SS Living Survival Guide, the ins and outs, do's and don't do's....

[hikerchick]

lorihadams, I like your philosophy.

More people should be like you - if you don't like it, dont' do it.

So many people invest so much time telling you what you should do and how you should feel- your approach rocks.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Plus be sure your have liability if customers come to the farm. Anything on a farm can get a person hurt and best be covered. You just never know.

right on!

and i think its funny that you think you're not a people person! hee hee hee!

we get a lot of requests from folks who want to come and visit. except for the neighbor's 4H kids and Bourbon Red's farm kids... we say flat out NO WAY. we tell adults who want to come that they need a tetanus shot and kevlar just to walk on the property. and then everyone gets a safety briefing. i'm just this close to having them sign a liability waiver!

folks dont understand that this isnt a petting zoo and nope we dont snuggle the livestock and yes that gander is dangerous - do you want to see the scar on my arm??

we actually had someone tell THEIR FRIEND that sure she can bring her grandchildren to visit us. i stopped her dead in her tracks and set her straight thankyouverymuch. can you believe it?

anyway - this was a great reminder, FC!

MP - thanks for your reminder to make your place profitable. i really need to work on this. we were lucky that this place had somewhat of a built in business and i have not done anything with it. i need to double down my efforts and get some planning in place. now that we have all the critters well housed (altho i could use another turkey hut.....) and our barnyard hopping.. i need to focus on getting the business going. great post!!

 

[lorihadams]

Thank you Hiker, and OFG, I agree 100%.

We have invited people to come and see our animals that wanted to get those animals themselves. Our neighbors want chickens and they came to see what breeds we had and what our setup was like. Same with the ducks. We also have a neighbor whose daughter wants to be a vet and they animal-sit for us. Gives her a chance to work with the animals while her dad supervises and we pay her a set rate for a weekend.

I don't think people realize that "domesticated" animals are not always friendly to everybody!

When you have a farm you have to prepare people for the worst and hope for the best when it comes to visitors!

If you make it part of your business to allow visitors you definitely need liability insurance.

 

[FarmerChick]

oh yes OHIO I went thru tons of NOs for the "grandkids to pet the animals and visit" I hear you on that one big time!!

My friend Barb owns a real working dairy as their income for life and so many of my customers ask to visit her farm. NO WAY would Barb allow that. I mention dairy and everyone wants to have their kids see a cow being milked....I say rent a video..LOL

 

[dacjohns]

Saw this article. It addresses some of the things being talked about on this thread and all through the forum.

http://cityguides.msn.com/articles/cityarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=22794861&GT1=24000

 

[FarmerChick]

I was more interested in reading the comment section.

hmm....

 

[dacjohns]

I was more interested in reading the comment section.

hmm....

Thanks FC. Got me laughing at some of those comments.

I'm 23 and I went to college. Post full of spelling errors.

 

[2dream]

Yep. The comments were better than the article. Thanks FC I never would have read any of them without you.

 

[enjoy the ride]

When moving to a new place that already has an established house, don't make any big building or fencing projects until at least a year has gone by. Start small and movable.
1) A lot of nice plants may appear at different times of the year- you don't want to have paved them over. Or to the contrary, you don't want to put in a chicken run to find that lily of the vally sprouts in the spring.
2) Look up the plants that grow on your property- they may very well tell you that you have good or bad soil in spots or that you may have standing water in a part of the year. No sense building the goat shed at a place that has two feet of standing water each spring. Water plants don't lie.
3) Looking how the water and snow drains may show you were to put in a pond or at least where a ditch might keep one from showing up.
6) Just because a planting is old doesn't mean it is not useful- if an old apple tree is on it's last legs, wait to try the apples. You may have a variety that is exceptionally good in your area and can graft it to some rootstock even if you can't save the tree.
5) Look to neighbors for good varieties to grow in your area- the long time residents can probably share information that took them years to learn. Listen more than talk.
6) fencing is a commitment- make sure you know how you are going to house your stock and garden- then get the best fencing you can afford. And there can't ever be too many gates inside the perimeter.