Small Farm Nation

Over the years I’ve often mentioned a fellow named Tim Young at Self-Sufficient Life. Tim has always been an inspiration to me. A bit over ten years ago, he left a high-powered, high-stress corporate job and bought a ragged run-down 60-acre parcel of land in Georgia. In a staggeringly short amount of time (through a combination of business savvy and sheer hard work), he became an expert in numerous enviable enterprises, including humanely-raised meat, raw milk products, cheesemaking, etc.

Having dabbled in small-scale farming on and off for 20 years, I can attest to the remarkable and varied skills he’s picked up much quicker than we ever did. He’s also a brilliant writer, marketer, teacher, and mentor.

One of Tim’s passions is helping people start their own home-based business, whether it's directly related to farming (raising meat, eggs, vegetables, etc.) or farm-related enterprises such as soapmaking, the fiber arts, landscaping, or permaculture. He is also knowledgeable about numerous food-related businesses such as artisan bakeries, wineries/breweries, dairy and raw milk operations, agritourism, restaurants/catering, etc.

Recently Tim has put together a mentoring course called Small Farm Nation Academy which guides people through what it takes to start a successful (as opposed to unsuccessful) business. The nice thing about his workshops and coursework is they don't just apply to farming-related enterprises. Speaking from the perspective of our long-term (and successful) craft business, his principles apply equally well to anything home-based since they focus a great deal on marketing. He mentors people along their journey and steers them away from making common mistakes that can doom them from the start.

This is the kind of stuff I wish Don and I had known from the beginning, much of which we had to acquire the hard way (y'know, via the School of Hard Knocks). Tim teaches about branding, website development, social media marketing, PR and media coverage, marketing strategies, etc. Resources include reading material, podcasts, videos, and community involvement through forums with other entrepreneurs.

I've always maintained the key to successfully living in the country is having a home-based business. Whether it's farming, crafting, writing, or any other innovation, a home business means you can live farther from the city (with cheaper property prices) and spend more time together as a family rather than being separated all day at distant ends of a commute.

If any of this sounds interesting, I urge you to visit Tim's academy website and see what he offers.

Listen to my podcast!

The incomparable Tim Young, aka Self-Sufficient Man, is launching a new venture this week: podcasts.

Here's his announcement:

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If you dream of starting a small farm, becoming a modern homesteader, or just long for the simple life, I’ve got some exciting news.

I've been thinking of creating a podcast for a long time -- well over a year. And now, it’s here: the Self-Sufficient Life Podcast!

What's it About?
Lots of people would like to opt-out of the rat race and become more self-sufficient, but they all face a big hurdle: How can they afford to take the leap?

Each episode of Self-Sufficient Life features an inspiring person who has opted out of the rat race and found ways to earn money living more self-sufficiently.

There's no Podcast Like it!
But it’s not just an interview show ... it’s a narrated one-hour podcast, where I share the guest’s story in their words and mine, set against a background of music.

In a way it’s similar to narrative podcasts like This American Life, because in Self-Sufficient Life, I create and narrate stories.

What kind of stories?
Stories of people who figured out how to opt out of the rat race and earn money through sustainable farming, cheese & soap making, pastured livestock and other “traditional” farming enterprises.

But I also feature insightful stories of innovative modern homesteaders. Those who earn money through online marketing, podcasting, YouTube channels, essential oils, authoring Kindle books, selling online courses, blogging and other “non-traditional” ways.

It’s fun, inspiring, and will give you lots of ideas on how to become more self-sufficient, whether you’re in suburbia or in the country.

I've already recorded a bunch of episodes, so get ready to tune in starting September 16, 2016.

And then, get ready to opt-out today!

SUBSCRIBE HERE ON iTUNES

SUBSCRIBE HERE ON GOOGLE PLAY

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Tim interviewed me a few weeks ago. He gave (I think) a very clever name to my podcast: The traffic jam that sparked a rural revolution.

You can listen to it here.

$0.99 sale

Tim Young's excellent book Start Prepping! is on sale today only for $0.99 on Amazon. Can't beat a deal like that.

Cheese and children

Our advertiser Tim Young ("Self sufficient man") has a new video up entitled Starting and Running an Artisan Cheese Business.

He also has one of his children's books entirely online -- well worth reading.

Folks, this guy is amazing. Consider he's a "late" starter to the field of homesteading, he has learned more in the past ten years than many of us learn in a lifetime. His videos and podcasts are always worthwhile.

Tim Young books on sale

If you remember, a few days ago I introduced you to Tim Young and his amazing lifestyle.

Tim just let me know he has five of his self-sufficiency/preparedness books in Kindle format on sale for $.99 each. They include:

• Start Prepping
  
• Playful Preparedness
• How to Make Money Homesteading
• The Accidental Farmers
• The Survival Mindset

This is just for today (Tuesday 9/22), so don't hesitate.

Tim also did an interview yesterday on the Prepper Recon Podcast with author Mark Goodwin. His talk is entitled Americans are Dependent on a Failing System (which I think you'll agree is true). Well worth listening.

[UPDATE: A reader pointed out that "How to Make Money Homesteading" is $1.99, not $0.99. I inquired of Tim, and he replied: "It is. Amazon wouldn't let me set the price lower than that due to file size. :-( "

So... FYI. ]

Welcome Tim Young

A couple weeks ago when I announced we would be accepting select advertisements showcasing small or home businesses, naturally we didn't know what kind of response we would get.

One of the first people to contact us was the amazing Tim Young.

I've mentioned Tim a couple of times before (here and here). Over ten years ago, Tim and his wife left their urban home and embraced the challenges of homesteading. Not just homesteading, but making a living from their homestead ... not an easy thing to do.

But these folks rose to meet the challenge and have created a lifestyle that, well, you have to see to believe.

I don't think there's anything they don't do, from butchering to beekeeping to making tinctures and medicines to...well, everything. Their website is here and it's worth diving in and exploring all over the place.

Tim has a new book out entitled Start Prepping which, as you can imagine, covers the subject with the thoroughness and expertise folks have come to expect from someone of Tim's caliber.

Tim isn't one of those "theoretical" writers. He's a get-your-hands-dirty kind of guy who speaks with honesty about his success and failures, his mistakes and his triumphs. When Tim recommends something, it's because he's been-there-done-that.

This is a book well worth reading, particularly for those who need a nudge in the prepping direction. And for anyone interested in homestead musings, farming nuts-and-bolts, and endless other rural nuggets of gold, Tim Young's website is the place to go.

Ten years too early or ten minutes too late?

Here's a sobering article entitled Society’s Five Stages of Economic Collapse found on Tim Young's Self Sufficiency blog. Worth a read.

Tim summed up the five stages as follows:

1. Denial
2. Denial
3. Denial
4. Oh (bleep)
5. I'm screwed

Very true! As the saying goes, I'd rather be ten years too early than ten minutes too late.

Books and blogs

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for "how we did it" type books documenting how people transition from urban to rural life. So when I came across The Accidental Farmers, I knew this was a must-read.

Well let me tell you, this book is honest. In sometimes gut-wrenching language, Tim Young describes what it takes to leave behind corporate America and build a farm from the ground up. Unlike the eternally optimistic perfection too often implied in country magazines, Mr. Young's rural journey wasn't all a bed of roses. There were quite a few thorns along the way. The book is riveting in its honesty and refreshing in its unvarnished approach.

The Young's journey began, like so many other urban-to-rural migrations, with the realization of how artificial modern conveniences are. "Urban living is all about convenience," he wrote. "Whatever you need there is a store or solution reasonably close by, easily identifiable by an endless line of traffic in low-speed pursuit. The perceived benefit of this reality is of course subjective. We moved in part due to the box stores that were beginning to encircle us, slowly moving in for the kill on our wallet. Within just a few miles of where we formerly lived was every conceivable type of restaurant, organic grocery store, specialty and large-scale retail, pet grooming, lumber and landscaping centers, malls, concert arenas, professional sports teams, museums, theaters, nightclubs, you name it. We felt drawn to many of these places, I think, simply because they were there."

Ouch.

One of the first things the Youngs discovered in their new location is allergies, which raises a philosophical and unanswerable question: "Does anyone honestly think this was a problem a thousand years ago? We've created such a perfect manmade world that we, the inhabitants who created it, cannot live outside of it."

Characteristic of the success he had in corporate America before chucking it all, Mr. Young and his wife approached their new farm with determination to succeed. "I don't know why I'm so stubbornly drawn to challenges and obstacles," he wrote, "but if it was a challenge my sub-conscious wanted it should now be permanently satiated by taking on sustainable livestock farming." Regarding farming in general and its reputation for being hard work, he wrote, "Still, the need is there and somebody needs to do it, and this fact is what pushed me over the edge."

The book outlines the Young family's journey toward building an organic sustainable farm as well as farm products. It's not always pretty. But when things are pretty, he tells about it. And that's what characterizes rural life in general, particularly when farming for a living instead of a hobby.

Anyway, I highly recommend The Accidental Farmer for a deep and honest read.

So imagine my surprise when Mr. Young contacted me -- me! -- and asked if I wanted to participate in a new book he was writing entitled How to Make Money Homesteading. The premise behind this book is a truthful analysis of how to earn an income in the country, whether it's selling farm-produced goods, or selling skills-based goods or services. The book is excellent and contains the author's characteristic honesty when it comes to rural life. As someone who's always trying to take the rose-colored blinders off country living, this is something I appreciate.

Now Mr. Young has a new blog called The Self-Sufficient Blog. It's a start up but it's great.

I'm impressed with Tim Young's multifaceted approach to country living. He blogs. He writes. He raises organic meat. He makes organic cheeses. He teaches classes. He conducts workshops. In short, he personifies the "many irons in the fire" structure of earning an income that I recommend to anyone living rural.