We are a CSA farm in Goshen, Indiana. Home of the The Lean Farm. WWW.CLAYBOTTOMFARM.COM WWW. The farm has twice won Edible Michiana’s Reader’s Choice award.
Lean Book: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Farm-Minimize-Increase-Efficiency/dp/1603585923 Ben Hartman and Rachel Hershberger own and operate Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana, where they make their living growing and selling specialty crops on less than one acre. Their food is sold locally to restaurants and cafeterias, at a farmers market, and through a community-supported-agriculture (CSA) progra
m. The Lean Farm, Ben’s first book, won the Shingo Institute’s prestigious Research and Professional Publication Award. Link to Lean Farm Book: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Farm-Minimize-Increase-Efficiency/dp/1603585923/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2DXZY6EGVAFEH3XZHYT2
Operating as usual
With the deep mulch system, a version of no-till, we start with 4” of compost applied to the surface. We don’t till it in, we grow straight into it. Then we add 1/2” of compost every two years to feed microbes and rejuvenate the soil.
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Today we are skim coating in a greenhouse. Note how Desmond uses a shovel to grade the paths. We find that paths are easier to maintain if they are graded a bit. We leave paths open—without wood chips or straw, etc.—to save cost and labor.
We started our new 1/3 acre tiny farm out four years ago by adding four inches of compost to the soil surface. This is the deep mulching method. This suppresses w**ds and provides a loose soil and plenty of nutrients. Then every two years we add a 1/2” skim coat to feed the soil microbes.
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Notice that going into winter we mowed old crops and then laid compost followed by tarps right on top. This lets the old crop, roots and all, feed the soil, too.
Here’s to tomatoes in November!
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—My best tip for fall tomatoes is great ventilation—I’m sold on peak vents. I’m not heating the hoophouse in the fall.
—These are grafted Margolds on booster rootstocks.
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There is only one day remaining of my fall 25% sale for the Lean Market Growing Masterclass. The sale ends October 31, and the Masterclass won't be available at this discounted price again until the spring. Includes a video series on building the greenhouse I grew these tomatoes in. Click bio link to join me in the Masterclass now!
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Spinach season! Here are tips for growers:
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1. In zone 5b, I’ve found it’s best to seed a patch every week from Sept to end of Oct if we want a harvest before the new year.
2. To give tomatoes (the previous crop) their due season, I start with transplants. These are 6” apart.
3. I also direct seed using a Jang with roller F24x sprockets 11f 13r, brush med or high depending on seed size.
4. No need to till! This ground was loosened shallowly with Hoss sweeps on a wheel hoe.
Happy growing!
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For a lot more tips, our online market growing masterclass is on sale now for two more weeks. Check it out!
End of season, cherry tomatoes.
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To contain the plants and to give our kids a fun play space, this year we grew cherry tomatoes in the shape of a house. Today it gets demolished.
3 tips for great fall carrots:
1. Proper spacing. These are bolero variety, Jang seeder roller x24 with sprockets 11 front 13 rear. 4 rows on a 3’ bed.
2. Proper moisture. We seeded into a moist bed and kept it moist at 2” deep.
3. Friends! Thanks to and friends at our June workshop for pitching in. The final pics show our June 20 seeding. Francisco, I hope you always go barefoot in the garden 👌. Gracias amigos
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October is sale month for the online course, see bio link.
We are finishing our 16th growing season, and each year we try to simply our methods—to do less, but better, as puts it.
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This season we used a 2-chain design for most of our growing beds: we seeded crops like cilantro, basil, lettuce, and spinach into 6” paper pot chains (see final picture for spinach in a cluster). Each growing bed, at 36”x75’, accommodates two chains. This kept our planning simpler all season.
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Our annual fall sale for the Lean Market Growing Masterclass is happening now. The online course is 25% off through October 31. See link in bio for more information.
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For 2022, I added a five-part greenhouse construction series to the Masterclass, filmed during construction. I've also recently added lessons on no-till methods, tomato variety selection, trellising, and a lot more.
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The Masterclass explains in detail, in over 100 video lessons, how we earn a comfortable income from 1/3 acre of land. Hundreds of students from around the world are part of the class. I hope you can join them.
A view of the fall garden!
My goal every season is to prevent a September jungle in the greenhouse, where plants grow together a big tangle. It’s still a jungle, but we continue to experiment with horizontal growing, letting crops like cucumbers and cherry tomatoes grow up and then over. These are cherry tomatoes trained to form a room.
Kale by September takes on the look of small palm trees.
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3 kale tips:
—Cabbage worms are a problem. We harvest weekly and spray weekly with organic DiPel Bt
—If worms are thick, spray 3 days in a row! This disrupts the hatching cycle.
—When plants die from a freeze, we don’t pull them out, we cut them off at the ground. Their decaying roots do a superb job of loosening the soil.
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Fall tomatoes! Here are some tips for late tomatoes:
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—For indeterminates (trellising tomatoes), top the leaders about a month before expected first frost. This lets the plants put energy into ripening remaining fruit.
—If in a greenhouse, close up on nights below 50.
—In October (zone 5b) we harvest when fruits are still a bit green and let them ripen inside.
—This variety is Margold, which holds up comparatively well in the late season for us.
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Winter greens return! We are adding baby Tokyo Bekana cabbage and mizuna back into our Spring Mix. These were seeded just 3 weeks ago. Tips for growers:
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—I use f24 roller, sprockets 11 front 13 rear on a Jang seeder, rows about 5” apart
—These started out for two week under row cover, to keep the flea beetles off.
—I’ve found Aug. 10 to be a good date for seeding fall greens like this. Zone 5b. Look for three consecutive nights in the low 60s.
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Harvest. Sleep. Harvest. Sleep. Late-July tomato farm! A few tips for this season:
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In the final pic you can see our simple fertigation set-up: a siphonject and buckets of liquid k-sulfate. I’ve found that a gallon per week per 100 plants keeps them ripening well.
—You can buy k-sulfate at many farm elevators, or powdered soluble online.
—With heirloom and heritage tomatoes, harvest every day, to avoid cracking fruits.
—Make carts your friend. When setting up the greenhouse in the spring, we graded the paths and planned for turnaround space for the carts at the end of rows.
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Maria Martinez from grows oyster mushrooms, pink and gray, for sale at Clay Bottom Farm’s booth. Goshen Farmers Market, every Tuesday 3-7pm, sometimes Saturdays. Says Maria, “Eat mushrooms to lower your cholesterol!”
Summer lettuce! Here are a few tips:
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—We’ve had success germinating on our covered porch, with wet cement. The cement stays relatively cool, and I only need to water a few times per week. I keep the cement wet and water overhead.
—These are 6” paper chains, using the paper pot system. But I would germinate the same way if I were using plug flats.
—Favorite summer varieties, for salad mix or heads: Intercut (so productive!), Muir (so sweet!), Rubygo (so expensive!), and Red Sweet Crisp Salanova (so funky!)
Wall-o-cucumbers! Four lean tips for enthusiasts:
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1. Cucumbers are water storage vessels. We keep the soil consistently moist to a depth of 4” as the grow. (We use two runs of drip tape with 4” emitter spacing.)
2. For straighter fruits and easier picking, use a trellis. Ours is hortinova, and cattle panels work well too. We help young plants find the trellis, but for the most part this variety (Corinto) does well with no pruning. Our “wall” is intentionally 7 1/2’ tall—that’s as far as we can reach by hand.
3. Give them room. We planted one seed every 18”.
4. Succession plant. Seeding a dozen or sow plants every 2-3 weeks until July gives a steadier harvest of quality fruits than a single planting.
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At a recent workshop we discussed strategies for transitioning beds from one crop to another. Some details for growers:
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—In this case, we decided to cover this bed of old lettuce with a tarp.
—No cutting or w**d eating or tilling beforehand.
—Within a week, as seen in the final pic, the bed is ready to replant, after raking the melted debris. We like the simplicity of this approach.
—In spring and fall, depending on the heat, it might take longer than a week.
—With bed prep, we try to work a week or two ahead of ourselves, so that when we’re ready to plant, the beds are waiting.
Now that they’ve reached 7’ tall, the cucumbers are trained to grow over instead of up.
Harvest time! Many thanks to Christian and Andrew, who have planted, trellised, pruned, and coaxed these plants for months. Couldn’t do it without you guys!
A wheel hoe, with Hoss sweeps, being pulled for deep soil loosening ahead of carrots. Technology with a human face, as they say.
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Here are several pics from Clay Bottom Farm’s Lean Farm Start-up 2022 2-day workshop last weekend. Thank you everyone in the group. What a weekend!
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Join our mailing list (link in bio) for future event notices.
Onions! How we grew early onions:
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—Seeded Bridger onions by seed in August, transplanted in November into a hoophouse.
—We transplanted at 2” spacing using a paper pot method, but hand transplanting works too.
—This spring we harvested every other onion as baby onions.
—The final set of pictures shows the same onions that we seeded in April for an August harvest
Time for some shade! After this morning’s pea harvest we threw a shade cloth over the plants. Also pictured: spinach and small head lettuces under shade tunnels.
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The entire garden will be hydro-cooled every few hours for 20 minutes with xCel wobblers. We might spend a few minutes under the sprinklers, too 😁.
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We are getting excited about peas.
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—Variety is super sugar snap
—Seeded densely at 24 seeds per foot
—Trellised stake-and-weave-style, like tomatoes
The kale and cucumbers are in a stiff competition to see who can grow tallest. Some info for growers:
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—The cucumbers are on 7.5’ hortinova and planted at 18” spacing
—Corinto variety
—The kale is also 18” apart, with 3 rows per 42” bed (but two rows would have worked as well or better)
—I’m seeding cukes every 3 weeks for a steady supply
—Winterbor variety
—Kale was transplanted in early April, if memory serves
—I worked a bit of feathermeal into the ground before each of these crops. They both appreciate the fast N release.
Time for shading already. Here kales provide nice dappled shade for head lettuce, and scroll through the photos to see a simple shade structure over spinach. I use #9 wire bent 90 degrees.
The head lettuce and kale are keeping each other’s company this spring.
Tomato pruning! We prune for an open structure (for good air flow) and balanced plants (with leaves evenly spaced), and to train each plant to two leaders, for ease of trellising. As a general rule, the lower leaves are pruned up to the first fruit cluster, and sometimes just above it, but not too far—the leaves shade the fruits. Pruning is art and science, there are many ways to do it well.
I covered a finished bed of cilantro in my previous post and here a new bed of cilantro goes in (different location). See a full sized bed of cilantro on the left here. These are 6” paper pot chains with 4-6 seeds per cell.
Here is how we built a simple pole bean trellis.
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--Ingredients: 7' t-posts and insulators, 10' EMT (electrical conduit) and couplings, 6 1/2' tall hortinova netting
--We used the "poly tape" insulators from TSC (that’s what we had on hand) but there are likely others that could work. Not sure if these insulators would hold a heavier crop like cukes.
--(Alter the height of the posts/netting depending on the crop.)
--First step is to pound in posts about every 10' and add the insulators.
--Then weave the conduit through the upper trellis netting (see photos) and set into the insulators.
--Secure the netting to posts with zip ties or twine.
--Note these pole beans were transplanted to give us a jump start in a cold spring.
Photos from a fun weekend planting 200 trees on the farm, with community support. Here’s Rachel, Ben, and Rosemary putting in the last one. Thanks to Hartwood Tree Care, and enthusiastic volunteers for making this dream a reality. Goshen, Indiana, where Clay Bottom Farm is located, has set a goal of 45% tree canopy by 2045. We’re well on the way.
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Hartwood Tree Care aims to plant as many trees per year as it cuts down, partnering with local farms as planting sites.
Oh my. Found this inside a hoophouse.
Here’s super-organized Nicole, assistant farm manager, with our CSA veggies. To reduce plastic use, we ask customers to place coolers on their porches. We then drop our food into the coolers every Thursday. If they want greens, customers supply their own Tupperwares (size of their choice) for us to fill (we use tongs).
These radishes and cabbages enjoyed each other’s company this spring.
A view inside the tomato greenhouse. The plants are about three months old, starting to climb the strings.
340 Hackett Road
Goshen, IN
46528
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I covered a finished bed of cilantro in my previous post and here a new bed of cilantro goes in (different location). See a full sized bed of cilantro on the left here. These are 6” paper pot chains with 4-6 seeds per cell. #cilantro
Transplanting cilantro this evening.
Multigenerational weeding.
My son providing quality control during cilantro transplanting.
In my previous post I showed how we remove crops in the greenhouse. Here is cilantro going into that bed. Cilantro is an ideal crop for transplanting because it takes such a long time to germinate, especially in winter. … —here we have 2-3 seeds per cell in 2” chains —5 rows on this 42” bed (I would do 3 rows on 30” bed) —I don’t mind walking on the bed as long it’s not too wet. It’s heavily composted and has good structure —we sell in bulk to @goshenbrewing (Pad Thai!) and in 5oz bags to @maplecitymarket
A post about how we cut greens, and relax. … Our Lean Market Growing Masterclass is 25% off through March, our biggest sale. …The tool: quick cut greens harvester from @farmersfriendllc (long handle version is a prototype) #marketgardening #leanfarming #spring #springgreenhouse #babygreens #salad #springgarden
For me, there is no more satisfying crop to grow in winter than spinach. Here are some suggestions for growers who might want to try this transplant technique: … --We typically direct seed spinach but transplanting is handy in the late winter, for that first planting of the year, to get a jump start --I’ve had success using 2” paper chains with 2-3 seeds per cell, for baby leaf spinach --Try 6” chains and/or 1 seed per cell for larger leaves --Variety here is sunangel, which is new for me --Use good fresh compost, with plenty of N --I transplant when the leaves are about the size of a mouse’s ear 🤓 #leanfarming #marketgardening #spinach #organic #notill #regenerativeag
A bit about greenhouse figs. … Today is the final day of the Masterclass sale, thank you all who signed up. … #figs #greenhouse #growingfigs #leanfarming #marketgardening #organic #greenhousegardening
Here are a few tips for greenhouse/hoophouse design based on my experience—some improvements. This is the 7th tunnel I’ve built (the 2nd on our current farm), and this is the last one, I swear. :) #greenhouse #notill #leanfarming #leanfarm
The Lean Market Growing Masterclass is 25% off now through the end of October. Be active, be healthy, and grow food. Join students from around the world learning how to farm smarter and smaller. Click on the link in bio for more information. ... This is a summer view of Clay Bottom Farm, Goshen, IN, host of the Masterclass. #leanfarming #leanfarm #marketgardening #marketgrowing #growingformarket #organicfarming #october #nodig #notill #notillfarming #smallfarm #urbanfarm #leanproduction #globalsmallfarming
Fall kale, with playful banter in the background! This winterbor variety was transplanted in April, survived the hot summer (zone 5b), and will continue to produce for several more weeks. Here’s how I grew it: —Seeded into 72-cell plug flats using Morgan Composting 101 mix in early March —To prep beds, I applied 1” of very fresh compost, full of slow-release minerals, to the bed surface. —At transplant time, I added 1/4 cup dehydrated chicken manure directly in the transplant hole. —2 rows per 36” bed, 16” spacing —Row covered for a month —In season, sprayed organic Dipel whenever I saw a hint of a worm, 3 days in a row when possible to break the hatching cycle … Just 10 days left for 25% off sale of the Lean Market Growing Masterclass, which includes live Zoom classes. Thank you to all the new students this fall. … #notill #kale #marketgardens #marketgardener #leanfarming #leanfarm #growingformarket #organicgardening #smallbusiness #smallfarm #smallfarms
By 2pm the arches are now set…
Here’s another view of the extended handle @farmersfriend greens harvester. I’m cutting just a short run here but typically fill the basket more. A few tips for growers thinking about using this tool: … —It cuts best when the greens are dry (less belt slippage). If dew is too heavy in mornings, I like to harvest at night. —Important to get the drill speed right. Here I’m using a 3-speed Dewalt XR hammer drill DCD996B in the drill mode, setting 2. This is an optimum speed for me. —I helped design this extended handle version—still in prototype mode, but I’m told could be available soon. … 25% off my masterclass this month, for growers starting out. … Grow (and eat) greens! #greensharvester #greens #growingformarket #marketgardening #notill #notillgardening
Getting set up for a community build for our new greenhouse. In a few days, farm friends and neighbors will help us throw this structure together. … To prepare, we’ve pre-constructed the arches and lined up the purlins, baseboards, angle braces, etc.—for a smooth flow of work.
This just in. Today I unboxed the new extended handle greens harvester and here I’m using it for the first time. It’s a prototype that I helped the team @farmersfriendllc design. Basically, I turned 43 so it’s time start taking ergonomics seriously :) … The main improvement compared to the current model is that the handle sits at 36” high, a more comfortable working height. As with all prototypes, there are probably ways to tweak it and improve it further. My first thought is to cut more holes in the uprights to make it lighter. But overall, this iteration is excitingly close. I’m told it’s not available for sale yet but could be in the near future. … My market growing masterclass is 25% off this month, and more videos on the website. Happy farming!
A productive farm need not be huge. Here’s a drone’s-eye view of our farm from this summer. Four years ago, a few years after I wrote The Lean Farm, we moved into town and set up this smaller farm, inside the city limits of Goshen, IN. We shrank our production space from less than 1 acre to less than ½ acre and we got rid of a wagonload of tools. Nearly all of our food now sells within 1 ½ miles of the farm. After 15 years of farming, we enjoy a smaller footprint and being closer to our customers—and being small helps us improve faster and stay focused. The website (link in bio) is newly updated with videos and growing info, and today is the start of our 1-month 25% off sale for the Lean Market Growing Masterclass course. Hope you can join. Happy October! #leanfarming #leanfarm #marketgardening #marketgrowing #growingformarket #organicfarming #october #nodig #notill #notillfarming #smallfarm #urbanfarm #leanproduction
To mark the Autumnal equinox, we pulled down the shade cloth. Some tips for growers about shading a greenhouse: … —Shading helps cool tunnels and prevents sun scald issues on fruits like peppers —In Zone 5b, we shaded this year from mid-July through the equinox. Mostly tomatoes in here. —50% shade cloth from Noltz’s produce supplies —To pull on and off the shade cloth, we tied tennis balls to ropes and threw the balls over. Wheee! The balls/ropes are then tied to greenhouse posts or whatever’s convenient. —We shaded even though this greenhouse has a peak vent. —Note we used a shade cloth that only covered about 50%—just the top to keep out mid-day sun. This lets some direct sunlight in in the mornings and evenings. Shading crops is always a balancing act between keeping crops cool while not depriving them of light they need to grow sturdy and to ward off diseases. … Annual fall sale! In October The Lean Market Growing Masterclass is 25% off. Also new free videos and info on the website. Happy fall!
When conditions are just right—loose, crumbly soil with small plants—a tine weeder is just the thing. In this case, I’m cultivating baby cilantro with a @twobadcatsllc 30” weeder.
A lean farmer in the making.... ... I typically direct seed beans, but with colder soil temperatures in May, I was worried they wouldn’t germinate well. Hence we are transplanting, at 2” spacing. A good two-person job.
Hundreds of bees hard at work in my tomato tunnel today. This is just one of them. Tomatoes won’t set fruit unless their pollen is shaken loose by bees, humans, or the wind—of the three, bees do the best job.
Getting ready for tomatoes, I’m spraying an oxidate solution—an organic fungicide—on this landscaping fabric. The sprayer is lithium powered from Jacto. .... Last day of my spring masterclass 25% off sale. Next sale in fall. Bio link for info. Happy April!
Here’s me pulling a sheet of row cover from a pool cover reel, which makes a handy device for moving about large sheets of material. I have several sheets on here with two bungees wrapped around each sheet to separate them from one another. The specific reel I’m using is the Vingli 14’ aluminum reel roller. No more stuffing the barn with a mountain of fabric—I enjoy this work of tidying up. ... I offer an online course on lean farming for market growers. It’s an investment to ensure your farm gets started on a solid foundation, so you can make a living and not burn out. 25% off through end of March. ... #leanfarming #marketgardening #rowcover #growinggreens #greens
While at my brother’s pool last summer, it dawned on me that a pool cover reel might be just the thing to lean up row covers. This is new for us, but so far the crew gives it two thumbs up. I have several pieces rolled onto here, and can wheel it around where needed to roll or unroll. Then in winter we can store it tidily away. #leanfarming #5s #marketgardening
Harvesting greens first thing this morning. ... A few lean tips for growers: —Set out your totes ahead of time. Keep them within 10-20 steps. —Consider small batch washing. In our case, I have a worker in the wash shed hydro cooling, rinsing, spinning, and boxing up the greens as they are picked, in small batches of 10-20#. They will be delivered almost as soon as they’re boxed. This means I don’t need a large cooler to warehouse picked greens. This is an advantage of urban farming, where we are just a mile from our customers. We will pick 100-150# almost every week of the year in this way. —This explains why I have multiple varieties per bed—so I can mix as I pick, creating smoother flow in the wash shed. ... My full growing system is set into 100+ video lessons at the link in bio. Lean market growing masterclass is 25% this month. #leanfarming #claybottomfarm #marketgardening #growinggreens #urbanfarming
A video of me using the extended handle greens harvester. This is the Farmers Friend harvester that I’ve modified by adding a few feet to the handles so it is more comfortable for an old man like me to use :). I recommend a greens harvester for those harvesting 50# of greens or more in a week. ... In lean, the term muri refers to the waste of overburden. Every winter I pick a muri project—something that will make the next growing season easier on my body than the last. It’s a powerful concept that applies well with market gardening. #leanfarming #
Yesterday the first plants of the year, winterbor kale, went into the ground, immediately after the spinach crop finished its term. It was a peaceful transition after a long, dark winter. #peacefultransition #greenhouselife #marketgardening #urbanfarming #microfarm #kale
Here is how we transition beds in the winter greenhouse, using @hossgardentools fixed blade sweeps. This spinach was cut four times and the bed will be transplanted with kale later today. We applied fresh leaf compost before spinach went in—there is plenty of nutrition for another crop. Took about 30 minutes to clear one 5’ x 75’ bed. ... Philosophical note...As I get older I enjoy physical work more, not less, even though our culture degrades manual labor as something to avoid, or to move ‘up’ from. I believe in physical intelligence, and the smartest people I know grow food, or they build cabinets or clocks or houses with both their hands and their minds. #microfarm #microfarming #microfarmer #marketgardening #wheelhoe #spinach #greenhousegrown #greenhousegardening #greenhouselife
Needing more snow for a Christmas fort, we decided to harvest it off the greenhouse and collect it onto totes. As a bonus, more sun reaches the plants inside. :) #christmas #christmas2020 #leanfarming #marketgardening #urbanfarming #fortbuilding
Yoder's Upick Strawberry Patch
S 15th Street
Yoder's Upick Strawberry Patch
S 15th Street