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Funding a Permaculture Farm

 
Posts: 74
Location: Prattville, Alabama, zone 8, 328ft
4
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Hello everyone, I have been on permies for a while and would just like to let everyone know that I have set up a GOFUNDME account to help me and my family raise money to start a permaculture farm. The only thing people grow around our town are hay and cotton, the produce stands around here usually go to the northern part of the state to larger farmers markets to get their produce to sell so there is almost no true local produce. there is an abundance of land around the outskirts of town that are cheap because they are to hilly for grazing or the kind of home site traditional builders are looking for but would be great for permaculture. Me and my family are ready to take the next step our backyard is filled to capacity, I sit in bed at night reading until the battery on my laptop dies, I practice permaculture as close as I can in my flat backyard and the urge to go full scale is driving me up the wall. I do understand that this is a long term goal up to ten years or more. So if anybody around these parts feels they could spare a couple of dollars to help make this farm a reality it would be appreciated more than you know. Just the thought of working the land, teaching others about permaculture, bringing fresh produce to market, and doing my part to help heal the earth almost brings me to tears.....oooh man OK enough babble but if youd like to donate hopefully this link will work. Thank you for taking the time to read this post. [url=]GOFUNDME[/url]
 
gardener
Posts: 1177
Location: Wheaton Labs
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Hey, good luck with moving to the next step! A couple of suggestions about your Go Fund Me page, if you're open to them:

$50k is a big goal; you might go into a little more detail about exactly how the money will be spent. Is it purely for the land purchase, or for infrastructure, earthworks, etc., or animal/plant stock, etc.? Maybe even how much money will you and your family contribute, if you're comfortable sharing that. I feel like people are more likely to donate if they know exactly what their money will help do, and if they feel like you are really invested and have been working toward the goal yourself (like if you've already saved a down payment, for instance). You might also consider a lower fundraising goal if you feel like that's at all possible, since I've noticed in the past that people are more likely to contribute to goals that seem fairly immediately achievable, where they feel like they're having a real impact moving things forward, versus when they feel like the goal is unsurmountable or too far distant and their small contribution won't matter much, so they don't donate. Pretty much the only people I've seen do well with large goals in the multiple tens of thousands of dollars are people who are "internet famous" or can mobilize a lot of attention and exposure (like Paul Wheaton, for instance, with his Kickstarters), but smaller campaigns seem to have more momentum as a general rule (this is purely based on my observations, not any kind of actual statistics or anything, so take it with a grain of salt).

You might also include some information about yields from your backyard where you've already been practicing permaculture (it looks great, by the way!). For instance, if your yard is 1/4 acre or whatever, how many pounds of produce, how many dozens of eggs, etc. do you typically produce. And if you scaled it up to 3-5 acres, roughly how much you could expect to produce based on your track record, how many people in your community could that potentially feed, what kind of profits you might be looking at, stuff like that. Any sort of business plan you have might also help, or sharing any design work you've done for the farm (I know that would be hard if you haven't got a specific piece of property to work with yet, but just some stuff about what kinds of crops, pasture systems, etc. you are thinking of, maybe).

I really hope this doesn't come across as intrusive or pushy, I just wanted to share a few things that I've seen help people get off the ground with fundraising campaigns in the past, although I'm no expert. I wish you all the success in the world with your fundraising and with your future farm!
 
pollinator
Posts: 2916
Location: Zone 5 Wyoming
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I'll be honest, whenever I see someone with a gofundme for a farm or homestead I think they are a really bad candidate to farm or homestead. It's not all dirt and seeds, it's a lot of financial knowledge. If you don't have it, get it or you'll be in for a world of hurt.
 
cameron johnson
Posts: 74
Location: Prattville, Alabama, zone 8, 328ft
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Thank you Jennifer for the advice and I'll take all I can get, your right about the info on my fundraiser it does need more information and I am working on it. As far as egg laying chickens I only have five adults and to chicks right now that produce four to five eggs a day but at the rate we eat eggs they provide us with all the eggs we usually need and provide eggs for two other family's on our street, when the two chicks are grown that would make six to seven eggs a day so we may add a third person thats getting eggs. As far as our garden production goes its been hit or miss mostly due to just trying to learn what plants would work in this climate and getting the diversity right to minimize pest damage, although this year is looking promising, we have mixed in wildflowers, clover and chick weed was a big volunteer this year so if things continue the way they are now I should be able to get some good numbers this year. But yes there is a lot more information to be added for instance land prices vary from $3000 an acre far out from town to up to $10,000 near town. So i'm looking outside of town trying to find about five acres outside of town for around $25,000, the rest will be divided up between dirt works, water and electrical. I would think that $50,000 wouldn't cover everything but on the upside our family is tight knit and my father is in if I can get this project rolling he will be willing to start investing to help bring it the rest of the way.
 
cameron johnson
Posts: 74
Location: Prattville, Alabama, zone 8, 328ft
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No its not all dirt and seeds its a lot of dirt and a lot of seeds thats my part my wife is the financial knowledge. She has the business school thing behind her, my brain seems to be on the creative side im only good when im working outside with wood, plants, broken vehicles or animals.
 
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you may want to check out kiva zip -- they provide small loans to farmers at 0% -- up to $10k

this article explains, in more depth, how their program works -- http://www.localharvest.org/newsletter/20140529/
 
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