Farm Small Farm Smart

Where do you draw the line between this isn't working, but I can figure it out, and this will never work?

Let's just accept the fact that farm start-up is going to involve it's fair share of struggles. How long should those struggles continue? Because there is no sense wasting your time, your life's energy, sacrificing the relationships in your life, as you pile on monumental amounts of stress if you don't have the skill, the will, or the resources to make it work.

At some point should you draw the line and just say, maybe this isn't right for me, it's not working? When you find yourself scraping by ask yourself why, and what you can do about it, and just maybe you will realize that your model doesn't work, or you're not very good at it.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

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It's currently November 2015 and the main farm season for Curtis is pretty much over. And along with, so is this season of the show. For the remainder of the episodes we'll be wrapping up everything that happened on the farm this year with Curtis and tying up a few loose ends. With things very slow on the land, Curtis is taking a few weeks off from the farm. Given that today's episode is Q and A episode. These questions were actually answered last winter on via Curtis on his YouTube channel.

If you want to watch him answer these questions you can do so in the show notes at permaculturevoices.com/tuf34.

In this show Curtis will be answering questions on time management, farm startup, finding land and securing land, converting land to urban farm land, approaching restaurants, and record keeping. The nice thing about these questions is that they cover a wide variety of topics which will help to help tie together the season as we look to wrap it up. There's a lot here, enjoy it.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

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What's your time worth as a farmer? How much should should you be charging yourself to do tasks on the farm?

That's an important metric to think about when you are a small operation. Because for a lot of farmers in this space, the labor force is a force of one, you. And you only have so many hours in a day to get everything done. Your time is very valuable. Knowing that, are you spending your valuable time on tasks that actually return a greater value than the time that you put in?

Today we talk about the way that Curtis used to do certain tasks and contrast that with how he does tasks now. And why he changed how he did things.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

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In this episode we talk about post crop harvest processing, including how Curtis has changed some of his techniques over the years.

We also talk about some of his farm equipment and infrastructure like his flame weeder and walk in cooler.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Set yourself up for success by having realistic plans and expectations for the first year. Match your lifestyle and your budgeting to those realistic expectations.

If you are going to start out farming with a gun to the head survival mentality then it makes things very hard. Long term learning gets displaced for the need to put money into the till today.

Work to learn, not to earn.

The goal is to farm for a career. Not make a bunch of money this year and then do something else next year. And the only way to do that is day after day for the long run, learning as much as you can in the process.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Big isn't always better. More just for the sake of having more is pointless.

Just because you have access to more land doesn't mean you need to take it.

If you are getting bigger then you better have a reason why you are getting bigger...

If you are thinking about expanding stop and ask why? Does it fit within the overall plan that you have for your business, your farm, and your life?

If not, then don't do it.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Think about how much work you do on the farm now. How much of that work is actually being done efficiently and effectively?

Are you making the best use of your time by focusing on the 20% of the tasks that generate the most return?

Getting rid of crops can actually be a good thing. It allow you to work more efficiently and effectively by focusing on the task at hand instead of always trying to keep you head above water. It's very hard for any one person to do many things well, but each of us can do a few things really well. Crops are no different. And odds are you can grow a few crops a lot better than you can grow a lot of crops.

Take a look at your farm and the crops that you grow. Which crops generate 20% of your revenue? And how would your farm and life look if you just focused on those?

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

How can you a lot mistakes and wasting valuable resources by overproducing a crop, and the inverse of that, not producing enough?

Good record keeping.

Records on the farm are extremely valuable. When you start to get a few years of records and can notice trends, those records become very valuable because the records are what dictates your future action.

Action that can save you work down the line and put the right amount of product in your walk in so you can sell it.

This type of planning directly translates to maximizing your farm income.

And it's not actually that hard to do. Don't over-complicate it. Start by keeping simple records and get into the habit of doing it, then expand and adapt your records as time goes on.

If you want to be successful as a farmer, then this is something that you need to do. It's one of the principals that has made Curtis as successful as he is.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Can you accept in the beginning that what you are doing may not work?

Because, guess what, it might not.

But as long as you keep trying something will..

You just have to be willing to continue on until then. And if you are willing to accept that, then save yourself the time, money, and stress and quit now.

This path isn't for everyone and that's fine.

Regardless of what decision you make, just be content with you own decision.

Do yourself a favor and think about this long and hard, because it is a life changer. 20 years from now, do you want to look back and say you went for it, or regret not going for it.

Hopefully this show will lead you down the path of no regrets, and make your journey a little bit easier.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ

Understand where you want to go, understand why you want to get into it, figure out a smart systematic way to get there, and work hard in the process.

And give yourself the forgiveness to make mistakes, but have the wherewithal to analyze those mistakes so you can adapt going forward.

That's what this episode is all about.

Taking the time to think long term and setting yourself up for long term success in the beginning.

Part of setting yourself up for success is knowing some of the common pitfalls, so you can avoid them.

In this episode we delve into more common reasons why many farmers struggle.

Listen to past episodes at: https://www.paperpot.co/podcast

Increase farm efficiency with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/

Follow PaperpotCo on Instagram:http://bit.ly/2B45VKQ