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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

TBF 080 :: Farm Randomness, Fall is Coming, and a Hard Lesson


**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.**

One of the great things about the community that is springing up around The Beginning Farmer Show is that I often receive encouraging e-mails and messages, questions, comments, and links to helpful resources. One of the bad things about me is that when my computer died I neglected to add an important e-mail address to my phone's mail application and because of that I've missed a bunch of great e-mails! There are some great topics though and I want to cover as many as possible. Here is a sampling of the topics that I will be attempting to share some thoughts on ...
  • Dealing with processors can be a challenge. There are often things we as producers worry about because we have spent a lot of time and care getting our livestock to that point only to drop them off and drive away (in some cases).
  • I'm getting pretty passionate about completing my business plan and I'm thankful for all the encouragement and tips that have been coming in.
  • In the future (maybe this year ... maybe next year) we'll be spreading compost on our pastures in order to fully utilize our deep bedding and to help improve our pastures. When is the best time to do that and what about spreading compost in addition to seeding pastures?
  • Even though it would be great if all our interactions with other farmers would be perfect and idyllic our our beautiful farm dreams the reality is that they are people and sometimes it goes better than others. Recently a listener related a story along these lines to me that gave me a lot to think about.
All of those questions together though have lead me to some conclusions about The Beginning Farmer Show, my farming journey, and some things that I would love to see moving forward. I'll give a bit of a preview today, but really what I want to say is that I've been extremely blessed to have the help that I've had and I want to share that help as much as possible! Like I said ... there will be more details coming.

We covered a lot of ground on today's episode! Do you have any tips on working with butchers, building a great business plan, spreading compost and seeding, or even connecting with experienced farmers?

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 ...
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1 comment:

  1. Unknown11:47 AM, September 10, 2014

    Hi There,



    I came across your blog while looking for agriculture blogs and I quickly related as I have always had a huge interest in farming. However, I too grew up in a town setting.

    

My interest came through my first love of horses, and has grown into the farming and ranching career and lifestyle. I attended the University of Saskatchewan for a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture for one year before deciding to enter the workforce. My dream is still to one day own a farm, and I regret now, not finishing my schooling.



    With that I have a few questions:



    1. Before choosing to become a farmer, did you complete a diploma or degree in agriculture to learn what you needed? 



    2. Would you have any advice for another beginning farmer?

    

3. What exactly do you farm i.e. crops, hay, vegetables, livestock?



    4. How big is your farm and where is it located?

    

On that note, I believe a business plan is hugely important for your farm. I was working for a farm that grew from a small fruit stand to a multimillion dollar business. When I left, they were shipping fruit and vegetables to grocery chains such as Superstore and Save On Foods all around BC because of a great business plan.



    I found a good link to a website about business plans which I thought might be handy to you:



    http://nebeginningfarmers.org/farmers/planning-2/business-plan-templates/ 



    I would love to discuss farming more, and look forward to hearing your ideas on being a new farmer!

    ReplyDelete