Going to Seed with Dan Brisebois

The seed growers podcast episode 4 – Annie and Nathaniel of Deep Harvest Farm

May 18, 2022

Annie Jesperson and Nathaniel Talbot of of Deep Harvest Farm grow vegetables and seeds on Whidbey Island in Washington. In this episode, Annie and Nathaniel talk about how they run a CSA basket program in addition to a seed company – and how they love having both businesses to balance out the seasonal workload and … More The seed growers podcast episode 4 – Annie and Nathaniel of Deep Harvest Farm

Harvest efficiency tip #3 Fill your hands!

May 17, 2022

Fill your hands with beans or tomatoes or whatever you’re picking before putting them in your bin. Is this one too obvious? Well, it’s still harvest efficiency tip 3. 🍅 🍅 🍅 Let’s say it takes 5 seconds to pick a tomato and 5 seconds to put that tomato in your harvest bucket. And let’s … More Harvest efficiency tip #3 Fill your hands!

fsa tip #66 Are you harvesting fast enough?

May 17, 2022

Are you harvesting fast enough? To figure that out you need to compare your Harvest Targets and your Harvest Rates. So this spreadsheet does just that! Start off by entering your harvest targets and the spreadsheet will set your harvest thresholds. Next fill out the harvest log (just like in Spreadsheet Tip #65) and then … More fsa tip #66 Are you harvesting fast enough?

Planting winter radishes for seed

May 15, 2022

A row of winter radishes in 3” pots. I spaced these out where I wanted to plant them. Then I dug my trowel into the ground and opened a hole. I removed the plant + giant solid plug from the pot and placed it in the hole. I snugged the soil up around the top … More Planting winter radishes for seed

How to grow perilla for seed

May 14, 2022

Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm walked me through how to grow high quality perilla seed in episode 3 of The Seed Growers Podcast. Here are some of the highlights of the conversation: The influence of daylength on flowering Start with 1800 seeds to select the 100 best mother plants How Kristyn selects the best parent … More How to grow perilla for seed

Trellising onions for seed

May 13, 2022

The first flower buds are starting to appear on these seed onions. That means these 🧅 🧅 🧅 are about to stretch out real soon with long stems and a flower on the end of each stem. We normally trellis seed crops with stakes and twine. But this year we’re trying some Hortonova trellis netting … More Trellising onions for seed

The seed growers podcast episode 3 – Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm

May 11, 2022

Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm grows vegetables and seeds crops in Winters, California. Kristyn is part of Second Generation Seeds – a collective of Asian American growers devoted to helping communities of the Asian diaspora discover and deepen their cultural heritage through seeds. In this episode Kristyn talks about managing her spring plantings to deal … More The seed growers podcast episode 3 – Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm

Harvest efficiency tip #2 break your harvest into clear steps.

May 11, 2022

This is Harvest Efficiency Tip #2! Here’s what carrot harvests steps might look like: Broadfork to loosen Pull carrots Remove any roots that don’t look the way you think a carrot should look Remove any obvious bad leaves Bunch with elastic Leave bunches in piles of 5 Pack 3 bunches of 5 (15 carrots!) in … More Harvest efficiency tip #2 break your harvest into clear steps.

Harvest efficiency tip #1 bring what you need

May 11, 2022

Bring what you need to the field. This is harvest efficiency tip #1. If you’re bunching carrots – bring bins and the elastics you’ll use to bunch them. Bring enough bins and enough elastics. Going back to the barn for more elastics mid way eats up your time and sinks your harvest efficiency. 🥕 🥕 … More Harvest efficiency tip #1 bring what you need

fsa tip #65 Track your harvest rates

May 9, 2022

This is spreadsheet #2 in the Harvest Efficiency series. This sheet gives you a place to record how much you harvested and in how much time. The spreadsheet turns that into Units / Hour. Then using your sales prices – that becomes $ / hour! Now you don’t have to do this for all your … More fsa tip #65 Track your harvest rates

Solid Farm Planning, Business Management, Spreadsheets & Seeds!