Creative Destruction - Honest Conversations About Farming, Business, And Life

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/11 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support THIS EPISODE IS A REPLAY OF PREVIOUS PUBLISHED EPISODE. What if you could gross $100,000 per acre in a small sustainable agriculture operation? You could make a good living and/or you could afford to pay someone a decent wage. If you can gross roughly $2.50 per square foot, per year, then that translates into a gross revenue of $100,000 per acre, per year. How can permaculture techniques be used to accomplish that goal? Chris Young of SoCal Shrooms and Closing the Loop joins me to talk about just that. His goal is to show that you can gross that $100k so you can hire one person to work an acre of land and pay them a good wage to work it. He aims to achieve this by reducing input costs and stacking revenue generators, all while improving the quality of the land and producing a high quality product. Key Takeaways from this Episode: -Oyster mushrooms have a nice advantage of having a quick turn around. They can start crea

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/130 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today I am talking to someone who tried to change the world at a young age, when her world was changed right underneath her. The her is Hannah Eckberg. She’s an entrepreneur and one of the founders of the new Permaculture Magazine North America. And like some of the other entrepreneurs that I’ve had on the show, think Erik Ohlsen, she as entrepreneur, whose past was heavily shaped as activist. Hannah was essentially born into an activist role. It’s almost as though activism chose her, versus her choosing it. Because at an early age an oil and gas pipeline was constructed through the ranch where her family lived. A pipeline that carried toxic chemicals. And it was dropped on them. At young age she got to see firsthand the fight between David and goliath. The big corporate interest versus the small landowners. Her parents opposed the pipeline, It wasn’t something that they wanted, but that didn’t matter at the end of t

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com takes on the question: I want to produce most of my own food. Is that crazy talk? To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today we will be looking at 17 different things that you think you might need or might need when you start your business. Even though we will be looking at each of the items on this list through the lens of someone in their first 6 months of farming, this information extends to established business owners. Maybe you have been in business for a while and you are thinking about redesigning your website. Should you? And does that matter? Our analysis and methodology for breaking down each of these items can be applied to many aspects of business at any time, regardless of how old the business. There are a lot of distractions that come into play when you are running a small business, hopefully this episode will help you focus on the distractions that matter, and forget the ones that don't. Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support

Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question - How do you transport your chickens to the processor? To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.

The Yachats Farmstore – Building connections between local farms, our ecosystem, community. Presented by Nathan Bernard at PV3 in March 2016. Hear more A5 talks at permaculturevoices.com/a5.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/129 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today's story is about someone on a journey to become a farmer. It's a great story, but it's not the typical story that we hear about in today's world. The world today loves the magazine headline of the successful person that seemingly got there overnight. Today we'll zoom in on that overnight success and take a look at what it takes to be successful – the process of becoming successful. It's the story of farmer Seth Stallings, from Tecumseh, OK - a town with a population of just $6000 people. It's a town where Seth is starting up a pastured poultry business. Which by the way is in a state with no USDA approved slaughterhouses and no sources of organic or non-gmo feed. Not your ideal market to start a farm based business in. But it's one where Seth is making it work. He's found a niche, and making a go of it. Like he said, "No one can teach you how you are going to do it when you get to your unique scenario, y

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com shares 7 Challenges and Concerns of Homesteading with Kids. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support It seems like a lot of people that get into farming and starting their own business are busy, all the time. Is that a good thing? Is busy a sign of success or is busy a sign of planning? I think it's more the later, than the form. "To me, 'busy' implies that the person is out of control of their life." - Derek Sivers Some of you might here that and think, what, that's crazy. I am in control and I am busy. Are you really? After all, what is busy in the first place. Is busy really a think or is busy a state of mind or is as Derek Sivers says the inevitable result of losing control and poor planning? If you consider yourself someone who's busy a lot think about that. Are you busy because you actually have a huge list of urgent and important things to do, or are you busy because you are just doing a lot of stuff. Outside of the Emergency Room most of us are more likely are the latter. Not many of us have a lot

Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com answers the question - How do you know how much to feed your broilers? To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.

Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd11 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support This is Part 2 of the Ben Hewitt series and it is inspired by Part 1, the interview with Ben about his book Home Grown. If you missed that one and want listen to it, you can listen to it here. For today's episode, I want to expand upon some of my thoughts form the interview and the book. My goal for this episode was to make it a though provoking one. It's me dancing between idealistic life and reality. Let's call it realistic idealism. How can we realistically create a system that is close to ideal as possible? A lot of this is me thinking a loud and hopefully getting you to really think about you life and how things are. There are a few central issues to this episode - time meaning how precious it is and us as adults dealing with raising the next generation of kids; maybe through the K-12 public school system, but maybe not after hearing this one. Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoic

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks what to do when you spouse isn't into the idea of being a homesteader. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Most people don't get into farming to get rich. Does that mean that you can't get rich farming, no it doesn't. But if you only motivation to farm is to get rich, then you better buckle up because you have rocky road ahead. Because when it comes to amassing monetary riches the road hasn't historically been paved by good soil and a tractor. That's not to say that there aren't rich farmers, because there are, but it's not the norm. If are getting into farming only for the money, to get rich, then you better think about how you are going to do that, and why you are going to do that. If money isn't your only motivator for getting into farming, then you better think about why you are getting into it, and how you are going to do it. Either way it won't be easy. But either way can make you rich, it all comes down to, how you define rich. Today's episode is a look beyond the bank account. It's a look at all of the

Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com gives his thoughts on growing hops (for beer) commercially. To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john.

Learn more about this episode at permaculturevoices.com/cd10 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today’s show centers around Ben Hewitt’s book Home Grown; a great book that has had a profound effect on my life. It's one of those books that I couldn't put down and at the same point it was hard to read because I got so lost in thought reading it. It's a rare must read category book for me. It should appeal to the homesteader, the wannabe homesteader, the parent, the soon to be parent, and the millions of people who are feel like the system did them wrong by sending them off on the wrong path in life destined to a life of track homes and cubicles. It's a vicarious look into the life that many of wish we could live, but don't... The subtitle of the book is Adventures in Parenting off the beaten path, unschooling and reconnecting with the natural world. Ben describes it as his sharing of stories, "They are not merely stories about all we are learning but also about all we are unlearning and about

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks how he prioritizes projects on his homestead. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/theurbanfarmer Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support What if you are already selling at farmers markets, but you don't have enough of a diversity of products to design a CSA around? If that's the case one option might be create a collaborative CSA. The collaborative CSA allows you to expand your crop variety with competing with other farms and without diluting down your efforts on your farm. You grow what you grow best in your context, and source everything else from other farmers who are better setup to grow those specific products. It creates a win/win situation for you and the other farmers. Everyone grows what they grow best, and in theory sales go up. It's also a win for the consumer because they now have concentrated access to more local products, without having to sourcing these producing individually from each farmer. Aggregators, collaborative CSA's and food broker models, are these models perfect? No. But if they give you options. And if you are

Farmer John Suscovich of Camps Road Farm and FarmMarketingSolutions.com talks about the Three Books Every Farmer Should Own live on stage at PV3. The Three Books: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber - http://amzn.to/20QPuZk Holistic Management by Allan Savory - http://amzn.to/1Vrvg8V The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman - http://amzn.to/20QPd8W To learn more about John and see all of the ASK John episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/john

Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/128 Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support Today I am talking to Dave Sewak about his new book Mycelial Mayhem. Dave has spent his whole life around mushrooms. It all started when he was a young boy and tagged along with his grandfather on his mushroom foraging expeditions. Dave then went on to become a mushroom forage himself and has spent nearly 2 decades cultivating mushrooms as a hobby and as a business. His book helps combine the technical knowledge with the business side of things give you a basic introduction into what the small scale mushroom business is all about. As you will here, it's not a business for everyone, but it is a business that stacks nicely onto na already existing enterprise. And like all businesses it's not always as easy or fun as it sounds on the surface. In today's show we'll will address these points and discuss some of the considerations to take into account if you want to start a mushroom business. We will also talk about i

Homesteader Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com talks what he wish knew before becoming a homesteader. To learn more about Justin and see all of the ASK Justin episodes visit permaculturevoices.com/justin. Support the show at permaculturevoices.com/support.