Farm Business And Why Our Garden Is So Small

We’ve barely gotten any gardening done this spring. I found myself stressing about it for a while. After all, we’re supposed to be growing as much if our own feed as we can, but then I realized, it’s okay.

This year is just not our year for gardening. In fact, for us, putting more of our (limited) energy into gardening this year might be what Gabriel calls “penny-wise, pound-foolish”. On the face of it, it seems to be the best way to conserve resources, But in the grand scheme of things this year, with all that’s going on, I’m not so sure.

Our beef and dairy goat businesses are finally taking off. We’ve been working toward this for a long time, and part of me thinks that the reason it’s been so slow going is because we’ve been stretching ourselves too thin. I think it’s high time we slowed down (in a manner of speaking) to focus on just a few things, and really make them work.

This year, for the first time, we have enough product to commit to farmer’s markets, We’re able to participate in our county’s local food tour this month, and it looks like we might be able to set up a sort of farm store for customers to come buy directly from the farm while taking the opportunity to visit the animals and enjoy the country side.

These are really exciting developments for us. A dream come true!

I find myself getting excited at the possibility of the farm actually generating a livable income. Up to now, we’re stretching every single dollar to the best of our ability, hoping that we can make this happen before it becomes necessary to look for a job away from the farm. And now, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

These last few weeks have been so incredibly busy. I cross one thing off of my to-do list, only to add three more. (It’s good to be busy).

Tomorrow is our first farmer’s market day, and a meeting for the farm tour participants, our community choir performance (I had no idea we would be this busy when I joined back in January). We’ve spent almost the entire week gearing up for those three things.

As busy as we’ve been, I can’t imagine the strain that trying to keep up with a large garden would be. We do have a few of the basics that we’re enjoying the fruit of, such as lettuce and onions, but here it is, the second week of May, and we never did get around to planting potatoes, and only a few tomatoes.

This summer, with the new baby in tow, I think I’ll be really glad of that.

This spring has been so cold, it’s hard to believe that it’s already time for the summer markets to open, but it is!

Maybe we won’t be enjoying home-canned marinara sauce this winter, but I bet there’ll be other fruits of our Labors evident.