I’m lucky to own/operate a small farm I live on. It doesn’t produce almost any real money for me but it serves as a good collection of hobbies/food. My primary income is industrial and doesn’t scratch that itch. But, it pays the bills and affords me a schedule that let’s me maintain the farm. So, what would your ideal small farm setup look like?

  • SelfHigh5@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 hours ago

    Goats (milk, cheese, lawn care), alpacas (wool), and maybe a few bee hives for honey to make mead. But I don’t know how to properly care for any of these creatures so it’s best I leave it to those who do.

  • anon_8675309@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 hours ago

    Just fruits and veggies. Don’t want to take care of animals. We did that when I was a kid and it’s a lot more work than plants. The things that want to get to those animals…. Nah man.

  • whaleross@lemmy.world
    2·
    4 hours ago

    The last few days I’ve been craving cloudberry and fantasising about growing them at home, so…

  • swelter_spark@reddthat.comEnglish
    1·
    5 hours ago

    In a fantasy sense, I’d love to have sheep and donkeys, grow herbs and mushrooms, and make cheese (with vegan rennet).

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
      2·
      3 hours ago

      So much of it. Also shrooms. But eh, all of that can be done in a closet these days.

      But honestly, just eke out an existence as a cannabis grower is my dream life.

    • whaleross@lemmy.world
      3·
      4 hours ago

      They are beautiful but such short lifespan that I couldn’t deal with it. I’d have a kennel of borzoi to guard my alpacas and maybe a couple of sheep dogs to keep all said in check.

  • rayf@lemmy.zip
    24·
    16 hours ago

    Potatoes. Lot of potatoes. Good yield, not a lot of work, long conservation, lot of way to consume, vodka friendly. And you can sell excess easily I think. And also parsley and garlic. Good to add with potatoes.

    • SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      8 hours ago

      Maybe you need to rethink what a farm can be. Many apparently wild landscapes that you are familiar with have likely been managed as a kind of agriculture for a very long time, and most people have no idea.

      There are many ways to cultivate food.

      • KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        7 hours ago

        The point is that cultivation is not conducive to a natural habitat.

        The Amazon rainforest arguably benefited from cultivation, but not until the vast majority of the human population emigrated away or died off.

        Modern humans have never figured out a good balance to work with nature. Native Americans came closest with the Three Sisters and forage style harvests. The vast majority of people are too focused on production to ever truly care about the impact of their garden on the wider environment.

  • farmgineer@nord.pubEnglish
    16·
    16 hours ago

    I do have a small farm (though it’s still not anywhere near being a primary source of income).

    • jalapenos
    • anything hotter that will grow up here (I need to get a heated mat for starting seeds)
    • sweet peppers
    • tomatoes
    • cucumbers
    • kohlrabi
    • various beans
    • carrots
    • beets
    • potatoes
    • various varieties of cabbage
    • hakusai (Chinese cabbage in English, IIRC)
    • bok choi
    • eggplant
    • broccoli (regular and stick)
    • cauliflower
    • kabocha
    • other squashes
    • various herbs
    • radishes
    • blueberries
    • biwa (loquat)
    • ume (plum)
    • kaki (persimmon variety)
    • onions (both Japanese and yellow, white, and red)
    • okra

    and I’m sure more I’m forgetting. I don’t use chemical pesticides so a lot of the brassicas don’t end up doing well. It’s also why I gave up on corn because it will not do well without pesticides here. I live in northern Japan but coastal so I have more moderate weather. Still, peppers don’t like to do anything naturally until July or August and don’t do well in our rainy season (which we are still in this year, unfortunately)

  • digitalFatteh@lemmy.caEnglish
    9·
    16 hours ago

    Apples and Bees. Although where I live there’s plenty of orchards and they produce some stunning Honey. So it would be more of a personal thing where I’d produce apple cider and meads for the long winter nights.

  • zxqwas@lemmy.world
    8·
    15 hours ago

    Strawberries. They are the best taste to effort and cost of what little grows here in the north.

    Potato is an option but they are cheap at the store.

    Peppers and chili is an option but they require a greenhouse to stand a chance.

    I’d not bother keeping animals unless I intended to make it a bigger part of my income. Can’t just fuck off for a week and do something else. Chickens would be the first contender if I did though

    • Nefara@lemmy.world
      2·
      10 hours ago

      Strawberries are fantastic. I planted some last year and was really bummed that I didn’t get to eat a single one. Then this summer, we had wild strawberries ALL over thanks to the greedy critters pooping seeds all over. This year I finally got a handful of delicious, perfectly ripe berries and the critters ate the wild ones. Perennial, self-propagating, and delicious. What else could you want?