Thank you for the thread!
Big day at a relative’s farm this morning – the ‘meat’ chickens are being processed. I have reserved two and I’m looking forward to roasted chicken! They are raising hogs as well with a processing date of September 30 for about 12 hogs – I am fairly certain I’ll be splitting a hog with another family member. All animals are “pastured” so the chickens are on grass, eating bugs & living a good life. The pigs are in sections of pasture and rotated about every 2 weeks. I do not eat commercial chicken or pork for dietary reasons – I won’t get into the weeds on that. I am very much looking forward to when they start raising cows (grass fed/finished), which are ruminants & that is very good nutrition. The farm itself is just getting underway – these are the first two groups of animals that are being raised for processing and sale. They are working on a CSA model (community-supported agriculture) for the most part and have plenty of customers. They have chicks they’re raising for egg production and have customers lined up in advance. When the farm land purchase(s) are complete, the acreage should be around 400 acres. They just moved into their new house on the farm and have a large new barn as well. They have a large vegetable garden & lots of flowers. It’s fun watching them build a healthy farm life for themselves and their kids. With the food supply issues, they are going to be self-sustaining and for people like me, a good source of the most nutritionally dense food you can eat.
The deer have now started coming into the yard. They love the gourmet salad bar IE my mom’s beautiful hostas. We are now having to cover them at night. There is no ‘row cover’ to be had in the stores around here & we didn’t have time to order anything, so she got some stuff that looks like row cover, but you put it down over grass seed – it holds the moisture & keeps the birds from eating the seeds. It was fairly “cheap” all things considered and very lightweight so the plants are undisturbed – checked it out this morning & it looks like it’s doing the job.
Since the deer are now “invading” and not staying out in the fields, I put up my fencing around the tomatoes last night. It’s up in a temporary manner (one zip tie per corner) because I am weeding around the beds. Everything got majorly out of control this spring when I couldn’t get in the garden due to injury, so I’m just catching up. Also, the crows (a pair of them this year rather than the larger family group) are checking things out – I have baby green tomatoes on all the plants and they will steal them once they get a little bigger. I get a real kick out of watching the crows marching around the fencing, eyeing the tomatoes (or other veggies) out of reach inside the plastic mesh.
My seedlings that were on the porch (shaded) are now out in a seedling “nursery” I made out of the big old stock tank where I’ve been growing rosemary, thyme & last year, Cardinal Climbing Vine. The rosemary died over the winter & while the old thyme plant is doing great (after a major pruning), I think I’m going to try transplanting it to totally free up the stock tank. I have some pipe and electric fence posts in place to make an A-frame over the tank and I have draped row cover over it & secured it on the sides. In early spring, I’ll be able to convert the tank (¾ filled with dirt, shavings on top) into a cold frame. I just figured this all out yesterday and I’m very pleased to be using the stock tank this way. Once the seedlings are out, I can put in potted flowers that are easily removable when it’s time to use the tank as a plant nursery again.
The local Tractor Supply has cattle panels in stock – yay! I have a 14’ trailer worked out (panels are 16’) so we are picking up three tomorrow. I’m using one to make panels for tying up tomatoes & supporting peppers (bell & jalapeno) & bush beans if they need it. The other two will give me the ability to make a high tunnel over one of the raised beds and I can grow some early/late crops without worrying about frost kill.
It’s a good day today for all the reasons above. It’s cloudy with some rain showers on the way. The seedlings are watered and it’s coffee time – watching the hummers coming in for their breakfast. :-)
Good that they already have customers. A CSA is one of the tougher and time consuming methods of selling. You spend a lot of time making up orders and if you deliver, that takes a ton of time. It's almost a full time job for one person.
Saw a video the other day of a farmer who does it a little different. He sets up a stand at his farm on certain days, Wed & Sat for instance. It's only open for a few hours and people come pick up their orders. One big difference is that it's Free Choice. The customers purchase points and all products are assigned a points value. They can spend their points on anything or even all on one thing. It's more like shopping that way and people don't end up getting things they won't eat like they would if variety bags/boxes were made up for them based on whatever the farm has. If someone's only interested in salads, they can choose a few tomatoes, some lettuce, cucumbers and not end up with squash that they don't want.
He says it works out well due to different people having different tastes and eating habits/diets. He always has a good selection and rarely runs out of one or two things on a regular basis. If he did, he could just grow more of those in the future.
If your relatives' farm is out of the way or lacks parking, they could find a more central location to do the above. Maybe Wed or Thurs afternoons and Saturday mornings. They would have to figure out what will work best for them. They might only want one harvest day or it might be better to have two harvest days.
Some people, when they get big enough, actually do a farm store, usually with limited hours so they don't need a full time cashier.