Bad Attitude Farm & Forge LLC

What is a Micro Farm?

Defining the size of a micro farm is difficult. Typically, it is between two and five acres. The word is sometimes used to describe other sized plots, so maybe it is better to define it by farming technique. The commercial farm typically has so much land that the focus is on decreasing labor. The techniques of micro farming are such that more labor is necessary for intense farming. As a result, the micro farm produces more food per acre than traditional large-scale farming.

Another common difference is that commercial farms tend to produce single crops. The micro farm is more typically aimed at meeting a multitude of needs. From water melon to grain, milk to cheese, the micro farm tends to attempt to meet all the needs of its owners.

What is a Micro Eco-Farm?

Micro Eco-Farming is a micro farm whose goals include living in kinship with the immediate environment. Typically only organic micro farming techniques are used in the eco friendly farm.

What is a Homestead?

Add a home and family to the above.

The micro farm homestead works because it meets the needs of it’s owners. Consider the amount of money you pay for groceries. If you grew a large crop you would attempt to sell that crop at distributor prices. The distributor who purchases your crops would then sell them to a wholesaler who would in turn sell the goods to a grocery chain. Eventually, your crops would find their way to the local grocery store and be sold at a price 4 times higher (or more) than what you sold them for. Now imagine filling your family’s needs with your crops rather than selling them. Instead of adding a tiny amount to your income, you would greatly reduce the money you spend.

The micro farm homestead movement is alive and well because it works if its owner’s are willing to work it. Unlike the dreams of the New Age return to the earth types, the successful micro farmer is physically and mentally exhausted at the end of the day. It works because there is something much more than food and survival that is provided by the micro farm, there is a piece of mind that can not be had elsewhere. So much so that a new philosophy is being born within the movement. The philosophy that the abstract concept of money is becoming obsolete.

Consider the source of the recent bail out money. Where did all that cash come from? It was printed. So what is its value? How much of it do you need to make a meal? How much of it will you need next year to make that same meal? The meal itself is much less abstract. Unlike currency or even gold, unless your appetite changes the basic ingredients of your meal will remain the same next year or even next decade. Food is real, it is tangible, and the ability to produce it will always have value.