Richard Wiswall owns and operates Cate Farm with his wife, Sally Colman, in Plainfield, Vermont. Cate Farm has sold produce through a CSA, farmers markets, and wholesale accounts. The author of Organic Farmer's Business Handbook, Richard is known for his solid approach to the business of growing vegetables. Richard and Chris dig into business development, cost of production and marketing, and ways of thinking about your farm as a way of making a living.
Linda Halley, Farm Manager at Gardens of Eagan in Northfield, Minnesota, talks about the logistics and management challenges of growing transplants for other farmers before digging in to the nuts and bolts of how Linda has learned to get real results from her employees, many of whom operate at a high level in the organization.
How do we define “community” in Community Supported Agriculture? Patty Wright and her husband, Mike Racette, have owned and operated Spring Hill Community Farm in western Wisconsin since 1992. In this episode, Patty shares some very practical methods that she and Mike have used to foster member-to-member connections and effectively engage with a core group to improve the farm and its impact.
Farmer John Peterson of Angelic Organics Farm in northern Illinois talks scale, farming time, and weed control with Chris. John is famous for his starring role in The Real Dirt on Farmer John, and this interview really reflects the unique but very practical and caring approach that John brings to his farming practice.