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

[chrisjbell]

<font color="blue"> .(That's when we found the water line.) </font color>

I found my water line with a trencher [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]. Nothing will tell you exactly where something is like checking it out first hand! [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Slamfire]

I thought shooting varmint was a chore. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[chrisjbell]

Nah - shooting varmints is fun. Folks from the city spend all kinds of money to go hunting. We can do it for free at home - although I don't think I'm gonna be eating gopher or skunk any time soon. But some folks say they're good eating...

[egon]

Definetly it's a " Chore " but unfortunately those making up the chore list never included it.

Egon

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Austi,

To give you a short answer to the question in your subject line, my advice would be to buy near friendly, helpful, experienced farmers. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I'm serious here. I think that's the greatest asset you can ever have. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[austi012]

I agree. I'm still looking for a place. One thing I notice the same between city and country is -real estate agents-. Difficult to deal with! Grr.......

I'll keep y'all posted on when/where I get my place. I'm homing in on a couple.

cheers

[Hakim]

"my advice would be to buy near friendly, helpful, experienced farmers"

I truly agree. There is an old saying : "When looking to buy a property, first look for good neighbors."

When you are in a country or rural situation, while you may THINK the neighbors are "out of sight and out of mind", you will surely know every one on your whole road, and depend on each other, especially when you have a "need" -- whatever it is. If you plan to do farming, your success will hinge on how successful you are in cultivating relationships with nearby farmers, who will not only have good advice, but you'll need them to "lend" you their equipment or come buy and do thing sfor you like bush hog 20 acres, or plow 10 acres.

Friendly and knowledgeable people on all sides around you is worth a LOT. One angry or troublesome neighbor can just about ruin everything.

We lived 3 miles out from a small town of 1,200 people. It seemed to me the "worst" people were those who moved out to "the country" and put up "posted" and "no trespassing" signs all around their land, and never talked to anybody. Hint: don't be that way! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Yep, you need yersef some good neighbors.

[TimSullivan]

<font color="green"> We lived 3 miles out from a small town of 1,200 people. It seemed to me the "worst" people were those who moved out to "the country" and put up "posted" and "no trespassing" signs all around their land, and never talked to anybody. Hint: don't be that way! Yep, you need yersef some good neighbors.
</font color>

Good advise, I am the city boy married to the farmer's daughter and we live in a rural area on twenty-three acres. Our neighbors are wonderful.

Part of our land was covered with scrub brush and our tractor was just a dream. I rented a walk behind bushhog to cut some trails. I was stuggling and our famer neighbor came over to introduce himself. A little while later he was back with a real bushhog and made short work of the brush. I would have worked all day to do what he did in less than an hour.

We are surrounded by large farms and wonderful people. As I read some of the posts about neighbor problems, I realize how lucky we are.

[Hakim]

Hi Tim,

Well, we also lived in Upstate, New York. I must say, having also lived in rural Illinois &amp; Indiana for extended periods in my life, the folks of rural New York are the nicest I have ever met. Humble, yet extremely sharp witted and congenial, and absolutely honest.

I remember one December night my car skidded off an icy road. It was after midnite. A guy came along in a 4WD pickup and drove me home, even though it was almost an hour out of his way. Wouldn't even take gas money. Most lonely roads, they only stop to rob a or kill you. Of course, we tried to absorb and reflect those same values as well. Even though the weather became more than I could bear, I really did love the rural New York folks. And (at least for four months out of the year) the landscape and scenery is as beautiful as any place on this earth.

[bws]

we just inherated a 6 acre farm that we want to do something with in western washington state.we own the property/house/barn/new kubota 3830 free and clear so the costs of running a small herb farm for us might work.the only problem i,m concerned about is the wire grass.can this stuff be removed or tilled up.my stepson is a chef and they pay alot of money for herbs[so he tells me].any input on the wire grass would help.bws