{"id":2716,"date":"2019-03-08T09:06:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T15:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2019-03-08T09:30:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T15:30:04","slug":"when-you-hire-a-farmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/?p=2716","title":{"rendered":"When you hire a farmer….."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

You know what you pay the skilled professionals who make your life easier?\u00a0 An accountant?\u00a0 Plumber?\u00a0 Electrician?\u00a0 Doctor?\u00a0\u00a0 This isn\u2019t really a trick question.\u00a0 We willingly pay these people to do jobs for us that we choose not to do (or don\u2019t know how to do) for ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0 When we pay these people, we feel we know what we are paying for \u2013 the service is defined and usually short-term.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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But when we buy food, we don\u2019t realize we are actually hiring a farmer to do for us what we cannot or choose not to do for ourselves – every day.<\/em> \u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t think it\u2019s a professional job?\u00a0 Here\u2019s what you are hiring a farmer to do for you \u2013 add extra if you expect the work to be done without reliance on chemical fertilizer or pest control.\u00a0\u00a0 If you see a * beside the number, it indicates that overhead prices for hardware, tools, utilities, seed, and even land are also involved with the labor.\u00a0 Labor costs double (at least) if your farmer is also providing meat \/ eggs \/ honey.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1.* Research specific varieties to provide best flavor and nutrition with respect of our climate and soil types.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Find seed sources from companies vetted for quality and purchase seed \/ starts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

2. * Perform soil tests.\u00a0 Analyze results and plan for supplementation to assure nutritional status of vegetables.\u00a0\u00a0 Find , purchase, and apply appropriate organic and mineral supplements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3. * Plan for crop rotation, fertilization, water requirements and plant compatibility.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

4.* Install and maintain irrigation system \u2013 or water daily by hand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

5.* Prepare planting beds<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

6. * Control weeds<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

7.* Start seeds in greenhouse and tend for 4-10 weeks before —<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

8.* Plant starts and seeds in the garden<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

9. * Protect growing crops from freezes, insects, deer, rabbits, gophers and neighborhood dog packs<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

10.* Build and maintain washing stations and cool rooms for cleaning and temporary storage of harvest<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

11.* Harvest and clean produce<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

12. * Maintain marketing channels (like paying fees at Farmer\u2019s Market, maintaining state licenses, etc.) to give you access to the produce<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

13. * Transport produce to distributor or consumer<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

14. * Develop and distribute marketing materials including recipes and educational materials<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

15. * “Other unspecified jobs as needed…”\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thank you for encouraging and supporting your local farmers \/ ranchers \/ beekeepers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And, you’re welcome. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know what you pay the skilled professionals who make your life easier?\u00a0 An accountant?\u00a0 Plumber?\u00a0 Electrician?\u00a0 Doctor?\u00a0\u00a0 This isn\u2019t really a trick question.\u00a0 We willingly pay these people to do jobs for us that…Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,36,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sca","category-garden","category-random","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}