13JAN20

Greetings from Baker Heritage Farms;

Another slow week on the farm.

Debbie was accepted into the 2013 Oklahoma Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program Horticulture track and her first class was Saturday; however, as she is out of town for an extended period, David attended on her behalf. This is the same program Donald attended in 2012 and that David has applied for (though he has applied for the Livestock track) and hopes to enter in 2014.

The purpose of the BFR Program is to assist beginning farmers and ranchers with training, resources, and mentoring. The goals of the program include developing successful agriculture enterprises, operating financially viable farms, and being good stewards of the land.

The program provides an in-depth, year-long training course at the Kerr Center with instruction in business and whole farm planning. The program is provided under a grant from the USDA and is sponsored by the Kerr Center, Mvskoke Food Sovereignty Initiative, the Rural Smallholder Association; Oklahoma State University Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, and  the Oklahoma Farmers & Ranchers Association.

The program includes Enterprise Development, Business Plans & Budgets, Record Keeping, Whole Farm Planning, Goal Setting, and Intro to Marketing. In addition, the Horticultural track includes Planning, Acquisition of Supplies, Ground Preparation, Fertilization, Compost and Compost Tea, Biochar, Vermicomposting, Organic Compliance, Grazing versus mowing, Variety Selection, Irrigation, Weed Management, Insect and Disease Management, Harvest and Post-Harvest Management, Equipment Maintenance, and Marketing.

It is a very comprehensive training program and the learning continues even after the program ends. Donald is still reviewing what he learned and apply that knowledge to the farm as we build it.

For more information you can go to: http://www.kerrcenter.com/beginning-farmer/index.html

Donald spent Saturday morning putting more fence posts in around the production fields.

Putting in Fence Posts

As soon as we can, we will be placing our first seed order, as well as an order for our seed bed equipment for planting seeds for later transplant.

For now,

Blessings from Baker Heritage Farms

"Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten" David Ogden Stiers