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About Urban Farmer Curtis Stone:
Curtis Stone runs a commercial urban farm called Green City Acres out of Kelowna, BC, Canada. His mission is to show others how they can grow a lot of food on small plots of land and make a living from it. Using DIY and simple infrastructure, one can earn a significant living from their own backyard or someone else’s.
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FARM EQUIPMENT I USE:
Everything in one place: http://theurbanfarmer.co/curtis-gear-list/
Paper Pot Transplanter: http://paperpot.co/
Caterpillar tunnel: http://bit.ly/2gItRNf
Quick Cut Greens Harvester: http://bit.ly/1W3nLGb
Knife and Tool Sharpener: http://bit.ly/29DHlos
Jang Seeder: http://goo.gl/XGvJtl
Row Bags: http://goo.gl/eI1CLp
Insect Netting: http://goo.gl/rjyimK
The Coolbot | $20 off!: http://bit.ly/2l6DhEx
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Music for this channel comes from: https://artlist.io/Curtis-38762
You sir, are a smart man.
Curtis, some folks must build things themselves because they DON'T have the money. My husband and I watch all your videos and are trying desperately to work towards our dream of farming. However, we are not established and have no capital. We will be forced to build some things ourselves. I still appreciate this video though. Down the road, if we can get up and going, we most certainly will use your wonderful advice. Thank you for all you do!!
As a Canadian I find lots of DIY advice frustrating because so much of the "savings" just comes down to the difference between the Canadian and American currency. That $500 tool for me, that can be DIYed for $300 American is the EXACT SAME PRICE, lol, without even counting the labour
You just articulated what it took me years to realise. Much wisdom you speak. Great job Curtis.
My dad did a good job of trying to turn me into a "I could make that for less" person. Thankfully I realized it before it got integrated into my head. Dollars spent wise, you better be able to make it for less than you can by it for, because the person selling it is trying to make a profit, meaning they are selling it for more than they made it for. You are paying for convenience. Litterally buying time, borrowing someone else's skill so you can focus on other things. Let's say you could make a greens harvester in 50 hours. Including making plans, getting materials, making mistakes, trying it out and getting it half as good as the one you can buy. If you only value your time at $10 an hour, that's already 500 dollars you spent in just time, and that's really low balling your time value. Plus add up your parts expenses. Say $100 on good parts, not including a drill assuming the handy man you are you should already have about ten laying around. Plus add up fuel from running around finding the parts. Don't forget about the lost income you just caused your business for putting about a weeks worth of time into this tool that kinda works. You go ahead and waste your time telling people how you can make a spaceship for less than nasa is charging, and people like Curtis stone are going to already be well established on every planet in the galexy before you even leave the computer. People like farmers friend are here to help people who actually want to make a difference, not rip people off. Thanks for another great video Curtis.
I know a lot of those people even in construction lol
Curtis, every single one of your videos is pure gold. This one was meant for me. I'm a DIY guy. I can do a lot of things like plumbing and electrical for a fraction of the cost of hiring a professional. But I'm still figuring out my limitations (and I'm 49). Some of these tools look "easy" but I hear your message. When it comes time I'm definitely going to buy these instead of DIY them.
hi thanx for the info. much appressieted. could you inbox me on google + for a chat? i have just got 1acre land in level 7 climate zone and wanted to know how to go about growing walnuts and other crops to make living.
p.s. (level 7 climate zone in australia is snow and cold zone. level 8 is snowy mountains and that is the highest level here).
thanx again for your time and effort put into these videos.
I've been bursting at the edges to spend what I have correctly on the tools and equipment of the trade. Just bought the Greens Harvester with stand, two 100' caterpillar GH's buying the Paperpot transplanter on Monday so much more. I really want to get what I think I need before I spend beyond my means to get set up quickly…..All the items are needful things compared to the time labor and $$$ saved not to mention any body fatigue. I have clients already lining up! Currently installing an orchard here but most likely won't see fruition ( pun intended) for 3-5 years so I've started contour grading and prepping beds for higher production greens, roots and other quick turnover vegetables and micro greens. Looking into building and installing a DIY Walk-In cooler. Wash station….CoolBot is in the mail…….BCS in distant future. Love my Kubota B7800 but a quality walk behind makes me sigh…
I wish you could get a decent flame weeder here in New Zealand.
Whats the saying? Time is money? Sure some can be diy but what he is saying is the quality wont be there for the majority and youll end up spending more time fixing it and upgrading. To diy these things you would already need the tools and skills because it wouldnt make sense to buy them and learn for 1 tool. By the end youll have spent the same amount and it wont be as nice.
Thank you for all that you do! Where can you get a 100 foot greenhouse for $1200
33 people that dislike must be the know it alls.
Wish you could watch your language on your videos.My child was watching this with me. Wow !
Thank you Curtis for all your great information, i have been applying your techniques and way of thinking to "Huerto Tlatelolco" a community orchard in México City I´m working in, i´m a big fan of your videos!
Thank-You, This is one of the best pearls of wisdom you have posted so far Curtis. It's good to call people out on those things. I always like to say, "my bullshit detector is going off" when the know-it-alls show up at my farm. It's best to do your research, make a plan and stick to the plan. Forget the noise, forget the trolls!
Yes! I love this video and definitely needed this reminder as I'm sitting here scouring the Internet for ways to make my chicken coop larger for cheaper….when it could just be done by now.
Hey @UrbanFarmerCurtisStone would you say the Daily Wholesale prices from the Government of Canada as an accurate source for wholesale pricing? The only reaosn I ask, is in your book you state that we should price (kale as an example) for $5/lbs to restaurants or markets, but the wholesale price listed for 2017 from the Government of Canada had it at $19-22/lbs. I was wondering if these histprical wholesale prices should be followed? Thanks and your book is wonderful!!! I have already had 5 people purchase it after I told them about your story!
I could have made this vid myself cheaper
DIYs: flame weedier do able, but not worth it just buy the ninja or harborfrieght cheep one until you can afford the expensive one; greens harvester again do able, but again not worth it just harvest by hand until you buy one; Farmer's friend tunnel is awesome but you need to order 2 or more for free shipping and in the shipping description there needs to be a drop off port/bay/etc., DIY is do able and is about half the price in money but is about twice the price in time (you could do what I did and convert an exciting shed to a green house); paper pot transplanter is a "real game changer" for those who do a lot of transplanting instead of direct seeding and I wouldn't even dare to try to consider a DIY for that just buy it when you can afford it; Walk in cooler is do able and you can costume make it to fit your needs especially using the CoolBot.
Curtis i wonder where did you order your cutterpillar tunnel kit?
Totally agree! My time is worth something!
It depends on how DIY-oriented you are, the level of quality you need, how much money you have and want to spend, and so on. Whether you make or buy, if money is tight it's important to know that there are more affordable options to the expensive products that are often advertised.
Doesn't Curtis have a DIY video of converting a washing machine to a greens dryer?
Some things are more DIY friendly/appropriate than others. An example of one thing that is DIY-friendly, you can buy a propane torch for $30 and it's an instant flame weeder. You can even string a few of them together for $200. A flame weeder is NOT a precision instrument requiring loads of engineering, design and refinement. As long as you don't do anything too stupid with propane, you can DIY it.
The "Coolbot" is nice but it's a high end solution. If you don't want to spend $300 on it just to get started farming you can buy or hack together a basic solution to do the same job for $50 (then upgrade later if you want). It's useful to know that the budget options are often not nearly as well advertised.
There are other things… Tools like the BCS tractor or even the tilther are awesome, but why own one if you're doing no-till? Seems like you can do the same thing with a borrowed tiller and a rake.
If you're in a profitable business and you want pro tools, fine, invest in them. But it's not like you have to have buy some expensive broadfork just to fork a bed. There are other forks you can use to start with. (I think Curtis even said this at one point). You could even DIY a broadfork if you really wanted because it's so simple and low-tech. I'm sure the commercial ones are "better" and having it makes you look like a pro, and buying it supports the small-farm industry, which is all great, but don't let anyone tell you that you have to spend $200 you don't have and put it on a high interest credit card just to aerate the soil a bit.
Most of those products that you're buying now wouldn't exist if they weren't originally conceived of by people that wanted to build their own. I agree that DIY or R&D isn't for everyone, and that's totally fine, but it's good that SOME people think this way, because it has provided the progressive innovation that has made smaller farms a more profitable enterprise.
Oh Curtis….. thanks for all you do. You are doing good, keep up the good work! Perspiration and Inspiration yield amazing results! Aloha
You are spot on…Again
You don't have less time. we all have the same amount of time. YOU created a BATTLE for your time by choosing to have a wife and kidz. I can see the stress difference you seem to have compared to the old vids. lol
Agreed with your overall point, but one thing to keep in mind…
With your $8000 greenhouse example… it made financial sense to you to DIY instead of paying for it because you were confident you could do it effectively, because you had experience. But in order to gain that experience in the first place, you had to do it dozens of times before, and it didn't make financial sense then… especially the first time. So sure, while it's true that if you have no experience doing something it's probably better to just pay someone to do it… On the other hand, you then always have to pay for that thing because you never learn to do it yourself.
Basically, what I'm saying is that while it might not make financial sense to do something yourself at the moment , you gradually develop skills that make it have more financial sense as time goes on. Learning how to do something is an investment in the future version of yourself, which might save you even more money in the long term.
Yes, always critically evaluate whether doing something is really worth your time, but also don't go to the other extreme of always just paying for everything and never learning anything.