Tue, 31 May 2016
Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com talks about the Three Books Every Farmer Should Own live on stage at PV3. The Three Books: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber - http://amzn.to/20QPuZk Holistic Management by Allan Savory - http://amzn.to/1Vrvg8V The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman - http://amzn.to/20QPd8W To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john
Direct download: 09-AskJohn-ThreeBooks.mp3
Category: general
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Fri, 27 May 2016
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/128 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today I am talking to Dave Sewak about his new book Mycelial Mayhem. Dave has spent his whole life around mushrooms. It all started when he was a young boy and tagged along with his grandfather on his mushroom foraging expeditions. Dave then went on to become a mushroom forage himself and has spent nearly 2 decades cultivating mushrooms as a hobby and as a business. His book helps combine the technical knowledge with the business side of things give you a basic introduction into what the small scale mushroom business is all about. As you will here, it's not a business for everyone, but it is a business that stacks nicely onto na already existing enterprise. And like all businesses it's not always as easy or fun as it sounds on the surface. In today's show we'll will address these points and discuss some of the considerations to take into account if you want to start a mushroom business. We will also talk about integrating mushrooms into a garden setting, or a market garden setting. Could you add integrate mushrooms into that system and actually get productive results? It's an interesting concept that may prove to be a worthwhile experiment for you. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/128 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: PVP128-2016.mp3
Category: general
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Thu, 26 May 2016
Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks what he wish knew before becoming a homesteader. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.
Direct download: ASKJustin-08-WishKnew.mp3
Category: general
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Wed, 25 May 2016
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support To set the stage... Curtis had a next door neighbor. That neighbor used to own Curtis's house, and he rented that house from them and farmed in the back yard. When his neighbor decided to sell the house, Curtis then purchased the house from his neighbor. Subsequently that same neighbor went on to move to another house in the neighborhood, and began renting out the house next door to Curtis. In the process a conversation began about Curtis farming his neighbor’s backyard now that it was a rental. The conversation eventual led to an agreement, one where Curtis would take down the fence between his yard and his neighbors, and extend his farm into his neighbor's back yard. It's a process that was built on the back of respect and social capital, and facilitated by old fashioned conversation. Today we'll take an extended look at the transition of that back yard from lawn to production farm, and all of the challenges and successes that went with it.. It's currently May 11, 2016. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: TUFS2E8-2016.mp3
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Tue, 24 May 2016
Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question, "How do you structure your pasture poultry CSA?" To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john. If you like the show, please support the show by making a contribution at permaculturevoices.com/ilikevoices
Direct download: 08-AskJohn-CSA.mp3
Category: general
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Fri, 20 May 2016
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/127 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today, nearly two years after our first episode (permaculturevoices.com/63), I am picking up the conversation with Akiva. We cover a lot of subjects which we didn't cover in the previous episode including: Selling to wholesalers, selling trees online, shipping trees, and dealing with state regulations. In addition to the practical tips and techniques, you'll also get an update on how Akiva evolved as an entrepreneur... Because a lot has changed in the last few years for Akiva. In 2014 nursery sales were 50% Akiva's income, this year in 2016 Akiva expects all of his income to from his on site nursery. He no longer works away from home as a landscape. He's a full time nursery man, and business owner. It's an awesome story of a small business, that just started on the side... Business continues to grow for Akiva and it's still a business that's literally rooted in loose, nutrient rich soil. Akiva's small nursery business grows over 1000 trees on a half an acre. Thousands of trees plant tightly together in loose, friable soil. Very tight spacings that force trees to grow tall and straight in competition with their neighbors resulting in a lot of nursery stock that can be sold in the first year. How many people out there have some extra space where they could grow a few hundred trees? Trees to use in the development of your own property or to sell. If you sold each tree for $5 or $10, then we are talking about some significant money given the amount of space it takes. It is simple, but it does take time, it is hard work. We aren’t talking about any sort of gimmicks here. It is about putting time, work, and care in to nurse these trees along to the point where you can sell them. One other point to take note of. When we first talked back in 2014, Akiva was growing around 1000 tree's on half an acre. Things have changed and he's now scaled up to 10,000 trees on an acre. That's a lot of trees, on not a lot of land. But Akiva's making a go of it enjoying every step of the way. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/127 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: PVP127-2016.mp3
Category: general
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Thu, 19 May 2016
Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks about what types of chicken breeds are good for eggs and what type of breeds are good for meat on the homestead. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.
Direct download: AskJustin-07-EggsAndMeat.mp3
Category: general
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Wed, 18 May 2016
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Most of the tomatoes that Curtis grows fall into the cherry and saladette category - the smaller tomatoes. These types of tomatoes offer several advantages - they are pretty vigorous, they have a relatively short DTM, and because chef's like them. And when much of your sales are for restaurants, you grow what they want to buy. Over the years Curtis has evolved his system for tomato culture. And he now looks at them as a bit of a bonus crop given the way that he grows them. Many home gardeners dedicate full rows to tomatoes and give the plants wide spacing’s. Curtis does the opposite. He interplants his tomatoes; dedicating most of his bed space to another crop, while squeezing his tomatoes into the out 2 edges of each bed. This strategy works for several reasons. It takes advantage of more of the soil strata. The tomatoes are planted deep, so their roots occupy the deeper layers of soil. While the main greens crops in the beds have shallow root systems. So while the plants are planted in the same space competition is minimized. Another reason why the competition is minimized is that the tomatoes occupy more of the vertical space. If you time the plants strategically during the year plant growth and sun angles allow you to get more plants in the same space with no shading. Overall, inter-planting has been huge for Curtis's farm. It's what's allowed him to hundreds of pounds of greens and hundreds of pounds of tomato, in same relative space. Not a bad bonus yield in a situation where most farmers would simply leave the tomatoes out. Look around your garden at the extra space and think about that next time you plant your tomatoes. It's currently May 4, 2016. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: TUFS2E7-2016.mp3
Category: general
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Tue, 17 May 2016
Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question, "How long do broiler chickens live?" To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john. If you like the show, please support the show by making a contribution at permaculturevoices.com/ilikevoices
Direct download: 07-AskJohn-HowLongLive.mp3
Category: general
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Sun, 15 May 2016
Resilience comes from connection and interdependence. Frank Golbeck of Golden Coast Mead will talk about how helping Mark Oberle and other mead makers get their start has helped his business grow and helped the category of mead develop, lifting all participants. This talk was presented at PV3 in March 2016 by Frank Golbeck of Golden Coast Mead. Listen to more at permaculturevoices.com/podcast Listen to all of the PV3 audio at permaculturevoices.com/pv3audio
Direct download: PV3-FrankGolbeckA5.mp3
Category: general
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Sat, 14 May 2016
To learn more about the PV3 audio visit: permaculturevoices.com/pv3audio. In this presentation Taylor Walker covers perennial vegetable gardening in the subtropics and tropics. Forget growing most of your traditional “grocery store vegetables” many of these will not tolerate the intense rains, humidity, heat, and pest pressure of the tropics and subtropics. Given that this presentation focus on more resilient perennial vegetables. Taylor will talk about growing, propagating, selling, and using highly nutritious and versatile crops selected from subtropical locations around the world including Cassava, Yams, Moringa, Sweet Potato, Jackfruit, Longevity Spinach, Tumeric, and many more. To see the slides for the presentation and watch this presentation visit, permaculturevoices.com/b36 If you enjoyed this presentation from PV3, and you want more content just like it, you can purchase all of the audio from PV3 for only $99 bucks. To learn more about the PV3 audio visit: permaculturevoices.com/pv3audio.
Direct download: PVP-b36-TaylorWalker.mp3
Category: general
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Fri, 13 May 2016
Learn more in the show notes at permaculturevoices.com/126. What do you do as a farmer, when you are trapped in an agricultural system that values quantity not quality? A system where you literally get paid for now much you produce, irrespective of how nutrient dense it is or how sustainable it is. And how do you as a farmer work within that system if you don't agree with it. It's not easy, and there's going to be a lot of give and take. At the end of the day as a farmer you need to make money, and that may mean putting some of your ideology behind you to make that money. As we have heard on this show many times before chasing perfection may chase you right out of the farming business. There needs to be a balance there between your vision of the agricultural future, and what the market will bear. But balancing those out isn't always easy and it can be challenge. In today’s episode we’ll find out how Chris Kerston balanced those sides out. Chris is now and employee of the Savory Institute, but before that he was a full time farmer. For 6 years Chris co-managed a 2,000 acre diversified farm based on holistic grazing and permaculture in the Sacramento Valley. The farm is comprised of old growth olive orchards, heirloom stonefruits and citrus groves, and also raises grassfed cattle, sheep, goats, and pasture-raised chickens for both meat and eggs. Chris knows his stuff on the land and he knows what goes into being a farmer and producing food. But he also knows a lot about the current state of the agriculture movement. Through his role as the Savory Institutes Marketing and Communication Director he travels the world with Allan Savory in addition to visiting tons of farms. This has given him a wide ranging perspective on the agriculture space; something that we'll play off in today's episode. We'll talk about the differences between farming and ranching and why if you are worried about the big oil, you should really be worried about big grain. We'll discuss the validity of organics, and is it economic. And since Chris was a farmer we'll talk some farming.. This isn't just all macro ideas about the food space and the agriculture space. Chris talks a lot farming nuts and bolts - pastured poultry in orchards, selling meat, advantages for selling wholes and halves versus cuts, and a whole lot more. There is a lot in this one, enjoy it. Learn more in the show notes at permaculturevoices.com/126 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: PVP126-2016.mp3
Category: general
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Thu, 12 May 2016
Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks about what you should feed your new baby chicks. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.
Direct download: AskJustin-06-Dual.mp3
Category: general
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Wed, 11 May 2016
Greens are big business for Curtis' farm. Both in terms of volume of product, and dollars generated for that product. His customer base, which is mainly made of restaurants, buys a lot of greens. And they pay good money for them. But like many things on the farm there is a seasonality that goes along with restaurants and the products that Curtis sells to restaurants. Typically spring is a slower time of year for restaurant sales, and thereby farm sales. Things just aren't as busy. But this year is a bit of an anomaly, because Curtis's revenue is way up for the season. That increase in revenue can be attributed to a couple things. First, he has picked up a few new wholesale customers outside of restaurants, and second, he is selling all of his customers more high value product, specifically greens. More demand, means more production, so Curtis' production of greens on the farm is way up this year. But it's not just as simple as planting more beds of greens. There's a lot of nuance involved... When the beds were planted, how far apart the successions are, when do you harvest whole beds versus halves. Logical considerations, but not always the simplest to wrap your head around. That’s what we will be focusing on in today's episode. It's currently April 26, 2016. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: TUF-S2E6-2016.mp3
Category: general
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Tue, 10 May 2016
Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question, "How do you manage your chicken brooder?" To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john. If you like the show, please support the show by making a contribution at permaculturevoices.com/ilikevoices
Direct download: 06-AskJohn-Brooder.mp3
Category: general
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Fri, 6 May 2016
Liberation Permaculture by Toby Hemenway. This episode is the rebroadcast of Toby talk from PV2 in March 2015. Permaculture offers more than a path to a sustainable and just food system. It can move entire segments of our society off the radar screens of state oppressors and help return equality, abundance, and justice to people while restoring healthy ecosystems. This talk will tell you how. Here's a hint on how that's possible. If you can't measure it, you can't tax it. Enjoy it, I hope it gets you thinking. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/125 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: PVP125-TobyHemenwayPV2.mp3
Category: general
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Thu, 5 May 2016
Direct download: AskJustin-05-FeedChicks.mp3
Category: general
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Wed, 4 May 2016
What would the 2000 sq.ft. farm,
let's call it a micro-farm, look like?
How could you best utilize that
space and take many of the techniques that Curtis uses on his
current 1/2 acre urban farm, to make the micro-farm generate some
decent cash flow.
How much could you make on a
micro-farm of just 2000 square feet?
Really it depends on what you are
growing and who you are selling it to. But grossing 20,000 on that
2000 square feet isn't crazy talk. And even half that, $10,000, is
a realistic target to shoot for.
When you think about that, that's
a pretty lucrative given the space involved. I think most people
can get access to 2000 sq.ft. That's essentially fits well
within your average American lawn.
The 2000 square foot micro-farm
has a lot of things going for it. It's manageable, yet
scaleable. It's big enough to matter to start you thinking and
implementing a lot of these systems, yet it's not over whelming. It
makes a great transition plot for someone looking to transition
into farming or just get their feed wet.
Given that today will be a case
study looking at the 2000 sw ft micro farm.
We'll break down what this farm
might look like. How you would want to manage it. What types of
crops you would want to focus on, and put some a basic framework in
place that you can build off of.
As, you see, you can do a lot with
2000 square feet, and it might not be that small after
all.
It's currently April 19,
2016.
Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer
Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support
Direct download: TUF-S2E5-2016.mp3
Category: general
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Tue, 3 May 2016
Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm andFarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question, "How quicklyshould you scale up a pastured poultry operation?"
To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visitpermaculturevoices.com/john.
Direct download: 05-AskJohn-HowQuick.mp3
Category: general
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