Any farmers? Any one grow anything BESIDES weed in big quanities like corn, tomatoes and sell them?

MintyDreadlocks

Well-Known Member
Foraging is a way better source of income for Farmers markets. Or door to door at restaurants since it's considered exotic foods.

That's my shit right there. I have a spot I go to every spring and pull $300 worth of ramps within a hour.. sustainably of course or else I couldn't go every year.

Once you find the spots you geotag them and revisit occasionally.
 

Seedperson1

Well-Known Member
Foraging is a way better source of income for Farmers markets. Or door to door at restaurants since it's considered exotic foods.

That's my shit right there. I have a spot I go to every spring and pull $300 worth of ramps within a hour.. sustainably of course or else I couldn't go every year.

Once you find the spots you geotag them and revisit occasionally.
Gotta find those morel spots too. That’s the big money. And ramps and morels usually pop around the same time of year.
 

SpawnOfVader

Well-Known Member
Post says it all... Anyone making a living growing corn, tomatoes, or anything else??
Not recently but that was my prior profession (small scale organic) ... as said above your only chance is direct to consumer. I had luck running a CSA but it took years to get off the ground.

Looking into gourmet mushrooms as a new side hustle. I've been growing them to keep my vegetarian GF fed for cheap and it's pretty fun/easy once you get it dialed in. Another thing I've had luck with is eggs. Heritage breeds and the like can sell for BANK if you get your operation streamlined/keep your overhead low it's not a bad deal.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Foraging is a way better source of income for Farmers markets. Or door to door at restaurants since it's considered exotic foods.

That's my shit right there. I have a spot I go to every spring and pull $300 worth of ramps within a hour.. sustainably of course or else I couldn't go every year.

Once you find the spots you geotag them and revisit occasionally.
Ton's of mushrooms here in the PNW. Last time I picked Chanterelles I came home with 3 5 gallon buckets after a couple hours picking. So many in the woods that the entire forest floor is covered in orange. Unfortunately we don't have ramps.
 

Bookush34

Well-Known Member
I don’t make a living at it. But we have our own gardens and greenhouse for our veggies.
We also raise pork chickens and turkeys. Soon to add beef and rabbits.
We break even and get our meat for free.
 

MICHI-CAN

Well-Known Member
No profit here. Friends with a few sucessful generational efforts. I'm too lazy to be honest. Respect to them.

Just a half dozen maters and cukes. A row of peas, green and yellow beans. And a couple dozen mixed mild peppers will profit you in appreciation and favors. Best you can do on my suburban cubicle.

Wish the real food growers the best of luck. And we all profit growing. . Organics and peace.
 

injinji

Well-Known Member
When Daddy was still alive, we farmed a couple hundred acres of our land, along with 300-400 of family land. Cows, hogs, chickens and sometimes goats and sheep. Corn and hay for livestock feed. Over the years as we lost access to the extra land, we had to cut back on the number of cows and hogs. We went heavy into truck farming. Peas, melons and peppers mainly. Farmers markets are tricky. You can't post prices (here in Florida anyway), so folks have to stop and ask. Also space inside is always limited. If you want a good spot you have to be there really early. We picked late in the afternoon, and my parents headed out before day with the load. They were great at it. I did better with melons at grocery stores and restaurants. I couldn't stand to sit around for hours at the market.

We gradually went to pine trees, but still ran a few cows on the land. You need to let your trees get 4-5 years old before you put cows on them. Pine trees make good rubbing posts and if you let them in too soon, lots of trees will get pushed over.

Almost 20 years ago when Daddy died I got out of the cow business. Mamma and Sister both ran herds for a few more years. I put all my land in pine trees. Was working out great until Hurricane Micheal. The 20 acres behind the sandhill house was paying $100 bucks an acre per year in pinestraw. The $2K paid most of the land taxes. Now it's going to cost $10K to get back to zero. Not sure if I'm going back in pines or not. I'm a couple months shy of 60, so could get to pinestraw in 10 years, but likely would not live to see them ready for sawlogs. I'm looking into hemp, which is good money if you can get your harvest processed. Small hemp farmers here are having trouble getting that done. Not to mention that I chuck pollen as a hobby, and that wouldn't work with 20 acres of hemp in the neighborhood.

The remains of my longleaf pines.

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MICHI-CAN

Well-Known Member
Thank you for the tale. May you find success in your next venture. Really sad hearing similar stories. Small scale realistic farms are needed. We should be subsidizing them. Not the Purdues and Con Agras.
Peace and health.
 
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