Imagine, if you can, hundreds of people coming up your driveway each spring, money in hand, eager to buy your flowers. Some buy up to 40 bunches, and most buy five to 10 bunches—at $9 per bunch. That’s the typical Memorial Day weekend at Sunnydale Spring and Peony Farm in Valley Center, Kansas, owned by […]
Peonies still popular for Kansas farm Read More »
Peanuts are an interesting and rewarding crop to grow on a small scale. Farmers who offer farm tours will enjoy showing how the flowers “peg down” to develop the nuts under the soil. Those concerned about local food security after peak oil will appreciate peanuts as a source of locally grown protein. Everyone can enjoy
Peanuts: Grow your own protein Read More »
When Shanti Nagel and Sebastian Meier started a market garden on borrowed land, they missed the close knit organic farming community they had left in Columbia County, NY, an hour and a half to the south. Setting out to farm on their own after apprenticing, they were eager to find peers they could learn from
Growers reap benefits from farmer networks Read More »
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone map has been updated by the Natioanl Arbor Day Foundation and is now available on its web site, www.arborday.org. According to the newsletter HortIdeas, “An official revision of the hardiness zone map has been in the works for years, but its release apparently was sidetracked by Bush administration concerns that
New zone map shows warming Read More »
Virtual Grower is a decision support tool for greenhouse growers from USDA’s ARS. Users can build a greenhouse, design the structure, schedule temperature set points and predict heating costs for more than 230 U.S. sites. Virtual Grower software is designed in .NET format; the web site below includes directions for downloading the NET format. http://www.ars.usda.gov/services/software/download.htm?softwareid=108
Design a greenhouse Read More »
USDA has overhauled its market news service reports, eliminating the cut flower price reports while improving the produce price reports. On the plus side, the new portal allows users to choose how to view the reports—by crops, by terminal market or shipping point, for specific dates etc. For example, you can quickly look up wholesale
No more flower prices Read More »
•USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will award new competitive grants, authorized by the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program (FMPP), to help expand opportunities for direct producer-to-consumer marketing. The FFPP was included in the 2002 Farm Bill, but this is the first year for which Congress has appropriated funding — $1 million. The grants are targeted to
Business experts are usually gloomy when predicting the likelihood of success in starting a small business. According to Dun & Bradstreet, a business with fewer than 20 employees has only a 9% chance of surviving 10 years. A study in the Journal of Small Business Management was more optimistic, reporting that 64.2% of small businesses
Letter from the Editor: Small farm success Read More »
A succession of mild winters has allowed rodent populations to build up in the Pacific Northwest. Of particular concern to growers are meadow mice, also called voles. They belong to the family Microtinae. Although their populations are cyclical, and will eventually drop, that is little comfort to a grower. In the field, voles build subterranean
