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Episode Summary
I
n this episode of Carrot Cashflow, host Diego starts off with Seeding Thoughts, opening a conversation about different ways to think about challenging times. Sometimes, bad things happen to us—sometimes it’s just bad luck, sometimes it’s just wrong place, wrong time. No special reason behind why they happen, they just do. And while we can’t control what happens to us, we can control how we react to them. Do we let those bad things shatter us, or do we make that experience into something that makes us more resilient?
Afterwards, Ian Caselli jumps into the show to talk about his farming journey. He shares why he wanted to farm, the challenges he faced when he started, and how farming fits into the context of his life now: working part-time hours for part-time income.
Lastly, Diego closes off the episode with Listener Q&A, looking at whether or not $500 a week at a farmer’s market is worth it, and finally, Drunk Ideas.
Today’s Guest: Ian Caselli
Ian Caselli had always loved the idea of farming. Working as a school aide at the school district, he began farming on the side six seasons ago, with the farm profits mostly being bonus income. Now, he has made farming fit into the context of his life where he works part-time hours for part-time pay with enough time to spend quality time his family.
Relevant Links
Caselli’s Market Garden – Facebook
In this episode of Carrot Cashflow
- Seeding Thoughts: Different ways to think about challenging times (00:33)
- When life deals you hard things, do hard things in response (09:32)
- Diego introduces the episode’s guest, Ian Caselli (10:22)
- Sell Everything You Grow: How to Choose a Business Model to Maximize Sales for a Farm or Homestead (2023) by Diego Footer (11:03)
- What Ian Caselli would be doing if he weren’t farming (12:34)
- What kept farming stay on top of the list (13:22)
- Farming in theory vs. farming in reality (14:34)
- The biggest challenges with farming (15:56)
- Taking farming from an envisioned dream to reality (17:08)
- How the farm evolved over the past six years (19:20)
- 2,000 square feet of land: what’s realistically possible to achieve? (23:16)
- Work that got pushed to the side after setting boundaries of set work hours (28:09)
- Conscious and subconsciously improving efficiency on the farm (31:22)
- Dropped crops that don’t fit into the context (34:16)
- Top performing crops that cashflow the business on 2,000 square feet (37:39)
- The changes that need to happen to make a full-time living off the farm (41:33)
- What enables the family to live off a part-time income (43:54)
- Profits from the farm: from bonus income to required income (47:02)
- Farming as a side gig for families that have two working adults (48:07)
- What Ian initially thought possible with 2,000 square feet of market garden space (50:12)
- The least amount of work hours in the summer while maintaining income (56:07)
- Ian Caselli’s parting words for someone who feels pressured to grow (01:00:59)
- What restrains Ian Caselli from growing more produce (01:03:10)
- LISTENER Q&A: Is making $500 per week at a farmer’s market worth it? (01:08:57)
- How does $500 a week fit into your goals and greater context? (01:09:33)
- Can you increase sales in your current market? (01:12:05)
- Is it worth the experience to stay in that market? (01:13:55)
- DRUNK IDEAS: Foot Tent (01:16:35)
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