Farming Lessons Learned So Far

Some have expressed interest in our pursuits.  Here are 10 (or more) things to consider:

1. Draft a plan; define objectives, strategies and boundaries to your operation that all agree to.  Also have the flexibility to adjust or jettison portions once you realize that a particular thing ain't working.  Is your plan just to feed your family - then skip to #10 (or 11).  Do you want to make a living doing this - then read on.

2. Practice and validate production techniques the first year.  Just like learning how to drive stick, you must practice before driving in traffic.  Produce enough for your family and give surplus to friends and potential future customers (and ask for their feedback).

While sitting around the womb Caleb made the most of that time.



3. Research the market (and incorporate what you learn and opportunities discovered into the plan). ID multiple customer groups (food and homeschool co-ops, particular communities, farmer's markets or cooperate with an established producer of a different product, etc.).  Define multiple marketing strategies.  Marketing will likely be half or more of your effort until your customer base grows by word of mouth.

4. Crunch the numbers (another portion of your plan), account for fuel, materials, cost of sale (fees or commissions), losses, etc.  Run different scenarios (what if average bird size is x, or we use x instead of y, or we drop the price to x, etc.).  Estimate ALL labor hours, that means ALL the time you spend on whatever it is that supports that effort to help your “go” or “no go” decision.

5. As Morpheus says (after I make a slight edit), “Don't think you are can, know you are can.” After researching how to raise x or produce y, plan and execute.  Sounds obvious, but many well thought out endeavors are never pursued. Analyze what's holding you back, and if it's simply fear of the unknown (because you've never tried it before - I'm guilty of this), it's probably time to execute.

6. Sell retail (finish the product as much as possible and sell to the consumer).  This generates more revenue than selling to a grocer or restaurant, BUT only if you have an established customer base.  Selling to a grocer or restaurant may make sense if it allows more time to capture retail customers (or gain access to them) or if you have too much product you need to move.

7. When reality demonstrates the opposite of what you thought - the numbers you originally crunched are wrong, selling more of that money losing product only increases your losses.  Another thing that sounds obvious, but for some it isn't.  Focus your time on efforts that maximize returns to recoup losses.  If vending eggs loses money, but selling berries makes money, don't continue the egg endeavor thinking you'll eventually cover costs and then stop, stop the egg endeavor asap and dedicate more time to berries.

8. Network with other vendors pursuing the same or different things to learn from their mistakes and get ideas.  This includes competitors, you'll be surprised how this can help.  A competitor who has become a friend had an inventory shortage and bought the surplus we had trouble moving.

The Egg PoIice, at least they aren't armed.

9. When dealing with Politburos, get clarification in writing (if they refuse to put things in writing, take notes while on the phone and send them an email thanking them for their time and restating anything they said).  They will contradict each other, contradict their own written regs, or simply make stuff up (start a new business and see what I mean).

10. I forgot what the last one was which stinks because I thought it was really good... hopefully I'll remember it for a future post.

11. Since I forgot 10, here's another.  Learn how to maintain & repair whatever machines you'll be using. Things break at the worst times (like the double flat I had - and it didn't end there; a few hundred feet to the destination the trailer got stuck). Own duplicates of tools commonly used and manuals if you don't already have the knowledge to fix what you own. You also need things like a winch, bottle jack, tow straps/chains, etc. to minimize recovery time.

12. And one more thing, have a good 1st aid kit (w/ blood clot) and fire extinguisher ready (you're in the country, 60 min+ away from 911, or in a field or on a fence line far from water - watching an engine fire that destroys less than a hundred $ in parts turn into one that completely destroys the machine will really set you back [the former owner of the dozer in the pic purchased it as a replacement for one that burned and was a complete loss]).

You Are What They Eat

Years ago I was introduced to the idea that the human body can function on anything.  One could eat only fake cheese nachos from 711 and survive without any noticeable ill effects, like a furnace that will always provide heat as long as anything combustible like trash was put in it.

Learning more about food further convinces me that perspective is completely false.  The first big realization came from bread (this is difficult to confess since I used to be a wannabe bread man who hustled delivered [spouse edit] edible “factory second” loaves).  I heard an interview by Tom Woods about how modern wheat impaired one's health (it's linked to inflammation, arthritis among other symptoms) and I didn't believe it until I eliminated it from my own diet and noticed an improvement.  (There are a couple of explanations for this that blame unnaturally hybridized grain.  If I remember correctly, one is that grains not soaked, sprouted or soured extract minerals as you body tries to digest them and another is that an unnatural protein produced from hybridization interferes with your body’s ability to extract nutrients when present in one's gut.)

My latest revelation has to do with chicken.  I never thought much of them, they were the cheap option at expensive restaurants and they certainly weren't anything to look forward to in the morning like bacon.  But no more, it's our second most favorite meat.  Chicken actually has great flavor if raised naturally where they can consume their normal diet (plants, grass, seeds, insects and occasionally small frogs and mice).  Big Agra's chicken is fed an inexpensive processed ration that creates bulk in the shortest time possible but produces a bland bird in comparison (in addition to the nutrient deficient feed they are severely confined which causes them to inhale a considerable amount of dust from their dried excrement, both of these conditions also impair their health).

Cook a pasture raised and a store bought chicken together and see what I mean. What makes the biggest difference is their time on pasture (we limit their time in the brooder where they eat non-GMO feed to no more than three weeks, they then spend four to six weeks on pasture).  Pasture contains an immense number of nutrients that they easily assimilate (beta-carotene, selenium, vitamin E, etc., and a multitude of minerals). Their meat then offers more omega-3, vitamins, antioxidants and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) among other nutrients (see eatwild.com, sfgate.com and others) compared to a conventional bird.

So… an animal's diet really does affect their flavor and nutritional value (they need to consume vitamins and minerals so you can get them).  “You are what you eat” is not quite accurate, it should be stated “you are what they eat.”

Another way to illustrate the difference.  On the left are eggs from free ranging pastured chicken, on the right are chickens fed only non-GMO feed (excellent feed but little to no pasture access). Wish I had commercial eggs in the pic, they would likely be the palest.

Blaise with chicken fan club.  Founder of MoFC (“gimmie Mo Fwied Chick'n”).  It's surprisingly good even though his recipe is totally made up (if he doesn't write it down there will be nothing to keep secret and no reason to call him Colonel one day).

In other news TJ doubled syrup production.

Right click and save this pic for when Apple offers a scratch 'n sniff iPhone feature (non-hybrid grain pancakes from scratch and fresh maple syrup, probably what was eaten in 1880 before spending all day doing laundry).

More on Syrup

Here is a great view to wake up to in the morning, looks like we live on the edge of a vast lake.

More on syrup production; here are a few missing steps from the process.  This is the sap Squeaky emptied into the transfer bucket (shown in the last post). I call it Missouri coconut juice (at least it looks like it to me).

Here is an example of a Puerto Rican maple.  All of the sap is contained in these giant nuts which is convenient because you don't need taps or buckets.

Missouri coconut juice must go into these food grade barrels for protection from little kids. (The longer it stays in here the darker it will be when processed, partly because bacteria will eat a portion of the sugar, so you can minimize storage time to produce a "Grade A" variety unless you want a stronger maple flavored "Grade B").

From there it goes into food service/buffet pans (buffet pans are used to maximize surface area in order to facilitate evaporation) and boiled down into syrup.  TJ has recently calculated a 20 to 1 ratio which is a good indication that the trees are sugar maples (as opposed to red or silver maples, etc.).

Unlike the fake syrup found in most stores (made primarily with corn syrup by Big Agra because it's subsidized with your money a wonderful substitute for other sweeteners), real maple syrup contains sucrose (primarily), malic and amino acids, minerals (calcium, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron and zinc) and trace amounts of vitamins (B5, B6,  D, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, and folic acid).  Big Agra's fake syrup has different ingredients.  Some are sodium benzoate or phosphoric acid  and trace amounts of mercury from within the high fructose corn syrup (all toxins).  It also has its own version of essential vitamins like 2-methylimidazole or 4-methylimidazole from the "caramel color" (promotes tumors in lab animals).

And the best way to end the day is with a meal from produce or animals all raised right here: squash, pastured chicken and raw milk for dinner.

We found a worm hole to 1880...

...in this washer.  It failed and I wasn't going to buy the first one I saw and bring someone else's problems home.  (Plus some of those available at the time weren't close - that's 60+ miles away when you live in the country).

So during the time it took to find an acceptable replacement friends equipped us to wash clothes the old fashioned way. At first it didn't seem so bad, but that thought only lasted a few moments once I tried doing my own load.  A washing machine is a tremendous time saving (and soap saving) invention.  (The blue plunger in the right bottom corner was used on clothes in a five gallon bucket as an alternative to the washboards.)

Besides washing in the 1880s way, we also used the device on the right.  It worked surprisingly well – adding hot water and sealing the lid pressurizes it which pushes detergent into the clothing.  The problem with both methods is that you can’t do large loads (well, you can if you have many hours to dedicate to laundry).

Maple sap collection continues (Squeaky is draining a collection bucket into a transfer bucket).

And the initial production of syrup has been impressive.  It has a strong pleasant flavor other than simply being sweet which I haven't tasted in other maple syrups.  TJ had the finesse of a lab technician as he further refined his pilot batch in the kitchen.

TJ also makes excellent pizza, the crust is made out of Kamut (an ancient grain), I could use a slice as a write this. (The piece of paper in the bottom left corner is made out of nothing).

And the next item on the todo list: excavation.  We'll see how far I get before the next post.