So You Want to Be a Farmer?

Reader Contribution by Kevin T. Ford
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Photo by Fotolia/bonniemarie

I remember vividly my future wife laughing at me when we were in college, and I told her that someday Iwould like to own a milk cow. Fast forward three years, and I was quitting my job so that I could become an organic farmer. For three years I had sat behind my teacher’s desk in the high school where I taught, scheming about how I could make a go at farming.

Finally, I just took a leap of faith, moved in with family, and started a CSA off of land I was given to use by my father-in-law. I admit that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I thought I would learn as I went. Did I ever learn! And mostly in the school of hard knocks.

I’m pretty sure that I am the example of how one should not get started farming. Well, sure, I have made a living for the last several years by growing vegetables and marketing them through a CSA. However, I would have saved a lot of heartache had I just done a bit more homework or had someone to say, “Do it this way, not that way.”

I’m now quite comfortable with my farming skills. When hail or drought doesn’t destroy our gardens here in Southern Kansas, they grow pretty good crops. I think though that I can now offer quite a bit of advice to young (or old) aspiring farmers and gardeners as they seek to make a go of it as a farmer. Here are a few recommendations to smooth the transition.

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