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Is the abandoned farmstead an ideal beginning farmer starting location?
Let’s say you want to begin a farm (that may be one of the reasons you listen to this podcast). You’ve done some reading, you’ve connected with other farmers and organizations, and you’ve even spent a year working part-time on a real functioning farm. Now you finally feel like it is time to jump in and do some farming on your own, but as a beginning farmer either you see the wisdom behind starting small and with minimal investment or you just don’t have much to invest other than your desire because you are a beginner! Either way you are going to need some place to farm, and if you are like me that means you are starting with nothing … no family land, no land of your own, and not a lot of knowledge to get you there.
When we began our farm I went against everything that I had read and heard because I just felt like I needed to “own” a farm, but if I was going to do it all over again or give advice to another beginner like myself I would strongly encourage them to go the route of renting. In fact lately I’ve come up with my perfect farm rental plan.
Have you ever been driving the back roads in your neck of the woods and seen those old abandoned farmsteads of 2 to 4 acres? I see plenty of them here in Iowa and I often wonder about the lives of those farmers when they were thriving farms, but lately I’ve been thinking about the possibility of using them as beginning farms. Usually they are unused, full of trees and other brush, and just waiting for an enterprising beginning farmer that is willing to work and wanting to learn! In today’s episode I’m going to talk about why I think they are a good option and what I would do if that is how I was beginning.
Do you have any advice for the beginner looking for a place to farm? Let us know in the comments below!
Other Links Mentioned in this Episode:
As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I’m thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn.
If you do enjoy the show, don’t forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five star rating and review (by clicking the link). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!
I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with “The Beginning Farmer” and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links …
Based this CGP Grey Youtube video, your mother’s cousins son would be your 2nd cousin while he is your son’s 2nd cousin once removed…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM79Epw_cp8
Brian … Thanks for the link to the video 🙂 Whatever the relation was, all I know is that I’m thankful for the help!
Your visitor is going to be your second cousin.
Also, thank you so much for this group of podcasts – starting from scratch is exactly where I am and now am in the research area now. It’s been so interesting and perfect to help us figure out if this is something we really want to do!
Kathy … First of all thanks for the info 🙂 Also, if you ever would like to be on the podcast I’m interested in doing a series with people at various stages of farming (from thinking about it to doing it for a life time) and would love to have you on the show to talk about it!
Where did you find the area calculator tool?
Brian … Here is the link to the one I used. http://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm
Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and taking time to comment and join in!
Donna O’Shaughnessy shared this over on my transitioning blog (I really need to figure this out). It was good stuff so I wanted to make sure it made it over here as well …
“We have a great organization here in Central Illinois called The Land Connection that does an excellent job not only of training new (small) farmers but also of linking them with older farmers who have land to lease. Terra Brockman is definitely someone you need to connect with.
http://thelandconnection.org/central-illinois-farm-beginnings“
Hello,
After you moved from blogging to podcasting I never got organized enough to listen regularly. Now I am going back and listening to old podcasts that I missed.
Sorry to hear that you and your family were kicked out of Knoxville because of a few chickens. I hope that city has mended its ways by now.
A couple of questions:
– how would a begining farmer with a few chckens and pigs go about selling his produce? Farmers market? Craigslist?
– You mentioned that some property south of your farm was used for hay but should actually be used for pasture. How do you decide if land is better for pasture than hay? Is that permanent?
Thanks,
—
George