So far I'm loving it. Walking around drooling cause them things have some BRISKETS on em. I'm learning a lot and working with people I like doing agricultural things, so I'm happy. I'm looking for a job at an orchard as well because I dig trees. They don't kick as hard.
It's all part of the process of a career change for me. I work in a factory where I've been for seven years. I've been studying permaculture for about five years and doing some suburban homesteading for three, so it's part of a natural progression that I'm hoping ends with me being a farmer when I grow up.
Those are some lovely moos right there, brisket for days lol!
Wagyu, orchard keeping, and permaculture? That's music to my sustainable living ears right there! I've been building our orchard over the years, last year I was gifted some ducks and retrofitted the orchard into their pen, they have rocked in the pest control, grass mowing, and fertilization areas. I love it when things all work together:) What kind of orchard are you interested in putting in/running/managing?
It's so super cool that you are working your way through all the areas that you wish to learn about and eventually end up farming full time. I have no doubt you are going to crush that dream!
Lovely moos, but wagyu isn't sustainable at all. They're the Cornish cross of cows. Super inbred, centralized supply, and heavily dependent on industrial grain agriculture. But it's fun as heck and I'm still learning a lot!
Right now I'd settle for working at any orchard with trees. When I grow up, it'll be peaches, pecans, blackberries, and rabbits. I actually might go check with my nursery owner lady down the street, she might know a thing or two where to look. Heck, she might even need a part time hand at the nursery learning things and watering things.
Have you read Michael Phillips's book The Holistic Orchard? Dude's got some things figured out.
Okay, you win the Internet with that one, I almost snortled my coffee out lol!
Hopefully they aren't like a pack of raptors at feeding time, boy do I ever have Cornish Cross stories.
And it's so cool that you are just doing the learning thing, that is my favorite part about homesteading, it's like discovery overload. One of my favorite things every was taking a journeyman beekeeping course from WSU while pregnant, I looked super awesome hiving bees 9 days before my daughter was born, like an oompa loompa honestly, but it's the learning part right? 🤣
Also, I love pecans, they are just magnificent, they are also a no go for us here up in the northlands, so I am super stoked for you to grow up and get the pecans, peaches, and blackberries.
Rabbits are super fun too, had those for quite a few years, productive and tasty.
And I hadn't thought about Phillip's book in years, you inspired me to reorder it for a re-read because I do remember it being rather excellent. Dude so has some things figured out! This year I put in hops and my friend has a 100 year old apple tree of a variety that I am still trying to identify and I want to learn how to properly graft some onto my own trees/rootstock.
There's always a project huh lol!
They're like Cornish in that they're completely dependent on unsustainable grain agriculture. Unlike chickens, they have very low feed impulse. IDK how I'd like one on a small farm really. The ones that are crossed with Angus do a lot better and act like they want to eat.
On my half acre now, I have six peaches, 5ish pecans, and half a gob of blackberries (so far), but there's still more to do. I'm basically using this space to practice, learn, and refine some techniques.
The rabbits are a mainstay here. The only thing I've been able to make any kind of money on. I actually have rabbits because I found out how retarded Cornish cross chickens were. Picky, centralized, unable to feed from the homestead, and rabbits are the exact opposite. And they're so stinking TASTY. And that's to say nothing of their superpower: poop. We love rabbit poop.
What's WSU? I just sat in on a crazy basic beekeeping seminar this weekend at the homestead fair at Heritage Homestead in Waco. Bees would be a really cool complimentary venture with any plant operation. Which means I'll have bees at my orchard/farm when I grow up. I decided not to do them here though, I'd want to give them more space than I have.
Dang! You are in full knowledge absorption mode! You are going to be writing your own homesteading books before long, I will be first in line to buy the orchard one lol!
WSU is Washington State University (we are really close to Washington up here in the Idaho panhandle), and the university ag extension offices up here run master gardeners and beekeeping certification programs. If I remember right, my journeyman beekeeper class was like 9 weeks. I learned a ton, and the teacher worked out a smoking deal with a bee supplier so we were able to purchase nuc boxes at below market rate for our first hives. (This was quite a few years ago, but I am sure the programs are still around, I see the extension bee keeping folks at the state fair every year with their educational exhibit).
I love bees! My neighbor has hives so I don't have to keep any right now, with the kids being in high school I am running around a bit more than I like, so I will hive some girls once the chaos dies down a bit. And your future grown up orchard is going to love them!
Ahh, Cornish X. They are something aren't they? I ran a pastured poultry operation for a few years here on the farm, and while it was a huge and semi-profitable learning experience, I'm glad I don't do that anymore, lol! One time my grandpa fed 25 Cornish X's 110 pounds of feed in 48 hours when I was gone. He said they always, looked hungry...sigh...
Rabbits are just solid gold! The manure alone is worth keeping them, but production value alone makes them awesome. I am a bit on the lazy side though, and really enjoy pigs as far as an input/yield ratio goes. It's probably because I have a pig barn with automatic waterers/ feeders, and pasture for them to nibble on.
Seriously can't wait to see more posts on all that you are working on!
PIGGUMS 💚
My favorite critters so far. God, I love pork. Hey, check this out.
Home cured mangalitsa bacon. ETA: two weeksish.
I'm about to be hosting my friend's pigs while we build him a place to house them at his new property.
Writing a book would be cool, but writing a blog is a lot more convenient and allows me more time to do things. Is there a way to do affiliate links on Hive? That'd be really cool, but IDK much about marketing and such. Weeding, seeding, feeding, and breeding is the easy part, but somehow you gotta convince someone to pay you for all of it... Pointers appreciated 🤣
Aaah! Look at that lovely, gloriously marbled hunk of yummy!
You know what's hilarious? I have made far more money by letting people stay on the farm than from what I produce off of it. These days I am full into subsistence farming, just producing for my family and friends glorious food as sustainably as I possibly can. At the same time, we have a bit of a housing/rv spot availability crisis here because everyone and their cousins are moving to Idaho, so having paying visitors come and enjoy the farm has helped out a lot.
Part of my problem when I commercially produced things off the farm was that most consumers aren't prepared to pay what you have to charge for anything just to break even. Things have gotten better on that front for sure, because you are right, compared to marketing, finding your niche, etc, the production aspect really is the easy part lol.
I have no doubt you are going to crush it though, I mean, look at that mangalista chunk!!!