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Looking for great resources online or locally for starting a farm / orchard, or agriculture in general. Any leads?
There's a dream somewhere of running a flower farm + orchards + apiary...
Any resources around general approaches with the tax benefits / business end would be greatl
@ryan If you're looking for a gardening rather than agricultural approach, it really dpends on your local area. I'm pretty sure that half of the things my grandma uses in her garden won't work for the area I live in. Thus, it might be a good idea to find your local gardening enthusiasts (for example, in the UK that would be people working on allotments), and ask them for an advice.
If you want to go all commercial (fertilizers, tractors, etc) though, that's a completely different story
@nina_kali_nina that's a great point!
Just getting started on this journey, so I probably need to flesh that out. The dream seems to be one part homestead, one part horticulture.
Hoping for some generic resources around the business/taxes end of things, really! The rest we can absolutely muddle through.
@ryan best of luck! I suppose business/tax part of the stuff _also_ depends on your country and local laws and regulations :)
@ryan owned/operated an organic flower farm for a few years. off the top of my head:
books:
- The Market Gardener by Jean-Martin Fortier
- The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski
- Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzakein
- The Back Yard Beekeeper by Kim Flottum
- The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman
comments:
- if you are serious about this, go work on an existing farm near you for a few weeks or months before tackling any of it yourself.
- when selling to markets, it is the least gratifying, high-stress and low value job i have ever done
- growing flowers, market gardening and beekeeping sounds great on paper and in the imagination. it is fun to do in your backyard. it is a misery to do agriculturally.
@vga256 this is all greatly appreciated, thank you! Both resources and words of caution.
Finding ways to dip our toes in instead of chasing something shiny is absolutely a priority. I'm sure it'll mold our focus and approach over time.
@ryan i did a year-long Master of Organic Gardening course before starting my farm (with my wife).
we both agreed 4 years later that the best decision we ever made was selling our farm 
