Hobby Farm E-Book

Carol Ekarius

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 379

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2005

Beschreibung

This beautiful book offers an intimate look at life on a hobby farm. From finding a farm to creating a business, to choosing what to plant to canning fruits, Hobby Farm will teach readers how to reap the benefits of rustic life with sound guidance.

Leseprobe

Karla Austin, Business Operations Manager

Nick Clemente, Special Consultant

Jarelle S. Stein, Editor

Jennifer Perumean, Assistant Editor

Jill Dupont, Production

Bocu & Bocu, Book Design

Copyright © 2005 by I-5 Press™

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of I-5 Press™, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ekarius, Carol.

 Hobby farm : living your rural dream for pleasure and profit / Carol Ekarius.

     p. cm.

  ISBN 1-931993-59-9

  eISBN 978-1-937049-45-4

1. Agriculture--United States. 2. Farms, Small--United States. 3. Farm management--United States. I. Title.

S501.2.E3 2005

630'.973--dc22

2004017009

I-5 Press™

A Division of I-5 Publishing, LLC™

3 Burroughs

Irvine, California 92618

Printed and bound in Singapore

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgments

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.

– HENRY DAVID THOREAU

NO BOOK IS THE WORK OF ONE PERSON. THANKS FIRST AND foremost to Ken Woodard. He is my husband, my friend, and the one who makes everything else possible.

I want to thank the editors and staff at I-5 Press for helping make this book a reality, particularly Nick Clemente, Jennifer Perumean, Jarelle Stein, and Jen Dorsey. Annie Huang of Bocu & Bocu deserves special thanks for the wonderful job she did with the design and layout of the book. Karen Keb Acevedo, of Hobby Farms magazine is a wonderful editor—and friend—whose vision laid the groundwork for this book.

A number of people generously allowed me to interview them for the book and shared their personal triumphs and challenges. For their willingness to contribute their stories, I want to thank Dr. John Ikerd, David Muehleisen, Jill & Ken Giese, Jan & Tim Vala, Carol Ann Sayle & Larry Butler, Michele & Gustavo Huerta, Stephanie Caughlin, Judy & Sam Cavagnetto, Carol & Melvin Moon, Angel Henrie and Joseph Griffith, Susan & Stephen Robins, and Gary Dunn of the Caretaker Gazette.

Contents

Chapter 1    Back to the Farm

Chapter 2    Are You Ready for the Country?

Chapter 3    Jumping In

Chapter 4    Nature’s Troublemakers and Farm Safety

Chapter 5    Gardening: The Land

Chapter 6    Gardening: The Planting

Chapter 7    Farm Animals

Chapter 8    Preserving the Harvest: Fruits and Vegetables

Chapter 9    Preserving the Harvest: Dairy and Meat

Chapter 10   Agripreneurship

Resources

Photo Credits

Back to the Farm

WHEN THE UNITED STATES FORMED “A MORE PERFECT UNION, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,”* over 90 percent of our population were farmers. They were the people who produced their own food and fiber, bartered for food, or bought food directly from someone else who produced it. Today, only about 1 percent of our population are considered farmers, making them the largest minority in this country.

At about the time Thomas Jefferson was penning the words of our Constitution, he wrote to President George Washington, “Agriculture … is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness.” Furthermore, “the moderate and sure income of husbandry begets permanent improvement, quiet life and orderly conduct, both public and private.”

* From the a Preamble to the Constitution of the United States

In the heart of Virginia, on the estate of Monticello.

Jefferson’s agrarian ideal was not new: it was a philosophy the earliest philosophers passed down. Yet we’ve seen the agrarian ideal give way over the last half-century or so, with an economic and social paradigm shift, resulting in a loss of culture in agriculture and fewer, bigger agribusinesses supplying our food and fiber. Corporately controlled operations, or factory farms, have steadily displaced the midsize, independent, family farm. At the same time, these corporately controlled operations have forced ex-farmers to move to the city. Iowa—the epitome of a farm state in many peoples’ minds—provides a good example: It went through a landmark change sometime in the late 1950s, with more residents living in cities than on farms and in rural communities.

As the remaining farmers grow their operations to try to stay in business, agriculturally induced environmental problems have exploded. Iowa is also noted for having some of the most polluted lakes and streams in the world, and runoff from agricultural production in Iowa and other midwestern states has contributed to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that has grown to more than 7,000 square miles (an area about the size of New Jersey). The dead zone has drastically hurt some of America’s most productive fisheries. And, in spite of increased use of pesticides and herbicides for controlling invasive and noxious species of insects and weeds, the U.S. economy annually takes an estimated $137 billion economic hit from these pests.

Middle farms—those smaller, family farming operations that have tried to remain in the commodities game, but that have less than $250,000 a year in revenue—continue to be squeezed out. The squeeze comes because, according to John Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri and a strong supporter of sustainable agriculture, a farmer’s net income on commodity operations (even on well run operations) generally runs about 15 to 20 percent of his or her gross sales. It doesn’t take a wizard with a calculator to figure out that at that rate, a quarter-million dollars yields less than a living wage for a family of four. In fact, over 90 percent of all family farms, including the really big ones, depend on nonfarm income, either from off-farm jobs or from government payments, for family support.

Crops and other plants still thrive on the plots originally designed by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson believed farming to be one of the highest and best callings, and his farm was a showplace of progressive agrarian ideals and principals.

Industrialization in agriculture over the last century may be undeniable—but it is not unstoppable. People can, and are, reconnecting with the land, with the seasons, with life around them. Sometime in the mid-1990s for the first time since the United States Department of Agriculture began collecting data for the Census of Agriculture, farm size actually dropped. This change reflects more small-farm operations in the 10- to 179-acre size range. But many of the new small farm owners (the USDA defines a small farm as one with sales of less than $250,000 per year) are showing that there may be another approach to maintaining a diverse and vibrant agricultural community, while protecting rural values, responding to consumer wants, and ensuring a healthy environment for generations to come.

THE NEW FARMERS

A number of the new small farms are simply lifestyle operations that provide the family with a nice place to live, good food on the table, and meaningful work for the kids but that generate very little revenue. Other farms are fully commercial operations, taking advantage of direct marketing, organic production, and other strategies to be self-supporting on a small acreage.

Lifestyle Farmers

Judy and Sam Cavagnetto are prime examples of lifestyle farmers. Sam’s job as a full-time over-the-road trucker for a large moving van line allowed the couple to live anywhere they chose. They chose thirty-five acres in the mountains of Colorado. Judy and Sam wanted a great place to raise their kids, with a small-town atmosphere. They keep horses and the kids raise animals for 4-H.

DEFINING THE FARM

The USDA categorizes farms based on ownership, income streams, and farm sales.

Small family farms

•  Limited-resource farms Any small farm with gross sales of less than $100,000, total farm assets less than $150,000, and total operator household income of less than $20,000 per year. Limited-resource farmers may report farming, a nonfarm occupation, or retirement as their major occupation.

•  Retirement farms Small farms whose operators report that they are retired, but excluding those who fall into the limited-resource category.

•  Residential/lifestyle farms Small farms whose operators report a major occupation other than farming, excluding those who fall into the limited-resource category.

•  Farming occupation/low sales farms Small farms with less than $100,000 whose operators report farming as their main occupation, excluding those who fall into the limited-resource category. Household income may exceed $20,000 per year and may be based on one or more family members working off the farm.

•  Farming occupation/high sales farms Similar to farming occupation/low sales, but with farm-generated sales of between $100,000 and $250,000 per year.

Other family farms

•  Large family farms Farms with sales of between $250,000 and $500,000 per year.

•  Very large family farms Farms with sales of over $500,000 per year.

Non-family farms

•  Farms organized as a corporation (except family corporations) or a cooperative, as well as farms operated by hired managers.

In a Minnesota orchard, two sisters gather a bounty of apples. People moving to the farm today often do so because they want their families to be able to work and play together outdoors.

Tapping away at a laptop on his gathered hay.

Gustavo and Michelle Huerta also chose the country for a lifestyle. They were raised in Miami, but violence became too much a part of life there, so they decided to relocate to Tennessee. Here, Gustavo, a medical doctor, could establish his surgical practice, and the family could operate a small farm. With 200 acres, they raise a garden and horses, cattle, goats, and chickens. Although these lifestyle farms don’t have to make money for their owners, they pay with quality of life values that, if purchased, would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

As John Ikerd says, “What would you have to earn to buy the quality of life that a farm offers, from scenic areas and recreational opportunities, to personal safety and a school for your children where the teachers know them and care about them? What is it worth if you are really living a life that has meaning in terms of a place to live? What would it cost for the view, the private schools, the clubs? In real economic terms, these are costs that shouldn’t be marginalized.”

For both the Cavagnetto and the Huerta families, it is that lifestyle value they seek. They believe that their children have experiences on the farms that they wouldn’t get in the city or the suburbs.

Commercial Farmers

Other individuals want to turn their small farms into successful commercial enterprises. Some of them have done incredibly well, generating net incomes as high as 50 percent of their gross. How are small farmers able to make higher profits? Mainly by being more sophisticated and by wisely using capital earned elsewhere. David Muehleisen, program coordinator for the Small Farm Program at Washington State University, works with many of these new farmers. He sees the gamut, from people with five horses out in the meadow to “agripreneurs” (agricultural entrepreneurs) who are building successful operations on farms and ranches ranging from postage-stamp size to hundreds of acres. He says, “Most of the people we are working with are serious; they want to make a profit. So what we do is teach them alternative production and business planning. We encourage everyone to make sure they have a market, that they are growing things that they will be able sell, so that they can make a profit. We tell everybody—‘Do not put anything on the ground until you know you have a market.’ That’s the biggest mistake traditional farmers make; they grow a big crop (usually monoculture crops) and they don’t have any place to sell it.”

Illustrate that the decision to farm can be a commercial one. Many people also like the life-long learning opportunities, as when children learn to care for animals.

A farmer holding a box of fruit on the porch of her Oregon produce stand.

Specialty crops—such as the berries being picked.

To underscore his point about markets, Muehleisen tells of the conventional raspberry grower Melvin Moon. “He was going broke marketing to wholesalers,” Instead, Moon “cut his production in half, bought a big pot, and began making jams. He is doing better than anyone would have thought and has customers lined up.”

Muehleisen also relates the success story of Susan and Stephen Robins, who grow lavender on San Juan Island, north of Seattle, and market over eighty handcrafted lavender products. Unlike Moon, the Robinses had no agricultural experience; he was a physician and she a journalist. They had run their own international communications business for fifteen years before retiring to the island. Once on the island, they quickly began seeking something more. As Susan says, “We had twenty-five acres on the island that we loved, and we had to think of something to do with it. We wanted to preserve it for open space so our first concept was that we would start an organic farm where we would have a crop that didn’t use water, didn’t use fertilizer and where we could make added-value products on a year-round basis so we could spread the enterprise over the entire year instead of being seasonal.”

Today the Robinses have six of the twenty-five acres planted with 10,000 lavender plants, and they plan to continue increasing the size of their crop. They employ ten people year-round, and several dozen more during the summer season. Together with their crew, they grow and harvest the lavender—all by hand. Next they distill the oil and create the products (including lavender sugar, pepper, and vinegar; lavender soaps, shampoos, and body lotions; and lavender lip balm and massage oil). Finally, the Robinses market the products at an on-farm store and at the area farmer’s market. Although they have a few retailers that sell their products, Susan says, “We have discovered that our products sell best when they’re in a closed environment—that is a dedicated store—rather than sold among a lot of machine-made products. Our products are handcrafted and they are beautiful, but they get lost among the other ones that are slick.” The direct marketing also enables them to capture a bigger portion of the consumer’s dollar.

Resting in small containers.

The lavender stirring in the breeze at opposite—can provide good revenues from a relatively small piece of land. To maximize profits, though, you need to market directly to the public.

A magnificent turkey standing in a yard.

Not everyone in the small farm realm is ready for the kind of business that Moon and the Robinses are developing. Ken and Jill Giese raise a large garden on sixteen acres in New York, mainly to feed the family of six. They also raise turkeys and chickens, which the Gieses market directly or in cooperation with other small poultry producers. They didn’t have much capital to get started, so while they grow their business to a sustaining size, Ken works part time on dairy farms and for construction companies in the area. The Gieses do much of their work with a draft horse, but when they need to use a tractor, they barter work for equipment use with some of the farmers Ken works for occasionally.

THE DRAWS

The draw of the farm is easy to understand. In our fast-paced, coffee-and-Tums driven society, the farm harkens to something simpler, quieter, and more meaningful. It provides the chance to experience nature, in both her glory and her fury. It is a place where family is more than a group of cohabitants who pass on the way to the next meeting, class, or soccer game. It allows the artist and the innovator in each person to emerge.

Farming allows parents and children to work together. As Jill Giese says, “The benefit to us is, as a family, we can work together and play together. Our kids have learned the rhythms of helping; they know that animals need to be fed and watered, just like they need to eat and drink. They’re seeing how you spend the money to feed the animals, and you get the money back when you sell them. They each have some work in the afternoon: Somebody feeds the turkeys, somebody does the watering. So they see responsibility and that we are depending on them and trusting them. They make their own games and run all over things, using a pile of hay bales to play king-of-the-hill. And they know about life, about how the male goat breeds the female goat, and that that’s a natural part of life. They have seen baby goats being born, and this year we did a hatchery and had chicks coming out of their shells; they learned about the formation of the chicks and how different reproduction is from mammals to birds. It was exciting after three weeks, when the chicks came out, so Ken had them draw pictures and write things about the experience.”

A man farming his land with draft horses instead of a tractor.

Two boys gathering crops in a basket show that every farm is unique. Location, personal interests, and goals help determine the type of farm you will have.

A little girl offers up a rainbow of gathered flowers. For some people, their farms generate no income, but they do offer beauty, good food, and the company of animals for their families.

Many baby boomers are retiring early—often in their early to mid-fifties—and the farm offers them the chance to stay vibrant, learning new skills while they capitalize on their old skills. Susan Robins sums it up, “We weren’t insecure about the business side of it, but we just were not experienced in the horticulture and product sides of it. It took over a year of intense research to get ready.” However now, with the business up and running, the couple takes great satisfaction in the outcome: “We’ve been gratified to have created an industry on the island, in a place where that is very hard to do, and we have created wonderful jobs for artisans and others who want to be involved in it. We think we have created a landmark on the island that is open, free of charge, to anybody who wants to come and we get a huge amount of pleasure out of those people that come and picnic on the farm, bringing their kids and sitting in the fields when they’re in bloom. Our harvest festival alone saw over 3,000 people visiting last year.”

Farming also offers the chance to “experience the unusual or unexpected little adventure that lightens and even makes gladsome the work,” as Gene Logsdon, a small-farmer from Upper Sandusky, Ohio, points out. He shares some of his own adventures—such as “a pale green luna moth fluttering in the porch light; a fungus that looks like a little pile of sand; an ant milking its own herd of aphids; a killdeer nest right in the middle of our gravel driveway. And three years after we planted paw paw trees, the gorgeous zebra swallowtail butterfly, which feeds only on paw paw, landed daintily on the tractor.”

A woman and her granddaughter sit shucking corn on the porch.

A chicken peers about in the late afternoon light.

Writer Gene Logsdon speaks of the “little adventures” farmers enjoy, such as seeing the fluttering of a pale green luna moth.

These “little adventures” may seem inconsequential to some, but for those of us drawn to the farm, they are grand payment for our labors. I have always been grounded by nature, and I love my own little adventures. As I broke the ice off the stock tank this morning, I smiled at a donkey nuzzling my work-coat pocket to find a treat, watched the mountain chickadees skipping in and out of the dried back leaves of the currant bushes, smelled the fine scent of pine smoke in the air from our woodstove, and listened to the wind singing through the trees. In the summer I can sit in an aspen grove and watch adult great horned owls teach their young to hunt, or enjoy the raucous fighting of a small flock of pygmy nuthatches as they bathe in the puddle where we empty the stock tank.

THE CHALLENGES

As gratifying as farm life can be, it is not always easy. It involves a level of physical work that many escapees from urban and suburban America have never engaged in, and it often involves new working patterns—like no weekends or holidays off—that can cramp previous lifestyles. If you have livestock, think again about all those vacations and extended weekend trips. If you are growing crops, get used to dawn-to-dark days during planting and harvesting. Dreaming of running a farmstead B&B? Get used to no privacy. Do you like to walk into a clean house, with shiny, polished floors and light colored furniture? Be prepared for mud and mess. Love to take in cultural events, like the opera or great museums? Instead, get ready for high school plays and cow-plop bingo at the town street-dance.

The chance to drive a tractor as the sun sets.

Your adventures may include the melt-in-your-mouth taste of food freshly harvested from the garden

Gathering vegetables on a nice day may seem a pleasant task.

Be prepared, also, for the social challenges of moving into rural or rurban areas. These communities often seem backward and closed to newcomers. Although rarely hostile, people who were born and raised in the tight-knit, small-town atmosphere of rural and rurban America may be hard to approach. They are friendly and warm once you penetrate the surface, but penetration can take awhile. In the meantime you may feel isolated in your new community.

Expect that you may never become a local in your neighbors’ minds, even if you stay the course and live there for twenty years. When we first moved to our farm in Minnesota, we were having coffee one day with our neighbors Bev and Willy. We had been able to break the ice quicker with them than any of the other neighbors, because Willy had been renting the fields when we bought the place, so we had an immediate business relationship. In their sixties at the time, the couple lived on the farm that Willy’s grandfather had home-steaded almost a hundred years earlier. We asked if the neighbors on the other side of them, Kathy and Jim, were originally from around the area. “Oh no,” Willie said, with a shake of his head, in a way that clearly indicated that Kathy and Jim were like us—real foreigners, “They are from over near Deer Creek.” Deer Creek was only about twenty miles away, but despite the fact that they had lived on their farm for well over a decade, Kathy and Jim were still not locals.

At the same time, I can say most of the rural people we’ve befriended over the years retain a kind of neighborly charm and support often missing in urban and suburban America as well as a generosity that often exceeds their means. I never understood the term “salt of the earth” until I had rural neighbors. Your rural neighbor might own only three shirts, well worn and patched, but if he thought you needed a shirt he would give the one off his back without a second thought.

But farmers must be prepared to work outdoors in all conditions, including the heat of summer and the chill of winter, and cope with many other challenges, such as pests.

HOT SPOTS FOR HOBBY FARMING

Most new small farms are in the rurban zone. These areas boast good roads and proximity to large groups of consumers for direct marketing. They benefited from the burst of technological innovations in communications and computing during the 1980s and early 1990s that enabled more people to work from home. These features make these communities most attractive for those seeking small farm life. Areas along both coasts—and in a belt ranging from Dallas to Washington, D.C., with a 200-mile-wide strip on either side—are the current hot spots for the rurban, small farm explosion. And because of the increase of small farms in these areas, there are support services, ranging from Cooperative Extension programs for small farmers, to tractor and implement dealers catering to small farmers with tools like compact tractors, springing up to meet their needs.

Although the majority of viable small farms are in these areas, other rural areas too are beginning to see the transition. This is in part the result of ex-urbanites taking advantage of lower-priced farmland that’s found in truly rural communities, but it’s also being helped by increasing numbers of farmer’s markets outside of urban centers together with programs sponsored by the USDA that allow low-income people to use food stamps and federal coupons at farmers markets. According to USDA research, the number of farmers markets in the United States has grown dramatically, increasing 79 percent from 1994 to 2002. The 2002 National Farmers Market Directory listed more than 3,100 farmers markets operating in the United States. These markets are providing a crucial source of revenue for small farmers, with more than 19,000 farmers reportedly selling their produce only at farmers’ markets.

Last, many farms are located right in urban core areas and near suburban homes. Today, up to 30 percent of agricultural production in the United States originates from within metropolitan areas. Most city farms are currently community collaboratives, sprouting up in some of the poorest and most violent neighborhoods in America through the efforts of nonprofit organizations trying to improve the quality of food and provide positive opportunities for inner-city dwellers, but small-scale agripreneurs run other city farms. These agripreneurs seek a viable business in the place they live. Typically operated on less than five acres and using the CSA (community supported agriculture) model, these farmers are taking advantage of their ability to build close relationships with families who purchase from them.

But such urban gardening may not satisfy those who really want to get “back to the land.” Scenic areas found within a couple of hours’ drive of a city or resort community are among the hot spots for members of the modern back-to-the-land movement.

Residents work together on a community vegetable garden located in the heart of Chicago.

RURBAN

Rurban communities are those that offer a rural lifestyle and still have traditional rural populations, but that are strongly influenced by urban areas. They are usually located within a couple of hours’ drive from a major metropolitan area or a major resort community. They may have a fair population of telecommuters that occasionally go to the city for work, but rurban areas are just a little too far out for many day-to-day commuters.

Since 1991, Larry Butler and Carol Anne Sayle have built Boggy Creek Farm in East Austin, Texas, into a very successful urban farm. With five acres, and a 160-year-old farmhouse, located just blocks from the Texas state capitol, they market a wide variety of produce and flowers, grown on site, value-added products created from their surplus, like smoke-dried tomatoes and salsa, and products like goat cheese and free-range eggs, which other farmers in the region raise.

“I was getting burned out remodeling houses and selling real estate,” Larry recalls. “We started growing vegetables on some land we owned that’s about an hour and a half outside of town. Once we grew all this stuff, it was like, ‘Well now, what are we going to do with it?’ A friend of mine had a liquor store here in Austin and let me sell from a card table in front of the store on Saturday mornings. The first Saturday, I made about forty dollars on carrots and onions and greens. The rest of the story is, it got nuttier every week, and now we are running four cash registers.”

In 1992, they saw the Austin property with nut trees, irrigation water, and the historic house listed in a real estate book. As Larry says, “Ninety days later, we were signing the papers on an old junk car out under the trees, and we were farming full time.” They haven’t looked back and have no regrets.

Picked, packed, and ready to be sold at market, the apples, peppers, squash, carrots, and other fresh produce shown on this page and the next represent only a portion of the bounty realized by those who have chosen farming as a way of life.

Are You Ready for the Country?

I LOVE THIS LIFE. I WOULDN’T TRADE IT FOR A FASHION MODEL’S body, a vault full of money, or a best-selling book. How could you want to trade something that fits so well, like a treasured old coat that warms you to the soul? I love our compact house, nestled in a saddle between two pine dotted ridges, overlooking Pikes Peak to the east and the Continental Divide to the west. I love that our house is charged (electrically) by rays of the sun bouncing off sparkly blue solar panels, and is heated by wood from nearby beetle-killed trees, which my husband, Ken, brings home with the donkeys, or with an old three-wheeler and a trailer. I love the fact that I can look out my window and see animals—both our own animals, and wild animals—gamboling about, healthy and happy, as animals should be. I love the new potatoes that come from the garden, and the greens grown in pots in the living room that freshen our winter plates. I love to sit in the evening and listen to Ken serenade me with his guitar, both with wonderful songs he has written and covers of some of my favorites.

Though the winter field.

I can go to the city if I need a city-type fix, but I hardly ever do. Mostly Ken and I stay home, both working from right here, though occasionally we go to one of several nearby small towns for shopping or an out-in-public spree.

But as much as I love my life, I have to be truthful: It can be really challenging, and I know it isn’t for everyone. For example, as I write this chapter, we are coping with a frozen water service line (our first at this house after six winters, though sadly, not our first ever—and not likely to be our last). Yesterday, we spent our Saturday fighting the water line, thawing snow on the woodstove to keep the critters watered, and unloading our mid-winter delivery of hay, all while Ken was combating a cold. Since we were unable to get the line thawed, we went to bed dirty. Luckily it was a sunny and pleasant day, but it was the tail end of a three-week spell with night temperatures dropping to the –30s degrees Fahrenheit.

We have had other bad times, as have most people who relocate to a farm from a suburban/urban life, and those bad times should give you pause. Moving to a farm is a family lifestyle change, and the whole family needs to want to face the challenges that don’t exist for most Americans today. If your wife’s idea of a challenge is picking out a shade of nail polish that will match her silk blouse, and her idea of fun is spending a whole day cruising through Saks Fifth Avenue, she probably won’t like it on the farm. If your husband’s idea of hard physical work is mowing the 100-square-foot lawn on a Saturday morning, and he is quite proud of the fact that he has never had a blister, he may not be ready for a farm. If your kids haven’t been outside in a year, except to go from building to vehicle and back, they might not appreciate the fresh air and sunshine of farm life.

If in doubt about the family’s sincere commitment to the lifestyle change, consider practicing farming in your own backyard before you make a big move. The potential to grow a food-supplementing garden exists in most places. Many cities even have community gardens, where residents who lack an adequate yard for a garden can acquire a small bed to work. A few backyard chickens, if there isn’t a rooster to wake up the neighborhood, are a great addition to most yards.

Has an austere beauty, heavy snowfalls cause extra work on the farm and can damage buildings, particularly older ones such as the farmhouse.

Thankfully, spring comes, the world turns green again, and flowers, such as those of the nasturtiums inter-planted with zucchini and beans on the next page, benefit from the moisture winter snows brought.

The best way to wet your toes may be to start “farming” where you live now, growing a few vegetables, such as the freshly picked carrots being rinsed.

There are also some other approaches to wetting your toes, without drowning: Agritourism, or vacationing on a working farm or ranch, provides a taste of the lifestyle, but after a weekend or a couple of weeks, you get to go home. Find agritourism opportunities in areas where you think you might like to relocate by contacting that state’s department of tourism, or go online and check out www.farmstop.com.

Many working farms also offer an opportunity to work as an intern, and if there is a CSA near you, then by becoming a member of the CSA, you can usually opt to participate in farm activities. Check out Web sites such as the ATTRA (Alternative Technology Transfer for Rural America) at attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/intern.html or the Organic Volunteers at www.organicvolunteers.com for intern opportunities. Another approach to testing the farming life without making a final commitment is to work as a caretaker for a farmer, rancher, or rural landowner. Gary Dunn, editor of the Caretaker Gazette, says there are thousands of opportunities for caretakers. Some caretaking prospects are relatively short-term commitments, like farm-sitting for a month, but others are long-term arrangements that can go on for years.

Since 1983, the Caretaker Gazette has listed opportunities for caretaking around the world. About 150 ads, such as “Couple, or a single person able to handle isolation, is needed on a remote southern Arizona ranch,” run in each issue—or you can opt to run a situation-wanted ad. Visit the Caretaker Gazette Web site for more information at www.caretaker.org.

WHEN IN ROME

One of the first things to think about with your move to the country is that you are changing cultures. The further you move from the urban fringe, the starker the cultural differences will seem. These differences are not insurmountable, but they are easiest to overcome if you think that, in a way, you have moved to a foreign country with different mores and traditions than the one you’ve just left. Remember the adage: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Many small farms that run a “community-supported agriculture” operation or an on-farm store happily take on volunteer interns.

Rural people have long lived with different economic and social realities than their urban and suburban brethren. When they invite you for coffee, expect freeze-dried instant, not freshly ground beans or latte, and drink the former as though it were the latter. Expect less emphasis on clothing, cars, and home furnishings, and more on tractors, homemade crafts, and the high school football team.

Those differences can quickly result in bad feelings and problems, though the problems you’ll encounter depend on how you approach your new neighbors. Our experience in Kremmling provides a perfect example. We found ourselves neighbors to a codgerish old fellow (probably not much older than we are now) who ran a junkyard and who seemed distinctly unfriendly at first. Turns out the people who had built the house we were living in tried to get his junkyard (which was there long before they bought the land and built the house) closed down by the county. Erwin suspected we were more of that ilk—city slickers tryin’ to change the countryside.

The rancher who owned a large expanse of land up behind ours began dropping cows and calves (hundreds of them by the semi-load) down at the bottom of the valley, and he, along with his kids and hired hands, drove them up through our place to get to his land. Like Erwin, George too had had a run-in with the previous residents, who hassled him about moving the cows through and left gates open when they were supposed to be closed, or closed when they were supposed to be open. He eyed us with suspicion that first spring morning.

It turned out to be fairly easy to break the ice with these rural neighbors. We smiled at them when we saw them and followed the rural tradition of waving when we passed them on the road. We tried really hard not to judge them by our citified criteria, and before long, we were on good terms. They began visiting us and would offer advice and help. By late summer, George had given us permission to ride our horses on his ranch, which ran for tens of thousands of acres up behind our house.

The farmer with his horse, will gladly share their knowledge with you. Break the ice with rural neighbors by offering a big smile and waving when you drive by.

Most of your new neighbors, like the woman harvesting from her garden.

The man tending his vineyard.

Michelle Huerta (Tennessee) had similar experiences. “It is a quantum leap [moving from the city] and in a way I felt like we’d landed on Mars. At first when we were shopping for farms, we’d see a really nice farm next to a terrible-looking old trailer or a rundown old farm, but finally we decided, we couldn’t let that stop us from getting the piece we wanted. Once we got here, we realized that those are pretty nice folks in the trailer. I am so much happier living in the country than I was in town or in the city. The farmers are so nice, they are helpful, and they’re so real; they laugh at your mistakes, but it is good-natured laughing.”

Hard work and hard economies shape your new neighbors. They are dedicated to their land and their family, which is often an extended network within the community. They value tradition in work and in worship. Older neighbors in particular may be uncomfortable hammering out the details of a business deal in a contract (they tend to stick to the handshake approach of doing things) or in talking about business with a woman.

Accept your neighbors for who they are, and they will be more likely to try to accept you for who you are.

ECONOMICS OF FARM LIFE

People coming from towns or cities soon discover that although real estate in the country is somewhat cheaper than comparable real estate in developed areas, farm living isn’t automatically cheaper than life in the city or suburbs. Rock stars and corporate executives looking to get away from the craziness of their day-to-day lives don’t have to think much about the money, but if you don’t fall into the multi-millionaire category, you will need to think about it. You may need to consciously make a change in spending habits.

The job market in rural and rurban areas is often limited, and the pay scales are often lower than those found in cities. You may take advantage of good roads to get in and out of the city into work (especially if you have the ability to arrange flexible scheduling with your employer), but you should still think about what commuting long distances will mean to your life, and the life of your family. Our hi-tech boom has made telecommuting possible for large numbers of people, but some rural areas still have limited access to the Internet—and don’t expect high-speed service.

Sustainability and Self-Sufficiency

Farm living can be comfortable, but sustainability and self-sufficiency must be the pillars of this life. You can raise at least some of your own food, and reduce your dependence on energy and outside resources that eat up your money; your entertainment can be right in your own backyard, with little need to spend money on fancy trips and expensive restaurants.

Michelle Huerta from Tennessee says that when her family moved to the farm, they had both pleasant surprises and sticker shock about the economic differences between the city and the farm. “The first thing that struck us was that we could go out to eat a lot more often, because the restaurants are so much cheaper here. I know it sounds so silly, but the little things, like free refills on drinks, came as a surprise to us. The six of us could go out for a meal for twenty to thirty dollars. At the same time, it is very expensive having a farm; there is no doubt about it. It’s shocking to look at the price of a tractor or farm equipment, and a lot of services, like having a plumber or an appliance repairman out, are much more expensive here than in the city.”

And another baling hay at depend on heavy-duty equipment to get their work done. These tools of the trade can easily cause sticker shock when you start shopping for your own line of farm equipment.

To take care of their fields.

Michelle also addressed some of the other changes as we talked: “When we were in Miami I wouldn’t have shopped at a Dollar Store or a Wal-Mart. You had to have eighty-dollar Nikes from the mall instead of ten-dollar sneakers from the discount store. What I’ve figured out is that you can live on a lot less money when you get out of that environment that tells you that you have to go the upscale stores, and you have to wear this brand.”

Maybe your plan is to create a moneymaking enterprise out of your farm—to be a real farmer. You can make money off a small farm, but it is hard work, and if you aren’t going in with some cushion of money in the bank, things can careen into a financial wreck before you know what happened. For planning purposes, assume you won’t make money on your enterprise for at least the first couple of years. Can you get by with outlay and more outlay when there is no significant farm-generated income? (Chapter 10 dives into agripreneurship, or the marketing end of farming, which is critical if you plan to make money off the farm.)

Farms and the IRS

Our accountant once told us that the surest way to find yourself at the uncomfortable end of an IRS audit is to show a farming loss, while showing significant off-farm income. The IRS considers that if farming is a business, it must be setup and run with the intention of earning a real profit. When a farm is set up and run as a profit-making endeavor, you can deduct the expenses of running the business, even if your expenses exceed your income, and you have a loss—and the loss may be applied to other nonfarm income under the federal tax code. But the IRS is also wise to the fact that many people set up a farm with no serious intention of making a profit, yet they deduct those “farming losses” from their income. If the IRS determines that your farm is an “Activity Not Engaged in for Profit,” then you fall under section 183 of the tax code, which governs “hobby losses.”

Attendees of the Four State Farm Show in Pittsburg, Kansas, inspect a line of tractors. At farm shows held throughout the country, the Cooperative Extension Service and farm equipment suppliers are always on hand to answer questions about equipment.

Losses incurred in connection with a hobby are generally deductible only to the extent of the income produced by the hobby. In other words, you can’t use a hobby to generate a tax loss that shelters your other income. And, all of your hobby income is supposed to be reported as “other income” on Line 21 of your Form 1040, Individual Income Tax Return, though the expenses incurred earning that income are only deductible if you itemize your deductions, because they are considered “miscellaneous itemized deductions.” You can only deduct the portion of expenses associated with hobby income that exceeds 2 percent of your adjusted gross income.

When determining whether you are operating a business, as opposed to engaging in a hobby, the IRS considers the following points.

The manner in which the taxpayer conducts the activity. Do you operate in a businesslike manner? Do you keep complete books and a separate business checking account? Do you advertise your products? Do you study what is going on in your industry and adopt new techniques to increase profits?

The expertise of the taxpayer or his or her advisers. What is your background in the activity (including number of years of practical experience and formal training)? Do you consult with professionals, such as an attorney and a CPA? Do you seek advice from experts, such as county extension personnel? Can you demonstrate that you have responded to the advice offered by your advisers? For example, have you fertilized a pasture based on the extension agent’s advice?

The time and effort the taxpayer spends on the activity. Do you spend a significant amount of time on the business and its related activities? Do you actively spend time marketing your products? Do you keep any kind of time log that documents your work and efforts to make a profitable operation?

Unless you are confident that you can pass the IRS tests for running a business. Thinking of farming as a retirement nest egg? Farms can eat up savings the way pigs chow down on corn—with great abandon.