I hope you all had an enjoyable 4th yesterday. We did a traditional BBQ with family. We had a great time and planned to have a big bonfire on our land last night, but... it rained. Big surprise, eh?
Now that we have Jeremiah the Horse and Bessie the Tractor, I guess you could say we're on our way to... what?
My grandparents had a dairy farm and truck garden. They milked by hand and so never had much more that a dozen and a half cows or so. If I remember correctly, they had about 125 acres of land, much of it used for pasture and hay. We don't have anywhere near that. We have ten acres, and most of that is woods. After building our house and outbuildings and digging up that mucky mud spring for a duck pond, I'd be surprised if we had an acre left for "farming", if that's what we'll be doing. What do you call what we'll be doing?
From Wikipedia - A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block in New Zealand) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are merely to provide some recreational land, and perhaps a few horses for the family's children. Others are managed as working farms for sideline income, or are even run at an ongoing loss as a lifestyle choice by people with the means to do so, functioning more like a country home than a business.[1]
Ah. The Good Life, one of my favorite British comedies after Fawlty Towers (my fav!) and Monty Python. It was a show about a couple who quit their jobs and tried to make a living farming the tiny plot of ground around their little house in the suburbs. Funny stuff. But I digress.
I guess "hobby farm" is a good as description as any. Certainly, I don't want to run at an "ongoing loss", nor do I expect to earn a living at it. I expect it to be a lifestyle choice, just as living aboard Drift Away for several years was. It will be more like a hobby than anything else, something to keep me busy in my retirement years and to add a few coins to the purse, hopefully.
Hobby farm, farmette, truck farm... I don't know what the accurate name for it is, but hobby farm is as good as any.
Now that we have Jeremiah the Horse and Bessie the Tractor, I guess you could say we're on our way to... what?
My grandparents had a dairy farm and truck garden. They milked by hand and so never had much more that a dozen and a half cows or so. If I remember correctly, they had about 125 acres of land, much of it used for pasture and hay. We don't have anywhere near that. We have ten acres, and most of that is woods. After building our house and outbuildings and digging up that mucky mud spring for a duck pond, I'd be surprised if we had an acre left for "farming", if that's what we'll be doing. What do you call what we'll be doing?
From Wikipedia - A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block in New Zealand) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are merely to provide some recreational land, and perhaps a few horses for the family's children. Others are managed as working farms for sideline income, or are even run at an ongoing loss as a lifestyle choice by people with the means to do so, functioning more like a country home than a business.[1]
Some have traced the growth of the concept to cultural influences such as the UK TV show The Good Life.[1]
I guess "hobby farm" is a good as description as any. Certainly, I don't want to run at an "ongoing loss", nor do I expect to earn a living at it. I expect it to be a lifestyle choice, just as living aboard Drift Away for several years was. It will be more like a hobby than anything else, something to keep me busy in my retirement years and to add a few coins to the purse, hopefully.
Hobby farm, farmette, truck farm... I don't know what the accurate name for it is, but hobby farm is as good as any.
"The Good Life" brought a lot of laughs!
ReplyDeleteI'll just plunk you and Pam into those roles and continue to enjoy the show...
I actually have "The Good Life" series. On VHF, unfortunately. I'll have to buy it again on DVD and watch it to remind myself of what we're getting in to.
DeleteSo that makes Jeremiah your hobby horse?
ReplyDeleteLOL! Good one! :)
DeleteHow much weight have you lost Dave with all this manual labor you're putting in? You're giving new meaning to the term sweat equity!
ReplyDeleteTen pounds. Down to 186! Just wait until the rain stops and we can really get into it. :)
DeleteIf anyone wants to join our Bleecker Mountain Weight Loss Program, feel free to join me picking rocks.