3. PAUL & SANDY
FAMILY FARM ENVISIONED
BOTH FROM SUBURBIA
DRIVE TO BE SELF-EMPLOYED
4. ROBERT
• Born in Nov 1992
• Age 20
• Now full-time local
College-Computers
• Helps summers & Sat
Markets in Winter
• Great with
Equipment
5. KIM
• Born Dec 1995
• Now 17
• Senior in HS & College
• Homeschooled
• Helps run farm 20 to 60
hours per week+
• Markets every
Saturday
6. • 5 Acres Mixed Diverse Vegetables
• ½ Acre Large Fruits
• ¼ Acre Small Fruits (Blueberries,
Strawberries)
• Perennials & Herbs From Seed
• 3-4 Acres Cover Crops
• Sell at 3 local weekly farmers’ markets in
summer & two Saturday winter markets
• Hay fields used by local Beefalo farmer
7. • Diversity of
Vegetable
Crops
• Large Fruit:
Apples,
Pears,
Cherries,
Plums
• Small Fruit:
Blueberries,
Strawberries
FRUIT & VEGETABLE CROPS
14. Straw Mulch
• Purchased straw
should be weed
free and not have
rye seed in it
• Straw is purchased
and stored so we
have it when
needed
• Best to order early
and secure the
crop
• We request ours be
cut prior to pollen
MULCHING CROPS
15. SPREAD STRAW OR HAY
MULCH 4-6” THICK ON AREA
Spread out after fertilizer amendments/prep
16. • PLANT BARE ROOT STRAWBERRY
PLANTS 12” APART APPROX MAY
1ST-15TH
• SUPPLEMENT EACH HOLE WITH
COMPOST/NUTRIENTS IF NEEDED
• IRRIGATE
MATTED ROW
22. SELL TO ALL THE WAITING CUSTOMERS
FOR 4+ WEEKS—ALL VARIETIES
23. ANNUAL BED SYSTEM
• History
• Through the season of
incorporating strawberries
• Soil and Bed Preparation
• Plugs vs Tips
• Planting and Management
• Marketing and Profit
• Soil Management and Crop
Rotation
• Summary
26. •Winter Rye or
Winter Rye/Vetch
In the spring
A YEAR OF THE
FIELD WITH
ANNUAL BED
SYSTEM
27. • Farmall 400
• Gehl
Flailchopper
• Chop Hay
Fields or
Winter Rye
in Spring
CAN CHOP OFF OR LEAVE ON THE FIELD
28. Chisel Plows
• Fast
• Better for soil
• 2 foot
• Every year
• Different
points
PRIMARY TILLAGE
29. Rye has an
allelopathic
affect on
seeds—
prevents
seeds from
germinating
Turn under rye 2 to 3 weeks before planting
cash crop seeds
30. Soil Tests
• Take Annually to track
progress
• Pick a lab and stay with
them — A&L Labs has
great reference book
• Take sample same time
every year
• Be accurate in
sampling—Soil probe is a
good tool to own
SOIL HEALTH
31. Soil Tests
• Amend as needed or get
custom fertilizers (2
opinions)
• Know how to calculate
what is needed
• Know crop needs (Knott’s
Handbook)
• Each Lab is individual
• Logan-extra
micronutrients
• Extension-Resource
SOIL HEALTH
32. MAKE A DECISION ON THE FIELD:
1. PLANT A CASH CROP
2. PLANT A COVER CROP
3. CAN MAYBE DO BOTH
FIELD NOT NEEDED TILL SEPT 1ST
33. SPRING PLANT
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Beans
TRANSPLANTING OR SEEDING-CASH
CROPS IN AND OUT QUICKLY
52. PROS & CONS
•
•
•
•
•
TIPS
Per plant less $
Greenhouse time
Preparation time
Better Quality
Yields?
•
•
•
•
PLUGS
Per plant more $
Come ready to plant
Quality issues
Yields?
56. Organic Soil Mix:
4 buckets (5gal) compost
4 buckets (5 gal) horticultural grade peat moss
1 ½ buckets of perlite
4# organic fertilizer 5-3-4
*Test soil mix for pH and
salts and nutrients
*Test greenhouse water for
pH
*Work with professionals if
issues
GREENHOUSE
57. Winstrip Trays
• Winstrips: 72, 50
• Special orders only
• Very durable
• Great air circulation
• Direct Seed or
Transplant into
• Contact us to get on
the list for future trays
if interested
GREENHOUSE
71. Drip Irrigation
• Uses less water
• Good for permanent
crops like blueberries,
raspberries, asparagus
• Long season crops
under black plastic
• Requires filter
• Produces garbage and
continual expense
• Hard to keep up in an
extreme drought
• Great for tunnels
Overhead Irrigation
• Uses more water
• Gets seeds started
• Requires filter
sometimes
• More efficient at getting
transplants watered in
• More expensive initially
• Good for cover crops
IRRIGATION
72. Irrigation
• Critical after
planting and all
fall
• Again in spring
• Berries need lots
of water
• PLANTS NEED
THE WATER
AROUND ROOTS
TO ENABLE
EXCHANGE OF
NUTRIENTS
IRRIGATION
78. WE USE THAT HIGH ORGANIC MATTER SPOT
FOR OUR FALL LETTUCES. STARTING 8/1
79. • Rotate families
• Break insect &
disease
cycles
• 3-4 Year
minimum
ROTATION IS KEY
80. MARKET PREP IS OUR BIGGEST EXPENSE
• To manage it, we use a system to evaluate the
workers and our techniques to see how we can
improve profit
• We want to know the total time it takes the
employees to harvest, wash, and pack an item
to be sold at the market.
• We use a simple TIMING RECORD SHEET to figure
this out…done only a few times each year.
.
81. • We want each worker to be earning us
a minimum of $40 per hour while
working on the harvest days!
• Example: Beans
An average picker can pick, wash & pack 25 pounds
per hour.
At $3.50 per pound, the value is $87.50 per hour and
falls within our limits for profitability.
$40 PER HOUR RULE +++
82. Data gathered only 2 or 3 times each year during harvest day to get data on all crops
ITEM
BEANS @ $4/#
3:15
END
QUANTITY
3:45 12 bags
JOB DESCRIPTION
TOTAL
TOTAL
VALUE
INITIALS
BASIL-BAG @$7
START
VALUE
TIME
PER HOUR
pick/bag SH & TJ
$84
1
$84
10:00
11:15 30#
pick TJ
10:00
11:15 38#
pick PA
11:15
11:30 68# total
wash,crate HR
$272
2.75
$99
Pick, wash,crate-PA
$375
1.5
250
BLUEBERRY @ 3.50 9:10 AM 10:40 AM 30 (1/2pts)
Picking & to cooler TJ
$105
1.5
$70
RASPBERRY @3.50
Picking & to cooler PJ
$66.50
1.5
$44
LETTUCE @ $2.50
7:00
9:30
8:30 150 Heads
11:00 19 (1/2 pts)
All times for picking, washing,crating, bunching, etc. would be totalled then divided into total value.
Example: Basil @$7=$84 worth readied in 1 hour (2 workers 1/2 hour each), therefore $84/hour
Example: Beans Total of 68# readied in 2.75 hours; Value @$4/pound=$272; 272/2.75=$99
Example: Blueberries @ $3.50 =$105 worth picked in 1 1/2 hours, therefore $70/hour
Example: Raspberries @ $3.50 =$66.50 worth picked in 1 1/2 hours, therefore $66.50/1.5=$44/hour
Example: Lettuce Total was 150 heads readied in 1.5 hours by Paul only=$375; $375/1.5hr=$250 per hour!!
83. WHAT WE LEARN FROM THIS
• Who are the best workers for the task
• What crop is costing us the most to prepare
THEN:
• What can we change
• Who is chosen for future jobs
• What equipment is needed
84. RECORDS
• Very Important
• Simple notebook
• We would not
know what
techniques and
crops make us the
most profit if we
didn’t keep
records of them
Seeding Date: 6/8/10
Field: Main
A Emu spinach 400’
(PJ #17)
B-C Bolero carrot 800’
(EW carrot plate)
Field: North
A-B Merlin Beet 800’
C Isar Y Bean 200’
(EW beet plate)
D Jade G Bean 400’
(Jang bean plate)
HARVEST RECORDS
85. $10,000 PER ACRE RULE
1998
Extrapolating out the gross value per acre:
Example: Strawberries
Income = 1789 pints @$3/pint = $5,367
Field Space = 6,900 square feet
Acres planted = 6,900/43,560 = .158 acre
Extrapolation:
$5,367/.158 = $33,968 per acre
*1998 Yield=13,350 pounds/acre
86. $20,000 PER ACRE RULE
2013
Extrapolating out the gross value per acre:
Example: Strawberries
Income = 2573 pts @$4.50/pint = $11,000
Field Space = 7,000 square feet
Acres planted = 7,000/43,560 = .16 acre
Extrapolation:
$11,000/.16 = $69,000 per acre
*2013 Yield=16,250 pounds/acre
