Marquisella, I agree with you on the GMO's. I buy as much non GMO and organic as possible at our local farmers markets. Did you see that Cheerios is NOW going to go nonGMO? OMG what have we been eating? They promote cheerios as food for babies too. I even started making my own breads! The farm we bought hasn't been operational for at least 10 years so we should be able to get organic certified. There have been no pesticides put on any of our property that we are aware of.
I really do like to eat lamb. I saw that Cornell has a sheep program. I think they have dorsets, oh yummy! I'm not sure how they are for wool. I was hoping to card mohair. To me a lot of wool feels like sticking your hand in a bag of short and curlies, and with lanolin in it, oh gross.Mohair is nicer to the touch! That would be only for fun though, the numbers do not come out for the mohair market. They don't come out for alpaca either. I don't really like alpaca, they're nuts, too skiddish for my taste.
Thanks for clearing up the closed flock definition for me. I thought if you hatch it from an egg, it's closed. Now I understand!
We're also looking into energy systems. We would like to tie a geothermal system into the barn when we build the house. We also looked at fish farming for indoor vegetables like they have profiled at Morrisville College. We are still looking at the viability of systems. One system in WI had a beef cattle ranch where he burned the manure to heat a pipe system to sustain a fish farm system. He grew tilapia and vegetables. Our city disallows burning of manure so this concept is out. It was a really cool system, could escavate down 5 feet, put in some pipes, the heater unit, and off you go for almost no cost to heat.
It's all a big numbers game. In the end growing the food, and preparing it, and selling the prepared product may be the most profitable. Raw hamburger goes for $3.00-$5.00/lb but cook it, put it on a bun and get $3.00/burger. We had farm people selling hot food at the farmer market and the line was long and didn't end. Pulled pork meals for like $8.00, cans of soda for $1.00. That's where the $ is, buy soda for cheap and make a big profit. If the farm market fees are low enough you can do really good in a day. It's on the spot so no home inspections of a kitchen since the kitchen is "on site". Why sell 12 eggs for $2.00 if someone's willing to pay $3.00 for 3 cooked eggs, or $5.00 to throw on a little mayo and bread? I seriously thought about selling quiche but idk how to get a nice crust. Quiche could be a great market if you know how to make it.
Every quiche I have ever had was served in a store bought crust....even a well known Albany Resturant.....so that is the answer. Hit Sam's or BJ's for frozen crusts and make those eggs into a product that people will pay big for. (remember Sausage and/or Bacon quiche is my favorite. K? )
