We are small scale farmers (actually my wife really is now-a-days) which probaly qualifies us as certified loonies. We now farm about 1 acre of our 73 acre farm in high-intensity vegetables that my wife and two kids sell at local farmers markets (30 to 40 miles away). We also have about 20,000 Christmas trees that we (mostly my wife) planted with a planting bar over the last 18 years. A couple tid bits; my wife and I have ag degrees and I work outside of the home. This is good, since it helped when she had a sequence of surgeries on both shoulders (rotator cuff) and I had my three knee surgeries (the last one 5 days ago). Small scale farming is very hard physical work unless you hire others to do it. For the last 5 years we have hired local kids to pick tomatoes, and our kids are a big help also (they work as they want to and are payed - easiest way to drive kids off the farm is to use them as slaves). We rented out 40 acres for about 10 years but stopped doing it so we could develop wildlife habitat and enjoy the land. Maybe I'm funny, but I get minimal satisfaction from gazing across a bean or corn field. If you love farming, no one can discourage you, but go in with eyes wide open and have a second job to support your habit, and as others have said, know your market! We'll have some pretty nice spruce forests when all the unsold Christmas trees grow larger. We made money, but over-planted. Good luck! Small-scale farming can be very satisfying.
