Types of Farms You Hadn't Thought of

Anyone can get into agriculture if you're creative enough. In this video, I break down some potential options for starting a farm from worm farming, to microgreens, to insect farming and more!
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[@notillgrowers]

One thing I forgot to mention in this video is the long history here in Kentucky of growing tobacco as cash crop. People would have other jobs or be conventional (or even subsistent) farmers but then grow a crop like tobacco to make a little extra spending cash for the year (hence "cash crops"). Everyone in the area would chip in a little labor to help get all the tobacco harvested and put up.

[@dertythegrower]

i have a clip from pbs showing that, and how farmers there switched from tobacco to hemp.. many moons ago 😅

[@billshepherd5090]

Growing up in EKY, many small sustenance farmers would drive a school bus and have an acre or two of tobacco. You don’t see that anymore.

[@jvin248]

They are not called Tomato Horn Worms ! .... Victory Seeds has a wide range of tobacco seed available. Choose several and see what works 'in your context'. If you know how to grow weeds then you know how to grow tobacco (scatter seeds and barely/no cover, they need sunlight to germinate, and start seeds weeks early).

[@northerngirlhobbies]

I have tobacco started. Great production thank you!

[@denniskatinas]

I smoke the tobacco pipe every day on the community garden, wonderful vibe, keeps the mosquitoes at a distance, and it attracts Gandalf for visit.

[@mattwigley203]

This will be my first year selling compost, but I've been working on it for 5+ years. It's taken that long because I'm a 1 man show. No serious power equipment, just my lawnmower, a small trailer built from wood scraps, several rakes, shovels, and hoes, etc. Some days I feel like my pitchfork is my best friend lol! I've sustained the extended time to get my system down by selling plants. Ornamentals, fruit/veggie starts are my main sellers and I really enjoy that side of the business as well. Anyone interested in doing compost on a larger scale and without "real" equipment, remember that compost isn't an immediate thing you can sell, it takes time. A LOT of time. The material you're piling up today may not put food on your table for a year or more, so you need to have the mindset to plan several years ahead today. But if you stay focused on the future, it will be much more manageable. Great video Jessie and thank you for always being so informative!

[@BackyardProduce]

Do you have any advice for how to manage scaling up compost production w/o. the big equipment? I’m trying to make enough compost to power the market garden I’m starting. We are currently making 0.5 yd to 1 yd a month, mainly from restaurant food waste. I plan on using that resource to make potting compost. We also are likely going to have access to trailer loads of grass clippings & shredded leaves from my neighbor who does landscaping. We also can get free arbor chip delivery. This I want to make compost for refreshing the garden beds with. Thanks, Slayden

[@winnrea]

Be careful about taking landscaper grass clippings-many (most?) have had broad leaf herbicides applied which will negatively impact the veggies where your future compost is used

[@mattwigley203]

@winnrea That's extremely important. I don't think it can be stressed enough. I am fortunate that 100% of my inputs are sourced from our own property. We have 17 acres, 14 or so that are cleared. Basically just a huge yard, not pasture.

[@mattwigley203]

@BackyardProduce What I do I wouldn't really call scaling up as much as just adding to. In another reply I had mentioned all of my inputs come from our property. I try to create a minimum of 2 windrows per year, 4-5ft wide and 4ft+ tall. The rows themselves run about 60ft long. The stuff at the far end of each pile will be the newest stuff. I leave about 4-5ft between each row. The piles closest to our house will be the oldest and next to harvest. That gap between each row is where I turn the piles to, alternating farther, then nearer on each turn. I turn them with just my pitchfork myself, so they only get turned a few times per year. If I had more equipment, it would be much more often. Once the new year starts, new piles are started. The 2 from the previous year get no new inputs and turned at least twice. Depending on their size, I usually turn them into each other on their last turn, making 1 big pile. This seems to really speed things up. There's still soooo much more to say, I think it'd be better if I just upload a video. Otherwise, you're going to be reading for a very long time lol! I'll reply back when it's done and uploaded, probably be a day or two.

[@BackyardProduce]

@@winnrea I asked him about this when he offered me clippings, and he said the lawns aren’t sprayed. Most lawns around here are not sprayed (you can see the flowers in them now), and if they are it’s with glyphosate & not a persistent pyridine/pyrimidine herbicide like aminopyralid. The only things he will spray with herbicides are weeds in mulched beds or non-lawn areas, for that he uses glyphosate.

[@Alchemyforall]

Your comment 'please don't undercut the prices set by farmers relying on this income'. So true!

[@onegreenev]

If I feel the prices are on the outrageous side of things I will sell my property/produce for less than the others. I say don’t rip off the people wanting healthy food by charging too damn much.

[@Alchemyforall]

@@onegreenev Good point. I was assuming the farmers price their produce fairly.

[@emeraldgrovepermaculture]

@@Alchemyforall price slightly higher than low quality produce in grocery store or same grocery organic but higher quality.

[@CherrieMcKenzie]

Like a lot of people I decided to grow my own vegetables in my backyard in raised beds. In no time I had doubled and then tripled my number of beds while also learning about the chemistry of composting and soil health. And, I really enjoy it in addition to eating pretty well. Who knew!!

[@zayinkaph]

That's where I'm at with it as well. Plus it puts me closer to YAH teaching me life lessons along the way. 😎

[@nolagirlhomestead]

I started flower gardening and moved to tomatoes that lead to vegetables. I'm retired and grow now mainly for food and for pleasure. My therapy!

[@shawnueda8909]

love your comment starting around 11:51 "please don't undercut those who are heavily reliant on food they produce..." PRICE your product appropriately. full time farmer here.

[@bradical2723]

I thought it was just alled being competitive... am I wrong? Genuine question

[@-.RuhRoh]

@@bradical2723 it is competition, and it’s okay to be competitive or price lower, just it’s good to be mindful of full-time farmers if your gardening is an “on the side” thing and not your main income.

[@victorygarden556]

@@bradical2723 people who do this for a profit and people who do this for a loss are different, and if you lower the market price by selling below market prices “for fun” you ruin people’s livelihood. If it’s for fun just donate to a food pantry so people don’t fall short on bills because doing it for a loss just manipulates the market for no gain.

[@ronaldcummings6337]

I am entering my fourth year of market farming. This may be the first year of profitable market farming. I have had other income the whole time. Most of the proceeds of market farming have gone into tools and infrastructure to date. I live in a food "desert" and it has been an uphill struggle to educate people why they should switch to local produce. I sell at local farmers markets and wholesale to other outlets like produce stands and small grocers. If I had not had retirement income I would have given up long ago. Hopefully sticking with it will make it possible for future farmers to have an easier path to making a full time living.

[@josephstiles-2447]

Jesse, you are right on the money about part time agriculture. When I was a kid my father grew trees,shrubs, pumpkins,squash, sweet corn and strawberries..all in addition to a regular job with insurance. It paid for all our vacations and additional items we may not have had. I did the same for the last 40 years plus I did custom planting, trucking, and contract growing. I now grow transplants and perennials full time and broker trees and shrubs and I have a pension and benefits from a 32 year career in manufacturing. I've always felt humans were evolutionarily drawn to agriculture ..it's in our genes and must be expressed..I've expressed it my entire life and mitigated the risk with an outside income stream. It always seemed the smart path. BTW. I just started reading your book, excellent!

[@familyfungi]

Mushroom farms as soil generators has been one of my favorite things to talk about. We grow primary decomposers like oysters, lions mane, reishi, shiitake, among other medicinal and edible varieties. We have been able to transform a degraded lot into a permaculture style diverse, multi-species homestead. However this could readily be scaled up and partnering with someone with a composting system would generate very rich soil, quickly and yield tons of food (literally). Thanks Jesse!

[@xaviercruz4763]

How long to grow do those fungi you mentioned take?

[@LivingSystemsBiotecture]

Something not mentioned but I'd highly recommend is honey bees. I orginally started bee keeping for pollination of fruit and berries but was surprised at the demand for bee products. Bee keeping can take on many different styles of a business. Rent hives for agriculture or at home pollination. Selling nucs or queens. Selling honey, bees wax and many other products. So many opportunities and amazing community. Cheers folks! Happy Farming!

[@notillgrowers]

totally! Didn't even talk about bees, but yes.

[@xaviercruz4763]

How to start beekeeping for honey for a family of 5?

[@coololi07]

careful with honey bees. always use native bees if you must beekeep. Importing bees can ruin local wild pollinators and ruin biodiversity.

[@williamjones6053]

​@@xaviercruz4763 just need bees and some form of hive ..you buy package bees and lots of easy to build top bar hive plans using simple tools ..it's easy and enjoyable do some research and you got this ..building the hive with your family is a great start ..best of luck

[@thatguychris5654]

Other small farm options: - Organic spices (double the price, none of the arsenic etc) - Biochar, anyone could buy from you. From the smallest backyard gardener to the large agro companies. - Fruit and nut tree seedlings, stone fruit and nuts are super easy to start and sell in cups/tiny pots - Heirloom seeds, grow one variety each of anything you can. A tomato plant will yield x20 the profit in seeds compared to selling the fruit.

[@tealkerberus748]

Please note that if you are growing mushrooms and you haven't opted for one of the sporeless cultivars, there is a condition called MUSHROOM WORKER'S LUNG that happens when you inhale too many spores and they try to grow in your lungs. It's really not a lot different to what happens to people who live in extremely mouldy houses. Use your PPE and stay healthy out there!

[@herelieskittythomas3726]

Best advice!!!!!

[@classicrocklover5615]

I have a small Mushroom grower offer me his spent Mushroom compost. Should I accept? Or are there dangers I should be aware of?

[@minhducnguyen9276]

@@classicrocklover5615 There's nothing dangerous about it. The spores are created in the caps which are already harvested. And out of the billions spores generated by the mushrooms, only a few hundreds of them can survive if they don't meet the right conditions anyway.

[@Outlander929]

I farm part-time and sell the produce to my other half who owns a bar & restaurant. It's working out pretty good!

[@MrMillsy1986]

That's a grat idea......now how did you wrangle said partner?????? 🤣

[@metalchips]

Congrats on the other half

[@roostertheastronaut4513]

Farming and a resturaunt, yall must like working really hard lol

[@tealkerberus748]

@@roostertheastronaut4513 they sound well matched, yeah.

[@Ndf150]

Man I needed to see this video to help pump the brakes a bit. Realizing now that part time farming may be the best option for the wife and I. Thank you! You always put up great content.

[@rulerofthelight]

"Farming is just gambling with an excuse," As a farmer, it's super important to diversify your income streams. For most, it's a 3 season job. I have multiple revenue streams and couldn't be full-time farmer without them.

[@sannyattube]

Hi @rulerofthelight, what kind of streams do you have?

[@rulerofthelight]

@sannyattube I import and sell premium hay and fruit from other parts of Canada. I run a rototilling business in the spring and handymanwork in the winter. I run 2 different farms, one a 1/ 3 market garden and a 5 acre of commodity crops(corn, squash, cows).

[@Psa141]

Do you import tart cherries, where's point of sale - farmstand? What province, area? ​@@rulerofthelight

[@rulerofthelight]

@Psa141 we are in BC on Vancouver Island. We move sweet cherries(Lapin mostly) and other stone fruit. We have a farmstand on a main road and a few farmers markets.

[@TheDhammaHub]

In Germany (at least in rural regions), we have a culture around having a small sales stand based on trust in front of the house where people sell the excess from their gardens or chickens. I like that model a lot but its very much a side hussle and not so much something to sustain yourself off. Yet, I can very much finance things like greenhouses, compost expenses, seeds and many other things like that, as this kind of "enterprise" is tax exempt im Germany as it is only the "unplanned surplus" that you sell. And even if it has to be a legal corporation, it would still bring in a few thousand bucks a year.

[@VictoriousGardenosaurus]

That's my whole plan for this year. I just want to cover my costs.

[@redhen689]

Lots of people do this in the US too. In some areas it works better than others.

[@taitsmith8521]

That's illegal in the U.S., at least it varies by state and county. When I lived in Oregon there were places like that everywhere. In Texas, where I currently live, the city would fine you at best, throw you in jail at worst.

[@ninatrabona4629]

I bought some buckwheat honey on the honor system on a back road in upstate NY. Somehow it tasted even better than store-bought honey.

[@BackyardProduce]

@@taitsmith8521In my township it’s legally ambiguous to have a farm stand - township says no but the state law might protect it. Fortunately, I don’t need a stand to supply the people I’m trying to help, so they are okay with me. State-wise, market gardens in residential zones are protected under the PA right to farm act, which pre-empts zoning ordinances from municipalities. (That’s my understanding based on reading the law). Self-serve farm stands around me are are common though. They’re made by small farms for selling eggs & vegetables.

[@tammybyrd1054]

I've seem a lot of microgreen farms and one of my fave has been an herb farm. We used to go to an awesome one and it was great. Beautiful place and they did classes, sold things and even had a couple old barns they used and one was a lunch place that was really simple, couple of soups, some bread and tea or lemonade. We used to love going there. The owner passed away. Miss it so much and would love to do one myself. The gardens were beautiful.

[@chelseahartweg2938]

As a disabled person who is working hard on finding her niche as a farmer, thank you for this. I wish more people supported these ventures (and a part time nature) like this

[@zenerafilm]

Best wishes Chelsea 🫶🏽

[@UncleNiikii]

Try mushrooms.. They don't need a lot of space. And not really hard to do.

[@lisamcdonald1415]

Agri tourism is a great way to make extra money while building your farm. Hosting tours to show others what you are doing and how they to can grow food

[@sassafrasred6657]

I am rehabbing a former home lot. There are so many surprises under the weeds. Gravel and fill clay over dirt. Trash pits under the soil . Massive landscape rocks. Headless Barbies ect.

[@Garden_Muskoka]

I have a similar problem with putting in an extensive garden on my property, currently.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

I have enough pebbles to start a pebble mine! Any time I dig my fork in, I snag on a pebble. If the ALR guys came to grade my home as a farm lot they'd immediately rate it class 4 at best on the pebbles alone, not to mention the poor climate (cold).

[@Zednor9]

I discovered an area like that at the back edge of my yard, in an old rural property with a few acres. On the surface it was a bit of a depression with lots of exposed concrete chunks. It started harboring a lot of poison ivy, so I started removing the old concrete...then the old burn pile remains..then the old garbage pile. By the time I had removed everything, I had quite a large hole. My wife still gets a laugh out of coming home to what I redesignated as our "new pond". Years later, that's the most amazing part of our yard, with lots of fish, frogs, and other wildlife, including birds bathing in the waterfall, made out of stacked concrete chunks - but now covered with beautiful moss. Trash to oasis, it ended up being quite a transformation.

[@TrickleCreekFarm]

Been there and doing it again at a new place as well!! Some of the Barbie’s were so old, a collector paid our children for them! We learned they have Barbie Hospitals that way…also had a town collector who said he’d pay for old medicine bottles and there were plenty of beer bottles our son was shocked folks would pay for. You may be surprised at what is appealing to some…

[@ericschafer287]

Jumping to the scale necessary to be full time means your expensive mistakes will also be large scale. Starting as a side job and allowing it to grow organically is a self-apprenticeship where you can learn the ropes without being bounced out by bankruptcy. Every effort is subject to mistakes/lessons and they are more common at first. It's better to make them when the investment is small.

[@Matt-es1wn]

Very true

[@amurabe]

Please, never stop what you are doing, you are changing lives, greetings from brazil

[@BarlowRootsHomestead]

Super duper! We’ve gone the route of the part time farmer and have found it to be wonderful. I (husband) maintain a work from home job and work part time on the farm. My wife manages our family and most of the farm work. We’ve grown steadily as our skills and budget allow and the farm has been self sustaining and helped us build our homestead. At some point the farm will earn enough and we will have enough saved for me to transition to full time farming. We aren’t rushing that process as the current system is working well and we are both very happy in our roles. Thanks Jesse!

[@VictoriousGardenosaurus]

Started with a couple dozen potted plants 4 years ago. Doubled my growing space every year, now im up to about 4000ft² of growing space. Had my first "big harvest" of turnips, radishes and a smattering of greens. Getting em bagged up right now, to try and set up a table before church services let out. My big block has 11 churches Thanks for your content Jesse et al.

[@smallfarmmaine]

I work on a farm part time and run a farm stand in my residential neighborhood part time. It has grown each year. As I get better as a farmer and grow my skills and market I make more money. It's a pretty good life. I hope lots of people get a chance to produce food for themselves and their neighbors.

[@theburnhams2925]

In a video STUFFED with quotable quotes the one that "stuck out" for me was "You can grow a LOT of food on a little amount of space." (paraphrased)

[@ursamajor1936]

My ancestors all came from Norway and all food growing plots were a gard, no matter the size. Garden meant, the farm. 😊 I've been working my, variously sized, gard for 61 years now. I enjoy your broadcasts. Very educational. Thank you.

[@nancyseery2213]

Thank you for this video. I'm retired and living on SS, but some of your ideas would be very helpful with just offsetting the cost of starting up a new homestead. We hope to move from an urban area to a more rural spot in the next two years and you have given me some very helpful ideas with making the move. I just needed some ideas to help with tight money while getting all of our infrastructures and animal cost inline with our income. God bless y'all and keep growing.

[@josee.cisnerosjr.7706]

Shoutout to Josh Statin!!! Miss his videos 😢 Great video Jesse.

[@mithall4198]

Whatever happened to him? I always enjoyed his vids.

[@GrowInGraceGarden]

I was wondering the same thing. Do you know what happened to him?

[@brucetepke8150]

@@GrowInGraceGarden I think he's focusing on his photo gear channel.

[@logancollins3030]

Bro did you nonchalantly say “for the majority of my 30 - 11 years”?!? That’s hilarious. Love your videos man. You have helped and inspired me and many others more than you could ever know. ❤️🙏

[@johndoh5182]

"Out in a largely cedar forest where not much else wood grow" Mushrooms and orchids. Wood grow.

[@francescaurban8985]

Heck yeah! I am a full time mom, full time GM in food service and part time home farmer. The home farm is to support us as a family. I have learned soooo much from you and I love your humor. The cat is adorable too, by the way. Slowly building my herbs business for tea. Tomatoes and peppers for home.

[@kaelthelion]

Thank you for the shout out to "real farmers" who have off the farm jobs. I grew up on a dairy farm in SW Minnesota and spent a number of years farming with my dad before starting nursing school last year. My parents shared the burden of raising a family as a full time farmer/nurse combo. Almost every full time farmer I know has a spouse who works "in town" and has a job that provides insurance. Farming is hard and trying to make money doing it is even harder. Good luck to those of you getting into it.

[@Trav-m1m]

You have no idea! Blessed dumpster diver here and I can attest to the fact that a ton of compostable things are throw away! I one complex I regularly hit alone could have filled 10 or more dumpsters to the top with leaves(just leaves from leaf blowers)!

[@mandyb2334]

Found your channel yesterday while looking to research no till methods. We moved across country with our large family to start our own homestead. We finally acquired our dream property and it's a blank slate. I really appreciate channels like yours and look forward to looking through your other content! I'll definitely be getting a copy of your book as well.

[@QuantumLeap11]

PNWester here and every summer i go around town to help take care of older folks fruit trees. Fruit gets donated and some I turn into cider 😊 Come back in winter to trim them up for them. Win win

[@kathycurtis-johnson5979]

I appreciate these ideas and think you should be paid for all the education you are providing. Oh whoops I AM paying you thru Patreon. I should pay you more. TRULY. This info is pure gold!

[@rosehavenfarm2969]

Willow. For land that is wet. Can sell in fall for fodder, winter harvest for basket maker supplies, spring can sell the wands for others to plant. We use it to control wet spots on our little homestead, and fodder for our hens (and the rabbits we will get in the near future).

[@Soundofwindonsand]

It's so amazing to watch you be able to just get down on yuor knees and harvest..so peaceful I use to have a nice 25×70 fenced in garden in the Ozarks The copperheads just love thick vegatables to hide in But it was the Ticks that finally forced me to abandoned my garden sell my home & move away

[@raynemaxwell2000]

Hey, thanks for all that you do! I've been gardening in the PNW for about 7 years, a Master Gardener for about 4 years, and I've taken on landscaping our four-plex in addition to the annual vegetable garden that I've done for the past 7 years. I think about how much work it is for me just to photograph what I accomplish each year, and I try really hard to imagine capturing videos of what I do... especially if this year goes well, and can be applied to the land we hope to have when we move to our forever home. My father grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and we had a vegetable garden during the summers in Omaha, where he moved before I was born. I didn't think I would grow more than a few veggies when I was a child, but now I can't imagine wanting to do anything else with my life. I'm nearly 40, and my spouse is in his 60s. We both have adult children from the past marriages we were in, and we have 20-month-old twins, together. I look forward to learning more about what I can grow (I really want to grow willow!), and pass on to the next 3 generations! I am excited to show other Master Gardener Program participants what I've learned and achieved. I love what I can give back to my community, and to the land and animals. I hope that someday I can do what you do, to continue the tradition of sharing invaluable information!

[@lydiamashcka4362]

Here in San Diego, there is a group of volunteers who will come and pick your fruit for free and will just simply take it away for distribution to food banks and shelters and so on. They don't pay you for it and you don't pay them, but at least the fruit isn't just hitting the ground and rotting. It's a good Samaritan program so you are not liable if one of the volunteers gets hurt on your property, these folks know the risks and come pick your over abundant fruit anyway.

[@notillgrowers]

That's great. I was just in LA and surrounding areas and I couldn't believe the amount of rotting fruit. Oof.

[@eyes4eve]

Thank you! This is really good to hear for people like me who have been part-time farming for a long time with the initial thought of going full-time but then settled into the reliability of having a foot in both worlds. During that transition and realization, I've felt like a failure at times for not following through with that initial plan. I've since come to believe that even if I'm feeding just a handful of family and friends for a season, it's far better than not contributing at all.

[@mococlimbing]

Thanks man! I have your book and watch all of tour videos and learning so much every minute. ! Im starting my market garden proyect almost no till and preparing the soil. Spanish hidden valley in the pyrinees. Part time for now, as im a high Mountain guidenand i work with mules doing Jobs and trips with clients. Every one of these Jobs are fantastic. Thanks for everything that you share. Im pretty much doing all of what you mentioned....😅

[@herbertbisbey215]

Thanks for a very inspiring video. This will be my 1st year at the farmers market on my 1/4 acre garden. vegetable

[@Katskraftkorner]

I'm building a small orchard and a veggie garden along with a bee and butterfly garden plus herbs on .75 acres. We also have a small flock of chickens. Our goal right now is simply less dependence on grocery stores, healthy eating and hopefully at some point, spending less on groceries. Everything unfortunately is expensive right now so it's a little at a time.

[@reginaldwinsor2759]

I live in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada which is zone 5. Forget growing grapes but root crops do well including corn. I am pretty much self sufficient with the things I grow. I usually grow to much for my needs & would like to have a roadside stand to recover some cost but this is not allowed so I end up giving it away. I just put a sign for free & it is gone in a jiffy. Thanks for the useful information.

[@BlueJadeU]

If it's not legal to charge for it, could you maybe put up a small sign asking for donations to recover costs of seed & equipment? ( Could even suggest an amount to donate.) People may be willing to at least flip you bit of money to help with that.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

You're pulling maize out of the ground in NF? How long is that taking and what are your summers like out there? Where I am, in Prince George, in BC, we have short but brutal summers. Somehow I doubt we'd pull off maize here... but I gotta try my luck.

[@mikegear7286]

This is the perfect video for me right now! It came out at just the right time, as I'm starting a small urban farm this season in the center of my home town. Thanks for the encouragement! I hope to sometime see some info on winter greenhouses so I can figure out how to extend my season in 5b, lol.

[@radarlove462]

For wooded areas - i have a friend that paid their farm mortgage for a year with a handful of turkeys. Sold hatching eggs online.

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Lol good one! 😂😂😂

[@kimberley-A1]

So enjoy these videos! With grocery prices constantly rising we are finding it more and more important to grow at least some of our own food during our short summers. Always looking for tips and tricks to be more successful and more productive! Thanks for sharing!

[@redhen689]

Did you mention bees 🐝 / honey 🍯? I live in PA, but have a friend in Sweden 🇸🇪 that has a bigård (bee farm). They are a retired couple, but it does produce an income for them.

[@notillgrowers]

Nope, totally neglected to mention bees but that's a good option as well!

[@tonybaker4316]

I appreciate you and the time you spend disseminating your knowledge. Especially when you address farming for people with limited mobility like myself who have used a wheelchair since I was 17. I have learned how to build and maintain a garden for my home over the past 4 years. I am in a situation where I will be moving to Ireland next year and want to create a small business. I am happiest when I'm spending time growing and figure if I can find something to grow and sell after I buy a home with some land it would be ideal. Perhaps I will share my experience online like you. I just bought your book and look forward to reading it. Keep up the good work!

[@drylandfisheries2984]

If you are in the right area etc fish farming is another idea. Doesn't take a lot of space if your small scale and there are options in it: growing fingerlings to sell to people to stock their ponds or in some areas you can grow them up for the food market ( processing can be an issue here.) The one major downside is this industry is capital heavy for start up.

[@MynewTennesseeHome]

Matter of fact, I just started a batch of shiitake, oyster and lion's main logs yesterday... first time with mushrooms. I do have enough land but by myself and no mechanized tools growing for myself and having enough to sell is a slow process. Thanks for all your very informative videos.

[@jvin248]

NTG: You can grow grapes there, but it needs to be typeshat match your environment. How can you be sure? Go wander the woods around you and you'll find a lot of wild grapes (when I was a kid we made jelly from wild grapes). Best option: get a big range of types and experiment. You want a side hill facing SW ideally and not down in low areas (more cold). Use decomposed leaf mulch especially oak leaves.You can also take cuttings (1-3 nodes) before leaves come out and start those to root.

[@notillgrowers]

So to clarify the fruit comment, we can grow lots of fruits here, it's just that the quality and consistency make it difficult to rely on for production. But absolutely, there are plenty of grape varieties that grow here, for sure (and apples and pears, and blackberries, and high bush blueberries, etc).

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

@@notillgrowers Oh right yeah that makes perfect sense. Disregard my top level comment about vitis

[@Moewenfels]

I'm repotting my rosemary bush cause thats currently all i can afford, but its still a learning experience i can use later on :)

[@1whitecottagelife770]

I let my rosemary bush grow for years without trimming it and it got woody, I thought I had killed it. I trimmed it down to where I saw a bit of green growth and watered it down and it started growing again. My plan is to slowly cut out the wooden parts, after new growth comes in, and hopefully revive it that way

[@jalifritz8033]

Something I haven’t heard mentioning is growing plants for pigments. A lot of artists, historical reeactors, seamstresses, etc use natural pigments for painting or dyeing fabrics. It’s extremely niche but depending on the plant can even be done on a small balcony.

[@caseywilson812]

You making these videos makes you cool, so thanks . You’re awesome 😁

[@MyTube4Utoo]

I've got a mushroom grow tent setup in my house, and it works great. I've also got a 4 x 4 grow tent in a spare bedroom that I use to grow vegetables. I also grow on my patio in containers, and in (5) little Aerogarden - type hydroponic gardens. They're good for like micro dwarf tomatoes, herbs, and certain vegetables. Usually dwarf varieties. I've got 10-acres, but seem to have gotten old, went through a couple of surgeries and couldn't really keep it going, so I rented it. I'll always grow food. I don't care where I'm at. There are people making a good living growing in rooms no bigger than an average-sized basement, growing things like microgreens.

[@Hashashin_Fidayin]

You could use buried greenhouses for citrus. Ive seen many videos with good producing trees even with Snow outside!

[@Benjamin.S.S.]

Thank you for the episode. We love all your videos. When we make our move, we plan on buying land and going all in on the small farm.

[@naturekins604]

You can also make some extra money with under utilized farm equipment in the off season. I set up gardens for people in the fall after harvest is done. You can sell mini garden planters at the farmers market especially if you grow mini veggies like tom thumb peas, dwarf tomatoes and such. Edible planters with a few edible flowers mixed in are very nice ways to use extra transplants that you over planted for instance. Hatching specialty chicks is also a great way to get a lot more money for your eggs, hatching eggs for others who have their own incubator.

[@nking967]

Your sense of humour always makes me laugh! 😂👍

[@MrMillsy1986]

Thanks!

[@notillgrowers]

Thank you!

[@MrMillsy1986]

@@notillgrowers Nah, all thanks goes to you. You were one of a few catalysts for my life change. My farming story is incoming and if you want a holiday to Tasmania, I will have an option for you next year (Hopefully).

[@OrchidboyTroy]

Hey Jesse! I’ve been watching for awhile now. I grow orchids right here in the heart of the Bluegrass. Thanks for all of your videos, they’re really appreciated 🙌🏾

[@notillgrowers]

Orchids! Awesome. I love orchids.

[@TMCRok]

I want to try to grow and sell trees. Thanks for the encouragement!

[@SeagullAmIOne]

This is an amazing Video!!!! One thing Ive always wanted to do while farming is Carpentry and Art. I know its not conventional farming but growing trees and other products such as flowers for dyes or landscapes for inspiration and peace :) Just an extra thing to put up in ur farmers market booth, a painting for sale for top dollar (or bottom dollar depending on how ur feeling:) made by you or your family :) easy extra money and an advertisment for future products

[@trevormerivale7210]

I think growing a certain amount of hydroponic fruits and vegetables is probably a good idea as well. With so many different systems, and the ability to do hydroponics both indoors and outdoors makes it an option for almost anyone. Ive personally grown chillies indoor and outdoor hydroponically with success. Very easy to do, and outdoor is very cheap to setup. You could simply make a frame put clear roofing panels up, shade cloth or plastic sheeting thats used for greenhouses, a few 20 litre/5 gallon buckets net cups expanded clay media and nutrients, ph up or down dwpending on the ph of your tap water, a ph and a nutrient level reader. Depending on your system, you dont need to aerate the water, you dont need pumps or any other equipment. Kratky is the technique im describing for anyone intrested or curious. But theres heaps of different options depending on what you would like to grow. If you can handle slaughtering, or you know someone willing, theres lots of meat options for backyards too. If you like your fowl, quail take up very little room, and thats the same for rabbits. These can also make you a small amount of money if you want to just sell quail eggs chicks and birds, or rabbits either as breeding pairs /trios. If you are slaughtering your rabbits, if you leave them to get a bit older, its either 4 months or 6 months the rabbit hides can be sold or used to make gloves, hats, or to line a jacket. Just things to consider

[@johncarter1150]

Rabbits,rabbits, rabbits! Earthworms and the best pelleted maure fertilizer!

[@trevormerivale7210]

@@johncarter1150 I've done rabbits on a house block that was roughly 550²m/6,000²ft had about 30 rabbits at once off of just 3 does and 2 bucks (one as a back up just in case). For self sufficiency rabbits are just absolute meat making machines. Rabbit tractors if you've got land can end up costing very little per head to raise,, especially if growing your own fruits and veggies and if you can grow your own hay and straw that would be even better, even if it is only a small portion of your property if you are on a fair few acres. I've never had the luxury of being on anything much bigger than the place I was talking about when I had the rabbits. Their manure is fantastic for the garden, you are 100% correct on that. I'm assuming you have or had rabbits at some time? What breed did you have? I mostly had new zealand whites and californian, although at times I have had a dutch and a standard rex as well as a Flemish giant, although I never bred him.

[@janew5351]

Love the videos! Start a garden just to augment your family's food bill with real organic!

[@brokenmeats5928]

I love ALL No-Till Growers videos!

[@davidakerlund6296]

mealworm, rat, mouse and quail production are fantastic small scale options as is plug production

[@kaytobe]

Great video as always. More on business planning for part-time gigs! And on the EVERYONE front, I have chronic illness and it has delayed my farm dreams. So now I am reimagining what that means. There needs to be more discussions about accesibility in farming and taking care of your body at the same time - hard to do in the most physical of jobs, but worth consideration.

[@123WorryFreeGardening]

Totally agree that farming can be one of your more than one source of income. This is a helpful video to look at other ways to get into it.

[@rochrich1223]

Handicrafts are a natural addition to rural business and obviously have the advantages of being small, done indoors in bad weather and being available to fill down seasons.

[@bobjohnson4431]

Thanks for the video and your perspective of a "reluctant entrepreneur." I grew up on a family farm, and after some years away doing other things I am now taking over from my parents. We raise beef cattle in South Dakota and my wife is working on developing the market for Wagyu beef. So I'm coming to grips with the fact that my choice involves a fair bit of entrepreneur work, even though the business management side of things is not my strong point. One change I've made is composting the manure from the barn (and even carcasses from death losses), I'm going to look into using that for a marketable product!

[@shanemillard608]

Thanks for the video. I'm in the process of picking up almost 5.5 acres of mostly wooded and relatively steep land area as part of our house. Working the woods has been on my mind.v

[@lindapotter1982]

Maybe plant ginseng depending on the setting.

[@vociferonheraldofthewinter2284]

I did the mealworm farm thing and I loved it. My 'babies' multiplied insanely well. I had an indoor setup and it was fantastic. And then I developed an allergy to them. Turns out that the 'mild' shellfish allergy is actually an allergy to chitin. This is the same exoskeleton protein that makes people allergic to cockroaches. All the exposure ripped me up fast and I had to sell the entire farm. I took a huge loss just to get well as fast as possible. Now I need to find the time to go through the allergy shots.

[@loggercrawler]

I think a lot of the ideas about small scale farming is aligning 1) the local needs, 2) with your skills and 3) available inputs. Small indoor ventures could include tissue culture to propagate plant materials for other farmers and gardeners to grow out. Growing microalgae to be sold directly or fed to phytoplankton like daphnia or rotifers. These can be sold to people wanting to live feed fish in aquariums. Or can be used to raise newly hatched fish / or live bait. Maybe even methane digestion to produce local fuel, decompose biomass into a nutrient solution. Wood to biochar. Be sure to charge that biochar with with nitrogen or it will steal it from your garden soil.

[@BasicUniversalEconomics]

As a soil scientist i commend you for your support of no till

[@kannmann97]

Love the josh sattin quote!

[@NasonMusa]

I really enjoy it in addition to eating pretty well.

[@123WorryFreeGardening]

Thanks Farmer Jesse! We try and think out of the box as well. This is quite helpful.

[@scottc3165]

I like the idea of helping a farmer. You might be surprised how many doors it opens. I started out helping a rancher by feeding string horses in the winter. That lead into learning how to lead pack mules into the mountains in the summer. Which lead to doing commercial trips solo. That lead me to learn how to shoe a horse if I absolutely had to. That led into learning how to rope and help doctor cattle. That lead into doing many other phases of ranch work and building and mechanics. I made a lot friends and met handy people. This was all in a 10 year period part time and it's still ongoing. In my 60's now and doing these jobs keeps me going - strong and healthy.

[@stjbananas]

I started my small organic banana farm 3 years ago on my islands highest rainforest mountain here in the USVI's. It is the greatest job I have ever had.

[@flatsville9343]

My growers group wants to up our worm castings game as it brings in $$$ for seed & supplies. This is a problem as over-wintering worm out of doors is dicey unless we can create enough mass in a polly tunnel to keep them working or start using basement space in people's homes. Zone 7a is not ideal for worms, but a small group is committed to worm farming, so here we go.

[@j.reneewhite915]

Huw Richards did some videos on hot compost veggie beds. You can adapt this info to both grow seedlings/ food crops and worms. I had a worm farm for a short while. I have a small space so I used totes that I could stack. I hop-ed to sell worms and castings at a farmers market and was all ready to go when Covid hit and closed everything down. I only had my eggs in one basket so I introduced 32 totes of worms into my veggie gardens and landscape. Even with the best laid plans the unexpected can wipe you out. This is why you need to be resilient and work creatively. Just don't let the work swallow you alive.

[@outlander330cc]

I would love to have someone in Indiana to buy Johnson Su compost off of. As a row crop farmer it's hard to find the time to make them at this time of year when they need to be made. I would happily give $5/lb to not have to try and get them done myself.

[@gordybishop2375]

I was a mouse rancher before college. Had like 50 cages and sold them to pet stores mostly for snake food.

[@adventurecreations3214]

Excellent advice that applies to most entrepreneureal ventures. Great video

[@maggierainville3321]

Meat rabbits potential source of worm box manure. Collecting manure from folks who keep horse barns/riding rings, as compost addition.

[@carolexo7269]

Love these programs. Thank you so much for all your hard work. Enjoy your quirkiness 😉 🇨🇦

[@CoreenT]

Jess calls me Darlin' and Jesse calls me a nerd! 😆

[@quintonrobinson8766]

bee keeping/ fish farming, etc.

[@timimakiej]

I’m starting a farm in southern new Hampshire and the crows decided with their plantings and the acidity of the soil and the flooding we are growing cranberry, elderberry ever bearing raspberries, and selling to jammars, syrupurs, bakers, and meadears. But trying to also start a veggie field and the veggie field is so out of reach it feels fighting with the crows plantings everywhere

[@williammcpherson1193]

And watch a lot of these videos for inspiration. You’re going to need it from time to time.

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent video. A lot to learn. Good advice

[@Dorpers89]

I grew up in Vermont tapping maple trees on sled pulled by draft horses in the winter with my friends.

[@normbograham]

there was a farm that supplied plants for your yard. they kept going, and going, but when the couple was going to get a divorce, the company had to dissolve, because there was just not enough money for either one to keep going without the other. But, when both working, and employing two or three others, they paid a mortgage, and bought a house over years, and paid all the bills for 30 years, and then built equity in the property (which they were going to sell). They lucked out and have the "farm" in an area of the country that saw the property value triple over 30 years.

[@kannmann97]

Such a great video. Important information for lots of farm curious folks!

[@shawncarr8699]

i started a worm and castings business in my greenhouse about a month ago.

[@nicholasnarcowich9163]

I live in a Mobil home, not much land, have some trees, took out the cactus for more vegi. room. Have lots of green onions, trying other things like beets, carrots, radish, cilantro, tomatoes - several types - looking to see what works. Not everything does...I plan, God Laughs. Thank you for your videos. I will say, when I like something that has seeds, I try to grow them. Lots of Lemon trees, some some Grapefruit, a couple peach, plum or apricot... I forget which they are, but they were really good. Thank you, really love your videos. :-)

[@Trav-m1m]

Composting doesn't have to take up a lot of land if your willing to do it the long natural way that takes a year, a few turns, and watering..... Mine are usually about 6ft, 6ft, 5ft high

[@smallscalerevival]

I know that you didn't want to go too much into livestock, but I think that there could be a really solid, small to medium scale business raising organic pullets to 16-weeks for local farms/homesteads. By the numbers it costs about $13 to raise a pullet on organic feed to point of laying and can easily sell for $20-25 each, maybe more particularly to homesteaders. Great use of an extra space in a barn or unused outbuilding and for 16 weeks of work in the spring, say you raised 1000 chickens at a $10 average profit margin it could be a good side income!