Stages of Learning in Farming - Laying the Foundation

In my experience, every new farmer goes through stages of learning in building their farming knowledge and expertise. Lisa and I completed Land Stewardship Project's Farm Beginnings class in 2001. We learned much in this class which was organized to help beginning farmers get started. Even with this advantage, we had a significant learning curve to make the transition from growing on a small scale (literally gardening in our back yard) to taking the first steps into the commercial market place on a scale that is 10 or even 100 times the size of our starting operation.

I am going to organize these stages according to our recent experience. The farm calendar typically operates on a seasonal basis and whether you are growing vegetables like we are, or growing row crops and small grains, or livestock, the stages are similar. I have provided links to other articles on our website VegetableFreak.com  for more in-depth information on certain topics

If You Are At The Head of the Class You May Be in the Wrong Class

As students we strive to be at the head of the class and we should strive for the highest levels of learning. As adults we should still strive for the highest levels of learning but I'm not sure being at the "head of the class" is always the best strategy. Think about it, if you are the best performer in your work group, you probably aren't challenged and aren't learning as much as you could. Same thing applies to farming. If you are the best of the farmers in your peer group and aren't being challenged to new ideas and better methods then you are going to stagnate quickly.

So what to do?

Seek out a group where you are not the best and the brightest. A group that you can learn from and grow with. Find a group with new and different ideas. Learn how to use the technology better and how to use new resources. Sometimes I think that we need to think small as well as think big. Small farmers are often the best innovators. The big guys just don't have the time.

Read good books. Zig Ziegler said, "If you don't read, you can't lead". He meant that a good leader will always be challenging his mind with the best ideas and literature. Biographies of great leaders are a good place to start. Great speeches in time of war or social transition are also a good source of ideas and learning. Reading doesn't always mean sitting down with a book either. For me the cab of my pick-up and tractor is a class room of listening to books, speeches, and pod casts.

Ask to spend time with someone who has achieved what you would like to achieve in 10 to 15 years. Learn what they do that creates a successful environment. If you want to be a millionaire you need to do what millionaires do. If you want to be a successful organic farmer you need to learn and then master those skills.

What are the goals you want to achieve. What are your goals for your family. They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert and there is research to back that up. So what ever you sent your mind to do that sooner you get to it, the sooner you will reach your goals. But just because you have spent 10,000 hours, there is always someone who has spent 30,000 hours or 50,000 hours. There is always someone who learns quicker or who has worked harder.

So next time you are feeling like you are at the head of the class consider what that means and look to expand your horizons, try something new and learn from those that have more experience.

EntreLeadership On and Off the Farm

Dave Ramsey defines EntreLeadership as "The process of leading to cause a venture to grow and prosper". Webster says a leader is "someone who rules, guides, and inspires others."; accordingly, the word entrepreneur means "one who takes a risk."

We have raised our children with a spirit of EntreLeadership. Since before they were school age they have contributed in an age appropriate way to the farm and selling at the farmers market. They each have had areas that they have enjoyed contributing to and they have developed expertise in. Reed has been our root expert: radishes, onions, garlic, leeks and potatoes. Jenna is the herb expert: basil, rosemary, mint and chives. Andrea is an expert in, well, practically everything. She especially likes transplants and flowers.

Now that they are teenagers how has that EntreLeadership spirit worked out:

• Andrea, a music education major, in the summer of her freshman year in college, is planning to organize summer music theory classes for middle and high school students. She has put together a syllabus and will develop curriculum for all the age groups. She was on a path to do this independently and offer classes to schools in the area. Her first stop was the honors choirs of SE Minnesota. Turns out they had been wanting to offer classes just like this and they are interested in hiring her. So an entrepreneurial venture turned into a summer job and may go well beyond.
• Reed has had a strong interest in electronics since he was little. When he was 8 I got him an Lego NXT robot that he could program. When he was 10 I got him a PIC microprocessor and bread board. He has done numerous electronics projects. In Junior High he got interested in buying and selling electronics like laptops, ipads, ipods and iPhone. He is now a freshman in high school. He averages one purchase/sale per week. He recently bought a iPhone with a broken screen and had to completely remove all the contents to replace the screen. Pretty cool operation and it worked perfect when he put it back together. He has a nice business started. It all started after winter market a few years ago when I paid the kids about $300 dollars as an end of the season bonus. Reed wanted to buy an ipod and a new one was a little over $200. I told him he could get one for half that price if we was willing to wait a buy a used one. He found one for less than half price on Craig's list and was hooked.
• Jenna, a junior in high school, has been working at Great Harvest. She decided she wanted to work there and was able to get a job. They are flexible on hours so that works great with her school schedule. She really likes bread and cooking so this is an ideal position.
• Jenna recently bought a camera with her earnings and she is a very talented photographer. She is working on ways she can use her camera to earn extra money for college.

Top Leadership and Business Books

At its heart farming is a business. So I think it is appropriate that farmers be current on the best leadership and business books. As I scan back over the books I have read recently, the following titles come to mind.

I Love to Listen

Only slightly less important than the love of good books is the way technology has enabled the ability to listen to some of the greatest thinkers and speakers of our time. Almost every book is now available on many kinds of media.

I am constantly listening to speakers and books, I typically wear out the tape player in a vehicle every 20,000 miles or so. My vehicles are pickups. I spend many hours loading and unloading compost by hand. Remember my first post on compost? Well most of those 3,000,000 pounds of compost were shoveled on and off of one of my pickups by hand...so that would make 6 million pounds handled by hand. This is good exercise for the body and if you are listening to some worthy literature or speaker, can be good exercise for the mind and soul.

My Top Farming Books

I thought it would be helpful to my readers to list of some of the books that have most influenced my farming practices. Some of these are classics and I have read them many times.

"How to Grow More Vegetables", by John Jeavons. This is the 'Wikipedia' of sustainable gardening using the Biointensive Method. I have met John and have taken several of his weekend seminars. I'm not a purist when practicing his method, meaning I have modified the approach to suit a larger scale, but his growing approach has greatly influenced my thinking.

We Love To Read

We are a family of readers and I love to read.

Jenna (a high school freshman at the time) and I had a contest a few years ago. We both wrote down our books read for the year and both of us clocked in at over 200 books for the year. She let me count books on tape or she would have won hands down.