Just wanted to say in the modern, oversaturated world, it is SO encouraging to hear you express concern at things that cost a few hundred dollars. Because that is a big expense to consider for me, and apparently lots of other people.
Non profit farms- My wife and I are blessed to be able to run an organic farm in northern Michigan. Our farm is NOT non-profit. Every year we donate between 12,000-15,000 lbs of fresh veggies to our local food pantries free of charge. Of course the food pantries and their underserved patrons love the free top quality organic produce. On the other hand I have heard some grumblings about the food pantries not having the need to purchase left over and surplus food from local market farmers. I can understand the benefit for local market farmers of having some means to recoup their costs of leftover and surplus produce. Oh well. I think it is very rare to be able to create a venture that is an absolute win for everybody. So, like most things, non-profit farms, and giving away food for free, has probably both good and not so good aspects depending upon who you are in the picture.
I run a microgreens greenhouse and two acres of raspberries. All year long i'm the biggest donator to 2 local food banks. In Canada they give us receipt for our income taxes. Here, how it works for food banks, most food would go through supermarket then an organism that the distributes old unsold food to food banks. This means nothing gets there fresh and produce and greens is quite rare in winter in food banks except radish/potatoes/onions. I would be surprised any food bank clients would be taken away from other microgreens growers client list.
As with anything else in farming, no magic bullet seeder exists. I've had great success with the Hoss seeder planting sunflowers, buckwheat, mustard and radish. I transplant most of my production crops (flower grower) but I have no reason to believe it wouldn't perform well with many other seeds aswell. Price falls between the Earthway and Jang. It's more accurate than the Earthway and a little less accurate than the Jang. But it's SOOOO much easier to use than the Jang. Comes standard with the disc openers for under $600, too. Can't see the seeds fall when in use it but you can dry run it up on a table by spinning the rear wheel and observing if it's dropping seeds correctly before use.
We have a Hoss but have had a tough time with it with seeds not feeding properly and not really being great for soil. Interesting to hear someone with a much different experience.
@christophergardens curious what you mean not great for soil? I think the most common mistake with the Hoss is wing nut tension. Wing nut has to be tightened in a very narrow sweet spot.
ok, pet-peeve of mine, admittedly pedantic, but Jang Automation is a South Korean company, and it rhymes with long. Spent a lot of time in Korea. Good video, love the channel.
I have the same 3 seeders(Earthway, Jang and 4-row) and agree with your points. The adjustments on the Jang are a total pain and, as a result, I never change them. I just use different rollers. I also used the paperpot transplanter and, jeez, is that thing a real POS. Never used a more pain-in-the-ass, frustrating tool in almost 20 years of growing. Definitely NOT worth the money.
I love that Ben Hartman has gone to teaching using the jang with 2 settings, using the same 2 gears and changing the spacing by placement of those 2 gears. He then can fine tune adjust the spacing by changing from a 12 to 24 hole roller, as those are easier and quicker to adjust than the gears.
perfect timing, thank you.. looking for our home growing (about 108m2 + pots of veg space, looking to further expand) where hand planting is getting old very quickly, here in the UK we can't seem to get the earthway (unless we import).. there is the Cresco which looks similar to the Earthway. Thanks for guiding me away from the "pinpoint seeders" (I had looked at them), our "soil" (clay) isn't up to them, yes, lots of compost going on the beds but the soil seems to eat the compost and turn it all too goo. Re losing employee "investment". I work in the electronics industry, I once worked for a major company where I benefitted from expensive training. I had to sign a "I promise not to just scarper" agreement to receive that expensive training. It meant I had to pay for some of the cost of the training if I left, tapered over 2~3 years. Given my training was worth several thousand pounds I didn't feel that was a problem. Just something for you to think about.
I have the earthway for bean seeds and the Jang for carrots and radishes.I would use earthway for beets also, but the germination on them was so crazy I went to cell trays and plants which is my preference for planting beets. Radishes are a 7 day succession and wow, the jang just makes me smile every time i use it. If you plant carrots the jang is just so perfect on spacing you will be blown away compared to earthway or hand seeding. It is well worth every penny. Lettuce goes by transplants for me, and many other seed like mellons, cucumbers, zucchini, and squash has spacing that to me makes sense to just hand plant. The jang is heavy, but get an ATV with a garden cart, put your jang, tools, seeds, notebook,and water in the cart and jang weight and mutiple trips to the garden becomes a non issue.
We just got a jang and I'm testing out 3d printing rollers. But depending on material you are looking at maximum material costs of 50 cents. But the cost to print is complicated because a 3d printer is not a small investment and while probably negligible electricity costs something too. If you already have a 3d printer or have a friend with one I think 3d printed rollers are much cheaper and you have the ability to customize them significantly outside of what is normally offered commercially.
QUESTION: Is there a resource out there for finding out if your seed variety is able to be sold? I want to start selling seeds but am afraid of the possibility of being sued.
I'm hopefully starting my market garden this upcoming spring. Seriously considering the JP-1 with the double disc. I'd honestly want the JP-5 for the efficiency, but you can't use the double disc with it. Plus, the versatility of the JP-1 being able to fit into smaller fill-in areas almost equalizes the downside of the extra trips down the row for larger/ denser bed planting projects, IMO
For the price I don't think you can go wrong with the earthway. I have a large Jang model that Johnnys no longer sells in their catalog and it works well but for a smaller setup right now i love my Earth way. A combination between the jang and earthway would be market gardening heaven.
I started with the Earthway, then the six row from Johnny's but neither was worth the price. The Jang is absolutely worth the extra cost and will pay for it with 2-3 beds of carrots.
In my mind, if you can't compete price wise with the typical not for profits hippies at your local farmers market, you probably won't fare well either against large scale operations or supermarkets. Every kind of prics competition is fair to the clients, if you can't compete, you have 3 choices : find another product/niche that is underserved, get good at making great produce at cheap prices or get out of the business.
I have also heard from a farmer friend who on a whim started taking sunflowers to market along with their organic produce. They didn't do any research, and were selling them very cheaply (as there was nearly zero labor cost). The existing flower sellers were (politely) upset for the undercutting. While i am down with competition, I think small-scale growers especially can encourage and educate one another in order to cooperatively build a good market. That farmer has since upped their price to be more market-appropriate, and now flowers make up about half their sales and they have done great things in their area supporting other flower growers.
@@Jaycalsunyeah this is called a cartel in economy. If he can make sunflowers for cheap, why not give it for cheap to the clients? One thing that is important to understand is that competition is often not between sellers at the same market, but between markets themselves. If you sell too high as a group, your market will slowly fade. In quebec i've tried the "high end" markets and the free markets ones. I can tell you that there are about 10-30 times if not more clients in the free markets ones. If your goal is to sell to the brooklyn trustfund kids at sky high prices go for it! But from what i have seen, the farmers that last a long time, that are generational or just sell for at least 10y and make a good living, they all try to compete with the cheapest supermarket prices rather than with higher end boutique pricing of cartel markets.
I totally agree on the seed.. climate is everything.. but you CAN to some degree manage your use of the climate (like he mentioned possibly starting earlier or later for seed runs) cheers!
I am all for these non profits if they are doing what they claim. Lots of ones out here in CA are greenwashing themselves and they don’t pay living wages and overwork their staff, it feels like a tax haven for donors or something. It doesn’t add up for sure.
Just wanted to say in the modern, oversaturated world, it is SO encouraging to hear you express concern at things that cost a few hundred dollars. Because that is a big expense to consider for me, and apparently lots of other people.
#word
Non profit farms-
My wife and I are blessed to be able to run an organic farm in northern Michigan. Our farm is NOT non-profit.
Every year we donate between 12,000-15,000 lbs of fresh veggies to our local food pantries free of charge.
Of course the food pantries and their underserved patrons love the free top quality organic produce.
On the other hand I have heard some grumblings about the food pantries not having the need to purchase left over and surplus food from local market farmers.
I can understand the benefit for local market farmers of having some means to recoup their costs of leftover and surplus produce.
Oh well. I think it is very rare to be able to create a venture that is an absolute win for everybody.
So, like most things, non-profit farms, and giving away food for free, has probably both good and not so good aspects depending upon who you are in the picture.
I run a microgreens greenhouse and two acres of raspberries.
All year long i'm the biggest donator to 2 local food banks. In Canada they give us receipt for our income taxes.
Here, how it works for food banks, most food would go through supermarket then an organism that the distributes old unsold food to food banks. This means nothing gets there fresh and produce and greens is quite rare in winter in food banks except radish/potatoes/onions.
I would be surprised any food bank clients would be taken away from other microgreens growers client list.
I love the regional non profit idea! It feel like calling it a farmer’s cooperative would be an accurate name.
I love ALL No-Till Growers videos!
As with anything else in farming, no magic bullet seeder exists. I've had great success with the Hoss seeder planting sunflowers, buckwheat, mustard and radish. I transplant most of my production crops (flower grower) but I have no reason to believe it wouldn't perform well with many other seeds aswell. Price falls between the Earthway and Jang. It's more accurate than the Earthway and a little less accurate than the Jang. But it's SOOOO much easier to use than the Jang. Comes standard with the disc openers for under $600, too. Can't see the seeds fall when in use it but you can dry run it up on a table by spinning the rear wheel and observing if it's dropping seeds correctly before use.
We have a Hoss but have had a tough time with it with seeds not feeding properly and not really being great for soil. Interesting to hear someone with a much different experience.
@christophergardens curious what you mean not great for soil? I think the most common mistake with the Hoss is wing nut tension. Wing nut has to be tightened in a very narrow sweet spot.
Maybe its just user error but regardless of soil prep we could never get the Hoss to seed at the depth we wanted.
ok, pet-peeve of mine, admittedly pedantic, but Jang Automation is a South Korean company, and it rhymes with long. Spent a lot of time in Korea. Good video, love the channel.
I have the same 3 seeders(Earthway, Jang and 4-row) and agree with your points. The adjustments on the Jang are a total pain and, as a result, I never change them. I just use different rollers. I also used the paperpot transplanter and, jeez, is that thing a real POS. Never used a more pain-in-the-ass, frustrating tool in almost 20 years of growing. Definitely NOT worth the money.
I love that Ben Hartman has gone to teaching using the jang with 2 settings, using the same 2 gears and changing the spacing by placement of those 2 gears. He then can fine tune adjust the spacing by changing from a 12 to 24 hole roller, as those are easier and quicker to adjust than the gears.
perfect timing, thank you.. looking for our home growing (about 108m2 + pots of veg space, looking to further expand) where hand planting is getting old very quickly, here in the UK we can't seem to get the earthway (unless we import).. there is the Cresco which looks similar to the Earthway. Thanks for guiding me away from the "pinpoint seeders" (I had looked at them), our "soil" (clay) isn't up to them, yes, lots of compost going on the beds but the soil seems to eat the compost and turn it all too goo.
Re losing employee "investment". I work in the electronics industry, I once worked for a major company where I benefitted from expensive training. I had to sign a "I promise not to just scarper" agreement to receive that expensive training. It meant I had to pay for some of the cost of the training if I left, tapered over 2~3 years. Given my training was worth several thousand pounds I didn't feel that was a problem. Just something for you to think about.
I have the earthway for bean seeds and the Jang for carrots and radishes.I would use earthway for beets also, but the germination on them was so crazy I went to cell trays and plants which is my preference for planting beets. Radishes are a 7 day succession and wow, the jang just makes me smile every time i use it. If you plant carrots the jang is just so perfect on spacing you will be blown away compared to earthway or hand seeding. It is well worth every penny. Lettuce goes by transplants for me, and many other seed like mellons, cucumbers, zucchini, and squash has spacing that to me makes sense to just hand plant. The jang is heavy, but get an ATV with a garden cart, put your jang, tools, seeds, notebook,and water in the cart and jang weight and mutiple trips to the garden becomes a non issue.
Always good to experiment- if it works out great and if it fails then you can always learn from that too.
My favorite seeder is still my fingers! LOL Def need to upgrade this coming season! Thanks for the excellent guidance!
That’s all I’ve been using I got a little broken rake that is like a hook I use that sucker to make my furrows
We just got a jang and I'm testing out 3d printing rollers. But depending on material you are looking at maximum material costs of 50 cents. But the cost to print is complicated because a 3d printer is not a small investment and while probably negligible electricity costs something too. If you already have a 3d printer or have a friend with one I think 3d printed rollers are much cheaper and you have the ability to customize them significantly outside of what is normally offered commercially.
Interesting, the Haraka planter is produced less than a 100 miles from me. If I ever get to growing my own veggies I will have to give it a try.
When are the seed book pre-orders going out?
QUESTION: Is there a resource out there for finding out if your seed variety is able to be sold? I want to start selling seeds but am afraid of the possibility of being sued.
I'm hopefully starting my market garden this upcoming spring. Seriously considering the JP-1 with the double disc. I'd honestly want the JP-5 for the efficiency, but you can't use the double disc with it. Plus, the versatility of the JP-1 being able to fit into smaller fill-in areas almost equalizes the downside of the extra trips down the row for larger/ denser bed planting projects, IMO
For the price I don't think you can go wrong with the earthway. I have a large Jang model that Johnnys no longer sells in their catalog and it works well but for a smaller setup right now i love my Earth way. A combination between the jang and earthway would be market gardening heaven.
Started with Earth way, eventually attached (jimmy rigged) several together. Hope to try others.
Hi Jesse
Is there a digital copy of your book that i can purchase?
Yes though only through amazon! Publisher won't let us sell the digital copy 🤷
@notillgrowers ohh! Found it! Bought it 🎉 wish me luck for my strawberry farm this season. My first venture into small scale farming.
I started with the Earthway, then the six row from Johnny's but neither was worth the price. The Jang is absolutely worth the extra cost and will pay for it with 2-3 beds of carrots.
From your intro: I'm also a baby nerd! Stopped at 3 kids but obsessed with babies. Better than therapy ha ha
What is your best beet seeder?
I've kinda got it digure out w Jang and Moneta, but had a few misses too
❤❤❤
In my mind, if you can't compete price wise with the typical not for profits hippies at your local farmers market, you probably won't fare well either against large scale operations or supermarkets.
Every kind of prics competition is fair to the clients, if you can't compete, you have 3 choices : find another product/niche that is underserved, get good at making great produce at cheap prices or get out of the business.
I have also heard from a farmer friend who on a whim started taking sunflowers to market along with their organic produce. They didn't do any research, and were selling them very cheaply (as there was nearly zero labor cost). The existing flower sellers were (politely) upset for the undercutting. While i am down with competition, I think small-scale growers especially can encourage and educate one another in order to cooperatively build a good market. That farmer has since upped their price to be more market-appropriate, and now flowers make up about half their sales and they have done great things in their area supporting other flower growers.
@@Jaycalsunyeah this is called a cartel in economy.
If he can make sunflowers for cheap, why not give it for cheap to the clients?
One thing that is important to understand is that competition is often not between sellers at the same market, but between markets themselves. If you sell too high as a group, your market will slowly fade.
In quebec i've tried the "high end" markets and the free markets ones. I can tell you that there are about 10-30 times if not more clients in the free markets ones.
If your goal is to sell to the brooklyn trustfund kids at sky high prices go for it! But from what i have seen, the farmers that last a long time, that are generational or just sell for at least 10y and make a good living, they all try to compete with the cheapest supermarket prices rather than with higher end boutique pricing of cartel markets.
I totally agree on the seed.. climate is everything.. but you CAN to some degree manage your use of the climate (like he mentioned possibly starting earlier or later for seed runs) cheers!
Make farming employees trade like soccer players? That would be “Messi” you missed that one huh Mr. Dad Jokes 🙃
Cedars? Oh yeah, that kind a seeder
I am all for these non profits if they are doing what they claim. Lots of ones out here in CA are greenwashing themselves and they don’t pay living wages and overwork their staff, it feels like a tax haven for donors or something. It doesn’t add up for sure.
Go to seeder: my hands, proven to be most precise 😂