Farm Life

Yesterday was the first day that we've had warm weather and time to enjoy it as a family since we moved into our new house.  It was the first day that we felt like a farm family.  We spent much of the morning clearing flowerbeds and cutting down volunteer trees that had grown around our outbuildings.  We moved cinder blocks and cleared a junk heap behind one of the storage sheds.  We filled a trash can with broken glass, plastic and old shingles.  We took stock of the chicken house and made note of the jobs that need to be done in order for that space to be made ready to use. 

After lunch, we took a walk around the farm.  Again, this is the first time we've all been outside together and had the time to walk the property.  The creek was up because of recent heavy rain.  It was still fun to imagine canoeing and swimming in the summer.  The children were done exploring about half way around the property line and opted to cut across the field and head back to the house.  R and I continued to walk the property and found a stream and rock formation we didn't know we had.  We spent time in the sunshine dreaming.  We reminded each other of the dream that led to chosing this property.

We have so many plans for this farm and stepping out into the unknown is a daunting prospect.  Goats, grapes, a garden, chickens, turkeys, and bees.  Can we do any of it successfully?  Are we really ready for this?  We've almost completed our small farm class.  We have enough money and more than enough ideas to make a start.  The only way to find out if farming is really for us is to do it.  There is only so much you can read in books. 

Today we spent some time working on a business plan and a vision for our farm.  Our plan is to spend this year trying things on a small scale to see what works and what doesn't.  Next year we'll move to a larger scale with an intention of being profitable within the next five years.  It's a big step, putting things down on paper, making a plan, beginning. 

At our small farm college class, we've repeatedly heard how we need to be marketing our farm and making sure that people know our story.  In an effort to get a head start on that, we've decided to tell our story from the beginning.  Here's our new farm blog so that you can follow what we are doing and, hopefully, so will others in our area as we get growing.