Serendipity in the Herb Garden

We noticed that oregano, mints, thymes and chives would come back year after year in old garden plots and around old homesteads. These were always earlier than herbs we grew and planted. Why were these established plants "way ahead" of their more domesticated cousins. Could we establish our own "persistent" or perennial herb garden.

10 Ideas for Personal and Family Success

I was thinking about elements for success for a family and a farm. Here are my top 10.

1. Have a strong faith.
2. Mary the right person. Someone with similar values and faith
3. Make your family a top priority.
4. Handle money well. Spend less than you make, stay out of debt and save for the future.
5. Be generous and give. To church, to the poor and to your family.
6. Work at something you enjoy. Farming is a great career.
7. Under promise and over deliver to your customers.
8. Be persistent in reaching your farming goals.
9. Be honest and loyal.
10. Be innovative and open to change in your farm.

Weird Farming Ideas

I like to introduce at least one wierd new thing at the Rochester Minnesota Farmers Market every season. I define weird as something not currently available at our market today and sometimes this may mean it is not available anywhere (that I know of). I will probably do a blog post on each of these over time so watch this space.

Some recent examples are:

Vital Not Viral

When Reed and I started our blog our goal was to provide useful information on the topic of market gardening and a family farm. We also wanted the content to be high quality and to use photography to add a level of interest. We are learning as we go and the project has been very educational for us both.

We wanted to develop a significant amount of content before sharing the blog address with a large audience. We now have about 150 posts published with about 175 posts written and pending publication over the next several months. We went public May 1 and have had 2500 posts read since then.

We will likely never go viral in the way some of the online content does, but that is not our focus. We don't want to be sensational or titillating. We don't need any big names or fancy titles. We aren't inventing any new technology or patents. Only tried and true information that has stood the test of time.

We are sharing the story of our families years of experience at raising and selling vegetables in the upper Midwest, near Rochester, Minnesota. We also have teenagers that have been involved in our farming operation since they were preschool children. Our family experience and raising children is intertwined with our farming experience and many stories in our posts come from when our children were young.

It is our quest to provide information, experience, farm lore, family stories, and answer lots and lots questions for our friends who are new to gardening and those who are very experienced. For many things there is no wrong answer only an alternate perspective.

If our blog is "Vital" not "Viral" we will consider our efforts a success.

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.

Learning to Farm

It takes years of experience to understand what works and what doesn't work in farming. This is because of the variations in seasons, weather, markets, locations, soils, climate, varieties and farmers.

Reading will shorten the assimilation of information somewhat as you can learn, from the knowledge and mistakes of others. See my post on some of the top farming books for my learning and operation. Your list maybe somewhat different. I offer my list as a point of demarcation as I am always looking for good books and I hope you are too.

The learning curve is more than just information. Information is the foundation, but there are other factors that greatly influence success. For example, management, relationships, tools, timing, and execution.

Pumpkin Pie

How To Cook A Pumpkin

It is very easy to cook a fresh pumpkin. Brian recommends you put a pumpkin on a cookie sheet lined with foil (for easy clean-up if it drips) and cook the pumpkin whole for 1-1.5 hours at 350 °F. Once cooked the pumpkin is very easy to handle. Let the pumpkin cool. Cut unto half and remove seeds with a spoon. At this point the pumpkin is very soft and the flesh can be removed with a spoon or a knife along the edge of the outer shell. Puree the pumpkin or mash. If you have more pumpkin than you need for the recipe you are making, freeze the extra in a quart zip lock bag for easy future use. I often cook several pumpkins at a time (six small ones fit on a large cookie sheet on one shelf) and freeze it all. Our sweet heirloom pie pumpkins are amazing for any baking use.

Pumpkin Pie - Traditional (Reed's Favorite)