Never farmed, want to farm, am buying. Advice?

[austi012]

Hey,

After months of looking I may have found "the one". Going out tomorrow with the family. I saw it Thursday.

The house needs some help, but is basically sound. It has a creek and pond, the soil is rich. Millions of frogs (none deformed) so I suspect there aren't a lot of toxins floating around there.

Wish me luck! Farm

[austi012]

It wasn't the one. Between the first time I saw it and the second, the neighbor had a survey done-- and the property we were looking at got a lot smaller, by magic. Ouch.

The search continues. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[EJB]

>>It wasn't the one.

Better luck next time...but it sure is fun and exciting to look isn't it? I really enjoy shopping for houses...its too bad you really only end up doing 2 or 3 in a lifetime. Lots of undiscovered "gems" out there for those with an inclanation to look. (Although lately it seems all those gems are rapidly getting mighty expensive!).

[thewife]

Interesting thread. I think what comes out of this thread is that a whole lot of people (and not just on CountryByNet.com!) dream of doing a little farming. Not so much farming they're dying financially... no so much farming they're constantly running just to stay in place... just enough so it is fun.

Enter Agri-Tourism. Another good reason for purchasing your farm relatively close to a tourist destination, or population center. Pick Your Own is a form of Agri-Tourism. Even if you lose a few blueberry plants (or blueberries) you're selling more than "blueberries." You're selling, for an hour or two "farming" or "family farming" to a family that wants to experience it... may want someday to live it... and is willing to pay for a taste of the experience.

Overnight B&B experiences are in the middle of the scale... hands on "teaching" weeks, weekends, summers, etc are at the top. In every case you're not charging for what you produce on your farm, you're charging your customer for the right to experience "farming" with you.

Someone was shocked at the price of "cage free eggs." Have you taken a close look at the boxes? They are deliberately different. They range from folksy to informative, and they are not selling eggs. They are selling lifestyle and an experience. Oh, yea, and it can be scrambled too.

I am going to disagree with all these learned people and tell you that you can make a living on 10 acres, a farmhouse, and a modest sized barn. But to do it, you have to think like a dreamer. You have to create the perfect farm and invite people to come and experience it... and you have to charge them for that experience. You have to recognize that your crops, your animals, are secondary to what you're really farming: visitors. Nobody should visit your farm without coming away with something which has the price of the visit built into it. Be it what they paid to stay in your guest bedroom, or the bouquet of flowers they picked themselves in your lavish flower and herb garden, guests are willing to pay for this experience because it brings their "someday" dream into vivid reality.

Without actually having "reality" muck up the dream. Because, of course, they can wander the herb and flower garden without having had the fun of trucking 84 loads of compost into the back yard to build the thing.

They can visit the lambs without having the experience of 10 days with no sleep in sub-zero (surprise! it was supposed to be balmy in March!) weather trying to keep yourself alive and lambs warm.

They can purchase your wool without spending a day bent over with their backs breaking shearing sheep who most decidedly do not want to be sheared.

They pay to experience a farm where there is no death, eggs come out of the nesting boxes clean and pretty every morning, the blueberries are there for the gathering, lettuce for the picking... but weeding never needs doing... in short, they are more than willing to pay for the appearance of participating in farming without having to consider the reality of it all.

Want to turn a profit? Build a dream farm and share it.

T