The best idea in local farming you’ve never heard of: the “farm stop” with Kathy Sample & Bill Brinkerhoff of Argus Farm Stop

Since its founding in 1968 by my husband Eliot Coleman, Four Season Farm has sought to produce the best vegetables possible, using soil-based organic methods, on a small amount of land. When I showed up in 1991, Eliot had begun to pioneer winter vegetable production, and I was delighted to give up the landscape design business I’d run in Connecticut and grow veggies with him. Then, about 10 years ago, flowers started to creep in.

Urban agriculture has been a hot topic of discussion. Cities across North America are looking at their planning and zoning codes to include urban food production, urban livestock, and commercial direct market distribution by peri-urban farms

We decided that we needed to increase our net income without significantly increasing the number of shareholders we serve. With that in mind, we added a fruit share option to our CSA last year.

The impacts of climate chaos on Astarte Farm have forced us to look for solutions that provide increased long-term resilience in our soil systems, and biochar has shown good promise in moving us toward that goal. Biochar is a paradoxical substance. It is both an ancient agricultural practice developed thousands of years ago in the Amazonian Basin, and at the same time a relatively new approach to enhancing and stabilizing soil fertility.

While it is inert on its own, it becomes a haven for a complex of microbiology. It is not a fertilizer, but freely absorbs and releases plant nutrients as needed. While is has a dry, almost crystalline appearance when freshly made, it readily absorbs water and releases it when needed. It is important to start with a high-quality biochar, but to be truly effective it is equally important how you use it, and how you prepare it in advance for use.

This month I picked two tools from Farragut Farm in southeast Alaska that they posted short videos of on Instagram. The first was their compost sifter in action, the second of a compost spreader they use to cover direct-seeded beds.

 

Julia Asherman appeared on my radar screen a number of years ago because she was a regular presence at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group conferences where I’ve spoken many times. Colleagues pointed her out to me as a person to watch because she was tough and smart and she was going to make something of herself as a farmer. We became conference buddies. So, when I had the good fortune to get invited to speak at the Georgia Organics Conference in Athens this winter, I knew right away I wanted to take that opportunity to visit Julia at her place, Rag & Frass Farm in Jeffersonville, Georgia.

Julia had described her place to me many years back as being an old motel property. My imagination conjured up a stark setting with a big parking lot and a sterile Howard Johnson type building. I just couldn’t quite mesh the word “motel” with the idea of a farm. Finally, upon arriving at the site on a rainy Thursday in February, I saw that the word I hadn’t emphasized properly was “old.” The motel building is well off the road, hidden behind trees and shrubs and vines, and was probably in its heyday way back in the 1940s.

Farmer to Farmer Profile

I was born loving plants. Instead of animal pets I had plant pets in my room. One of the best gifts I ever got as a kid was a three-tiered white plastic plant stand. How’s that for a strange kid? My relationship with growing food crops began when at age nine I got a tiny, heavy clay soil garden plot at the local community garden in Reston, VA.

We at Four Winds Farm in Gardiner, New York have developed a no-till approach to farming that uses a lot of compost – 40 yards per acre. When we first developed our model 20 years ago, our market garden was small, only 1.5 acres, and we got our compost from an off-farm source. As we expanded, it made sense that we figure out a way of making our own compost.

With our last frost date fast approaching, we’ve kicked it into high gear in order to have our soil ready for spring planting. While most vegetable farmers understand the importance of healthy soil, I’m often surprised by how little most flower growers know and invest in their soils’ health.  I believe the old adage “it starts with the soil” always applies, regardless of the crop.

Flexibility and convenience for farmer and customer

A couple of years ago my brother moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and I went with him to his local winter farmers market. One farm, Freedom Food Farm from Raynham, Massachusetts, caught my eye with their beautiful market stand and high-quality produce, so I looked at their CSA information. It fit neatly on one page and was incredibly simple. Members signed up and then came to the farm or its markets and picked out 10 items each week. End of story. I was inspired.

We decided to try it, with a few variations. In 2018 we offered the “CSA flex” as a part time option, in addition to our “classic CSA”. It was a hit, so in 2019 we added a full-time option. We currently have 25 flex members and have cut our classic CSA down to 40 members. I am mightily tempted to drop it altogether! Perhaps “CSA flex” would be a good fit for your farm.

Rounding is a pricing strategy whereby smaller denominations are excluded from the grand total at checkout. That means pennies, nickels and dimes. The principal incentive for rounding at the farmers market is to expedite the checkout process.

Handling fewer denominations simplifies transactions and reduces the wait time for customers in line. Secondary incentives include uncomplicated cash drawer management, easy deposits and straightforward change requests from the bank. In addition, quickening checkout procedures helps to diffuse the stress associated with long, bustling lines of customers.

To determine whether rounding is the right decision for your business, you must consider the benefits and contrast them with the costs. Some of the benefits described are based on assumptions, others on objective truths. For example, the checkout process is simpler when you’re not handling pennies, nickels, and dimes. This is uncontestable. But you need a more compelling analysis if you are to understand the total relationship between the benefits and costs involved.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, is surrounded by some of the most productive fruit and vegetable farmland in the United States. To the west of the city is the largest blueberry production area in Michigan. Muck soils in the area contribute to Michigan’s ranking as #2 in the nation for fresh market carrots and celery. And north of Grand Rapids, the land is blanketed with orchards of apples, peaches, cherries, and other tree fruits.

The social enterprise designation is often used by entrepreneurs as a way to define either non-profit or for-profit corporations that are intent upon achieving a “multiple bottom line.” The social entrepreneur either adds social good to the for-profit model, or develops income streams outside of grants or donations to the non-profit corporation. Thus, a social enterprise requires an earned income stream (such as stall fees or merchandise sales) that is then invested in the common good, such as advocating for farmers or building local economic activity.

Here are the winners of our farmers market display contest, which we announced in the May 2011 issue of our free e-mail newsletter. If you don't currently receive the email, click on the banner above to return to the home page and sign up in the right column. Thanks to everyone who sent us photos. The winners will receive a large packet of Genovese basil seeds, compliments of Seeds from Italy.

Home delivery services of fresh produce are proliferating across the U.S. and Canada. These businesses run the gamut from corporate supermarkets to mom-and-pop entrepreneurs. Total sales are estimated at $200-300 million a year.