In this episode, host Diego and farmer Alec talk about farming in the peak season: summer. They dive into the challenges that come with being a solo farmer surviving the summer season by balancing production, ensuring having enough crops to sell, expanding the product variety, and potentially tapping into additional market streams to include restaurants.

Click here to check out farmer Alec and Crop Culture Farm.

Click here to learn more about farmer Cassie and Peace of Prairie Organic Farm.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast
• Carrot Cashflow Podcast
• In Search of Soil

Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99

In this episode, Diego and Alec talk all about tools. If you plan on starting a farm, you're probably thinking about a mountain of tools you think you need to get started, but waiting to buy every single one might be setting you back a while. Farmer Alec shares the few tools he used to get his farm up and running on a shoestring budget. Lastly, Diego and Alec touch a bit on fertility and how getting your soil fertility down can help boost production.

Click here to check out farmer Alec and Crop Culture Farm.

Click here to learn more about farmer Cassie and Peace of Prairie Organic Farm.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast
• Carrot Cashflow Podcast
• In Search of Soil

Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99

In this episode, farmer Alec and host Diego are joined by a special guest: veteran market gardener Cassie Pierce of Peace of Prairie Organic Farm in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Cassie shares some of her insights on Alec's farming journey and her thoughts on some of the misconceptions she hears being passed on to younger farmers. She then unpacks the disconnect between her experience as a market gardener and the pseudo-myths she hears about small-scale farming such as the need for a high-end market, and that only growing a few select crops is the key to profitability.

Click here to check out farmer Alec and Crop Culture Farm.

Click here to learn more about farmer Cassie and Peace of Prairie Organic Farm.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast
• Carrot Cashflow Podcast
• In Search of Soil

Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99

Farmer and educator Jodi Roebuck of Roebuck Farms in Taranaki, New Zealand jumps on the show to discuss how they grow microgreens as part of their market garden operation. Farmer Jodi shares some interesting ways they leverage microgreens as a way to expand their product offerings, such as enhancing existing salad mixes and picking up the slack by filling in production gaps when field crops are having issues.

Learn more about Farmer Jodi and Roebuck Farm on Instagram and their website.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools and microgreen seeds at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast
• Carrot Cashflow Podcast
• In Search of Soil

Check out Diego's book Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF

Chris's online course Growing Your Profitable Microgreens Business https://microgreens.teachable.com/courses

Watch and listen to more on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@InSearchofSoil

Exploring the Fascinating World of Fungi with Dr. Elizabeth Koziol:

From Dumb Luck to Mycorrhizal Wisdom Elizabeth is a mycologist whose accidental journey into the world of fungi turned into a lifelong passion. She shares her experiences from her career working with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, debunking common misconceptions and explaining the intricate relationships between fungi and plants. Learn about the surprising mechanisms of fungal-plant communication, the role of fungi in agriculture, and the potential of microbial inoculants like MycoBloom. Whether you're a gardener or a researcher, this talk offers valuable insights into the unseen world beneath our feet.

Dr. Kozoil's research: https://scholar.google.com/citations?...

Dr. Kozoil's company MycoBloom: https://www.mycobloom.com/

Subscribe and Listen to the audio version of In Search of Soil:

iTunes - http://bit.ly/soilpodcast

Spotify - http://bit.ly/insearchofsoil

Enjoy the show? Drop me a line @diegofooter - / diegofooter

In this episode, farmer Alec and host Diego talk about the finances behind two ways of starting a farm: when the farm starts out as a side hustle, and when the farm starts out as the main hustle. Farmer Alec talks about where he falls on that spectrum, as well as the challenges around navigating the financial landscape of running a first-year farm.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast

Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF

Blake Cowling and Austin Collins on Scintilla Farms in San Diego, California share their microgreens journey starting on a very small scale and expanding to growing in a warehouse to service over 30 restaurant customers. They also share why they chose to sell to restaurants, how they built their solid customer base, and their strategy for curating their crop offerings based on their customers' needs. Lastly, they also talk about their future plans to expand their microgreens business to include mushrooms.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools and microgreen seeds at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast

Check out Diego's book Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF

Chris's online course Growing Your Profitable Microgreens Business https://microgreens.teachable.com/courses

In this episode, host Diego and farmer Alec talk about the challenges that come with growing vegetables in the heat of summer—scheduling crop succession, dealing with the difficulties of maintaining greens, and adapting to the market's changing demands.

Get time and labor-saving farm tools at shop.modern grower.co

Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:

• Farm Small, Farm Smart
• Farm Small, Farm Smart Daily
• The Growing Microgreens Podcast

Check out Diego's book, Sell Everything You Grow, which is only $0.99 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Everything-You-Grow-Homestead-ebook/dp/B0CJC9NTZF