National Blog Posting Month

I should have included "Wannabe Farmers" in the group....

After receiving a few messages from people who would love to farm or work on a farm, it came to me that 'wannabe farmers' or 'future farmers' should have been included.

Believe me, dreaming of the farm you will own one day is something I can relate to. For 3 long years we looked for the perfect land to start this project of ours and during that time, pouring through books, talking to people who were farming and journaling about what my farm would be like, was what kept me searching!

Let's start a new discussion on this subject. Tell us what your dreams are or what kind of farming, gardening, or livestock projects you would like to start of your own. We all have to start somewhere.......where will you start?

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Permalink Reply by Marye on November 2, 2007 at 7:17pm: I grew up with a small garden in the backyard. My parents canned and we lived off of what we had grown. This is my first year to have my own garden. I gave away our bounty because I haven't learned to can yet. My husband was a bit skeptical at first but now he's composting and tilling to get the ground ready for next year (he want so double the size of our garden) We have chickens too! I love it and need to learn from those who have more experience. Glad you started this group!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angie on November 3, 2007 at 6:41am: Hi Marye! Thanks for posting. The way you describe your start was exactly how I got started - it grows (no pun intended) on you quickly. My husband, who also had no interest at first, is trying to find a way to quit his day job to work full-time with me on the farm and he is CONSTANTLY wanting to make the farm bigger!! I think it's a man thing.

Canning is really simple - it seems overwhelming, but once you do it, you will be saying, "this is all you do?" An excellent resource is the Kerr Canning Book. You can find it online although I think they are charging for it now (maybe $20?) and they used to give it out for free. Mine is soooo old some of the pages are stuck together from stuff splashing on the pages!

Did you join the group? I hope so and look forward to reading your posts. Have a great weekend.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by FarmWife on November 11, 2008 at 6:36am: You will be shocked at how easy it is to can. This was my first year at it and I put up tomato sauce, greenbeans, applesauce, pearsauce, pear butter, and jellies. I picked up the Ball Blue Book at Wal-Mart for 5 bucks. Easy to read, easy to follow, lots of explanitory pictures & fabulous recipes. I did luck out & got most of my canning supplies free from my grandmother who can't can anymore. Give it a try. You'll be so proud of the stash in your pantry!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Erikka Adams on November 9, 2007 at 8:52am: Just this week I had a daydream of starting a farm with one of my closest girlfriends and my boyfriend's sister. We would call it The Three Sisters Farm. Angela would be the manager or "Da Boss" Laurie would be the brawn or "The Muscle" and I would be the marketer/outreacher or "The Voice." I would love to work on the farm, but I realize running and managing one may be too much for me. I like being a helper because I like people too much to be caught up in the responsibilities of the Farmer. My focus would be on ways to involve the community in this farm that I dream of. I would definitely be part of "The Muscle's" work too, as would Da Boss, but we'd have our specialties.

Ever since I've worked with youth in gardens, I've wanted to run an educational garden on this some day farm. This is where new farmers could be seeded or even just healthier ideas for eating and living for future parents and adults.

Now that I read about your chickens Angie, I want some...I'm considering looking into if I have enough space in my little backyard-less Boston apartment to have two. Just to feel like I'm taking one step back toward farming.

Lucky for me, my boyfriend and his sister both want to farm, as do I, so once Angela's done this program she is enrolling for, we could seriously look for land to do something.

This was a ramble if there ever was one. Very incoherent. But I'm going to keep dreaming. Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Sherck on November 7, 2008 at 9:19pm: I see there hasn't been much activity in this thread lately, but it's where I belong: I'm a wannabe farmer. My wife and I are looking for land and in the meantime we're looking forward to next summer's garden, since it will (at least, so we presume at this point) be our first summer in 4 years that we haven't been moving from one place to another (a state which makes gardening difficult.

Ultimately, we'd like to raise grass-fed livestock, have a large garden to eat from and can the surplus, have a pond with fish... basically we'd like to move as close as possible toward self-sufficiency, but that's still off in the future. We don't even have our own land yet. :(; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marye on November 8, 2008 at 8:44am: I was surprised to find a reply in my mailbox. I had completely forgotten about this group.
Just to update. We did enlarge our garden just a bit. We had really good luck with some veggies and some not so good luck with others. Our lot is only 1/4 acre, but I'd love to expand.
We have more chickens now too. I just adore them. None are meat birds, just egg-layers. I don't think our kids are ready to slaughter and eat an animal they know just yet.
We did do some canning this year too. It's so nice to sit down to a table of food that you planted, nurtured and picked in your own backyard. I'm just wondering how everyone else's gardens did this summer.; ▶ Reply to This