how to not diversify your farm

Man, it honestly wasn’t until I started farming that I realized what a huge lie I was believing. Frankly, believing this lie was quickly pushing me into a place I never really wanted to be in my life.

It was the lie that I had to diversify; to raise and sell everything. To be a farmer with beef, lamb, chickens, eggs, and pigs; oh and to sell my jam preserves on the ‘side’.

I’m just going to be real frank here, what a load of manure. The honest truth is that nobody can do all of those things successfully on their own. I don’t care what super-power you possess the fact of the matter is, you have 24 hours a day and wouldn’t you like to spend some of it sleeping?

When I started my farm in 2015 I thought someday I’d be like everyone else. I’d be raising all the things, that I’d ONLY be able to make a sustainable income IF I was raising and selling all the meats and taking advantage of any income source I found on the internet for small farms. What I didn’t realize then that I know now is that sure, I might be able to slap a label on any product, perhaps even SELL that product. BUT, I wouldn’t be making a sustainable living and I certainly wouldn’t be sleeping at night. At the end of the day my customers would suffer from my lack of focus, my family time would be non-existent and frankly, my farm would be a hot mess.

Instead, I have happy customers that I am able to retain because I have time to do customer service. I have time to send emails, to do Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest and stay relevant to the customers I already have and add new ones as well. I am able to create new and exciting ways of offering my products. And it isn’t because I’m doing more, in fact it is because I’m doing LESS.

Yep, I raise sheep and cattle, that’s it and you know what, I make a sustainable income doing it.  Now, what they tell you about never being rich if you’re a farmer, that is 100% truth. But, if you want to be around for a few years, or for a generation and beyond, you’re going to need to think about what you can ACTUALLY do in a day. Twenty-four hours seems like a lot of time until the reality of farming sinks in and you realize that raising a single animal can be a chore.

So, I encourage you, friend, to think critically about what you want your life AND farming to look like. Whatever life you’re choosing to run alongside the farm, choose it. Don’t let your farm run you away from your desired lifestyle believing the lie that ‘diversity’ is the key to success.