The Flower Farmer
The Flower Farmer

Author: Lynn Byczynski

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2008-02-22

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 1933392657

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From taking cuttings to winning new customers, this is the guide to growing beautiful organic flowers for enjoyment or profit Over 75,000 copies sold! The first edition of The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers helped thousands of small growers start successful cut-flower businesses. This expanded and thoroughly revised second edition has become equally influential for backyard novices and experienced growers alike. New sections in this edition include: Utilizing greenhouses Recommendations for flower cultivars Post-harvest handling Also updated is the acclaimed resource directory, complete with sources of seeds, plants and supplies, and expert information on organic production under the National Organic Program. For the beginner and backyard gardener, there is an extensive section on the basics, including Variety selection Soil preparation Planting, cultivation & harvest Floral design For the commercial grower, The Flower Farmer, 2nd Edition includes information about: Larger-scale production Advice about selling to florists, wholesalers, and supermarkets Understanding the wedding and farmers market customers This updated edition also includes revised profiles of successful growers, offering behind-the-scenes insight into the operation of some of the most cutting-edge flower farmers in the country. Because of the extensive revisions and enhanced content, The Flower Farmer, 2nd Edition is essential reading for those already in the flower business, as well as those who dream of growing flowers for enjoyment or profit.

Sustainable Market Farming
Sustainable Market Farming

Author: Pam Dawling

Publisher: New Society Publishers

Published: 2013-02-01

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 1550925121

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Growing for 100 - the complete year-round guide for the small-scale market grower. Across North America, an agricultural renaissance is unfolding. A growing number of market gardeners are emerging to feed our appetite for organic, regional produce. But most of the available resources on food production are aimed at the backyard or hobby gardener who wants to supplement their family's diet with a few homegrown fruits and vegetables. Targeted at serious growers in every climate zone, Sustainable Market Farming is a comprehensive manual for small-scale farmers raising organic crops sustainably on a few acres. Informed by the author's extensive experience growing a wide variety of fresh, organic vegetables and fruit to feed the approximately one hundred members of Twin Oaks Community in central Virginia, this practical guide provides: Detailed profiles of a full range of crops, addressing sowing, cultivation, rotation, succession, common pests and diseases, and harvest and storage Information about new, efficient techniques, season extension, and disease resistant varieties Farm-specific business skills to help ensure a successful, profitable enterprise Whether you are a beginning market grower or an established enterprise seeking to improve your skills, Sustainable Market Farming is an invaluable resource and a timely book for the maturing local agriculture movement.

Build Your Own Farm Tools
Build Your Own Farm Tools

Author: Josh Volk

Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC

Published: 2021-08-17

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 163586321X

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Josh Volk, author of the best-selling Compact Farms, offers small-scale farmers an in-depth guide to building customized equipment that will save time and money and introduce much-needed efficiencies to their operations. Volk begins with the basics, such as setting up a workshop and understanding design principles, mechanical principles, and materials properties, then presents plans for making 15 tools suited to small-farm tasks and processes. Each project includes an explanation of the tool’s purpose and use, as well as the time commitment, skill level, and equipment required to build it. Projects range from the super-simple (requiring a half-day to build) to the more complex, and include how-to photographs and illustrations with variations for customizing the finished implement. Along with instructions for building items such as simple seedling benches, a mini barrel washer, a DIY germination chamber, and a rolling pack table, Volk addresses systems design for farm efficiency, including how to design an effective drip irrigation system and how to set up spreadsheets for collecting important planning, planting, and market data. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

The New Organic Grower
The New Organic Grower

Author: Eliot Coleman

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 1995-10-01

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 160358014X

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With more than 45,000 sold since 1989, The New Organic Grower has become a modern classic. In this newly revised and expanded edition, master grower Eliot Coleman continues to present the simplest and most sustainable ways of growing top-quality organic vegetables. Coleman updates practical information on marketing the harvest, on small-scale equipment, and on farming and gardening for the long-term health of the soil. The new book is thoroughly updated, and includes all-new chapters such as: Farm-Generated Fertility—how to meet your soil-fertility needs from the resources of your own land, even if manure is not available. The Moveable Feast—how to construct home-garden and commercial-scale greenhouses that can be easily moved to benefit plants and avoid insect and disease build-up. The Winter Garden—how to plant, harvest, and sell hardy salad crops all winter long from unheated or minimally heated greenhouses. Pests—how to find "plant-positive" rather than "pest-negative" solutions by growing healthy, naturally resistant plants. The Information Resource—how and where to learn what you need to know to grow delicious organic vegetables, no matter where you live. Written for the serious gardener or small market farmer, The New Organic Grower proves that, in terms of both efficiency and profitability, smaller can be better.

The Living Soil Handbook
The Living Soil Handbook

Author: Jesse Frost

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2021-07-20

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1645020274

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Principles and farm-tested practices for no-till market gardening--for healthier, more productive soil! From the host of the popular The No-Till Market Garden Podcast—heard around the world with nearly one million downloads! Discovering how to meet the soil’s needs is the key task for every market gardener. In this comprehensive guide, Farmer Jesse Frost shares all he has learned through experience and experimentation with no-till practices on his home farm in Kentucky and from interviews and visits with highly successful market gardeners in his role as host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. The Living Soil Handbook is centered around the three basic principles of no-till market gardening: Disturb the soil as little as possible Keep it covered as much as possible Keep it planted as much as possible. Farmer Jesse then guides readers in applying those principles to their own garden environment, with their own materials, to meet their own goals. Beginning with an exploration of the importance of photosynthesis to living soil, Jesse provides in-depth information on: Turning over beds Using compost and mulch Path management Incorporating biology, maintaining fertility Cover cropping Diversifying plantings through intercropping Production methods for seven major crops Throughout, the book emphasizes practical information on all the best tools and practices for growers who want to build their livelihood around maximizing the health of their soil. Farmer Jesse reminds growers that “as possible” is the mantra for protecting the living soil: disturb the soil as little as you possibly can in your context. He does not believe that growers should anguish over what does and does not qualify as “no-till.” If you are using a tool to promote soil life and biology, that’s the goal. Jesse’s goal with The Living Soil Handbook is to provide a comprehensive set of options, materials, and field-tested practices to inspire growers to design a soil-nurturing no-till system in their unique garden or farm ecosystem. "[A] practical, informative debut. . . .Gardeners interested in sustainable agriculture will find this a great place to start."—Publishers Weekly "Frost offers a comprehensive, science-based, sympathetic, wholly practical guide to soil building, that most critical factor in vegetable gardening for market growers and home gardeners alike. A gift to any vegetable plot that will keep on giving."—Booklist (starred review)

Market Farming Success
Market Farming Success

Author: Lynn Byczynski

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2013-10-15

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1603584935

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An insider's guide to market gardening and farming for those in the business of growing and selling food, flowers, herbs, or plants. Market Farming Success identifies the key areas that usually trip up beginners—and shows how to avoid those obstacles. This book will help the aspiring or beginning farmer advance quickly and confidently through the inevitable learning curve of starting a new business. Written by the editor of Growing for Market, a respected trade journal for market farmers, Market Farming Success condenses decades of growing experience from every part of the United States and Canada. It focuses on the factors that are common to market gardeners everywhere and offers professional advice that includes: • How much you'll need to spend to start a market farming business; • How much you can expect to earn; • Which crops bring in the most money—and whether you should grow them; • The essential tools and equipment you will need; • The best places to sell your products; • How to keep records to maximize profits and minimize taxes; • Tricks of the trade that will make you more efficient in the greenhouse, field, and market. This new Chelsea Green edition of a 2006 classic is greatly updated and expanded, and includes full-color photos, charts, and graphs, plus many inspiring and instructive profiles of successful market-farming pioneers.

The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables
The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables

Author: Ben Hartman

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1603586997

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At Clay Bottom Farm, author Ben Hartman and staff practice kaizen, or continuous improvement, cutting out more waste--of time, labor, space, money, and more--every year and aligning their organic production more tightly with customer demand. Applied alongside other lean principles originally developed by the Japanese auto industry, the end result has been increased profits and less work. In this field-guide companion to his award-winning first book, The Lean Farm, Hartman shows market vegetable growers in even more detail how Clay Bottom Farm implements lean thinking in every area of their work, including using kanbans, or replacement signals, to maximize land use; germination chambers to reduce defect waste; and right-sized machinery to save money and labor and increase efficiency. From finding land and assessing infrastructure needs to selling perfect produce at the farmers market, The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables digs deeper into specific, tested methods for waste-free farming that not only help farmers become more successful but make the work more enjoyable. These methods include: Using Japanese paper pot transplanters Building your own germinating chambers Leaning up your greenhouse Making and applying simple composts Using lean techniques for pest and weed control Creating Heijunka, or load-leveling calendars for efficient planning Farming is not static, and improvement requires constant change. The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables offers strategies for farmers to stay flexible and profitable even in the face of changing weather and markets. Much more than a simple exercise in cost-cutting, lean farming is about growing better, not cheaper, food--the food your customers want.

Compact Farms
Compact Farms

Author: Josh Volk

Publisher: Storey Publishing

Published: 2017-02-07

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1612125948

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Small is beautiful, and these 15 real farm plans show that small-scale farmers can have big-time success. Compact Farms is an illustrated guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farming enterprise on five acres or less. The farm plans explain how to harness an area’s water supply, orientation, and geography in order to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing effort. Profiles of well-known farmers such as Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier show that farming on a small scale in any region, in both urban and rural settings, can provide enough income to turn the endeavor from hobby to career. These real-life plans and down-and-dirty advice will equip you with everything you need to actually realize your farm dreams.

The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food
The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food

Author: Joseph Tychonievich

Publisher: Ten Speed Graphic

Published: 2021-02-02

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1984857274

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The first graphic novel guide to growing a successful raised bed vegetable garden, from planning, prepping, and planting, to troubleshooting, care, and harvesting. “A fun read packed with practical advice, it’s the perfect resource for new gardeners, guiding you through every step to plant, grow, and harvest a thriving and productive food garden.”—Joe Lamp’l, founder and creator of the Online Gardening Academy Like having your own personal gardening mentor at your side, The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food is the story of Mia, an eager young professional who wants to grow her own vegetables but doesn't know where to start, and George, her retired neighbor who loves gardening and walks her through each step of the process. Throughout the book, "cheat sheets" sum up George's key facts and techniques, providing a handy quick reference for anyone starting their first vegetable garden, including how to find the best location, which vegetables are easiest to grow, how to pick out the healthiest plants at the store, when (and when not) to water, how to protect your plants from pests, and what to do with extra produce if you grow too much. If you are a visual learner, beginning gardener, looking for something new, or have struggled to grow vegetables in the past, you'll find this unique illustrated format ideal because many gardening concepts--from proper planting techniques to building raised beds--are easier to grasp when presented visually, step by step. Easy and entertaining, The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food makes homegrown vegetables fun and achievable.

The Lean Farm
The Lean Farm

Author: Ben Hartman

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1603585923

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A practical, systems-based approach for a more sustainable farming operation To many people today, using the words "factory" and "farm" in the same sentence is nothing short of sacrilege. In many cases, though, the same sound business practices apply whether you are producing cars or carrots. Author Ben Hartman and other young farmers are increasingly finding that incorporating the best new ideas from business into their farming can drastically cut their wastes and increase their profits, making their farms more environmentally and economically sustainable. By explaining the lean system for identifying and eliminating waste and introducing efficiency in every aspect of the farm operation, The Lean Farm makes the case that small-scale farming can be an attractive career option for young people who are interested in growing food for their community. Working smarter, not harder, also prevents the kind of burnout that start-up farmers often encounter in the face of long, hard, backbreaking labor. Lean principles grew out of the Japanese automotive industry, but they are now being followed on progressive farms around the world. Using examples from his own family's one-acre community-supported farm in Indiana, Hartman clearly instructs other small farmers in how to incorporate lean practices in each step of their production chain, from starting a farm and harvesting crops to training employees and selling goods. While the intended audience for this book is small-scale farmers who are part of the growing local food movement, Hartman's prescriptions for high-value, low-cost production apply to farms and businesses of almost any size or scale that hope to harness the power of lean in their production processes.