Why Do I Want to Farm?

Why do I want to farm? Why do I want to be a farmer? The question can only be answered individually because the reasons are as wide and varied as the people who have them. One thing is true for most everyone; the answers to these questions are about purpose and fulfillment. The farmer is a different breed of person. They have a different type of “tick” to their clock that makes them go.

For me, I continually want to have peace and quiet and nothing embodies the serenity I find while digging up carrots or picking green beans as farming does. I want to feel as though I am contributing something, something more than most. It’s not enough to say I want to be a farmer; I want to be a unique farmer. I want to be a self-sustaining farmer, one who doesn’t rely on the outside world to produce food. I want to do more than just grow plants and raise small livestock; I want to pioneer a way in which many do not travel.

I want to teach others to be sufficient for them-selves to continue a heritage that is preserved by only a few. The way is simple, live with the cycles of nature rather than force your own. When this happens, you save time, money, and have more enjoyment in life. Someday we may not have the luxuries of the modern world and it will be easier to survive if methods are in place from the start rather than starve for a while till it’s figured out.

We are so often told that we can’t be a “Jack of all trades” or we will be “a master of none”. Unfortunately, this is bad advice for me. Why? Because, it is the very fact that I try to be a “Jack of all trades”, that brings me enjoyment. If I get to a point where one thing becomes redundant or tedious and the enjoyment is gone, I can switch to something else and then eventually come back. This is not something you can do in a “Job” but it is something I can do as a small scale farmer. It’s not to mention that if a farm puts their whole lot into one bag that they could loose the bag and be out everything.

Lynn Miller wrote about this in his book “Farmer Pirates and Dancing Cows”:

“We are told we must narrow our focus to a particular vocation or discipline and work hard on that one thing otherwise we will diminish our chances for success. The man who would be a cabinet maker and a botanist is asking for trouble, the woman who would be a dancer and a cellist is doomed. The child who would pursue automotive engineering and poetry is labeled a self-destructive curiosity. The best and most dynamic individual examples of diverse enterprise are frequently hidden from full view as an act of self-preservation. We succumb to the pressures of family and community and deny the truth of our potential. We follow, short-sighted, the social edicts of our time. The result is often an unhappy life, ironically even when we are immersed in the work of our choice. Alexander Borodin was a chemist and a surgeon, but we perhaps know him best as a classical composer of the highest rank. We measure him today by the lasting power and grace of his music. By all accounts he was a happy, fulfilled man. Yet in his day, peers within the communities he worked would have doubtless wondered about his seriousness pointing to his various vocations as indications that he seemed spread thin. I prefer to think of him as spread thick.”

The whole issue is brought on by the big business mentality. Bigger is better they say. The problem is the business then becomes not about what you are doing and what brings you enjoyment but how much money you can make and as a result bad decisions are made that could sink the whole company all in the name of a big or quick dollar. A self-sustainable farmer thinks “scale”. Scale is how much can I hold. I may have a lot of “Irons in the fire”, figurative or literal, but the operation as a whole is scaled to me as an individual. Why? Because it is my dream, and they are my plans that are the reasons I got started in the first place. Why loose sight of the primary principle? The primary principle is to be self-sustaining and at peace. Why destroy that to become wealthy? What is wealth? Its worthless to me, give me peace, joy, and fulfillment. Materialism is a disease that affects most Americans and it is something that can rob your time, pleasure and make you a “Servant to the Lender”.

Why do I want to farm? Its summation is difficult to nail down into a quick statement just as is the question why I want to be a farmer. But the answer is revealed in the work; because it brings fulfillment, pleasure and a sense of pride in almost a nurturing father or mother sort of way. The world needs food; I can provide that, so long as God provides the other elements needed.

Why do I want to be a farmer? It’s the freedom, the knowledge that the dinner table will be provided for regardless of the financial means, so long as I have a place to grow produce or raise livestock. It’s the ability to pass on lessons I have learned to another so that they may be able to provide for themselves in a scaled down, small self-sustainable farm.

I have a dream, that one day I will wake up and see my children caring not about what toys they have or what they will do, but caring about the people they meet and caring enough to form a relationship with them and exchange knowledge and wisdom.

On a side note I have put together a Business Plan and have hopes to find investors to help get this farming enterprise going. I have help from a businessman who owns Netwatch Inc. and is a former employer. Below is a graphic of the 5 year transition of the property and the hopes I have to transform our 3.5 acres into a thriving self-sustaining farm. You can click on the image to see it full size.