Farm Small Farm Smart

What's the organic inspection process really like? It's probably a big hassle, right? Let's find out straight from the source, in this episode with independent organic inspector Laura Murray Last episode with Scott Murray covered the topic of why organic and what goes into getting certified. Today's episode builds on that episode and we go a rung higher on the ladder taking on questions such as: Once the inspector shows up on your property the first time, how does that process unfold? What should you have in order when you have the inspector show up? Explain the annual inspection process? Would a property ever be inspected more than once a year? To answer these I am going straight to the source to talk to someone who deals with this every day. I'll be talking with independent organic inspector Laura Murray. Laura does organic inspections of all over the country for organic certifiers. Her inspections span all types of farms and all types of organic product production facilities. She's seem a lot over the years, and today she shares what the inspection process is really like both for the initial inspection and annual inspections. If you were thinking about getting certified by the inspection process made you a little uneasy, maybe that will change after you hear what it's really like. This show is brought to you by CoolBot. Get a discount coupon for CoolBot at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Looking for more? There are over 100 episodes in the archive at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Organic certification. We all know what that is, seeing that green stamp on products in the grocery store and on signs at the farmers market. But, is it worth it? Is it only for large farms? I use organic methods, do I need the stamp? What goes into getting certified? Should I get certified organic? These are all common questions that I hear being asked with the small scale farming community. They are also questions that my guest today Scott Murray gets a lot, and helps a lot with. Scott's a 40 year organic farming veteran who's been around the organic farming movement since the beginning, before it was a big thing. Today he will share his knowledge of what he's learned about the organic movement and how he views organic certification in terms of who it's right for, when it makes sense to get, and what goes into getting it. If you were thinking about getting certified, but had some reservations, this episode will address those common reservations and leave you with a clear idea of what's involved in the process. And it just might not be as expensive or cumbersome as you think it is after all. This show is brought to you by CoolBot. Get a discount coupon for CoolBot at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Looking for more? There are over 100 episodes in the archive at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

When you are only growing a 10 day crop, how much of an affect does light quality and temperature have on the crop? A lot. Chris is in Vancouver where he sees day lengths change from 8 hours at the winter solstice to 16 hours at the summer solstice; a large change which affects how much light crops get to grow. Less light in winter means slower or no crop growth. If you are a farmer, you get this. It makes sense, at least for field crops. But what about microgreens? Crops which spend only half of their life in the light, a life that might only be 5 to 8 days. Does seasonality really affect those crops over those 5 days? Yes, and more than you think. In this episode Chris will talk all about the change of the seasons and how it affects microgreen crop growth - specifically the effects of changing temperatures and light conditions. Two factors which can dramatically affect crop growth, yield and quality. How to Grow Better Microgreens All Year - Adapting for Changing Seasons, Temperature, and Light Conditions with microgreen grower Chris Thoreau. DOWNLOAD the show notes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart and CLICK on Episode 101 Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

To celebrate episode 100 I take a look back at the 100 combined episodes of The Urban Farmer and what is now Farm Small, Farm Smart focusing on the highlights, some backstory, and where the show is headed in the future.

See some of the highlights from the first 100 episodes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart

Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Thanks for listening!

There's one event that happens in many people's lives which instantly changes their life forever. Overnight, instantly, everything is different. Your life, your approach to life, how you view life, and how you go about living life all change. It's an event that some people aren't ready for and one that others are ready for, but one where no one is ever REALLY ready. It's the birth of a child. A beautiful event that instantly makes live more worth living and richer, but one which also makes life harder and more challenging, especially for entrepreneurs. If you thought running a business or starting a farm was hard without kids, try doing it with kids, because it's exponentially harder. Curtis is a brand new parent experiencing some of those challenges first hand. Today, we'll explore what those challenges are like in terms of life and farming, and how Curtis is dealing with them as a brand new inexperienced father, while being a seasoned experienced farmer. It's never easy, and as you'll hear it's always a balancing act. But it is one Curtis, me, and most other fathers wouldn't trade for anything else in the world. Get the audiobook at www.permaculturevoices.com/audiobook Download the show notes at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart and click on Episode 99.

While the prospects of starting a small market farm that grosses over $100,000 is lucrative and attractive, it's not for everyone or possible in every location. And that's the topic of today's episode with Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm.... A lot of what you hear about in the small scale farmer movement are the uber-successful small farmers that are grossing 1, 2 or $300k per acre. They are inspiring stories, but those stories all share one thing in common, their markets. Typically small farmers grossing big dollars are able to do that by selling their produce into larger, higher end urban market streams - market streams which will pay top dollar for microgreens, salad mix, and baby root veg. What if you don't live near one of those large urban markets? What if you don't have high end farmers markets and restaurants to sell product too? What do the prospects of your rural farming career hold? Today, I am talking to a farmer who faced that exact problem, making farming work in very rural Amish Kentucky without high end restaurants and with a sleepy farmer's markets. In this episode Blake Cothron of Peaceful Heritage Farm located in very rural Crab Orchard Kentucky will share his story. It's an inspiring story about a husband and wife making a small farm work, by approaching farming in a very smart way. A necessity, when your local customer based is used to buying vegetables at prices like 3 for $1 or $1 per dozen sweet corn. If you're interested in farming, but you are nowhere near a large city, then this episode is for you. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I'm talking to a grower who's admittedly "I'm a little bit obsessive about growing high quality produce." It's an obsession that's fueled his farms growth, and an obsession which is a bit necessary to fuel the farm's growth to bring his fiancé onto the farm full-time. And while Elliot Seldner of Fair Share Farms' obsession may be on growing high quality produce, it's not only on growing high quality produce, because Elliot realized the importance of work life balance and the need to have a time and place to enjoy the other things created on the farm. Today Elliot is going to talk specifically how they do that, in part by focusing intentionally on making the farm more efficient through appropriate technology, no till, and optimizing equipment. Elliot's also going to talk about how he and his fiancé are approaching farm transition. Because she's current employed a schoolteacher, a necessary step in their farms evolution, but one that's only a step, where the long term goal is to get her onto the farm full time. Looking into the future, it's the farming methods that Emma and Elliot use which will make this all possible, a farm that provides multiple incomes on just over half and acre... Let's get into it, with one of the masters of farm efficiency, Elliot Seldner. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

If customers keep asking if you have certain crop, and you don't, should you grow it? It depends. And that's the focus of today's show: When, How, and Why to Start Producing A New Microgreen Crop Today microgreen grower Chris Thoreau and I are talking about new crops - specifically how do you start growing them? On the surface that may seem like a simple and straightforward question, but there's a lot of specifics involved in answering that questions, and the specifics are where profits are made or money is lost. You have to consider things like can you actually grow the crop - meaning can you get a good yield from in within your system that's already setup to grow other crops; or does the crop's harvest schedule fall in line with your other crops and your current harvest schedule. If you plan on scaling the crop, can you actually buy enough seed? And can that seed be bought at a price that makes the crop profitable. All legitimate considerations which need to be considered, anytime you take on the decisions to grow a new corp. If you are thinking about starting a farm or adding some new crops to the mix, then this episode is for you. Chris will put the theory to reality and talk about his experiences and failures introducing new crops, like basil. What his methodically and thought process was and why. As you'll hear, not everything always works, regardless of how much experience you have, and sometimes some crops are just better off not grown. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Today I'm going to be talking to another small scale farmer who's greatly benefited by growing smaller, not larger. A few years ago, farmer, Alex Bertsch started farming on half an acre. Not a ton of land, but enough to make it hard for one person to manage. Add in the fact that the half an acre was being farmed part-time, and that half an acre seems a little more daunting. Then place that half an acre 40 minutes from where Alex lived, and you now have a hard farm to manage for anyone. It was a situation that was further complicated by growing a large variety of crops. Despite these first year challenges, Alex persevered and came out the first year ahead. Then he did something wise, he accessed the situation and he scaled back. He cut his farm down from half an acre to just 500 square feet and some indoor growing space, and he moved the farm from the remote location to his back yard. Also, as part of his strategy, he dramatically reduced his crops selection down to just salad greens and micro greens. It was a big change of going smaller and simpler that changed everything for Alex. It made his life and his farm more manageable, and it's one that he continues to grow today. Growing Better by Growing Smaller - Going From Half an Acre to 500 Square Feet with Alex Bertsch of Epic by Nature Farm. Stay tuned every Monday, for a new episode at www.permaculturevoices.com/grassfed Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support

Welcome to the world of Farming Small and Farming Smart, it's The Urban Farmer. When you are starting any new business it can be very overwhelming. You have a lot to do all at once - building infrastructure, creating your brand, marketing, cultivating a customer base, customer service, and of course producing a product. All essentially full-time jobs, but full-time jobs that need to be done all at once, by one person, you. It can be very overwhelming. Where do you start? After all you can't just focus on producing good product without cultivating a customer base or you have no one to sell that product to. And you can't start producing product without having some way to clean and store that product. Given that you really need to start everywhere, doing it all in parallel. For a lot of new farmers this is where analysis paralysis sets in, and it's the topic of today's episode. Here it is Conquering Analysis Paralysis By Starting a Whole Farm at Once in this episode of The Urban Farmer. Learn more at www.permaculturevoices.com/farmsmallfarmsmart Support the show at www.permaculturevoices.com/support