We lost power in a thunderstorm last Wednesday and didn’t get it back until thisMonday. Much of my original motivation for getting into homesteading was disasterpreparedness. So it was particularly frustrating that we weren’t ready for this event.In my defense (it’s human nature, unfortunately, to always defend ourselves!), I haddone some things to be ready for such an event. Just a few days...
Now that financial goals are set, crops selected, and seeds ordered, the next step is simple: follow through with the crop plan. After that, simply keep good records and analyze your crop profitability. Crop Planning Step 8: Carry Out the Crop Plan Do the work! Crop Planning Step 9: Keep Records As Allan Savory says in Holistic Management, the word “plan” is a 24-letter word:...
After the initial planning for financial targets comes the field planning—crop choice, planting schedules, crop maps, and, finally, filling out seed orders for each crop. Crop Planning Step 3: Make Field Planting Schedules Two things to consider in this step are when and how much to plant. When to plant. This is calculated by subtracting the days to maturity from your target...
In the previous post, we examined the first of Dan Brisebois’s 11 steps for crop planning: setting goals. Today we’ll look at the second: developing a marketing plan. Crop Planning Step 2: Develop a Marketing Plan Your marketing plan will be based on your salary, budget, projected expenses, and financial goals. Since you’ll be aiming to meet your financial goals, it only makes sense to plan how...
In the first post in this series with grower Dan Brisebois, we gave an overview of Ferme Tourne-Sol. Today we’ll examine the first of Dan’s 11 steps for effective crop planning. Before You Start Dan can’t stress this enough: before you even consider beginning your own farming operation and growing for a living, get some training. Find a good farm with a system that works and learn the...
In this blog series, we’ll be learning from farmer and Ferme Tourne-Sol co-owner Dan Brisebois about crop planning for organic vegetables. Hopefully, we’ll shed some light on how to increase productivity (and profit) with the use of a strategic plan, coupled with flexibility, to maximize our farms’ potential. First of All, What Makes a Good Farmer? Is it being able to grow multiple...
My 10-year-old daughter came and found me in the house this morning, complaining that my 12-year-old daughter wasn’t letting her help feed and water the chickens. Not a bad problem to have, huh? I was over thirty years old before I met anyone who owned chickens. I think this is so interesting—how for hundreds of years, every generation of Meyers (Meijers, when they were in Holland) probably kept...
Yesterday I built our first fence. I spent about 90 minutes pounding in 7/8-inch fiberglass posts and stringing it with polywire to create two paddocks along either side of our driveway. In total it’s about 2.5 acres. Over the past year, during my internship at a farm in Alabama, I strung a lot of polywire. If there’s anything I’m good at right now, it’s putting up portable electric fencing. So...
In the last post, we covered features of JM’s design for his market garden, including his permanent bed system and some of the equipment he uses. In this final post, we’ll look at work-life balance, seeding, and weeding. Working Hours The farm’s 10-acre land constraint has been a blessing to JM and Maude-Hélène since it has forced them to prioritize, to determine which things they were and...
In the first post in this series, we explored the factors that influenced JM Fortier as he began to design his market garden. Today we’ll look at several integral parts of successful farm design, including permanent beds and equipment. Purchasing Land for a small farm If you look around, there are lots of buildings that can be reclaimed and repurposed. One of those buildings in JM’s case was a...
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