Government Takeover of Your Garden

[seedcorn]

In my area, a farmer absolutely could make a living on 20 acres. Not with monocropping, though. CSA, farmstand, keep pigs and chickens to eat the unsaleable stuff, keep bees, buy a few products from smaller producers for resale in the farmstand, etc. CSA shares sell out fast here. There is a farm nearby that sells organic garlic only, and they sell out their two products quickly, too....scapes and bulbs. There is a goat dairy that has a farm store and sells at farmer's markets. The farmer next to me sells xmas trees, pumpkins, squash, cornstalks, berries, etc on 20-30 acres. He is doing quite well and all three of his children are going to college and he has a nice retirement built up. A little further down the road on about 20-30 acres (much of it wooded and not in use) is a farm the sells nothing but started plants for two fast and furious months, May and June. Then they close for the rest of the year. From the condition and improvements in the property and business, I'd say they are doing quite well. In the time I've been buying from them (I also walk my dogs on the back of there property, I see what is going on with my own eyes) they've gone from one cash register to 8, always with long lines.

None of these farmers grow pot, to my knowledge. They all make a living with farming. There are many more within a 10-minute drive from my house...I shop at their stands all summer and fall. They all have nicer houses than I do and drive nicer cars. I have a "town job" that is fairly high paying, although part-time. I should switch to farming!

I'm impressed that people can sell plants for 2 months and make enough to live 12. Won't do that in Indiana, nor sell enough XMas trees from 20 acres to make 12 months of income. I need to understand better how you can do that. How much are Xmas trees in MA? We need to export our trees to MA.

 

[wifezilla]

I'm impressed that people can sell plants for 2 months and make enough to live 12

I believe the trees are a seasonal thing, not the ONLY thing. Though I am sure there are some Christmas tree farms that just sell trees...

 

[freemotion]

You would need to find something that would work in your area. I don't farm, but I do come from a farming family. So it is a discussion at family dinners. I'm not just some city girl who has unrealistic ideals.

If you don't look, you won't find. Period. If you don't see the need, you won't work towards it. If you aren't driven to leave this earth in better shape than you found it....well.....

I am also a big believer in creating markets. I worked on a farm years ago...a horse farm...and the owner would take the time and spend the money to put on tours and shows for any group that asked to come see the farm. We would spend days spiffing everything up and put on quite the educational and entertaining program. His theory, which I subscribe to, was that from among those children would one day come someone who would come back and buy a horse from him....or from someone else, and keep the industry strong. Or the grandparents from the senior group would encourage a grandchild to take lessons somewhere and that kid would grow up and buy horses. He turned a profit, btw, and did so on less than 20 acres. He had more land, but most of it was a forested mountainside, not suitable for horses.

Being successful also means having a clue about sales. Most of the success stories I've told (a fraction of the ones I know personally) involve farms that cater directly to the public, mostly. Some have contracts with local stores now since the "local" concept is gaining ground and the chains are under pressure to at least have a couple of local options. But most of their income comes from dealing directly with the public.

That requires a positive, friendly attitude.

 

[seedcorn]

If you aren't driven to leave this earth in better shape than you found it....well.....

On a personnal note, I am. On a more inpersonnal note, modern ag is as well. We just don't agree w/some of the definitions from some others. we keep hearing that American ag is not sustainable, but yet for over 100 years it has been.

I understand if you are blessed w/ground near a cosmopolitan area, there are many more doors open.

 

[sparkles2307]

I'm just learning all of the natural resources we have in our location.

I was not happy to move to MN, but due to other circumstances, MN was the best place for us to be when we came here. I just HAD to go and marry a MN farm-boy whos lived his entire life in our house... So I spent the first 3 winters here being angry at the snow. I spent the summers depressed because I knew what was coming in 3 months. This winter the depression has been replaced by my new obsession with studying the naturally occuring plants and fungi around us. We have AMAZING amounts of Morel Mushrooms. I have heard that there are several other edible varieties, and have a standing appointment with a veteran mushroom hunter in the spring so I can learn how to not kill my family Will be trying to seed some logs of my own as well. We have wild salsify everywhere... wild echinnacea, raspberries, gooseberries, grapes, asparagus, many kinds of wild lettuces, lambs quarters, shepherd's purse, the list gets longer every time I open a book. So, I can while away the winter making my garden list, learning how to save seed, and learning what I can find in nature to supplement what we grow.

We have about 160 acres. 100 is ag land, the rest is pasture/swamp/timber. There's a lot of potential and I'm so excited to explore it and learn how our family of 4 can survive on the land we have (minus the house payment and the power bill) to be one step closer to living off the grid!

 

[Collector]

sparkles, send me some of yor shrooms yum! Our plan is to live more self sufficient also. We have 25 acres in Idaho but it is a little to remote for me to have to drive work from there. So we will wait till the kids are raised then start building our off grid mini farm. The last couple of years we have been plotting and planning our escape. Until we are able to do that we are going to do what we can right here.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Having read most of this, my head is spinning with some of the comments and I think we have to look beyond our backyard gardens and its failures and victories. There are other things afoot here.

Now for the MY opinion before the facts, or am I still aloud an opinion?

The US Government is a virtual structure, and is considered a delivery system that was originally constructed for the wellbeing of its people. Today, this government is administered by people who were voted into office by the people of this country. However, some, but not all of these elected officials are tightly controlled by the use of corporate money to the advantage of those corporate needs. As for blaming everything on the government and wanting to eliminate it, one does not tear down ones house while you are living in it; you seek out the damage, get rid of the rot, strengthen any weaknesses, and make repairs.

You are the government. Read your constitution. Be proactive and do not let anyone else speak for you, especially those who work on behalf of someone else..such as corporations. The corporate agenda is not yours. It is profits before people at any cost.

Make it your responsibility to learn how the world banks are run and who runs them and why and how this affects your life. If your interest in the world ends at your front door step, then all is lost. Knowledge is power and unsubstantiated inflated rhetoric that inflames violence towards others is not to be tolerated.

And now a word from a local dairy farmer:

The Food Crisis is Not About a Shortage of Food
Published on Friday, September 17, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
by Jim Goodman

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/17-1

 

[vfem]

You would need to find something that would work in your area. I don't farm, but I do come from a farming family. So it is a discussion at family dinners. I'm not just some city girl who has unrealistic ideals.

If you don't look, you won't find. Period. If you don't see the need, you won't work towards it. If you aren't driven to leave this earth in better shape than you found it....well.....

I am also a big believer in creating markets. I worked on a farm years ago...a horse farm...and the owner would take the time and spend the money to put on tours and shows for any group that asked to come see the farm. We would spend days spiffing everything up and put on quite the educational and entertaining program. His theory, which I subscribe to, was that from among those children would one day come someone who would come back and buy a horse from him....or from someone else, and keep the industry strong. Or the grandparents from the senior group would encourage a grandchild to take lessons somewhere and that kid would grow up and buy horses. He turned a profit, btw, and did so on less than 20 acres. He had more land, but most of it was a forested mountainside, not suitable for horses.

Being successful also means having a clue about sales. Most of the success stories I've told (a fraction of the ones I know personally) involve farms that cater directly to the public, mostly. Some have contracts with local stores now since the "local" concept is gaining ground and the chains are under pressure to at least have a couple of local options. But most of their income comes from dealing directly with the public.

That requires a positive, friendly attitude.

Arguing with close minded people is like trying to find a key to a locked door that hasn't had a key in years. Don't waste your breath.

 

[vfem]

Ladyhawke1, that's so very true... its about waste, and greedy people making it too hard to get the extra food to the people who need it most. We throw out more then we could EVER need to live.

A local shop that head left over bread at the end of the day wanted to donate it to a shelter / church in the area who fed the hungry. The town LAW did not allow them to do so... it needed to be 'disposed' of in the trash. It took them fighting the town, and getting a lot of people on their side (and nearly a year) so they could donate the food!

What is wrong with this country?

 

[hoodat]

The only ones I know who are able to make a living off a relatively small acreage are those who grow specialty crops. You have to find your market and cater to it. I know one farmer in Arkansas who looked around and noticed they had a relatively high proportion of Southeast Asians and the stores that sold to them were woefully short of the vegetables they prefer. He planted almost his entire ground to Asian vegetables and has done quite well.
Another crop that has worked well for some people is specialty herbs. They sell them fresh in the markets and dried online.