Is there any hope for grant money, or is that a thing of the past?

So I'm about to finish up my doctorate degree in nursing and will soon be able to work as a nurse practitioner. My wife and I are located up in North Idaho and we're looking for property in either Idaho or in Washington state along the Spokane/Idaho border.

We're hoping to start a little hobby farm on 10+ acres and we're wondering if there is any opportunity for grant money to help us buy some land in the next year or so.

I'm interested in composting experiments, raising chickens, and developing a "food forest" for our flock. Also looking forward to playing around with some hugelkultur ideas.
My wife is passionate about cooking and canning and she's a graphic designer, artist, and blogger. We're both interested in pursuing master gardener certification and doing some community outreach stuff. I'm passionate about reaching school kids and teaching them about real food.

Is there anything out there that we might be able to take advantage of in terms of agriculture, agritourism, etc? We don't mind doing paperwork... we're both pretty used to that end of things

Thanks!

Bart : Jesse James used a gun! You will not have too ! There are 10s of thousands of small towns across america with clinics and Zero providers !

How does Extreme Northern New York sound, Two state collages and St. lawrence University and Clarkson all within 35 miles, two forestry schools,
inside a hundred miles Vacant farm land, there is one in the family that was Organic certified.

Housing 'till you find a place, Good Schools olympic venues The largest State park in the Lower 48 states & million acres (We Think ) could be more

The nearest Trauma Center is 100miles away but we do have life Flight !If Any of this sounds interesting to you here is my email Allum@tds.net,
contact me and I will find out who to send a resume to !

Seriously its a buyers market and you are the buyer !Big AL

The USDA's Start 2 Farm website generally says the assistance to start a farm comes in the form of loans, not grants.

That being said, there a definitely resources to help you start. For example, many state nurseries sell fruit/nut trees at or below the cost of production. The University of Massachusetts will test your soil for just $10. Once you have your land, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will pay up to $200 an acre per year for you to transition your land from row crop to forest polyculture. Unfortunately, land that has been in row crops is usually far more pricey than the marginal areas favored by agriculturists.

John Wolfram wrote:The USDA's Start 2 Farm website generally says the assistance to start a farm comes in the form of loans, not grants.

I guess a better rate on a loan is better than nothing. I know that when I bought my current house I was able to get a USDA loan because my area is considered "rural," so that's been helpful. I'll take a look over this site and see what I can find. As far as agritourism or something like that, it sounds like we'd be on our own to try and make something like that work. Maybe there's a tax break in there somewhere too, if we're working with local school kids.

I have 5 flags on this post? Would any of the flaggers care to fill me in?

Anyone with apples can flag topics for more attention. I flag things that I think are interesting or important.

Bart : I gave you the flags because I think you are important, all of rural America thinks you are important ! If New York cant have you, some small but deserving
rural community will find a way to get you what you want !

You are hiding your light under a bushel basket! Go sign up to work on an Indian reservation and get free housing and College loan forgiveness, the way most
communities will look at it you want dirt and they are trying to give you the keys to the whole damn town ! Its Raining soup, turn your umbrella upside down !

For the good of the Cause Big AL

allen lumley wrote:Bart : I gave you the flags because I think you are important, all of rural America thinks you are important ! If New York cant have you, some small but deserving
rural community will find a way to get you what you want !

You are hiding your light under a bushel basket! Go sign up to work on an Indian reservation and get free housing and College loan forgiveness, the way most
communities will look at it you want dirt and they are trying to give you the keys to the whole damn town ! Its Raining soup, turn your umbrella upside down !

For the good of the Cause Big AL

Ha! Okay, this is good to know - I thought it was being flagged for being inappropriate

As far as working for Indian Health Service - it's something I've considered. We've got some good opportunities here for loan forgiveness around here, but they all come with a price. Burnout working for IHS is usually pretty high because of the type of people you have to work with (most of whom are not native, ironically - so don't read anything into that), and the location of the clinics. In my experience, if someone is offering you a bonus to work for them - there's usually a reason

Primary care is pretty demanding and pays pretty poorly - I'm leaning toward dermatology right now, but still another year or so before I'll be able to land a job probably. My main goal in life is 10 acres, a huge garden, and some chickens... so I want a job I can love, but I'm more of a "work to live" guy rather than a "live to work" guy.

Bart B. : Just don't ignore the doors that are standing wide open, there are lots of opportunities that will present themselves if you are willing to trade time in a
rural practice in primary care!

Personally I cant see how a dermatology practice will get you to your goal faster than the man who talks daily to them that have the land, and do not trust
the real estate guy or his word !

Imagine a small town where everyone on the town council is closer than a 2nd cousin to each other -on both sides of the family, Many of them would ship
grandma off to a nursing home if a couple of 100 acres would keep the local clinic up and running !

If you want the local school board to pay attention to you, being a primary care provider means more than being a 400,000 a year doctor who tells someone
that the strange mole on their face is not a cancer !

There is an expression Europeans throw at us'' To an American a hundred miles is nothing, to a European A hundred years is nothing ! ''

Just because the garden you plant the 1st year is not part of your ''for-ever home'' does not mean that you are not putting down roots, and roots and Hx
count for a lot in the country, a rural practice IS the fastest way to get to what you want !

As a dermatologist you may save a life, here and there , as a primary care provider you may save the last craftsperson left who is carrying the life force
and the skills of untold numbers of his crafts going back generations !

O. K., climbing off of my soap box, remember you came here we only ask to share some of our collective ideals and memories ! Big AL