Keith Stewart covers everything you need to know to successfully grow and market your own organic vegetables and herbs. Offering expert tips on choosing a growing site, soil fertility, companion planting, irrigation, organic farming techniques, dealing with pests, and harvesting, Stewart also helps you design a business plan, manage employees, and find niche markets for your produce. This inspiring guide will help you turn your dream of a thriving farm into a profitable reality. Keith Stewart is a NOFA-NY certified organic vegetable grower in Westtown, New York, who has been selling to the NYC Union Square Greenmarket since it began. Keith's garlic has been called "the most soulful garlic on earth" by Time Out New York. The New York Times said, "Keith's farm grows garlic from another planet compared with the stuff in supermarkets." He is the author of It's a Long Road to a Tomato: Tales of an Organic Farmer Who Quit the Big City for the (Not So) Simple Life. His essays appear in The Valley Table, "the Hudson Valley's only magazine devoted to regional farms, food, and cuisine." A successful vegetable farm depends on business smarts -- accounting, marketing, customer service -- as much as planting and harvesting skills. Keith Stewart's practical advice and detailed in-the-field instruction guide you through every part of professional farming, from mapping your fields to designing a farmers' market stand. Includes comprehensive coverage of: - Site selection and good soil maintenance - Tools, machinery, and greenhouses - Selecting and planting profitable crops - Organic weed and pest control - Harvesting and storing vegetables and herbs - Developing a business plan - Marketing, packaging, and selling your products Preface Part I: In the Beginning 1 Thinking About Becoming a Farmer? 2 Looking for a Place of Your Own 3 The Farm Plan Part II: Tools of the Trade 4 Tractors and Tractor Implements 5 Small Equipment and Tools 6 The Greenhouse 7 Growing Under Cover 8 Irrigation Part III: Looking After the Land 9 Managing Your Soil 10 Cover Crops and Green Manures 11 Crop Rotation 12 Building Fertility Part IV: The Crops We Grow 13 Our Most Profitable Crops 14 Garlic -- Our Signature Crop 15 Let's Not Forget Herbs Part V: Harvesting and Marketing 16 Harvesting and Storage 17 Marketing What You Grow 18 More on Farmers' Markets 19 Marketing Through the Seasons Part VI: Competing Forces 20 Regarding Weeds 21 The Four-Legged Competition 22 Insects and Diseases Part VII: Taking Care of Business 23 Running a Business 24 Looking After Number One Afterword Resources Index "With 25 years under his belt as an organic farmer, Stewart has plenty of hard-earned expertise to draw on in this comprehensive, well-designed guidebook to growing ecologically safe herbs and vegetables."-Fedco Seeds "Whether you're buying your first farm property, planning a transition from kitchen gardener to market grower, or looking for ways to improve your existing farm operation, Storey's Guide to Growing Organic Vegetables and Herbs for Market is an invaluable addition to your farmstead library." "This book could be a template for any new and beginner farmer education curriculum. I fully expect to see dog-eared copies of this book on the dashboards of pickup trucks and farm-house kitchen tables all across the region." "I felt like I was attending an excellent college lecture and discussion series, and I am sure this book will become required reading in many a sustainable ag class."

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