Storing Bulky Materials

Hi! Today I’m sharing some process tips - but also a good philosophy. The philosophy is rooted in Lean Farming principles. Check out the book The Lean Farm by Ben Hartman. I have the audiobook version - so I can listen to it in the car on the way to pick kids up/when I’m grocery shopping, etc. That is my “reading” time most days.

One suggestion in the book is to only order supplies when you need them, with quick (even expedited) shipping, and a fast application of those supplies by you when they arrive. Basically- materials should travel in a straight line from your “mailbox” or wherever they are dropped on your property by the delivery service to their application location (field or tunnel, or whatever).

Resist the urge to order extra supplies/bulk supplies in hopes of saving money on freight and using those supplies at a much later date. The money you would save will be eaten up by the time you waste finding a storage area for the materials, trying to protect them from the elements, re-locating them when you need them, possibly forgetting that you have them and re-ordering them, or not needing them at all because the system you needed them for become obsolete for one reason or another.

I highly recommend this book. There are so many applications for the ideas in it— certainly many things apply to our work with flowers— but you can also apply lean farming principles to tasks in the home, etc. It has changed many of the things we do here.