Our hobby farm for a more sustainable future

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f010ac_bd7c6449f4e54d15ac3d5de7a1a5331a/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

A few good reasons we started our hobby farm

Starting your own small agriculture project will take hard work and committment, but the social, environmental, financial and health benefits you can derive from it will make that work worthwhile!

Health Benefits

My husband's heart was failing. Prior to building our Hobby Farm he was added to a heart transplant list. I have been dealing with chronic pain that has disabled me. We had many reasons to be concerned about our health. I knew that building this hobby farm would help a our health in several different ways. The most obvious of these, of course, is the access to fresh, organic vegetables and farm fress eggs and very needed exercise. When you’re the one growing your food, you know exactly what goes into it and can ensure that it’s as healthy as possible. Because of the physical activity that comes with running even the smallest of farms, hobby farming is also a great way to get your exercise in every day and a hobby farm with animals relying on you take away any need for making excuses on why you can't. Our animals need us. Even when we arein pain or feel low in energy.

In addition to the purely physical effects of hobby farming on health, running your own small farm can also have mental health benefits. The benefits of laying in a mound of hay and surrounded by puppies, piglets and goats cannot be explained better than a video. So here you will see plenty of examples of the benefits of having such a hobby farm. It has been a source of relaxation and stress relief. A place of laughter and filled to the brim with LOVE! Given the fast pace of my old life, it’s perhaps unsurprising that we discovered that slowing down and getting back in touch with nature is a great way to keep stress under control.

A chance to engage with our community

Even when I was just dipping my toe in the water with a small patch of land, some vegetable crops, a few goats and chickens with fresh eggs it was a neat way to meet people in the area. Louis and I were hidden due to the pandemic and him being at risk because of heart failure. The Hobby Farm was my own way of building a sanctuary for me and my family and friends. We did not get out much so therefore we were not aquainted with the city we just moved to or its people. The Hobby Farm was a great opportunity to connect with our local community.

The people to whom we needed help from gradually became our friends. with the price of eggs going up so high, selling farm fresh eggs was satisfying, from the knowledge that we’re able to provide access to affordable healthy food to the people in our area. If we have extra crops we can’t sell in time before going bad or use ourself, we give them to a local food pantry. How satisfying is that to contribute a better selection of healthy foodstuffs for people struggling to make ends meet?

Another aspect of this community involvement is the opportunity to connect with other farmers around us. The people we have met in both buying and selling to us has shared useful information with us. Even though the exchanges can be limited there is a good feeling when they occur. Anyone of them could become good friends, in hopes they may be able to guide us toward success as a grower and a seller. For some hobby farmers, this sense of community is one of the most rewarding parts of running a small farm. I am merely learning of its importance as of late.

Lastly who knew social media could be so rewarding? The exchanges with people of same interest has been a daily dose of happiness for me. It also has been a means in which to express creativity and my heart.

The opportunity to help build more sustainable agriculture

Aside from providing healthier foods, small agriculture can also be better for the environment than the large industrial model of farming that provides most of the world’s food at the moment. The chemical fertilizers and insecticides that are necessary for large-scale monoculture can work their way into air, soil and groundwater, often with very negative environmental consequences.

At the smaller scale that a hobby farm can operate at, on the other hand, we can more easily provide our plants with organic fertilizer and do our part create a more sustainable food supply. The more people choose to grow food in this way, the more of an impact small agriculture can make. You looking to do this I would love to help and encourage you any way I can.

A chance to build a great side business

Of course, hobby farming can have financial benefits as well. If you keep an eye on profitability, grow high-value crops and create a good system for delivering them to paying customers, we can turn a hobby farm into an appreciable second income stream or even a full-time business.

We are not there yet but beyond giving us some extra income, hobby farming can help us become more autonomous and give us a fallback to our current line of work. That being said, for a hobby farm to turn a profit, it must be built out properly and maintained constantly. Social media has been the catalyst of stirring up interest. Volunteers who love animals and want to be part of a vision that they may other wise not be able to experience. While it may not be the newest model, we gain a helping hand in running the hobby farm.

Farming gives us the chance to work with our hands, get closer to nature and see the results of our labor in a very direct way.

For me, starting a hobby farm gives me the chance to leave something behind for future generations of our family. Even if it’s very small, a profitable family farm is a great legacy to leave to our children and grandchildren. The farm can also be a fun place for your family to connect with each other and make memories together.

If one or more of these benefits inspires you to start your own hobby farm, there are several steps you’ll need to take to make it a reality. Starting your own small agriculture project will take hard work and committment, but the social, environmental, financial and health benefits you can derive from it will make that work worthwhile!