How to Start a Farm

Years ago our family was on the way home from visiting my first nephew. We were stationed in southern California at the time, so meandering our way back from Oregon, we visited a couple of vineyards in wine country.

It was at one of the vineyards we took a tour and were introduced to biodynamic farming. Regenerating the land with nature is not new. In fact it is God-designed. It is how small farms operated before large agricultural operations existed. Using the bugs and the bees to pollinate, using goats and chickens to tend the land and weeds, using manure to create compost to feed the garden, it is all logical.

We were inspired to save and buy some land when my husband retired from the military. The idea of growing our own food was a hot topic at the time. Having been diagnosed with an auto immune disease as a child, the topic of health, food, and chemical additives/processes was on my mind. Avoiding that whole mess to help our children preserve their health fueled our desire to raise our own food and keep our farm toxin-free.

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Starting a farm

Knowing your why for farming is the start. Set your goals.

• Will you supplement your diet with homegrown produce?

• Is the goal to completely provide for your family and store some for the lean seasons?

• Will you raise and slaughter your own meat?

Decide what your goals are for your farm.

We did not research specific acreage requirements needed for certain animals before purchasing our homestead. Our budget was our budget and we stepped into that and planned our garden around it. If you want to add large livestock - or a lot of it - estimating animal land needs will be essential.

Our small farm is set up on 5.5 acres. So far we have over 20 chickens, 9 turkeys, 9 rabbits, 6 ducks and 3 goats. But, we did not start with all that at once.

Steps to setting up a small farm homestead

First, we prepared our land.

Maybe you rent and have permission to have a garden and chickens. Maybe you finally can own your own piece of property after years of saving up. Plan what you want to do on your property and take the leap. This is the dream stage of farming. What do you want to see on your land and what are you willing to take care of? (Think of the time commitment).

Second. draw it out on paper.

I made a little drawing of where I wanted the coop and garden to go. I tweaked things a bit – by adding more garden beds! But, get the idea of what you are about to create. Then, begin setting it up.

We fenced in our garden space and built our first chicken coop. This mobile chicken coop from PetCosset is a wonderful beginner-friendly chicken coop. Amazon has great coop kits too. We purchased two of these chicken coop kits.

Third, we planned where our garden beds were going to go. Then, the chickens and ducks were allowed dig and peck in the garden area to prep the soil.

This is a key component of regenerative farming: The animals work with you. We have our chickens and ducks housed within our garden area. This has worked well for keeping pests down. It also allows us to grow some of our own feed so the birds can eat in the winter and we can keep purchased feed costs down.

Your farm has begun! It is just a waiting game to see when the chickens lay their first eggs. And, you can prep your garden beds when time is right according to your USDA zone.

I will share more about two different ways we build our garden plots. One is the double dug method. I learned about it in the book Mini Farming. The other way we are trying to set up additional garden beds to avoid all the digging is with cardboard and used hay.

It is also biodynamic and regenerative. I will write more about that in the next post How to build in-ground garden beds.

I hope you enjoy starting your own farm. Growing your own food and raising your own meat is very satisfying. It is a lot of hard work, but it is fulfilling work.

Leave us a comment about what your goals are for your farm, garden or homestead. We'd love to connect with you on our Instagram page or over on Facebook.