Lifestyle farming help

**Melville1977** · 01-19-2010 02:04 PM

Hi,

I just read a blog post on the When Giants Fall daily blog by Michael J. Panzner regarding a surge in lifestyle farming. Does anyone know anything about this? Is there a business opportunity here? I have zero experience in farming but I do understand the population of the planet is growing.

**CGM** · 01-19-2010 02:14 PM

Its what I am doing.

I moved 1,500 miles away from friends and family to a place I had never even visited before (I am 21) to care for a semi-neglected orchard and now we've developed a business out of it. Did I have farming, agriculture or business experience before the move? No, not really. But I am now known by some locals as the "Pomegranate Guy", haha

The link in my signature (Poms To You) will sell our Pomegranates and other Pomegranate related products direct to our customers.

The other things grown here (Figs, apricots, plums and pecans) will be sent direct from another website I run.

We also have a physical location outside of the property and have a fruit stand. Last fall was our first year doing this, and I was suprised by the ammount of traffic and people stopped by for Pomegranates only. This year we are doing it to all of our crops, including our large enclosed garden so we will sell fresh produce in our physical location (but not online) too.

We're expanding our Pomegranate fields by over 1,000 new trees. The potential there alone is over $1mil per year, if we could actually develop a market and obtain a reasonable price per fruit.

We dealt with Whole Foods a little bit, and realized that wasn't the way to go. Why go through a middle man, when we can sell direct ourselves and obtain full price while insuring proper customer service and guaranteed quality?

**SCJeff** · 01-19-2010 05:08 PM

I live in a fairly rural area, and there are many farms around me, having everything from corn, to eggs, to crawdads. Most sell their produce to local markets and they also have stands out the front of the properties where you can stop by and buy everything fresh. The couple that lives next to me sells eggs and crawdads, and its their main form of income, because neither works anymore.

There's always going to be a market for fresh produce and food grown locally, and depending on how far you pursue it, there's a lot of money to be made.

**Melville1977** · 01-20-2010 05:07 PM

How exactly did you get started? Did you already have financing? Partners? How did you afford a residence while you were starting the business up?

**CGM** · 01-20-2010 06:31 PM

Well my situation is unique in the way that I get paid to live in a house on the orchard with two friends from back home, and we take care of the property and house.

I started the business when I came out here last year, and the owner would be the financier of the operation.

**jake_russell** · 01-20-2010 10:38 PM

Lifestyle farming sounds alot like "homesteading" to me. Google it if you would like. Mainly it is pulling away from government and becoming more self reliant. There are several good websites out there. The idea is to have pretty much everything you need coming from your farm. It is definitely a lifestyle, not really a commercial farm