Here is the background info on the apprenticeship. Caitlin and I are planning to open our own farm, so we took an agricultural pre-business planning course through the UVM Extension office. We both decided that this was the right thing to do and that we wanted to commit ourselves to starting our own business. Along with this we wrote this 5-year plan:
1- Planning, researching, committing
2- Practical experience (apprenticeship), look for land for year 3
3- Launch our own enterprise, look for land for year 4
4- Grow our enterprise (double or more)
5- Receive 50% of our income from our farm
We have been able to stick to our plan so far and may even be a little ahead of schedule. I do not want to mention much until it is definite, but we may already have customers to support a small enterprise in year three.
I would like to share with you what I was told at the beginning of the pre-business planning course, “Consider yourselves lucky because starting a farm in Vermont is like winning the lottery.” So far, I can’t agree more. I have been very encouraged and inspired by the support small farmers in VT receive. And I am not talking about welfare and food stamps. I am talking about a statewide community genuinely committed to small local farms. Here are some of the programs available to farmers in VT.
I will take this time to make a preemptive apology for all the future blatting I do regarding how enamored I am with VT (but I’m not really sorry, here is another reason).
I am not sure how regularly I will keep up with this journal, but I plan to write at least once every week (or two). Tune in next week for:
Actually on the farm!
