What I have learned so far.......

I did a lot of research in the 2 years leading up to starting this MicroFarm.  From the name to the animals and crops - I had/have it all mapped out.  Everyone will have different goals as to what they want to achieve.  Ours is to have a profitable MicroFarm and to be self sufficient - "within reason".  I always add that because the term "self sufficient" can conjure up many different ideas.  We are not "doomsday preppers".  I do not think we will wake one day to find only a small populous left to fight to the bitter end etc etc.  I do however feel that factory farming has done irreparable harm to our health as a society.   Our thought processes and lack of education regarding our food is actually horrifying.  What we as a nation have  accepted regarding our food sources is shocking.  The head in the sand mentality has to stop.  Our children's lifespan depends on it.

So "within reason" for us means that we can provide healthy food options for our family, teach our children where food really comes from and the difference between such things like store bought eggs and our fresh farm eggs.   How there is a moral issue in factory farmed animals and that we as caretakers of the animal kingdom have sadly lost our way as a whole.  What we do believe is,  that a natural disaster or terrorist attack could occur to stop the trucking in of goods - if that happened - how long could you feed your family from your freezer and pantry?  Would you know who to locate for fresh milk and eggs in your community?  Not everyone is as fortunate to live where these options exist in multitude and we are very thankful that we do.


I read so many books and online articles and videos - Harvey Ussery, Joel Salatin, Mel Bartholomew, Brett Markham and Gail Damerow are just a few of the authors whose wisdom I filled my head with.
I spent my teenage years on an agriculture farm - not huge but not small - my grandfather was well known in our neck of the woods for his large crops of 1/2 runner green beans, fabulous sweet corn (Silver Queen and Peaches n' Cream were my favorites) and Potatoes among other crops.  He also kept bees and my cousins and I grew up chewing on fresh honeycomb - not realizing how fortunate we were and what a novelty it would be to most.

Calls from those wanting to get their orders in would come while snow was still on the ground.  Grandma would write their information in a notebook she kept by the phone in the kitchen.  Grandpa was an active member of the farmers market and local farmers association.  Harvesting the crop at dusk well into the darkness,  the night before the market and then getting up to use flashlights for last minute details,  were the norm for us.  I drove a flatbed Jeep truck at age 13 and would "toodle" down the road to check on hired hands picking beans and load up to take back for weighing and packing by the bushels.

Grandma had a famous Banana Bread and Zuchinni Bread that were always a sell out - many times she could only bake enough to fill pre-orders.  Of course, Fresh Farm Eggs were also always in demand.  So I have a background in the smaller farmers world.  One that I moved far away from for many, many years and life has brought me back full circle  - as is often the case with ones journey.

One thing I realized quickly that in order to "make it" (and what does that really mean anyway?)  - one has to have many things in motion at once.  Just as most things in life - everything has a season.  While there will be a steady effect throughout the year in some things - there are explosive times for others and one needs to be ready to take full advantage of these.  Fresh Farm Eggs are in demand year round - so a nice sized laying flock is often the start of any homesteading venture.  Once the eggs are steadily flowing,  one might move onto meat birds or maybe to hatching out chicks for replacement for themselves or to provide to others.  That is one thing we do here.  We believe in quality over quantity and hatch out in small batches from small flocks of colored egg layer breeds. We also provide fertile hatching eggs to others for their incubator or broody hens.

For meat and eggs we are building up our flock of dual purpose Heritage Delawares - a breed in need of conservation and part of the poultry history of America.  Spring is definitely  a time of chick explosion and if chicks are part of the plan - this is the time to have as many as possible  - and that still won't be enough!

This year we added Pekin ducks as well - it was an opportunity that we were not in search of but so glad it came our way.  We are looking forward to ducklings in the spring and also yummy duck eggs for baking with.  They are also the duck breed of choice for meat purposes and we may try that out down the road as well.

We just hatched out a decent sized batch of Coturnix Quail over the last couple days.  We have an outlet for the eggs for eating purposes.

Of course a garden is in order  - one large enough to both currently feed your family and also to provide enough yield for freezing and/or canning to get you through winter months.  Once that is established then adding on to be able to sell/market excess is the next step.  My experience with my grandparents has taught me to pick a few things and do them really well and become known for them. Our future plans include a mushroom grove, sunflowers, lavender and blue lake beans.  I also want to do a nice large patch of white pumpkins - I love to decorate with them.  We use a lot of Black Oil Sunflower seeds as feed for both chickens and the rabbits so it is a natural fit.

We added meat rabbits after much research.  We started out with a simple quad of New Zealand California cross and after getting out feet good and wet we quickly had to expand to keep up with demand - something that is still hard pressed for us. We added 2 Heritage breeds also in need of conservation: Silver Fox and Creme d'Argent.  We are also adding a garden area for growing forage for the rabbitry next year.  Other add ons are meal worms and eventually honey bees.

Having several things going on throughout the year keep the wheels oiled.  Not as much as always needed but I feel we are off to a good start.  I have read books on making $40k on 1/4 acre etc etc - I do think it is possible but it will take a lot of time and a ton pf patience to build up to that point unless one has the capital for instant growth.  Marketing and building relationships is a must - being available after the fact and making oneself part of the farming community is imperative to a successful MicroFarming venture.  There have been and still are many many bumps in the road and we are not trying to build Rome - so I do see a time when we can say -  for us anyway - we made it :-)