Farmer, gardener or forester?
With a small patch of land it's best not to pigeon hole yourself and you need to do a bit of everything to make it work, but it's easy to concentrate on one way more than another. There are many sub divisions to them all as well and they all blur together (agroforestry, permaculture, etc).
I always assumed that when I had a patch of land I'd be going down the traditional agriculture route, after all it's the way I brought up - on a mixed farm. I thought I'd get stock straight away, but I've concentrated on other things first, mainly the horticultural side of things.
This was driven home the other day when I had a friend walk round the homestead and she remarked on how much I had achieved in three years, whereas a phone call with my dad earlier that day he remarked that I hadn't done much with the land yet. Two different points of view but my father is very much of the traditional agricultural mindset, and my three fields have only really been cropped for hay so he has a point, the trees and the garden he sees as a sideline.
It's obvious when I think about it now, with a much smaller acreage than a farm any smallholding lends itself much better to horticulture than agriculture. Generally what I do is far more labour intensive and on a much smaller scale than what a farmer would do, but my returns can be much higher in food produced. I watched a video the other day where it said that an experienced gardener can produce five times the weight of vegetables than a farmer growing a cereal crop, I've no idea if this figure is correct or not but it sounds about right, even when I think about the weight of my squash harvest from two 4ftx10ft beds last year and compare that to the amount of wheat I would have got from the same space.
So today (Saturday) I'm continuing with my horticultural endeavours and I'm ploughing another patch of land to grow more vegetables and a small tree nursery (and maybe a small patch of grain as an experiment). I'm hoping to try to make this little patch earn it's keep by growing fruit trees I've grafted myself for sale and some more patches of beans and squashes that I might try to sell.
I am planning on getting stock this year, but, for me at least, horticulture is taking priority over agriculture at the moment.
Which way do you think you lean when it comes to what you do with your patch, no matter how big or small? Would you go in a completely different direction to me?
Interesting although I am not sure the veggy to grain thing is really a fair comparison. One would have to weigh it out over a few years and then take storage times into account as well I think. I focused on the garden and fruit production first myself and really just inherited the sheep side. Like you said it seems to make more sense overall.
ReplyDeleteGrains certainly make up the base of a meal more and veg don't (except potatoes) so it might be fairer to work it out on which we need more.
DeleteThe fruit and veg seemed far more logical to me, I could concentrate on a much smaller area and make a bigger impact to the way we eat.
I am not really interested in growing typical commercial crops to sell. We have the land, though growing here in traditional ways would be super tough due to water issues and then there is the extreme heat... I am expanding my growing of vegetables and blackberries and hope to sell my surplus. Since we have to conserve water here I don't really grow anything the standard way. Deciding to grow with a bit of surplus to sell is fairly new thinking for here...
ReplyDeleteI think that to move away from the standard way of growing things is what makes gardening so interesting. I have hundreds of little experiments running and it doesn't even matter if it works or not really - I'll eat it whatever!
DeleteYou do amazingly well no matter what your conditions are and I'm looking froward to seeing all your doing this year as well!
Livestock farming is very time consuming and very expensive Kev. I don't think many small farmers make a profit if they are truthful. Saying that the meat is delicious and livestock are characters and I think pigs could do your ploughing and fertilizing and weed new ground.
ReplyDeleteI think that's just it Dave, not many do, but if they went down the horticultural route they could on a small acreage. We are getting livestock this year and grwoing up on a farm I know how tough it can be with them. If we grow any to sell we might try and do it so we sell the carcass to people direct, but we'll start small whatever we do.
DeleteWe have a larger patch of land but tend to plant things we find interesting and pretend that it will make us money. We've tried, soybeans (failure), camelina, flax, varous types of barley, odd types of oats, teff, alfalfa, clover,random sunflower plots, whatever sparks our interest. Most people focus on a couple crops. I think that it probably better to focus on a few things that work well for you.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're like me, I think if you stop experimenting then it becomes boring! I have a list of things I want to grow each year and not all of them make it back for a second time!
DeleteHave you read Charles Dowdings blog. He practices no dig, which in itself is interesting. However my main point being that out of a relatively small acreage he produces sufficient crops to make a reasonable living. He doesn't grow the average grains as they simply do not yield enough to make it worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteWe followed a similar path, though somewhat larger and combining our timber and sawmill business and other ventures and it really can pay.
We mix and match the livestock and work its rotation into the overall plan.
The single biggest thing we have found is never to stop thinking or be willing to try new ideas, never be afraid to junk something because it doesn't work no matter what others opinions are.
That blog is a great resource! Thanks for that, I even like the look of the courses he runs as well if I can convince someone to go with me!
DeleteLike you I'm hoping to combine revenue streams, with my carpentry as my main one and be able to work from home when the girls have gone to school.
I'm constantly trying new things, but so far not all of them are working! I think I'm slightly obsessed with it all as all I think about is gardening or woodwork!
Seems to me you are doing very well. Anyway the only people who have to be pleased are your wife and kids and I'm sure they are happy with your homeplace.
ReplyDeleteThey're happy but there's always room for improvement! We've got a lot to do here this year so it's going to be a year for hard work I think!
DeleteA couple of young guys, and their families, have taken over an established, but mature, organic fruit orchard very near here.
ReplyDeleteThey have ripped out ALL the over mature trees and are leaving the younger, better fruiting ones to act as a cropable shelter belt for veg crops.
Additionally, they use Tamworth pigs as fertilizer ploughs for the fallow veg areas... and have sheep and the black "Geline du Touraine" chickens running free-range under areas of orchard....
these are doing very well and supply a free mowing and pest removal service.... with edible by-products!
But, on all fronts, they've gone for the traditional smallholding self-caring breeds of animal.... which cuts out a lot of husbandry!
They haven't got cows... but there is a lot of dairy in this area... and I am certain that they probably are well supplied in that direction... without money ever changing hands!!!
The guys have around ten hectares [25 acres] to work with... as well as two new vast polytunnels for early / tender crops.
I have no doubt that the surplus they sell for income comes after feeding their growing families.
For us... it is veg, fruit and chooks!
Oh... and nuts!
That sounds like a great thing they're doing. Working together like that would be difficult unless you had very similar mindsets and work ethic. 25 acres is a good sized plot to make it work on as well. Mines 5 acres here, which is more than enough for me to go at at the moment.
DeleteVeg, fruits and chooks so far here as well, but if I ever get some gates hung then I will increase the number of animals on the farm!
Hi, I am delighted to have found your lovely blog. My husband and I bought a small place in the country last spring. So, last summer was our first garden. I want to learn everything that I can about gardening and making your little place as green and lush as possible. I think that I can learn a lot from you. Please pop over and visit my blog, I would love to have you as a mutual follower.
ReplyDeleteHappy to meet you.
Connie :)
Hi Connie,
DeleteGlad you're enjoying gardening, be careful it's fairly addictive! There's some great gardening blogs out there (quite few on my sidebar).
Thanks for the comment.
Very interesting post, Kev, and great comments as well. We never really set out to make a profit from our homestead, we just hope it can take care of itself. We jumped into the animal side of it pretty quickly, so besides the garden and fruit trees for us, much of what we try to do is feed the animals from the land. It is a broader dimension, but i can't imagine trying to do this without them. The goats cleared the overgrowth and provide milk, meat, and kids to sell. We eat eggs daily because of the chickens, and now the pigs are helping with the tilling. All contribute manure, which is the only way I get so much compost! Even so, I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all to this. Choices have to be made on a large number of variables and I'm sure we all wonder, from time to time, if we should have done something differently. For those of us who don't follow the conventional path, there is a lot of trial and error involved. I think that's what's so great about blogging. We learn from one another, or at least I do. :)
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