Courtesy Wally Satzewich, Wally’s Market Garden, Pleasantdale SK
Farming has always had a mystique I never bought into, like you have to put in insane hours, work crazy hard and somehow be special. I wanted to have a normal working life and much of what defines SPIN-Farming is based on that. It sets up work flows, much like a regular 9 to 5 work structure, so you don’t have to feel you need to leave behind a normal existence if you want to farm.
Sometimes you have to work overtime, and sometimes you don’t get a day off. But that is nothing new to people who want to get a little ahead in life. Everybody has to work overtime sometimes. Putting in regular-type work days, with overtime during certain parts of the season, is certainly within the reach of the average individual.
On the revenue side, your production is geared towards market crops, and what you also use for yourself. To make a desired income goal, you set the bar to where you need to be. Revenue can be looked at as goods for market, as well as produce you consume for yourself. Monetizing your production by putting it into your own personal consumption “marketing channel” means you will save money on food, which amounts to making money. You can also use it as a trade good.
To get maximum bang for your buck in terms of the hours you spend farming, you need to focus on crops that bring you success at market, as well as suppling your own needs. That means you have to chose your crops strategically, with more scrutiny than if you had a more open-ended work schedule. You also have to be strategic about how you scope the size of your operation. That is another hallmark of SPIN-Farming. The point is to put the least amount of land into production to meet your revenue target, regardless of how much land you have. That is what makes a farm manageable for the long term.
Add in perks like being able to set your own hours, having a healthy active outdoor lifestyle and access to nutritious. low-cost, self-produced food, then farming is in keeping with where a lot of people would like to be now.
GET STARTED IN A MANAGEABLE OWNER/OPERATED FARM BUSINESS HERE.