Deciding on a Direction for Your Farm

Deciding what you want from your farm property can seem deceptively simple. Plant a garden, have some chickens, maybe some goats or sheep, and try and sell stuff at farmers' market. Or maybe just homesteading to produce your own food is where it's at for you, with no desire to earn money from your farming endeavors. Every farm is unique, and even very close neighbors can decide on very different directions for their property and farm businesses.

There is no one-size-fits-all in making this decision, needless to say. And, truth be told, this has been an agonizing decision for me at Blue Meadow Farm. What I have hoped and dreamed about all these years is going to be far harder to pull off than I thought.

At mid-life I'm coming into farming with very little money and very little physical help, including the abilities of my own body to accomplish tasks and chores around the place. Even though I can ask for my adult son's help occasionally I really can't obligate him for too much around the place - he has his own life to live. And it's frustrating as heck that my muscles don't work like they used to 20 years ago.

For decades I've dreamed of my own place in the country to grow a garden, have some animals, and live with nature. Idealistic? You bet. But you gotta start somewhere. And now that I'm here I feel so at home and very much in the right place. This first year will be spent largely setting up house. Building a little house on the property will take months and leave very little time for other jobs around the farm, like fence or barn building. Even garden building will be minimal at best. Having a garden here requires a deer fence, otherwise everything gets eaten as soon after it sprouts.

Focusing my time and energy on the home building process the first year isn't necessarily a bad thing. It allows me to spend time on the property and observe weather patterns and the flow of nature around the place. One important observation has been the traffic on the road in front of my place. There are enough speeding drivers on this back country road that my little dog got hit and killed just a couple months ago! He was the sweetest and most affectionate little fuzzball, and my constant companion. I miss him terribly! So now a little-dog-tight fence needs to be put up before I adopt another canine companion.

Muscles or Machinery

A couple years ago I attended a farm field day at Atoms to Apples Farm and remember Rami saying in order to get jobs done around the farm you either need muscle or machinery... and sometimes both. Looking at your resources on both those fronts will help you decide which project are do-able, and maybe some that aren't.

Setting fence posts comes to mind. You can certainly dig holes for fence posts by hand, with a good old fashioned manual post hole digger. This method isn't necessarily difficult, but certainly time consuming. Or you can use a post hole auger, making the job faster, but costing a lot more.

At this point I can't really rely on my muscles and strength around the farm to do big tasks, so machinery is going to be a larger part of my operation than I'd like. That stuff just costs a lot of money, so being very careful and prudent with my purchases is mandatory. Looking for tools and machinery that does multiple jobs is important. Small tractor with attachments? Eventually that'll be in order. But, for now I'm thinking a basic UTV (utility task vehicle, like a Gator) is the better option.

And because machinery breaks down I have to consider how I'll go about getting things repaired. Will a local dealer or small engine repair shop be willing and able to come out to the farm for a repair? Or do I need to also purchase a trailer large enough to tow a small tractor or UTV into town?

Hiring Help

Hiring people to help around the farm might be an option, but likely not a very reliable one. Rural farm families with kids are pretty rare these days, so hiring the local neighbor kids is not really an option. Posting ads for occasional farm help might work, but it's really a roll of the dice in finding quality help. And hiring employees is something I've never had to do before. Keeping track of all the paperwork, workman's compensation, labor laws, etc. etc. doesn't sound too fun.

Friends that run a 150-head dairy farm just south of here are constantly struggling with finding good help. People don't last for long, sometimes don't show up for work, or have crappy vehicles that constantly break down preventing them from coming in. Being stuck in a position where you require more outside help puts you and your business in a tough position when that help breaks down. Challenges with employees would be a huge reason for me to NOT grow my operation too big. Managing people is not my strong suit.

What Are You Passionate About?

Love a beautiful fruit orchard? Have an interest in fiber arts? Like cooking with unusual culinary mushrooms? Love prarie plants and ecosystems? Let your passion and interests lead you toward what you might offer from your farm. For me my venture is still too young to define my direction - and too many interests and pursuits that are pulling me in different directions.

Some general things that I'm interested in are permaculture, agroforestry, small fruits, chickens, and pollinators. Grass fed animals might be in order, although cows are probably out of the picture (I'm just not comfortable with large animals that I don't know how to stay safe around). A small orchard with some bee hives would be good, while working toward an organic model of fruit production. And chickens are just fascinating creatures - beautiful, quirky, and producing one of the most perfect foods: eggs. It's also a bonus that they eat the many ticks in the immediate area.

A Work in Progress

Thinking about some of these things will hopefully help me take steps in the right direction in starting to build this farm. And keeping in mind that dealing with Nature is always a wild card I'll need to stay open to changing directions if my vision doesn't quick work out. Having goals is good, but being a slave to your goals and not responding to the forces of Nature is folly.

As they say "Mother Nature always bats last."