Grassfed Life

Melissa Ballard joins me to talk about how selling online has helped their business.  She also discusses how she tells her farm story to build and deepen the relationship with her customers. Follow Bluegrass Beef @bluegrassbeef Want to learn more?  My new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store is finally out!!!  Get it on Amazon. 

The first two episodes of Carrot Cashflow will air here on Grassfed Life.  You can listen to the rest of the episodes by subscribing to the podcast. iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/welcome-to-carrot-cashflow-trailer/id1616506647?i=1000555599534 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7yWbI4WFF0ZixQT8kEwukL?si=aa0dfe257c654e04 ---- Farmer Jeremy Tolley discusses why they go above and beyond to service their farm customers.  He shares the extra steps he takes to really make customers feel like they are getting something special.  He shares how he built his customer base using the website NextDoor.   You will also hear his thoughts on why these decided to start aggregating products from other farms. Follow Red Thread Farm @redthreadfarm Our new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store comes out in April! Make farming easier with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow Diego on IG https://instagram.com/diegofooter Follow PaperpotCo on IG https://instagram.com/paperpot

The first two episodes of Carrot Cashflow will air here on Farm Small Farm Smart.  You can listen to the rest of the episodes by subscribing to the podcast. iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/welcome-to-carrot-cashflow-trailer/id1616506647?i=1000555599534 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7yWbI4WFF0ZixQT8kEwukL?si=aa0dfe257c654e04 ---- Farmer Vannah Roddy discusses the benefits of her weekly veggie box.  It's a program that has been successful for her as a farmer while also being something that works for customers.   Follow Encompass Farm @encompassfarm Our new book Ready Farmer One - The Farmers' Guide to Create, Design, and Market an Online Farm Store comes out in April! Make farming easier with the Paperpot Transplanter and Other Small Farm Equipment at https://www.paperpot.co/ Follow Diego on IG https://instagram.com/diegofooter Follow PaperpotCo on IG https://instagram.com/paperpot

Darby shares his thoughts about free-ranging pastured poultry.  Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Darby discusses pink eye and fly control for cows.   Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

Farmer Charles Mayfield talks about how he is turning some "waste" product on his farm into a shelf-stable, value-added product.  Charles will talk about why he decided to pursue this product line and how he is building the brand.  You can support Charles' Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/farrow/the-farrow-project   Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby shares his thoughts on keeping a ram on the farm.   Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby gives advice on farrowing pigs. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby gives advice on selling from your farmstead (not homestead). Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Regardless of what products you are farming, you must have a diversified marketing and business plan for your farm to be successful. Darby Simpson has developed from scratch a “real world”, successful direct marketing approach for his farm thru nearly 10 years of trial and error. In his three hour workshop, he’ll cover all of the basics you will need to successfully sell your products for a profit. The marketing portion will focus on how to build a marketing list, marketing displays, free marketing tools, how to select a farmers market, customer interaction and education, income diversification, working with restaurants or health food stores and more. During the business planning session, he will deal with various business strategies, cash flow management, production cost analysis, economies of scale, setting retail and bulk program prices, tracking expenses, liability insurance, legal protection and more. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby discusses some of the different sales models that he has used on his farm throughout the years.  He talks about how to market meat and communicate its value.  We also discuss the nuances of customer communication. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby gives some suggestions on farming with 40 to 100 acres. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby discusses his thoughts on farrowing pigs on farm. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby answers about the viability of raising Kune Kune pigs. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or  https://www.grassfedlife.co

Chris Kiesz of Yellow Hutch Farm in Minnesota joins us to talk about picking up jobs and moving 2000 miles across the country to start his farm.  How he picked a new market, cash flowing beef, and creative ways to bundle beef. Follow Chris at https://yellowhutchfarm.com/   Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

"How does a REKO-ring work?The ring is based on a closed Facebook group. The producer and consumer who want to take part apply for membership in the group he or she likes. Administrators, often a small group of consumers, approve the application from serious people and thereafter trade can begin. Normally delivery occurs every or every other week, depending on the size of the group. Delivery times are more often shorter than an hour, or producers congregate and the consumers can collect their orders from a number of producers at the same time. A producer writes a post about their product and availability on Facebook and the consumers make orders by comments directly under the post. The producers also write how they require payment." Source You can connect or follow along with Buddha and Sofia of Los Perros Farm on Instagram @LosPerrosUrbanFarming and on the web at LosPerrosUrbanFarming.com.  Check out their recently opened cafe @FlaxMalmo. Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co  

Farmer Luke Groce discusses some of the different breeds he has tried on his farm in his open cell pastured poultry system. Listen to more episodes with Luke Groce at https://grocefamilyfarm.com/pages/the-pasture-raised-podcast   Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

Today's episode is a replay of Luke Groce's new podcast The Pasture-Raised Podcast.  Listen to more episodes at https://grocefamilyfarm.com/pages/the-pasture-raised-podcast   Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

How Fragile Is Your Business?  Could it survive a recession?  How long could you survive at 50% of your current sales?  How much debt do you have?  Today we look at questions you should be asking about the fragility of your business and some ideas on how to make those areas more anti-fragile.   Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

Farmer Debra Bruner joins us to talk about selling to restaurants, partnering with other farms, buying another farm's products, and designing a better website. Connect with Debra on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlecowmountain/ Website: https://www.littlecowmountain.com/   Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby answers about starting a profitable farmstead. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Darby discusses why good brooder management is so important for pastured poultry.  Starting the chicks off to a good start in the brooder helps them excel in the field.  Darby shares a lot of his tips and advice that he has learned over the years in this one. Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby answers about grazing cattle with the rule of thirds. Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Darby discusses how to take advantage of the winter break to plan out your farm season so you can hit the ground running in the spring.   Interested in starting your own farm?   Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses or visit https://www.grassfedlife.co

Darby answers a question about which chicken tractor design is the best? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Darby and I talk about his actual experience trying to set up several fiefdoms on his farm and managing one.  Are they a great or terrible idea?  Darby will share his thoughts on what worked, what didn't and what he wished he did better.  Interested in starting your own farm?   Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Darby answers a question about which chicken tractor design is the best? Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Today I will be sharing some of what I learned as Javan and I each go through our top 5 lessons from 2019. In total 10 simple ways of looking at life, approaching life, and thinking about life that can change your life tomorrow. I look at a lot of these lessons as base principles in an approach to life that very much contradicts the status quo.   None of these lessons require any money or technology to implement. There are no tools or techniques here. It's simply changing your approach.   Follow Javan:  https://allpointsdesign.ca/ https://allpointsdesign.ca/life-design/intro/ Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Jason Contreras joins me to talk about his journey from working in an office in Southern California to battling cancer to moving across the country to homestead with his family in North Carolina.  Jason's story is inspiring and goes to show that you never should give up. Follow Jason: https://www.instagram.com/sowtheland Learn more with Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Darby answers a question about raising cows or sheep when you don't have much land. This BEST OF episode is a replay of a previous episode of the Grassfed Life Podcast - https://apple.co/2m75EVG Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF episode is a replay of a previous episode of the Grassfed Life Podcast - https://apple.co/2m75EVG Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses While American Guinea Hogs are suited to a wide variety of environments and will do better than most breeds on low-grade forage, they prefer lush pastures with clover along with access to minerals, kitchen scraps, quality hay in winter, clean water to drink, access to a muddy wallow, minimal shelter from precipitation and wind, dry bedding, and perhaps a small amount of grain. They thrive where ranging and grazing is a constant activity giving them plenty of exercise. They are minimal rooters when good grazing and adequate feed is available. Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses   Ronan' story is so simple, so common, yet uniquely inspiring; IT IS GREAT.This is a real story from a real person. Starting with 75 chicks eight years ago and growing that to over 10,000 today. Going from the corporate world to full-time farmer; Ronan didn't start as a farmer, he became a farmer.In a world of negativity, there are a lot of people out there doing absolutely great things. People just like you. People that listen to this show. Ronan is one of them. These are the stories that inspire me to keep doing what I do and give me hope in a better future. The change is happening out there. You might not see it yet, but it's happening. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses

Luke Groce and Darby discuss some of the changes that Luke has made on his farm in 2019 - why he made them, how they will affect the farm into the future, and how things continue to evolve.   Join Darby and Luke for the Advanced Livestock Marketing Workshop https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/p/advanced-livestock   Follow Luke: http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/   Interested in starting your own farm?   Not sure where to start? Want to take your farm to the next level? Check out some of the resources we have to offer at https://www.grassfedlife.co   Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses     Luke Groce and I discuss what makes his small family farm work from grazing to economics. Follow Luke: http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/   Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses     Today we'll be going to Louisville, Kentucky to talk to farmer Luke Groce of Groce Family Farm. Luke and his wife Katherine started their farming career in 2009 as a vegetable farm.  An operation that had its successes and its failures.   As Luke said... “I've got a few war stories from the deep trap of doing too many things at the beginning of farming a piece of land with no experience, and then not doing any of it well enough. After treading water, and trying to keep up with all of it for six years, I've decided that CSA farming is a team sport. And I can't be good at, and stay on top of, growing 30-40 things by myself (plus keep up with 40+ pigs). It’s a kind of humbling thing to say, ‘I can't do this well.’ “ It was through some of the failures and struggles with the vegetable operation that led Luke down the path of raising pigs.  Another path that's full of war stories... having tried a bunch over the years from keeping pigs behind two strands of hot wire to experimenting with a unique bulk pork sales program, two things he will talk about today.  Not everything has worked, but some of it has and he's learned along the way continuing to grow his pork operation.   The move to pork was one that might not have happened, but it did, and it was a move that he wouldn't regret because it was a move would bring his family together living on the farm, and one that would save his farm.   Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses     Mark Shepard of Forest Agriculture Enterprises joins me to talk about the future of agriculture. Mark has a pretty clear view on how he thinks the future of agriculture could be.. restoration agriculture style farms dotting the landscape with animals roaming through grasslands dappled with trees, a perennial polyculture system that builds soil instead of destroying it, a system that sequesters carbon instead of volatilizing it, a system that utilizes all of the water that falls on a piece of land, a system restores the land, and importantly a system provides nutrient dense food on scale - bulk calories and makes money doing it allowing a farmer to earn a decent living in the process. These systems could restore the land and rural America. I think it is totally possible, and when you hear Mark speak I think you will feel the same way. This is the future of agriculture. This is probably one of those episodes that you will need to listen to a few times to get every little juicy nugget out of it. Whether you want to farm broadacre or not, this episode is busting at the seams with knowledge and wisdom.   Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses     Running a profitable pig enterprise on just 1 acre, is it possible, and if so, what is possible? What’s that operation going to look like, what are the trade-offs and the costs, and how much could you make? It's an operation which could bring some nice cash flow into a homestead or diversify a farms revenue streams, and the time inputs and profits will surprise you. Because a lot is possible on just one acre.   Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses      

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses     500 baby chicks have arrived at Darby's farm thus beginning the cycle of raising broilers for the season.  With the chicks on farm, we will talk about what the next steps are. We also discuss the importance of choosing the right hatcheries and breed.  Not just to make sure that you receive quality birds, but also to make sure that you receive quality birds in the shortest shipping time possible.  Darby will talk about introducing the birds to pasture and how started with the Salatin style chicken tractor and then evolved away from that.   And we talk about how Darby plans his successions of broilers. There is a lot of good advice in this one for those just starting out and those with experience.   Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode.   Darren Doherty of Heenan Doherty and Regrarians joins me from Australia to talk about the Regrarian philosophy that he has put together and how it can be used to regenerate landscapes and farming enterprises.The system deals with everything from the work done on the land to how you can synergistically stack multiple enterprises in the same system, and ultimately how to market and distribute those products to the people that actually want them. The system emphasizes participating in all 4 legs of the farm income stool - production, processing, marketing, and distribution. This allows you to be a market price setter, not a price receiver.

John Paul Smajda joins me to talk about how he increased sales at their farmers' market by over 300%.  From display to customer interactions, to pricing, all of the tips in this one are practical ones anyone could implement. Connect with John: smajda@mac.com Learn more about the Grassfed Life Insider: https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider

Charles Mayfield talks about how he built and set up his buying club and how he interacts with his buying club members.  Charles has built his farm on this sales model and it has been the primary income model for the farm since Day 1. Follow Charles: https://www.instagram.com/mayfield.pasture View the Grassfed Life Courses at https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses 

Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

This BEST OF GFL episode is a replay of a previous episode. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses     Will Harris III from White Oak Pastures joins me to talk about his inspirational journey of converting his one-time factory farm to a beyond organic farming operation that celebrates polyculture and closes the loop on wastes. His farm closes the loop on sustainability through rotational grazing, solar power, and the recycling of all of his various "wastes" from his animal operations. All of the wash water, bones, and other animals "wastes" end up back on the land, building the soil over time. Will's story is an inspiration and another example of what is right in modern-day agriculture. Grassfed Life Courses: https://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses  

In Part 2 of this series farmer, Luke Groce talks about the results from selling turkeys by size category (not specific weight) last fall.  He also covers taking deposits on orders and balancing cash flow.  Luke discusses wholesaling turkeys and other strategies to move more product. Follow Luke: http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/  View the Grassfed Life Courses athttps://farm-business-essentials.teachable.com/courses 

Luke Groce talks raising turkeys in an open cell grazing system, selling turkeys in a different way, and what to do with turkeys you don't sell.  Stay tuned next week for Part 2 of the mini-series when we follow up with Luke and see how it went. Follow Luke: http://www.GroceFamilyFarm.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grocefamilyfarm/     Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.  Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider  

Depression is an issue that affects over 20 million Americans, and the farm space is not isolated from that.  Today Farmer Chris Gilbert joins me to talk about the topic of depression and some of his experiences with depression.   Follow Chris: https://www.instagram.com/gilbertsgrapesiowa/   Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.  Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider  

Regardless of what products you are farming, you must have a diversified marketing and business plan for your farm to be successful. Darby Simpson has developed from scratch a “real world”, successful direct marketing approach for his farm thru nearly 10 years of trial and error. In his three hour workshop, he’ll cover all of the basics you will need to successfully sell your products for a profit. The marketing portion will focus on how to build a marketing list, marketing displays, free marketing tools, how to select a farmers market, customer interaction and education, income diversification, working with restaurants or health food stores and more. During the business planning session, he will deal with various business strategies, cash flow management, production cost analysis, economies of scale, setting retail and bulk program prices, tracking expenses, liability insurance, legal protection and more.   See the full 3.5-hour presentation video and slides for the full presentation by becoming an Insider. You'll also get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.  Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider

Steve Gabriel, author of the book Silvopasture joins me to talk about all things silvopasture.  Why you would want to do, why you wouldn't want to do it, and what's possible.  Silvopasture has the potential to increase farm resilience by giving you forage when grasses are dormant and it may give you the ability to turn marginal land unsuitable for traditional pasture into a valuable food source. Learn more about Steve, his online course and his book at: http://www.silvopasturebook.com   Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.  Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider    

Adam Trost joins us to talk about some of the challenges he is facing growing his farm business on the side. We cover topics such as building bulk sales programs, growing sales, and where to focus your efforts when you have limited time. Learn more about Farmer Adam Trost at www.bentarrowacres.com   Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.  Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider

Gabe Brown joins me to talk cover crops, no-till, and building soil that can sustain lush pastures.  All topics from his new book Dirt to Soil. Connect with Gabe: BrownsRanch.us SoilHealthConsultants.com    Get exclusive content each week with the Grassfed Life Insider.  Learn more at https://www.grassfedlife.co/insider

Social Media: Learn practical tips to leverage this powerful and often misunderstood marketing tool with farmer Paul Greive of Primal Pastures.  This talk will teach you to focus on generating farm revenue while avoiding the popularity contest trap. Learn from Paul at the Growing Your Farm Business Mastermind Workshop - https://www.grassfedlife.co