I hear the rain in the roof and I cringe at all that water going to waste. It's an Australian thing. Great interview guys. Given me a lot to think about.
Both you gentlemen are incredible. Thank you, thank you, thank you! The dedication, the ambition, the sheer BALLS OF TITANIUM WILL POWER! I salute you. I'm starting an organic farm in Kenya beginning December 1 2016. 1 to 1.5 acres of land to work with. I will keep you updated...... THANK YOU GENTLEMEN!!!!!!
I am very happy to see you two young guys sharing so much GOOD information to the masses. I hope the youth get inspired and try to expand our society into more positives in whatever they want to do!!! You inspire me to do something and I am 66. Best regards :})
You two are true Canadian Permacapitalists! I think its an appropriate term... Before you leave from working and chilling with JM, I'd really like you guys to talk about the idealogy on video. You're part of a fresh wave of a revolution, the same as Tesla roof tiles. I know you guys spend a lot of time on paying the bills, but I'd like to know more on your daily motivations. Thanks again gents, c'est un plaisir, merci!
Safe travels! As you meet farmers it would be nice to hear their thoughts though, as well as yours. The berry hedge and cover crop vids are my favorite, because they show underlying motivation to do this in a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable fashion, as a good steward and good neighbor.
Curtis! "good food revolution"! you guys are inspiring and I am infinitely grateful to your collective pioneering efforts to developing sustainable and profitable small farming practices. I'm working on a project with three others scaling up from 1-3 acres, and I follow both of your guys very closely. Can you please please please ask/discuss the application of broadforking on JM's 4 acres, please! My colleague has 2 critiques. She thinks broadforking between all plantings/even all beds 1-2 times per year is impractical on farms bigger than 1 acre, and (2) she read that broadforking over accelerates organic matter decomposition and that we should explore rotating long radishes and carrots to till or similar non broadforking maneuvers instead.
Way cool! Just read JM's book a few months ago. Inspiring, lended to me by a Canadian friend. Let's hope these ideas spread to the Western US, especially Utah.
I hear ya. Unfortunately, JM and I are both humans that have flaws and sometimes are language reflects that. We can only be ourselves. I do the best I can. Any kid who works on a farm, is going to be exposed to someone saying the odd curse word here and there. That's just the real world. I'm not condoning the use of bad language, but that is the reality. Farmers aren't particularly known for their perfect language skills. ;)
Great stuff! JM was totally heading to ideology and motivations right at the end of this vid, would love to hear more next time you guys connect... Love what you do Mr. Stone!
It is awesome. Thanks for sharing the JM-CS love fest. But seriously, you guys are rocking it. It makes me wonder what I could do 256 sq ft backyard garden on my 1/3 acre suburban cul-de-sac. I have read both the Urban Farmer & Market Gardener, both very good reads. I am contemplating 30" raised beds in stead my 16 SFG beds. Too bad my family's section of land is miles and miles from any population center, I can only imagine the possibilities. Thank you both for inspiring!
+Brian Silcott - I turned over my front yard and have about the same square footage for actual growing as you do. Looking at the numbers Curtis has shared, on ~250 sq ft you could probably make $1000-1500 US in a season depending on several factors. I'm not growing commercially...yet, but next year is looking like a strong possibility. Best wishes to you in any future endeavor.
Ok Curtis we know your the micro greens expert. Even the bigger guys follow you haha. It's funny though about the necessaries that keep a well oiled system running. Keeping it small at first isn't about keeping your vision small but it's about keeping the vision manageable. Even on a small grow for your self and family system a well managed plot can be multiplied. Entering into the food industry is also a great way to make friends and just enjoy food together and build good vibes.
hi curtis ! Thank you for the interview - it's great that you two are staying connected ! I have a question .. do you or JM use any apps to help organizing / documenting activities on the farm? Like FarmLogs, eFarmer, agroFarm ... and so on. I think on your farm it would not be a necessity, but on JM's new farm? What do you think about apps like these? Are they even suiting the new , revolutionary farms like yours? I think a tool to communicate between the "chef" and the employees and document would be great ( like making a foto of something whats wrong, tag it like a "task" what is to complete in the next 3 days ... and so on.
JM and I are in the process of creating one now. It will first be used by his and my farm, then perhaps in the near future be offered to the public, but not for a little while.
Great news! :) Why they have that high beds in the greenhouse? Just thinking, they don't need to channel away excess water in there. Or are they planning to use ramial woodchips between the beds?
Thank y'all for talking clientel:) Thank you for guiding us. I've been thinking about providing fresh foods to the food trucks. Do you think this is a good market or hit up the restaurants? Or both?
Don't limit yourself to one very specific type of customer. What's the point in that? Limiting to only wholesale, or only retail, or only CSA makes sense for the sake of simplicity, but if you're going to sell to food trucks, you might as well look at selling to restaurants as well. Just my opinion.
Portia Holliday It's true that I'm not extremely experienced. I had worked for 2.5 seasons at a small market garden who mostly sold CSA's, but also to two restaraunts and a farmers market. Recently, I've been hired on August 1st by a man with an aquaponics greenhouse who had been out of business for a few months due to his wife's leukemia (and subsequently, her very recent passing). I've been basically running his business since September and I've simply found that-- at least in New Hampshire-- there's not really an infinite amount of any one type of customer, so it would be silly for me to limit this farm's sales to only one type of customer. Selling exclusively to food trucks may work perfectly for you, but it just seems silly to limit yourself to only one type of customer.
JM wasn't extremely experienced. That is one of the beauties of this:) Let's keep enjoying toiling in an exciting market. I'm growing in Pittsburgh, PA, zone 5-6.
Is the expression 'fckn A' widespread in Canada, because I've heard another Canadian youtuber say the same. What does the A stand for? or does it just mean like A is the best...
robert lanham Yes, but exactly the 'fckn eh' as used. My guess is the true word is Aye first brought over by early settlers, Canadians use terminology like 'Shims' for builders wedges, my father said Shims are used on boats under engines etc. So there must be a lot of early settler expressions that have worked through.
Yo, a few days ago you mentioned that your getting married. If for any reason your not sure you want to marry your fiance, then consider the Philippines. Thats where I went. Tons of young and beautiful women who would kill for a white Canadian guy. Just FYI.
Urban Farmer Curtis Stone La beauté est le parfum de la vérité. Je suis Français né à Paris, je comprends + de 50% de ce que tu dis en anglais ... et j'aime beaucoup ce que tu chantes dans la langue qui te semble la plus naturelle ... J'ai un balcon de 5m2 dans une cité du 93 en Banlieue de Paris, en France ... J'ai aussi un petit terrain de 2000 m2 à 100 km de chez moi où j'expérimente la permaculture ... J'ai aussi un terrain familiale de quelques hectares d'oliviers autour de Marrakech, un endroit où j'expérimente pleins de joujous végétaux ... ^_^ lol J'apprends beaucoup de ton expérience que tu partages sur le net, toi et JM Fortier, vous êtes si nobles et généreux ... Grâce à vous 2, je crois au concept de maraicher urbain, de fermier urbain ... Merci d'exister, vous êtes beaux ... La beauté est le parfum de la vérité.
You need to be transparent about how much money was invested up front versus your net, or net loss in this project. To not be transparent would be a shame. Anyone can talk big when you have a rich person backing you and you are risking nothing and drawing a salary in the process.
What's funny is in JM's book he really pounds away at staying small and NOT scaling up. I guess if you have investors fitting the bill it's a different story.
People change dude. Just because JM said that once, doesn't mean he can't try something else. It's a great opportunity, and many people will benefit from the knowledge capital created in the process.
I don't agree at all. It's not JM's responsibility to explain anything to you and show you any of the books. You're not entitled to any of that information. Be thankful that he's taken the time to share what he has already. I could of never made any of these videos, and nobody would of known anything and this project at all. Be grateful.
Curtis, nobody said anything about not being grateful, I don't think you should get so defensive and put you and JM on a peddastool as we all agree here you guys are great. Making an observation and having an opinion isn't an attack on you or him. I don't think pointing out something he published and spoke about so forcefully about is a bad thing, it's probably a little surprising to hear from people who follow him that's all, don't be so upset over it.
I never said anything about an attack and never took it that way. I'm simply saying that, nobody is entitled to anything. Myself and JM have spent a lot of time making our content, and when somebody comments that we should do this or that, I can just as well say, no, you don't get to demand anything. You should be thankful that we're sharing it in the first place. That's not an attack either. It's just an answer ;)
Wait till they get on a farm and here how farmers talk ;) We can't make everybody happy all the time, but we do the best we can. Sometimes we act ourselves. Best of luck!
