Help launch and grow a lot more small family farms and increase the number of places for them to sell their products to consumers at a reasonable price to provide healthier, lower cost food, and improve social cohesion.
Grow Family Farms
Overview
Vision
In the US, and even in other countries the food ecosystem has devolved into a small number of very large supermarkets that are supplied by a very small number of large growers producers. Local grocery stores that can be reached on foot have disappeared in most smaller US towns.
The state of our food system has a negative impact on food affordability and the health of everyday people. What’s more, unless you own a car, you can’t easily access food. In that way, the cost of owning an individual car is directly added to the cost to acquire health supporting food.
At the same time, there is a growing trend of young farmers looking to grow healthier produce in more sustainable ways.
My vision is to help launch and grow a lot more small family farms and increase the number of places for them to sell their products to consumers at a reasonable price. The benefits will be healthier, yet lower cost food, as well improved social cohesion.
To accomplish this, I am starting my own homestead where I live now, and will use what I learn as I do that to help others do the same thing.
The state of our food system has a negative impact on food affordability and the health of everyday people. What’s more, unless you own a car, you can’t easily access food. In that way, the cost of owning an individual car is directly added to the cost to acquire health supporting food.
At the same time, there is a growing trend of young farmers looking to grow healthier produce in more sustainable ways.
My vision is to help launch and grow a lot more small family farms and increase the number of places for them to sell their products to consumers at a reasonable price. The benefits will be healthier, yet lower cost food, as well improved social cohesion.
To accomplish this, I am starting my own homestead where I live now, and will use what I learn as I do that to help others do the same thing.
How did I create my vision?
I was fortunate to inherit two acres of farm land and a house from my parents in rural Oklahoma, 25 miles from the closest actual city. When I was growing up there, we always had a garden. My father was a chiropractor with a passion for gardening. By the time I moved back to the home, the garden was gone, and the old tools were mostly broken down. As much as I wanted to have a garden like my father, between work and raising my family, I found that goal drifting toward the bottom of my priority list.
Now, I realize clearly that my own health was negatively affected by the decisions I made in the past. In 2020, I started replacing junk food with whole foods and started seeing the difference it made in my life, including losing about 50 pounds.
Now I am seeing a lot of the same food related conditions in other people that I had and overcame simply by changing my diet. So, I decided it’s time to change my career to serving the vision of growing local food production and distribution to provide an alternative to industrial-scale agriculture and supermarkets.
Now, I realize clearly that my own health was negatively affected by the decisions I made in the past. In 2020, I started replacing junk food with whole foods and started seeing the difference it made in my life, including losing about 50 pounds.
Now I am seeing a lot of the same food related conditions in other people that I had and overcame simply by changing my diet. So, I decided it’s time to change my career to serving the vision of growing local food production and distribution to provide an alternative to industrial-scale agriculture and supermarkets.
Milestones
Having grown up on a small farm. I know that it’s not easy to start from scratch and get to financial sustainability. But I also know that there are a lot of resources available.
So, my first milestone is to build a support community of about 100 people who would like to see me succeed, and would be willing to pay me a monthly membership fee so that I can quit my day job and focus full-time on growing my homestead. At the same time, I want to grow a YouTube channel documenting my journey, and a backend website providing resources and training materials for others who wish to do the same thing.
My first big goal is to have the farm, the YouTube channel, and the website fully operational by 2026.
So, my first milestone is to build a support community of about 100 people who would like to see me succeed, and would be willing to pay me a monthly membership fee so that I can quit my day job and focus full-time on growing my homestead. At the same time, I want to grow a YouTube channel documenting my journey, and a backend website providing resources and training materials for others who wish to do the same thing.
My first big goal is to have the farm, the YouTube channel, and the website fully operational by 2026.
Budget
Family Bills: $2000/mo
Farm Tools & Supplies (no till farming): $2000 total
Year 1 Total Budget: $26,000
Farm Tools & Supplies (no till farming): $2000 total
Year 1 Total Budget: $26,000
Website
Project website pending further development.