in my experience most of the time girls will work harder or at least are more willing to work....but every once in a while we get some great hard working boys too
I just received my Rupp seed catalog this last week. I get the same feelings from that as I used to get from Sears Christmas catalog. I used to grow pumpkins to sell, like you I saw a saturated market and stopped. Now I focus on Sweet Corn, Zucchini, Cucumbers and tomatoes. Keep making the videos I enjoy them.
You obviously know what's best for you & your family. You're great at growing veggies, & you're a wise businessman. I appreciate your never-ending energy!! I can't imagine anyone having a problem with your decisions - just please keep your videos coming to us!! God bless you and your family. 🙏🥰👍
Excellent Video. It touched my heart, maybe because my father was a farmer in Israel. He used to say that dozens of crops had let me go, until the farm rwas passed to me and I grow weat or Alphaalpha in the winter only. You have to do what you have to do to be profitable
You nailed it. This will be our last pumpkin season for the exact reasons you explained also they're the one crop we have to continually spray because of our warm humid climate. Also we're taking a break from strawberries for the same exact reason.
@dwilliamslamb5417 along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. We own land in Maryland and Virginia. Our current operation dates to 1648 but we started farming in the area around 1615. Every generation has grown tobacco. But we have predominantly been producing fruits and vegetables since the 1830s.
I live in Oxnard, CA where they grow a lot of strawberries and it takes an army of people to plant and and harvest the crops. They get two crops a year here. I grew up in Salinas CA where back then, it was the only place on the west coast where strawberries were grown. Picking strawberries was always a summer job for many of the high school kids.
Things are changing, lot sales of pumpkins are slow, but upick pumpkins are hot. Farm experience, simple, not alot of expensive activities, market home is also going good too, 20 yrs. Here.
Why don't you grow100 strawberry plants for you and your family to eat? Have you ever grown the everbearing varieties? Or only the June bearing varieties?
@@daveklein2826 I understand why he is not growing thousands of plants for his business to sell to the public. I was asking about growing a small number of plants for personal use.
i don't even want to mess with them at all...I can get them from 10 different people at the farmers' markets if I need them. Yes, we grew everbearing for a few years but the harvest interfeared with harvesting other more important veggies
one year we had deer come thru right after planting and they went right down the rows and pulled out thousands of bare root plants that were just starting to grow leaves, it was terrible! Other than that we never really had any deer damage, even though its like a deer highway thru our field. I think because we have so many acres of soybean and corn all around us they don't bother the veggies that much.
@@wishwellfarms no joke. The robot will be availible in 3-5 years for far less than the price of a 4x4 truck . id start saving digital data from your crops so the AI can dial in your farm and with the robot increase yield to a point that could blow your mind. pictures, varieties, planting dates, insects, fertilizer and spray regimes, soil tests will be very important for instant payback and early retirement
it*s no wonder that frost risk in Ohio likewise entire northern U.S. states is enormous.Just look at visual weather map in spring. It's mindblowing how in day hours you can have warm air from Gulf of Mexico,and then, at night, freezing air masses from Canada spread so far to the south ! Thanks to Gulfstream Europe is much less exposed to such temperature fluctuations.Yep,crap also happens,but it's nothing compared to U.S. Also I suspect that kids omit a lot of smaller berries in order to pick more baskets.As you have said,it's enormous expenses with ever slimmer profit margin.
I would personally like to see more videos in this platform. You actually kept my interest the entire video - you are a good speaker. It's very sad that your children do not want to take your farm over. I'm a university lecturer and I market garden as a side hustle and I will tell you I enjoy farming more than I enjoy teaching. I'm trying to slowly convert to farming as my main occupation and teaching as a side hustle. Pumpkins are too subsidized for me to make a profit on them. I grew a half-acre of pumpkins two years ago and I had trouble selling them for a profit. The subsidized pumpkins in Wal-Mart and other box stores are just way too cheap. Free market my butt. I just don't think Ohio is a good state to grow strawberries in, period. I'm in South Carolina and there are strawberry farms everywhere here. In my area junebearing varieties flower again in the fall. I grow all my strawberries in substrate on tabletops in a system where I can propagate my own cuttings. It's one of the more profitable crops for me, because I can sell my plugs at farmers markets, or to other farmers. So I get two revenue streams from strawberries. If you do grow strawberries again, consider doing it hydroponically. It's much easier and far less work. Perhaps try the day-neutral varieties - I think Albion would do well in your area.
very interesting comment! first, thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the video. I have grown day neutral varieties for several years but it just interferes with other crops we are harvesting at that time. Glad they work out well for you. We almost put a hydrostacker in our half acre high tunnel back in 2015 for berries but couldn't get enough good info on whether it would pay off do didn't do it.
Hang on to the farm. Your kids will change their minds in their 40s. Your grandkids will associate the farm with "home". We have found a family member who wants to maintain our place on "low boil". Buys time.
I don't generally care for Strawberries myself. I think the way they take over an entire area. Incredibly fast not only on the surface but underneath. They knot up like morning glories. I would much rather grow a bush-type berry in that way. Pumpkins are mainly the same way above the surface. However, they have more uses than just food for me. For Halloween, I use it for decorations for a pumpkin patch now. I only garden myself, and I also make it to start pumpkins in end of May along with my Mums. Fried Pumpkins are amazing. Easier to manage than strawberries. Pumpkins are HUGE FEEDERS. I could go on with the pumpkins versus strawberries.
Great video and yes farming changes daily and you have to adjust as it does. You have to delete and add accordingly per customer demand. Yes, my brother for 30 years used migrant workers here in Louisiana for sweet potato production. You have to have certified housing for them, provide transportation and they also have to get paid more per hour due to regulations. You also have to be a bank because they are paid in cash since they are not citizens and don't have bank accounts.But 1 migrant worker is equal to 3 or 4 american workers for production. They are here to work as much as they can and send money back to their families.
100 cars was peak, sometimes just 40-50....but when we started getting some days of only 20-30 I was ready to close up shop since we get 1000's at farmers' markets on Saturdays.
The labor in the vegetable business is getting very difficult..years ago you would have to turn kids away that wanted to work..kids today don't want to do anything that is like work! Kinda sad to be honest 😢
there are far more profitable crops per acre like micro greens and herbs, and our hydroponic tomatoes are 10 times more profitable on a per acre basis, but strawberries are up there pretty high...they are also the most labor intensive.
@@Sammyj12991 there are plenty of mulit acre hydroponic setups around the country...we even have a 10 acre facilitly just 45 minutes down the road from us in Wapak Ohio, it's incredible.
There's an old-timer around here I remember back when he was younger. It didn't matter when you stopped at his house he would come outside with a flashlight and buy or sell anything that you wanted. His name is Shannon Hatfield run a little old backwoods country off the shoulder Chicken shack. I remember back when he was younger there wasn't no time other than Sunday you know he really didn't like to work on Sunday but you know if the money was right he would come outside most of the time he would come outside just to see what you wanted and say hey you know it's Sunday I remember back when he was younger he didn't care he would get out there but he started losing his business when he started getting hateful with people when he was such a open book. Everybody says he quit getting too old getting hateful
I remember when I was a kid... Farmers sold out and they subdivided the properties... That was there retirement couple million for everyone in the family plus a House in Florida... Too far North... Got to old and the money was right... All those corn sells at one time just in time.
I remember at my uncle's house back when I was a kid it might have been 2 or 3 riding mowers wide on one side to the corn and he had a small backyard that stopped at corn in the gravel road LED one driveway to his house he was on the end. I talked to the old farmer he told me he said I need a new back a new set of eyes and hands that work better. And a NEW WIFE and he said he got all of that in ONE CHECK... 😂😂😂
Maybe you’re putting to much work into strawberries try throwing them out and letting them grow naturally with little to no work and no fertilizer kinda like plant and forget might work out well maybe something to think about
@ oh ya that’s no good then I haven’t grown strawberries yet myself so that is good to know and I probably get away with some composted poop from chickens ducks and turkey and a little organic pellet fertilizer probably do wonders then
For retirement, you need a dedicated key employee, preferably one that lives on the farm. Everyone balks at this expense, because many farms have such low margins, but past a certain age, and absolutely in retirement, we cannot devote 100% of time to farming, and it is better to have it as a source of income in retirement. This takes at least a decade of planning, because your key employee may decide after five years that this isn't the life that person wants, so you need a window to start over.
It is so rude and inconsiderate for clueless people to show up after hours and early banging on your doors and demanding produce! They are always high maintenance and buy very little produce.
I think a lot of that from working from the house... I've got a would say an adopted brother we got the same last name close to the same age as brother passed away he took up with me. He's the kind of guy it don't matter if he makes a cell or not he will answer the phone or answer the door even if it's the devil calling his name he does not care. 😂😂😂 That's the way he is that's the way he always has been and that's the way his dad is and they made of good life for their self. I'm the type of person yeah I really don't want to work on Sundays and then you know once it gets dark I'm done nobody's going to come around at dark unless you know it's some kind of horse trader and I don't trade horses at night. For one it's illegal and then another most of the time the animal and your money will be gone come daylight. I used to get into backpacking until I lost some friends one of those was a person that was found in a tree and then once you would get past the tree line and try to come back there was always a predator waiting on you whether that's a bear or a mountain lion. I used to love to goat hunt as well
Yo bro ..I ain't know how u come up on my screen ..but bruh you made a great vid man !!! I ain't never gonna be farmn n growing shiiiii ...but cuh I leant sum thangs blud ...👊
… what? On our farm we harvest strawberries for about 5 months… plus they overwinter and you get a better crop the second year, no planting needed. Insane logic, idk what you’re doing on your operation, but strawberries are one of the most lucrative crops ever. Especially because people are willing to come pick themselves, so it’s easy to recruit people to harvest a big crop before severe weather. And you can sell off seconds/culls for processing really easily. Only real problem with berries is that they are labor intensive to harvest and they don’t have a long shelf-life. Idk this makes no sense to me
Great video, I very much enjoy when you do deep dives into the Why. I enjoy and appreciate what goes into your decision making.
Thanks for the feedback!
When you mentioned labor challenges it reminded me of a saying among tobacco farmers - a boy is half a man, and two boys are no help at all.
Folks in my area added that if you throw a girl in, then 2 boys =2 men. Always get the boys who want to impress.
certainly some truth to that!
@@jeffreykershner440 very true! 🤣
in my experience most of the time girls will work harder or at least are more willing to work....but every once in a while we get some great hard working boys too
I just received my Rupp seed catalog this last week. I get the same feelings from that as I used to get from Sears Christmas catalog. I used to grow pumpkins to sell, like you I saw a saturated market and stopped. Now I focus on Sweet Corn, Zucchini, Cucumbers and tomatoes. Keep making the videos I enjoy them.
I love looking through my new seed catalogs! Those are good crops!
You obviously know what's best for you & your family. You're great at growing veggies, & you're a wise businessman. I appreciate your never-ending energy!! I can't imagine anyone having a problem with your decisions - just please keep your videos coming to us!! God bless you and your family. 🙏🥰👍
Thanks so much for the feedback!
@wishwellfarms ♥️🙏👍
Excellent Video. It touched my heart, maybe because my father was a farmer in Israel. He used to say that dozens of crops had let me go, until the farm rwas passed to me and I grow weat or Alphaalpha in the winter only. You have to do what you have to do to be profitable
thanks! absolutely!
Good analysis makes for good decisions. Sometimes it leads you where you don't expect to go. Well done 👊
very true, thanks Steve!
Wise Decisions Sir!! Most Interesting. Deep Dives are Great. Appreciate any tour you give us.
Thanks I really appreciate the feedback!
That was a great video!!!!!!!! It takes a special person to do what you do.
Thank so much! It can be tough but very rewarding!
man,you reminded me how outrageously beautiful tunnel tomatoes were in May or June.Pure perfection !
They sure are! Almost time to seed 2025 crop!
You put your heart into this video. Wishing you all the best.
Thanks for noticing!
You nailed it. This will be our last pumpkin season for the exact reasons you explained also they're the one crop we have to continually spray because of our warm humid climate. Also we're taking a break from strawberries for the same exact reason.
@dwilliamslamb5417 along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. We own land in Maryland and Virginia. Our current operation dates to 1648 but we started farming in the area around 1615. Every generation has grown tobacco. But we have predominantly been producing fruits and vegetables since the 1830s.
@@dwilliamslamb5417 I'm only the fourth generation. I'm in Ohio. Incredible that your family has been here since 1630!
@@15thGenerationTidewaterFarmer thats incredible!
nice to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way
Very interesting video, appreciate your insights and honesty. Your dedication and hard work are inspiring. Looking forward to seeing more content!
thank you for the kind words!
I live in Oxnard, CA where they grow a lot of strawberries and it takes an army of people to plant and and harvest the crops. They get two crops a year here. I grew up in Salinas CA where back then, it was the only place on the west coast where strawberries were grown. Picking strawberries was always a summer job for many of the high school kids.
its gotta be a better first job than working at fast food that's for sure!
Another well said vid from you Jason. I always learn something.
Thanks!
Excellent video, behind the scenes content is very interesting, thanks!
thanks glad you enjoyed it!
This was Super Helpful. Thanks 👍🙏❤️💯🇺🇲
sure thing!
I just received my Rupp seed catalog today for 2025. Excited to try some new varieties of different produce this year
been looking over mine too...one of my favorite things to look at in the off season!
Thanks a very informative,well put together video
your are welcome, thanks for the comment!
Great video. Thanks for posting
Things are changing, lot sales of pumpkins are slow, but upick pumpkins are hot. Farm experience, simple, not alot of expensive activities, market home is also going good too, 20 yrs. Here.
nice, thanks for sharing
Great video 🇳🇿🌱
Why don't you grow100 strawberry plants for you and your family to eat? Have you ever grown the everbearing varieties? Or only the June bearing varieties?
Listen to the video
@@daveklein2826
I understand why he is not growing thousands of plants for his business to sell to the public. I was asking about growing a small number of plants for personal use.
i don't even want to mess with them at all...I can get them from 10 different people at the farmers' markets if I need them. Yes, we grew everbearing for a few years but the harvest interfeared with harvesting other more important veggies
@@wishwellfarms
I understand. I am lucky if I actually eat 2 or 3 strawberries from my 15 plants.
I agree ! Strawberries are the hardest crop we grow on our farm. What did you do for deer protection?
Time to start saving up for a robot
@@westcoast8562 lol
one year we had deer come thru right after planting and they went right down the rows and pulled out thousands of bare root plants that were just starting to grow leaves, it was terrible! Other than that we never really had any deer damage, even though its like a deer highway thru our field. I think because we have so many acres of soybean and corn all around us they don't bother the veggies that much.
@@wishwellfarms no joke. The robot will be availible in 3-5 years for far less than the price of a 4x4 truck . id start saving digital data from your crops so the AI can dial in your farm and with the robot increase yield to a point that could blow your mind. pictures, varieties, planting dates, insects, fertilizer and spray regimes, soil tests will be very important for instant payback and early retirement
cant compete on pumpkin pricing with walmarts....so true
Aldis is even cheaper
And In a igloo we fou d that the best we did grow out doors hydroponically but alot of work. We changed to indoor
it*s no wonder that frost risk in Ohio likewise entire northern U.S. states is enormous.Just look at visual weather map in spring. It's mindblowing how in day hours you can have warm air from Gulf of Mexico,and then, at night, freezing air masses from Canada spread so far to the south ! Thanks to Gulfstream Europe is much less exposed to such temperature fluctuations.Yep,crap also happens,but it's nothing compared to U.S. Also I suspect that kids omit a lot of smaller berries in order to pick more baskets.As you have said,it's enormous expenses with ever slimmer profit margin.
yep, its all very risky...some years are great and some barely pay off.
like the comments, i agree with everything you said. I too am farming our farm after retiring from public work, but at a reduce amount.
Thanks for watching and hope you had a productive season!
I learned so much from this video.
I'm glad!
I would personally like to see more videos in this platform. You actually kept my interest the entire video - you are a good speaker. It's very sad that your children do not want to take your farm over. I'm a university lecturer and I market garden as a side hustle and I will tell you I enjoy farming more than I enjoy teaching. I'm trying to slowly convert to farming as my main occupation and teaching as a side hustle.
Pumpkins are too subsidized for me to make a profit on them. I grew a half-acre of pumpkins two years ago and I had trouble selling them for a profit. The subsidized pumpkins in Wal-Mart and other box stores are just way too cheap. Free market my butt.
I just don't think Ohio is a good state to grow strawberries in, period. I'm in South Carolina and there are strawberry farms everywhere here. In my area junebearing varieties flower again in the fall. I grow all my strawberries in substrate on tabletops in a system where I can propagate my own cuttings. It's one of the more profitable crops for me, because I can sell my plugs at farmers markets, or to other farmers. So I get two revenue streams from strawberries.
If you do grow strawberries again, consider doing it hydroponically. It's much easier and far less work. Perhaps try the day-neutral varieties - I think Albion would do well in your area.
very interesting comment! first, thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed the video. I have grown day neutral varieties for several years but it just interferes with other crops we are harvesting at that time. Glad they work out well for you. We almost put a hydrostacker in our half acre high tunnel back in 2015 for berries but couldn't get enough good info on whether it would pay off do didn't do it.
@@wishwellfarms Amen!
Reason # 2 is why I don't do pumpkins anymore. In my area every grocery store, market, gas station has bins of pumpkins.
i hear that!
Hang on to the farm. Your kids will change their minds in their 40s. Your grandkids will associate the farm with "home". We have found a family member who wants to maintain our place on "low boil". Buys time.
I will keep it going as long as i can! Hopefully someone can fill my position
Good on ya mate 😊
thanks!
I don't generally care for Strawberries myself. I think the way they take over an entire area. Incredibly fast not only on the surface but underneath. They knot up like morning glories. I would much rather grow a bush-type berry in that way. Pumpkins are mainly the same way above the surface. However, they have more uses than just food for me. For Halloween, I use it for decorations for a pumpkin patch now. I only garden myself, and I also make it to start pumpkins in end of May along with my Mums. Fried Pumpkins are amazing. Easier to manage than strawberries. Pumpkins are HUGE FEEDERS. I could go on with the pumpkins versus strawberries.
I agree!
It's crazy that people don't want farm-fresh food as long as it's available. 😮
Industrial kitchen video incoming ?
I'm waiting for Joel to clean out all of his freeze dried candy...it's a disaster in there, lol!
Great video and yes farming changes daily and you have to adjust as it does. You have to delete and add accordingly per customer demand. Yes, my brother for 30 years used migrant workers here in Louisiana for sweet potato production. You have to have certified housing for them, provide transportation and they also have to get paid more per hour due to regulations. You also have to be a bank because they are paid in cash since they are not citizens and don't have bank accounts.But 1 migrant worker is equal to 3 or 4 american workers for production. They are here to work as much as they can and send money back to their families.
yep...my cousin uses about 15 of them for his landscape business on the H2b program. I'm too small to bring on migrant workers.
Hi we grew strawberries for many years hydroponically and
And what ?
I hear you on privacy and more so when you stated 100 cars a day, that's a lot. Good that you grow what you want and makes your income
100 cars was peak, sometimes just 40-50....but when we started getting some days of only 20-30 I was ready to close up shop since we get 1000's at farmers' markets on Saturdays.
Why do u not use h2a?
I explained all my reasons in the video
You obviously didn't listen to the video
The labor in the vegetable business is getting very difficult..years ago you would have to turn kids away that wanted to work..kids today don't want to do anything that is like work! Kinda sad to be honest 😢
exactly my story
Strawberries are the most profitable crop you can grow per acre. Has to be done right though and hand picked and in the store in a matter of days.
What about blue berries ?
@ have lots of land. They can be very profitable, strawberries take the lead for profits per acre
there are far more profitable crops per acre like micro greens and herbs, and our hydroponic tomatoes are 10 times more profitable on a per acre basis, but strawberries are up there pretty high...they are also the most labor intensive.
@
Micro greens are not grown by the acre, neither are hydroponic tomatoes.
I would love to see a 50 plus acre hydroponic tomato setup.
@@Sammyj12991 there are plenty of mulit acre hydroponic setups around the country...we even have a 10 acre facilitly just 45 minutes down the road from us in Wapak Ohio, it's incredible.
There's an old-timer around here I remember back when he was younger. It didn't matter when you stopped at his house he would come outside with a flashlight and buy or sell anything that you wanted. His name is Shannon Hatfield run a little old backwoods country off the shoulder Chicken shack. I remember back when he was younger there wasn't no time other than Sunday you know he really didn't like to work on Sunday but you know if the money was right he would come outside most of the time he would come outside just to see what you wanted and say hey you know it's Sunday I remember back when he was younger he didn't care he would get out there but he started losing his business when he started getting hateful with people when he was such a open book. Everybody says he quit getting too old getting hateful
interesting story
I remember when I was a kid... Farmers sold out and they subdivided the properties... That was there retirement couple million for everyone in the family plus a House in Florida... Too far North... Got to old and the money was right... All those corn sells at one time just in time.
Why don't you use a greehouse?
I do, I have five
😊😊😊😊😊
I remember at my uncle's house back when I was a kid it might have been 2 or 3 riding mowers wide on one side to the corn and he had a small backyard that stopped at corn in the gravel road LED one driveway to his house he was on the end. I talked to the old farmer he told me he said I need a new back a new set of eyes and hands that work better. And a NEW WIFE and he said he got all of that in ONE CHECK... 😂😂😂
lol
Maybe you’re putting to much work into strawberries try throwing them out and letting them grow naturally with little to no work and no fertilizer kinda like plant and forget might work out well maybe something to think about
the yields would be so small, the berry size would be small, bugs and grubs would eat them all up and frost would take half of them.
@ oh ya that’s no good then I haven’t grown strawberries yet myself so that is good to know and I probably get away with some composted poop from chickens ducks and turkey and a little organic pellet fertilizer probably do wonders then
What varieties of pumpkins do you like?
I've planted 30 varieties over the years. Any of the Gold series from Rupp are awesome!
1 of the kids will change their mind... Hopefully!!!
hopefully!
For retirement, you need a dedicated key employee, preferably one that lives on the farm. Everyone balks at this expense, because many farms have such low margins, but past a certain age, and absolutely in retirement, we cannot devote 100% of time to farming, and it is better to have it as a source of income in retirement. This takes at least a decade of planning, because your key employee may decide after five years that this isn't the life that person wants, so you need a window to start over.
very true! We've been working on our succession planning for over a decade on our 1,300 grain farm and it's still in the works!
Parents dropping their 13-year olds to pick strawberries turned out to be a glorified babysitting job.
yes sir
It is so rude and inconsiderate for clueless people to show up after hours and early banging on your doors and demanding produce! They are always high maintenance and buy very little produce.
exactly!
I think a lot of that from working from the house... I've got a would say an adopted brother we got the same last name close to the same age as brother passed away he took up with me. He's the kind of guy it don't matter if he makes a cell or not he will answer the phone or answer the door even if it's the devil calling his name he does not care. 😂😂😂 That's the way he is that's the way he always has been and that's the way his dad is and they made of good life for their self. I'm the type of person yeah I really don't want to work on Sundays and then you know once it gets dark I'm done nobody's going to come around at dark unless you know it's some kind of horse trader and I don't trade horses at night. For one it's illegal and then another most of the time the animal and your money will be gone come daylight. I used to get into backpacking until I lost some friends one of those was a person that was found in a tree and then once you would get past the tree line and try to come back there was always a predator waiting on you whether that's a bear or a mountain lion. I used to love to goat hunt as well
Yo bro ..I ain't know how u come up on my screen ..but bruh you made a great vid man !!! I ain't never gonna be farmn n growing shiiiii ...but cuh I leant sum thangs blud ...👊
Natalie is 19 ? Man,she is such a baby face girl, I thought she was 15 at max )))
@@cultleader3572 I doubt if Jason gonna like this thread
Ha, she is very smart and business savy, she might be the one to take it all over someday.
TLDW There are other crops that generate much more profit.
… what? On our farm we harvest strawberries for about 5 months… plus they overwinter and you get a better crop the second year, no planting needed. Insane logic, idk what you’re doing on your operation, but strawberries are one of the most lucrative crops ever. Especially because people are willing to come pick themselves, so it’s easy to recruit people to harvest a big crop before severe weather. And you can sell off seconds/culls for processing really easily. Only real problem with berries is that they are labor intensive to harvest and they don’t have a long shelf-life. Idk this makes no sense to me
not that way here in Ohio where I'm from.
I don't think hydroponic items taste good
that's why we didn't do the hydroponic strawberry system.