YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED – 081619
Curtis Stone
Aug 16
gelton – 03:28
Irrigation for a one acre plot. Looking to do something similar to Steadfast where you have the option of overhead and drip.
How many hydrant type faucets would you use (all else being equal with “normal” pressure)? I was thinking four.
Where would you place them on a rectangular shaped plot?
What type of overhead sprinkler would you use and where would you place those? I have wobblers everywhere else but for this plot would rather use the traditional rotary/pulsating type since they cover more space than a wobbler.
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Jordan1235 – 06:03
(feel free to paraphrase my question, as it’s got a bit of context around it)
Hey Curtis, we are starting a new farm next month in Australia, and will be scaling it up to 1.25 acres right off the bat, with the potential of going bigger in the long term. You may remember visiting our current half acre farm, Aotearoa Market Garden, in Northland, New Zealand just as we were starting out, after I came down for your course at Jodi’s place a few years ago.
With a few years of success with our current farm and a bit more confidence, we are investing a lot more in the new farm and will be starting out with a compact tractor, bed former, flail mower, flame weeder some terrateck stuff (wheel hoe, rakes etc), a 5 row jang, QCGH etc. and I’m keen on leaning those messy, labour heavy tasks down to practically nothing. The task I dislike most on the farm is pulling beds and moving tarps. So we’ll flail mow everything. I think with the higher hp on the tractor and a gruntier mulcher we can hopefully break crop residue down even finer than what I see you guys managing with the BCS at Steadfast. I see that the Vitruvian guys aren’t using tarps and it appears that like Eric, they are tilling the residue in, but then just leaving it fallow and cultivating regularly. Can you expand on that any more? Have you seen any other examples of, or do you have any idea if we could just mulch, rotary how (deep or shallow?) and then cultivate weekly with either the flame weeder or shallow tillage to have a clean bed within a couple weeks for re-seeding? I get that water retention may be an issue, especially in the dry climate we are moving to, but I’m assuming this is probably what the conventional guys are doing all the time. I’m not too worried about the weed pressure, mainly just about the crop breaking down enough that I will have a clean enough seed bed to run the Jang through in a few weeks.
Thanks man, loving the content. The scale of farm you are hitting lately is right where we are at and I’ve really been able to refine our farm plan from binge watching From the Field. It’s pretty exciting to be starting off with a clean slate and a decent budget after all the innovation and tools that have been coming out over the last few years.
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bcolby89 – 16:28
Hi Curtis-
I’m new to market gardening, and I’m in the process of planning out a plot of land for next year. I grew and sold microgreens last summer, but simply didn’t have enough room in my previous home to grow anything beyond them indoors. We moved into a new home with about an acre of land, but I’d like to start as small as I can.
Your youtube vids in the past recommend starting off smaller is better- my question is, can you start off too small? I like the idea of keeping the garden manageable with cherry tomatoes, arugula, salad mix/Salanova lettuce, and kale given my novice experience. These seem like approachable crop choices, but still provide a variety of challenges I can tackle in order to get better over time.
Of course, thank you for all you do. I’ve been enjoying watching all these videos on From the Field, and hearing everyone’s stories makes me excited to start my own. Take care!
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luca.arghir7 – 19:54
Hello Curtis!
Please talk a little about how to have unfrozen water on the farm in places where it can get -20 C (-4 F).
You did a great job with From the Field!
Thanks!
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william roberts – 23:01
Hi Curtis.I am not able to find any info on the different heads for the wobbler sprinklers.I am in Wales on really low mains pressure and want to purchase some for irrigation but with so many different heads to chose from I want to make sure I get the right ones.Can you let me know which ones you use if you use them or any link you know of for info.Many thanks William
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Jordan – 26:59
Hi Curtis,
Love your work! I was wondering if you could answer my questions/offer some advice maybe even in your weekly Q and A segment or by email either is good!
I have finally acquired about 1/3 of a acre to start farming! I live on the Gold Coast Australia in a sub tropical climate I am totally new to it! I have grown veggies at home for a while! I am looking at starting small while working on the side and test the waters! My questions were:
1) bare minimum infrastructure/tools I should get/need to get going and growing!
2) recommended veggies to start with I don’t want to try grow too many straight away and spread myself thin!
Appreciate your time
Cheers
Jordan
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Neil Calliou – 32:00
Good afternoon! I was just wondering where to find any info on pricing of microgreens? Thank you so much!
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Alex – 33:54
Subject: Garden Symphylan & wireworms
Hey Curtis do you have any strategy for dealing with Garden Symphylan and wire worms?
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John Baker – 35:50
Hey Curtis,
I have been following you for about a year now and want to say a big thanks for the incredible content you have shared. I have no farming experience but I’m sure if I completed one of those ancestral searches I would find generations of farmers in my background because I have an absolute love for working outside and they thought of growing food is a definite natural high for me. Admittedly, I have a lot to learn but feel like for a brand new novice , like myself, that with your abundance of knowledge you have shared I can find success at running a small market farm. With that said, I have not jumped in as of yet but I am ready to make that leap. I do have years of business experience in my background and have had a lot of success running a few different businesses, including a restaurant. My questions are simple and straightforward: 1) how would a brand new person, like myself, know if there is a market for the potential crops I would grown in my area (Huntsville, Alabama) prior to investing the time and money into starting my farm 2) what advice would you give and older person (I’m 47) to be successful long term?
Thanks for listening,
John
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