It is so nice to hear you talking about the real struggles of vegetable farming. If someone asks me right now what I do for a living I tell them I’m a professional weeder!
Can you please do a video on all the important things that you learnt from your mistakes for new farmers such as yourself. All this information is much appreciated
Excellent pointers: 1) keep it small, keep it simple, 2) grow what people actually like/eat/buy, 3) pick tomatoes when blushing, not when completely ripe, 4) put lots of lettuce in a pile to prevent rot, 5) pick lettuce leaf by leaf, not ripping out the entire head.... Wow! So helpful and well explained in lay language. Now, to get a greenhouse going .... Cheers from Massachusetts!
I can imagine a lot of sleepless nights, but I am on board with you Conor, this is my new retirement life. I grew up on a farm in VA. and I have been back yard farming for so long that I just cant keep fighting the call to market farm in a community where local families can get great food. Thanks.
I am a Peach grower in Southern France who to College in the States. We have 25 hectares of mainly peach trees but PPV is forcing us to diversify . We're therefore decided to build tunnels as we speak to start a cucumber production. which will be sold through our coop. Anyway I just wanted to thank you immensly for your advice and your videos . The advice and wisdow you share will help any grower ...whatever they grow!
You have a great attitude when it comes to learning what is best for business. I grow specific veg and fruit for Hippocrates Soup and juicing. That requires well organized space. I have learned a lot of valuable information from your videos. Thanks.
I'm really enjoying and appreciating your videos. I'm just getting started in my first year and they are proving very useful. I'll hopefully find the time to just watch them all from start to finish. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your passion with us.
Thank you, I would help in my granny’s garden when she was alive she would plant an acre for themselves and the family. I was lucky to learn about the tomatoes early. We would pick when they were pinkish put on table till they ripened then can them. She lived till she was 90. Faith, love of her family, farming and gardening I contribute to her longevity.
Could you do a video or a series of videos where you talk about and show how you harvest, clean, store these various crops as you briefly mentioned in this video. You have so much knowledge to share and I would be grateful for that kind of information. I too am beginning in growing for profit and need lots of do's and don'ts that others just assume people know.
The rate you’ve been pumping out these short videos and the quality is surprisingly good for someone who spends all day on a farm. Did you hire out a planner and editor to manage your channel, or are you somehow managing your time well enough to do all this yourself?
I'm trying to get onto land in Australia at the moment. I have been swearing to my partner that I need 50-200 acres to achieve what I want but I think I just miss being away from my neighbours and love having space to myself. I do want to not only farm veg but also fruit and nuts, but I suspect a few acres done well would be so much more manageable than 200 done poorly. It just means I can raise my own meat. You've definitely given me food for thought.
Some really good take aways in this video. I have a bin full of water in the garden when I pull carrots so I can wash them immediately, but it never occurred to me that it would make it more difficult to wait. Also I didn't know about stacking lettuce heads. I had some REALLY GREAT success with lettuce this year. One thing I would like to stay committed to is using only biological controls for pests, aphids have been the only real problem, and i am managing them fairly well right now. Could you do a video on pest control? I am not farming commercially yet, I started doing this over a year ago, coming from a nursery background. My goal is to find out what crops are both easy to grow where I am at and also have a good market in my area. I am learning a lot, and some of the easy to grow things aren't what I expected at all, while the things that I thought would be easy have been a headache. I appreciate you taking the time to make these videos. I get some confirmation about the things that I am doing correctly and knowledge about mistakes for me to avoid making.
Just a question about what you do with produce you DON'T sell. Do you give it away? Do you compost it? How did you learn how to gage the PROPER AMOUNT TO HARVEST? Thanks in advance.
I constantly adjust each week. It takes time at one market to to get it right throughout the year. I want to maximize sales but not have too much leftover. Some is given away to a food pantry, some is composted, and some is resold.
There's so much excellent info in this video and great tips that will save me trial and error time. Thank you for sharing! I subscribed and am watching all of your other awesome videos now.
Sincerely Appreciate your information and love of life. I've looked and have asked many about a book/s about harvesting the right way and also how to keep vegetables fresh at market, can you advise of any? Thanks
Hi, I love your videos. They're really informative and the way you explain and share your experiences, really nice :) Can you plz write me where to look for harvesting procedure ? You mentioned ****** bucket, but i'm not getting it. Thank you so much :)
So is it your advice that tomatoes should be picked while they are first turning from green to red or the (blush) color as you mentioned in this video and why you think that and then how to ripen them off the vine. Also how was that more profitable for you by picking them when they were in the blush stage?
Really appreciate your insights and videos! In the building video you talked about the tomato ripening room, can you explain what conditions the room should have. I have always picked my tomatoes at max. vine ripe, but looking to grow more and don't want to deal with mushy tomatoes when the abundance comes. You're a great teacher and a major influence on my farm, THANK YOU!
I think that what this man has been doing is great. But we see all of the greenhouses and this finished property. How much did he have in the bank to start and what kind-a money amount is need to get threw the first few years ?
I noticed your production of vined veggies. I come from a green thumb family. I know to use string for Bean vines can you use it for Tomatoes and Cucumbers and others on the vine ? And thank you for writing me back... You must be a very bizzy person. I thank you much.
I have listened a few times and while I can hear the fans, I can also hear myself very clearly. I have wireless lavalier mic on. Can you not hear me clearly? Maybe something changed after the upload. Problem with turning fans off is making sure the get turned back on😉
even just for viewer experience it would be nice to have them off, in headphones it is a ghastly sound... that was very kind advice try not to be so egotistc!
I would really appreciate if you could take a moment to answer my question? I am looking at a lot in a suburban area just outside of Chicago, however the taxes are over 8k and I am afraid if I try to farm the lot, I will run into a lot of trouble with the city, (Riverwoods). The lot is in a strategically goood area, about 2 acres in size, little frested and some of it can be cleared out, but I would be about 30min from down town or within minutes to my customers in northern suburbs delivering them and their families the freshest, healthiest and most delicious food that they could possibly get. It is an overtaxed county, however I wouldn't mind paying taxes if they let me utilize the land to grow greens, or to put up a tunnel or two in the winter. I am really affraid of these communist and fascists and what they would do to me. Even if my (2) neighbors were to say it is okay, the township would make sure to set an example out of me so that others wouldn't dare to try something similar. So what would you advice and how far away from major cities or markets should one be? That concept is really important for me to understand? I would love to buy this land even if the taxes are extremely high, however it perfectly aligns with my vision and what I am trying to do. I want to be able to be close to major markets and make home deliveries straight from the organic gardens. I can find better parcels or farm land but I don't want to be 1.5 to 2.00 hrs away from Chicago. Also how did you get your electric and water supply to your land? Did you dig up wells, put up solar pannels or did you pay for the city and architect to make the plans, which in turn would have increased your taxes by another 60%. Can you advice on some of those important logistical issues and how you addressed them and how you went about looking for your land? I am sure many of us here watching are wanting to sign up for your courses ( I know I do ) and are looking for some of those answers as well before they dig in deeper. Thank you so much!
change your attitude towards your city council first, see them as an ally. Now go to them with your farm plan and ask if it meets current codes, if not apply for a conditional use permit and sell your idea to the community. If you did the legwork to get set up you will for sure succeed growing veggies as that is the easy part.
Look into your zoning regulations-know what is allowed by right. Nearly every state allows farming by right in all zones, but may not allow some of the things you mentioned like a greenhouse. Curtis Stone grows in British Columbia in a suburban area. There are lots of suburban farms all over the place. Perhaps reach out to people doing environmental, farming, social justice work to see what kind of growing is already happening. Networking is so important in this work. Talk to your ag commission, department of agriculture, etc. and also your Extension office/Land Grant school...there is a wealth of resources out there for someone with the right attitude and willingness to build community around a farm.
