Future Farm

[Buster]

I would not dissuade anyone from owning cattle- I just wanted you to know that it takes a lot of resource to do so. If you have some good capital to begin with, then owning a couple for beef or dairy makes sense. I would love to be self sustaining, I just need a bigger place. Hopefully that will eventually come.

 

[hcammack]

thanks for all your great advice I realy hope I can do this and I know it will be hard work.

Thanks
Henry

 

[hcammack]

Oh and I want to hear about all of your dream farms

Henry

 

[kstaven]

HC highlands do fine in the heat of BC. I am in the kootenays and I am sure you have an idea how hot it gets here. I am an X Albertan myself.

Highlands are on average equel to our dexter on cream content. You must also remember that due to foraging abilities a dexter or highland will thrive where a Jersey would drop dead also. If you have further questions or want more details on the hows, whys, upside and downside of what we do, feel free to email. Nothing like hearing from those who have done it where they messed up and how they would do things differently.

There are many Niche markets starting to develop up here in Canada that are getting to be very profitable for small diverse operators. Likely to be for some years to come.

 

[KingsCalls]

HC........I think what you are describing is wonderful. At the age of 15, you have time to really think all this out and plan well in advance. I do hope you plan on going to college tho. Because you can always use a degree! Maybe something along the lines of Agriculture, Vet. or horticulture.....would be great for what you are planning on doing.
I would suggest starting out slowly and adding one or two new things a year. I don't mean one or two animals, I mean....start with veg. garden and getting it right, then adding your next step( in no particlular order) and so on. I wish you luck and hope you do very well.........AIM FOR YOUR GOALS !

 

[mom'sfolly]

My first job as a kid was on a farm like you're describing. I weeded for four hours a day for a buck an hour. This farm had about 10 dairy goats (cross breeds), a market garden, 150 layers (75 new birds each year), horses for pleasure and mixed poultry (ducks, yard chickens, geese, pea fowl, pigeons, guineas, and turkeys). He also had apples, cherries, gooseberries and currants and hay feilds. I loved that place.

He also worked full time as a teacher. In our small town in the middle of nowhere Alaska this farm fed his family, provided eggs, milk and veggies to a devoted customer base, but was not enough to support a family.

I think you do need to be close to markets. Another idea to consider is orchard or berries that are run on a pick-your-own basis. People will drive up to an hour or more for this, and will return year after year. A local pick-your-own farm here does strawberries, blackberries, tomatoes, potatoes, flowers and pumpkins. They also plant a corn maze and do "fall festival" type weekends with all kinds of activities like making scarecrows, hay rides, pumpkin painting, etc. They grow a lot of non conventional pumpkins and gourds that people buy for decorating. Where I lived in New York there were many of these and people came the 2 hours from New York City to pick.

There is also a direct market organic vegetable and egg farm here. It is actually in the city, and at the time the land was purchased the area it was in was undersirable. So 10 minutes from downtown is a functioning farm that sells its produce directly to the consumer 2 days a week. They also have a larger peice of land in the country.

Good luck.

 

[Omeletta]

Our farm is for our own needs first, then we might branch out. In Alberta the rules are kinda tight about livestock sales and butcher, but the farm we are looking for is in Saskachewan. We can do gate sales, but not advertise, except by word of mouth. We are moving out there to be near my Dad.

2 farms we are looking at are $69,900, and 1 which is bare land, is $33,000, but has a small lake, about half with trees on it, and the rest gentley rolloing hills with native grasses.

This last one is the one my DH wants and is waiting to hear back from the realtor. My DH grew up in northern Alberta, and his parents and their kids actually homesteaded their place. Took bare land, moved a house on, waited 6 months before they had running water in the house (they hauled it in, from a water truck parked out in the drive) and they waited a whole year before they could have electricity. This hard work and starting from scratch really appeals to my man, but judging by his character and the hard work he has done already on the place we have now, I know he'll do it.

We want to grow most of our own food, like you, HC. Whatever else we have need for we want to get from locals in the community we live in. The only obvious grocery store things would be coffee and sugar (we only use sugar in DH coffee) . (and oranges, gotta have them oranges!)

On our in town lot we already have;
Meat rabbits (red satins, flemish giants, french lops)
Chickens for eggs
Garden to provide for our own needs
Apple trees, strawberries, raspberries
Access to good friends who have the rest(beef, pork, honey, wheat for grinding, etc.)


We fully expect to flop in some areas! We have witnessed personally, 2 families start out on their own for the first time. (within the last 4 years) 1 friend flopped over and over, but since they didn't "go big" right off the bat, their flops weren't serious. The other friend went gung-ho! Everthing withing a 2 month time period (they had NEVER done any of it before) They had a jersey, 8 dexters, pigs, chickens, rabbits, a garden that flopped because she never had time to tend it, and her kids didn't know how to work) a horse, and 2 new dogs, 1 was a 6 week old pup. I watched as the wife became seriously ill and disenchanted with the whole process, and her husband. Because off to work he would go, and come home too tired to do much. The whole load was on her and the kids! They weren't even set up, but "made due" till they could finish the pens, coops and fencing!

This was an invaluable lesson to me! Start small, start with what I know, and add only 1 or 2 small things at a time. My husband will be working full time, (journeyman plumber/gasfitter) but plans on cutting back to 4 days a week. This means the brunt of the responsibility will be on my shoulders, along with my 4 kids. We homeschool, so that means I will have 4 sets of hands with me. (they ALL helped when we tore out our basement walls, 1 at a time, haul gravel for the footings, haul out dirt from the pit, we did it all together as a family)

I guess what I'm trying to say is: I know it will be hard, harder than anything we have done before, but I am willing. We have a couple of naysayers...but mostly we have the encouragement of family and friends that know we don't belong in town.

Thanks for reading my novel...lol

Tanya

 

[hsm5grls]

WOW omletta good for you. You can do it. That is my dream but not possible at this point. It sounds like a good life for you and your family. Lot's of fun and hard work, but hard work can really be fun and rewarding. What an awesome life for your kids. You go girl and keep us updated on your progress.

 

[kstaven]

It is hard work and long hours but through it all you are rich in ways others will never understand. Building something like this piece by piece is a long drawn out process, but once it gets to a certain point of completion the work load lightens and you can sit back smile and be proud of what you have built. We came close to giving up several times. Now we wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

[Omeletta]

kstaven, did you grow up in a farm setting, or start it as an adult? I guess I'm asking if you were raised with this knowledge, or did ya learn it from scratch?

Tanya