Quantities of production......

I don’t have any info to help you out. I did just finish reading a “mni-farming” and it has information about selling produce. Says you can make $10,000 off 1/4 acre of land (or something like that) (plus food for the family)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I’ve seen several books like that. Some channel on the tube had a family in Pasadena doing something very similar. maybe time for the bookstore.

I formulated my question a little better I think.

I’m kinda looking at a formula that can go along with a business plan type thingy. I should be able to figure if I can sell produce at (arbitrary amount) $1/pound, then, Required income divided by $$/pound = Pounds Required to Produce.

I’m assuming pounds required to produce would just take experience over time to figure out how much I can grow of various things. And different things sell for different amount by weight. Around here things seem to go by the till. Red potatoes are about $3.00 per till (I think they are usually the pint tills.) Same with broccoli. But Reds weigh alot more than the broccoli.

Maybe I should estimate the number of tills I could fill with each plant, estimate what each till would sell for, and go from there.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

this is the closest info I could find in the book:
1500 square feet of properly managed garden = $$8,000. ($5/square foot)

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Guess I would never make a garden farmer.All this math has my head spinning. (lol)

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

I like the concept of $/sq.ft. That helps alot.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

glad it helped.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT IT COSTS AS LONG AS YOU GET SATISFACTION FROM GROWING IT, HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IT IS NOT COVERED WITH CHEMICALS AND YOU GET TO APPRECIATE THE DIFFERENCE IN FLAVOUR THAT FRESH PICKED PRODUCE OFFERS .
REGARDS MIKE

-- MIKE MILTON COMMON U.K.

Actually, I think that is what one might expect to reap from a garden.

While I would grow a garden anyway…my goal is to garden full time. In which case I have to take into account the business side.

I guess you could say that it would be an endevour to not only help myself but maybe share the benefits with others.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

I have quite a few neighbors that buy my eggs and chickens. I also sell produce from the garden via a small stand at the front of the driveway and through my “job” I take produce to various suppliers who take away my excess produce/eggs/chicken.

The market here might be a bad example but I suspect that most of them are starving. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Spend the 10 bucks, get a table and bring as much as you can, see what sells, what doesnt, and decide from there.

-- Central northish Ontario

You know, you could always try to sell produce withing your network (to friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, etc.) until you made $10. Then invest that $10 into getting the table. If you make $10 at the table, you can re-invest it and do it again.

I’m simplifying a bit (you’d probably want to put something towards your seeds, inputs, labor, etc) but you get the idea.

-- -Jerrica --Kansas City, MO --zone 5

It’s not so much the cost of the table. It’s buying an actual table, shade cover, making signage, etc. plus spending half a saturday there. Which may be a case for just selling as you said. Maybe then I can get a handle on my production and it’s associated value.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

Take it one day at a time. One step at a time. Do what you can, now. I started my business 5 years ago. I started out selling Hostas and Perennials. I just started hitting the farmer’s markets and weeding out the ones that weren’t profitable. I just wing alot of things. I dont get all the fancy stuff. Tents, YES!!! DH talked me into growing veggie plants, and the left over plants went into the garden to sell as produce. I took what I had, hoped to sell out. If I didnt… then next time I took less. If I did, then next time I took more. When I had enough requests for certain things, then the following year, I grew that. If some things didnt sell…. then I stopped producing it. Each year I have planted more seeds to keep up with the demand. I went from tilling up most of my yard to plant the produce, to renting an acre of field next to me, to buying 4 acres. Alot of the things I grow… it’s what I know. And when people ask me “What are those green beans?” I explain… their what my mama grew… their what I know is good… so it’s what I grow. And they try them, and come back for more. :) Like I said, take it one step at a time. Grow what you know. Wing it…. you learn as you go. You learn what days you will sell more… you learn what doesnt sell… you learn what will sell. Most of all…. Just enjoy!!! You come across ALOT of different types of people at the markets. There are quite a few that you will want to tell “where to go”. But then there’s the others who make it all worth while. I LOVE going to the markets and meeting the people. Especially when they come back and tell me how pleased they are.

I think this has kinda straightened my thinking out now. It’s like having an overwhelming list of things to do. No matter what you do, you can never seem to get everything done on the list. Because lists of things to do never go away. And you never know what you can get done at any given moment so your priorities are always changing.

I think I’ve been trying to figure out how to meet some imaginary production goal by plugging numbers into my formula. I can’t possibly know what and how much I can sell until I’ve done it. So once I’m actually doing it and start getting my numbers, then I’ll know where I’m at. I forgot that you can’t know which way to go if you don’t know where you’re at.

Thanks all. I think my brain cloud is gone now.

(o.k…..o.k…...I still have a formula for it. But, this time I think instead of value = production, it’s production = value ….. whether it’s cash or otherwise.)

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist......Zone out....(USA 5)

NOW your thinkin!!!! And always remember, in this business…. sometimes ya even forget where your at!!! LOL :) Just have fun with it!