What I do for money

And how much I make as a small-scale farmer

I’m a big fan of transparency, and when I was starting my small farm business was aided a lot by other people being really up front about how their set-up works for making money. So with that in mind, here’s a quick look at what I did yesterday — for example — and how much I made.

First of all, this first season, I’ve experimented a lot with offering different products at different prices, all to the same handful of small restaurant clients. That’s kind of another subject in itself, but the thing I really want to emphasize is that you have to try and experiment and adjust. No one else’s formula will work exactly for you (and sometimes even my formula doesn’t exactly work out).

Anyway, the basis of my business at this time is two main things: romaine lettuce and microgreens. Now, I planted my lettuces with the best of intentions.

But let’s play Find The Lettuce:

Pretty well-hidden, no? Here’s another more obvious/less extreme shot:

Okay, we can at least see where it is here. The point I want to make is that “good intentions” don’t get you very…