It's plot exposition, it has to go somewhere.

Preface to our "So You Think You Want To Own A Farm" series

March 18th I sent out a tweet as we got out of our truck to home some newly acquired bees on our farm. Sometimes I put a lot of thought into what I tweet- this was not one of those times.

Did not anticipate this reaching almost 1M people

I did not anticipate the interest that would follow.

When we started our land search in 2019 people asked ‘why?’ When we left our comfortable suburban home to move to a state I had only visited once, they asked ‘why?’ When we bought over 100 acres they asked ‘why?’

People no longer ask why. They ask ‘how?’

Before I start a series of posts on how this California surfer kid ended up with a farm on the opposite side of the country, I need to give some background.

As a child I my summers in a Mexican trailer park- but it was at the beach

We are not wealthy. We did not inherit a small fortune. We both paid for our own college educations. We did not sell a company or make a killing on stocks. The money we have, we earned through normal jobs.

My husband and the home he grew up in - he was number 8 of 10 kids

My husband and I are aligned. We had a common goal- land that could be completely self-sufficient. We have not always agreed on how to achieve that goal, but our priorities and goals have always aligned. This is critical.

My husband’s first tractor

My husband was a banker. He quit his job in banking to be a stay-at-home dad. He grew up on a farm in rural Kentucky, his life was about work, not to pay for fun things, but to eat and live. As a child and teen, he swore he would never, ever have a farm. His parents are in heaven laughing at him.

I work full-time. I have zero farming background. I hate bugs and snakes and spiders. I do not camp. My income sustains our family and the farm. If you are looking for ways to make money from owning a farm, we are not that resource. While we have identified many side hustles, at this time the farm is not producing revenue. We are farm hobbyists.

We do not live on the farm. We live in the city, full-time farm life is not the answer for our family at this time.

All the animals on our property are wild. The night cams give us fun pictures.

We’re going to share how we did it, we aren’t experts, there are people that are certainly doing this much better than we are. However, we hope to share the questions you need to ask to determine if this journey is right for you.