Farm Small Farm Smart Daily

Something so evident yet so ignored by industrial agriculture, why agriculture in the future must use plants that are naturally adapted to their environments.

In our present day world man has become so detached from nature that he imagines that he can grow wheat in parched deserts and oranges in the arctic, and while this is only a partially true statement, the fascination with gene tinkering in the laboratory with apparent obliviousness to natural forces has scientists trying to create “organisms” with super powers. The disciples of such approaches to agriculture preach of corn and rice that will withstand brutal temperatures and drought and supposedly bring humanity to food security when the thermometers pop because of climate change. Curiously, these people so intent on creating “super” plants in the laboratory, don’t seem to observe that such plants already exist in nature!

E.A.S. is such a simple concept that it is almost elementary school logic, yet for all the brilliant scholars around the world, practically no worldwide cohesive effort has been directed to amassing and trialing all the food plants suited to desertic conditions. Joseph Simcox will explain his bio-adaptive approach to creating effective agriculture in the world’s dry lands, and he will lay out a plan to produce food in them in an ecologically relevant and suitable way. His basis lies in the world’s food plant flora, hundreds if not thousands of plant species around the world have been utilized for food in the deserts by indigenous peoples for millennia, now is the time he argues, to take a closer look and put these plants in the spotlight for cultivation and selection.

This talk was presented live at PV1 in March 2014.

Learn more about Joseph Simcox at permaculturevoices.com/b023.

Direct download: b023-07312015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

As a farmer and as an employer it is important to have systems in place. To know why and how you do something. This helps you understand what you do and it allows you to communicate what you do to an employee.

When you have clear, defined systems in place it takes most of the guesswork out of the equation. This allows you to produce a consistent product quickly and efficiently. And it also allows you to troubleshoot problems when they come up. Because if everyone does things the same way, and something goes wrong then you can quickly tell whether it was operator error or system error, and fix the problem.

When you have an employee that understands why you do what you do and how you do what you do, then it comes down to when you do it. Time can be tight on a farm and things can get hectic, so it pays to take a little extra time each day to schedule out the upcoming day.

This episode is all about setting up and establishing systems to make the work that is done on your farm more effective.

It is week 18 of the urban farm season - July 14, 2015.

Learn more about The Urban Farmer at permaculturevoices.com/tuf18

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

Direct download: TUF018-07282015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture,farming -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

Mycelium co-founder Matthew Abrams talks about his journey of leaving the status quo to finding meaning in his own life and the starting an alternative education business.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Matthew Abrams. Matthew is co-founder of mycelium.is

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Direct download: A5-MatthewAbrams-ALearningJourney.mp3
Category:permaculture -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

There are all sorts of things that Curtis does to make his efforts more efficient and more effective. Some are complex and involve a lot of time studying spreadsheets, and others are simple like minimizing you transit time.

Growing the business while working less hours. That's something that we all want. It isn't always easy or straightforward, but it is possible. it's something that comes with experience if you take the time to analyze all of your processes and see where you can make them more efficient.

Interplanting is a good example of this. Interplanting has allowed Curtis to grow more crops in the same amount of space. This maximizes the use of his land by growing more in the same space.

Curtis has also figured out how to optimize tasks on the farm that pay. Think sales related tasks like ways to harvest product quicker and more efficiently, and ways to package product in a way that satisfies customers and saves prep time.

But, there are a lot of tasks on the farm that simply don't pay. Things like weeding. And as a farmer you don't get paid to weed. Yet it has to be done.

Using Landscape fabric to prevent weeds and using tarps for stale seed bedding are two passive systems that Curtis uses to prevent weeds from germinating. There are also more active preventative measures than be done to help mitigate weed pressure. Things like pre-emergent flame weeding and no-till bed preparation. While these activities require work, they work in your advantage by using some time now, in order to save a lot of time later.

Those are the types of things that we're talking about today Streamlining Tasks and Being More Efficient. Tips for Maximizing Effort and Time on the Farm.

It is week 17 of the urban farm season - July 7, 2015.

Learn more about The Urban Farmer at permaculturevoices.com/tuf17

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

Direct download: TUF017-07222015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture,farming -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

Nowadays, people associate American native culture with three crops; Corn, Beans and Squash (the three sisters). According to Joe this is only the tip of the iceberg, Indigenous Americans (North of Mexico)used at least 3000 species of plants for food!

Joe will unveil an amazing palette of wild edibles used by the Native Peoples that hold promise for our farms, gardens and kitchens, and show how these “forgotten” foods are legitimate heirs to a new food ecosystem.

Because one of the objectives is to put practical information in the hands of practitioners, Joe will invite participants to apply to be a part of his native food revival efforts which will access and distribute rare native edible propagation stock.

This talk was presented live at PV2 in March 2015.

Learn more about Joe Simcox at permaculturevoices.com/b22

Direct download: b022-07172015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

Farming in the city is something that Curtis has done ever since he started farming 5 years ago. But he hasn't always farmed, just inside the city. At one point in time he actually farmed a two acre plot outside of the city with another farmer. He did this in addition to farming his urban lots. So he had a multi location farm with small plots inside the city and one large plot outside of the city. As a result he saw first hand the differences between farming more land and less land - because there are a lot of differences.

In this episode we will dig into those differences and hear what it was like farming two acres and how it was different than farming a third of an acre.

We will touch on the various different models for selling products off of a farm - think CSAs versus selling directing to restaurants. We'll talk about the differences between each of the models.

As you will find out each market, each farmer, and each farmer will have to experiment to find the best fit for them. What works for one farmer and in one market, might not work for the next.

It is week 16 of the urban farm season - June 30, 2015.

Learn more about The Urban Farmer at permaculturevoices.com/tuf16

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

Direct download: TUF016-07142015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture,farming -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

Permaculture designer Neal Spackman talks about leaving his desk job, family, and culture to go to another country and country and to a very dry Saudi Arabia and take on greening land on the Al Baydha Project.

This talk was presented at PV2 in March 2015 by Neal Spackman. Neal blogs at twovisionspermaculture.com

Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast

Direct download: A5-NealSpackman.mp3
Category:permaculture -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

This week we will get into how Curtis went about getting his very first piece of urban farm land over 5 years ago. We will talk about what worked and what didn't work when he was just starting out and trying to gain access to land.

The unique part here is that this was all happening in the beginning. Before Curtis had built any social capital from being an active urban farmer. There were no demonstration sites or track record to refer to, it was only one person saying this is what I am gonna do, are you interested in helping.

As you will hear Curtis eventually found his first piece of land to farm. That got the ball rolling and from there he never looked back.

It is week 15 of the urban farm season - June 23, 2015.

Learn more about The Urban Farmer at permaculturevoices.com/tuf15

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

Direct download: TUF015-07082015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture,farming -- posted at: 6:46am PDT

Ben Falk discusses some of the lessons and leanings from his 10 years of living on a homestead in Vermont.

He touches on topics like water management, growing trees, and growing rice.

The webinar was recorded on August 10, 2013.

You can watch a view of this presentation in the show notes at permaculturevoices.com/b21

Direct download: b021-07032015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

To be successful as an urban farmer you need to be able to quickly adapt and solve problems on the fly.

In this episode we talk about how Curtis has had to adapt in the past and how his system allows him to change his production quickly.

I also talk to Curtis about five mistakes that I see a lot of farmers make when they get into the farm business. Together we discuss these common mistakes and how you can avoid them. We will give you straightforward, honest, actinable advice that you can put into use today and hopefully keep you out of trouble and increase your chances of farming success.

It is week 14 of the urban farm season - June 16, 2015.

Learn more about The Urban Farmer at permaculturevoices.com/tuf14

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

Direct download: TUF014-07012015.mp3
Category:permaculture,agriculture,farming -- posted at: 6:00am PDT

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