Did you know that well over 50% of Iowa farmland is owned by people over the age of 65? That means that in the coming years there will be a lot of farm land changing hands in one form or another. In some instances it may just transition to a son or daughter that continues the farm, in other cases it may be inherited by the next generation and the rented out to the highest bidder, and if you are a beginning farmer (or hope to be one soon) there may even be a possibility for you to build a relationship with a farmer. One thing is for sure though, and that is that many of these farmers over the age of 65 do not have a farm succession plan spelled out yet. That is one of the many things that I learned from my chat with Teresa Opheim, the Executive Director of Practical Farmers of Iowa, and why I am so excited to share this interview with you on this episode. Teresa and I talk about the mission and goals of PFI, the importance they place on farmer led research, and she even has some great encouragement for beginning farmers!

Are you a member of Practical Farmers of Iowa (come and see me at the conference if you are)? Have you thought about becoming a member? What organizations are you a part of, and how do they help make your farm a "practical farm"? 

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Practical Farmers of Iowa Annual Conference
• Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminars
• Practical Farmers of Iowa Research

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

I love all seasons on the farm, but there is just something special about winter on the farm that really makes me thankful. In my mind it begins at Thanksgiving as we enjoy the bounty of the growing year, continues through the Christmas season, and then all the way to January and February as the kids (and parents) enjoy the fun that winter on the farm offers. Christmas on the farm is also the perfect time for telling stories and I love a good story ... especially when it is a farm story! Some stories make you thankful for what you have, other stories help remind you of what is truly important, and there are even stories that are just fun memories of times gone by. On today's episode I want to share three such stories. One comes from "Successful Farming" Magazine, another comes from the story of an Iowa farmer, and the last comes from my own childhood farm memory.

Do you have Christmas or winter memories from the farm? Stories that you love to share? I would love to hear your stories so don't be afraid to share!

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Christmas During the Great Depression by Sam Moore
• The Christmas Pony by Clarence Hill

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Of all the farming related questions I receive I would say that the majority of them have to do with money. Questions like: Can I make a full-time living? How much will insurance cost? What is the profit margin per hog? Can I at least break even? All of those are great questions, but like many things in life the answer isn't always a yes or no, but rather it is usually "it depends". That was also the answer I had to give for a couple questions that I received over the past week. It's not that I didn't have thoughts on the subject, but sometimes a simple question like, "can I at least break even" just leads to so many more questions. Questions like: What price will you have to charge to break even? Do you have interested customers? How much marketing are you able to do? What about input costs (feed, pigs, water, structure, etc.)? All of those questions and their answers will make it possible to answer the, "can I break even" question.

Very rarely though do I lack an opinion on a farming subject, especially when that subject is pigs! That is why on today's episode I attempt to answer Doug's question about whether or not he could break even raising 3 to 6 American Guinea Hogs (or any pig for that matter) on his three acre property. The easy answer is yes. I mean if you have people willing to pay enough you can break even no matter what, but of course that is where the variables come into play. Once you take all of those into account I think the answer still may be yes, if you can come up with reasonable answers for questions about feed, purchasing feeder pigs, marketing, and so much more.

What do you think? What does it take to raise 3 to 6 pigs and break even or make a profit? Are you doing it now, or are you hoping/planning to do it in the future? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Building a Sustainable Business (Online Resources)
• Building a Sustainable Business (Book available from Amazon.com)

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

This past week has been a bit overwhelming on the farm and in our world of farm business planning. When things get that way it is always nice to do something a little more lighthearted and fun, which is exactly why I have put together my Second Annual Beginning Farmer Christmas List! Farmers can be hard to shop for because usually if there is something they need it is needed at that moment and can't wait for the nearest birthday or holiday, but it is still nice to have something for them to open up if you have a farmer or future farmer on your shopping list. On today's episode (and listed below) you'll find ten things that I think make great gifts because I use them on my farm, or they are so awesome that I actually have them on my wish list. There are things for reading, things for working, things for making that work easier, and of course even a bonus item that will help you clean up at the end of the day ...

The Beginning Farmer & Future Farmer Christmas List

1. Carhartt Double Front Logger Jeans
2. GreenBest Expandable Garden Hose
3. Chainsaw Helmet System
4. The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry
5. Gaining Ground by Forrest Pritchard
6. Kinco Pigskin Leather Gloves and the Six Pack of Gloves
7. Fence Staple Driver and the Fancy Fence Staple Driver
8. Acres USA Subscription
9. Cordless Impact Wrench
10. Knipex High Leverage Combination Pliers
11. FarmCrafted Soap made by The Beginning Farmer's Wife

What is on your farming Christmas list or what would you suggest for other farmers? Check out what was on my Christmas list last year!

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Interview with Phil Kramer Part One and Part Two
• Growing Farms Podcast interview with Forrest Pritchard

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you ask anyone that has know me for even the shortest amount of time they would probably tell you that I am a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of guy. I like to come up with an idea and then just start doing it without putting a lot of thought into how it will get done, or rather more accurately what it will take to get it done. For example there have been more than three or four times when I have brought livestock home to the farm because I really wanted them or because they were a "really good" deal with no plan on where to house them or what will keep them from deciding to hang-out in the neighbors cornfield. The same can be said for my "business planning" up until this point.

Unfortunately I haven't been too concerned with the business of the farm over these past six years and I'm starting to understand that it probably has hurt my decision making along the way. It's not that I haven't been thinking of the dollars and cents, but rather that I didn't dig down deep into what those numbers were saying and how that impacted various things on the farm. All of that is changing though because I am about 1/3 of the way through my business plan workbook and I've been doing a lot of writing, answering questions, and assessing the farm, labor, enterprises, values, and marketing. My business planning isn't exactly flying, but I am finally making some steady progress and along with that progress I'm beginning to recognize a few things that have me thinking ...

My Business Plan Insights So Far ...

• There is room for growth in my markets ... especially when it comes to hogs.
• The Meat CSA and our Whole/Half Hog sales need to receive more of my focus
• I really need to hone in on our shared values for the farm and make some cut-backs in other areas.
• Pigs truly are the centerpiece of our farm ... by a large margin.
• Not every enterprise on the farm is a good idea judged purely by the numbers, but that doesn't mean they don't have an important place on the farm

Have you ever made a business plan? If so, what surprising things did you find? What should I be looking for as I do all of this evaluation and planning?

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Building a Sustainable Business (Online Resources)
• Building a Sustainable Business (Book available from Amazon.com)

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

For a whole host of reasons I absolutely love the Thanksgiving holiday! I love it because of the history, the season that it comes in, the focus on family around a table, and of course because of the fact that it often points people to remember an idea that we don't think of often enough ... Thankfulness! As I look back on this year of farming (and the past six years since we began) I realize that I have very much to be thankful for on the farm. And it is not just the good moments, because there are often reasons to be thankful even in the midst of difficulty. Below you will find a short list of the things that I am thankful for as a beginning farmer. Of course this is not the complete list, but rather those things that are most closely related to our farming journey ...

• I am thankful for all of the difficult tasks, moments, hours, days, and weeks on the farm.
• I am thankful for the family, friends, and neighbors who have helped me along the way.
• I am thankful for my wonderful wife and children.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to work outside no matter what the weather is.
• I am thankful for the fact that the livestock help keep me humble.
• I am thankful for the countless farm friends that help keep the farm running by supporting us.
• I am thankful for the farmers that came before me.
• I am thankful for the sunsets, the cool breeze, the softly falling snow, the spring rains, and the beautiful stars at night.
• I am thankful that I am a farmer.

What are you thankful for this year? No matter where you are on your farming journey I would love to hear what you are thankful for and what sticks out in your mind!

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Winter preparation will vary from climate to climate, but here in South Central Iowa it means getting ready for temperatures that can head south of zero, snow that can suck you into the ditch, and wind that seemingly will find it's way through all your warmest layers! Because of that in an ideal world I would head into winter with all of my preparations done and then just carry on the minimal chores needed for the farm and relax next to the wood stove. The reality though is that no matter how well I plan to prepare for winter I always miss something, or in the case of this year winter decides to sneak up on me earlier than I think it should arrive. Nevertheless I keep preparing for the short days, cold nights, white snow, and blustery winds. Below you'll find some of the things that I try to do as we prepare for winter on the farm ...

• The Gathering of Firewood - This one might not matter to you, but for me it is how we keep our home warm and our expenses as low as possible.
• The Watering of Livestock - Water tanks, heaters, automatic valves, and hoses! There is so much to keep track of and in working condition when the temperatures drop below freezing.
• The Feeding of Livestock - Feeding in the winter often means working around deep snow, mud, and even roads that are impassable. All of that becomes even more difficult if you rely on a tractor for some of your feeding.
• The Warmth of Livestock - Give the animals a place where they can find shelter from the wind and a dry place to bed down is always priority number one on any farm in the snow belt.
• The Cleaning of the Farm - I love when we get six inches of softly falling snow. It is beautiful and even fun, but where I've run into problems in the past is when it covers up and hides things that I need!
• The Gathering of Warm Clothes - The most important winter preparation in my book is gathering together all of my cold weather clothes so that I can stay warm doing all the other things on my list. If I can't stay out there and stay warm then things aren't getting done.
• The Checking of Fence - If you use electric fence like I use electric fence, and you have snow, then you probably want to have the ability to shut down sections of the fence (or even individual wires) to keep it from shorting out in the snow.
• The Maintenance of Equipment - There are now fully enclosed buildings on my farm where I can pull in equipment and work on it out of the cold and wind, so I like to have all of my equipment ready to go for the winter in hopes of minimizing my breakdowns.
• The Monitoring of the Forecast - If there is a big storm coming I want to have all my hay in place, feeders filled, and plans made for taking livestock to the locker. That means keeping an eye on the forecast even if they don't have the best track record for accuracy.
• The Enjoying of the Season - Winter is going to come to Iowa no matter what I do, so I might as well enjoy the snow as much as possible. And I do enjoy it!

What are you doing to prepare for winter? Is your neck-of-the-woods colder than mine? Warmer than mine? I'd love to hear how you prepare for the changing of seasons.

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

Boots and Links Mentioned in This Episode:

• Arctic Sport Muck Boots
• Original Chore Muck Boots
• XTRATUF Work Boots
• Cobett Waterers

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App.

It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

The very first "farm animals" that we had while we still lived in town were chickens that we raised in our backyard. But, while still living in town the second "farm animal" that we began purchasing were our Dexter Cattle. Obviously we weren't able to keep them in town (the police even made us get rid of our chickens), but my dad only lived a little more than an hour away and had plenty of pasture, so that is where we began our herd. Before I knew it we had way too many Dexters because I had been finding way too many "good deals". At that time (around seven years ago) I was completely enamored with the Dexter breed, with grassfed cattle, and with having cattle as the center piece of our farm. Times have changed quite a bit and while we still do have our Dexters I am beginning to question their place on our farm. Not cattle as a whole, but the Dexter breed specifically.

While I very much appreciate the smaller size of Dexters, the tri-purpose use that they can have, the great flavor of their meat when raised solely on grass, and of course their stately looking horns ... there are somethings that are beginning to make me question whether or not they are the best fit for our farm. Over the years I have often had this thought pop into my head in regards to high price for breeding stock compared to the amount of meat you receive from each steer, but recently a few other questions have begun bouncing around my head and they have me thinking maybe it is time to shift my focus when it comes to cattle.

Generally speaking, while I do love my little Dexters the economic realities of wanting to have a wholly viable and financially sustainable farm has me question where they fit into the picture. I think the real question then becomes what are your goals for having cattle on your farm. Do you just want a small herd to provide a few steers for you, your friends, and a few customers? If that is the case then maybe they are a perfect fit for you. But, if you would like grassfed beef to be more than a small sideline to your business then I think you should at the very least consider other options ... or maybe even write-off Dexters completely.

What does that mean for this beginning farmer and for Crooked Gap Farm? Well, the jury is still out and honestly I probably won't be quick to make a decision on this one because I have quite a bit invested (time, money, and emotions) in even my small herd of cattle! I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Leave a comment below or join in the fun on The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook.

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

"Margin is the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between breathing freely and suffocating. 

Margin is the opposite of overload. If we are overloaded we have no margin. Most people are not quite sure when they pass from margin to overload. Threshold points are not easily measurable and are also different for different people in different circumstances."

At least that is how Richard Swenson, M.D. describes margin in his book Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives (a book that I have not read, but does seem interesting). Of course I could talk a lot about the importance of building margin into your life, but I may not be the best one to speak on that subject because I do have two off-farm jobs currently and margin is my biggest struggle! What I want to talk about specifically today is the importance of building margin into the life of your farm so that it is sustainable physically, financially, ecologically, and on and on and on.

This is a topic that came to the front of my mind this past week when I was talking with someone about the low grain prices. They were lamenting the fact that the prices were low and how hard it was on farmers and even the agricultural equipment manufacturers. Of course I knew that when they were talking about farmers they were specifically referencing farmers that only raise grain (corn and soybeans). We talked about how John Deere had cut jobs and all sorts of other implications, but then I mentioned the fact that as a purchaser of grains the lower prices were a pretty good thing for me and hopefully will allow me to catch up a little after two years of higher prices.

All of this got me thinking. Of course I could spend hours talking about the problem of the lack of diversified farms in the United States these days, but we don't have that much time (or patience)! What I can talk about though is the importance of building margin on your farm so that when prices go up (or down), when the rains come (or don't), and when the sales are great (or they're not) you are prepared to survive. Building margin in the end may slow your growth or have other implications, but if you are properly building margin I think you will have a farm that can stick around because there will be money, resources, and a farmer that isn't burnt out!

What do you think? How do you build margin on your farm? Let me know in the comments below or join us on The Beginning Farmer Facebook page ... actually you should probably do that anyways :)

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

This past week I posted a "fall farm" picture to the Crooked Gap Farm Facebook page and there was a great question about the style of our pasture pens for the rabbits. Of course this had me thinking about the best way to describe them (video of course ... maybe you have heard about a coming Kickstarter project), but beyond that it got me thinking about the role of the meat rabbits and guinea fowl on the farm. Right now they both are important pieces because the rabbits are they way our son gets involved in the business and the guinea fowl provide sales of course, but there is also the fact that they do a great job eating ticks and bugs! As I thought about it though, if I was starting my small scale farm with the focus of building a sustainable business that does more than just support a hobby I don't think either of those animals would be ones that I would start with. Of course if you are wanting to get a start in town the rabbits would be perfect, and if a family homestead was your goal then you might enjoy the guinea fowl (if they don't annoy you too much).

The facts are that with both the guinea fowl and the rabbits there is a huge benefit because your starting costs are rather low, your time to return (as in when you sell the meat) is fairly short, and the learning curve is less steep than cattle. It is also true that in many locations rabbit and guinea fowl meat is probably an untapped market. That can be both a blessing and point of concern. Not that you can't market them, but there will be more work in educating customers on the benefits, cooking methods, and great flavor. As a point of comparison ... even if you are raising pasture based poultry or pork there will always be people willing to take a chance on a whole chicken, bacon, or pork chops.

What I'm trying to say is that they have a place on the farm, but if I was starting my farm from scratch again they would be in the long range plans rather than year one or two. Of course all of that being said, if I would have started with meat rabbits in town instead of egg laying chickens the police never would have called asking me to remove my chickens! With that in mind maybe rabbits are the perfect thing to start with if your beginning farmer journey begins in town!

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook! 

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you've ever spent much time around children you have probably heard the phrase, "that's not fair!" In my eight years of researching my beginning farm and being a real life beginning farmer I have also heard that phrase from beginning farmers (myself included). In fact I've even heard it from politicians talking about agriculture when I visited them in Washington D.C. a few years back. What I'm trying to say is that it is very easy to fall into the trap of looking at my own farming situation and decide that it is unfair because others may have more land, more money, better markets, and a whole host of other things. I believe the reality is though that there is something about every beginning farmer (and experienced farmer) that is unfair ... the business world calls that an "unfair advantage".

On our farm we have the unfair advantage of buying a farm smack dab in the middle of an already successful Farm Crawl. Not every farm has something so great for marketing and not every farm can create an event like the one we are part of because you can't just pull 7 farms within 20 miles of each other doing a variety of forms of direct marketing. Another unfair advantage for our farm is my prolific love of talking about the farm. I'm not saying that I'm the world's best speaker or writer, but I do love to tell the story of our farm and I'm not afraid to share it with just about anyone who will listen.

My question for you is what is your "unfair farming advantage"? What are those things that set you apart from other farmers ... things that they just can't run to the closest farm store and buy? I would love to hear what your unfair advantage is ... what are you going to take advantage of on your farm!

Check out The Beginning Farmer Show on Facebook!

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Over the past several weeks I have been teasing TBF Videos the next big thing for The Beginning Farmer, and last week as part of a "hidden track" after the closing music I mentioned an upcoming Kickstarter Project. We are getting closer to releasing our funding campaign, but I'm just so excited about the project that I had to share a few more details on the show today! There are some awesome rewards in the pipeline for being a backer of this campaign, we have a couple VERY cool "stretch rewards" if we can go above and beyond our goal, and of course if our project is funded successfully we will be producing The Beginning Farmer Videos! I can't wait to share the campaign with you, so stay tuned for more details coming soon. But, what really makes this episode cool are the four great questions that came in from listeners over on The Beginning Farmer Facebook Page.

On today's episode I answer questions about brooding chicks, learning about pork cuts, researching feed conversion ratios, and building farm websites. Of course great questions deserve equally well thought out responses so this episode runs a little longer than some of the previous ones. Along with my own thoughts I share quite a few links in my responses, so you will want to be sure to check out the links below.

Do you have thoughts on any of these subjects? Did I lead anyone astray? Join in the community below in the comments section!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Pork Be Inspired guide to cuts
• Better Bacon App (I can't even find this app, but some of the videos are still out there)
• Whole Beast Butcher by Ryan Farr
• Feed Conversion Ratio on Wikipedia
• Niche Pork Production: Managing Feed Costs
• AgMRC Livestock Resources
• Farm Marketing Solutions: Build a Farm Website in 4 Minutes

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

The Farm Crawl 2014 has come and gone and this years event was record setting! Overall we are estimating the event drew over 2,000 visitors and that our farm had over 1,800 people touring the farm in a short six hour span! Those are numbers that are hard to believe and humbling all at the same time ... plus, they are very exciting. Now that I'm a few days removed from the event and looking back there are a few experiences that I wanted to share with you. First of all it was amazing to meet so many podcast listeners face-to-face ... and some that had even traveled quite a distance to visit the farm. Unfortunately because it was so busy I didn't get a chance to spend as much time chatting as I would have liked, but know that I wanted to. Another great thing from the day was great encouragement we received from so many visitors complimenting our farm and the products that they have tried ... I can't tell you how great it is to hear someone say that our pork chops were the best they ever had!


Above all though the biggest thing that I'm taking away as I look back on this years Farm Crawl is just how important it is to have on farm events for a direct marketing farm. The connections that are made, the marketing opportunities that present themselves, and the ability of the farm to tell it's own story are priceless. On today's episode of "The Beginning Farmer Show" I want to share some of my most important highlights, the reasons why I think you should consider an on farm event, and of course the multiple hard lessons learned from this years Farm Crawl! Links mentioned in this episode:

• Growing Farms Podcast Episode 57: On Farm Events for Marketing and Fun

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Last week I woke up much earlier than the sun and headed all the way to northwest Iowa to visit Seven W Farm and try to consume as much farming knowledge as possible in such a short time. It's not that the Wilson family didn't have much to teach, but rather that there was so much that I wanted to take in! In fact I'm not sure if I was even intelligent enough to soak in all the great farming experiences and knowledge that live on that farm. I first became aware of this farm back in 2009 when I watched the Niche Pork Webinar Series (you can find Dan Wilson's presentation in the link). The chance to visit the farm was a can't miss opportunity.

There were quite a few things that I took away from the day, but some of the coolest things were checking out their laying chicken design, learning about their organic dairy, and of course seeing the pigs and their pasture farrowing set-up. Sometimes I get insulated in my own little "farming world" down here where the only things I think about are my farm and the farm that I work at from time to time. Being on another farm that had similar operations to mine, and even things I would be interested in looking at for the future, really helped open my eyes to what was possible for my farm.

Even though their farm had similar operations and similar values and methods of raising their livestock there was still quite a few things that I took away and would like to add to my farm. I hope that you look for chances to get on other farms in your area for learning experiences, because honestly they can't be beat. And ... if you live in Iowa or the surrounding states you should probably check out Practical Farmers of Iowa.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! 

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Even farmers take a break. Ethan
Went and checked out the Central
Time Tour this weekend!

The Beginning Farmer Show was your first introduction to me, "The Beginning Farmer", then you may not know that what is now a podcast initially began as a blog about my farming journey (or hopeful beginning farming journey). My very first post was way back on September 23rd, 2006 (that's eight years ago!). Since that time there have been over 900 posts on this blog plus even more from my day's writing for Epicurious. What began with questions like: How much capital will it take to get started? How much cash-flow will be needed, and where will it come from as we start? How much can I expect to make with certain crops or livestock? And, how and to whom will I do all of my marketing? ... has morphed into discussions about breed selections, hog loading procedures, and so much more! 

What I really want to say though is that I've learned to love podcasting and the community that has grown up around "The Beginning Farmer Show". It's been exciting trying to answer as many questions as possible from all of the listeners, but to be completely honest I think I have probably learned more from everyone that has offered advice and help than I could ever hope to give! The most important thing to me has always been to share the "real life" stories and lessons and experiences from the farm.

I mention all of this to say that I think there are some exciting opportunities ahead for "The Beginning Farmer Show". Opportunities that I hope will continue to grow the community, share farming knowledge, and encourage beginners ... because I know as a beginner myself that encouragement is always welcome. I have two things in mind. One is video and the other is something that I'm still fleshing out at this point. There will be ways for you to get involved though ... so stay tuned for more details after the Farm Crawl.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Lately I've been going through what I'm calling my "Farming Reality Check". It's not so much a mid-life crisis or even a "mid-farm crisis" as much as it is the fact that I am quickly (after slowly) coming to the realization that there needs to be more shifts and movement on the farm. A few weeks ago it became painfully clear that the balance in our life had gone from extremely shaky to absolutely falling off the ball out of balance. This shake-up (which I admit had been coming for sometime) has finally got me to the point where I need to honestly evaluate what is going on at the farm and what maybe needs to have big changes. There is good news though! The good news is that I'm taking the bull by the horns and attacking the balance issue as best as I can ... with the help of my family and all the great listeners of The Beginning Farmer Show I'm building a business plan and taking a close look at everything we do on the farm and why we do it.

Not everything about this episode is a downer though. Thanks to a growing group on the new Beginning Farmer Show Facebook Page I wanted to take some time to answer questions about two of my favorite topics ... chainsaws and pigs! Below you will find links to the resources I mentioned:

• The "String Method" for weighing pigs.
• Stihl FS130
• Stihl MS 241 C-M
• Stihl MS 261 C-M
• Here is the fence charger I use ... the Stafix X6i

One more thing ... I mentioned in this weeks episode that I'm getting about 1,500 volts on the ground wires in my fence. Is this normal or do you have any thoughts on what I'm missing that would be causing this? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

One of the great things about the community that is springing up around The Beginning Farmer Show is that I often receive encouraging e-mails and messages, questions, comments, and links to helpful resources. One of the bad things about me is that when my computer died I neglected to add an important e-mail address to my phone's mail application and because of that I've missed a bunch of great e-mails! There are some great topics though and I want to cover as many as possible. Here is a sampling of the topics that I will be attempting to share some thoughts on ...

• Dealing with processors can be a challenge. There are often things we as producers worry about because we have spent a lot of time and care getting our livestock to that point only to drop them off and drive away (in some cases).
• I'm getting pretty passionate about completing my business plan and I'm thankful for all the encouragement and tips that have been coming in.
• In the future (maybe this year ... maybe next year) we'll be spreading compost on our pastures in order to fully utilize our deep bedding and to help improve our pastures. When is the best time to do that and what about spreading compost in addition to seeding pastures?
• Even though it would be great if all our interactions with other farmers would be perfect and idyllic our our beautiful farm dreams the reality is that they are people and sometimes it goes better than others. Recently a listener related a story along these lines to me that gave me a lot to think about.

All of those questions together though have lead me to some conclusions about The Beginning Farmer Show, my farming journey, and some things that I would love to see moving forward. I'll give a bit of a preview today, but really what I want to say is that I've been extremely blessed to have the help that I've had and I want to share that help as much as possible! Like I said ... there will be more details coming.

We covered a lot of ground on today's episode! Do you have any tips on working with butchers, building a great business plan, spreading compost and seeding, or even connecting with experienced farmers?

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App.

It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm

• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook

• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

I love working with the pigs, I love driving the tractors, I love attempting to fix the tractors, I love building fence, I love a lot about farming (even the dirty work), but I'm not a big fan of running the numbers and big time planning. What I'm trying to say is that I'm six years into my on-farm journey and I have never completed a business plan ... although I have started a few times. My thoughts on farm business planning have changed recently, as in they've done a complete 180º turn, and I'm in the process of working on my plan. The big question is why have I had such a change of heart ...

The main reason for the my heart of change can be summed up in one phrase, "Something needs to change." I have some idea of things that could change on the farm that would help the business and the family, but I've come to the conclusion that a real life Farm Business Plan could really come in handy. I think it will be especially helpful when it comes to things like communication, taking emotion out of the decisions, goal setting, and plans for the future of the farm. There is one problem though ... I feel completely incapable of making a business plan!

Luckily I have resources ... here they are:

• Building a Sustainable Business Workbook from The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (This is the one that I'm using and I love it because not only does it have the information, but it has case studies from other farms as well)
• Online Worksheets from the workbook mentioned above ...

Do you have any tips, tricks, or experiences when it comes to creating your Farm Business Plan? I'd love to continue the discussion in the comments below!

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Farming is great! Let's say you've done your research, got set-up on your farm, and now you're even raising some crops or livestock ... you are officially a real life farmer. Of course if you want to continue to be a farmer you should probably figure out how to make a dollar or two along the way. That's where marketing and selling comes into the game, and it is important to realize that those are two things that you will spend a lot of time doing if you want to be a full-time (or part-time) direct-to-consumer farmer. On our farm we started out slow with our marketing ventures and quickly worked our way up to a very large farmer's market. But, looking back and considering the direction that we are going now with our marketing I'm not sure if I would go the route of the farmer's market.

Sure the farmer's market was the main way that we built up our customer base (and we have an amazing group of customers and farm friends), but when you factor in an off-farm job, a family, and the fact that I really had know clue what I was doing with the farming and marketing it might have been less stressful if we would have tackled our market growth in a different way. That is the great thing about living in the 21st century though ... there are tons of opportunities to get the word out about your farm and products. There are plenty of gyms and fitness centers that often times love partnering with farmers, we have healthy living conferences, there are even CSA events where farms can set-up and talk to potential customers about the things they offer. I'd love to hear your thoughts on marketing! What has worked for your farm (or business)? Do you think you have to do the farmer's market thing to be successful? Any suggestions that I missed?

... from Ethan's bookshelf ... one of the upsides (besides the awesome time with my son) of a couple hours four times a day sitting at a hospital was that I found myself with time to read :: this is what I was reading

• The Unsettling of America by Wendell Berry

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App.

It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you are going to be a farmer you have to do some sort of farming! It doesn't matter if it is livestock, vegetables, grains, tree crops, fruits, or whatever else you can think of you still need to be doing something other than living on a place in the country. If you are a fresh beginning farmer like I was just under six years ago the question then becomes, "What sort of farming am I going to do?". This will probably be something that you think about throughout all of your farming research, learning, and even your land search. But, I believe (if your like me) that you may not settle on what works for you until you actually get your "hands dirty" on the farm. Of course there are many things to think about when you are choosing your farm ventures, but on this episode I wanted to talk about five that were particularly important to me.

1. Land :: What can the farming land you have access to support?
2. Money :: Some ventures take much more capital than others, so which ones will fit into your budget the best?
3. Market :: Knowing what is being done in your area and what isn't will be very important to you as you build your farm.
4. Niches :: What can you do to create a specific niche in your area that sets you apart from other farms that may be your "competition"?
5. Passions :: Are you not a big meat eater? Then raising hogs might not be the thing for you! What are you passionate about and what do you love learning and talking about because that will be important when it comes to telling your farm story!

Here are some links related to the New York Times Opinion piece by Bren Smith titled, "Don't Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Farmers" ...

• Growing Farms Podcast Episode 54 - John shares some of his thoughts on the article.
• Permaculture Voices Podcast Episode 65 - Diego shares his thoughts on the article and why he believes the solutions are going about it in the wrong way.
• Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Farmers - A response article from Jenna Woginrich.
• Letters to the Editor regarding the original article - The best response is from Joel Salatin, and it is the first one you'll see.

What advice would you give the beginning farmer looking to find the ventures that fit them and their farms? What do you think about the New York Times opinion piece? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show.

Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you call yourself a beginning farmer, but you aren't farming because you have no place to farm does that mean you are still a farmer? That question is really a bit to deep for me, but I did want to spend some more time talking about land because I know how big of an issue this is for beginning farmers. If you remember from episode 75 I spent most of the episode talking about my latest beginning farmer idea ... renting an abandoned homestead area to begin your farm. Of course that idea may not be possible or appealing to everyone, so I wanted to share a few more ruminations on land that I have been running through my head lately when it comes to beginning farmers.

After our first official "farm building" (besides the house) was done I was showing it to my uncle and explaining how I planned on using it. He really only had one comment, "It's not big enough." Of course I tried to explain that I built it as big as I could afford, but what he was really saying is that no matter how big it is you'll never have one big enough because there is always something else you want to have indoors or under cover! He was right ... and now that I'm almost 6 years into my farming journey I'm wishing I had more land. In my mind that is another plus for renting because it may not tie you down to a very specific area like purchasing does. Plus, if I would have tried started out on a very small parcel I may have had a better idea of just how much area was needed for my farming ventures.

Another way to find access to land that I think isn't pursued enough is the idea of partnering with a current farmer. That may mean coming to some sort of agreement with a potentially retiring farmer, possibly finding employment with a farmer looking to change directions or slowly work their way out, or maybe even just come alongside a farmer who has areas of the farm that aren't being utilized. Whatever the agreement may be I believe the value that you would gain as the beginning farmer would be more than just access to land ... there would also be a potential wealth of knowledge that you could mine!

Do you have any advice for the beginner looking for a place to farm? Let us know in the comments below!

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App.

It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Let's say you want to begin a farm (that may be one of the reasons you listen to this podcast). You've done some reading, you've connected with other farmers and organizations, and you've even spent a year working part-time on a real functioning farm. Now you finally feel like it is time to jump in and do some farming on your own, but as a beginning farmer either you see the wisdom behind starting small and with minimal investment or you just don't have much to invest other than your desire because you are a beginner! Either way you are going to need some place to farm, and if you are like me that means you are starting with nothing ... no family land, no land of your own, and not a lot of knowledge to get you there.

When we began our farm I went against everything that I had read and heard because I just felt like I needed to "own" a farm, but if I was going to do it all over again or give advice to another beginner like myself I would strongly encourage them to go the route of renting. In fact lately I've come up with my perfect farm rental plan.

Have you ever been driving the back roads in your neck of the woods and seen those old abandoned farmsteads of 2 to 4 acres? I see plenty of them here in Iowa and I often wonder about the lives of those farmers when they were thriving farms, but lately I've been thinking about the possibility of using them as beginning farms. Usually they are unused, full of trees and other brush, and just waiting for an enterprising beginning farmer that is willing to work and wanting to learn! In today's episode I'm going to talk about why I think they are a good option and what I would do if that is how I was beginning. Do you have any advice for the beginner looking for a place to farm? Let us know in the comments below!

Other Links Mentioned in this Episode:

• Permaculture Voices Podcast Episode

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

"I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!" If you're used to waking up on Wednesday morning and finding a new episode in your podcast app you already know that this episode is a little late. But, on the flip side I was able to record an early morning episode sitting on the porch looking out across the farm. You can see the view from my "podcasting studio" on the right. One other thing you notice on this episode is a few more distractions that come from recording on the front porch ... distractions as in kitty cats and heifers on the loose. Hopefully though it gives you a small glimpse into the interrupted life of any farmer.

• The Contrary Farmer by Gene Logsdon
• Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• You Can Farm by Joel Salatin

• Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES)
• Farm Aid Beginning Farmer Resources

• Sometimes (most of the time) it is important to just dig in and get our hands dirty. Find farm, almost any farm, and volunteer your time ... ask if they need a hired hand ... or even offer to pay for the experience (it's that important).
• BeginningFarmers.org Jobs/Internships Links

• Part 1 of The Beginning Farmer interview with Phil Kramer (all about pigs)
• Part 2 of The Beginning Farmer interview with Phil Kramer

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you're like me you read the latest books, find the best websites, and listen to the greatest podcast about your topic and then think you can go from 0 to 60 in no time flat. Sure, maybe you understand there will be a learning curve or some bumps along the road, but all in all you think it is totally doable and totally doable in your own prescribed amount of time. In some ways that is how I was when I started my farming journey. I read about the people that were doing it. I talked to beginning farmers that were making it work. I thought I had looked at every possible angle! But, what I didn't do (and what I still don't do from time to time) is do a quick reality check and compare apples to apples. If I had done that I don't think I would have actually changed anything other than my thoughts on how long it would take to get from "Point A" to "B" and so on.

• You Can Farm by Joel Salatin - This was the beginning of the rabbit enterprise
• How Joel Salatin Nets 60k/year on 20 Acres of Rented Land! (Video)
• Joel Salatin on "Part Time to Full Time Farm" (Video) -- I didn't mention this on the show, but I was there that day and there are a lot of great nuggets in this one!

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

It's Marion County Fair week for us at Crooked Gap Farm. That means that we are extremely busy and that our children are the centerpiece of the farm this week (actually they always are, but you get what I'm trying to say). With that in mind I thought it fit perfectly to take some time on today's episode to a question from Lisa on Facebook. The questions was about getting kids involved on the farm and specifically mentioned age appropriate chores, and while we didn't dig into that completely I do believe we have a great episode because I decided just to go straight to the horses mouth. On today's show my son and I sit down in the show ring stands to talk about the fair, his projects on the farm, and what gets him most excited. Of course I have plenty of "proud father" moments throughout my interview with Caleb, but above all I'm excited because of how excited he is when it comes to the farm.

If you do have any questions for Caleb about his life on the farm feel free to send an e-mail or leave them in the show notes and I think I can convince him to come on again!

:: Some Books Caleb Has Read ::

• You Can Farm by Joel Salatin - This was the beginning of the rabbit enterprise
• Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett- Not about pastured rabbits, but still very helpful to beginners like us
• ARBA Standard of Perfection Book - A huge help for the show ring

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

How do you know it's time to rotate the cows? Can an agriculture business degree be helpful to the independent farmer? Are Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs good with kids and family? Those great questions (and more details) came in from listeners (all The Beginning Farmer Show listeners are awesome blossom) over the past week. Below you'll find some links related to each of the topics that I touch on in today's episode. Plus, if you listen to the show you'll get to hear me ramble (because I'm a bit stressed) about the county fair. More on that next week ... 

• Livestock Protection Dogs by Orysia Dawydiak - The way more intelligent approach to train your LGD.
• Livestock Guardian Dogs Website - Links to more articles than you can shake a stick at!

• Geared Reel for Polywire - In my mind a must have for rotational grazing.
• Polywire for Rotational Grazing - Holds up in the weather fairly well and is easy to set-up and take-down. I don't have any connection with Powerflex other than I like their poly wire.
• Grass-Fed Cattle by Julius Ruechel - One of many books that helped shape my rotational grazing ideals.
• All Flesh is Grass by Gene Logsdon - My favorite farming author and small-scale implementation.
• Quality Pasture by Allan Nation - If you want to get serious then get this book!
• Comeback Farms by Greg Judy - In my mind this is the best plan out there if you want to follow a plan.

• I wish I had some great links on this topic, but I don't ... What are our thoughts? How can having a degree in Agriculture Economics degree benefit the independent small farmer?

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Sometimes things get a little wild and crazy on the farm even when you think you have everything planned out. That has been the case on the farm for the past week or so (or actually the last six years if I'm completely honest with myself). We've had lots of rain and even some wind storms to go along with it. The storms caused some large branches and smaller trees to fall on the electric fence in the woods shorting everything out. The pigs that just joined the party in the woods last week found a small hole in the fencing that was exploited while the fence was shorted out. We have had some great publicity on the farm thanks to an article in the Des Moines Register. And, all sorts of other stuff has been popping up from 4-H projects to hard lessons learned.

I say all of that to say that this weeks episode is very unique for a couple of reasons. First of all it was recorded in the comfy (slightly breezy and cool) confines of the hoop building, and secondly I sat down to record with out any plan at all. You may notice both of those things come out in today's show, but hopefully there are also some diamonds in the rough.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.

If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail!

As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Hosting any event on your farm is always stressful ... hosting a farm cookout can be even more stressful ... and hosting a full on seven course feast on your farm with five chefs, a crew of kitchen help, professional servers, and more might even cause enough stress to drive you a little batty! That is exactly what happened on our farm this past weekend, and although it was stressful at times (and caused me to be a little nervous) it was probably one of the most satisfying and humbling moments I've had as a farmer. The crew that came out to the farm was beyond professional and passionate about what they were doing. All of that made for a wonderful event that often left me speechless. If you're looking for a way to say thank you to your farm friends, connect with new customers, or build a relationship with the chefs and food movements in your area I cannot recommend a dinner such as this one highly enough. Just be prepared for a little stress ...

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

The importance of believing in what you are doing on your farm, why you are doing it, and the value of what you are producing is central to your farming journey. At least that is the case with my farm! I've always been a person that want's other people to like me, and when it comes to the farm sometimes I can doubt my farming plan or my products when people are turned off by the price, the way we raise our livestock, or any other sort of craziness. Over time though I have come to realize how valuable the customers (farm friends) we have are, and also to realize that we won't have everyone as a customer ... just the best ones ;) Today's show is a little bit on the disorganized side I'm sure as I was working with back-up recording equipment for the first time. Although ... if the sound quality wasn't too awful let me know because there are a lot of other things I could do with this set-up in the future.

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

There is a delicate balance when it comes to the relationship between water and farmers. If you're in the midst of a drought with no rain in site you are praying for rain, but if all it does is rain when you are trying to put up dry hay you are cursing the rain! There is one thing for sure though, you can't control when it will or will not rain so you'd better be prepared for both options. All of this is to say that this week I'm going to spend some time responding to a listener e-mail about water ... or the lack there of. I don't know if there is a silver bullet type of answer for the question, but I do know that I've learned a few things from the past two years of dry spells and there is one major thing I will do different if we are dry again for an extended time.

If you've been around the show for a while you know that I'm passionate about farming in general, but starting a farm and beginning farmers more specifically! A little while ago I received a great e-mail from a blog reader who shared what his plan for dipping his toes into the world of farming is. I thought he had some great plans so I wanted to share them ... plus, that e-mail in conduction with the e-mail about water got me to thinking. Thinking about starting farms, trying to be like other farms, the importance to collecting ideas and adapting them to your farm, and even having a farm that is an educational hub! If you have any ideas about farm classes you would enjoy I'd love to hear about them in the comments below.

Here are some helpful links from today's show ...

• Farm Marketing Solutions

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Life at Crooked Gap Farm has been pretty rough over the past week. Not that life still wasn't fun and enjoyable, but rather that it has been full of "Hard Lessons Learned"! Since the hard lessons are often the portion of the show that receives the most comments and feedback I thought it would be fun (or therapeutic) to spend some time sharing the happenings from the last week and the hard lessons learned from the ups and downs. This week I have lessons from my desire to do everything all at once, updates on the hoop building (or lack thereof), news about fancy dinners, and the traveling life of a farmer. Most importantly though I take some time to talk about the lessons learned and some very important takeaways!

Here are some helpful links from today's show ...

• Gobs of Guineas -- Blog post from The Beginning Farmer's Wife
• Crooked Gap Farm :: Taste of Knoxville

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Here is a shot of the semi-finished wagon. Notice my chicken door with-in the person door. That is one of the improvements I'm most excited about.[/caption] In just over five years of farming I have now built four variations of a chicken wagon and each one improved on the failures of the ones that came before. Of course it didn't take much to improve on my first wagon which was built out of a great find from a machinery auction. On today's episode I wanted to take some time to talk about the design for this chicken wagon and why I decided to build it the way that I did. Below you will find a series of pictures showing my chicken wagon build at various stages along the way.

Here are some helpful links from today's show ...

• John's Stress Free Chicken Tractor Plans
• How We Raise Chickens on Crooked Gap Farm

Here are all of the building supplies needed for building my 10x15 chicken wagon.
We laid out the floor with our 2x4 joists and then placed the 3/4" treated plywood on for the floor.

The walls were built with studs 2' on center. I actually attached my steel horizontal instead of vertical like it normally would be so I had less cutting to do.
One of the best things about this wagon was that I borrowed an air nailer from a friend. That made the framing process much faster!

An important thing to work on as you are framing the building is trying to keep everything square. That doesn't happen often on my farm, but that's why I always say "it's good enough for who it's for."

Here my son is working on the frame of our hinged roost, this will be great for when he needs to clean it out ;)

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

First of all let me apologize ... somehow I got a little long winded in this episode. The subject of financing the farm is one that I'm passionate about and care about deeply because I not only want to see my farm succeed, but other beginning farms as well. So, when I talk about grants, loans, and other funding options I have a tendency to go on and on and on! What I do hope that you can take away from this episode though is a quick overview of some helpful resources when it comes to "finding money" and my passion for boot-strapping and saving like crazy to get the farm off the ground! As a little aside ... it seems to me that the farmers I interact with from day to day are the kings and queens of boot-strapping and getting by with less, so I would almost call it a required farming skill! Here are some helpful links from today's show ...

• Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Interview with Luke Gran of PFI (Part One and Part Two)
• Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (Research Grants)
• F.A.C.T. Fund-a-Farmer Grant
• PFI Savings Incentive Program
• USDA Beginning Farmers Grants
• NRCS Funding Opportunities
• Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA) Loans 
• FSA Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Loans
• The Beginning Farmer Blog Post "Why FARM?" from October 9th, 2006
• You Can Farm by Joel Salatin (Great book about just going for it on the farm)

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Check out that picture on the left ... that's me ... and that's the huge tractor that I drove this past week pulling a big huge wide field cultivator. The good news is that I didn't even hit anything, and I helped get the field ready for organic corn (but I'm more excited about not hitting anything)! On today's episode I'll talk about how I helped prep the soil for the Non-GMO corn I'll be using later this fall and then I'll dig into a "potpourri" of farming subjects. This week I'll be discussing (not so much answering) questions from three different listeners that left comments on our Crooked Gap Farm Facebook page. The topics include: Pink-eye in Cattle, "Pasty Butt", Livestock Guardian Dogs, and Dexter Cattle.

Here are some helpful links from today's show ...

• Vetericyn Wound & Skin Care (affiliate link)
• Vetericyn All Animal Pink Eye Spray (affiliate link)
• Apple Cider Vinegar (With The 'Mother') (affiliate link)
• Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery
• Livestock Guardian Dogs Association

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Fair warning ... this episode was recorded with minimal notes, no post production editing, and late at night (or early in the morning depending on how you look at it). I do believe though, that it will give you a good taste of what spring is like on Crooked Gap Farm these days. As you listen to the show you will hear about how I haven't finished the hoop building yet, how the pastures are quite where I want them to be, how the woodlots still need some seeding and fencing, how the chicken wagons aren't done, how the garden still needs work, and of course (as you can see from the picture above) how the sheep don't seem to care about my electric fence! What I'm hoping you'll get out of this raw episode is a true picture of life on my beginning farm in the spring. This is a busy time of year on all farms and ours is no different, so we are just trying to keep our heads above water and accomplish as much as possible. And, if we can accomplish a little more than possible that would be nice too!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

I am very excited to have "Part Two" of my interview with Wesley Hunter of Providence Farm on the show today. On todays show Wes and I talk about some of the most important steps in raising a heritage breed chicken ... the eating and the marketing! There are challenges of course when it comes to raising meat chickens on pasture, but when it comes to your customers the most important challenge is the marketing and education. Wes has some great information about the results from his blind taste test and how some of the struggles associated with marketing a heritage breed (because they are different than most chickens found in the local grocery store ... in a good way). If you have any questions for Wes leave them in the comments below and he'll answer as best as possible. Through the help of a SARE Grant Wes was able to do some great on-farm research comparing a variety of heritage meat chickens for things like feed efficiencies, dressed weight percentage, total feed consumption, and even an unscientific taste test. It would not be a stretch to say this is one of the best sets of episodes to date! If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below and Wes or I will take time to answer them. Helpful Links from Today's Episode:

• A Comparison and Evaluation of Heritage Breed Broiler Chickens on Pasture by Wesley Hunter
• "Economics of Heritage Breeds" blog post by Wesley Hunter
• Providence Farm Blog
• Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE)

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Life on the farm is always full of difficult decisions. Sometimes they have to do with livestock, sometimes they are about projects, and sometimes there are even difficult marketing decisions to be made. For the past few months we have been working through the process of making a difficult marketing decision, and we have finally come to the conclusion ...

We will not be doing the Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market this year.

 This is a huge change in our marketing plan for the farm, and honestly it is very scary because for the past two years the market has been by far our highest grossing sales opportunity. But, with a full-time job off-farm and another farming job working for the neighbors I have been finding myself spread too thin to accomplish the work that I feel needs to get done. The lack of time because of the demands from my other jobs, along with less product availability than expected and a desire to involve the family more, has led us to the point where the market just needed to go ... at least for this moment. In today's episode I wanted to share a little bit about the thoughts we had while making this big decision and then what big changes this means for our marketing going forward. Sometimes you just need to dive into something ... and we are diving in head first this time!

  Helpful Links from Today's Episode:

• Orbit SunMate Hose Timer (Amazon Link)
• Crooked Gap Farm Meat CSA
• Downtown Des Moines Farmers' Market

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

I have to admit that this episode (and the following episode) is one that I was very excited about doing for purely selfish reasons. I am super excited to have Wesley Hunter of Providence Farm on the show to talk about heritage breed meat chickens. This is a topic that is on my mind a lot because I just haven't been able to find a replacement for the birds that I was able to raise a few years ago. Through the help of a SARE Grant Wes was able to do some great on-farm research comparing a variety of heritage meat chickens for things like feed efficiencies, dressed weight percentage, total feed consumption, and even an unscientific taste test. It would not be a stretch to say this is one of the best episodes to date! If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below and Wes or I will take time to answer them. Helpful Links from Today's Episode:

• A Comparison and Evaluation of Heritage Breed Broiler Chickens on Pasture by Wesley Hunter
• "Economics of Heritage Breeds" blog post by Wesley Hunter
• Providence Farm Blog
• Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE)

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

The podcast is up and I'm excited to say that it is about chickens! But, the show notes are not up yet ... they're coming ... I promise ...

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

I am always thankful for all of the questions, comments, and encouragement that come in via e-mail or comment or even from the good ol' post office! Lately there have been some very good questions coming in covering a whole host of topics that I want to cover on future episodes of the show. Today though I wanted to take some time to answer three questions that have come in over the past couple of weeks regarding hay, finding pigs, and the big bad Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus. All great questions that deserve great responses ... hopefully some rambling from a beginning farmer will at least shed a little light on the topics.

Helpful Links from Today's Episode:

• Understanding Relative Feed Value (RFV)
• Feedstuffs for Sheep and Lambs (check out the hay section)
• National Pork Board Statement on PEDv
• Recent article on PEDv from PorkNetwork
• Article about possible PEDv Vaccine

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

On our farm we try to keep the pigs in the woodlots and on the pasture as much of the year as possible. Generally that means we move them out to the woodlots in March or April and bring them back up to their cozy winter accommodations in December. Over the past five years we have really come to love having pigs out in the woods (and from the picture on the right you can see they love it too), but raising them out in the open like that does mean we have to do things a little differently than if we were raising them on lots up by the house. We use electric fence, portable waterers and feeders, creative loading solutions, and so much more. On today's episode I'm going to share some of the "nuts and bolts" of our woodlot/pasture pig infrastructure. When it comes to woodlot/pasture infrastructure for the pigs our main elements are fencing, access to water, feed, shelter, loading/sorting facilities, and of course the rotations that we do between paddocks.  We haven't quite reached the perfect set up yet, but what we have reached is a workable solution that is semi-portable ... adaptable to different areas of the farm ... and seems to keep the pigs healthy and happy. If you'd like to know more about our fencing projects and what products we use check out the links below ...

• Crooked Gap Farm Fencing Recap
• Powerflex Fence
• Temporary Posts I use for Corners
• Temporary Line Posts

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

A little over a month ago in episode 50 of "The Beginning Farmer Show" I talked about a possible switch to using Non-GMO feed for our pigs and poultry. In that episode I talked about some of the research I did (a google search), and the fact that it seemed like you could find a "scientific" article to say whatever you wanted it to say. But, it was the beginning of the question for us and for the past five weeks or so I have been hashing things out in my mind, talking with customers, chatting with farmers who have recently made the switch, and just thinking about what my gut was telling me to do. To be honest this wasn't a decision that was a complete slam dunk for us one way or the other because there were a lot of factors to consider. In the end though we have decided that the best step for our farm is to begin making the transition to only using Non-GMO feeds for our pigs and for our poultry (both egg-layers and meat birds). This will not be a quick transition because not only is there the issue of having access to the Non-GMO grains, but there is also the somewhat daunting fact that in order to do this we will have to use only pigs born on our farm. The transition will take some time, but in the end we think it is the direction we need to go for quite a few reasons on our farm ... some of those reasons will be the main topic of today's show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

By nature I am either totally optimistic or wholly pessimistic. That can be a lethal combination in that sometimes I find myself running headlong into something because I'm just really excited about it and then crashing and burning because it doesn't initially go as I had hoped. One of those pessimistic question that pops into my head from time to time on the farm is, "Should I quit the farm?" On the surface this is just one of those questions of doubt that are part of my flawed nature, but I do think there is value in sometimes pulling back and taking time to honestly examine the question. On today's episode I'm going to talk about some of the very practical reasons that I think I should quit farming, and then a few emotionally romantic reasons why I'm probably going to continue this farming journey. Some of my very practical reasons for quitting the farm and chalking it up to a stressful life lessons include money, time, stress, and skill. These are all very important things to think about in any business, but that doesn't make them deal breakers ... I mean for the past five years we have made the farm go and it is definitely more than a hobby! So, instead of asking the question, "Should I quit farming?" ... I try to force myself to answer the question, "Why should we keep the farm going and growing?" The answers to those questions are often less about finances, but sometimes are equally as convincing. How do you keep your work going through the doubts?

Links Relevant to This Episode

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in a Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar about "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale". The 90 minutes scheduled for the on-line event (you can click the link above to watch a recording) went by faster than I could have imagined and I learned a lot along the way. There were so many great questions from Kate, the other beginning farmer, that we didn't have much time to talk with Phil Kramer about Niman Ranch. Luckily I happen to know Phil because his farm was where we purchased our first Hereford gilt so I asked him if he would be willing to come on "The Beginning Farmer Show" to talk about raising pigs for Niman Ranch. Phil takes us through the process of bringing Niman Ranch feeder pigs to the farm all the way through taking them to the pick-up location and everything in between! In the second part of the interview Phil and I talk about the profit possibilities when raising pigs for Niman Ranch, the art of being a farrow-to-finish hog farmer, and of course we dig into a discussion of Hereford hogs which is something that Phil and I are both passionate about. If you have any questions for Phil about Niman Ranch or just raising pigs from farrow-to-finish in general please leave a comment below and I'll make sure Phil gets your question and answers if he is able to.

Links Relevant to This Episode

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar about "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale". The 90 minutes scheduled for the on-line event (you can click the link above to watch a recording) went by faster than I could have imagined and I learned a lot along the way. There were so many great questions from Kate, the other beginning farmer, that we didn't have much time to talk with Phil Kramer about Niman Ranch. Luckily I happen to know Phil because his farm was where we purchased our first Hereford gilt so I asked him if he would be willing to come on "The Beginning Farmer Show" to talk about raising pigs for Niman Ranch. Phil takes us through the process of bringing Niman Ranch feeder pigs to the farm all the way through taking them to the pick-up location and everything in between! The great thing about my discussion with Phil is that regardless if you are interested in raising pigs for Niman Ranch or not he shares a lot of great information about raising hogs outdoors and without antibiotics (they do use vaccinations and wormers in the Niman program). Phil grew up on a farrow-to-finish hog farm and has been working with Niman Ranch for 11 years now so the pig business is a business that he knows through and through. I only wished we lived closer so I could pick his brain more often! If you have any questions for Phil about Niman Ranch or just raising pigs from farrow-to-finish in general please leave a comment below and I'll make sure Phil gets your question and answers if he is able to.

Links Relevant to This Episode

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

While talking with my uncle the other day about grain bins, grain dryers, wagons, feed mixers, and of course my latest hard lesson learned, that was mentioned in the last episode, he began to tell a story. The story was full of great thoughts for me as a farmer, but the biggest thing that I took away from it all was one little piece of information that was relevant to the overall lesson. The little piece of information came in the from of this quote, "When father came out to the farrowing shed" (that is the quote as best as I can remember). At first glance that isn't a very exciting statement, but it reminded me of something very important to my beginning farmer journey. What it reminded me was that my uncle, who is on my speed dial and receives calls weekly, didn't just up and gain his farming knowledge all by himself in the matter of a few moments. He was on the farm from the very beginning and farming alongside his father (my grandfather) for years as he grew up and learned and then even as he became an adult. I am confident that if I could pick up a thimble's worth of knowledge that passed between my grandfather and my uncle I would be lightyears ahead of where I am now. That is why I am continually talking about the importance of interning on a farming, volunteering on a farm, or just getting out and talking to farmers in general. And, that is why I believe that mentors are without a doubt one of the most important tools in the toolbox of any beginning farmer. My mentors range from family to friends to the neighbors that I work for now and they are indispensable!

Links Mentioned in This Episode

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Don't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale"

  If you are interested in farming or the world of food in general you have probably heard something about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). It is a topic of debate for many in the food and farming industries, and it is even something that crosses my mind from time to time. In fact, it is a topic that I have been thinking a lot about lately. To be completely honest I have actually been thinking about whether or not it would be a good thing for our farm to make the transition to Non-GMO feeds for our farm. I can't explain exactly why this is a direction that I began thinking about, because honestly I haven't paid much attention to the debate. Maybe it is just my contrarian attitude or maybe it is because my "gut" is just telling me to think about it. Either way I wanted to take some time on today's show to talk a little bit about my thoughts on the possible move from GMO hog/chicken feed to a ration using Non-GMO grains. In fact I didn't just want to stumble my way through 20 minutes of talking about something I knew very little about so I decided to do some research. The fruits of my reading research are in the links below, but to be completely honest I don't know if any one article convinced me completely of anything ... except for maybe one ...

Ethan's Amazing Research on the Topic of GMO vs. Non-GMO Feed From the First Three Pages of the Google Search Results

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wanted to communicate the thoughts rolling through your head, but you couldn't seem to get them from your brain to your words in a coherent manner? Well, today's episode of "The Beginning Farmer Show" was one of those moments for me! After attending a Niman Ranch Regional Producers Meeting (which was awesome), and remembering a couple events that have happened along the way in my farming journey, my mind was churning with thoughts about the perceived competition between pasture-based (or organic, or antibiotic free, or non-GMO, or ... you get the idea) farms and conventional farms. I've come to the point where I'm less concerned with the differences and more concerned about producing great meats in a sustainable (emotionally, physically, financially) way. If you make it through this rambling episode of the show I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject! One feedlot owner/manager that I quoted on the episode said that if Americans demanded grassfed beef than they would produce it. Do you believe with that?

Don't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale"

  As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you are a beginning farmer or a farmer that is looking to grow their operation you are well aware of the fact that land access is one of the number one issues facing beginning farmers. I know that we we began looking for land it was overwhelming. Not only was it difficult to find anything for sale that was actually in our area and in our price range, but there was a million other things to consider. Which bank will finance it? How far away from the job in town is too farm? Is it better to have a smaller piece of land with a house or a bigger piece with no house? Those are all questions that we faced, but looking back on the purchase there are so many other things that I should have considered or wish that I would have considered. So, what you will find below are my thoughts on what sort of things to think about when you are buying the farm ... or renting a farm.

How We Communicate With Our Farm Friends

1. Blogging :: One of the few things I did right as we started this farming journey was the starting the blog. This is a great way to practice telling your story and to share the journey.
2. Farm Website :: It doesn't have to be fancy, it doesn't have to be the best one on the block, but it sure is nice to have one to share with people when they ask about your story or how to purchase your products.
3. Facebook Page :: This one is a given in 2014, but it is very important that you make use of it in the best way possible. We've found that pictures, questions, and posts that allow your farm friends to interact are much better than posts that are just advertisements.
4. E-Mail List :: This is one of the most important pieces of "online communication" we have because the people that sign-up for the e-mail list are folks that really want to hear from us. We use this to share recipe ideas, farm news, and opportunities to purchase our products.
5. Face-to-Face Communication :: Nothing beats a good old fashioned conversation when it comes to sharing the story of your farm. But, even more important is the opportunity to listen to your customers and learn what matters to them.

Don't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale"

  As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

If you are a beginning farmer or a farmer that is looking to grow their operation you are well aware of the fact that land access is one of the number one issues facing beginning farmers. I know that we we began looking for land it was overwhelming. Not only was it difficult to find anything for sale that was actually in our area and in our price range, but there was a million other things to consider. Which bank will finance it? How far away from the job in town is too farm? Is it better to have a smaller piece of land with a house or a bigger piece with no house? Those are all questions that we faced, but looking back on the purchase there are so many other things that I should have considered or wish that I would have considered. So, what you will find below are my thoughts on what sort of things to think about when you are buying the farm ... or renting a farm.

Seven Things to Think About When Buying Land

1. As Much As Possible :: Very rarely will you ever talk to a farmer who tells you that they wish that they had less land, so always look for as much as you can handle.
2. Infrastructure is Good :: It might be nice to start out with a blank slate so you can paint your own farm picture, but if you find a farm with perimeter fence and a few buildings that animals can run into if they need to you will be thanking yourself later.
3. Location Matters :: Sure it's nice if your farm has a great view, but what I'm talking about is how close is your farm to the people in your market.
4. Ask for Pictures if Possible :: It is unusual for you to be able to see a piece of land during all of the seasons before purchasing or renting it, so looking at pictures from the various seasons and talking to neighbors becomes very important.
5. How Do Enterprises Fit :: When you look across the particular farm you are looking at can you see how different enterprises would fit into the landscape?
6. What's Going on in the Neighborhood :: Are there other small-scale farms in the area that you can partner with? This can be a huge plus when you are looking for the perfect place.
7. Distance from Family and Friends :: I would have never thought about this factor before we actually started farming, but I cannot tell you how important it has been to have family and friends within easy driving distance that are willing to help.

Don't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST "Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale"

  As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show! I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with "The Beginning Farmer" and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

One of the things that I love most about farming is that there is always something new going on. One day you might be baling hay on the tractor and the next day you will be running the chainsaw and building fence through the woods. It is a occupation and way of life that always has you learning new skills, working outdoors (in weather both good and bad), and above all it keeps you on your toes! But, one thing that is true on a direct-to-consumer farm is that you will often find yourself doing as much marketing and selling as you do "farming". On today's episode I wanted to talk a little bit about the process of our direct marketing farm from the beginning until our product is in the consumers hands (or on their grills ... or in their tummies). Luckily it only takes six easy steps ... of course most of the year all of these steps are occurring simultaneously!

Six Steps From the Farm to the Family Table

• Step #1a & 1b :: Birth of Livestock or the Buying of Livestock
• Step #2 :: Raising the Livestock
• Step #3 :: Processing
• Step #4 :: Inventory and Storage
• Step #5 :: Advertising and Marketing (Communication)
• Step #6 :: Selling

Don't forget about the upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Farminar featuring "The Beginning Farmer," Ethan Book.

Tuesday, February 18th 7:00 - 8:30 PM CST

Making Niche Pork Work for You at Any Scale

Link mentioned in this episode ...

Amy Palanjian writes about our Crooked Gap Farm Meat CSA

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter

(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)

Good news for all you iOS users. You now should be able to download "The Beginning Farmer Show" on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod! I finally tracked down the issue that was keeping that from happening, so hopefully this will be more convenient for some. One of the questions I get all of the time is how do you pay for the farm. There are plenty of questions about raising livestock, marketing, or working the land, but above all people are most interested in how to make it work financially. My advice is always simple ... save up your money and pay for the farm. We do have a manageable mortgage, but when it comes to the things that make the farm go (livestock, equipment, structures, etc.) I make it a point to pay for them instead of financing them. That does mean doing things on a shoe-string sometimes or at least making some savings in other areas. Here are five things that I've found to be able to farm on a shoe-string. 5 Tips For Farming on a Shoe-String

• Do it yourself with your own two hands ...
• Eat low on the hog ...
• If you have to heat, heat with firewood ...
• Pay for it with your money instead of the banks money ...
• In the end you most likely will find contentment ...

If you have an input on the topic be sure to leave a comment below or send us an e-mail.

As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter