Egg Cartons

As our egg production has increased we have had a need to sell of some of the extras. After checking our state laws (YMMV) we determined that we needed new cartons with our farm name and address stamped on them. One of the most recommended places for purchasing them is eggcartons.com and after some research we would concur that with shipping their pricing is decent. Below are a few comparisons to simplify your search.

Description: "Eggs From Our Farm" Flat Top
Count: 400
Cost: 99.95
Approx. Shipping: 38.50
Each: $0.346

Description: Stock Printed Flat Top
Count: 800
Cost: 187.95
Approx. Shipping: 75.50
Each: $0.329

Description: Pulp Mis-Print
Count: 500
Cost: 75.00
Approx. Shipping: 38.50
Each: $0.227

Notes: The shipping does not seem to drop based on the volumes we were looking at (100-1500) but the price per carton changes by a cent or more per volume change so make sure to play with the amount some before buying.

Learning About Farming - Internships

If you would like to learn about sustainable farming through an internship program check out the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service Internship website. This is one of those times when I wishes that we could afford for me not to work so I could do this for a summer. Unfortunately that is one of the sacrifices being the sole income earning for the family.

Go sustainable agriculture!

Monsanto - Friend or Foe of Rural America

Unless you are a cool aide drinking member of everything the MSM passes your direction or are new to rural life you might have missed that Monsanto has been continuing to use their significant financial resources to crush American food freedom. One of the most shocking pieces of the Monsanto puzzle is there are people in smaller towns unaware of this. To help you in your journey to build more and more love for Monsanto I have included a few resources.

As of last night, a US marshall, 2 state police and a county police are all over Mr. Hixon's area, serving notices to farmers that they are being sued by Monsanto. They arrive in pairs, with two cars parked a quarter mile and half mile down the road. They've served 3 so far and said "a bunch more are coming." No telling how many will be served since Hixon has between 200-400 farmers he cleans seeds for and these farmers have been repeatedly threatened by Monsanto thugs for the last two months, getting "visits," letters, and calls daily.
source: Monsanto Investigator in Illinois Laughs They Are Doing 'Rural Cleansing'

Their business motto - “We can’t afford to lose one dollar of business.”

Farming Benefits

Was doing reading recently about agrarianism and stumbled across one of those 'duh' statements but for some reason it seemed more profound than I normally would have thought. The same principle also applies to being self employed in many cases so do with the quote what you will :)

A farmer does not sell his labor but the fruits of his labor, and as such is able to retain many of the benefits of his labor for himself—land he has improved, tools he has made, skills he has developed, along with the fruits he chooses not to sell. But a wage laborer can only sell his labor, which is mixed with materials he does not own to create fruits which he does not own; the benefits of his labor accrue to his employer, not to him.

This quote is from a series of blog posts discussing how far Christians have moved from their agrarian roots, it is a good read.

Home Based Business

Being a work-at-home Dad for over 3 years has brought an interesting perspective to my life. Without going into too much detail it has caused me to rethink many of the things I took for granted before: job aspirations, employment, seeking out the best career/job, commuting and the list goes on. These are just the job side of the equation and I'm not including the personal though process that has led me to realign how I do many things in my family life. To say it has been a wonderful opportunity would be an understatement.

Ok, personal blathering aside if you're looking for ways to generate income from your farm there are so many resources to help out there it isn't doing them justice to just mention a handful but I'll try. One recommendation which I've mentioned here before is to look at ways to maximize your time, why sell eggs for store prices when you can get more US$ from them? Find a niche market and leverage your experience to take full advantage of the market just begging for your goods & services.

Here is a article on the Countryside Magazine website by Ken Scharabok, he has an ebook that has good reviews that I haven't had an opportunity to read yet however from what I'm seeing on this article it should be good. Some of the books he recommends we've either read in the past or heard good things about, unfortunately there is only so much time in the day to cover the plethora of material floating around out there.

Best wishes

Farmers at Risk

If you haven't been paying attention to what is happening to the farmers across American, you should.

There are so many issues coming up that addressing it in one post would border on lunacy. The thing to keep in mind is that farmers are being pushed to the brink by the companies that many people think we should support. To give just one example of a company that is doing it's best to blackmail farmers through lawsuits to increase it's bottom line let's look at Monsanto and they're patenting seed (some of which they never produced). Here is a video that you should watch, if not you have no right to complain about your food quality and the scariness called genetically modified foods or GMO for short.

Here's a quote by the Director of Corporate Communication of Monsanto

Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food, our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job.
Phil Angell

and another

Agricultural biotechnology will find a supporter occupying the White House next year, regardless of which candidate wins the election in November.
Monsanto Inhouse Newsletter
October 6th, 2000

or how about this quote related to GMO

If we started really asking the right questions we would stop this technology for the next 50 or a 100 years.
Dr. Ignacio Chapela
Microbial Ecologist
University of California Berkeley

The joy from this company goes on.

UPDATE: Embedded movie removed, apparently it was posted on Google Video w/out the consent of the company which created it so it was removed however you can order it here or look for screenings in your area. There are also people posting it on youtube since I'm not sure if it is with permission or now I'm only posting the search, it appears in most cases it is broken up into parts.

Profit From Your Land

The more research I do the more I discover how many hard working people there are out there trying to make it in farming and/or ranching. It is truly staggering when you look at the amount of work these people do for the return on their 'investment.' They are obviously doing it because they love it however it sure would be nice to see them doing better instead of having a lot of struggles. One of the things that personally seems like a great idea to help a farmer hedge their crops is creating a member based operation.

An example of this is the Maple Creek Farm in Michigan. There are probably many more examples however I learned about them from some of the google videos when doing research on some rural issues (honestly I can't recall). For those of you 'in the know this may not be news however they are doing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA for short) where they have memberships (shares) available which cost $700.00 for a 20 week membership which lasts June thru October. That may seem like a lot but remember this is certified organic where they raise the right stuff which requires mostly hand processing. Be forewarned there is some language in some of their videos which may not be appropriate for younger viewers.

They have a Top Ten (10) Reasons To Buy Local Food list that I'd encourage you to visit.
1. Locally grown food tastes better.
2. Local produce is better for you.
3. Local food preserves genetic diversity.
4. Local certified organic food is GMO-free.
5. Local food supports local farm families.
6. Local food builds community.
7. Local food preserves open space.
8. Local food keeps your taxes in check.
9. Local food supports a clean environment and benefits wildlife.
10. Local food is about the future.
The list on their site provides a detailed explanation of each so don't delay and visit it.

Although this addresses this from the perspective of crops the same principle would seem to apply to animals as well. If you are raising animals and trying to profit from it make sure to spend more time on research than just going out and doing it. Go spend some time with people that are making money doing it!

Making Money Shearing Sheep

As we are researching our sheep more and the ongoing quest to find a breeder in our area that raises their sheep the same we we're going to raise ours I've come across something that some people promote as a great way to generate side income, shearing sheep. After more research we realized this is something we do not want to have to do so we're picking sheep that don't require shearing.

Let me explain further, most of the stuff I can find on the web by people raising sheep and related to shearing seem to indicate that they don't like doing it (or paying for it) and there isn't much money to be made in it. If you have your heart set on it or have found a niche market that offers you good return on your time investment then by all means proceed however most of the reading I've done seem to indicate otherwise. I've included a few shearing links as well as some sites that indicate they're happy to be out from under having to shear anymore. Another thing to look into are problems related to a sheep getting a bad shearing or by not being sheared. Do the research yourself and form your own opinions.

http://www.sheep101.info/201/shearing.html
http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/Semprojs/2002/wool/steps_to_shear_sheep.htm

Wool: Asset or Liability?
Each year it gets harder to find a competent person to come and shear our small flock. The amount we pay to remove the wool from the sheep is more than the return we get when the wool is sold. With our busy schedules, we can find plenty of other things to do instead of making arrangements, etc. for shearing day. We have found a better way.

With the natural shedding of the White Dorpers, shearing day will be a thing of the past at our farm.