Innovative Greenhouse Design, Heritage Livestock, and Honest Small Farm Talk
In May 2023, I sat down with Mimi from Growers Daily, formerly The No-Till Market Garden Podcast, for a long, unscripted conversation about Red Shirt Farm — how the name came from a college sports term, how I came to farming after 26 years as a public school teacher, and how we’ve built our greenhouse and heritage livestock operation from the ground up. We got into the parts that don’t usually make it onto Instagram: the tension between small farms and the push to scale, and what it actually takes to keep a small diversified farm going.
Originally published as the Growers Daily podcast episode “Innovative Greenhouse Design, Heritage Livestock, and Honest Small Farm Talk with Jim Schultz of Red Shirt Farm.” Hosted by Mimi, May 8, 2023.
A few excerpts from our conversation:
On the greenhouse: “The combination of the solar wrap, the thermal curtain, and the climate battery makes this house a dream to work in.”
On heritage birds and Stone Barns: “Chicken used to be something special — Sunday dinner at grandma’s house — not a commodity. We’re trying to bring that back with the Buckeye. This year we supplied Stone Barns with heritage chicken, and we’ll do it again next year.”
On farm labor economics: “Massachusetts agricultural wage is $8 an hour, but I don’t know of any farm actually paying that — it’s too competitive. Dunkin’ Donuts starts at $16. Why would you do hard physical labor in the sun and rain for $15 an hour? That’s the challenge.”
Listen to the full episode above, or read a few excerpts from our conversation below.
