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Back in 2023 I wrote an article on my budgeting method for my farm, the way I compare actual expense against the budget on a monthly basis, and some of the analysis I do at the end of the year. (“Farm bookkeeping and budgeting” from the April 2023 GFM.) One thing I skipped over in […]

Capturing the struggle behind the flowers   I’m not a flower farmer. Not even close. I live in Portland, Oregon, on a sloped and wooded lot, with only a few patches of grass that get sun. Even when I plant things there, they don’t thrive. I like to blame it on that stuff, but the

Make the most of your effort as well as space and time   Space and time. Anyone who has formed a basic crop plan knows that these two dimensions dictate what you can grow within your farm or garden. The third and sometimes overlooked dimension is effort. If space and time determine what you can

We’ve heard it many times. You didn’t get into farming to do marketing, bookkeeping, and all the other tasks of running a business. Yet, here you are knee deep in spreadsheets, Quickbooks reports, social media videos, and a host of other things you didn’t think you signed up for when starting a farm. It’s true,

Many years ago, I took my family on a road trip to the Grand Canyon and the beautiful red rocks of Utah. Highways in this part of the country are desolate with long stretches between exits. I still remember when we missed a critical fork in the road because my GPS service was spotty. As

Grow beneficial microbes with the least labor, water, equipment and fuel I’ve made over 40,000 yards of compost over the past 28 years using a skid steer, bucket loader, and a compost turner. But the first compost piles that I built in 1978 were entirely hand-made endeavors. Beyond their careful construction, the fact that these

“Did you remember to close the greenhouses?” was the panicked chorus on our flower farm, Moonshot Farm in East Windsor, New Jersey, every winter for years. Usually late at night, when we’re watching TV or even worse when we’re already in bed. One of us would sit up and realize we hadn’t closed up all

I farm in rural New Hampshire where most of our friends and neighbors have impressive gardens. While I’d love to say that everyone in a 10-mile radius flocks to our farmers market table and farm stand, these individuals don’t need our fresh produce, our main product line. So, how could we create demand for a

How to make a market when and where you need one As many farmers likely will agree, selling at a farmers market has many benefits including connecting with potential customers one-on-one, selling at a higher price point than one could demand wholesale, and establishing your business in a particular community. But one of the greatest