Alton Helm

Over the last few years I’ve gotten grants for a number of projects.  A lot of stuff through the NRCS: got a high tunnel, funded some irrigation system upgrades (subsurface drip for trees), pollinator habitat (planted 150 fruiting trees and bushes), and also a fencing project that protected a lot of my growing spaces with deer fence.  Beyond the NRCS grants I applied for a fellowship grant through the farmer veteran coalition and got a brand new spading machine (I’m in the Missoula area if anyone wants to use it!).  My experience is that once a grant is identified and you qualify, the process of applying is the easy part.  

Kim Goodwin wrote:

Alton,
Welcome to Permies!

That's fantastic information you've shared.  Those are gorgeous pictures in your listing.  I think the price is very attractive as well. I stayed at a private campground in AZ for a similar price, and it wasn't nearly as picturesque.

You certainly seemed to have hit on the magic mix of lower maintenance, attractive site, and working with others.  Thank you for sharing.  I'm hoping to do something similar someday.

Thanks Kim!  We really got lucky, our farm is close to the interstate, close to the airport, and close to a decent sized town, but the topography makes it feel pretty remote.  I hope you find a way to do the same thing, it’s a great stress reliever to try to develop a farm/homestead knowing there is this other income stream to mitigate risk.  Good luck to you and if you ever have any questions let me know!

This has become a great revenue stream for us.  Our property is just west of Missoula, Montana, and we have a section of the property that is more difficult to farm, but is perfectly fine for tent campers and small rigs.  We have about ten sites (dry sites with a fire ring) that we rent out for $27 a night, and we sell firewood, beef, pork, etc. that we drop of with campers when they check in.  If you’re interested in doing this, check out our site: https://www.hipcamp.com/en-US/montana/primrose-meadows/primrose-meadows-unfurled I think we have probably 600 positive reviews in two full years, and the camping revenue is pushing 30k a year.  It’s not completely passive, but it’s low overhead AND a lot of the people that stay with us are local, so we get the added benefit of meeting people in our community and acquainting them with our farm.  If anyone is interested I’d love to chat about Hipcamp, setting up the sites, liability, revenue potential, etc, it’s much more interesting than talking about alfalfa…