The Urban Farmer: Expanding the Farm with Social Capital (FSFS48B)

Listen to more episodes of Farm Small Farm Smart

To set the stage…

Curtis had a next door neighbor. That neighbor used to own Curtis’s house, and he rented that house from them and farmed in the back yard. When his neighbor decided to sell the house, Curtis then purchased the house from his neighbor. Subsequently that same neighbor went on to move to another house in the neighborhood, and began renting out the house next door to Curtis.

In the process a conversation began about Curtis farming his neighbor’s backyard now that it was a rental.

The conversation eventual led to an agreement, one where Curtis would take down the fence between his yard and his neighbors, and extend his farm into his neighbor’s back yard.

It’s a process that was built on the back of respect and social capital, and facilitated by old fashioned conversation.

Today we’ll take an extended look at the transition of that back yard from lawn to production farm, and all of the challenges and successes that went with it..

Notes from this episode:

  • Systems have made everything a lot easier for Curtis.
    • So has having proper infrastructure.
  • Get started and start getting some cash flow going and use that to build.
  • Need to put yourself out there.  You can’t be a loner and get to the finish line.
  • Always be asking questions to try to identify opportunity or find areas for improvement.
  • You have to try things.  You can’t figure out all of these things in a Google search.

The Salsa Farm Interview

How to turn your lawn into an urban farm…

Green City Acres Weekly Farm VLOG Updates

Learn More from Curtis Stone:

Read The Urban Farmer book

Listen to The Urban Farmer audiobook

Subscribe to Farm Small Farm Smart in your favorite podcast player:

iTunes | Spotify | PlayerFM

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *