If you’re excited to be planning your new flower farm this year or planning a new year for your existing flower farm, take a look at the TGW on-demand workshop, The No-Till Micro-Scale Flower Farm, created by Jonathan and Megan Leiss of Spring Forth Farm.
This instant download course is a mighty powerhouse of knowledge for any flower farmer at any stage in their development. Some of the most powerful tools we use on our farm to succeed in growing and selling our flowers at a profit have come from this workshop.
You might be tempted to look at the title and see, “no-till” and “microscale farm” and immediately dismiss that it’s not for you or your farm. That’s what I did. The word “micro” to me implied small thinking and small results. Micro is smaller than small – who dreams and plants and grows flowers to sell at that level? Nor were we a “no till” farm. To me, no till was for people who couldn’t afford a tractor yet or had field problems and couldn’t run a tractor to get things done.
Boy, was I wrong!
Jonathan and Megan Leiss teach something more powerful than just using no-till farming techniques to grow flowers profitably on a small scale. What they teach is how to fit your farm into your life and grow beautiful flowers on a sustainable scale that works.
The no-till farming techniques I learned in this course are tools in a toolbox that I can’t work without now. Two years ago we had thousands of dahlia tubers to get into the ground but non-stop rain, tractor problems and labor issues made it impossible to till and build beds. Money was at stake and the clock was ticking.
That’s when I remembered The No-Till Micro-Scale Flower Farm workshop. I went back into the part of the course where Jonathan and Megan teach their no-till methods of preparing, building and flipping beds. After much time crying and worrying, I took a leap of faith and used the knowledge they teach and planted our dahlias into two expiring beds of snapdragons without a tractor or machine. That fall, we had one of the most productive beautiful crops of dahlias our farm has ever produced and sold. That experience taught me that I had been approaching no-till farming techniques with an “us” vs. “them” approach as well as my “we don’t do that here” attitude.
I now believe no-till techniques are a tool that should be in every farmer’s toolbox, regardless of how you farm and your farm’s size. Believe me when I say that no-till farming techniques will save your farm in difficult seasons, especially farming through climate change with its extreme weather conditions. That is what this workshop taught me.
The same can be said for Jonathan and Megan’s micro scale farm approach to growing and selling cut flowers. They use a laser-like approach to maximize their resources and efforts, producing a profit at the highest possible level of efficiency. Did you know that they now take summers off to spend time with their growing family? They can do this because they have figured out how to make their farm profitable while making it fit in with their family and their values. Their farm works for them, not the other way around! In addition to no-till techniques, Jonathan and Megan teach how they approach the business side of their farming and share how you can make the most of your resources. Micro no longer means small to me now – it means mighty!
In addition to sharing farming techniques and advice on business planning, Jonathan and Megan have ingenious ideas and techniques on how to manage materials like netting, row cover, silage tarps and anchor bags. Their technique for handling silage tarps from start to finish is worth the entire price of the course! I am not kidding when I share this. In the past, setting up silage tarps on our farm and getting them off the field and into storage brought out my worst and ugliest personality traits. No more! Silage tarps come out of storage, get set up and put away without any drama now that I know how to handle them. It’s all thanks to Jonathan and Megan Leiss!
So I encourage you to check out The No-Till Micro-Scale Flower Farm workshop today. Use this course to plan your upcoming farming season and make your flower farm vision one that is your own and that works into your life right now. Sustainable and profitable flower farming both professionally and personally is something we can all agree on!
If you’d like to learn more about this powerhouse farming couple check them out in the podcast and blog links below.
#97: Flower Colors For Your Market with Jonathan Leiss
#100: Jennie Love’s Review of The No-Till Micro-Scale Flower Farm
#102: Andrew Mefferd reviews The No-Till Micro-Scale Flower Farm On-Demand Workshop
#108: Clubhouse Chat with Jonathan & Megan Leiss of Spring Forth Farm
#209: Growing Sunflowers with Jonathan Leiss
Article in Growing for Market: “The Evolution of No-Till Practices on Spring Forth Farm”
Jonathan’s article in Growing for Market, “Consider putting all your eggs in one basket when selling flowers”
About The Author: Anne Gettys Morgan is our Customer Service Coordinator at The Gardener’s Workshop and the head grower at Franklin Flower Farm in Macon County, NC. Anne can be reached at info@thegardenersworkshop.com.
