The Unlikely Homesteader
Sunday, June 3, 2007
If You Give A Family A Farm

Posted in Bloggy Fun


Back when I first started blogging, I was chatting with my good buddy, CrewChief, and she commented about how they would like to have a farm someday.  So I started in with, "But if you get a farm, then you are going to want animals for it, and then you'll need a trailer, and then you'll need a tractor..."  And that was how the idea for this entry was started.  So my apologies to Laura Joffe Numeroff, author of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, but I couldn't resist. 

 

If you give a family a farm, they’ll want some animals for it.

So you’ll go help them pick out some chickens so that they’ll have fresh eggs.

Then they will want some goats because goat milk is better than dairy and sheep so they can spin their own wool.


Once they get those, they’ll want a guardian dog to protect them.

And when they find just the right dog, then they might as well get some cows so they can sell pasture fed beef.

But they’ll need to fix up the barn so it will be nice for the animals and they’ll need to repair some fences.


Once all of that is done, they’ll be ready to go buy the cows so you’ll take them to a farm auction.

While they are there, they’ll not only buy cows, but a few horses and a trailer to bring them all home.


Once they get them home, they’ll realize that they need a tractor to bush hog their pastures and to move big bales of hay.

They’ll decide that they want to grow their own organic wheat, grass and hay to feed their animals so they’ll need to buy lots of bags of seed.

Since they’re going to buy all those bags of seed, they’ll want a nice full size pick up truck.


Now that they’ve got that nice pick up truck, they’ll decide that it would be just perfect to sell produce from the back at a roadside stand.

So they’ll decide to plant an organic garden. They’ll read lots of books, build compost bins and bring beneficial insects and earthworms into the soil.

They’ll get hoes and rakes and a tiller and an irrigation system, but the deer and rabbits will start eating their plants. So then they’ll ask you to help them surround their garden with fencing, human hair and ummm other things to keep the wildlife away.


Once they get all of that done, they won’t have any produce to sell this year, so they’ll want to go to the farmer’s market.

And once they’re at the farmer’s market, they’ll see how expensive the organics are, but how beautiful and rewarding it looks to grow their own produce and they’ll want to get back to their farm!



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Comments

Sunday, June 3, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by kayinpa


Cute!


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Monday, June 4, 2007 - Too cute!

Posted by stitchnchick


Oh that was fun to read! We LOVE the "if you give..." books around here. Sam has them all memorized. :o)

Amy


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Monday, June 4, 2007 - True, true, true...

Posted by Purewater


This is us! We are still on the repair barn and fix fences step before the cows enter the picture. But you left out the raising your own pork step...


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Tuesday, June 5, 2007 - What a great post!

Posted by Anonymous


I love it! (And I love Give a Mouse a Cookie and give a Pig a Pancake too:)

Thanks for the information on our lop-earred bunnies. Particularly the air conditioning method. Right now Katrina has them inside so much, they are in the heat a lot and we did put their hutch in the shade too and we painted the top white, so hopefully that plus your great idea will keep them cool.

Did you say the females will fight? Will males fight too? I asked the lady we bought them from and she said they would get along fine, but I want to make sure she wasn't just working to make the sale.


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Wednesday, June 6, 2007 - Homeschool Minute

Posted by HarvestMom


Hi Nancy,
Your post about friends in the homeschool minute was very timely this morning. It truly ministered to me. :) Thank you! Blessings,
Theresa


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Wednesday, June 6, 2007 - I love this!

Posted by Anonymous


Just stumbled upon your blog today... your exodus from the city parallels ours. And, like your ditty, our choices flowed from there... just in a different order. We bought the tractor before the chickens :)...

Thanks for your wit! I'll be peeking in from time to time.

Laura - Walking the Long & Winding Road
http://waitsfaithjourney.blogspot.com


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