There’s more to growing than meets the eye! During this class the Delays will share knowledge they have gained over their last nine years of gardening for market. They will cover topics such as planting, seeding, weed management, irrigation, etc. 

AdAgrA 2020: A Living Parable

<p>There’s more to growing than meets the eye! During this class the Delays will share knowledge they have gained over their last nine years of gardening for market. They will cover topics such as planting, seeding, weed management, irrigation, etc. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

AdAgrA: Adventist Agriculture Association

Intensive: Market Gardening

Deidre Dealy

Matthew Dealy

Market Gardening Part 3

So 1 of the nicest things that we like is having order on the farm and having straight rows and having things look nice and orderly.

So how many people have seen John Martin?

How many have seen like Connor Crickmore's stuff?

Do you guys notice, do you notice a difference?

So John Martin is way more artistic or free-flowing.

So I'd take the cedar and I'd walk down the row and I would try and keep it straight, but if it wasn't perfect, it wasn't that big of a deal.

I started doing the strings last year or the year before, and I thought this is really going to slow me down, it's going to be annoying, but once I started using them, I love it.

Because everything is perfectly straight, and when you go to cultivate or weed, you know, you can just walk down the row.

So you guys see our Christmas trees there on the right?

So basically for drexian, you can't see anything.

So we use string and then we use a gritter.

How many of you guys have seen a gritter?

So this is the coolest thing since strings.

So you basically get different sizes and you just pull it down the row, and as it goes, it makes a grid.

So we have them that are up to 26 inches wide.

So on the side it has a thing that sticks out and that Lines up with the string.

So when I'm dragging it down the row, I just look at the string and then it stays straight Yep, so the main purpose of this is to space your plants lengthwise and across the bed so You know, so the wheel makes a line the circle and then the cross piece makes a line.

So we have some of these that have 6 rows and 5 rows and 4 rows, 3 rows, 2 rows, right?

And basically I just figured out what I needed.

I went and talked to a metal shop that had a CNC and they cut out all the pieces for me and then I welded it together.

So it saves an amazing amount of time and is worth the money.

So I think you can get like the set of 3 or 4 for like $400 or something.

The other ones have interchangeable handles.

So you take the handle off and on mine, I put it in an angle so I can just walk down the walkway and it's following me in the bed.

So the cheaper alternative to that is a rake, like a 30-inch bed rake that you can put little pieces of like pex pipe on there You know and then so you can put 3 on there or 4 and drag it down the bed straight and then you change the spacing and then you come back and you go this way and It works, but the trenches get bigger and then as they dry out.

They're harder to see with this 1 you just go down and it's crisp and clean and I Yeah, I think it's changed our farm a lot.

If you want to come up and look later We can show you what the actual grid looks like but it's just a square grid So for our cedars we use the Jang cedar Primarily and when we bought this thing it was Yeah, so it's the 1 on the right and they're about 5 or 600 dollars and We got this when we're in Seattle and before this we were doing everything by hand And yeah, that's excruciating and by the time you get like a quarter down the row of 1 row, you've gone through all your salad seed because you're putting them in too thick.

So basically, they make a roller for each size of seed.

And then it will have 12 rows or 24 rows on it.

And then on the seeder itself, it has sprockets on the front and the back.

And different sized sprockets that fit right on there.

So, you know, if you want salad mix, you can do it to where it drops at every inch.

If you want green beans it'll do it 6 inches and you can just change the sprockets out.

The main downside to this 1 is for every crop that you want to do that's different you have to buy a roller and the rollers are 20 to 24 dollars a piece so there is some cost there, but it's very accurate.

So you can walk down the bed at not quite walking speed, but pretty fast.

Another thing is like this last year, the hopper on it broke and we were able to buy another hopper.

You can buy all the different gadgets and gizmos and wing nuts and things.

So if it breaks, you can repair it, which is nice.

We also had in the middle here, we had 1 on an old farm and it was 12 rows wide and it went behind a tractor.

The nice thing about that was we had 12 hoppers.

So if we're doing beets or carrots or whatever, my wife could be there just changing out seeds.

It basically as fast as I was driving down and turn around and whatever, she could have the next set of seeds ready, the next set of hoppers, and then you can just plop them in.

But that unit there is probably $5, 000 by the time you get all the rollers.

Now they have ones that are like JP5 where you know has 5 rows and 15 inches wide so you can go down and back, and then you get 12 rows in a 30-inch bed.

There's also the earth way, which is good for some things and horrible for others.

So there's a lot of options and you can always use your finger.

Seems crazy, but there are people that do that.

And I actually did that this year for some things I was kind of experimenting with.

And I used the gritter and I went down and like with cilantro and some other things and I just went and stuck 1 at each grid, right?

And the grid was deep enough to where I could just put the seed in there and then I came back with a rake and raked it and Everything was there.

It was spaced so you can do it, but So for direct seeding we try and keep all our seeding supplies together Keep frequently planted varieties together, So we do a lot of greens, salad, arugula, spinach, and things.

So we basically keep them in a tote like this.

We just kind of keep all our varieties together.

And then when I'm ready to go out and plant, I just grab the whole tote.

So I'm not going and rifling through all my watermelon seeds and everything in October.

By the way, these are pretty good totes that we use, but you can't buy anymore.

Anyway, it's a great size, but they quit making them.

I don't know why, but you can get them for like $7.

But keep a list records of Cedar settings used.

So this is more helpful when you're first starting out.

I don't necessarily look at the list every time of what I'm doing.

I look at what I'm doing and I know because I only have like 5 or 6 rollers that I use I know this seed goes with this 1, you know, so I'm not looking at the list every time but when you're first starting out it definitely helps and you can weigh seeds before and after and the main benefit to this is You know, there's nothing worse than Walking down planting a whole bed to realize 3 weeks later.

You didn't actually get to see in the ground So you know you can just simply weigh them out and see you know you put 14 ounces in and when you got done You have 10 ounces so you know that 4 ounces got out.

And we have actually done it when we did it and something got stuck or it didn't work right.

You want to ensure the seeds are properly covered.

Sometimes with the seeder, you know, there might be a few popping up so you just kind of walk down.

You can also use a bed roller and there's different ones.

I have a just a lawn roller, you know, that I got from a rental company.

And yes, we will seed it and then we'll roll it down the row with water in it.

And it just kind of helps firm up the soil.

And a quick story on that, if you can't find 1, which I couldn't, I talked to the rental company and they said, yeah, I asked them if I could buy it, and they said no, and I said, well, what happens if I don't bring it back?

And the lady's like, what are you talking about?

I said, well, if I don't bring it back, you're going to charge me, right?

Market Gardening Part 4

Dear Lord, again we thank you for the opportunity to be together and to meet new people.

They're like-minded and on their own journeys.

And Lord, we're thankful that you have given us each a separate journey and you have a different destination, I guess the same destination for all of us and that's to be with you.

And we pray that as we talk, Lord, that you would be glorified and that everyone would get a better glimpse of you and your plan for them in Jesus' name.

All right, so this is the business of farming.

And this could have gone a lot of different directions.

So we're going to go a lot of different directions.

So we're going to start kind of with our testimony and it was in 2010.

So part 1 we're going to talk about our testimony some business structure insurance infrastructure So this is the story of us So we have I have a background in construction and my wife in food service.

10 years ago, 2010, we had no interest in agriculture.

I mean, we kind of grew up having gardens.

And 1 time we had some friends in our church, and they were trying to grow a bigger, better garden.

And I don't think we were part of it, but it kind of inspired us.

And we did a little thing, but we basically had no interest.

And we had some friends, the Leshers, Larry and Michelle or Mikey, that were out in Seattle and they had a farm.

And I remember going out to their farm and visiting.

And it was like, we were out there for a couple hours.

Like, you know, I was more into action sports, like nail guns and, you know, anyway.

It's interesting how the Lord changes us, right?

So we built our first house during our first year of marriage with little prior experience.

And I was like 22 and I think my wife was 23 and everyone said we were crazy and we probably were.

And then we went on to build several other houses.

So what really piqued our interest was we started a church garden at our church in the back there.

And it was getting to the point where We were trying to spend more and more time at the garden.

Thankfully, we sold all our houses right up to 2008, pretty much, at the peak of the market.

Not because we were really good, but because the Lord blessed us.

And we got out while the getting was good.

But we had our first kid and I went to work for a friend during construction, and the economy went down and we were doing a lot of commercial construction, and I was driving up to 2 hours each way to work.

And then I'd stop by on the way home sometimes and visit Dieter and the kids at church at the garden.

And we just felt like we were trying to spend more and more time out there.

And so I was kind of forced to stay home and we were kind of sitting there 1 day and we're like man this agriculture thing might be kind of fun and I could be together more and I don't remember which 1 of us said it but somebody said well maybe we should just go do an internship and we kind of looked at each other for a couple seconds you're like fine let's do it and that was how we did it we left our work at that time I was making I don't know 65 to 100 dollars an hour doing commercial construction and no experience in agriculture.

And we went to Black Hills Health and Education Center, and we made $600 a month for 6 months.

And our big plan was to go back to Seattle On our last $600 stipend and we didn't have a house.

We didn't have we did but we rented it out So we didn't know what we were doing.

I don't know if I'd recommend this to everyone, but we like to jump in.

Philippians 2.12 and 13 basically says that the Lord will give you, will make your desires his desires, and he'll make a way for it to happen.

So we're like, all right, Lord, if you've given us this desire, because I was the kind of guy that would go to Barnes & Noble and look at all the books and see whatever.

And agriculture just slapped me upside the head.

So we jumped into farming with both feet.

When we were at Black Hills, we had planned on this job I had, We were going to try and save like $30, 000 over the summer.

And when we went to the Black Hills, we were making $600 a month.

A month before we were supposed to come back, my brother got married in Washington.

And anyway, we lived right next door to my parents.

So when we went back to visit, we'd stay with her dad, and we had houses there.

And The day after the wedding, my neighbor called me and said, your house is on fire.

So we ran down the street and helped get the fire out and everything.

And after we got the insurance money, we redid the work.

We made $600 a month, worked on the farm, were with the family, and the Lord still gave us the money.

So for us, that was kind of a confirmation that he'll provide, he'll make it happen.

So we came back, and I don't know where all that money went, but we started Healing Foods Farm.

And I remember we went to the local church Because they had this nice piece of land and talked to them and they didn't even think about it.

They just said, no, we're not interested.

And we're afraid that if you have a garden, the birds will poop on the roof.

But there was a guy there that said, I have 5 acres you can use, and you can just work on the barn, and you can use it for like 5 years, until you get some money, and then you can start your own farm.

And I happened to meet another guy at a job site, And he had a tractor he was trying to sell and he lived literally like a mile down the road So he's like I'll just trade you some work and you can use the tractor.

So we had land and a tractor We trenched the water line from the neighbor it was probably I don't know 1, 500 feet away And our house was 15 minutes away, which is kind of a, I wouldn't recommend that.

If you're going to start a farm, don't do that.

We had no electricity, or a cooler, or a wash station, or tools, or nothing.

The only thing, we had a cedar and it was like this, you know, 2 handed cedar, we had 2 hands, that was it.

The only thing, we had no debt and our investment capital was approximately $3, 000.

My wife was in nursing school, and we were putting her through nursing school with no loans.

So this isn't like, this isn't a great scenario to start a farm.

So year farm, year 1, not year farm, but year 1, we had 1 farmer's market.

We had a 12 to 25 person home delivery service and CSA.

And We grew up there, so we knew lots of people.

So selling food wasn't the issue, it was growing the food.

It was sold to a local grocery store and 1 restaurant.

And our first year, we grossed right at $2, 800.

We lost our entire tomato crop to blight.

And the season came to a screeching halt in August.

Like we went out there and it was just done.

Market Gardening Part 6

It says, the Lord would have all who are in his service to be learners.

The tillers of the soil, the mechanics, the men who have learned their trades are still to be learning better methods, expanding and enlarging their ideas.

Those who do not think they can learn anything are the ones who can be a blessing in the enterprise.

Those who do not think they can learn anything are not the ones who can be a blessing in the enterprises in which they are engaged.

Those who are willing to learn are wanted.

God is continually leading and instructing.

Basically, God wants us to be ever learning.

That's why we still have these conferences, and we're going to have more.

It helps a lot to minimize labor because there's always new tools and new techniques.

I mean, just as a gritter right here, right?

It's new technology, yet at the same time it's just a wheel.

It also helps when you're learning, you can see future trends.

Like I think online sales is a future trend.

And if you can get on that wagon before everyone else, it's going to help a lot.

You know, people and within online sales, you know, simple things like when you go to Amazon, it remembers your name, has all your card, you can just get on there and do that.

You can do the same thing with your customers, right?

So if they get on your online store, people are used to doing these things now.

So if you offer that, you're ahead of everybody else.

It enables you to specialize, saves time and money, it can increase profitability, there's great resources, and it can be used as a witness.

So these are some different training things that we've been involved with.

I don't know if you guys have heard of Ad Agra, but it's a great conference.

Some of the training that we have done or recommend, I would recommend or say that the best learning training is an internship or apprenticeship.

You know, for some reason we have in this day and age, people that think they can look at a video of how to weld and then all of a sudden they know how to weld, right?

And, or build a go-kart or any of these things, right?

You have to actually get in there and do it.

If you're going to do an internship, I would recommend doing 1 with a successful farm.

If You do 1 with somebody who's not successful, and successful can mean lots of different things, right?

But if you're interning on a farm, and their weeds are this tall, and you're having to dig through to find the squash, and on and on, you're probably not going to be learning the things that you want to learn.

You might be learning the things you don't want to do, but that's not always helpful.

So I've done a one-day intensive with John Martin, and that was well worth it.

We had a drive of 15 hours to go to this class.

We were there for 8 hours and we turned around and drove back but it was worth the time.

I also did a 1 day small farm intensive with Ben Hartman who does the lean farm which is this book which I highly recommend And this class was great because it was in Lincoln, Nebraska.

And they were there for a, he was there for, I think it was a AcresUSA conference.

And the next day he had a class, and I think he had like, I don't know, 2 or 300 people signed up for it.

And the day before, 1 of the local groups asked him to come by.

So he came and it was like $30 and you got a free book and there was like 20 of us there.

So we just got to like ask all kinds of questions and pick his brain.

So I'd recommend, if you can find small classes like this, they're definitely worth it.

The NeverSink online market farm course with Connor Crickmore has been really good.

We did it the first class and I think it was $1, 200, which is a lot.

Now I think they're $2, 000, but it's an online class.

I mean, there's like hundreds of hours of resources.

And some of them you use, some of them you don't.

Obviously there's things that we don't agree with him, but as far as how he marks out his lettuce, right?

We can learn those things and apply them.

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Series

Intensive: Market Gardening

Market Gardening Part 5

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Parts

Market Gardening Part 3

1h 23m

Market Gardening Part 4

53m

Market Gardening Part 6

45m

Market Gardening Part 5

45m

How to Run a Small Business

52m

Sound Doctrine