The Beginning Farmer Show

On this weeks episode of The Beginning Farmer Show I delve into the challenges associated with the "Three D's" of farming. Sometimes it seems like all I do on the farm is deal with distractions, disappointment, and dollars! I'd like to think that I do a fairly good job dealing with these "Three D's", but the reality is that I often have to struggle my way through dealing with each of these and at one point or another they have caused me to think that I can't actually make the farm work. The truth is though that there is no way to hide from distractions or disappointments or dollars on the farm, so you (and I) need to learn to persevere and come out stronger on the other side.

Distractions
Over 50% of todays farmers have employment off the farm ... and families ... and lives away from the farm ... so dealing with things (or distractions) pulling you in a variety of directions is a challenge that many farmers face. Learning to balance faith and family (which aren't really distractions ... because they are way more important than the farm) with the farm and town job makes things stressful, but not impossible. Recognizing your priorities and sticking to your values and goals is the key.

Disappointments
Livestock get out of the fence, crops fail, weather doesn't cooperate, things break, animals die, customers get angry, animals get angry, and a million other things that you don't (or do) have control over happen all of the time on the farm. Sometimes it's not a big deal, but other times you question everything you are doing on the farm. It is important to learn the lesson from your disappointments ... make the changes that need to be made ... and move on because if you dwell on the disappointments your farm will wither under your worry.

Dollars
I have always hated when people say that the best way to make a million dollars as a farmer is to start with two million dollars. The idea that farmers can't or won't make any money just frustrates me, but that doesn't mean that the "dollars" of your farm operation aren't important. You need to know where your money is going ... where it's coming from ... how much each enterprise uses ... and how you keep track of everything throughout the year. Running out of "dollars" will ruin your farm in an instant, but if you don't keep a handle on your "dollars" your stress about them will ruin the farm just as quickly.


    The Beginning Farmer ShowMy hard lesson this week ... it's an embarrassing one ... deals with that one time that I totally killed the tractor. I mean killed it to the point where it would never drive on my farm again. It was one of those disappointments that almost killed my farm. I'll share a little bit about why it didn't and what I learned from the whole ordeal.

    I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

    TBF Show 003 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download
    (if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)
    Direct download: TBF_003.mp3
    Category:general -- posted at: 11:30pm EDT

    I don't know what your playground days were like, but at Orchard Hill Elementary School we played a lot of kick-ball, basketball, and football during recess. If you were as skilled at those sports as I was you probably have called for a do-over or two or ten in your day! There have been plenty of times in my short farming life that I would have liked to be able call a do-over on. Unfortunately I'm not able to redo some of the mistakes I have made on the farm, but hopefully you can learn from them and not make the same ones I did! Specifically I want to share three things that I would do differently if I would have known then what I know now.

    1. Where's the Beef ... err ... I Mean No Beef Please!
    2. A Little More Learning Would be Nice.
    3. Develop a Marketing Mind!
    My "Hard Lesson Learned" this week deals with one word ... "NO". That is a word that wasn't really in my vocabulary when I started the farm and because of that I caused lots of problems for myself and for my family. In my excitement to get up and going to the level of my dreams I tried to do too many things too quickly instead of going slow and saying no when I needed to say no. Saying "no" in the beginning is one of my most offered pieces of advice to other beginning farmers and it is something I wish I would have said a lot more!
    The Beginning Farmer Show If you enjoy the show and are an iTunes user you can always subscribe to The Beginning Farmer Show by following the link. And ... if you really enjoy the show I would very much appreciate a rating or comment in the iTunes Store. (FYI ... I am working on submitting the show to other podcast services).


    I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...

    (if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)
    Direct download: TBF_002.mp3
    Category:general -- posted at: 11:58am EDT

    The Very First Episode of The Beginning Farmer Show!

    This is something that I have wanted to do for over a year now, but never had the guts to go out and accomplish it. I thought about it ... planned for it ... gathered the equipment to do it ... and finally just as I did with farming ... I had to just get out there and do it! With all of that being said, I'm not completely pleased with this very first episode and realize that I need to work on my audio quality, iTunes integration, feeds, and so much more. I am glad to have at least one episode out there though ...

    On this very first episode of The Beginning Farmer Show I share a quick update on how the farm (and myself) has handled the winter so far. It has been a winter that hasn't gone exactly as planned and I'm sure I'll be playing catch up because of that this spring. After the quick Crooked Gap Farm update I dive right into a discussion of Heritage Breed Livestock and why I believe they work for my farm, but how they may not be exactly right for your farm ... that is a decision that you will have to make.

    The Beginning Farmer ShowFinally, there are many lessons that I have learned since we began the farm almost five years ago and I want to share some of those lessons with everyone in hopes that they don't make the same mistakes. This weeks "Hard Lesson Learned" actually goes hand in hand with my main topic of Heritage Breed Livestock as I talk about some of the mistakes I made in purchasing some of the initial stock for the farm.

    If you are interested in learning more about Rare or Heritage Breed Livestock please check out The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...


    I would love to have you interact with the The Beginning Farmer Show. Feel free to comment on this post with your suggestions, questions, ideas, or even podcasting tips! You can also always reach The Beginning Farmer through e-mail.

    P.S. If you know about podcasting, Feedburner feeds, and all of that good stuff I would love to hear from someone about why two posts that contain links to .pdf's are showing up in my subscription to the show. It is very frustrating to me!

    Direct download: TBF_001.mp3
    Category:general -- posted at: 4:17pm EDT

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