Black Dog Farms

Get ready Twin Falls because here we go again. After a banner year last year, we are getting ready for an even better crop in 2012. 

Due to overwhelming demand for our product last year, we have decided to go to a full share only program. We will sell 15 full shares at a price of $500 for the entire season. Starting every week, just as soon as we start pulling fresh veggies out of the garden, our shareholders will receive a custom made farm box, chock full of good stuff. As an add-on, we also give you recipes tailored for that weeks bounty. 

Since 2005 we have personally delivered each and every farm box right to your door, and unless the price of gas goes too high, we fully intend to again this year. Also, we will take Visa and M/C this year, in addition to good old cash.

Call or email Kevin ASAP to get on the list for 2012.

     After an extremely busy summer, my family and I just wanted to take a few minutes and thank everyone who participated in this years CSA program. Although the month of May and even part of June looked pretty dismal due to the never ending rain, which we do not usually experience here in southern Idaho, the warm spring made its way here towards the end of June and then we went right into summer.

    Our small farm had a banner year which seemed to have made all of our shareholders very pleased. The amount of food that was being loaded into their boxes every week was by far the most we have ever seen. On top of that, we are still looking at about another solid month of late season crops. The rain over the last few days should not slow things down too much. 

      For next year, we are removing the half share as an option. Due to an overwhelming demand for full shares, and the amount of possible customers that I turned down this year, we are going to move forward with one simple "full share" plus a few fruit or egg options. We will still feature our late season shares and our winter greenhouse shares.

     If you want to get on what is now our waiting list, please email me and I will add your name for next year.

     Once again thanks to everyone who participated.

The big talk these days is when, not if, the price of gas will hit $5 per gallon. Take a quick look at the financial report this morning and you will see that the big 5 is probably not that far off.Yikes.

Next to the price of gas going up, the next biggest type of commodity that could cost all of us way too much money is food. And the price of food is going the same direction as the price of gas. Nowhere but up.

At the rate that both food and gas are increasing in value, or perceived value if you will, the 5 dollar gas may really get to us, but can you imagine if the price of corn hits...

One dollar per cob?

One dollar for a corn cob. How about a buck for a cucumber or a squash. I went to the store yesterday and found that at the current ask price, tomatoes are about 50 cents each. Apples are about the same.

One dollar corn will be here before we know it.

One acre will produce enough vegetables for about 30 shareholders. That is what I have found anyways. I devote one acre to only 15 shareholders merely because I try to under promise and over deliver, but I easily pull enough out of the ground to sell 30 shares. Next year I am going for the full 30 shares, and still plan on delivering heaping amounts to my shareholders.

If I sell a full 30 shares at my price of $350- $19.44 per week (seems to be about market rate here in my area, but low for some of you), my gross would come out to $10,500. Not bad for one acre. Increasing my acreage to 5 would yield $52,500.

I have read where some share type growers are actually producing enough for 40 shares per acre, and getting $600 per share. That is $24,000 per acre. Very nice results.

By adding a high tunnel a grower could manage to extend the share season by a month or so, depending on the area. In my case, if I can extend the share season from 18 weeks to 25, I can add $19.44 per week to the share cost, bringing the total to $486 per share. In this case, my gross would increase to $14,582 per acre for the season.

I am adding what I call "late season shares" to the mix this year. I am selling a share for $250- $31.25 per week for 8 weeks of August and September goodies. I am setting the price higher for a variety of reasons, and have already sold 3 of the 10 experimental shares. I will be using a 1/4 acre plot to start with and am quite sure that I can make this work. In this case, 10 shares at $250 will gross $2,500, which equates to $10,000 per acre.

Even at only 18 weeks, the regular shares plus the late season shares will gross  $13,000. By using the high tunnel and increasing the timeline for shares, my farm will gross $17,000. Not bad for 1.25 acres, 30 regular shares and 10 late season shares. 

Got any suggestions for me? I still consider myself a newbie after 5 years.

Go to the grocery store and take a look at the produce. Lots of stuff that looks a day or two old at best. Now read the little signs that the store puts next to each vegetable or fruit. Product of Mexico. 

How long does it take to get a bunch of celery from Mexico to my town in Idaho? The stuff has to be picked, and then packaged or processed, and then delivered. I say a few days at best.

What kind of rules are there in Mexico that govern the growing of crops? I have a guess, and it is not good.

Buy local and know your farmer. Know how they grow the stuff. See the crops come out of the ground.

Join a CSA today!

Does anyone out on this site do an custom growing for a local brewpub? I know that many micro breweries are always looking for organic or natural wheat and barley.

I just sent some emails out to a whole host of them in my area, introducing myself, my crops, and my style of growing. In addition, I asked for their feedback on both what they need and approximately what price they pay for it. 

While I am not sure if I have what it takes to grow for them, I sure would like to gain some information that will help my operation increase in size and scope.

If any of you have any ideas, feel free to email or call me. Thank you in advance.

Last year I needed to increase my revenue a bit. My shares were maxed out and due to weather, there was not much to sell either direct or at a market. I started a local food guide.

The guide that I started was nothing fancy. Basically it is a compilation of local food growers, wineries, brew pubs, beekeepers, and a few other goodies thrown in.  The first one that I did was almost a spreadsheet with phone numbers and websites included. I passed it out at the farmers market and to my shareholders.

I followed that up with a more elaborate pamphlet style booklet. I wrote up a small article about a few of the producers and included a color photo of their place or their product. Obviously with their permission. I also added a spot for advertisements, even though I had only two. I made sure and asked anyone taking the publication to mention it when they purchased.

My third version was almost a magazine. I did color photos, and sold some advertising. Each grower was listed for free, but could buy a full or half page color ad. Of the sponsors, I did a full spread interview and photo session on them. I got 1500 of those out to the public.

I am working on my fourth version now. Besides growers, I have taken some ads from unrelated businesses that see a good advertising deal. Also I am including a classified section in the back. Nothing huge yet, but some extra revenue.

If any of you want to start something like this, please email me and I will help you to get started.

I read where some in the press are upset that the royals in England are going to be eating Quail eggs at the big upcoming wedding. The journalists are mad because eating quail eggs is kind of an upper crust thing to do I guess. Above the common person or something.

My family must be royalty or something because we eat quail eggs too. In fact, we even have our own quail. We must be special.

Quail eggs are supposed to be better for you than chicken eggs. Higher in antioxidants and omegas. I do not know if that is true, but they do taste really good.

For our CSA members, we have a quail egg add-on that will allow you to eat like a queen.

After all of the snow of the past few weeks, I though winter was coming back. Cold, gray, and dreary  have been the watchwords of the day lately. The thought of even being outside much was not very entertaining, at least to me.

Yesterday we woke up to some high clouds and a pretty good dose of sunshine. A little more motivating for someone who is going to spend the day outside.

Today is going to be even warmer and sunnier here in southern Idaho. I may even start turning some dirt this morning.

Here it is April 11th, and my shares are all sold out. Now for the easy part, growing the stuff. While I am not sure how easy that will be this year, I do know that many more people called me than I could accommodate. Kind of a sign of the times I guess.

In that vein, I am opening up another section of my farm to what I am calling late season shares. It will probably be a 4 to 6 week share program that will include just the August-September stuff like Melons, Corn, Peppers, etc. Price point for a late share is going to be $125. The weekly shares will be smaller than a regular full season share.

I have already run the idea by many of those who called too late for a regular season share and they are all for it. 10 shares should do the trick. Kind of a neat way to introduce more folks to a CSA and hopefully, get them into the full program next year.

Next up: Starting a winter share program.

Any input would be appreciated.

Lately I have been wondering if the tree needs to be put back up around here. For the last 4 mornings I have awakened to a pretty steady snowfall. Kinda hard to envision the fact that in a mere 6 weeks (42 days) I am planning to start making some deliveries. 

The good news though is that by mid afternoon everyday, the snow has melted and the ground is clearly visible. I am ready to turn the ground and start sowing the cool weather stuff in about 2 weeks. Come on sunshine.

How is your weather?

Quick, when you think of Idaho what comes to mind? 

My wife and I were just talking a day or two ago that we do not even know a potato farmer ( or a skinhead for all of you who went that direction). Here we are living in the middle of ag country in the state that is well known as a potato growing champion and I can't name even one potato grower. Kinda funny.

I do however know some farmers who grow other types of crops. And one of the topics they continually discuss is how much their fertilizer costs have increased this year. A few are reporting that they will be up around $150-$200 per acre for fertilizer. Interesting.

And perplexing to a guy like me. You see, I use no fertilizer on the food that I grow. OK, I  might mix up a little compost including some chicken manure early in the season.  Sure sometimes my stuff does not look as pretty as theirs.Often I fight a problem bug or two on my crop, but I still manage to grow lots of food.

And I will put mine up against theirs in a blind taste test any day of the week.

I saw myself in the mirror so the fact that I exist is proven to me, at least. I digress.

Growing food for my kids or yours is serious business. Who wants their kids to eat some chemical that was designed in a lab to kill things. It does not make sense.

At Black Dog Farms we use no chemicals. Our motto is dirt, water, sun. Kind of like the Olympic motto only goofier. But it works for us.

Seriously though our food is nutritious, healthy, and tasty. The fact that we feed it to our kids should be a good sign for you.

To get a good deal on produce this year, call or email me ASAP. I have only one share left.

Last year I started a special section for direct sales only.  The area in which I grow this stuff is set off from the shareholder area, and although it contains a lot of the same stuff, also produces some unique crops.

To start I went to the grocery stores in my area and figured out what produce, besides fruit, was fairly expensive to buy. Then I took that list and decided of those which I could produce in semi abundance in my garden.

What is expensive in your area may be different than in mine, but you get the idea. Next figure out how much you can sell a set quantity of each particular vegetable for. You should be able to easily beat the store price. If not, then you may have to resort to more of a "gourmet" type version of the veggie.

Before you even plant a seed in the ground, make a list of who would buy produce in abundance. I found that  great niche in small cafes and, crazy as it may seem, seniors housing. Explain your product and your price. Leave a price quote. Tell them you will bring a sample as soon as you pull some out of the ground. Let them know that you can keep them in whatever it is for the entire summer. Finally, I usually offer a set price for the summer.

And then the biggest business builder of all:

Under promise and over deliver!

Our kids had a few friends coming over on Saturday. I told them dinner was on me. My special beef enchiladas. The kids and their buddies always love them. Off to the store I went.

I digress a moment.

We always buy a side of beef from a friend who happens to grow organic beef for his living. Good stuff. The problem last Saturday was that we were out of ground beef and that is what I needed for the recipe. Sure I could grind up another cut but figured a quick trip to the store would be faster and easier.

To the store I went. In the meat department I find the ground beef, but something is amiss. On the label the meat is listed as coming from Mexico. I ask the butcher if he has any from the US. After all, I live in the US. I prefer my food to come from the US. More specifically, I prefer my food to come from my region. Geez. I live right in the middle of beef country. Why would I want to buy beef from Juarez Mexico?

After visiting 2 other grocery stores I gave up. They all buy their beef from either Mexico or Canada. No thanks.I went home to grind up a top sirloin roast from my buddies beef.