Steve Guenther left his perch behind the Living Soil Farms counter at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market to help out an elderly customer.
She informed him that there better not be any Viking potatoes mixed in with the bag of Red Norlands Steve is selling.
“I can’t stand the Viking. Don’t even talk to me about the Viking,” she said.
Steve assures the customer there are no Vikings in the $5 bag of potatoes she’s holding in her grasp.
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Steve, who began growing and selling potatoes and other root vegetables directly to consumers in 2005, said marketing has been the hardest part of the new business.
When Steve and his wife, Jan, took over his father’s farm near Osler, Sask., they wanted to take the farm in a different direction.
The couple decided to make the transition to a certified organic grain and vegetable farm from a conventional dairy and grain operation.
The old dairy barn has been converted into a warehouse for washing, packaging and storing the root vegetables.
“I guess I’d been thinking about it for a lot of years. It just seemed to be more compatible with working with nature rather than fighting against her,” said Steve.
While the workload hasn’t changed much, other than becoming a little more seasonal, the type of work has. In addition to growing crops, they are now selling them, which has been a steep learning curve.
“I underestimated the amount of time it would take for the marketing. I don’t give it enough justice but I suspect a person should probably spend 35 to 40 percent of your time just marketing,” said Steve.
Jan’s job is raising their three children, Jadrian, Micah and Natalia, who range from three to 10 years old. She also helps out growing the vegetables and makes the occasional on-farm sale.
She is happy they made the transition into organic farming for both philosophical and practical reasons.
“It was good to see the cows go. It was really busy. It tied us down quite a bit.”
But the switch hasn’t been without its challenges.
“We did jump in and didn’t quite know what we were getting into,” said Jan.
She agreed with Steve that learning how to sell what they produce has been the biggest adjustment.
About half of the farm’s revenue is generated from vegetable sales and half of that happens at the farmers’ market, where they operate a booth year-round.
They also sell their potatoes, carrots, beets, onions and winter squash to a few Saskatoon restaurants and small organic grocery stores.
The couple has loyal local customers but Jan said a lot of people in the Osler area have big gardens and give away their surplus production to friends and neighbours, which makes for tough competition.
“(Locals) don’t realize the work that’s involved, so they’re not always willing the pay the price,” she said.
In addition to vegetables, Steve grows organic oats, barley, hemp, flax and lentils. The crops are mainly sold through brokers.
He devotes a lot of time to trying to improve his soil, working with amendments like liquid fish, molasses and humic acids.
It’s an entirely different approach to fertilization than conventional agriculture, one based on stimulating microorganisms in the soil to use primary sources of fertilizer to make nutrients available to the crop.
Improving the soil is a lengthy process.
“We’re not where we want to be yet,” said Steve.
