build it and they will come?

Clear communication of expectations on both sides is the most important thing, I think.

We had a land share deal on our place and the person abandoned a bunch of stuff which I now have to clean up.  I think they totally forgot about it.  But there was no provision for what to do with abandoned stuff.

Jack Mundy wrote:...Specifically, the owner needs to have something to offer other than just the land in exchange for labor (because that sounds a lot like a job).  [This goes off-topic] - While there is something to be said for the Woofer-like arrangements, I shake my head at the pay-for-the-privledge setups of living on my farm, working your ass off, and at the end of the season get out.  I have done several internships while in undergrad and grad school and all were paid; so it's hard for me to understand why that's different in agriculture/permaculture.

fwiw, I'm not offering land in exchange for labor, I'm offering use of the land to start one's own enterprise.  work your ass off and earn what you've built.  Yes, it requires a solid trust agreement; that requires legal advice at a cost.  FIRST I need to finish paying off the mortgage, then extra $ can go to legal fees.  Unless someone steps in sooner, and then WE'D draft the agreement together.  I don't want to kick anyone off at the end of a season - I want to see the farm grow, I want to see THEIR success.  The checklist you pointed out from the link Tyler offered - EXCELLENT framework.  I'm hanging onto that (will link it to my personal site so I don't loose it), THANKS!  
Now, back to the daily grind, but enjoying the view of my garden out the window.  Will grab breaks from work now and then to make the most of another beautiful day...

HAY DAYS!!!

It’s soooooo hot.  Minimal rain this month, the water trough stopped running last week.  (Glad I didn’t disconnect the waterline from the house to the horse tub - it’s still there if we need it.  Before this month is over, we may need it!)  Meanwhile, EARLY morning, before the temps climb to 90+ again (and again, and again,) is the best time to move fence lines to open new paddocks (and the best part of the day... away from the computer, filled with birdsong, “...Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life.”)

Busy and fun month despite the unrelenting heat and stressful job: garlic harvested and curing in the barn (with enough softneck this year to try braiding!);  another nest full of robins hatched in the tool shed (wonder if the photos I send will entice distant grandkids to visit?); and HAY being made!!!  Made up a batch of switchel and walked down to the hayfield to share it, and to get some pictures of the field that was mostly multiflora rose some years ago.  (YEARS of brushhogging finally paid off!)  Spent some time learning from the farmer how to continue to improve the field (and enlist his help removing the autumn olive he shouldn’t need to work around...)

Off farm: restructuring beginning at work (help at last!), a couple of pasture walks and a pond workshop, and sharing my farm ‘plan’ with more folks - maybe beginning to gain traction in the right circles(?)

And now,  turning my focus back to MY original wish - more time with horses.  I’ve spent enough time setting up a future farm infrastructure - whoever ends up here can add to it.  For my 60th birthday, I’ve decided learning to saddle up and ride is my next big goal.  Still not enough time yet to fully realize, but I’m making new connections in that direction.  Met a few trainers, and heading to a show today.  

Life is good.

Lovely photos!

Hi Emily this is in respond to your post build it and they will come. I am interested in the share. I too posted an ad sort of like this about two weeks ago. My e-mail address is vanessafrancesmccray@gmail.com and my phone number is 434 604 6477. I'm in new york at the moment.

Laura Emil Laura Emil Laura Emil

Hi this is Vanessa McCray I posted a message to you a minute ago but I got your name wrong i'm sorry. I made a similar post like yours about two weeks ago. I am interested in sharing the land I totally get what you are offering and why , which are some of the reasons that I put my ad out there. I have been preparing to do a Homestead and off the grid living for over a year now. my e-mail address is vanessafrnacemccray@gmail.com and my phone number is 434 604 6477. I'm in New York right now.

just a quick note to myself try to stick to my goal of keeping this updated - TOO BUSY!!!  lol, lots of possible 'complaints' (drought, mechanical issues, schedules, etc) but the bottom line is i AM still here, so thankful.  won't have time to catch up on the missing updates, except to share the ironic:  young couple who 'were' going to help/learn and benefit from my garlic crop stopped showing up - so while working alone to finish cleaning/sorting and sharing the harvest, I made the irrevocable decision to downsize; I won't plant even half quarter as much this October.  BUT...  I also got to my first garlic festival last month, full of new info and renewed enthusiasm, so bought another variety to try.  Why not?   Then at an agro-forestry workshop, I met another garlic grower (seems we find each other in crowds - hmmm, could it be the odor?  nah, I brought some show-and-tell samples, knowing it would be an ag interested group...)   Less than a week after returning home from the workshop, I got a surprise package in the mail:  SEVEN MORE VARIETIES from my fellow grower!!!  LOL, so I'm downsizing AND EXPANDING this year.  (oh no!  a RECORD KEEPING CHALLENGE!!!)  
happy autumn!

best laid plans...  I can NOT keep up here, why did i EVER think I might?  lol!  
some quiet time this morning, a bit of web browsing (and thanks for THIS! https://permies.com/t/61209/Eco-friendly-gift-wrap !!!  we don't do much packaged gift giving here, but I've got boxes of old fabric that MIGHT be good for this, and in the spirit of 'christmas should be EVERY day', maybe i can think of targeted recipients for the too much stuff in my attic, and wrap and gift them WITH the instruction sheet THROUGHOUT the year ...)
and just to add a journal update, the many varieties of garlic HAVE been successfully planted, i set up with a friend at my 'first' ever vending event (and actually sold a few braids!), a heavy snow fell, then melted with a temp rise so I was able to ditch/divert extra water away from the new garlic beds, (maybe averting a spring drowning), and now, with job hours cut and a forced holiday break at my J-O-B, i'm re-organizing my home office in hopes of re-focusing on succession farm planning.  never give up!
happy holidays to all!  

Best of luck on your new endeavors!  

Best wishes for the New Year! And the vending and garlic!

Life is a frenzy - and lucky me, I often am able to trick myself into redefining 'struggles' as 'challenges' and turn them into 'adventures'.

the J-O-B is about to E-N-D, so I'll enjoy the March winds from the comfort of my home office, no need to travel; but also no more internet until I figure out an affordable way back online.  

Before I'm gone, here's a snapshot of this wonderful weekend. My guy is gone on an adventure of his own (visiting naval ships, civil war forts, uugh - but having HIS kind of fun, yay!) So I have a long stretch of days to set up his computer with MY programs before handing over the J-O-B computer.  

It was just TOOOOOO beautiful on Friday to stay at my desk.  With a comfortable mix of sun and cloud cover to keep the 70's from being too hot, I decided working on clearing the never ending scrub on a barn bank was a higher priority.  (Would rather have worked uncovering the daffodil beds again, but the bank is steeper, and will be impossible once the mud season starts - and it WILL start...)

By end of day, a GREAT sense of accomplishment to get ahead on one task at last, and so wonderful to stop and watch flocks of geese overhead (HIGHER than my son did on his fly-by - there's a story to ask me about if you come to visit!)

And the progression:  Friday: BEAUTIFUL, Saturday: RAIN!  (knew it was coming, thus my resolve for Friday's task.)  And today, Sunday: snow flurries!!! (it seemed, initially, that our state rodent Punxatawny Phil might have been wrong in his prognostication, but current accuweather reports are warning me we may have a long spell before spring zephyrs return...)  Don't know how to post a video here, but enjoyed flurries as I head out to the barn.  Flurries won't last and don't expect any real snow anytime soon, but temps are dropping, I DID need my scarf and hat, lol!

And next: while my internet connection is gone  I'll still be here - untethered and digging in to continue growing my dreams.  (still wishing for (helpful) visitors (to pitch in a little!)  it's too beautiful NOT to share, and well worth earning a stay...  see http://bit.ly/land2sharePICS )

Sending spring thoughts and thanks!

it's coming up on 10 years since my husband passed, and my '9th annual farm event' is just days away.  i started the event to hold myself accountable to keep moving forward regardless of what little progress i made, and to look back and recognize that however little, inch by inch i have grown.  there have been overarching 'themes' at each event, too - as when, several years ago, i capitalized on my boyfriend's interest in the civil war and invited his friends to demonstrate dutch oven cooking over an open fire.  one year, following a major flood, we prepared extra food for our mountaintop event, to be distributed to some folks who spent endless days cleaning mud from their valley homes.  
some of the 'past progress' report:    best garlic ever (less IS more!) and the multiple varieties growing side by side were just picture perfect.   hay isn't only IN the barn, this is the year we didn't just contract the haying out, MY tractor actually was put to the task and worked!!!  raking, baling, AND hauling wagons to the barn!!! (i always believed she had it in her; so glad to see her finally pull her weight!!!)  good apple 'harvest' so far from the various old trees throughout the property, and I made delicious apple butter (a first for me, NO sugar needed, and wow, YUM!!!)
But the report looking to the future:  this year, the theme is 'refocusing'.  i have spent every spare dollar trying to enable a starting point for 'someone' who might show up 'someday'.  a few inquiries, a few false starts, but the only 'takers' want me to promise and provide their success.   so it's time to let go of that pipe dream.  the land is still here to share, there is a good roof on the barn and a mostly reliable water source, but with my declining income and advancing age (and we won't even TALK about what that means in terms of health and health "insurance", this past summer's challenge),  it's time to focus on MY sustainability.  the 'share' offer was not because I 'need help', i don't.   i can live out the rest of my life happily enough with what i have here.  i just wanted to see the land grow to support a larger community, because with help, it CAN.  but i can't chase that goal anymore, i need to downsize to work within my limits.
the link to my 'land to share' photo page will remain in case anyone eventually stumbles onto this page and wonders; YES, the offer is still open.  the land is not going away.  i'm just too busy elsewhere to update info here.  (though i'll still return to permies for the wealth of info shared.  what a great resource; thank you all!)  

is it spring YET?  lol, it doesn't FEEL like it - over a week into april and we've seen snow a few times this month.  flurries right now, and maybe an inch expected overnight.

BUT - I won't complain - it's off to an AMAZING start!  January and February had some warmups, good days to drive into town with a friend, park the car, and get a few miles of exercise walking "the riverwalk."  Rejuvenating and inspiring.  Then conversations led to the end of 'just talking about' and actually DOING the paperwork to INCORPORATE as a non-profit!  (using my dearly departed & my wedding anniversary as our official incorporation date!)  I now have a great group of women serving as our initial board of directors, and helping me move this land share goal to the next level!  (when we're fully up and running, i'll be back here with our website...)

As if that weren't enough good news, there IS a young man (three hours away) working on a 'sustainable ag' course who found my 'land to share' offer on PA Farm Link, and has been up to visit several times over the winter.  We're working together as he formulates a plan on how to bridge the distance and start up here when his course is done.  (or maybe even before: there are some enterprises he could start, we could keep going in his absence, and he could be here just occasionally to 'oversee'.  In exchange for his use of the land, he'll can teach US !!!)

And the MOST exciting for me (because when i put aside my 'sharing' mindset and admit what *I* really want just for ME is ANYTHING to do with horses) is:  A HORSEWOMAN HAS ARRIVED!!!  I have two horses, but I don't know how to ride. (They DO provide great fertilizer for my garlic.  And they're just beautiful to watch, so that's been 'good enough' ...)  But I NEED someone around who knows what they're doing, and who can spend time with them daily (I have neither the knowledge NOR the time yet, having returned to the office to earn a paycheck...) That someone is here!!!  A young woman who couldn't keep her own horse at home anymore (but whose parents otherwise support her dream) lives close enough that she can come here.  She knows what she's doing, and the horses are learning that she knows what she's doing (and i've been back to the tack shop twice already, loving it!)   It's a win for ALL of us!!!  

ANOTHER HAPPY SPRING IS BLOOMING!!!  And thank you again, all Permies, who continue to share and inspire!  

So good to see how this has developed so positively for you!

It will have to be a most excellent spring indeed!

Cheers from where the ground is still frozen , but we know it will thaw!!

It is good to hear about your progress!  Best wishes!

Looking forward to seeing your website.

Well, Anne

(and whoever else happens upon this post), it's taken longer than I'd hoped (doesn't everything?), but finally, here (GULP!) it is,

a FIRST PUBLIC VIEW:    https://www.hewittfarms.org / Hewitt Farms


I don't think we can reach out to anyone for help until we have 'something to show' and help tell what we're about.  So that's what this is attempting to do, but it feels more like like showing 'warts and all' instead of a grand reveal.  That being said, this community seems a safe place to do so.  

If you care to comment, please be honest (but gentle) in your critiques.  I want to make this work, and will appreciate your helpful suggestions to move it in the best direction.  (After all, you've ALL be encouraging me along this path for a long time...  THANK YOU!!!)

This is really great congratulations! The website design is nice and easy to navigate and is informative. One minor suggestion is maybe add a photo album section to the site because your pictures are really nice and I am sure you will have more to add.

Beautiful website!

thanks, Perric and Tyler!
I like that photo suggestion - (I sure DO take a LOT!)  and will need to add that as soon as i can (but already have one friend who wants to come up and do a mason bee workshop - in february?!?  so need to scramble to see what's needed for that!)