274. Braddock Farm | Grow Pittsburgh | Nick Lubecki
I know you are a going to love this interview I did with RockStar Millennial Nick Lubecki as much as I did because I listened to it today as I drove to work. So the shownotes are completely raw from the day we actually spoke. I didn’t have time to fix them but they are great! I have 20 episodes in the bank I can’t wait to share. In an ideal world, I would share them all right away! But in reality it’s all I can usually do to produce one a week. I will try though to get them caught up so they are current! In the meantime I hope you enjoy as much as I do. I’ve been having some sound problems too it seems in Andony’s podcast last week I thought I was too loud, this one I feel like I am can’t always hear everything I say? I’m as frustrated as you are that way, as I just copy and save everything, the settings don’t really change? I feel like ever since January 2018 I’ve been struggling with my sound? But I think you will love the content as much as I enjoyed recording it! Happy Spring Everyone!
Tuesday February 5th, 2019
Today we have a rockstar millennial Nick Lubecki from Grow Pittsburgh who is giving a presentation on Learning Circle: Weed Management in Intensive Veggie Production.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Right now I am the Farm Manager
which is a project of Grow Pittsburgh
- urban nonprofit
- help people start community gardens around the county
- we have 2 urban farms
Currently I manage the Braddock farm about an acre or so
borough of Braddock
town just outside Pittsburgh
last remaining steel mill in the next door
It reminds me of the Brooklyn Grange on your website with the urban mill and the farm together.
Yeah! It’s a great photo shot for sure!
Tell me about your first gardening experience?
my first memory visiting grandparents in northern PA
They had a huge garden
- fruit trees
- sunflowers
- all that sort of thing
as a kid I was really excited about that!
at our home, my grandmother helped put together our first big garden, Imust have been 5-6 years old.
Do you have brothers and sisters?
Yeah, we were all involved at first, eventually became me and my brother and we’re still growing together today!
we are about an hour about north of the city! I’ve been gardening for a while!
Tell us about that. How does a millennial come to be growing as an adult.
grow
subsistence crops
corn
I had that as a background
as a child the thing I liked to do with my free time was hangout out in the garden and in the backyard
When I moved to Pittsburgh to go to school I missed it. As soon as I could I got gardening again
gardens a couple of years then got a couple of urban community gardens growing
At some point, I remember working at a grocery store
not being very satisfied with my life.
I’ve always been into homesteading and wanted to grow all your own food and preserve it
decided to try to work on a farm so I quit my job and got a job on a farm in central PA
been doing that every sense
big step from gardening to working on a 6 acre vegetable farm
what I wanted to do
love watching the plants grow and being able to take it back and cook with it
worked on farms
start my first farm in 2012
had an urban farm with a couple of friends in the city and did that for a year
some one had an urban farm hadn’t been used in a bit. They weren’t using
Got a start out there
after that season I was sold on it.
Later started a bigger farm
equipment
great way to get a taste of doing our own thing
after that season sold
did that for a couple of years
I know my listeners are wondering, our goal is to grow enough food for us to eat to supplement our produce at least. do you have any tips for going through that curve.
I found it really valuable to work for somebody else already doing it
so many things you don’t even think of
farmer has already thought of them
Weather working or work trade for a farmer
valuable insights
What’s a good example of one thing you learned?
logistics
of having produce for market
having knowing when to harvest before your market
depending day of week
do I do it that morning or the day before? Depending on the time of market
how to wash everything in an efficient way
presentable at a a market stand
bunches of herbs like cilantro and then at the market stand they just wilt into hour
put in a plastic bag
most significant things
working for someone who was able to have a consistent offering as much as possible throughout the season
- lettuce the whole season
- carrots the whole season
- customers used to the grocery store where they have everything all the time
- expectation that people are disappointed if you don’t have tomatoes in May
beyond our capacity
How do you sell your produce? CSA or Market or
I’ve done all three in the past
Braddock
biggest goal is to grow produce for the town of Braddock
no grocery store
- farm stand
- sell to some stores in the town as well
That’s the main goal for vegetable farm
We also
use our space to fundraise for our efforts of providing produce for the neighborhood
We also sell to restaurants
2 outlets
We’re members of a farmers coop called Penn’s Corner here in western PA
They handle the ordering and the logistics of that. We just drop everything off at the warehouse, it’s worth it for us!
Do you get a smaller profit then?
yeah. That’s definitely true
it can be nice
depends on how you do it
planning for a market stand vs planning for wholesale
different
took me a while
market want it to be pretty diverse
thin margins
handful of crops for wholesale
grow things like salad
we’re not
weather here is all over the place usually
last week we had couple of days of highs in the single digits
today highs in the 50s
yesterday in the 60s
30s and 40s for highs
maple sugaring
How did you learn how to garden organically?
well my grandparents had a big compost pile
thought it was a magical process
scraps turned into what looked like dirt
mom had a copy of the rodale envy
read that when I was a kid
before the internet
resource for gardening info
then
also I didn’t really know what I was going just reading ab look
trying to figure it out on my own
working on a farm
helped me learn the practical application of a lot of those things
when to do something about a problem
Tell us about something that grew well this year.
Ok! I’ve been trying to figure out for a couple of years celery
pretty wet here, get a lot of fungal disease
tried a couple of different varieties
really good celery for the first time
one people buy
don’t often see at the farm stand
we also had
did red, yellow, orange bell peppers
started
different colors
that really turned our farmstead into a rainbow
looked really nice
I also, tried out transplanting green beans
did that last
it worked really well
that kind of
plant green beans every couple of weeks to have them all season
buys us extra weeks by transplanting them
planted them at the time at the direct sow
pretty excited
more space
on an acre
trying to cycle through crops
one or two more crops
first crop
double triples
faster too
Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new?
I like trying things out every year
something trying right now
overwinter strawberries
plant in the fall
for us was sept
cover with row cover
supposed to produce first June with good yields
have them in the ground see if it works
along those lines
try to have as many crops as we can as early as possible
more things in June
our last frost date
middle of may
couple of high tunnels
June is like the least exciting farm stand
green things radishes
as much as we can add to that
better anyway
good luck
getting
zucchini and cucumbers earlier
red yellow
orange
some green
ready in June
weren’t picking them waiting to turn colors
customers more fruit
planted some blackberries and red raspberries
should produce for this season
red raspberries in high tunnel
should have a longer picking season
rains a lot
off of the berries
rot right when you pick it
red raspberries
grown outside
fruit flies
pick
look forward
ever bearing ones
i have tried those before
bigger farm
my experience you get a little bit at a time
backyard garden too
snacking thing
Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season.
Every couple of years I try to do some broccoli as long as I can
had a couple of weeks of good broccoli
people
got too hot
hotter weather ones
broccoli didn’t do so well
I think I sold about a handful of units
not gonna grow it
sales weren’t there
okra transplanted
did really well at first
early okra
did great
got about 2 feet tall
stopped growing
used to okra getting 7 feet tall
do some transplanting
some transplant and some direct
get 2 rounds
apart from each other
direct seed root system can get bigger
yeah, yields suffered
it was still ok
able to bring it to market every week till the season was over
lot of demand for okra
could have had more
half the plants just stopped growing
struggled
some plants have tap roots
okra has a tap root
damage the root
I was thinking along those lines
stopped a certain point
doing it 2-3 rounds
separated by a couple of weeks could be good
spread out the damage
whenever gets to that point
great cucumber year
and a bad year
try to have cukes whole season
have a bug
beetle
spreads wilt
keep getting killed off
later in the season
downy mildew
finishes them off
manage that
if I have cucumbers in Sept
I consider myself pretty lucky
breaks in the season
disappointed when we didn’t have cukes
keep on top
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Now Let’s Get to the Root of Things!
Which activity is your least favorite activity to do in the garden?
So, let’s see, I’m not getting any younger
stress the back I’m less excited about
hire in younger people on the farm
pushing more of the bending tasks over to the younger people
picking green beans
less
What is your favorite activity to do in the garden.
I mostly do more tasks then I don’t like
like harvesting
time of year
doing a lot of planing for the season
for that
got all my maps and seed catalogs together
plan for the year
seeing what worked well
tweaking the plan
all pretty exciting
a random task that I really like
hand weeding
as a management strategy
do a lot of hoeing
really like enjoy hand weeding
don’t get to do as much as I used to
delegate that task out
relaxing
hand-weeding
What is the best gardening advice you have ever received?
I heard this from assistant farm manager first farm I ever worked on
he said this a lot
all farmers think all other farmers are crazy
I like that sentiment
one will say they’re doing something
and someone will say
not one right way
everyone figures out their own system for themselves.
A favorite tool that you like to use?
If you had to move and could only take one tool with you what would it be?
I really like a good hoe
I think it’s called a gooseneck, swank
half moon
3 inches wide
tilt it on it’s side
inch wide
different type of hoeing in different situations
use that a lot
keep on top with the hoe
second favorite
nicest things
looks like
A favorite recipe you like to cook from the garden?
I have so many! I really like cooking all the vegetables
some gems
one thing I really like
is tomato and corn soup
tomato soup sweet corn inside of it
during the season don’t get to do as much exciting cooking as I like
BLT sandwich
fast and easy to make
getting into growing sweet onion
nice tomato
don’t always
butter lettuce
BLT
really nice
sweet onions
during the season
if I do have some time
grill
grill all the vegetables on the grill
ratatouille
grill all the little parts of summer
tomato
eggplant
onions
pepper
A favorite internet resource?
- extension service
- land grant
- Penn State
- Cornell
A favorite reading material-book, mag, blog/website etc you can recommend?
Another magazine
I grow organically
mainstream conventional growers magazine
find it interesting
always
If you have a business to you have any advice for our listeners about how to sell extra produce or get started in the industry?
That’s an interesting one
I’m learning
as I get older
I have less free time then I used to
it depends on where you are in life
kind of time you have
when I was younger
it was fine to start a business
start doing a weekly farmers market cSA
with less time it feels like it might b ea. good idea
less time
focus on one outlet
partner with one restaurant
grow one or two crops
everyone loves sweet corn and tomatoes
nice thing for a road side stand
getting started
doing something
a lot easier to add on to what your already doing
small way to get
Final question-
if there was one change you would like to see to create a greener world what would it be? For example is there a charity or organization your passionate about or a project you would like to see put into action. What do you feel is the most crucial issue facing our planet in regards to the environment either in your local area or on a national or global scale?
If I could narrow it down to one thing
the most important thing
connect people to nature
to from some sort of relationship to the natural world
if we have relationship we can value it
that’s key to everything
we are so disconnected
to not even know what we’re missing
build that relationship
gardening is a great way
feed ourself and get to know plants
seasons
world around us
where you are
what makes sense there
learning lessons climate where I’m at
what I have to do to grow certain things
being out there
learn about the birds
weather
flowers
what times
these things become familiar and important to me
then I care about them
that’s really important
we just naturally
we humans
give everything a personality
humanize everything around us
important to do with the natural world
treat the plants like they’re people
they do a lot on their own
they feed me
I take care of them
beneficial
key to
keeping our
way of life in the long run
just building that relationship that’s mutual for us
not beneficial for both
not work
it’s tricky too
there has been a lot of interest in tech
health care sector here
I feel like a lot of folks in pittsburgh are outside that whole system
not easy to get a job in either
back in the day
anyone could get a job there
need a lot of degrees and expensive education
definitely benefits
more
jobs
here for
good paying jobs
not everybody is able
talking about that for a while
a goal of ours is to help people feel empowered
start a garden
great way to take control of your own health
save some money
workshops for
help
We have a school curriculum.
school gardens
age ranges
grow food for the communities that were in
hope and empower
Do you have an inspiration tip or quote to help motivate our listeners to reach into that dirt and start their own garden?
I guess IDK someone, this is unrelated quote to gardening but it’s
“The secret is to begin”
I think a lot of farming is just start,
I know what I was gonna say, my big goal was to grow an herb this winter, IDK if it’s cause I never had a baby to nurture everyday or what but I am struggling to keep my herbs alive? I did grow a few things. I have learned a lot in 4 years, I’ve had some successes, I’m definitely struggling with my baby herbs.
great way to look at a garden
I’m terrible with houseplants
easier when its outsides
outdoor plant it’s not all up to me
partner
indoors
How do we connect with you?
Where do they find Braddock Farm to they go to Grow Pittsburgh website?
You can go to our website at growpittsburgh.org
read all about our organization and all the things we do
social media
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