how many acres..to be a farm?
thinknpink
16 years ago
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robin_maine
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
How much would an average one hundred acre farm cost?
Comments (21)You might want to look into Farm caretaking. Folks who have farms occasionally take a vacation once in awhile and need someone who can care for the animals, etc. while they are away. This might be a good way to get some experience before deciding the type of farming you might like to do. Also, try googling "Farm caretaking". One of the links that pop up are for the Caretaker gazette. I had a subscription for years. Never applied for any of the positions, but I used to enjoy reading the ads for caretaking beautiful estates for ranch/farm/ and multiple home owners. They have sample ads at the website. Here is one example: "ALABAMA I NEED A HOUSESITTER and animal caretaker for the months of June to August for my home and animals outside of Selma. I have ten acres. I will need to show and teach the housesitter how to feed and care for my animals. The housesitter must be an animal lover to care for my horses, dogs, and cats. The horses do not need exercising or brushing. For more details, please email.... " Links that might be useful: CARETAKE A FARM (AND LIVE RENT FREE) www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1976-05-01/ Caretake-a-Farm-And-Live-Rent-Free.aspx Caretaker.org...See MoreHow much farming in your personal farm life story?
Comments (10)Well, I grew up on a farm so had all the experiences of helping out around the farm as a kid. We still live near my parents and I have a very hard time living in town. When my husband was in the military (16 years ago), I looked at the map before we even moved near the base. I looked for the most rural small towns I could find that were close enough to the base and that is where we rented! I still was so homesick for the country though! Of course, it didn't help that we movd all the way across the country and I didn't see my family much for 3 years! We have 20 acres now and love it. We just moved here not long ago, so I don't even have chicks yet. I had them where we lived before but when they got old they went to my folks to 'live out' their days scratching in the dirt, as I knew we were moving and I couldn't take my coop. Husband is building me one this Spring so I can get more. We have 2 dogs, 5 cats and 1 very old horse at the moment. We hope to get some piglets to raise over the summer for meat. I guess you could say farming is in my blood, although with 20 acres we would probably be considered hobby farmers now. But I do have a life long background in farming. Karen...See MoreHow many pepper plants? How many tomato plants?
Comments (5)last year I did around 500 tomato plants and around 450 pepper plants. This was for 2 farmers markets and a farm store. I will do around the same this year as I am dropping one farmers market and replacing it with a CSA. I am also counting on the peppers doing a lot better this year. Last year 95% of the plants did not get ripe fruit on them before the first frosts. they were about 5 weeks late in setting fruit and I have no idea why. The 100 peppers in the hoop house produced early as they were supposed to but over 75% got sunscald and than bacterial rot. I grow mainly sweet peppers with a mix of hybrid green to red bells (by far the best seller) along with green to orange, green to yellow and purple to red bells. i also do some funky heirlooms for those who like an adventure in food because the taste is generally better than the hybrids. I also do a small amount (less than 25 total) of hot peppers, mainly jalapenos and cayennes as those sell the best for me. Last year I did 27 different types of tomatoes, mainly heirlooms. Red maters are the mainstay but I also do purple, black, white, green, yellow, orange, etc.. I also do around 50 cherry tomato plants (do not go hog wild on cherries as they take a lot longer to harvest than the big maters)...See MoreHow many cats are too many?
Comments (55)There are many factors that will determine how many cats become "too many." For some people, the answer is 1 - because they do not have the space or time or resources to dedicate to the wellbeing of their furry friend. I started with one cat (an adult rescue) and felt he would benefit from having a buddy. I got a kitten and they became inseperable. Only down side is the adult is a mellow, low-energy cat and the kitten was a hyper-active ball of energy. After much discussion, I got another kitten to balance things off... This sounded crazy to me but once cat #3 settled in, a perfect harmony existed between all three cats. Fast forward to today, I now have an additional rescue who is estimated to be about 15 years old. This was meant to be a temporary arrangement but it turns out that nobody wants to adopt a 15-year old toothless cat with all kinds of health issues (go figure!)... The addition of cat #4 has been a painful one and has thrown everything out of whack. This old cat is the nicest little ball of purrs when it comes to humans, but she terrorises the crap out of my other cats. Fights have broken out between my other cats as they are on edge and stressed. My youngest male (neutered) has begun to use the bathtub/shower/sinks to pee in despite having 5 litterboxes to choose from throughout the house. The old cat has brought with her fleas, which were a nightmare to treat and het rid of. Her vet bills have been enormous and she has made 1 of my other cats sick as well... She is on a special meat/pate diet that is a whole lot of fun because the other cats have an automatic food-dispenser that she cannot use (so going on holidays is never going to be as easy as it once was). I could go on. After a long, hard struggle of about 18 months, the last cat has finally mellowed out and now tolerates my 3 other cats. However I doubt that the average pet owner would have had the patience and understanding to allow this to happen. Moral of the story? Most people would have brought the first cat back to the shelter and not kept going (because he started off as a "problem cat"). You can have 1 or 2 or 3 or 7 cats... It all depends on how prepared you are to deal with inevitable problems that come with multiple pet ownership. In my case, there was an excellent balance with the first 3. A different 4th addition might have gone more smoothly, but then again the second cat could have been a disaster!...See Morekydaylilylady
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