Stages of Learning in Farming - Building Your Legacy

Lots of things to think about, and it can be a little overwhelming at the beginning. Farming is running a very challenging small business and that can be complex. But when done well, farming can be a multi-generational business, who's skills can be translated to future generations. Farming involves passion to keep us going when the days are long.

The Healing Professions

We live in the shadow of the Mayo clinic. Many years ago I heard a statistic that there were 3000 MDs in Rochester, MN where the Clinic is. There are probably 5000 by now. Pretty cool to know there is an answer for identifying just about any ailment just minutes away and they are very good. If you have some weird tropical malady they have you covered. If you have an obscure genetic deficiency they have the tools and tests to future it out.

This is kind of an antiquated term but they used to call those that sought the decades of training  to heal the body and mind as the, "The Healing Professions".

I think that farmers are in the "Healing Profession" too and here is why..

Petersen's Market Menu for October 31, 2015

Squash Images, Photo Credit - Reed Petersen

 Well it finally had to happen...a hard frost. That is a hectic time on the farm. Everyone hustles to pick everything possible. The pile of squash to the right is a credit to the hustle of four high school students for about 4 hours one Friday morning a couple of weeks ago. We picked two pick-up fulls of squash, about 5000 pounds. Some smart student did the math and we figured this was about 500,000 calories. These beauties will be gradually washed and brought to market over the next 4-5 months.

Late October is the time to pick the best carrots and parsnips of the year. Can you guess why? Frost! You need a few hard frosts to bring out the sweetness of those carrots. The children call our carrots "candy carrots" because of this crunchy sweetness. Here is a link to an article on our web site about why carrots are sweeter with frost?

October is the traditional month for planting Garlic in Minnesota. Here is is a link to an article on our website for How to pick seed garlic and plant.

Don't forget the pumpkin pie, here is a link to 15 different recipes  we have developed for pumpkin pie. From classic to low carb, these are great creative ways to work a little pumpkin into your life


Fall greens are so amazing: wild arugula, baby spinach, lettuce, baby beet greens, baby kale, red russian kale, cilantro. All are at the perfect baby baby size. 

Andrea dried some mints and herbs and is making some Vegetable Freak... Freaky Tea. Sweetened with fresh stevia.

• Andrea's Tropical Tea - Orange Mint, Pinneaple Mint and Stevia
• Jenna's Sweet Chocolate Tea - Chocolate Mint & Stevia
• Lisa's Orange Blossom Tea - Orange Mint, Spearmint & Stevia
• Just Mint - A Blend of Spearmint & Stevia
• Perky Pinapple, Lemon Majito, Minty Sage, Rosemary Lavendar (lots more).

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, October 31, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)


Cabbage
Broccoli

Tomatillos

Garlic
Carrots
Leeks
Walla Walla Sweet Onions


Fresh Cut Herbs: Mint, Chocolate Mint, Oregano, Cilantro
Arugula - Wild
Mizuna
Mesabi Arugula
Baby Spinach
Spring Mix
Baby Kale- Regular and Red Russian
Beet Greens
Dandelion Greens
Herb Plants - Rosemary,


Pickles: Spicy Dill, Sweet Sandwich, Okra, Dilly Bean, Corn Relish, Pepper Relish.
Salsa

Chipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made)

If you took the time to read clear to the bottom of Market Menu I'm going to include a thoughtful article from our website archives. This week's "thought for the day" is entitled clover is just like ice cream. It is a story from when Jenna was two.

Benchmarking, Beyond the Theory

In the last post on benchmarking, we found that benchmarking is the process of seeking out those best practices that will lead to the superior performance on the farm. We also learned the Benchmarking method includes the following steps:

1. Know your operation. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your farm
2. Know your competitors and industry leaders.
3. Choose to incorporate the best.
4. Gain superiority by using best practices.

But how do you benchmark? 

Let me make some suggestions.

The Japanese sent droves of teams to the US to look for best practices in US industries. Farmers can do the same thing, investigate the best farms in your industry and area. Don't be shy they will usually be happy to spend some time with you. Especially if they aren't in your market area. Polyface Farm home of Joel Salatin hosts large tour groups each summer and you can get the whole story on their operation. But I think the real gems are the unpublished backroads of the farms around you. I would start at the local farmers market with a farm that is doing a great job and ask if you can pay them a visit. 

Look across other industries for best practices. Processing and manufacturing industries have often developed technologies that are useful on the farm. Medicine can also be a treasure trove of ideas. GPS technology started in the military and is now used pervasively in agriculture to map soil types, fertility and yields. 

Read, read and read some more. I have found ideas in diverse areas such as ancient history (fertile dark soils that sequester carbon in Central America formed by mixing biochar and compost from thousands of years ago), sea biology (minerals from kelp and algae from the sea), hydrology (water use), engineering (many technologies), military (GPS), optics (refractometers), the list is endless. Read other peoples blogs.

Organics seminars, classes and trade shows such as MOSES (Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services) are great ways to benchmark with peers and get a great deal of information and a very short period of time. This is the largest organic trade show in the nation and it is about an hour from where we live.

Use your experience, your training, the best practices you have found, to create your own manifest destiny and other farmers will want to benchmark with your farm. 

Don't rush it, It sometimes takes years of digging, learning and searching to connect the dots in agriculture. An observation one year may only be clear years later when you read the next book or take that next class. 

Sounds like fun to me.

Benchmarking on the Farm

Benchmarking is the process of seeking out those best practices that will lead to the superior performance on the farm. The Japanese term dantotsu means seeking to be the "best of the best". Benchmarking is a positive, proactive, structured process which leads to changing approaches and competitive advantages.

"We have always done it that way" is simply not sufficient and extrapolation from the past may lead to poor future results. New practices and methods have to be uncovered and the best of these have to be combined to provide a competitive advantage. The practice of widely searching for new ideas for methods, practices and processes not limited to farming is called benchmarking.

The basic steps to benchmarking are:

1. Know your operation. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your farm
2. Know your competitors and industry leaders.
3. Choose to incorporate the best.
4. Gain superiority by using best practices.

For more information see: Benchmarking by Robert C. Camp