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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] vegetable washing/processing floor plans

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  • From: Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] vegetable washing/processing floor plans
  • Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:04:43 -0500

I would keep grain milling separate from anything involving water.  Milling grain does not require a kitchen, even food grade (that may change form state to state, I do not know).  If you are doing grain, you need to worry about air handling.  Milling can be very dangerous if you do not clean the air.  Cornmeal seems to produce the least amount of dust/air particulate and buckwheat and rye seem to be the worst.  The dust will cover everything.  You will be milling daily or weekly (you will not mill huge batches of grains and then keep the flour.  Its too much trouble and customers want it fresh and it is THE benefit of having grains milld locally...FRESH.

So, having all these dust, a combination of proteins and carbohydrates for the most part, combined with moisture from greens and root crop washing is an excellent mold builder (and who knows what).  :)

If your grain area is dry and remains that way then you have the luxury of maintaing that area in a different manner (vacuum and sweeping) while in the leafy green house you can hose things down.

Keep everything as isolated from each other as possible.

Our grain building is also our honey house.  So I have to admit that I am breaking that rule.  Honey I extract twice a year MAYBE three times and the rest of the year the equipment is not used so you can see where you might cut corners here.  My bottling area is separate from the milling/extraction area.

This year I am building my packing shed.  Its 12'x24'.  The roof is done and I am milling lumber for it all this next week.  Once I get a concrete pad poured I'll start build out.  At one end is going to be a 9'x12' coolbot and the other 12' area is going to be three work areas, one of each side...a greens/leafy dunk area with two stock tanks and a spin area and then on the opposite a root spray off and dunk area.  These two parallel work lines are capped with a stainless steel table where items are bagged.

The roof top drains into a 1200 gallon tall tank that is used to water the herb garden.  I am still trying to work out what to do with gray water since the writing is on the wall for anyone producing for more than a roadside stand or FM.  I am thinking about using it to water grapevines and root crop and then compost the sludge.

What do others do?

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106




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