From mikerock at mhtc.net Fri Jul 1 12:29:35 2016 From: mikerock at mhtc.net (Mike Rock) Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2016 11:29:35 -0500 Subject: [Market-farming] wholesale garlic prices? In-Reply-To: <5DC49284-92C5-4C8B-81C3-E3663442CB43@frontiernet.net> References: <4922.70.193.63.153.1463857796.squirrel@mail.gloryroad.net> <2195.70.208.140.150.1467318994.squirrel@mail.gloryroad.net> <5DC49284-92C5-4C8B-81C3-E3663442CB43@frontiernet.net> Message-ID: <4a6ac60b-0900-525a-d2f5-a55b36e64acf@mhtc.net> Rivka, Thank you for asking. I have the same question and a bumper crop of garlic this year. Mike --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From mikerock at mhtc.net Tue Jul 5 08:45:03 2016 From: mikerock at mhtc.net (Mike Rock) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 07:45:03 -0500 Subject: [Market-farming] Garlic planters Message-ID: <1da956ba-211d-d762-aa4d-4d347158e2df@mhtc.net> Does anyone use a mechanical planter that just drops seed cloves into a trench without regard to 'pointy end up'? Can anyone tell me if orientation of the clove is of concern except for really high end, perfect garlic? Some say that the bulb will be distorted if planted indiscriminately. At sorting time can those bulbs be simply put in the 'not quite gourmet' pile and be used for other grades? Just looking at a garlic planter on ebay, probably made in China, but sold from the Ukraine. Mike --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From organic87 at frontiernet.net Tue Jul 5 08:55:51 2016 From: organic87 at frontiernet.net (Road's End Farm) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 08:55:51 -0400 Subject: [Market-farming] Garlic planters In-Reply-To: <1da956ba-211d-d762-aa4d-4d347158e2df@mhtc.net> References: <1da956ba-211d-d762-aa4d-4d347158e2df@mhtc.net> Message-ID: <5D1FA230-F3D2-4E00-B1D3-20B92C6AA329@frontiernet.net> On Jul 5, 2016, at 8:45 AM, Mike Rock wrote: > Does anyone use a mechanical planter that just drops seed cloves into a trench without regard to 'pointy end up'? Can anyone tell me if orientation of the clove is of concern except for really high end, perfect garlic? Some say that the bulb will be distorted if planted indiscriminately. At sorting time can those bulbs be simply put in the 'not quite gourmet' pile and be used for other grades? I don't use such a planter; but I've occasionally accidentally planted a clove upside down. I can tell at harvest that I've done this, because the bulb is visibly upside down in comparison to the stalk: you can see how the stalk started downwards, then curled around to do a uturn and head up out of the ground. If you're topping all the garlic, rather than braiding it, the weird stalk won't matter; but every bulb I've found like that has been smaller than the ones around it, often quite noticeably so; presumably due to the garlic having to take extra energy just to get out of the ground. So while the individual bulbs can indeed be used for other grades, if the cloves are just being dropped randomly I'd expect a much smaller overall crop. -- I never saw any answer to my question about bulk garlic prices. Anybody got anything? Again, small scale bulk, 5+ lb at a time to restaurants and/or small scale retail. -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think Fresh-market organic produce, small scale -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mikerock at mhtc.net Tue Jul 5 09:11:37 2016 From: mikerock at mhtc.net (Mike Rock) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 08:11:37 -0500 Subject: [Market-farming] Garlic planters In-Reply-To: <5D1FA230-F3D2-4E00-B1D3-20B92C6AA329@frontiernet.net> References: <1da956ba-211d-d762-aa4d-4d347158e2df@mhtc.net> <5D1FA230-F3D2-4E00-B1D3-20B92C6AA329@frontiernet.net> Message-ID: <2a901053-0e95-489b-e905-20d3c2674af0@mhtc.net> Rivka, Thank you! That pretty much confirms what I have read. Having carefully placed all my cloves pointy end up I never saw the odd result. This fall I will plant several upside down and mark them to check. I just looked at a bunch of machines and various garlic sites, very good information out there but the planters all seem to just plunk the seed down randomly. The hand planted photos almost all show folks orienting the seed properly, so I guess that is the best way. Thanks again. No information on pricing from me, I'm looking for the same answer. A bumper first crop this year, a few thousand row feet, six inch spacing, single rows 42" apart. Horse machinery spacing. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From kakerby at aol.com Tue Jul 5 09:29:01 2016 From: kakerby at aol.com (Kathryn Kerby) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 06:29:01 -0700 Subject: [Market-farming] the perennial question: when does it make sense to hire employees? Message-ID: <1fe001d1d6c1$32939520$97babf60$@aol.com> Good morning all. This year we've been wrestling (again) with the question of whether to hire on some help. There are certainly days and tasks where I could sure use it, no doubt there. We have some logistical issues which would make interns and so-called WOOFERs difficult to provide for housing-wise. I've been mulling the idea of hiring some high-school kids for the summer just to help me out part-time, but that invariably leads me to questions about pay, training, liability, reliability, etc. Bottom line, I'm wondering if the hassle factor is going to outweigh any benefits. For those of you who ride that edge between no employees and 1-2 seasonal employees, how do you make the call on if/when it's really warranted? For those of you who have decided that you don't want employees, I'd be curious to know how big an operation you have, ie how much planted ground and/or how much livestock (if that's not too nosey), and how you've found ways to get your to-do list done without the help. So far I've been focusing a lot on efficiency and tools/equipment/methods which minimize the hands-on time for any given task. We're also trying to change our farm layout so that I'm not walking as much to/from just to get repetitive things done. Frankly we're considering scaling back rather than hiring on. But I wanted to consider all the options. Thanks all. Kathryn Kerby Frogchorusfarm.com Snohomish, WA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From etienne at lejardinduvillage.ca Tue Jul 5 13:23:49 2016 From: etienne at lejardinduvillage.ca (Etienne Goyer) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 13:23:49 -0400 Subject: [Market-farming] Garlic planters In-Reply-To: <2a901053-0e95-489b-e905-20d3c2674af0@mhtc.net> References: <1da956ba-211d-d762-aa4d-4d347158e2df@mhtc.net> <5D1FA230-F3D2-4E00-B1D3-20B92C6AA329@frontiernet.net> <2a901053-0e95-489b-e905-20d3c2674af0@mhtc.net> Message-ID: <577BED25.2020009@lejardinduvillage.ca> I'm in Qu?bec, that's a long way from you guys. Around here, garlic sells from 10 to 15$/lbs (CAD). I would not discount for qty as small as 5 lbs, but if I where to, 8$/lbs is the lowest I would go (for a really good customer who buy a lot from me). On 16-07-05 09:11 AM, Mike Rock wrote: > Rivka, > Thank you! That pretty much confirms what I have read. Having > carefully placed all my cloves pointy end up I never saw the odd > result. This fall I will plant several upside down and mark them to > check. I just looked at a bunch of machines and various garlic sites, > very good information out there but the planters all seem to just plunk > the seed down randomly. The hand planted photos almost all show folks > orienting the seed properly, so I guess that is the best way. > > Thanks again. > > No information on pricing from me, I'm looking for the same answer. A > bumper first crop this year, a few thousand row feet, six inch spacing, > single rows 42" apart. Horse machinery spacing. > > > --- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > https://www.avast.com/antivirus > > _______________________________________________ > Market-farming mailing list > Market-farming at lists.ibiblio.org > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming > > Market Farming List Archives may be found here: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/market-farming/ > Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with your email > address and password): > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/market-farming -- Etienne Goyer - Le Jardin du Village http://lejardinduvillage.wordpress.com "Changer le monde, une carotte ? la fois" From pam at twinoaks.org Tue Jul 5 13:24:01 2016 From: pam at twinoaks.org (Pam Twin Oaks) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 13:24:01 -0400 Subject: [Market-farming] mechanical garlic planter Message-ID: Mike Rock asked: "Does anyone use a mechanical planter that just drops seed cloves into a trench without regard to 'pointy end up'? Can anyone tell me if orientation of the clove is of concern except for really high end, perfect garlic? Some say that the bulb will be distorted if planted indiscriminately." ?Years ago, I read an article by someone who planted garlic from the seat of a tractor with a handmade jig involving a length of plastic pipe. Here's what I say in my slide show Growing Great Garlic (which you can find on www.slideshare.net) ??Hardneck - plant pointy end up! Hardneck cloves with the points down suffer a 30% reduction in yield. Softneck cloves can be planted any way up, so are easier for mechanical planting. ?If you can?t squat, or you are planting from the seat of a tractor, use a 3? (1 m) length of pipe to drop the cloves into the furrows. Dropped from that height, through a tube wide enough for the garlic to tumble end-over-end, the cloves will land the way they need to be. ? About the allium leaf miner, have you tried asking Charlie Eisner of Bug Tracks fame? He's a leaf miner specialist. https://bugtracks.wordpress.com/ Pam Dawling Author of Sustainable Market Farming, Intensive Vegetable Production on a Few Acres sustainablemarketfarming.com facebook.com/SustainableMarketFarming -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From mikerock at mhtc.net Tue Jul 5 14:31:09 2016 From: mikerock at mhtc.net (Mike Rock) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 13:31:09 -0500 Subject: [Market-farming] mechanical garlic planter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thanks Pam. That explains a lot. The garlic machine planting videos might be showing soft neck varieties being planted. Most were Slavic language videos. I had wondered about a drop tube aiding correct orientation. Now I'll have to check where in the world the soft neck versus the hard neck varieties are planted and just look at the planting method, hand vs. machine. Just research I guess, since we are planting hard neck here. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus From organic87 at frontiernet.net Tue Jul 5 14:33:27 2016 From: organic87 at frontiernet.net (Road's End Farm) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 14:33:27 -0400 Subject: [Market-farming] mechanical garlic planter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I'm pretty sure I've seen the upside-down effect on softneck also. Maybe it depends on the particular strain? -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think Fresh-market organic produce, small scale -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: