98. Casey Ostwinch on Quickly Building a Profitable Farm

How do experienced farmers go about building the most healthy, fertile soil possible to yield the highest quality and quantity produce?  Joining us on today’s podcast is Casey Ostwinch of Honey Tree Farm, a Certified Naturally Grown, four-season bio-intensive market garden located in Conover, North Carolina. Casey and his wife Tori use human scale techniques that allow them to focus on building healthy soil that will yield fresh, local, quality produce. Casey first started in landscaping while in high school, decided to stay in the field upon graduating, and went to a horticulture/landscape design program in college. He spent 10 years working in the field...and in tree nurseries where he found his passion. He has since honed this passion into a fine art. Tune in today to hear all about his farm and his secrets to keeping it thriving!   You’ll hear: An overview of Honey Tree Farm 1:25 What prompted Casey to become a full time farmer 5:03 What a typical week on Honey Tree Farm looks like 6:49 How Casey’s schedule accommodates completing all important farming tasks 9:28 What specific systems are in place to ensure these tasks get done 10:44 The hardest part about being a farmer for Casey 13:37 Who Casey’s mentors were throughout his farming journey 17:17 What techniques Casey employs with his deep mulch nursery 18:12 What systems Casey would have put into place sooner given the opportunity to do so 23:18 What the content/goal of Casey’s Youtube channel is 25:45 How roles are divided on Honey Tree Farm 32:51 How Honey Tree Farm sets and achieves their marketing goals 35:07 How Casey reaches out to and onboards new clients 38:05  How Casey sets up the volunteers that he works with 41:09 How Casey goes approaches marketing for the farm 46:10 How Honey Tree arranges their farmers market stand in order to maximize sales 47:14 Casey’s advice for beginning farmers 50:44 Casey’s favorite farming tool 53:10 Where you can find out more about Casey and Honey Tree Farm 59:04   About the Guest: Honey Tree Farm, owned and operated by Casey and Tori Ostwinch, is a Certified Naturally Grown, four-season bio-intensive market garden located in Conover, North Carolina. They use human scale techniques that allow them to focus on building healthy soil that will yield fresh, local, quality produce. Casey studied horticulture in college, landscaped for 10 years, was an arborist climber and PHC technician for 3 years, has done market gardening for 3 years, and in between all that, participated in 6 years of Air National Guard service as a heavy equipment operator. Tori Ostwinch has her Masters degree in accounting, is a CrossFit coach, and has extensive work experience with corporate data/analytics. She has been doing market gardening for 2 years and has worked diligently to get Honey Tree Farm up and running on the business side.   Resources:Website - http://honeytreefarmnc.com/  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/honeytreefarmnc Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/honeytreefarmnc/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLISaSngcUoNLle5IF2lyyw