Should I Be A Farmer?

You are not yet ready to be a farmer. That's not to say you shouldn't try growing a patch of vegetables at home or maybe even a flower garden. If you're interested in being a farmer, start reading farming websites, memoirs of first-time farmers, blogs, follow farmers on social media, and see which farming niche interests you.

You're not quite ready to totally give up a day job, but hobby farming could be for you. Start off by farming half an acre or even a whole one with a few chickens, a garden, and maybe a goat or dairy cow. Keep it small to start and see how you like it. In the meantime, you could continue to work or you could work freelance from home.

More than wanting to farm, you want to go back to the old ways. So do it! There are thousands that do. Even if you only do it for a few years, it's an experience that will enlighten your entire life. Be careful in your research and join a few homesteader forums and social media groups to learn all you can about the legal challenges you'll want to watch for when picking a state to homestead in.

How far you go with this is up to you. You could go as small as rabbits to as big as a cow. Cattle ranching either takes a lot of time to build a herd or a lot of money for the investment. You might need to start smaller. You probably won't be able to quit your day job for a couple of years. Remember that you can farm all sorts of animals from alpacas to emus, to miniature donkeys! Even fish! It's not all horses and cows, anymore . . .

You should be a real farmer on a small scale. Get down with the Earth and make magic happen. You could grow particular types of vegetables, or you could farm trees, or herbs, or even flowers. Flower farming is really a thing. Market gardening lets you move with the seasons and is much closer to the old-fashioned farming lifestyle. It's hard work - REALLY hard work - and you won't get rich. But it's worth it.

Whether you go organic or non-organic, you're built to run a full-scale farming operation. If you haven't already, you might consider getting a degree in agriculture or at least taking several classes from the community college or ag extension.