This morning I came across this video about the Jondle family of Abundant Life Farm. He was a computer programmer for something like 25 years before his wife came across Joel Salatin's book, "You Can Farm". So, they talked it over and decided farming was something they were interested in making a change. The whole family ended up moving to Polyface Farm for almost half a year in order to learn from Mr. Salatin himself.
They started with no farming experience and now they are going strong. I guess if anything it is encouraging to see what is possible if you really focus and sell yourself out to the goal. One thing that I should probably admit though is that I wonder who much capital they went into their new farm with. I suppose they probably had more money to work with than a young beginning farmer, but I'll just look at the glass half-full and believe that it can be done!
So, enjoy this video and let me know what you think.
5 comments:
I loved this video... seemed like a sales pitch for "You Can Farm", but I also wondered how much capital this all took. There is a huge difference between starting with basically nothing and starting with you're life's retirement/savings as capital.
Joel Salatin is definitely an inspiration... I can't wait to read his latest book! But yes, some of us start out by putting everything penny we have into just purchasing (or getting a mortgage for) the land and, hopefully, whatever buildings are on it. I like the half-full attitude, though. Remember, where there's a will, there's a way!
I think Greg Judy's book "No Risk Ranching" gives one pathway for those with little or no capital to enter farming. The belief that we need to own the land we care for seems to stop a lot of people with modest means from entering farming.
Hey Ethan, I'm catching up on my RSS feed, so this is a late comment.
Scott is my meat club provider. I've been buying from him for a couple months. Great meat, nice guy. I'm in Portland, Oregon.
It takes more than money. You have to want to make a total change in your lifestyle and make a big commitment. There are no days off when you farm that I am aware of.
It's also HOW to make the change form city life to country life.
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