financial problems are burying us

She has told us her business plan? Where?

Too much speculation and guess work on this thread!

She said the 'farm' won't ever make it. That implies the business plan (every business has one, those some don't realize it or never realized it....) is not working out & _something_ needs to be changed.

You are right, everyone is speculating & draging in personal issues now.....

That's what happens, when a thread is not revisited by the original person & questions are answered.

Would love to help - well, at least discuss as I don't presume I can really, really help - but the original poster has not followed up. So, no one can help - only speculate.

I farm on a small farm in MN. Maybe I'd have some ideas, if I knew the resources they had, the size of the operation, & the general location. Here in MN, 'farm' typically means 100 - 2000 acres with at least one, if not 2 full time off-farm jobs to make a go of it. Very few are full-time farming with no other income, typically looking at 500+ acres with lots of livestock to make that go.

The little 10 acre plots don't work well up here in the cold, not much growing time, and we are very seasonal - farmers markets don't work for the 6 months of winter, etc.

--->Paul

I've only read the first half of page 1 of responses, but perused to see if Myranda ever responded again to the many questions; she hasn't as of yet.

All I can advise is both of us working outside the home at a paying job helped us get our farm paid off. Going into no further debt (in other words buying nothing until we had the money to purchase it outright) is important. Pay as you go... and that means doing without new furniture, rarely going out to eat, shopping at Goodwill for many things, driving older vehicles.

There's no better feeling than being out of debt. It doesn't mean the expenses stop tho. The truck needs a serious tune-up. The jeep needs a rebuilt transmission. The rangetop needs replaced, as does our washer & dryer, we have a toilet that needs replaced... and there are tons of projects we need or want to do (root cellar, cistern, etc.) but we'll face each project one at a time based on priority, as soon as we've set aside the money for it.

Christmas is going to be - for the most part - home canned & baked goods and whatever crafty things I can design.

I wish you well.

Rambler, she sounded overwhelmed.

You are right about the threads drifting if the origional poster does not come badk: I suspect that she is very, very busy.

I suspect she didn't here what she wanted to here.

when you aint got enough income, cuting 50 a month is alot.

20 a month is a lot.

the only benifit to keep the internet if you are super broke is to use it to ebay and make some money.
otherwise its an albatross when you are broke.

I personally do not know anyone who is makeing a living farming, have only knew one person who had only farmed for a living never had a public job. He started out over 70 years ago farming died at 74 about 12 years ago. We have 120 acres most of the neighbors have at least that much but all have or have reitred from public jobs. A few acres and hard work will not make a living anymore. The man I knew had several hundred he bought years ago, after his death his wife had to sell just could not justify the property taxes as she did not use it. I wish it was different but it just is not. My opinion is my opinion and I have lived the homestead life for the past 45 years but not with out a good paying job, and never with 6 kids two was all I could raise and was questionable about how good I was at that.

I have met several people who farmed for a living, though I only knew one of them well.

3 of them raised flowers. One gent (the one that I knew) ran a few mother cows on paid-for land. He would not have made a profit if he had still had payments.

It is a challenging thing to do. Possible, but challenging.

Do a google on Lynn Byzinski: she is one of the flower farmers.

Are you close to a major town or city? You might do a "u-pick" garden if you can get people from town to come out and pick. Charge by the pound. One guy told me he makes a good living doing that. City people will add things to the basket that a farmer never would, such as dirt, rocks, etc.

How strict is your state? Do you have pasture? pens? barn? Could you rent space and cater to city people who want to own a small farm animal that can’t be kept in the city? Maybe a goat, sheep, rabbits, ducks, chickens or other poultry? You could charge a monthly fee for boarding the animal for them. You might even benefit from getting a percentage of the eggs/meat, etc. Some might buy 10 chickens and only want a dozen eggs a month leaving you the remaining eggs that you can either use or sell. You might work it out so when you have chicks hatch, you get 1/2 of them in addition to the regular fees they pay, then you could end up selling free range frozen or freshly processed chickens. If they have a goat, maybe you could milk it for them and get to keep the milk that they don’t pick up. You’d have to iron out all the details, but you might get a money maker going.

It wouldn’t be to hard to get a system set up IF you have the facilities to board the animals.

Just thought of another idea. You could advertise in the spring for people to buy a turkey that you will raise for them. Come Thanksgiving, their turkey would be ready for them to either pay you to process it for them or take it to a processing plant. You could deliver it to be processed and either pick it up for them or leave it in their name for them to pick up. You'd probably have to buy a few extra turkeys in case a few didn't survive, but the extras could be advertised as free range turkeys for sale in Nov. You'd probably sell out and get new orders for the next year.

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I know a lot of people who tried to borrow their way out of their problems. I call them bankruptcy clients.

If you are serious about borrowing for your business, as someone else has said, you need to develop a business plan that shows you have a better than 50/50 chance of succeeding. You need a good CPA to help and advise you. Be very careful to keep business and personal finances separate. You put the "business loan" into the business. You do not casually take business funds for family use, you need to do a proper "draw". It might even be best to set the business up as a S corporation.

I know a lot of farmers who have given up farming and gotten jobs in town. Or farm after they finish work at their jobs in town.

I don't know your family situation, but I'd say with 6 children and 2 adults just raising your own food would be a big financial boost. However, you need to "cost" every animal project and get rid of the ones that are not paying their way. Any small business person will tell you that you constantly have to evaluate and then re-evaluate everything you're doing to be sure it is cost effective. I believe that a family needs to do the same with their budget.

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This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

trying to borrow your way out of debt is like fighting for peace or screwing for chastity, it just never seems to work out worth a ----.

pax
t.f.

Are you lucky enough to live nearby to a research facility, school (even college or university), hospital, or other landowner that might want your property? You could either sell now or sell them a life estate - usually you get to stay in the property until you die, free, and they have to maintain the property for you while you live there. They pay you a price for this privilege now and when you die, the property is their's. Something to think about...

Forgot to mention, a large organized club like a hunting or conservation club may also be interested in your property in this manner, or even a park...

It can be done, 2 out of 3 of the top sellers making 50k a year or more at the fayetteville farmers market sell flowers. The other one does vegetables and fruits. It does not take 50k a year to live onc eyou pay for your place and eliminate bills as much as possible, I plan on getting by with 10k a year, I think their are plenty of folks that make a living by selling at farmers markets.

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

I suspect your right

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

I thought so too but according to her profile, her last activity was the day she began this thread. She just hasn't been back here to check what's been said yet.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Thanks turtlehead
oops sorry for jumping to conclusions

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

Check out Cark Howard's website. http://clarkhoward.com/ He is the king of penny pinchers and his bulletin board, website and syndicated radio show are one of the best places to get information on managing money. He doesn't go into farm specifics to my knowledge but when it comes to Loans, refinancing and balancing the books he has lots of good advice on what you should be paying, who has the best deals , who the scam artists are and just general info on who you SHOULD be dealing with. You could try posting questions on his web site or even calling in on his daily radio show. Its not a definitive answer probably but at least a good place to go for information. Good luck to you.