The Desire

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Randy Hughes on March 13, 2010 at 9:45am

While only a young farmer at heart, my desire comes from a love of the out doors...as well as the memories of my Grandparents farm.
I can see my self on 10 to 20 acres of land...would love more but but the economics of it say no. I plan on having a small ( http://tinyhouseblog.com/ ) log home from hopefully standing timber on the property...that is off grid, with a composting toilet ( http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1984-01-01/Compo... ) as well as and out door bath house.
I plan to have chickens of course along with milk goats, at least maybe 1 draft horse....1 bee hive, some fruit and nut trees....ducks as well as geese if I am lucky enough to get ground with a year round creek...otherwise I will build a pond. All the veggies and herbs...I plan to raise garlic and some mushrooms as a bit of a cash crop.
While I did not grow up on a farm, I spent time on my grandparents and my best friends farm was a place of magic and daily adventure.
Currently I am a truck driver ( Scholastic Book Fairs ) which is the most pleasurable job I have ever had...good pay, off in the summer time, and on holidays...no school no fairs. I plan to continue this job while working towards self sufficient living.

Permalink Reply by Rachel Hoff on March 13, 2010 at 12:21pm

Wow! Thanks Randy for your input! Summer can be one of the busiest times when it comes to working with the land and your job sounds perfect for that.

Randy Hughes said:

While only a young farmer at heart, my desire comes from a love of the out doors...as well as the memories of my Grandparents farm.
I can see my self on 10 to 20 acres of land...would love more but but the economics of it say no. I plan on having a small ( http://tinyhouseblog.com/ ) log home from hopefully standing timber on the property...that is off grid, with a composting toilet ( http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1984-01-01/Compo... ) as well as and out door bath house.
I plan to have chickens of course along with milk goats, at least maybe 1 draft horse....1 bee hive, some fruit and nut trees....ducks as well as geese if I am lucky enough to get ground with a year round creek...otherwise I will build a pond. All the veggies and herbs...I plan to raise garlic and some mushrooms as a bit of a cash crop.
While I did not grow up on a farm, I spent time on my grandparents and my best friends farm was a place of magic and daily adventure.
Currently I am a truck driver ( Scholastic Book Fairs ) which is the most pleasurable job I have ever had...good pay, off in the summer time, and on holidays...no school no fairs. I plan to continue this job while working towards self sufficient living.

Permalink Reply by John Suscovich on November 30, 2010 at 10:40am

Rachel,

I realize this reply is quite late but I figured I would write a response anyway.

While I am not on a farm yet I know for certain that is the direction that life is taking me. I have been thinking about that a lot lately while sitting on the edge of a huge change in my life.

In a nutshell, I live and work in New York City right now with my wife Kate. I have the good fortune of working for a television show that affords me a lot of time off. With my time off this year I traveled by bicycle to farms all over New England. Starting April 2011 Kate and I are starting in NY City and heading West around the world living and traveling on our bicycles. Along the way we are visiting and working farms picking up all the different techniques and experiencing the different landscapes to help us choose where to set up our farm when we get back.

My desire to farm comes from an urge to shorten the length of my food chain. I want to be as close as I can to my food so that I can provide myself, my family, and others with healthy, nutritious where I know everything that went into producing it.

While the trip will take an estimated 2-2.5 years, if we can pick up a serious sponsor we would like to extend it. In five years I hope to be back in the United States setting up an organic farm of my own with a good friend of mine.

I would grow primarily vegetables with some poultry to begin with. Over time I want to add more poultry, a small herd of cattle, and some goats.

I grew up in Connecticut in a small town surrounded by a few farms. While I was not directly involved in farming my family always kept a garden and cooked with fresh ingredients when possible. The further I get into food the more I am digging up foodie info that I never knew. For instance my grandmother's family growing up ate almost exclusively the food they grew, my grandfather on the other side of the family had an organic garden when it wasn't cool to do so and subscribed to Organic Gardening Magazine when it was a young publication.

Right now I am the lighting technician for the Howard Stern show at the Sirius studios in mid-town Manhattan. His contract is up as of December 16th and no one knows if he is going to resign or not. Either way I now have a plan and can sit quite comfortably knowing what my future holds. The change from city-dwelling lighting technician to organic farmer will be drastic. Kate is a school teacher. We both have the long long bike ride to ease us out of the city and into the country. I couldn't tell you where we are going to set up shop when we get back. That is part of the trip, to find where home is going to be. I know that I want to start the farm with a friend(s) depending on who is into it when we are back. I have a few people interested but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Our website is http://foodcyclist.com if you want to know a little more about what we're up to. We will be keeping the blog up and running as we travel to keep people in tune to our travels.

I hope this helps you out, I know it is a little late.