We're sliding in a bonus episode this week to answer some questions that came up in our Small Farm University membership and various Facebook groups.

This week's episode is a fantastic conversation with Curtis Millsap of Millsap Farms, a 20-acre farm in Springfield, MO. We cover a lot of ground in this extensive conversation, including how Curtis started his farming career, how they grew their famous on-farm pizza nights, how using Harvie as CSA management software has been a game-changer, a discussion about winter growing and growing in an earth-bermed greenhouse, and so much more. It's a long one so you may need to listen to it in installments!

We're talking low-tech mushroom growing this week with Eric Jong of GroCycle out of the UK. Eric found his way to mushrooms after leaving a corporate career and becoming interested in permaculture and the local food movement. We talk about low-tech growing techniques, marketing mushrooms, having a team to support their business growth, and much more.

Brooke Sheffield started his first hemp brand, Smoky Mountain Medicinals, in 2018 and he now co-owns and operates Phytofox, a vertically-integrated hemp company that farms, extracts, and formulates USDA certified organic hemp products.

In this episode, we talk about how he got started in the hemp business, his love of plants and growing things, the mistakes he’s made, the challenges he’s faced as the hemp industry has exploded, a run-down of yield and prices, and marketing in this unique industry.

In this episode:

>> Why Josh encourages beginning farmers to have low expectations their first year

>> Discussion about the lettuce mix varieties

>> The importance of being open to pivoting your production and business as you learn more about what you and your farm are capable of

>> Why it's important (and you’ll make much more money) by growing better, not growing more

>> How Josh gets incredible production on his very small farm and doesn’t deal with many weeds.

This week I interview self-proclaimed mushroom nerd, William Padilla-Brown. In this fascinating interview, we talk about how he continually pushes the boundaries of mycology, cultivates and value-adds cordyceps, the opportunity for artisan mushroom growing, and what he's up to with spirulina.

In 2015, William founded MycoSymbiotics LLC - a mycological research and mushroom production business. He has raised over 30 types of mushrooms and 6 types of algae.

In This Episode:

>> How a workshop in 1993 on holistic management changed the trajectory of Richard’s farm and made it much more profitable

>> The three areas that have to be transitioned to the next farmer and which one is the hardest

>> What the early days of organic agriculture were like in Vermont

>> Why smaller farms can frequently make higher profit margins

In This Episode:

>> A deep dive into all things garlic and the mulching methods that decrease fusarium.

>> How a SARE fellowship works and the places that Crystal visited on her trip.

>> How growers are dealing with allium leaf miner in NY

>> Some varieties of carrots that show promise for storage

In This Episode:

>> The big change that Ray made in 2015 to simplify his life and give him back time on his farm

>> How they attract and keep high-quality help on their farm and who Ray likes to hire

>> The niche marketing channels that Ray is seeing explode for them and how they make that work for their farm.

>> The importance of a mentor and how to make sure you value their input

Here's a bonus episode that I put together after meeting up with Becky at the Frozen Ground 3 winter growing conference in July. I wanted to share her research about overwintering onions since it's an opportunity that some of you may want to try out or perfect on your farm.

Takeaways

>> Her favorite varieties for overwintered onions include bridger, gatekeeper, forum, walla walla and desert sunrise.

>> An overview of overwintered onion trials