfarm.com

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Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds on breeding veg varieties for market farmers

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Fred Hempel, conor crickmore, andrew mefferd) — Tue, 7 Mar 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Today on the show we talk with Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds on being an independent vegetable breeder, why most breeders need the support and infrastructure of a larger company to be successful, and breeding varieties that are suitable for market farmers.

For almost twenty years, Fred has used his own farm, Green Bee Farm in Sunol, California, to both support his breeding work and act as a proving ground for it. By selling to chefs and wholesalers in the Bay Area, he has been able to get feedback from some of the most demanding customers anywhere on his varieties, and has used those suggestions to move his breeding work forward.

We talk about the process of breeding the Artisan series of striped, elongated cherry tomatoes, and how incorporating farmer-friendly traits like shelf life and disease resistance don’t necessarily have to come at the expense of flavor and other characteristics that market farmers care about.

Shop Talk with Neversink Farm - we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how to choose between all the different nursery trays. We talk about the pros and cons of different options, from soil blocks to Winstrip trays and everything in between, and which crops to propagate in which trays. Link to full podcast episode in profile.

Thanks to our collaborator on this podcast Neversink Farm. They make it free to everyone with their generous support. For tools designed and made by farmers, check out www.NeversinkTools.com

Other Resources:

Here’s an article Fred wrote to help growers select their own varieties of tomatoes:

Breeding tomatoes on a farm: practical selection advice

https://growingformarket.com/articles/breeding-tomatoes-farm-practical-selection-advice

Connect With Guest:

Web Store: https://store.growartisan.com

Instagram: @artisan.seeds

Instagram: @green.bee.farm

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: https://growingformarket.com/

The origins of Neversink Farm with Conor Crickmore, part 2 of 2: The Neversink Farm Course and Neversink Tools

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:00:00 +0000

We talk with Conor Crickmore in the second of this two-part interview about the origins of Neversink Farm. In this episode, we talk about how the Neversink Farm Course and Neversink Tools developed out of the farm. We discuss how early efforts to document the methods on Neversink Farm led to two years of filming to create the Neversink Farm Course. Hear how member feedback is used to continue adding to the course to this day, with lots of tips and market farming ideas along the way. Then we discuss how Neversink Tools developed out of Conor’s need for tool designs that weren’t readily available elsewhere. When those designs were offered to Neversink Farm Course members they took off, and Neversink Tools was born.

Shop Talk with Neversink Farm - we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss we discuss precise vs. aggressive cultivation, and the situations that demand one over the other. We also discuss which tools to use for precise vs. aggressive cultivation. Link to full podcast episode in profile.

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @neversinkfarm

@neversinkfarmtools

@neversinkfarmcourse

Website: https://www.neversinktools.com

https://www.neversinkfarm.com

http://www.neversinkcourses.com

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: https://growingformarket.com/

The origins of Neversink Farm with Conor Crickmore, part 1 of 2

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 10:00:00 +0000

We talk with Conor Crickmore in the first of this two-part interview about the origin story of Neversink Farm. We discuss moving from the city and developing the methods that led to a highly profitable farm on a small footprint. In the second part of the interview dropping next week, we talk about how the Neversink Farm Course and Neversink Tools developed out of the farm.

Shop Talk with Neversink Farm - we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss the process of taking a farm tool from idea to market, including how designs are farmer-tested on Neversink Farm before going into manufacturing.

Other Resources:

Here's an article Conor wrote for Growing for Market Magazine about the hard work and methods that went into starting Neversink Farm:

https://growingformarket.com/articles/welcome-to-the-no-till-revolution

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @neversinkfarm

@neversinkfarmtools

@neversinkfarmcourse

Website: https://www.neversinktools.com

https://www.neversinkfarm.com

http://www.neversinkcourses.com

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: https://growingformarket.com/

Josh Volk on DIY farm tools and compact farm layouts

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Josh Volk, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Josh Volk talks about how his background in mechanical engineering led him to Silicon Valley, and then a valley over to where the vegetables and flowers are to lend his talents to DIY tools and farm design. He talks about the experimental elementary school where he got his start making things, and how he has applied the ideas to his own farm, Cully Neighborhood Farm in Portland, OR, and his two books: Compact Farms and Build Your Own Farm Tools. Josh is one of the most frequent contributors to Growing for Market since the magazine's inception in 1992, with many bylines on the subject of farm design, tools and planning.

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss the three types of irrigation Conor uses on Neversink Farm, and when to use sprinkler vs drip vs hand watering.

Thanks to Neversink Farm, our collaborator on this podcast. They make this podcast free to everyone with their generous support. For tools designed and made by farmers, check out www.neversinktools.com

Connect With Guest:

Email: josh@slowhandfarm.com

Website: slowhandfarm.com

Instagram: @slowhandfarm

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com

Meet your host: Megan Robertson!

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Megan Robertson, Andrew Mefferd, Conor Crickmore) — Tue, 7 Feb 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Hear how host Megan Robertson's agricultural journey started out in South Dakota and took her to Kenya, Italy, Boston and Connecticut before landing in California as an organic certifier, inspecting farms in one of the world's most productive and diverse agricultural regions. Meg is interviewed by the other Growing for Market Podcast host, GFM magazine editor Andrew Mefferd.

In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss indoor tomato trellising tools to lower and lean the vines as they grow, including the Qlipr system as well as Conor's use of wickets to keep the tomato vines off the ground.

Thanks to our collaborator on this podcast Neversink Farm. They make this podcast free to everyone with their generous support. For tools designed and made by farmers, check out www.NeversinkTools.com

Mentioned Article:

Set boundaries for CSA members and set yourself up for success By Megan Robertson

Connect With Guest:

Instagram: @megan.alluvial

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: https://growingformarket.com/

Scrum project (and personal!) management with Andrea Heim

Andrew@growingformarket.com (Andrew Mefferd, Andrea Heim, Conor Crickmore) — Mon, 6 Feb 2023 23:33:49 +0000

Today we discuss the Scrum project management framework with certified Scrum Master and recovering farmer Andrea Heim. We elaborate on her article from the May 2022 Growing for Market Magazine, "Increase personal sustainability and productivity on farm teams with Scrum project management." Andrea draws on her experience managing farms to talk about how Scrum can help keep us on track by identifying obstacles standing between us and our goals and how to continuously improve our management so we can strike a work/life balance and hopefully not burn out.

Shop Talk with Neversink Farm - we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers. In this episode of Shop Talk, we discuss how important plant spacing is, so each plant gets the same amount of light and airflow; the pitfalls of some plant spacing systems; and how to simplify planting so seedlings can be transplanted quickly with perfectly even spacing.

Other Resources:

Here's a great information page that contains a myriad of resources, including the two links below- https://u.osu.edu/agility/resources/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRcReyRYIMg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vt7Ik8Ublw

Connect With Guest:

Email: encouragemint.owner@gmail.com

Instagram: encouragemint.owner

Download A FREE Magazine Issue:

Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com