Farming is still fun...and getting easier

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I am going to get a bit editorial here and voice an opinion that I have not heard a lot lately.  Farming is still fun.  It really is.  I am going to end this with a recommendation but let me start by saying, farming is still fun.
The Life Cooperative has been working with some great people this year on a number of projects and the beauty of it is that we are seeing results...still. By results I mean that every day we see people who are still willing to take a chance on doing the things that they want and the beauty is that it is getting easier for them to do it.

Last night I had the pleasure of speaking with a young couple who are about to close on their property and start a life farming and ranching.  They have horses and donkeys already, but they are about to take it quite a bit further with cattle and a crops. The thing that encourages me about the next generation of farmers is that there was not the least bit of fear when talking about all of the things that they want to do AND how much work goes into it.

We think that we have reached a phase in the farming world where people are able to get into it as new farmers, they know what they are getting into.  This is a prime time also because prices are beginning to fall for the basic capital items.  The cost and durability of equipment is nominal now.  Knowledge and communications ability is nominal now.  The new farmer knows how to look at plats and how to draw on them with their phones and I-pads.

Last year, it would have been much more expensive.  Last year, this couple would have had a lot harder time finding other people to talk to about the things that they want to do.  They live in an area where wi-fi was scarce, now it is more prolific.  Facebook is changing the odds by allowing many more groups and business to be done on line.  Apps for CSA's and more and more and more.

Next year, it will be even easier still.  Costs are getting lower and lower and we are able to bring more and more people into the field.  Slowly but surely it is getting easier to be a farmer.  Lately, we have heard a lot of horror stories about farms and gardens.  Despite those stories, there is a lot of hope out there.  It is getting easier.

We started The Life Cooperative to make it easier for a farmer to be a farmer.  We teach and engage in the classes that we do because people need to know what they are getting into.  We offer micro loans for people who have minor struggles.  We create opportunities for people to educate their children to take on the next generation.  We create options for people who want to get into different disciplines, whether it be raising cattle, chickens, turkeys, and any other thing that they are interested in.

Now my recommendation: Netflix has a new show out called The Ranch.  It is a new comedy about a family struggling to raise cattle.  It is funny and there is cursing but more specifically, it talks a lot about the realities of raising cattle in the background of modern issues.  Characters are working on relationships while also dealing with the costs of sick calves, insufficient rain and more.  I would recommend you check it out.  I recommend it because we need to know that farming is fun,but it is not ALL fun.