About

Hi there, thanks for checking my site.

I’m not good at doing these blogs.  I have a bad habit of forgetting to keep them updated, lol.

Gardener

Right now I’m just your average gardener.  I have what I call a small garden.  Its modeled after a square foot garden, in which my grow beds are 4 ft wide, but about 10-12 ft long.  This allows for easy planting, picking, and walking.  This year I’m starting a fresh new garden in new soil.  It’s not really rich in organic matter, so I’m not expect great results.  I am using homemade fertilizers to help boost the vigorous growth of the plants, and so far they are all thriving.

Next year I do hope to have better established grow beds, that are built up into raised beds.  If anything they will just be 2×4′s that are holding a good amount of compost and mulch.  Right now I have 4 beds, but only 3 are really being used.  I would like to expand them to having 10 beds by next spring.  Using the right methods, this should give my family plenty to eat plus allow us to sell some at the local farmers market.

Future plans

I want to have more than just this small plot to garden with.  I’m wanting to be able to quit my job and to start my own business as a small community farm.  I have no desire to be a big farmer who plows hundreds of acres which all gets planted with corn.  I want to be a small farmer producing the foods that my local area will eat today.  I would like to be a CSA and have a portion which I sell at the local markets, maybe even sell to local resturants.  I need at least 5 acres, but would prefer 10.

As I’ve looked over the web, I’ve seen some very interesting things around gardening.  The funny thing is most of the ideas I’ve been trying or planning to try, are already being done very successfully by Will Allen at Growing Power.  He has a small 5 acre farm producing enough food for 10,000 people.  For me, that would probably give me enough food to feed 75% of my local population.  I’m not expecting that, but would be nice to see an interest in the local towns.

The Goods

I’m still deciding my path.  I do know that a lot of the locals at the market sell the basics of tomatoes, squash, and beans.  Every now and then some will have cucumbers, potatoes and onions, which is a good simple market.  I want to do more though.  I feel with a greenhouse, tomatoes can be sold sooner.  I would also like to see lettuce greens, and some cool weather crops.  Our market opens in May and runs through October so there is a cool weather market.

Our market doesn’t see much.  At most you’ll only see 5 vendors there normally.  I had a neighbor do it one year and made good money at it.  My start will rely on that and other markets.  I know I can advertise good, and using some of the social sites like Facebook will allow me to get more people down to the market.  The vast majority in our town don’t even know about that market, so my dream will require me to market it so that I my prosper.

And so…..

I guess thats about all I have to say.  I’ll update and change this page as things change.

Until we meet at the markets,

Josh