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   Sarah Taber (sarahtaber@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jan-2024 09:34:08 JST Sarah Taber

   CHORE TOUR 2024 day 3: vegetable farms!

   We started the day pulling carrots & spinach with Anne & Aaron Grier at Gaining Ground.

   Harvesting vegetables that are in/on the ground, aka "Ok everybody, assume the position!"

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     Sarah Taber (sarahtaber@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jan-2024 09:34:06 JST Sarah Taber

     in reply to

     The flip side is vegetables also need a lot of labor per acre. That's why farms with larger acreage tend to shy away from them.

     The goal with veggie farms is getting sales & field operations tight enough that the $/acre and labor/acre match up for a livable wage.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Sarah Taber (sarahtaber@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jan-2024 09:34:07 JST Sarah Taber

     in reply to

     Believe it or not though, the crates eventually do get full!

     Had a good time talking farm labor & wages with the owners, and how they build their farm around generating a livable wage for staff. They hire most of their crew through ATTRA (https://attra.ncat.org/internships/).

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Sarah Taber (sarahtaber@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jan-2024 09:34:07 JST Sarah Taber

     in reply to

     Vegetables bring lots of $/acre. That makes them very popular in Appalachia, where farmable land tends to be in very small patches.

     You can make a living on veggies on a small plot* where nothing else would bring enough revenue to pay bills.

     *with the right experience & preparation, because nothing in ag is a given. but it *can* work on a small plot, unlike commodity corn & soy which definitely won't pay bills on small plots.

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
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     Sarah Taber (sarahtaber@mastodon.online)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jan-2024 09:35:11 JST Sarah Taber

     in reply to

     The logistics of growing strawberries are similar to most veggies. So for field mgmt purposes, strawberries are a vegetable.

     Here, Nate at Darnell Farms shows off a trial where they keep strawberry plants in the ground for 2 years instead of one. More berries, less plastic!