The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise by Joel Salatin
If you believe in yourself, anything’s possible–even farming If you’ve ever dreamed of living off the land producing your own food and earning a living by feeding others, then You Can Farm by Joel Salatin is a must-read. You Can Farm is all about possibilities. Salatin’s philosophy of farming means working the land to restore fertility, duplicating nature’s rhythm, providing livestock with natural food and lifestyle, being part of a community, building relationships with customers, enjoying the seasons, working hard and relaxing. It means doing what you love and being paid well for it. But before anything else, farming is a business that requires knowledge, hard work, sacrifice, and frugality to achieve success. The prerequisite to a successful farming enterprise is to believe it is possible. Every facet of our culture disparages the notion that farming can be enjoyable and economically viable…As long as in our heart of hearts we actually believe that it is impossible, we will never open up our spirits and our minds to ways to make it happen…It doesn’t matter what your background, your socioeconomic status, your age or your current living condition; if you have a yearning in your soul to grow things and minister healthy food to people, to live an agrarian life with your children and grandchildren playing around your feet, then an opportunity exists for you. — Joel Salatin Salatin suggests that you find your market before you produce anything and begin by producing only that which you yourself will consume. If you don’t yet have land, grow vegetables in your yard or rent a plot of land. Study. Learn from other farmers. If you do have the land, don’t go into debt to buy fancy machinery that will force you to work off-farm to pay for it. Use your intellect instead of your wallet for problem solving. “Bigger is better” is a motto that only benefits the banks as you strap yourself into a straightjacket of spirit-crushing debt and servitude. You Can Farm isn’t so much a step-by-step book on how to build a particular farming enterprise. It’s a book that helps you see possibilities. It’s about ideas. It’s about an entrepreneurial mindset that believes, “I can do this.” Salatin begins by addressing attitude and common false beliefs. He gives his ideas on the best and worst agricultural opportunities, possible value-added products like cheese or lumber, starting small, working around physical limitations, how to approach other farmers, different places where you can buy equipment and livestock, where to cut corners on expenses, how to evaluate purchases, getting to know your neighbors, which organizations to join, finding information, brainstorming, building the soil, biodiversity, designing your land to provide water and wood, sanitation, using animals for chores like composting and pest management, cutting costs, good and bad buildings, hiring help, transportation, bookkeeping, creative marketing, writing newsletters, and much more.
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AuthorLaura Branham is an author of this blog. She is a writer, contributor at Edusson, novelist, passionate reader, latin dancer. Laura is from Houston, Texas, US. ArchivesCategories |