Every year, Cameron and I complete an “annual review” of the nursery. This past weekend, we started the process by listing our achievements and disappointments for the year.
The method for our annual review is informed by a veg farmer named Taylor Mendel. She has shared extensively through a blog and Patreon about the process. I’m a planner by nature, but some of the reasons that this specific method has stuck with me are (1) she’s not afraid to tease out what isn’t working, (2) the goal setting process is extremely precise and (3) she prioritizes her income as a cornerstone of the business planning process. This last one may seem obvious, but accurately valuing your labor is much less common than you might hope amongst small business owners - especially in farming.
To be clear – full (or even reasonably partial) valuation of our labor is *not* where the nursery is at. But, our goal for this business has always been to create a livelihood for ourselves. It’s where we’re headed. If our diligent planning unfolds perfectly, and no climate chaos, or government spending freeze, or car trouble, or tech overlords rescinding our ability to communicate with you, or…….
Here’s some highlights from our 2024 Achievements and Disappointments:
Achievements / Going Well
CCE Sullivan mentorship program - Quarterly stipend used for critically needed infrastructure (tractor attachments, electric deer fence, rootstock) + an experienced Farm Mentor we could reach out to for help throughout the season – THANKS BRETT!!
Nearly all nursery space is converted to planting beds (with so much less labor thanks to the new-to-us tractor attachments!). + 24 new air prune beds.
Two year old seedlings grown in-ground without being moved between seasons. Bur oaks and chestnuts looking FINE!!
Mowing situation is MUCH IMPROVED. Flail mower + push mower. Replaced tractor tires and fixed hydraulics.
Opened the online store, restarted newsletter and social media
First year selling cuttings. Elderberries + willows are beautiful and productive
Applied for EQIP (irrigation supplies for pond, high tunnel) + PASA funding (hopefully 5.5 acre deer fence, woody plant establishment)
Full honey locust germination, and really good germination overall
Our local Soil and Water office is selling our one year old chestnuts in Spring 2025
Old 3’x10’ air prune beds repurposed into super productive raised beds after falling apart in 2023.
Sited the pond
Became NY Grown and Certified
Updated business plan and started (mostly) tracking labor hours
Hosted bee box for Backland (no swarm caught, but a good experience)
Stream Health workshop with Rosie Wood / Catskills Young Farmers - first on-farm event!
Disappointments / Frustrations
No walk in cooler. Heeling in trees in-ground over the winter - a lot of work, and can still allow for animal damage.
Some air prune beds DIDN’T PRUNE. Beds too close to the ground.
Flickers stealing hazelnuts from unprotected beds
Didn’t do the amount of marketing/outreach (esp wholesale) that we intended to do
White oak seed, Sown in Fall 2023 in-ground. Lots of seed loss from voles. Soil composition was compromised by vole tunnels + lack of rain.
Drought for most of the summer - soil didn’t look good in places where we had cultivated recently (potatoes, etc)
Poor crop planning - mixing veg with trees - not weeding out volunteer tomatoes. Keep the plant nursery the plant nursery and move veg to its own space.
Still not having a solid admin routine
Unreliable water from house well - need irrigation pond pronto
Persimmons – very poor germination
Still areas with previous owners’ garbage/not mowed or tended to (old chicken coops, etc.)
Overpacked air prune beds, good germination but too much competition in beds.
Some themes that are coming up as I’m reflecting on this a few days later:
A lot of the disappointments have counterpart achievements – we had great honey locust germination and terrible persimmon germination; we didn’t have as much success with wholesale outreach, but we restarted our online store and started using our newsletter and instagram again. Progress can be incremental and still be good! And - we won’t ever be “done” making mistakes.
Disappointments from 2023 became achievements for 2024 – Cameron took apart the 3’x10’ air prune beds that fell apart in 2023 and rebuilt them as raised beds, which were some of the most productive spaces for 2024. We will likely continue to prioritize raised beds for cutting proportion in the future because of this experience.
Our participation in a mentorship program through CCE Sullivan gave us the cash flow necessary to make some critical investments in equipment and infrastructure. It basically…made the season possible. We will share more in a later newsletter about this program and our sweet mentor Brett.
Bare root production is hard. A lot of our frustrations around cash flow, infrastructure, and labor stem from growing only in-ground plants. For some plants, it’s clearly worth it. After seeing how beautiful our two-year in-ground chestnuts and bur oaks are, we’re not eliminating in-ground cultivation. But, we’re making some pretty big changes to our production model to address those difficulties.
This week, we’ll massage our reflections into our goals for 2025. If you’re excited to read about that, make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter.
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