Jen Aron is an agroecologist and owner of Blue Raven Farm in Corbett, Oregon. She also worked as a farm educator for seven years with Oregon State University Extension. About five years ago, Jen wrote four articles for Growing for Market Magazine talking about how she built her farm on raw land east of Portland, […]
When Elizabeth Lutz Kelly’s flower growing hobby turned into a business, it outgrew the space she had available in her yard in Akron, Ohio. Even though there wasn’t a lot of open space, she asked around her neighborhood and found places that could be growing crops that weren’t. Thus she was able to expand her
This week we welcome Emily Grassie, the Director of Food Access Programs at the Maine Federation of Farmers Markets (MFFM) to talk about Harvest Bucks, an innovative program that helps SNAP recipients double their dollars when spent at farmers markets. MFFM works to fund and administer the program so when SNAP (formerly known as food
Flower pricing can be tricky with so many factors affecting value, between different crops, different markets and varying types of arrangements. You want to make sure you’re putting the price of your flowers high enough so you’re making a profit, but not so high that you price yourself out of the market. Listen to this
How to price your flowers with Lennie Larkin of Flower Farming for Profit Read More »
As the Vegetable and Berry Specialist at the University of Vermont for 35 years, Vern has a lot of experience with helping growers improve their high tunnel tomato production. One of the best ways to find out what is working on actual farms is with a survey- in 2024 Vern and his team did a
We get together with Nella Mae Parks and Maud Powell this week to discuss the challenges of farming in arid environments, and a new network they are forming for growers in those climates! Nella Mae and Maud are from dry parts of Oregon, and they are starting the Western Arid Growers Network (WAGN) to facilitate
Welcome to Part Three of Growing for Weddings. Part Four will run in January. There’s a lot to cover so let’s go. Promotion You’ve done the research, now let’s get you seen. In Part Two, we covered crop planning and partnerships. Now that you know who you’d like to sell to, the next step
Growing flowers for weddings part 3: promotions & marketing Read More »
How to time plantings for regular harvests through the season The following is an excerpt from the new second edition of Sustainable Market Farming: Intensive Vegetable Production on a Few Acres (New Society Publishers April 2025) and is printed with permission from the publisher. Many vegetable crops can be planted several times during the
Succession planting for continuous harvesting Read More »
Office work is critical but rarely a priority For the first few years at Moonshot Farm in East Windsor, New Jersey, our hiring efforts were focused on physical labor, which translated to more revenue. Tasks like planting and harvesting were a priority for our growing team as they meant more flowers to sell. Administrative tasks
How and why to hire office help Read More »
Two sometimes misunderstood farm essentials There are few farm tools as iconic as the pitchfork and yet when most people come to my farm they don’t actually know how to use one, or even that there is a difference between a pitchfork and a digging fork. It’s small wonder as even just doing a quick
The pitchfork and the digging fork Read More »
