TBF 064 :: Farming Grants and Financing, Farm Updates, and a Hard Lesson Learned

**As I transition to www.TheBeginningFarmer.com I am quickly realizing I'm not as web savvy as I had hoped! In the meantime I will be posting here as well for those of you subscribed through RSS ... and hopefully will have that fixed soon.**

First of all let me apologize ... somehow I got a little long winded in this episode. The subject of financing the farm is one that I'm passionate about and care about deeply because I not only want to see my farm succeed, but other beginning farms as well. So, when I talk about grants, loans, and other funding options I have a tendency to go on and on and on! What I do hope that you can take away from this episode though is a quick overview of some helpful resources when it comes to "finding money" and my passion for boot-strapping and saving like crazy to get the farm off the ground! As a little aside ... it seems to me that the farmers I interact with from day to day are the kings and queens of boot-strapping and getting by with less, so I would almost call it a required farming skill! Here are some helpful links from today's show ...

• Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Interview with Luke Gran of PFI (Part One and Part Two)
• Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (Research Grants)
• F.A.C.T. Fund-a-Farmer Grant
• PFI Savings Incentive Program
• USDA Beginning Farmers Grants
• NRCS Funding Opportunities
• Farm Credit Services of America (FCSA) Loans 
• FSA Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Loans
• The Beginning Farmer Blog Post "Why FARM?" from October 9th, 2006
• You Can Farm by Joel Salatin (Great book about just going for it on the farm)

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 ...

• Crooked Gap Farm
• Crooked Gap Farm on Facebook
• Crooked Gap Farm on Twitter