How to Choose the Right Farm for You

No matter when you come to the conclusion that you want to be a farmer, you have to make sure that you find the right farm for you. You do not want to be a beef farmer if you are a vegan, and you do not want to try to grow a southern climate crop in Michigan. You have to know what you want to grow or raise, and what will work in the area that you live in. The right farm for you is the one that will allow you to raise your crops or your animals and still keep your sanity- well, most of it.

It helps if you have grown up on or around farms. If you are a city boy, born and bred, then no farm might actually be right for you, no matter what, but that is a lesson that some people will have to learn for themselves. Farming is a backbreaking, sometimes heartbreaking venture, but it can do more than exhaust and frustrate you, it can financially destroy you, leaving you bankrupt and emotionally broken.

The right farm might come at the end of a very long search, or it can be right under your nose- you may have even grown up on the right farm for you. Knowing how much work it is to own a farm before you buy one will help, but if you have never done it for yourself, you would do best to do some research before stepping off the ledge. Volunteer for a community farming project or sign up for a stay at a dude ranch to get your feet wet. If you cannot make it through that first week, then having a farm is not a good idea for you, no matter how right the farm might seem to be.

I love pigs, but I could never be a pig farmer. The work is backbreaking and the stench is unimaginable. Plus, the basic fate of most little piggies is to become food- I could not do that, nor could I be any part of the process. If I was going to have the right farm for me, it would be one that did most of the work for itself, and the main crop would be chocolate candy bars. White chocolate candy bars to be exact. But, that is not going to happen, so no farm for me.

We all need to take the time to thank a farmer at least once in our lives. Most of us will never know the hard work that they do, the long hours that they put in to raise and sell their crops. Some of them never break even - some of them don't even make it through the first year. The best farm for you? Hopefully it is the farm that is actually the best thing for you, and not an experiment in tragedy.