The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsSo happy! Probably getting certified organic farmland for this season!
Last year was my first shot at biodynamic organic farming. I just experimented and tried to learn as much as possible. Grew 70 varieties of organics and heirlooms in irrigated and non-irrigated rows, played with how to start seeds, everything i could think of.
But this year I just got word that I am probably getting accepted into a biodynamic incubator co-op that has 20 acres of certified organic soil. Too damned awesome! I'm so pumped up!
I want to do potato chips and a couple other ready to eat foods, probably salsa and edamame. Total integration, from seed to retail. Local, organic, ready to eat. We are hoping to create a model that others can follow to profitability. Farming is a tough business and many young farmers and novice farmers just get blown out by the economics. We are trying to find a better business model for small farms. CSAs are maxing out. There are only so many people that cook from scratch AND can pay the $550 at the very beginning of the season. I have spent the last 3 years studying and market testing. Really just trying to find what works in order to share it and help some hard working people make a living. Not sure that I want to do a whole lot of farming myself but I'm hooked so it is not out of the question. Going to play with data loggers this season too.
Last year I talked a farmer into giving me a shot and this year I can really make progress if I get this! And there is a 30-year biodynamic veteran farmer in charge who will teach me even more about farming.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Popular versions say this happened on August 24, 1853, and versions by the late 19th century attributed the dish to George Crum, a half black, half Native American cook at Moon's Lake House, who was trying to please an unhappy customer. He sliced the potatoes very thin, fried them until crisp and seasoned them with extra salt. The customer loved them. They soon became called "Saratoga Chips", a name that persisted into at least the mid-20th century.
rug
(82,333 posts)He kept sending the potatoes back complaining they were sliced too thick. The cook, by now equally pissed, sliced them as thin as humanly possible and sent them back out
Proving once again that sarcasm is the driving force in human history.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)It looks like you've found your calling. The doors are opening for you...
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)They gave the go ahead to buy my seeds.
Edamame, hericot vert, snow peas and bok choy! maybe potatoes but you need acid soil and I haven't seen their soil analysis yet.
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,479 posts)Great news!
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)it is 15 mins away.
I can sprout stuff here in trays and then lay it in when the weather is right. Now all I need is a customer or two but a the very least this will be a year to grow samples and learn a lot more about what it takes to get it right.
These are some of the things I tried last year:
The garbanzos (pale pair in the middle) were not such a great idea as they just didn't produce anything worth the effort and space. Zucchini is also cut from this year's line up but a fun plant if you have the space and if you like lots of zucchini.
The string beans and the snow peas were awesome. Great with sesame or chilis, great in salads. I love a fresh snow pea and growing them is almost the only way to get some. The edamame were tasty and an easy snack. Mine were small but I think I know what I did wrong and I am going to try 3 to 5 varieties this year to see what is best.
Last frost here is April 15 and I have cool weather stuff (peas and greens) so I need to be ready to plant out as soon as it looks good. The potatoes would go in later. Potatoes are just fun -- you plant a piece, do nothing, then get 10+ potatoes per plant. You can dig some early for new potatoes, or you can leave them in until weeks after the die back -- they are easy. Like having an extended pantry of the freshest potatoes on stand by.
I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. 47 days to go
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,479 posts)Best of luck with all of it. Keep us updated.
Kali
(55,014 posts)congrats and good luck, we need new young farmers with new ideas and thinking
onestepforward
(3,691 posts)I hope all goes well for you!
I suspect that there would be a good market for organic edamame. I've never seen organic edamame offered any where. I love it myself, but don't want to buy GMO or edamame from China.
marzipanni
(6,011 posts)the more people learn about GMOs and want to avoid them. Is it true that more than 85% of soybeans grown in the US are genetically modified?
I just read that in this food blog-
http://eating-made-easy.com/2013/10/06/where-is-your-edamame-from/
Here's a less-than-4-minute report on the aging of farmers in the US that you might be interested in, if you didn't hear it. It was on "Here and Now"/ NPR, this morning-
http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/02/26/average-age-farmers