So You Say You Wanna Farm??
This message came through on a Yahoo group I am on. I asked Evelyn if I could pass this info on in case anyone is interested. She is located in Lebanon, MO.
OK… it’s official… my farming partners are moving! The partner on
my farm just gave me 30 days notice that she’s leaving. His parents had
health problems, so they’re moving closer to them. She assured me when
she moved in last year that she was there for many years! I know that
life just happens, but… I made quite an investment in her, I sent her
to seminars, I bought stock that would not have bought w/out someone
there long term. We now have reg Irish Dexter cattle, meat goats, sheep
(mostly reg St. Croix, also Blackbelly & Katahdin), reg Red Wattle pigs,
meat rabbits, turkeys, Muscovy ducks, Toulouse geese and chickens as
well as 3 LGDs. I do have one person interested in this, but life has
taught me better than to lay all my eggs in one basket. I’d love to
talk to lots of people about it. That’s the way to get the best deal
for both of us. My current partner’s blog is in my sigline, so you can
see the farm & how she deals w/ it. I’m devastated about loosing her.
She & I agree on 98% of everything about running the farm & replacing
her is going to be difficult.
The deal is kinda a sharecropper arrangement. I make the investment in
infrastructure. I bought all the breeders & I doubt there will be any
more needed from the outside. I get as much as I can carry in my
freezer. I get the best of the female baby crop, for replacements. You
get everything else. You don’t get to retain breeders, all breeders are
mine. You get all the babies to sell for meat, except the cattle &
pigs, the money from selling them goes to farm improvements. (You don’t
get to take my baby crop & move w/ them, having a full setup on your new
farm. You don’t get to replace my breeders w/ your own.) If you want
stock that I don’t have, that’s fine. Current partner has dairy goats. I
can’t imagine what you could want that we don’t have, aside from dairy
goats. You get all eggs, to sell (except when I’m on the farm, I get to
eat some. :) ) You can milk the cows if you want & sell the milk. (I
get some to drink when I’m there.)
We want to get started w/ MIG (Managed Intensive Grazing) I sent them to
a seminar to learn all about it, paid for her to hear Joel Salatin talk
about it! She’s taking that knowledge w/ her. :( I can teach you a
lot & I have several of Joel’s books that she’ll leave for you. The
farm is 1/3 mile from the city limits & you should be able to sell
everything you can produce. There are also standard sized fruit trees
that are supposed to keep us in fruit from May to December.
The house is a 2 bedroom, w/ large living room, propane heat & a spot
for a wood burning heater (they are taking one that’s there; it’s
theirs.) It has a propane stove & fridge. There’s a very large mudroom
& 2 car garage. The rent on the house is $350/mo. You should be able
to earn far more than that in sales of meat, milk, eggs & babies. My
current partner says she has babies sold before their born. Our buck is
Kiko & she wanted a Boer too, so she got one of those. We were going to
trade off to keep genetic diversity. We might sell one of them. We
also have 3 barns, 2 for the stock & 1 for hay. Or, I might have to
send them all to the processor. They’re harder than the sheep & cattle
to contain.
We are Certified Naturally Grown, and are Organic even tho we’re not
cert’d thru NOP. We primarily raise for our own family & you get to
sell the overflow. You also get one beeve a year. In addition to all
the rest of the meat, that should be enough to fill a good sized
family. I’m sure there’s got to be something I’ve forgotten, so don’t
hold my feet to the fire if I have.
I have historically been on the farm 5-7 months a year, working. These
partners are very private & I rented the other house, so I didn’t have a
place to stay. If I can find a trailer to put on the property for me,
or you don’t mind be being in the house w/ you (bunk in the mudroom?)
I’ll do a lot of the work on the farm. I enjoy it, mostly I think
because I don’t /have/ to do it. It’s an avocation rather than a
vocation, that makes it more enjoyable. :)
Anyone interested… They just gave me 30 days notice. I’ll give you
their email address so you can contact them to find out particulars
about the farm & how it is to live there. I think it was more work than
she thought it would be. I do have one person who’s interested in it,
hopefully she works out. But, I thought that Tonia would work out too. :(
Evelyn, SoCal & SoWeCen MO
Use it up…….
Wear it out……
Make it do…
Or do without!!!!!!
Educate yourself & protect your right to healthy food.
http://nonais.org/
Number one rule on Our Farm.
Be nice or be tasty.
http://allnaturalsimplelife.blogspot.com/
Her contact info is: Evelyn Hansen allmuxedup@gmail.com
I hope it woks out for someone.
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