HELP YOURSELF...
Ready to Go Pro – Where Do I Start?
Ready to add farming to your resume and but don’t know where to start? Here are the first 10 questions you need to answer to get your farm business off and in the ground.
 | Ready to Go Pro – Where Do I Start? (PDF 82KB) |
Beyond Bootstrapping
If you are a seasoned SPIN farmer wanting to channel your entrepreneurial energy into growing your business, your local Farm Credit Association wants to get to know you. Their loan officers can not only provide funding, but also ideas and advice, and they know that by funding a SPIN farmer, they are helping to create the future of farming.
| Beyond Bootstrapping (PDF 82KB) |
Support Your Local SPIN Farmer
Others have written eloquently and persuasively about why we should rebuild local food systems. SPIN farmers are showing how. Here’s why you should support them.
| Support Your Local SPIN Farmer (PDF 89KB) |
See what SPIN-Farming is all about.
SPIN is definitely not your father’s farming. Some look at it as a way to earn cash from a lifestyle they enjoy. Others look at it as a way to support themselves while contributing positively to the environment and their community. Still others look at it as a second career or as a source of extra retirement income. See for yourself what the SPIN-Farming life is all about in these free passalongs. Click on the SPIN logo to download whichever ones you'd like – and pass them on!
 | Gear (PDF 859KB) |
| Crops (PDF 3.6MB) |
| Techniques (PDF 862KB) |
| Lifestyle (PDF 1MB) |
Find out if SPIN-Farming is for you.
SPIN is for those who are ready to practice farming in an entirely new way. It works in either urban or rural settings. It can fit into any life style or life cycle. Is it for you? Take this simple one-page test and find out.
| Test (PDF 36KB) |
Learn to think like a SPIN farmer.
SPIN has its own unique processes, techniques and language. To help get your head around how SPIN differs from conventional farming methods, or from home gardening, here’s a translation of the important terms you’ll hear if you find yourself in a room full of SPIN farmers.
| Lexicon (PDF 78KB) |
What Does Wally Grow?
What’s Wally’s favorite vegetable? Whichever one sells most at market! Here’s
a list of the crops that help bring in his steady cashflow week after week.
| What Does Wally Grow? (PDF 52KB) |
Consider this when converting backyards to cropland
SPIN farmers give new meaning to the term “back 40” because they think in terms
of square feet, not acres. So where others see backyards and front lawns and
remnant neighborhood space, they see prime farmland. Here are some of the
points they address with landowners before setting up their sub-acre farming
operations on property owned by others.
| Backyard Cropland Negotiating Points (PDF 35KB) |
What to look for in an urban farm site
More and more first generation farmers are eager to recast farming as a small business inside cities because that brings them closer to lucrative markets. So that means scouting for cropland amid concrete. Here are some site selection criteria you can use to stake out your city-based farm.
| What to Look For in an Urban Farm Site (PDF 44KB) |
Start a farm incubator
Agricultural self sufficiency is factoring into urban sustainability plans, and more and more cities are starting to move commercial food production closer to home. One way to do that is by establishing farm incubators, and here are some basic starting points for starting one in your city.
| Start a Farm Incubator (PDF 112KB) |
Join in the call-to-farm!
People around the world are pioneering a new way to farm. It
is sub-acre in scale and entrepreneurial in spirit. It is unencumbered by
dogma and grounded in local communities. It requires minimal infrastructure, so
it’s easy on the pocketbook. It’s organic-based, so it’s easy on the
environment. Those who practice it are showing how to make more from less.
Those who support it are accelerating the shift back to common sense, free
market farming. SPIN is their call-to-farm. You can join in by providing
information on SPIN at your next green-oriented community meeting or
expo. Help yourself….and the planet.
| Talking Points (PDF 46KB) |
Live a New Ideal. Become an Urban Farm Family!
While the last few decades have seen many last harvests as cropland was turned into concrete, here is how you can tend cropland amid concrete. May SPIN-Farming pave the way for many first harvests!
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Urban Farm Family (with photos - PDF 4.4MB) |
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Urban Farm Family (without photos - PDF 403KB) |