I live on a small farm in the mountains of North Carolina. It provides hours of enjoyment and supplements our groceries with some very healthy natural foods. We produce eggs on a small scale and I keep a small herd of goats, one of which is giving my about a gallon of milk a week. We are in a very secluded spot on 27 acres of land. This sound very idyllic, but in reality it is expensive to support.

How does one support a small farm without being independently wealthy and still enjoy it Get a job!, you say. The news is full of reports of unemployment and lowered wages, so that is not practical because you spend almost more getting to and from a job than you make. Then you have to consider meals, clothing, automobile expenses besides gas, etc. By the time you get done adding up the expenses, your salary is gone and so is the reason you got the job – money. The other factor to consider is time. A farm, no matter how small, takes a lot of time. Working at even a part-time job would make it impossible to take care of all the farm chores that need doing daily and sometimes many times during the day. » Read more: Internet Marketing and the Small Rural Farmer