Excerpted from Market Farming Success by Lynn Byczynski Scheduling After you have completed the exercise of figuring out how much to grow in order to meet income targets, you can get to work filling in your planting calendar. You can do this with a pencil on a big paper calendar or use a computer. First, […]

Excerpted from The Farm to Market Handbook by Janet Hurst. Finding laborers is often one of the most difficult obstacles for a farmer to overcome, but there are means to assist with this ongoing problem. Farmers often bring apprentices onto the farm. Although they are usually not paid, apprentices can learn valuable skills from the […]

Many farm-related businesses are seasonal. Our farm stand is open to the public from Memorial Day weekend through the end of November each year. It can be quite tricky to have enough inventory to have a nice selection of items for customers without being stuck with more than we need over the winter months. In […]

We live in Michigan where the lake effect snow can bring in several feet of the white stuff and temperatures often dip below zero. But you won’t hear me complaining.   Don’t get me wrong, I love our life on the farm. Even that hardest days like bringing in the hay crop in 95 degree […]

Extending the growing season by adding a greenhouse has become an important factor to consider for our small farmer’s market business. After feeling out the need for produce most requested in local farmer’s markets, we noticed one key factor – the early bird gets the worm. The first produce out the gate was eagerly purchased […]

It’s hard to see with a flashlight when the batteries are running low. It’s frustrating to tackle a project with a cordless drill that stops working halfway through. Keeping your batteries charged makes life easier because your tools work correctly when you need them. The most important tool on a farm or homestead is…you! It’s […]

We are coming into our third harvest season in a couple of months. Hard to believe. I am sitting outside in one of my spots, watching the leaves fall around me. It’s one of those days where I can close my eyes and hear them falling onto the forest floor. It is unseasonably warm today. As […]

Laws are made to protect people. I feel strongly that abiding by laws is important for the peace of society and overall well-being of the community. However, as a homesteader it’s easy to find yourself bogged down by bureaucracy.   As farmers, homesteaders and do-it-yourselfers, we are faced with unique challenges in the nature of […]

If you’re trying to break into the world of homesteading, you’re probably weighing options for getting land. This is especially true for young or novice homesteaders who don’t have much familiarity with all of the available options. But it’s not so confusing as one might think. You just have to cut through the jargon and […]

We plant rows of sunflowers every year here in the gardens at Pleasant Valley Farm. These beautiful flowers provide a surprising number of benefits! Our garden field is roadside, next to our farm stand. Each spring it’s exciting to see tidy rows of vegetable plants. But as the season progresses, it seems each year the […]