to farm or not to farm

This weekend I was hanging out with some friends, whose back pasture I have been cutting trees from.
I was thought tossing with them about places to store firewood.

They sell hay and wood shavings, raise chickens, and have other things in mind. They suggested I 'start a farm'.
I'd love a few acres to clear, to store wood, have a garden maybe, use rain catchment systems, have a 'hunting cabin', and perhaps harvest and plant trees.

I have zero interest in selling wood (at this point), but to cut, store/season and use mostly for myself, with some to give away as usual.

My friends indicated that there was funding from various government levels to start something of this nature, But I'm not good yet at defining what kind of agriculture this is, nor how 'cutting wood' would be an agricultural benefit to the state.

Would I dig a pond, encourage wildlife, built hermitage huts for individuals to come and retreat in solitude . . .keep my job, cut trees and tend the garden in the off time.....Yeah. The job can go at some point.

All over the place here, no focus but lots of ideas . . .


SCA

 

I would think the goal of farming is to not rely on the government. Modern day "farmers".

 

And the governments goal seems to be get them all on the government teat as fast and as much as possible...

 

It seems as if you have a few Ag colleges in CT. They might have students willing to help you with a business plan/model as a class project (they may even have a program to match students with prospective farmers - IDK). Or, you can try your state small business association.

 

My first thought is do you want to be a farmer for a living, or simply have a piece of the farmer experience, enjoying growing things, raising animals, living a somewhat self-sufficient existence? I’ve never been a fully-fledged farmer but have had large gardens in the past that required most of my free time in the summer, I’ve had chickens and quails for the past 10 years, and I grew up helping out at a family friend’s farm during hay season. For me, I wrest enough satisfaction doing the backyard gardening thing on a small scale, and making small batches of maple syrup as a hobby. But that’s just me. If you’ve got an inner calling to chase down a dream, then definitely dive deep into your options.

 

A guy down the street from me has a few cows and chickens a decent sized garden. He has people from the city come out and stay for the “farm experience”. They pretty much pay him to do his chores lol.

 

If it's something you want to do, start off small. It's either in your blood or it isn't. full time job. Animals don't care if you're hurt,sick or tired

I say go for it if it's what you want. I'm working the plan to make it happen, just need that rich relative to die (that I don't have hah) and leave me some land up in Maine.

 

A enjoyable vlog on you tube that I follow. Young fella started in Mass and has recently bought a old dairy farm in Sharon N.Y. Does a daily show of his day to day trying to make a go of it.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3OXDh25e4lknImuZ2IuGQ/videos

 

Agree to the above statements. Depends on what you want to "farm". And that depends on what acreage and resources you have. Animals take room, and time, and resources. Like Backwoods Savage and In the Pines stated, a farm doesn't care about what time it is, or how you feel. 2 o'clock in the morning and the bull makes a hole in the fence...guess what, deputies at your door. Ever want to shoot a bull at 2 in the am? It's a real feeling.

Depending on what you're farming, how you're set up and if you have any help, will determine how tied down you are. There are times when it doesn't matter what else is happening, you're a farmer. Oh, and be forewarned, if you do decide to go somewhere, that's when you'll get a phone call that something has happened. Cows in the road, powers off and wells/waterers are inoperative, storm came through and trees are on the fence, someone ran off the road and tore down your fence etc etc.

Depending on where you are, you might be able to get city folk to come play and pay you money to be on a "farm" like Warner said. Most of those "farms" are like the tourist trap shops at vacation hotspot.

Not trying to rain on your thoughts, hopes or dreams. Just keeping it real. "Let's get cows" my new wife (who grew up beef farming) said. "It'll be fun, and a tax break", she said......

 

Grew up helping out on dairy farms in the area. Loved the tractor work, didn't mind feeding and cleaning up the animals, and actually loved haying weird as that sounds.
I scratch my itch for farming by mowing acres of lawn, and bush hogging and putting in food plots. This way, I just spend money without the pretense of trying to make money!

 

There's a reason you don't see farms pop up anymore....

 

Farmers keep selling to developers on my road....The land is worth more than farming pays

 

more and more cropland planted with solar panels and microwave towers not to mention wind mills

 

While I agree with all that’s been said before and it’s all true, it can be very rewarding as well. Wise advice is to start small with a “hobby farm”. Raise some of your own animals…layer chickens or milk goats perhaps to give you some rewards for your labor and monetary inputs. If it turns out that the dream wasn’t as pleasant as you had hoped you still have your piece of land in the country to enjoy after divesting yourself of the animals and paraphernalia that you will have accumulated. Oh, forgot to mention you will have some pretty significant upfront costs in fences, gates and outbuildings that you will most likely not get much for if you remove them.

Go in with eyes wide open and if it still appeals to you then go for it, just don’t plan on it being a money maker. If you are able to sell some of what you raise/produce it will help offset the feed costs at best.

Edit: Make sure that the entire family buys in to the process as they will need to be involved, especially if you work a full time job

 

thats the truth, big corporation has strangled out pretty much everyone. Was watching a video a bit back on the cattle industry and how the ranchers have basically 3 -4 companies to sell to at the "auction" which is basically a rigged/staged event these days because they all collude in keeping the prices low while keeping profits high on the consumer end.
Seems like you need to find that niche these days to survive in any kind of agribusiness. Not even live but survive. And with companies now taking away our right to repair, I don't even know how these guys can get their machines fixed without needing a loan .

 

Wow, that's a lot...probably prime farm ground too, huh?

 

Haven't looked at it in a while however if I remember correctly, the USDA had a requirement that someone applying for an agricultural grant had to show 1-3 years of farming experience before they would even look at the application. You could start with research here: Family and Small Farm Program | National Institute of Food and Agriculture (usda.gov)

To start off small, you could also look at the USDA People's Garden Initiative: USDA Opens People’s Garden Initiative to Gardens Nationwide

For trees, the US Forest Service has things like the Forest Land Enhancement Program and the Forest Stewardship Program that you could read up on. Starting off small, you would probably have better luck going through a state-sponsored entity. I believe you also have to work with your local federal and state forestry reps to draft a woodland/forestry management plan. Around here (northern NH), everyone and their brother sells camp wood and there are many firewood processors to choose from. Most will tell you that it's too much work for too little reward, For a more laid-back endeavor, you might want to try growing a Christmas tree farm.

As others have said, I would start off small (for personal use) and see how much work/time/money is involved and go from there. That would also give you the chance to see if you really like the lifestyle.