Future of small farms

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i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

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i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

__________________
i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

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i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

I read the first page of this topic and saw a lot of quibbling over what is a hobby farm, a farm, a homestead and etc.

No matter how you define any of them they are all hard work - work much harder than most people are willing to do these days for the tiny bit of monetary profit you reap. That, overpopulation, and real estate development is why small scale agriculture is dying a slow death imo.

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Zone 7B / 8A

First off, good for you! You are young and there are lots of things that you can do now to get closer to your dream little by little. You have the incredible advantages of time, energy, and motivation, and you will get to where you want to be in the end.

Just a word on that yak idea- Yak milk, cheese, and butter tastes nothing like cow products. It has an extremely strong taste, which I'd say is definitely acquired...

I don't have a farm or homestead yet. All I have is a small garden in my urban backyard. My grandfather grew up on a farmer and was a avid gardener, unfortunately I never learned those skills from him. Now that I'm in my mid-30's, I'm trying to relearn these lost skills.

The wife and I read, watch videos and get our hands dirty with the garden, heck we even had chickens for awhile.

Scott

I love to hear of youngers with dreams of homesteading! Good for you both!

I used to have a farm but for a variety of reasons now find myself living in the city/suburbs. You can take the girl out of the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the girl - at least if it is in her heart. So that is where I am - turning my yard, which is thankfully very big even if it is in the city - into an "urban homestead." I'll never be able to homestead in the true sense of the word where I am - but it is amazing how much I CAN do. And at my age - one of the best things I can do it to teach younger folks in the neighborhood some real life skills like baking bread, gardening, etc, etc. And I have many, many people in my neighborhood now expanding their backyard gardens and landscaping with edibles.

So don't look down on your urban backyard. You can gain a lot of experience in composting, gardening, soil management, etc right where you are and it will come in handy when you do get more land.

What Kasota said.

Nick and I started off in the 'burbs. We had a BIG garden, we canned, we dehydrated, we raised rabbits and chickens.

Eventually, we got to our first farm. Now we are on our second one.

It's a struggle, but it's worth it.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

Land prices are making it nearly impossible to farm if you don't already own land. Throw in equipment and you are in debt over your head.

Add to the fact that most ppl just don't want to work anymore. I mean WORK. Work in the heat, the rain, the freezing cold. Farm chores have to be done. Animals have to be fed and tended. Every day there's work. When you get one thing done there's more to do. (My ex's biggest gripe on our 6a mini-farm. He cldnt handle actually having to work)

My dad is concerned over what will become of his farm. I have no children, my sister has 3 young sons but will they want to farm when they are adults??? I told him there is no guarantee. I will never sell and will farm as much as I can (once I get back down there permanently) but I am one woman, aging each year, and 180+ acre beef farm is a lot for me to handle solo. I will always run some goats and sheep and garden but cattle.... I don't know.

Clearly you need to jump in front of this issue and quickly pop out some children.



This was meant as a joke. Please do not be offended.

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http://www.mofga.org/

http://www.mofga.org/Programs/FarmAp...2/Default.aspx

My thought too. Sounded almost like proposal.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Pop out one child, so there will be no fighting.

I know of many local farmers "calling it quits" and contracting out to the "big farms", they don't want to deal with it anymore.

It's easier just to lease it out than it is to maintain everything. The only small farms I know of are all open range cattle.

Our neighbor farms every now and then, he must be in his 90's, farms about 60 acres of soybeans and harvest it with a old massy fergerson combine, even he put half of his land in CRP. Which is getting to my point, the future of small farms is HUGELY dependent on the Farm Bills, if there are Government programs to aid 'small farmers' the more power to them.

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I see a very dark cloud on America's horizon,
and that cloud is coming from Rome.
- Abraham Lincoln

Seems we usually look for answers that require more spending. More hogs at the trough. Eventually that isn't going to work.

Here's an idea. How about we end the unconstitutional farm programs and regulations. They mostly favor big farming, and maybe small farms can compete better.

Again, probably won't happen, as it would mean less government spending.

LOL! No I think I will definitely skip the kid part. Not cut out for that I can assure you. Always said I don't want anything I can't stick in a cage or throw outside when it gets on my nerves. I think CPS would frown on me doing that to a kid!

This is the opposite of what we are all hoping for here, but if there is no one to take over the farm, you dad should sell the whole thing when he is through with farming and then he should take all that money and enjoy some fancy vacations and a nice condo where someone else does the gardening.

Otherwise the 3 young grandchildren sell the farm as soon as they inherit and they get to be the ones to enjoy all the vacations and new cars and nice condos. I've seen it happen many times.

Your dad should be the one to get the benefits from all his lifetime of hard work.

So sorry to hear about the college loan debt mentioned above. That can really strangle a persons future. Puts one in involuntary servitude to get it paid off.

Do all you can to get it paid off, then you can have more freedom to look at farming.

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We will meet in the golden city, called the New Jerusalem,
All our pain and all our tears will be no more.....

I know this topic hasn't been replied to in a while but this is the actual one that pushed me to join HT. With that I want to reply anyways.

My loving girlfriend and I are a young couple (24) with a 3 year old son. We are both seeking the lifestyle of a small farm. A huge obstacle in front of us is the sheer amount of capital needed to buy land and the necessary additions that go with it.

That coupled with the daunting task to move to a better state (from NY currently, and hoping to pursue Vermont) makes things ---- near impossible. Oh right, and the big one... I didn't grow up on a farm nor have I worked on one. After you attempt to build a life for yourself with a previous career through very hard work it isn't exactly easy to take a big pay cut to start learning to farm. It's not like I make huge money now, I don't make much, but what I do make doesn't really cover things as it is.

So in short before I get mad thinking about the difficulties and everything else... There is no good way for an established adult to begin their farm without a great outside job or other means of capital for those of us who didn't grow up farming or who went to school for it.

For what it's worth there are young people who want this but society and government have made it darn* near impossible for a non farmer.

Have you considered entering into a Apprenticeship / Journeyman program?

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http://www.mofga.org/

http://www.mofga.org/Programs/FarmAp...2/Default.aspx

If the "life beyond the sidewalks" is what you really want, then you may have to adjust your expectations.

You're really quite young, and have a lot of possibilities.

Start where you are.

Don't be locked in to one set of criteria. You may find yourself anywhere, if the land is good and the resources what you need. VT is spendy, and if you are concerned about being able to "do your own thing," it may be a little too restrictive in some ways.

Having a negative attitude will shoot you out of the water faster than a lack of funds. Figure out what you can do, and do it. Then go on to something else and do that.

You'll get there.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/