Never could make the math work on buying land and farming for a profit, so instead we bought 6 acres and do only what we want. Even then, it is all to easy to take on too much. I constantly have to tell myself, “no” to new projects. We’ve been doing it for 20 years now, and I look forward to doing it for another 20.
What an amazing ability to have that consciousness! Especially for young people, I believe we are racing to the “finish line” too much. We definitely look forward to using the mindset you describe for ourselves in the future! It doesn’t have to be a huge thing for it to be worthy. ❤️ thank you!!
We just bought 10 acres and our goal is to be more self sufficient. We will be homesteading with long term dreams of having a more profitable farm for our boys to take over when they grow up. But we are planning to take it slow, one day at a time. I do worry that we will get burned out and this video broke my heart for you guys. But I am glad you guys are spending time together as a family, traveling and I know you guys will find the perfect place! Thanks for sharing these farmers stories with us!
That’s awesome!! Burn out is real but it’s not limited to farming. Anyone in any industry can get burned out. I think it’s all about how you manage your time and energy. It’s okay to do things one at a time and it’s okay to have more to do tomorrow! I hope you have all the success!! For the farm and your family! ❤️
What an incredible video. You’re both so brave and humble at the same time. Mistakes teach us better than any book. And with your outlook and perspective you will find exactly what you’re looking for!
Thank you for this truthful video. Hope you find what you are looking for. Will keep on following your journey. Enjoy the process and thank you for taking us along. 😊
Such an interesting concept and so proud of you - seeing how others do it and honoring them!! Pray safe travels for you as you enjoy this new journey as a happier family❤️❤️❤️
I have been following you for a while now. Since you started sharing your stories. I was so concerned when you disappeared but we found you and we have been waiting patiently for you to return with your fabulous content!🐈😎📣
Hi!! Thank you so very much!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video and hope you enjoy the other farms we have visited! We have many more planned for the future!! ❤️
I grew up on a 150A farm in SW Washington state. It was amazing hard work. I still rarely take vacations because they are so foreign to me. My mother was a nurse, and my father did the farming. Cows, turkeys, strawberries, hay, and a sawmill. I do know how to work, so I chose to go work for the RR. I support all the small farms I can. Buy from Greene Jungle Farm lamb, beef, pork, and eggs. I support Farmers Markets and especially wool growers. I applaud your decision. You will find your path to what you can do without burning yourself out. Take good care of yourselves.
Thank you so much!! We have found there is a fine line between being a hard worker and working hard. We are so grateful and thankful to our journey, all of it. We are excited to see what our next chapter looks like for us!
Thank you for being brave enough to post this. I had a day last week where I gave myself permission to quit. I looked on RUclips for others who would admit to this struggle. I found two videos. What I found for myself that day, is that knowing that I can quit gave me the courage to step back and look at what I'm doing and why and do less so that I don't lose the joy that can come with this lifestyle.
Good for you!! There is always room to do less of what is breaking you and more of what you love! If you haven’t, you should watch some of our farm tour videos. I believe you will find more farmers like yourself and some wonderful lessons! We are now starting again and focusing on ourselves, not on building a huge business. ❤️ make sure to rest and focus on the parts you love!! I’m so glad you found us!
I love your channel and your story. I look forward to every episode. I live halfway between Jacksonville and Lake City. I meet for deliveries from Shepherds Hill Farm. That was the first video I watched. I've been following ever since.I hope that if you get out to Arkansas, you will visit VW FAMILY FARM. They are my favorite farm family. Best wishes on your family journey. Thanks for bringing us along. 🩷🙏🌻
Thank you so much!!! The Street Family is so great! We are so thankful to have met them!! We enjoy VW too! We are working out our Fall/Winter plan for this year and might be headed that direction, we aren’t sure yet. We do a livestream 2x a month on Sunday evenings, would love to see there at the next one! ❤️
Grateful to have stumbled upon your channel! We’ve been homesteading for 11+ years and just in the past 2-3 really got serious about scaling up into a profitable farm. I think you are spot on - although we are also a heavily diversified 5 acre homestead as well, we’ve been sustaining this level of production efficiently for awhile & I was blessed to be advise not to diversify our farm income streams. Though we could have dozens of enterprises, we really just have 3-4 main ones - many of which are seasonal so we don’t have too much pulling at us year round. They core enterprises fund the rest and then some and feel sustainable for us (for now!)
Hi! Wow! Yes, you are so right! I'm so glad you were given that advise so early on and that it really paid off for you! It really does make a difference!
I think I saw you guys on one of the many “farm/foodie” documentaries I’ve watched over the years! God bless you guys! I guess what you’re really saying is: it’s possible to overdo anything-even farming! I’m glad it sounds like you’re rediscovering your focus, and making the important things your priorities. I’m excited to see what happens next!
Absolutely!!! I was even having a conversation with a friend in healthcare and said “and if you don’t like it, you can always change”. There is nothing wrong with deciding you want something different or realizing that you no longer want the goals you had prior.
Loved this video. Hindsight is always 2020. If you find yourself in Northern Indiana visit Silverthorne Farms in Rossville and Holy Cow Farm Fresh in Monon. ❤️❤️
I loved your Sow the Land video. Now you could do the other two from Jason's podast crew, The Hollar Homestead with the new baby makes 8 Hollars, and Lumnah Acres all 500 acres that is LoL.
I have 5 acres and I can't imagine having a whole farm on only 5 acres. I just grow my own food...garden, chickens, turkeys and venison. I have both meat birds (only for 8 weeks) and laying hens year round with Turkeys in a 10x15 coop/barn in Wis. To start my garden it cost me a whopping $33.00 and it feeds me for the year. I seed save so I don't have to buy seeds every year and I grow only what I eat. I had 300lbs of heirloom organic tomatoes, 165 lbs of potatoes. (this year I seed saved potatoes. I can and I freeze my food. I dehydrate all my herbs. My pantry is complete with homemade catsup, tomato juice, spaghetti sauce and paste. Winter is my time off. I gain weight...ugh. I have strawberry patches, wild black raspberries, rhubarb and horseradish. Did I mention I am alone and almost 66 yrs old and a female. I put up my own fencing and mow my own lawn. Check out More Than Farmers channel or The Hollar Homestead.
Wow! I’m so glad that you get to do all those things! I’m really happy for you and can see that you take great pride in your work! Although our journeys may not be the same, I believe that we are all out here trying to find the right thing for our own souls. Our travels are taking us on an amazing journey, not to unlike the journey the Hollars went on before they settled down on their current farm. Thank you for checking out our video. I hope you stick around and see some of the amazing people we get to meet. ☺️
@@BreakingNewRoots Please accept my apology for sounding so harsh. I didn't mean it like the way it was written. Thank you for being so gracious in your reply. Yes, everyone has their own soul journey. I love your content. I got hooked after watching the interview with the 86 yr old farmer. Love your content. Hope life finds you happiness and love. Sounds like you are on the right track. God Bless. Yes I am a subscriber.
No worries!! I accept your apology but can understand that it’s hard to see someone’s whole picture from a few videos and to truly hear tone through words. But thank you so much for subscribing!! We are working hard to tell some amazing stories. We put new videos out every Saturday and Wednesday! ☺️
U guys need to Keep in mind farming is hard my wife and I are in the process of buying our first farm in Pa we both grew up on farms but are buying our own. We bought 93 acres 50 tillable we plan to start with hay and organic corp and with in five years build a dairy barn. I'm going to say this every one does something different
Oh absolutely! Farming is a very difficult and equally rewarding profession! We loved our farm. But after having children and other life events, we decided to take a step back and do something we always dreamed of doing, traveling. We are excited to take our experiences with us and meet other farms throughout the country.
I saw your husband on Joel Salitins channel and fell in love with your story. Well! That wasn’t long before you sold everything and left. You have to do what’s right for you and your family. I wondered what had happened to y’all. So I da like you are doing well. Prayers and best wishes. I’ll be waiting to see what you find out there
Oh yes. We have enjoyed telling our story to many places, and our interview with Joel is still a conversation that we hold tight to our chest. And we aren’t done with farming, just pivoting slightly. Thank you for coming along!
I don't think hiring help has disqualified any of these farms, homesteads or operations that Olivia interviews. If that was the case, she never would've visited Polyface. And the success of any operation shouldn't preclude the wealth of experiential knowledge that can be derived from an interview. To disparage R&R because they are making an incredible investment and impact on their small SC community with their Farmer's Market, Beulah Roasting Co. & eventually the Carolina Homestead Exchange simply because they value community so much is nonsensical. If anything, we need MORE interviews with folks who were once so poor their chicken coop was repossessed but have scratched out not just a living, but are making an enormous impact on literally hundreds of thousands of people, many who are now where they once were. That seems to be exactly who Breaking New Roots would want to visit. And if you do, Olivia...tell Jess that Vonnie sent ya! 😊
That is so true. One can never fully understand something until they are deep in the trenches. I we are grateful for our experiences but are excited for our next chapter!
There is the romance...and quite separately the reality of this lifestyle. This becomes even more apparent as you get older and wake up with more pains every day.
Thanks for your videos. Have you considered Wild East Farm in North Carolina? The RUclips channel for the farm is called Small Scale Revival. They have a beautiful regenerative farm.
Thank you so much!!! Oh no, we haven’t heard of them and left NC a few months ago now. But we will keep them on the list if we ever get back that way!!
I like your channel. I am glad you put this video out. I retired and bought some land to farm. But it is slow going. My family and friends are not committed to help so its hard going it alone. I think once the perimeter fence line is cleared, it will go better.
Hi Greg! Thank you! It can definitely be difficult and yet still rewarding. We love farming and will find it again one day. Slow is the way to go!! Where are you located?
@@BreakingNewRoots Central Illinois. You should do a video on birchfield farming in Ohio if you are passing through.. I love that channel. He is doing more on 5 acres than any other channel I have seen. He has sheep, chickens, red Devin cows, and a lot of good videos on Johnson Su composting and covercropping his garden. He rotates the animals constantly and came through last summers drought quite well. Anyway, can't wait to see the next video. I hope you can find some property, but giving yourself a chance to look around has been our benefit.
Oh thank you! We will definitely put them on our list! Yes, we are really enjoying our travels! I can’t say we know when we will settle down again but for now, we are in love with sharing the small farm story!
Don't give up. I am a 66 yr old woman and bought my 5 acres 4 years ago. Put up all my own fencing. Raise my meat birds. Have chickens and turkeys and a garden that feeds me all year long. On less than $33.00 to put in. Not bad for a years worth of food.
You are correct! It's been a whirlwind of excitement followed by disappointment! When we made the first video about buying it, we had agreed purchase agreement, but couldn't get it to closing. Probably shouldn't have made that video before we closed, but we we're too excited to not share it. Losing it, took us a while to figure out how to talk about it!
That's how we feel about it, this video was the longest every for us to make and its not even close. We feel like its the key to the next chapter of videos and excited to share it with everyone! The NC house falling through was tough, but I think it gave us an opportunity we would've never imagined!
There HAS to be some formula to determine the basic necessities to make a farm viable. I have a friend who was an EMT in a country area, he loved 99% of his job, the 1% that made him give it up was attending Farmer suicides. He attended so many Farmer suicides he developed PTSD and was forced to resign. He entered a new trade/profession, he thrived in his new profession, albeit with emotional scars. The reason for the story is the Farmer suicides! My friend is the type that doesn’t let a problem beat him, he needs answers and his questions are and always have been: Why? How to stop it or change it? Is it the people or the environment? He has come up with some very interesting statistics, things like: Animals versus Crops; Broad acre versus Intensive: Networked versus Solo.
Yes. There used to be. Unfortunately it was accidentally deleted when we rebranded to Breaking New Roots. But some of our farm videos made it over to this new channel.
3 acres of pasture yes. It wasn’t hard to earn money actually. The farm was profitable and doing well. We just got burned out trying to do so many things at once. We are learning so much through our travels and will take all that knowledge with us when we settle down on a homestead one day. ❤️
It’s sad and shocking to see the reactions of some people towards other people who, even after diligence and patience and careful daily planning and care for years, eventually realize and decide that it’s time to move on from farming and leaving the countryside to a different state or country, some even do go back to the city and are happier there. Factually, there is no shame for doing so, and there shouldn’t be! I’m so sick of these false Christian, religious, and atheist rural hypocrites who look for any excuse as to why someone simply decides farming doesn’t work for them. That’s okay if it doesn’t work for you! I personally hate anything rural and to do with farming or gardening, animal husbandry, etc. They don’t make me a better person and God doesn’t say I have to do them to lead a Godly life and help others. It all boils down to - your family do what ethically works best for your family. We don’t all like the same things or live in the same places, etc. A country person and a city person who are Godly, ethical, civil, courteous, even if they are both self sufficient and hard working, who try to live in peace with those around them are always welcome at my table, as they say. If people want to demean and falsely accuse or censor city or country people, we’ll that speaks volumes of how wrong that person is and they have serious problems that they need to work out with God. Bottom line - if you decide farming or gardening doesn’t work for you, then I say to those people that’s great and I still support you!
Thank you so much! Your words are true. We are all out here just doing our best and trying to find the right thing for us. Our journey is showing us ways of farming we didn’t know possible or in existence. We will farm again one day but it won’t be the same way we did before. Time in life is also very important. Giving birth to two children while farming and seeing the hardest of the hard days at the time really made us rethink our lifestyle. We are so thankful for the journey we are on, for our past experiences, and for what our journey might hold in the future. Thank you for watching! I hope our videos are helpful in some way, even if you aren’t interested in being the farmer yourself. ☺️
@@BreakingNewRootsI am at peace in my life with no longer doing any gardening, farming or animal rearing or living in the countryside. My life is more full and I can focus on God and my husband much more than when I did unnecessary pointless crap like that. Leaving the countryside or farming, etc anything rural doesn’t make anyone a worse person for doing so, even if many country people hypocritically look down on me for doing so. (This also applies to city people who look down on people who decide to move to the countries. As they say - snobs are everywhere, and just as odious as their counterpart) As aforementioned, I personally leave those sorts of people to God to deal with and yet I still try to be courteous and try to live in peace and hope they respect my family’s privacy. That’s another thing I don’t miss about being rural - busybodies/meddlers. Anyway, otherwise, if anyone treats someone justly and well and who can treat us now city folk as well as their rural neighbors and vice Versa, in spite of that, if they want to visit us, they’re welcome to and we will make room for them at our table with places of honour. :) Even if they’re homeless. :) As for your videos, although I don’t share much of your interests and passions, I appreciate your candor and telling the truth and for defying the rural stereotype that one comes to love living rurally once they move there, when in reality, it doesn’t for everyone. :) God Bless and I support you still! Rock on!
Too much livestock on too little land. Realistically you need an acre per horse for proper grazing. Too much all at once. It's not the right life for everybody because you must be content with a simpler lifestyle. Just maintaining the property and structures are constant and tend to take up any extra you thought you were saving.
Our land was actually doing great with the amount of animals we had on it. Using regenerative practices by moving our cows and chickens every day we almost couldn’t keep up with our grass growth. We loved our farm it just didn’t meet our personal goals anymore. But we are loving our travels and meeting so many amazing farmers along the one. One day we will find land again but for now, this is our wonderful journey. ❤️
Like we talk about in this video, we got burned out. We talk about it more in some of our tour videos. We have learned so much from the many farms we have visited about managing our time, the types of species of we should have, etc.
Thank you and welcome! We have visited over 100 farms across the country to share their story and learn from our mistakes! We will settle down again soon! We hope to take those lessons into our future farm/homestead!
Other than one prior vid this is the only vid I've watched of you. Just to see if it was legit and not click bait. I also wonder how long we'll last. Im not the normal farmer either and limited physically due to cancer. Im not sure where we'll end up but i cant imagine life without animals at all. Maybe we just end up homesteading for personal use only.
We are definitely legit! We know all the struggles and all the rewards with farming. We are found that there is no perfect way to do things and you aren’t a failure if you choose to do things a different way or change the way you do things. I hope you continue to enjoy the farm life, in whatever capacity you can!! ❤️❤️
I mean it wasn’t that fast but it definitely wasn’t the right thing to do. It didn’t work out for a reason and we are so glad we went on an amazing adventure traveling the country visiting small farms and now are homesteading and doing things a lot different than before. ❤️
@@BreakingNewRoots but if you had too much work to keep it you needed an employee, in another reply you said making money wasn't he issue it was the workload...
Our farm was profitable, but not enough so that we could pay someone else a decent wage. There are a lot of farms in this category and is explained very well in our video with Jordan Green.
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Never could make the math work on buying land and farming for a profit, so instead we bought 6 acres and do only what we want. Even then, it is all to easy to take on too much. I constantly have to tell myself, “no” to new projects. We’ve been doing it for 20 years now, and I look forward to doing it for another 20.
What an amazing ability to have that consciousness! Especially for young people, I believe we are racing to the “finish line” too much. We definitely look forward to using the mindset you describe for ourselves in the future! It doesn’t have to be a huge thing for it to be worthy. ❤️ thank you!!
We just bought 10 acres and our goal is to be more self sufficient. We will be homesteading with long term dreams of having a more profitable farm for our boys to take over when they grow up. But we are planning to take it slow, one day at a time. I do worry that we will get burned out and this video broke my heart for you guys. But I am glad you guys are spending time together as a family, traveling and I know you guys will find the perfect place! Thanks for sharing these farmers stories with us!
That’s awesome!! Burn out is real but it’s not limited to farming. Anyone in any industry can get burned out. I think it’s all about how you manage your time and energy. It’s okay to do things one at a time and it’s okay to have more to do tomorrow! I hope you have all the success!! For the farm and your family! ❤️
I wouldn’t wish that farm life on anyone, but I applaud what you’ve tried to do. I hope you guys can find what’s right for you!
What an incredible video. You’re both so brave and humble at the same time. Mistakes teach us better than any book. And with your outlook and perspective you will find exactly what you’re looking for!
Thank you!!! 😊 we are so excited for our journey!
Thank you for this truthful video. Hope you find what you are looking for. Will keep on following your journey. Enjoy the process and thank you for taking us along. 😊
Thank you!! We knew it all needed to be said, we just hadn’t figured out how yet. We can’t wait to shop everyone what we see!
Such an interesting concept and so proud of you - seeing how others do it and honoring them!! Pray safe travels for you as you enjoy this new journey as a happier family❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so so much!!! We are having a blast traveling and learning so much!! ❤️❤️
You do have a plan and it’s a good one. The place you settle will be right for you all when the time is right. Live in faith - loads of love ❤️
Thank you so much!!
I have been following you for a while now. Since you started sharing your stories. I was so concerned when you disappeared but we found you and we have been waiting patiently for you to return with your fabulous content!🐈😎📣
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you found us again! We put out new videos on Wednesday's and Saturday's.
I watched your video with Sow the Land today. I loved your interview with them. I know I’m going to enjoy catching up on your other videos. Thanks ❤
Hi!! Thank you so very much!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed the video and hope you enjoy the other farms we have visited! We have many more planned for the future!! ❤️
I grew up on a 150A farm in SW Washington state. It was amazing hard work. I still rarely take vacations because they are so foreign to me. My mother was a nurse, and my father did the farming. Cows, turkeys, strawberries, hay, and a sawmill. I do know how to work, so I chose to go work for the RR. I support all the small farms I can. Buy from Greene Jungle Farm lamb, beef, pork, and eggs. I support Farmers Markets and especially wool growers. I applaud your decision. You will find your path to what you can do without burning yourself out. Take good care of yourselves.
Thank you so much!! We have found there is a fine line between being a hard worker and working hard. We are so grateful and thankful to our journey, all of it. We are excited to see what our next chapter looks like for us!
Thank you for being brave enough to post this. I had a day last week where I gave myself permission to quit. I looked on RUclips for others who would admit to this struggle. I found two videos. What I found for myself that day, is that knowing that I can quit gave me the courage to step back and look at what I'm doing and why and do less so that I don't lose the joy that can come with this lifestyle.
Good for you!! There is always room to do less of what is breaking you and more of what you love! If you haven’t, you should watch some of our farm tour videos. I believe you will find more farmers like yourself and some wonderful lessons! We are now starting again and focusing on ourselves, not on building a huge business. ❤️ make sure to rest and focus on the parts you love!! I’m so glad you found us!
I love your channel and your story. I look forward to every episode. I live halfway between Jacksonville and Lake City. I meet for deliveries from Shepherds Hill Farm. That was the first video I watched. I've been following ever since.I hope that if you get out to Arkansas, you will visit VW FAMILY FARM. They are my favorite farm family. Best wishes on your family journey. Thanks for bringing us along. 🩷🙏🌻
Thank you so much!!! The Street Family is so great! We are so thankful to have met them!! We enjoy VW too! We are working out our Fall/Winter plan for this year and might be headed that direction, we aren’t sure yet. We do a livestream 2x a month on Sunday evenings, would love to see there at the next one! ❤️
Go to Hamilton Native outpost near Houston, Missouri. Diverse Native pastures using cattle and bison.
Oh that’s great! Thank you! We will add them to our list!
Grateful to have stumbled upon your channel! We’ve been homesteading for 11+ years and just in the past 2-3 really got serious about scaling up into a profitable farm.
I think you are spot on - although we are also a heavily diversified 5 acre homestead as well, we’ve been sustaining this level of production efficiently for awhile & I was blessed to be advise not to diversify our farm income streams. Though we could have dozens of enterprises, we really just have 3-4 main ones - many of which are seasonal so we don’t have too much pulling at us year round. They core enterprises fund the rest and then some and feel sustainable for us (for now!)
Hi! Wow! Yes, you are so right! I'm so glad you were given that advise so early on and that it really paid off for you! It really does make a difference!
Just saw you guys at Gold Shaw farm and watched your we quit (for now) video. Wow what an adventure and what a great plan!
Thank you so much! It sure has been a fun ride! We are so excited to see what’s next for us!
I think I saw you guys on one of the many “farm/foodie” documentaries I’ve watched over the years! God bless you guys! I guess what you’re really saying is: it’s possible to overdo anything-even farming! I’m glad it sounds like you’re rediscovering your focus, and making the important things your priorities. I’m excited to see what happens next!
Absolutely!!! I was even having a conversation with a friend in healthcare and said “and if you don’t like it, you can always change”. There is nothing wrong with deciding you want something different or realizing that you no longer want the goals you had prior.
On the late freight here,it's been a year but Kootenai County Idaho 🎉🎉🎉
Hi!! Thank you so much!!!
Loved this video. Hindsight is always 2020. If you find yourself in Northern Indiana visit Silverthorne Farms in Rossville and Holy Cow Farm Fresh in Monon. ❤️❤️
Thank you!!! Oh for sure!! We will definitely have to check them out thank you! ❤️
I loved your Sow the Land video.
Now you could do the other two from Jason's podast crew, The Hollar Homestead with the new baby makes 8 Hollars, and Lumnah Acres all 500 acres that is LoL.
Thank you!! It would be so cool to visit them too!!
I have 5 acres and I can't imagine having a whole farm on only 5 acres. I just grow my own food...garden, chickens, turkeys and venison. I have both meat birds (only for 8 weeks) and laying hens year round with Turkeys in a 10x15 coop/barn in Wis. To start my garden it cost me a whopping $33.00 and it feeds me for the year. I seed save so I don't have to buy seeds every year and I grow only what I eat. I had 300lbs of heirloom organic tomatoes, 165 lbs of potatoes. (this year I seed saved potatoes. I can and I freeze my food. I dehydrate all my herbs. My pantry is complete with homemade catsup, tomato juice, spaghetti sauce and paste. Winter is my time off. I gain weight...ugh. I have strawberry patches, wild black raspberries, rhubarb and horseradish. Did I mention I am alone and almost 66 yrs old and a female. I put up my own fencing and mow my own lawn. Check out More Than Farmers channel or The Hollar Homestead.
Wow! I’m so glad that you get to do all those things! I’m really happy for you and can see that you take great pride in your work! Although our journeys may not be the same, I believe that we are all out here trying to find the right thing for our own souls. Our travels are taking us on an amazing journey, not to unlike the journey the Hollars went on before they settled down on their current farm. Thank you for checking out our video. I hope you stick around and see some of the amazing people we get to meet. ☺️
@@BreakingNewRoots Please accept my apology for sounding so harsh. I didn't mean it like the way it was written. Thank you for being so gracious in your reply. Yes, everyone has their own soul journey. I love your content. I got hooked after watching the interview with the 86 yr old farmer. Love your content. Hope life finds you happiness and love. Sounds like you are on the right track. God Bless. Yes I am a subscriber.
I removed my last sentence because I sounded like a complete B...ch. Sorry!
No worries!! I accept your apology but can understand that it’s hard to see someone’s whole picture from a few videos and to truly hear tone through words. But thank you so much for subscribing!! We are working hard to tell some amazing stories. We put new videos out every Saturday and Wednesday! ☺️
U guys need to Keep in mind farming is hard my wife and I are in the process of buying our first farm in Pa we both grew up on farms but are buying our own. We bought 93 acres 50 tillable we plan to start with hay and organic corp and with in five years build a dairy barn. I'm going to say this every one does something different
Oh absolutely! Farming is a very difficult and equally rewarding profession! We loved our farm. But after having children and other life events, we decided to take a step back and do something we always dreamed of doing, traveling. We are excited to take our experiences with us and meet other farms throughout the country.
Whenever traveling to México, welcome to our farm in Mazatlán. Greetings
We will add it to the list! Hope we can make it down there! We will see where this takes us!
I saw your husband on Joel Salitins channel and fell in love with your story. Well! That wasn’t long before you sold everything and left. You have to do what’s right for you and your family. I wondered what had happened to y’all. So I da like you are doing well. Prayers and best wishes. I’ll be waiting to see what you find out there
Oh yes. We have enjoyed telling our story to many places, and our interview with Joel is still a conversation that we hold tight to our chest. And we aren’t done with farming, just pivoting slightly. Thank you for coming along!
Visit Roots and Refuge in S.C. or David the Good in AL.
Oh yes! Great advice! Thank you!!
Why? They have hired help. They aren't "small farms anymore."
I don't think hiring help has disqualified any of these farms, homesteads or operations that Olivia interviews. If that was the case, she never would've visited Polyface. And the success of any operation shouldn't preclude the wealth of experiential knowledge that can be derived from an interview. To disparage R&R because they are making an incredible investment and impact on their small SC community with their Farmer's Market, Beulah Roasting Co. & eventually the Carolina Homestead Exchange simply because they value community so much is nonsensical. If anything, we need MORE interviews with folks who were once so poor their chicken coop was repossessed but have scratched out not just a living, but are making an enormous impact on literally hundreds of thousands of people, many who are now where they once were. That seems to be exactly who Breaking New Roots would want to visit. And if you do, Olivia...tell Jess that Vonnie sent ya! 😊
Farming is NO joke!!! People don't know what they don't know.... thanks for sharing your journey!!!!
That is so true. One can never fully understand something until they are deep in the trenches. I we are grateful for our experiences but are excited for our next chapter!
There is the romance...and quite separately the reality of this lifestyle. This becomes even more apparent as you get older and wake up with more pains every day.
So true!
Thanks for your videos. Have you considered Wild East Farm in North Carolina? The RUclips channel for the farm is called Small Scale Revival. They have a beautiful regenerative farm.
Thank you so much!!! Oh no, we haven’t heard of them and left NC a few months ago now. But we will keep them on the list if we ever get back that way!!
Very interesting to listen to
Thank you so much!!! I hope you come along for our journey!
I like your channel. I am glad you put this video out. I retired and bought some land to farm. But it is slow going. My family and friends are not committed to help so its hard going it alone. I think once the perimeter fence line is cleared, it will go better.
Hi Greg! Thank you! It can definitely be difficult and yet still rewarding. We love farming and will find it again one day. Slow is the way to go!! Where are you located?
@@BreakingNewRoots Central Illinois. You should do a video on birchfield farming in Ohio if you are passing through.. I love that channel. He is doing more on 5 acres than any other channel I have seen. He has sheep, chickens, red Devin cows, and a lot of good videos on Johnson Su composting and covercropping his garden. He rotates the animals constantly and came through last summers drought quite well.
Anyway, can't wait to see the next video. I hope you can find some property, but giving yourself a chance to look around has been our benefit.
Oh thank you! We will definitely put them on our list! Yes, we are really enjoying our travels! I can’t say we know when we will settle down again but for now, we are in love with sharing the small farm story!
Don't give up. I am a 66 yr old woman and bought my 5 acres 4 years ago. Put up all my own fencing. Raise my meat birds. Have chickens and turkeys and a garden that feeds me all year long. On less than $33.00 to put in. Not bad for a years worth of food.
You gotta go visit Gold Shaw Farm obviously
Haha obviously
Interesting. I guess I missed the video where the property you had bought fell through. Look forward to your adventures.
Thank you! Yes, we made a video about buying an abandoned farm. Our next chapter is an exciting one!
@@BreakingNewRoots I did see that one. However this video did make it sound like you no longer have the abandoned farm.
You are correct! It's been a whirlwind of excitement followed by disappointment! When we made the first video about buying it, we had agreed purchase agreement, but couldn't get it to closing. Probably shouldn't have made that video before we closed, but we we're too excited to not share it. Losing it, took us a while to figure out how to talk about it!
@@BreakingNewRoots No shame - stuff happens! That's just what happens sometimes.
That's how we feel about it, this video was the longest every for us to make and its not even close. We feel like its the key to the next chapter of videos and excited to share it with everyone! The NC house falling through was tough, but I think it gave us an opportunity we would've never imagined!
There HAS to be some formula to determine the basic necessities to make a farm viable. I have a friend who was an EMT in a country area, he loved 99% of his job, the 1% that made him give it up was attending Farmer suicides. He attended so many Farmer suicides he developed PTSD and was forced to resign. He entered a new trade/profession, he thrived in his new profession, albeit with emotional scars. The reason for the story is the Farmer suicides! My friend is the type that doesn’t let a problem beat him, he needs answers and his questions are and always have been: Why? How to stop it or change it? Is it the people or the environment? He has come up with some very interesting statistics, things like: Animals versus Crops; Broad acre versus Intensive: Networked versus Solo.
Love your story
Thank you so much!! ❤️ we are really enjoying our journey! Thank you for letting us come see you!
Is there another youtube channel of their older video from 6 years ago when they started?
Yes. There used to be. Unfortunately it was accidentally deleted when we rebranded to Breaking New Roots. But some of our farm videos made it over to this new channel.
3 acres. No wonder it was so hard to earn. Ive alway approached it as a business and a business only Not a homesteading adventure.
3 acres of pasture yes. It wasn’t hard to earn money actually. The farm was profitable and doing well. We just got burned out trying to do so many things at once. We are learning so much through our travels and will take all that knowledge with us when we settle down on a homestead one day. ❤️
You should do a video on how to avoid farm burn out.
That’s a great idea!!
It’s sad and shocking to see the reactions of some people towards other people who, even after diligence and patience and careful daily planning and care for years, eventually realize and decide that it’s time to move on from farming and leaving the countryside to a different state or country, some even do go back to the city and are happier there. Factually, there is no shame for doing so, and there shouldn’t be! I’m so sick of these false Christian, religious, and atheist rural hypocrites who look for any excuse as to why someone simply decides farming doesn’t work for them. That’s okay if it doesn’t work for you! I personally hate anything rural and to do with farming or gardening, animal husbandry, etc. They don’t make me a better person and God doesn’t say I have to do them to lead a Godly life and help others. It all boils down to - your family do what ethically works best for your family. We don’t all like the same things or live in the same places, etc. A country person and a city person who are Godly, ethical, civil, courteous, even if they are both self sufficient and hard working, who try to live in peace with those around them are always welcome at my table, as they say. If people want to demean and falsely accuse or censor city or country people, we’ll that speaks volumes of how wrong that person is and they have serious problems that they need to work out with God. Bottom line - if you decide farming or gardening doesn’t work for you, then I say to those people that’s great and I still support you!
Thank you so much! Your words are true. We are all out here just doing our best and trying to find the right thing for us. Our journey is showing us ways of farming we didn’t know possible or in existence. We will farm again one day but it won’t be the same way we did before. Time in life is also very important. Giving birth to two children while farming and seeing the hardest of the hard days at the time really made us rethink our lifestyle. We are so thankful for the journey we are on, for our past experiences, and for what our journey might hold in the future. Thank you for watching! I hope our videos are helpful in some way, even if you aren’t interested in being the farmer yourself. ☺️
@@BreakingNewRootsI am at peace in my life with no longer doing any gardening, farming or animal rearing or living in the countryside. My life is more full and I can focus on God and my husband much more than when I did unnecessary pointless crap like that. Leaving the countryside or farming, etc anything rural doesn’t make anyone a worse person for doing so, even if many country people hypocritically look down on me for doing so. (This also applies to city people who look down on people who decide to move to the countries. As they say - snobs are everywhere, and just as odious as their counterpart) As aforementioned, I personally leave those sorts of people to God to deal with and yet I still try to be courteous and try to live in peace and hope they respect my family’s privacy. That’s another thing I don’t miss about being rural - busybodies/meddlers. Anyway, otherwise, if anyone treats someone justly and well and who can treat us now city folk as well as their rural neighbors and vice Versa, in spite of that, if they want to visit us, they’re welcome to and we will make room for them at our table with places of honour. :) Even if they’re homeless. :) As for your videos, although I don’t share much of your interests and passions, I appreciate your candor and telling the truth and for defying the rural stereotype that one comes to love living rurally once they move there, when in reality, it doesn’t for everyone. :) God Bless and I support you still! Rock on!
Too much livestock on too little land. Realistically you need an acre per horse for proper grazing. Too much all at once. It's not the right life for everybody because you must be content with a simpler lifestyle. Just maintaining the property and structures are constant and tend to take up any extra you thought you were saving.
Our land was actually doing great with the amount of animals we had on it. Using regenerative practices by moving our cows and chickens every day we almost couldn’t keep up with our grass growth. We loved our farm it just didn’t meet our personal goals anymore. But we are loving our travels and meeting so many amazing farmers along the one. One day we will find land again but for now, this is our wonderful journey. ❤️
selling meat cuts/shares didn't work out? Do you have any videos discussing your learnings?
Like we talk about in this video, we got burned out. We talk about it more in some of our tour videos. We have learned so much from the many farms we have visited about managing our time, the types of species of we should have, etc.
You are welcome to visit our tiny farm anytime !!
Where are you located, we are very interested in visiting small farms and sharing others small farming stories!
I think I saw you guys on Saturday
Oh maybe. Where at??
@@BreakingNewRoots in Gainesville FL
Oh awesome!! It was us! ☺️
@@BreakingNewRoots cool
Very cool! Thank you for coming over!
I'm new to your channel ❤
Thank you and welcome! We have visited over 100 farms across the country to share their story and learn from our mistakes! We will settle down again soon! We hope to take those lessons into our future farm/homestead!
Other than one prior vid this is the only vid I've watched of you. Just to see if it was legit and not click bait. I also wonder how long we'll last. Im not the normal farmer either and limited physically due to cancer. Im not sure where we'll end up but i cant imagine life without animals at all. Maybe we just end up homesteading for personal use only.
We are definitely legit! We know all the struggles and all the rewards with farming. We are found that there is no perfect way to do things and you aren’t a failure if you choose to do things a different way or change the way you do things. I hope you continue to enjoy the farm life, in whatever capacity you can!! ❤️❤️
So there is the 7 year itch for homesteading too...
Omg the random wheelchair 😂😂😂
Oh my gosh i know!! It was crazy!
We quit… then we made multiple offers on farms 😂🎉
I mean it wasn’t that fast but it definitely wasn’t the right thing to do. It didn’t work out for a reason and we are so glad we went on an amazing adventure traveling the country visiting small farms and now are homesteading and doing things a lot different than before. ❤️
Simple answer “It’s to hard for me”
Nope my uncle demonstrated the absolute worst way to “test” an electric fence by peeing on it.
Employees?
Did we have employees?? No, we were much too small to pay employees.
@@BreakingNewRoots but if you had too much work to keep it you needed an employee, in another reply you said making money wasn't he issue it was the workload...
Our farm was profitable, but not enough so that we could pay someone else a decent wage. There are a lot of farms in this category and is explained very well in our video with Jordan Green.