ginger is becoming so popular as a specialty crop that the main seed suppliers, like East Branch Ginger and its parent, Puna Organics, often sell out of seeds. And if you save your own for replanting, you risk diseases like fusarium and bacterial wilt.
Bottom Line
Selling for up to $15 a pound, depending upon inventory, competition, and farm location, even slow-growing baby ginger can defeat some of the cons with its high price. To reduce the price shock for customers, it is best to pick a per-pound price and break the baby ginger into smaller pieces to sell by the ounce. In addition to selling baby ginger as whole or sectioned rhizomes, you can also market a number of value-added products, mentioned above. Just remember one thing, though: the only state with a commercial ginger crop is Hawaii, so if you live elsewhere, most of your farming effort will go into climate modification to make the plant happy and producing well in your microfarm.
BEES
About the Crop
First, you need to establish your bee colony where there’s a lot of flowering plants. Suburban and rural land make the best options, although there are urban beekeepers. Then you need a hive of bees, complete with a live queen. You might be able to buy an established hive from another beekeeper, which is a good way to start, but only buy a colony that’s been inspected either by an apiarist from your state department of agriculture (that’s usually a free service) or by someone you know who knows bees. But the most common and reliable way of starting out is to simply order your bees by mail. A package colony will devote most of its energy during its first season to building up the number of bees and food for the winter, so you probably won’t get your own honey harvest from it until the second year. Where do you put colonies? Many urban beekeepers put their hives on their rooftops, out of the way of pedestrians. People with hives in crowded neighborhoods keep them out of sight, preferably behind a bush or barrier so the insects will have to fly up a few feet to head out foraging. Raising bees for honey is tricky, so don’t be self-reliant. Contact your local beekeeping society (your county extension agent can put you in touch) and find out the name of a competent hobby beekeeper who’d be willing to show you around his or her backyard apiary and give you instruction and advice.
Pros
My favorite beekeeping quote is by “Kenpkr” on an online forum: “There is no other field of animal husbandry like beekeeping. It has the appeal to the scientist, the nature lover, and even (or especially) the philosopher. It is a chance to work with some of the most fascinating of God’s creatures, to spend time and do work in the great outdoors, to challenge my abilities and continue to learn. My hope is that I never become so frail with old age that I cannot spend my days among the bees. It gives credence to the old saying that ‘the best things in life are free.’”
Of course, you’re in it for the honey, and the amount you harvest will depend on how many hives you have and how many flowering plants there are in a mile or so radius from your hives. If you package and sell your honey, you need to have a unique selling proposition, like a particular nectar that the bees collect, such as lavender. The most unique angle I’ve heard of came from Reed Booth in Bisbee, Arizona, who is a killer bee removal expert featured in Part 2. His honey, of course, is Killer Bee Honey, and some has chile powder in it. Wax is another popular product of bees, and the bees store the honey in wax combs. Wax is used in many products, including candles, creams, and cosmetics. You could make your own lip balm as a value-added product. And the rest of your microfarm will benefit because pollination is what bees do, and if you want healthy plants, bees can help. Many cities have legalized beekeeping, with New York joining Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and San Francisco in approving urban hives. Beekeepers must adhere to published guidelines, which might include lot size, cleanliness, provision of water, and advice on managing the honey bee colony’s natural swarming instinct.
A honeybee on a modern hive in an apiary.
Photo by Björn Appel.
Cons
Stings can be a major drawback for the would-be beekeeper. Check with your doctor first to find out if you have a hypoallergenic reaction to bee stings. Even if you are not allergic, stings can still be painful. Fortunately, most beekeepers develop immunity to the poison over time. Supplies can get expensive because you will have to invest in a hive, proper clothing, a smoker, extracting equipment, and hive supplies. Prices vary, but a single new hive may cost about $110, clothing and gear may cost about $160, and a package of new bees may run $75 to $100. Often you can find starter kits with bees, boxes, and gear for a better combined price. A lot of people lose bees because farmers or gardeners spray the flowers of crops that bees work. You might have to educate your neighbors about safe spraying and warn them not to use Sevin. There are a few honey bee diseases, the worst of which is American foulbrood. By law, you have to destroy infested colonies to keep the disease from infecting other hives. One of the biggest threats to honey bees is the varroa mite—the parasite lays its eggs in the hives and feeds on the bees during the winter. And a number of colonies starve each winter, primarily because their owners didn’t leave enough honey in the hive to last until the following spring flowers arrive, usually in April. Bee colony collapse disorder, which has received much media attention, mostly affects the bees in colonies that are moved around the U.S. to pollinate certain crops like almonds.
Bottom Line
If you’re in a good beekeeping area, and if the weather’s excellent that year, you could possibly get thirty to sixty gallons from a single hive, but that would be very unusual. Count on about fifteen to twenty gallons as a more reasonable single-hive harvest. A sixteen-ounce jar of raw honey retails for about $15, so you may have to invest in several hives to make significant profits. Consider speaking with other microfarmers and work deals to place your hives near their crops, like lavender, alfalfa, or raspberries, so that you can make a varietal honey that will be worth more. Usually, you will share the harvest with the landowner. Other value-added products with honey are honey butters, honey mustards, honey cookies or other sweets, including baklava. Don’t forget to have a consistent brand for your honey and products, including candles and other products made from beeswax.
CHICKENS
About the Crop
Although raising chickens for eggs has a nice cachet, and there are magazines and blogs devoted to urban chicken care, you would have to have a fairly large flock and a good egg marketing plan to have a microfarm based solely around chickens. Chickens are better as part of an overall diversified microfarm, such as a small dairy operation where eggs joined the other dairy products produced, like cheeses, yogurt, or ice cream. Because chickens are such excellent egg producers—each hen lays about three hundred eggs per year—your egg supply can have many uses. They can be ingredients in baked products, can be bartered for other foods that you’re currently not growing, and with proper permitting, sold along with your other microfarm crops at stands or farmers’ markets.
Pros
Raising your own microfarm flock will give you free garden fertilizer, natural insect control in your yard (they love grasshoppers and crickets) and growing areas (although chickens do eat vegetables), fresh eggs that are free from added chemicals, and when the hens are through laying in a few years, you’ll have them for the cooking pot. Caring for chickens is easier than most other pets and without a rooster in the mix, they are relatively quiet and make good household pets.
Domestic free range chickens
