You Can Farm. Start Here.

WARNING: READING THIS COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING

Me, 20 years ago with my first three sheep on rented land in Vermont

I was swaying in my hammock thinking about you.

Thinking about the person who wants a life like mine, reads about it, but hasn’t taken action yet. Is that you?

Do you dream of quitting your job, moving to a farm, and homesteading your own land, but the idea seems so incredulous at this point you barely feel the ache anymore? Has a goal turned into a fantasy? Is change too scary to even consider?

Yeah, then I was thinking about you. I thought it was you.

If you still dream of homesteading on land you own, I want you to know, despite all evidence to the contrary; this is a very realistic and obtainable dream.

You can have it. You should have it. This is the time to have it.

I started with one pig one winter. They became the heart of this farm.

We live in a weird time of cynicism and abundance. It feels like everything keeps getting worse while we’re being told ‘we’ve never had it better’. We can’t afford eating out, but at least we’re broke in The Wealthiest Nation on Earth!

Most generations younger than mine feel home ownership is impossible. The new American Dream is finding a salaried job, getting health insurance, and affording rent without two or more roommates. The notion you could own a farm and work from it full time sounds like a fairy tale today.

Listen, I’m not going to get into a tangent on late-stage capitalism and I don’t have to. We both know things are going to get worse. It’s just a matter of them slowly and steadily declining through politics as usual, or a disruption that forces change really fast. I strongly encourage you to watch systems collapse from a deck with view of the garden.

Note: if you are reading this as someone without capital, savings, credit cards, a house, or much beyond a used car you are making payments on and a rented apartment: That is where I started when I wanted this at 25, and I will explain how I began to transition from office to farm, broke and single, for what it is worth in a conversation on the audio version after the essay. (Spoiler: it’s attitude and choice)

I know what’s stopping you. What I am saying is too much, too big a change. Your mind races with all it implies: sell my house, quit my job, not enough savings, I can’t move away from family and friends…

That’s what I was thinking about in the hammock. Thinking about the people who can’t find the will to move forward with a dream because the overwhelming amount of work it takes in overwhelming times, all of which gets felt upfront. For some reason, we only see the insurmountable when we want something, but the good news is that is not how life works.

Life happens one day at a time. We make the decisions that move things in the direction we hope. And that decision can be as simple as writing down one thing today you can do tomorrow. This is how you start.

Grocery Shopping from the yard is possible!

How to Become a Farmer: Step 1

Get a piece of paper and a pen. On that piece of paper, write down one small thing you can accomplish tomorrow, and promise yourself you will do it. Make it a contract if you have to. Write out something formal like:

I, [your name in print], being in good health and of sound mind, promised myself on this day, [dated here], I will call three local realtors on the morrow, [dated here], and say to them, aloud:

“I am thinking of maybe selling my house. Now what?”

Promised:

[your name in print]

Signed ____________ Date_______

You may think that’s stupid, but I promise you making that contract tonight and sticking it on your steering wheel means when you see it on your drive to work tomorrow, you will call three random realtors on your lunch break. You will see the promise, the work you put into writing it down right in front of you. Those phone calls would take a few minutes.

When you do them, when you do what your promised to yourself, things start to change. This isn’t some woo woo talk, I am talking brass tax here. You just proved to yourself you can follow through on a step towards the life you want. Maybe tomorrow all you have the energy for is to return one call back. You are still moving forward.

It doesn’t matter if you want to sell for real or not. You are not signing anything, just asking for some free information: What could you get for your house? Is this current market the end of the housing bubble before it crashes and no one is buying anything? What properties with a well and septic are close to my work?

Maybe those number a professional gives you are just one more idea to work with. You have still moved forward in a way you had not even the energy to attempt in all those years of “maybe” and you can feel it, like fresh iron in the blood.

Do you see how this works? Dreams happen by the inch for most of us. I don’t know about you but I never went viral, never had a NY Times bestseller. I never had a windfall of money, or even reliable income. I did this day by day, alone, broke, and found my way here (and the only thing I had was stubbornness and zero concern what people thought of me).

And I am writing you from my own farm, on a weekday afternoon, after a morning of pig pen preparation for barrow delivery and setting up a new feed budget on paper as I plan for the month ahead…

When I wanted this, a farm, a life on my own, all I had was the paper in my pocket with the promise for what to do next. The next, possible, thing.

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Maybe you don’t want a farm. Maybe you want a kid through an adoption agency? Maybe you want to travel to Iceland? Maybe you want a divorce, a pony, a new degree or opening your own bookstore? Whatever your dream is, it starts with writing down one thing and doing it tomorrow, as easy as you need to start.

You can’t think in big swings, especially these days. You need to focus on the long staircase and realize you can’t jump thirty floors today no matter how hard you try, you never will, but you sure as hell can take one step higher.

My life has been a series of those steps, methodically made to move me closer to a life on a farm. Some choices were big, like when I was offered two jobs and one was in a city for more money and the other for less in the country. I chose the rural job where I could afford a house someday and still be near reliable work. Some choices are small, like deciding your next read from the library will be a memoir about someone who decided to change their life entirely.

Everything, always, was the smallest decisions towards home.

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If you are reading this feeling hopeless, the first choice is to choose hope. Maybe you’re 17 or 71 and feel trapped by age and circumstance. Maybe you’re broke as hell, stuck in a bad marriage, disabled, or behind on rent. Maybe you’re depressed, lonely, afraid. You can still make a promise in writing today to do one thing to make your life better tomorrow.

Maybe tomorrow you make that phone call, read that book, download that podcast for beginner gardeners, talk to vendors at your local farmer’s market. You can decide right now that even if it isn’t possible, at least not yet, you are telling yourself you deserve the chance to try. You are trying.

You would be amazed what you can accomplish if you try once you begin.

Someone reading this who hates their job, their condo, the city they landed in due to a failed marriage and have gotten used to. Someone like that, will make the call tomorrow that ends up selling their duplex for double what they bought it for and buying 10 acres in western Maine. And three years from now, looking over their deck banister into the gardens while their hens peck at corn scratch and the speakers play gently from the house, they will realize it started with one phone call they were too stuck to make, but just decided to ask one day.

Dreams don’t happen because money falls in your lap, you inherit a resort, or your parents suddenly approve and support you. They happen because you already decided they will, and ever since you’ve made small choices that steer your ship a few degrees to stay on course.

There is still time.

I know you think you’re getting too old. I know you think you’ve already invested 10 years in your career. I know you think your partner would never agree to it. I know. But this is the youngest you’re ever going to be from here on out. Make the call.

A life like mine doesn’t take much more than choosing it and not letting go. The not letting go is the easy part, despite its reputation for grit and sweat. The hard part is deciding to write a promise down, right now. Because once it’s in writing, it might be true.

So if you want to farm, you can. You really can.

But you need to start now. So write it down.

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