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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

TBF 002 :: Farm Updates, Farm Do-Overs, and Hard Lessons Learned

TBF Show 002 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download
I don't know what your playground days were like, but at Orchard Hill Elementary School we played a lot of kick-ball, basketball, and football during recess. If you were as skilled at those sports as I was you probably have called for a do-over or two or ten in your day! There have been plenty of times in my short farming life that I would have liked to be able call a do-over on. Unfortunately I'm not able to redo some of the mistakes I have made on the farm, but hopefully you can learn from them and not make the same ones I did! Specifically I want to share three things that I would do differently if I would have known then what I know now.
  1. Where's the Beef ... err ... I Mean No Beef Please!
  2. A Little More Learning Would be Nice.
  3. Develop a Marketing Mind!
My "Hard Lesson Learned" this week deals with one word ... "NO". That is a word that wasn't really in my vocabulary when I started the farm and because of that I caused lots of problems for myself and for my family. In my excitement to get up and going to the level of my dreams I tried to do too many things too quickly instead of going slow and saying no when I needed to say no. Saying "no" in the beginning is one of my most offered pieces of advice to other beginning farmers and it is something I wish I would have said a lot more!
The Beginning Farmer Show If you enjoy the show and are an iTunes user you can always subscribe to The Beginning Farmer Show by following the link. And ... if you really enjoy the show I would very much appreciate a rating or comment in the iTunes Store. (FYI ... I am working on submitting the show to other podcast services).

I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...
(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)
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5 comments:

  1. Chris9:19 AM, March 20, 2013

    I really enjoyed listening to the podcast while doing chores this morning. So many of your lessons ring true for me as well as I look back on the last 5 years of my life!

    I also loved the bumper music in this episode, and the whole thing just came across really well. Congrats!

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  2. Mary Ann9:21 AM, March 20, 2013

    I'll go over to I Tunes later today to listen to the latest podcast... keep up the good work!

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  3. David9:34 AM, March 20, 2013

    Hi Ethan. My wife found your wife's blog last week and sent me a link and now I'm enjoying your blog and pod casts. I really like your do over and hard lessons segments. We are just getting started in farming this year and its great to read blogs of people a few years into the process. Take care and keep up the good work.

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  4. Bill McLaughlin12:07 PM, March 21, 2013

    I just listened to your podcast and already I can't wait for the next one.

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  5. Kat @ Where the Sidewalk Ends5:49 AM, June 25, 2013

    Hi Ethan, I love your podcast and have been listening to it from the beginning on. You mention that you'd post a booklist that you would recommend for (super) beginning farmers. I've already read most of Joel Salatin, and would love other recommendations! Sincerely, Kat in Brisbane, Australia

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