@Miles Flansberg, Thank you, 5 years will go by quick and I'm hoping I don't lose out on that valuable time! My goal is to be financially secure so I can retire at 40 (from a job). I don't think I'll ever fully retire from working per say but I don't want to work under anyone. I'd like to provide for my own self instead of depending on someone else my whole life. In 5 years I'll be 26-27 so I need to be getting on it lol
@John Elliot, Thanks for the welcome! I'm really glad you brought up sorghum because I actually thought about growing and processing sorghum because it's almost a lost art in my opinion. Sorghum will be non existent in the next 20 years, I'd almost bet on it! I'm very interested in growing niche things like sorghum to process into syrup or having an orchard to make jams. My big thing now that I've just gotten interested in is beekeeping. I've never touched a beehive but I feel like it would be a cool little hobby to start. Plus, honey never goes bad, wax can be used for tons of cosmetic items, propolis can be taken as a supplement and royal jelly as well. I would love to sell products like that but I think around here it would be near impossible to have true organic honey. Are there any ways to keep bees isolated to 4 or 5 acres of land without them wandering off onto a field that's been sprayed with agricultural chemicals? I was thinking about somehow setting up a massive mesh net/screen around the whole property connected to trees. If that's not dreaming then idk what is! lol If it's never been tried I'd like to do it! I'm strict about the term organic and if I was to sell something I would want it to be completely 100% organic and without the contamination of synthetic crap that would never naturally occur on Earth in the first place. I'm willing to go to whatever lengths I have to make that a possibility! Are there any other niche things that have long shelf lives that I could potentially sell online as well? Sorghum and honey are perfect examples of something I would like to do. I even thought about planting a massive herb plot and harvesting them and making tinctures, salves, tea bags, culinary infusions, etc. and selling online. I just don't know how much money that would give me.
@Jamie Wallace, Well I've been influenced by the movement as a whole. I think me spending sleepless nights on the internet looking for ways to secure my future and reading about the corruption of our food and water supply ( and seeing it first hand).. I put the pieces of the puzzle together and dialed in to this exact thing. I want to make a living in agriculture but I want to be a good guy regardless of the income. The university I go to literally caters to people getting agriculture degrees with political science minors and vice versa.. if that's not screwed up then I don't know what is. Our future and more importantly the ones that will come after us is completely shot at this point. I'm praying that I can get the funds to make a little change in my community in the beginning then spread it far and wide and partner with others. My biggest dream as of right now is to have the biggest organic farm in the strictest sense of "organic" and I'm talking not even a plastic water bottle on the premises! I wouldn't even allow water to be stored in plastic holding tanks! If our great great grandparents could find a way then we can too.. my generation is a generation of entitlement and laziness and there are some out there that want change but mob mentality always prevails and I've seen some great minds go down hill due to popular culture spreading this "I don't care about anything lifestyle".. it's definitely one of my biggest fears because when our food supply is controlled by a couple of corporations, our water supply is completely privatized and regulated, and well our energy supply is already controlled by a handful of "grids" that the government has access to.. You can't help but do the math and figure out what way we're headed.
@Dave Redvalley, Dave I think that's my main concern. I'm probably not going to move onto this piece of land. I already live about 30 minutes away from it and even after my girlfriend graduates we won't be going to that town to live. It's in the same county but will still be 30 minutes or more away when we buy our property where we want to build our house. We are looking to buy 200-300 acres or maybe a little more in the town we both grew up in. She'll be making great money when she gets out of school so we are kind of just on pause until then. That's why I'm wondering if I should hedge my money. I definitely don't want to just save it in a bank considering the low interest rate vs. inflation.. I will technically be setting myself up to lose money after 5 years. But, that get's me into the problem of "what should I put my money into".. lol I swear my cause of death will be a heart attack. I shouldn't be stressing this much but I really want to do something productive so I can be at ease and don't feel like I'm wasting time.
