Beginning Farmer Series: Episode Six 

A video on the food saftey certification you spoke of would be helpful

Hahaha... Kids on the market list. Don't want to forget them.

There is a lot of considerations when setting up a wash/pack and what's successful will vary a lot from farm to farm. As Jesse mentioned, you can definitely get by with a very simple set up. A dunk tank, spray table and a hose will go a long way. A power washer is a small investment that will really speed up a lot of jobs. There is a lot of specialized equipment for processing vegetables and I personally feel like this is an area where it pays to invest, but this will depend on your operation and your goals. It's worth familiarizing yourself with what's out there and thinking hard about where you're aiming your business. In general a wash/pack is a space for materials handling and it's useful to think in terms of work flow. My wash/pack is definitely not where I wish it was, but what I'd eventually like and what seems to work best for farms that grow a diversity of crops, is cement floors with floor drains and putting your equipment on casters. That way your line can easily be modified and unused equipment can be stowed away. If you have a choice about location try to centralize your wash/pack relative to your main fields, you'll be spending a lot of time coming and going, it's worth running electric/water a little further or extending a driveway if need be. When erecting buildings and coolers keep in mind what your needs will be in the future and then try to go a little bigger still. I consistently underestimate what my future needs will be. It's not an exaggeration to say, I wish every structure I've ever built was bigger, haha. If you're lucky enough to have cement floors (I don't yet), consider making mini pallets the size of some stackable harvest crates and moving produce with a hand truck. It's a great middle ground for farms that dont need a full on pallet system. The farm I work for in the morning has this system, my farm (my afternoon gig) doesn't, it is really noticeable how much more work it is moving produce through wash/pack at my place. Jesse covered this one pretty good, but it's worth repeating. Food safety is paramount. Please don't cut any corners here. Sanitize tools and work surfaces, keep things off the ground, set up hand washing stations. Have a set of over boots and coveralls reserved for critter chores and keep them away from production and post-harvest areas. Think about how you're going to control birds and rodents in your wash/pack space. Small growers have a lot of leeway for the time being with food safety regulations, but it's still a big responsibility and deserves serious thought and attention. Thanks again Jesse, I'm grateful to you. By my tally there is a farm, a podcast, a youtube channel, writing commitments, a restaurant, a no-till website and young children. I'm not sure that's all possible. I assume you and Hannah have superpowers.

Yes - absolutely on the additional video request. REF: FSMA, GAP.

GAP would require 30 to 50 ft from animals for production arias and garden fields . My audit coming tuesday. Lot to it . Sitting up late now reviewing and double checking paper work. Don't know about 50 shades of grey, but sure I've turned another shade of grey. The price getting for the two products in this makes it worth it. doing. Confident it will get much easier with time. It required a lot of rearranging on my farm. Glad I'm doing this early in the life of my operation the time energy and money saved. I would recommend anyone even remotely interested in GAP to study it before laying out your farm plan, it could save a lot of headaches ,and money in the future

Thank you. Just starting and this made things feel a bit accessible. Especially the cool room.

Thank you again for sharing. It's so valuable to see the nuts and bolts of a functioning operation.

I appreciate the real attitude here. It is what it is...

Yes on the fsma compliant wash / pack video!!

Helpful stuff as always. Appreciate ya.

Not gonna lie, Yall got me with the washing machine.

You cant skip that beer 30! And yes definitely do a good safety video. I have contacted my local health department and they couldn't tell me anything about selling to restaurants and Individuals so I am just doing it. But it would definitely be nice to know what I need so I can be prepared for that day when they show up to inspect me

Awesome video. I wish I had the time, energy and effort you do! My whole 3 acre yard would be a garden! Also,,,I know when beer:30 is but, didnt know there was such a time as beer:45...lol. Next time my hubby questions my 2nd beer coming so quickly after the 1st?, Im using beer:45!

Please do a video on the fsma and gap, as well as liability insurance...do you use it?

Great information

Please talk about your CSA, gap, and other certifications

Me: getting a call from my work as Jesse keeps loudly saying "beer thirty" lol

I have been thinking about how to create an affordable off-grid cooling solution for vegetables... It is unaffordable to use solar to run a cool bot AC, and I want to avoid running a generator all the time, so I'm looking into other alternatives. I'm interested in how you mentioned you guys used a freezer to make ice, then put the ice coolers to keep your vegetables cold. How well did that system work in practice? Would you recommend this for off grid situations that only have enough electricity for a solar chest freezer, but not enough off grid electricity for a cool bot AC?

Thx for the vid. Where did you get your certified scale from?

Another great video, thanks. Do you use straight isopropyl alcohol in your spray bottles or is it diluted? How big are your blue tubs? Thanks

getting to market with no tables xD lmao that is a lesson i do not wanna learn the hard way!

Get to know your farmacist lol I like that

Do you use any kind of sanitizer in your blue bins? I do a three bin system, too ... but worry about spreading contamination. One head of lettuce dunked in the wash bin will potentially contaminate everything else that goes in that wash water after. It's on the immediate "to do" list ... to do... something... about this so I can stop worrying about it this year.

I want to ask a question totally unrelated to this video. I need advice on what time of year would be best to transition from my current job to market gardening full time. I have a financial benchmark which I will reach in November 2020 and can use my paid leave to get paid for six weeks after I leave the job. I can work as long as I need and want the shortest down time possible without getting paid. I'll be farming in another state (Alabama) so I won't be able to prepare my grow area ahead of time except for maybe stale seed bedding with a silage tarp. I thought about maybe starting in February using season extension but lack experience with that. I am practicing with some low till beds growing greens now which I assume will be my fastest source of income when I try to get my operation off the ground.. Any advice would be much appreciated. Oh yeah the farm will be in zone 7A or B(right on the line).

how do you sell your greens/produce? i dont remember you talking about it. (im new to your channel though) we grow about 40lbs/week of greens as well (mainly lettuce).

Is that blackboard paint with your lists on it? Sorry if you mentioned and I missed it...