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...
Market gardening is a vital part of the local food movement. If enough people become serious about it, market gardening could replace large-scale vegetable production. This has the potential to improve overall soil health as well as human health. Many young people are interested in agriculture but have trouble entering the industry. For budding market gardeners, it can be nothing short of...
In the final part of our series on the benefits and how-to’s of leasing land for market gardening, we turn to the specifics of converting leased land into an urban farm. The Initial Conversion Turning a newly rented piece of land into a farm is a process. Before signing the lease, Curtis takes a shovel and digs into the ground to check the soil and to look for invasive weeds. This is an...
In the first two parts of this series, we’ve covered the benefits of leasing land to start a market garden and how much you should expect to pay for that land. Today we’ll cover how to increase the value of your rented land. There’s No Shortage of Land According to urban farmer Curtis Stone, “Land is basically free. Not to buy, but to use.” There’s a ton of uncultivated land just sitting...
In Part 1 of this series on finding access to farmland, we made the case that land access does not need to be a major hurdle for aspiring farmers. Plenty of land is available to lease — it’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it. In this post, we will begin to delve into the costs, values, and profits of renting land for farming. Compensating Landowners How should you, the...
Almost everyone thinks owning land is a prerequisite to farming. But it turns out that leasing farmland is not only a viable alternative — it may even be preferable to owning. In this four-part series, we’ll discuss the benefits and how-to’s of leasing land for market gardeners. A Hurdle that Doesn’t Have to Be a Hurdle Let’s face it: land in the U.S. and Canada is too expensive for the...
You’ve heard about the profitability of urban farming, and maybe you’re raring to go at this point. But let’s slow down a bit and talk about something that not many people discuss in the farming space: burnout. Burnout Seasons Urban farmer Curtis Stone says he experiences burnout every season: spring, summer, and the grand finale: the fall burnout. The spring burnout comes from...
Recent Comments