Bootstrap Farmer's Customer Service Manager, Rikki, joins us to talk about her recent trip to Dallas, where she went on several farm tours and met some of our local farmer friends. Rikki discusses how this up-close experience with growers using our products and with the manufacturers that produce them is what makes the brand so unique. Listen as she recounts some of the lessons she learned and how she tries to help other growers keep calm and reassured during the hectic growing season. 00:00 Intro 01:54 Touring the Fabrication House 03:54 Bootstrap Farmer Warehouse Tour 04:31 Dallas Trade Show 06:33 Meeting Amanda from Bishop Hill Farms 11:52 Meeting Sky Flower Farm 15:09 Dinner with Calvin our Lead Injection Moulder and Drew Demler 18:58 Visiting Profound Microfarms 22:42 Visiting Urban Dirt Company 24:58 Helping Growers Navigate Challenges 26:51 Visiting Double 07 Farmers 29:24 Visiting Paris Coffee Shop with Automated Grow Rack 30:15 Warehouse Walk-through 38:27 Karl’s Farm and Beta Testing 45:00 Final Thoughts

While filming factory tours the Bootstrap Farmer Creative Team sat down with Tracy Lutz, who is working on a year long filming project, on what happens in the creative dept. 

This unplanned quorum tackles topics like:

Social media tips, recognizing B-reel in the field, making content for different personality types, working with shot lists, scheduling a year of content, recycling content, reposting shared content, making videos, pronouncing grow bags, planning media, building your personal stock footage bank, and a real world example of trying to end an interview. 

USA Manufacturing has been at the forefront of Bootstrap Farmer’s goals over the past few years with new products added all of the time. Join Bootstrap Farmer’s Creative Director Katie Russo, Tracy Lutz our farmer in residence, and Cal our lead injection moulder for a discussion about what it takes to produce our trays in the United States, why it matters, and what more is to come. We hope you will join us.

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:00 Factory Tour Overview 2:00 Plastic Characteristics and Food Safety & UV Stabilization 3:55 Process of Bulk Resin to Finished Product 4:53 Injection Moulding Process 6:39 Limiting Waste During Manufacturing 9:24 Tracy Relates Farm Sustainability Practices and Manufacturing Practices 11:47 What can we do to limit plastic waste? 13:18 Bootstrap Farmer and the Manufacturing Learning Curve 15:23 Impact of USA Manufacturing on Quality and Transparency 18:13 Creating Community with Products 19:48 Bring Manufacturing Back to the United States and Job Creation 20:35 Overview of Latest BSF USA Made Products 24:17 Future Innovations in Manufacturing

Shop our USA Manufactured Air Prune Trays https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/collections/plug-trays/products/airprune-tray-72cell Shop our USA Manufactured 6 Cell Plug Trays https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/collections/plug-trays/products/seed-trays-inserts-6-cell

Pipe Klee announces the opening of the Urban Dirt Co Design Studio in Sherman, Texas. We examine the opportunities in serving the garden needs of homeowners private schools, and chefs while connecting the dots of gardening misconceptions.

TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Intro 00:50 Why opening a design center as an extension of Urban Dirt Co 03:23 Homeowner gardens and the disconnect to market gardening for a living 07:02 Microgreens, market gardens, culinary gardens: delivery needs density 08:43 Real Estate & urban expansion speculation 10:57 Property investments need to generate income 12:55 Design center class room 16:56 The scale of home gardens 22:42 Buying pro products for home gardeners 24:51 Purchasing property 28:71 How to get people behind your ideas and earn support 34:42 Experiencing different gardens and budgets 40:34 The experience to say NO to shiny objects and false opportunities 41:32 Private school garden opportunities 42:14 Soft opening beta tests 43:37 Implementing hospitality into agritourism

www.bootstrapfarmer.com

www.instagram.com/urbandirtco

Join us as we explore this service-driven business with Piper of Urban Dirt Co. Previously a guest on our Podcast, Piper returns to give updates to her chef’s garden service in year 6. Chef gardens help expose guests to the benefits of seasonal vegetables while giving access to farm-fresh ingredients for culinary talents right on site. Learn more about this business and what it took to build it.

Time Stamps: 00:00 Intro 04:16 Urban Dirt Co. Chef’s Gardens 08:33 G.A.S. Gardening As a Service 10:58 Edible Landscape Seasons 18:12 Bar and cocktail programs 20:45 Chefs as clients 23:48 Seed starting and new farm 25:06 Edible Landscape Crops 28:00 Seed room, test garden, & hoop house 29:33 Gardens in public spaces 30:46 Irrigation 37:49 Small business skill sets 44:38 When to hire 1st employee 47:08 Learning to delegate

INSTAGRAM https://instagram.com/urbandirtco?utm_medium=copy_link

#farming #farmplan #farmmarketing #seedstarting #bootstrapfarmer #designstudio #nursery #chefsgarden #ediblelandscape #gardening #culinarygarden #irrigation

Jill Ragan of Whispering Willow Farm interviews Calvin (Bootstrap Farmer's Injection Moulding Partner) on the manufacturing process of her limited edition pots. 

They discuss the step by step moulding process, USA manufacturing, supply chain, and waste reduction in the moulding process. 

Instagram @whisperingwillowfrm

If you have ever dreamed of starting a flower farm, you need to watch this video! Meet Shannon from Sky Field Farm who turned her hobby of flower gardening into a profitable cut flower farm business. Learn how she gained her floral skills and learned from experimenting along the way. In this video, we will cover cut flower profitability, mistakes to avoid, and an overview of what it takes to start a cut flower farm.

TimeStamps:

0:00 Intro

4:00 Making a Profit with Cut Flowers

5:15 Cut Flowers for Weddings

7:10 Managing Customer Expectations with Local Flower Availability V. Imported Flowers

9:20 Large Floral Installations

11:55 Sourcing Sustainable Floral Containers & Vases

13:18 Selling Bouquets at Farmer's Markets 16:30 Building a Bouquet 101 (Filler, Fluff, Focal)

19:00 Flower Farm Packaging, Branding, Marketing

20:00 Teaching Flower Workshops

24:00 North Texas Gardening Resource Guide and Curriculum

29:00 Considerations for Planning a Flower Garden Space

31:00 2022 Workshop Schedule

34:00 Planning Tips for Seed Starting in Texas

Sky Field Farm Instagram - @skyeflowerfield

Website- https://www.skyeflowerfield.com/

Part 4. Karl Binger of @parisnaturalfarms/ discuses refining systems of his market farm homestead for income opportunities. 

Time Stamps:

00:00 Intro

00:39 Refining systems, leveling up, increasing crop yields

05:09 Measuring crop value

07:39 Heirloom variety woes 

09:17 Hybrid seeds are not GMO

10:25 Picking your startup battles

10:41 Mass market appeal

12:34 How to beta test a new offering

13:45 Learning from other farms

16:47 First restaurant sales

20:50 Fully operational farm & full time farming

25:32 Experienced based farm income

www.instagram.com/bootstrapfarmer

www.instagram.com/parisnaturalfarms/

Part 3. Karl Binger of @parisnaturalfarms/ discuses year two & three of his market farm homestead. 

Time Stamps:

00:23 Year 1, 2, & 3 infrastructure budgets

04:25 Deciding how big to expand structures and hoop houses

09:59 Becoming the Bootstrap Farmer Test Farm and Gothic thoughts

12:59 Next goal: grow 100% under cover

14:36 Day in day out working in a hoop house thoughts

18:59 Adjusting to rural life and tuning into nature

22:25 Improving farm task workflows over time

24:38 Exodus from tech, medical & finance to agriculture 

25:57 Open house and agritourism 

Bootstrap Farmer Gothic Hoop House: https://www.bootstrapfarmer.com/products/gothic-all-metal-greenhouse-kit?_pos=1&_sid=0a66d1c33&_ss=r&variant=41045159674014 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bootstrapfarmerKarl's Paris Natural Farms INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/parisnaturalfarms/

Part 2. Karl Binger of @parisnaturalfarms/ discuses year two of his market farm homestead. 

Topics include:

Developing four season clients

Cold wet springs

Standard farm practices vs. in field engineering

Irrigation

Time management and setting boundaries

Raising a family on a new farm

A walkthrough of a week on and off the farm

Farmers market set up

Farmers market events

Paris, Texas Hatch Green Chile Fest

Promoting the farmers market

Year two confidence

www.bootstrapfarmer.com