# College: Summer Opportunity, want your take!



## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

Duplicate posts, so I merged them together.


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## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

Well, I have been offered an opportunity by an old friend for this summer. He said I could come use his land to make a small organic homestead for the summer. No charge. Basically, he heard I wanted to try my hand at homesteading, and knew I was interested in starting a roadside stand. I'm considering taking him up on it since he already has the tractor, tiller, trailers, everything I think I'd need. I've worked on a sheep ranch and small farm so I know a little about the logistics. 

Here's my much watered down summer plan, and I'd like to get you more experienced people's take on it; is it a dumb idea, or a great learning experience for a guy in college? (Just to take into account, I have a good portion of my college paid off by grants and loans already, so I'm not in desperate need to get a ton of money in time for school)

April 31st: Plant Seedlings and begin some of the plants to get ahead of the curve while I finish school.

May 10th: Arrive on the land

After than I was going to immediately till up and prep the soil, getting the wee plants into the ground as soon as possible. While waiting for the harvest and tending the crops daily with things like organic tea and the like, Spending the weekends with my trailer and grill selling BBQ sandwiches along the highway that runs past the land (already checked with the county, it is allowed.) Then as soon as food starts coming in, setting up a vegetable stand at the local farmer's market that is open almost all week every day.

I plan on selling organic heirloom varieties. When they are ready, they have about 4 acres of wild blackberries we are gonna pick and sell on the road as well.

I start back to school in Mid-August.

I'd hope to go back to school with anywhere from $600-$1000 in my pocket. 

Am I just a boy dreaming too big and impractically (harvest time-table and such), or should I take this chance to try my hand at living off the land while I'm young with nothing to lose? Me and this guys son plan on building a cabin on the mountain (he's in bottom land with huge steep hills), and I'm getting water and electricity in exchange for also taking care of the horses and the cows.

Alright, hit me with your thoughts and questions! I'm eager to learn and glean from your wisdom and experience!


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

It sounds, in general, like an interesting idea. For sure, you could plant stuff, see how it grows and sell it, others do. I'm unclear about making an organic homestead unless his land has been certified organic - or do you mean you want to grow and sell food items as pesticide and herbicide free this coming year? Will you be starting your seeds to plant seedlings or buying them (buying them costs money and starting them requires space & a seed starting environment.) .....I think there are a hundred questions that would need to be answered but if you have an idea, energy and enthusiasm and you start writing down the logistics, plan, required materials/money and timing, you could get a lot of education out of the summer.


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## LoonyK (Dec 12, 2009)

Are you going into this with a dreamer vision or actually have good experience growing gardens already?


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## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

I've had a couple gardens in my short lifespan, I tilled planted and tended a garden this summer at the sheep farm I worked at. So I'm no expert but I also havn't JUST been reading books


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## th_Wolverine (Apr 15, 2013)

I don't think he's had it certified, I just meant I was going to use all natural "old-time" methods for pesticides that arn't chemically based and all that crap. I'd planned on starting the seeds in containers at home a month or two before I get to the farm then planting them as soon as I have the land prepped.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I love your enthusiasm, and I think you should try it.

There is an old saying "A green salesman will always outsell a blue one", meaning that eagerness, hard work and initiative will always come out ahead of those who are naysayers, lazy, or slow to get to work on an idea.

If I had a $100 for every time that someone told me "You ain't gonna make any money doing that", even though I was already lining my wallet with profits doing it, I'd already be retired. 

Most people are looking to find a million dollar idea, but never seem to want to work for it. There is _scads_ of money to be made in all types of businesses, but often, people don't understand how easy it is to make, or it is beneath them. For instance, I have a neighbor that sneers at me and tries to belittle me because we are in the ebay and flea market business, but I bet I'll make more than he does this year, and do it with less work and time than he does.

Nonetheless, this year we were going to try our hand at offering a wide variety of tomatoes at our farmer's market. I got sick in late March, which threw us off schedule for our seedlings. We planted a ton of plants, albeit a little late, but for whatever reason, those plants didn't really produce. We had a surplus for home use, but not even enough to take to market. The flowers that were going to make us rich at the farmer's market...we lost more than half the crop due to bad seed, and the rest never really thrived.

Throw yourself into it, check your soil fertility, do and learn all that you can. If things turn out right, you'll go home with more than $1,000.


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## JV_FL (Oct 12, 2013)

This is the time to take those risks, especially if you aren't worried about the money. The learning experience is worth it. As a college student you can live very inexpensively and take some risks. If it doesn't go well, you won't be out all that much other than your time. If things go well, you will learn a lot and make a little walking around money. 

I'm no expert homesteader, but I think this is awesome. Once you get further along with your life and have a family, it is more difficult to take these sorts of risks. Good luck!!


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Any updates?


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