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  • From: Sue <swtgrssfrm AT nls.net>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: market-farming Making a Living (kinda long but juicy details)
  • Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 10:15:20 -0500


Dori,
All I can say is WOW!!! Thank you for sharing this with us. This gives me
lots to
chew on. I have visited your web site in the past and was impressed with all
your
innovative ideas. I have a special interest in getting away from meat
animals and doing
more of a rescue type of thing here at our place. You must be a very
organized person
to keep all you have going on straight. Who do you have over seeing your
place? It
must take a special person to that too. Your place sounds great- thanks for
being an
encouragement for the rest of us. I have always felt that I have a unique
responsibility with this farm. Thanks for sharing.
Sue Steiner
Sweetgrass Farm


Dori Green wrote:

> Somebody mentioned "making a profit" -- which isn't necessarily the same as
> making a living.
>
> Profit is not a measure of success at Ash Grove Community Farm, so in that
> way it's a not-for-profit. However, I haven't yet found a bunch of people
> who are willing to communally shoulder the burdens of mortgage and taxes and
> work, so I haven't shelled out my own cash to file the paperwork to become
> an official state-licensed not-for-profit. I'm also not convinced that I
> want to be answerable to the State of New York (or any other state) about
> what I do here.
>
> I offer equity and business partnership shares in the farm land and its
> harvests, and I accept labor as well as cash investment for those shares.
> Some people understand this concept, and some don't. Partnership agreements
> are individual and private, and each one is reviewed and kinks worked out
> with the help of neighborhood mediators (free) with final signatures
> approved by lawyers (cheaper than it would be if they were directly involved
> in the whole process).
>
> I'm looking now at filing papers for organization as a "free association"
> (co-op) for general membership and different farm operations. One of the
> benefits of a year's membership will be access to web pages detailing the
> process for doing this. It's much cheaper than not-for-profit registration
> and the restrictions imposed are pretty much what the membership chooses to
> impose on itself.
>
> Our CSA is a subscription garden in which members can choose to pay 100%
> cash or up to 50% cash and 50% labor barter.
>
> We can't sell or give away goat milk or cheese here in New York without
> building a Grade A dairy, but goat co-op members are co-owners of the herd
> so they are entitled to a share of whatever we get from the herd without any
> government interference. Some people join just because they want to learn
> how to milk a goat and they like borrowing a couple of wethers for weekend
> trail hikes (all of the boys are trained as packers and to work in harness).
> About half of our goats are meat-auction rescues. People seem to like the
> warm fuzzy of participating in that effort, too -- they get a real hoot out
> of bottle feeding the little guys formerly slated for a barbecue and now
> destined to become packers and harness workers. I had been working on
> breeding of a good general-purpose homestead goat by crossing Spanish and
> dairy animals, but within just a couple of years it became obvious to me
> that rescue was more important than breeding, at least for me. My
> registered buck is now a happy working wether himself, guaranteed a
> permanent home here.
>
> Some people have expressed interest in getting a cow. I'm partial to yaks,
> myself, and we're looking into both. When they hear that the purchase price
> for a bred Jersey (or a yak) is about $1000 so five people would have to pay
> $200 each up front, interest subsides again.
>
> When members want meat chickens as well as a few occasional eggs from our
> small free-range flock through the garden co-op, they sign up for the
> chicken co-op. The price each year depends on what they want to do -- if
> they decide to raise 200 pastured meat birds, we figure out the costs and
> everybody chips in to cover them -- including payment for the resident
> members who will be doing the daily chores. The birds are purchased as
> day-old chicks (though we might start an educational egg-hatching project
> with the local schools this year). They are processed at a local USDA-legal
> custom butcher and delivered frozen to the members.
>
> We're now recruiting hand spinners to share a few angora goats and Jacob
> sheep who were rescued by the Humane Society, and we're expecting to add a
> few potbellied pigs from the same source to help turn the growing compost
> pile.
>
> This year we're working on starting Premarin foal rescue with a
> not-for-profit group already established with that mandate. We'll foster
> two or three weanlings and members of the horse rescue co-op will take part
> in their training. The members will up-front the maintenance costs for
> these animals, and they'll have first choice for their purchase from the
> rescue organization for the price of their auction purchase (about $300) and
> trucking (about $200). These horses are mostly Percheron-Thoroughbred and
> Percheron-Quarter Horse crosses. The more horses we can foster, the more
> the NFP group can rescue since most of the time they have to pay for board
> and training until the animals are adopted.
>
> We also provide a permanent working home for BWD/LGDs (Big White
> Dogs/Livestock Guardian Dogs) and herding dogs, adopted through rescue
> organizations. We hope to earn part of their maintenance by holding
> workshops on selecting and training homestead farm dogs. We'll also be
> promoting working dog rescue with them.
>
> Do please notice that I work off-farm to provide the basic support of
> mortgage and taxes, which I would pay anyway for a house. The resident
> tenant/caretakers help with that support and provide most of the daily
> animal care. Whether we grow food this year just for our own use or for
> CSA/Subscription members depends 100% on how many people sign up and pay
> early enough to cover the cost of seeds and put something into the kitty for
> pre-harvest operating expenses and salaries for garden workers.
>
> The goats are my personal pets, which I'm willing to share IF people make a
> commitment to share their upkeep costs for at least a year. I've assigned a
> $100 buy-in and $100 per year for shares in the goat co-op. The buy-in will
> go toward purchase of more pack saddles and harnesses and a cart.
>
> The adoption fees for the angoras and the sheep are $65 each, and we also
> need to do a little bit of construction for them. Membership in the
> spinning co-op will also be $100 buy-in and $100 annual.
>
> Price for the chicken co-op will depend entirely on estimated costs,
> probably a simple $100 per share and we'll try to keep the finished price at
> $2.00 a pound or less.
>
> We don't know yet if there's any adoption fee for the potbellied pigs. We
> might just include their maintenance under "operating expenses" as living
> rototillers. We do hope to work them into our pastured poultry program for
> opening new garden areas.
>
> Horses are high-maintenance critters, so membership in the foal rescue co-op
> will probably range around $100 buy-in and $25 per month without riding,
> buy-in and $100 per month with riding. Little kids sitting on a horse while
> it grazes (with a spotter and lead rope holder) doesn't count as riding, but
> it's a great way to start the saddle-breaking process. Riding lessons
> around here are $40 per hour, there aren't any more hack stables at all, and
> board for a private horse is $200 per month and up. If there's enough
> interest we'll probably also rescue an older ridable horse (lots of them end
> up at auctions). People who are generally interested in the rescue aspect
> can make donations to the NFP we're working with.
>
> The dogs are operating expenses and members of the resident family. We
> don't plan to do any breeding so we won't have a whole bunch of newborn
> coyote bait, but we do have coyotes and bears and other predators in the
> area so an LGD is needed here. I have degenerative arthritis in my ankles
> and knees, so a herding dog is needed for those times when I say it's time
> to come in but the goats and sheep don't agree.
>
> Of course, if it can be kept neat and tidy the whole thing makes a very nice
> operation for an educational and recreational farm. We haven't finalized
> our numbers yet but we're looking at raising our Basic Membership price from
> $25 to $60 this year to help finance our animal rescue and free educational
> programs. Members get a comprehensive handbook, a small discount on
> purchases, invitation to join any of our co-ops (open only to members), and
> a sizeable discount on workshops or classes.
>
> Small business success has always involved discovery of the right market
> niche to suit the community and the business operator. Nothing has changed.
> This particular little niche works for me. It doesn't necessarily require
> a lot of money or large numbers of animals to set up, and it certainly is a
> good way to build a supportive local community (although this takes a
> while).
>
> I've said it before and I will believe it forever: I'd rather do this with
> ten people who Get It than for 500 who are just interested in cheap food.
>
> If the farm ends up covering its own operation, I would count it as a
> fabulous success. If it makes enough to feed me and proide me with housing,
> that's a living. I don't expect or require a profit -- I have other skills
> for which people are willing to pay me well, and I enjoy using them. So
> everybody wins!
>
> My long-term dream is to incorporate a group of partners to buy this land
> and other acres in the area, and keep doing so until the region is dotted
> with sustainable education recreational community farms all co-owned by
> people committed to shared ideals. It's a slow process and we're feeling
> our way and sometimes I feel like I'm waving in the breeze all by myself.
> But I still believe the effort is worth it.
>
> American agriculture is obviously going to hell in a handbasket. Somebody
> someday has got to model alternatives to chemical factory farming. It might
> as well be me, today.
>
> Dori Green
> Ash Grove Community Farm & Center for Sustainable Living
> Corning, NY
>
> http://www.ic.org/agrove/index.htm
>
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