alright well, I have to catch up on house work, coop work and goat work cause I've been gone too long,
Oh BTW went to the women in ag seminar!! Heres what I learned,
There are not a whole lot of small farms here involved in co ops or farmers markets ect.
Because Eastern WA is a Huge LARGE production farming community the extention agents here don't know crap about small farm ops or their needs therefore the information I want will be hard to obtain, unless I do my own research.
The WEST side has more support and extention agents that can deal with the issues they have, therefore, they comprise the largest portion of small farm education and programs.
There are HUGE issues regarding USDA slaughter facilities in regards to small farms and things like organic and natural fed animals. They only want to do large "finished" herds, vs working with smaller producers ect.
There are no organized small farm groups here to tap into for support or education.
So, yea, we are the redheaded step children here and have to do our own research in order to improve our farm, help with marketing, and learn farm business practices!!! And you wonder why there are times when I dislike the "politics" in this state!!!!
On a side note tho, I did meet some wonderful women, who work very hard and have accomplished a lot!! I have their numbers and email and hopefully we can stick together and make some good stuff happen!!
Oh BTW went to the women in ag seminar!! Heres what I learned,
There are not a whole lot of small farms here involved in co ops or farmers markets ect.
Because Eastern WA is a Huge LARGE production farming community the extention agents here don't know crap about small farm ops or their needs therefore the information I want will be hard to obtain, unless I do my own research.
The WEST side has more support and extention agents that can deal with the issues they have, therefore, they comprise the largest portion of small farm education and programs.
There are HUGE issues regarding USDA slaughter facilities in regards to small farms and things like organic and natural fed animals. They only want to do large "finished" herds, vs working with smaller producers ect.
There are no organized small farm groups here to tap into for support or education.
So, yea, we are the redheaded step children here and have to do our own research in order to improve our farm, help with marketing, and learn farm business practices!!! And you wonder why there are times when I dislike the "politics" in this state!!!!
On a side note tho, I did meet some wonderful women, who work very hard and have accomplished a lot!! I have their numbers and email and hopefully we can stick together and make some good stuff happen!!
