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I have been farming in NC (outside of Asheville) for several years on rented land. I would really like to buy my on land to continue organic farming and homesteading, but land prices here are out of control. On web searches I have found upstate new york land in my price range (which is under $2000 per acre), but don't know much about the vast area. I am used to living an hour from civilization, so can definitely handle isolated land, as long as I am about an hour or so from a place to sell my vegetables (in Asheville do it at the tailgate markets). I would love to know about the growing season there - Spring frost date, etc. Of course I have read many threads about Ithaca, and have found listings for inexpensive land around Marathon. I am open to living anywhere, but definitely don't want to go somewhere that is a zone 4 or colder - definitely NOT a long enough growing season in that zone. Also considering Washington state, but land on Western side seema a little out of price range. Any suggestions or info would be greatly appreciated. Would probably buy raw land and then add structures as money allows - am into "alternative" building and would actually like to build something like a strawbale house on my land eventually.
Location: North of the Cow Pasture and South of the Wind Turbines
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I like this thread I am not an expert but I am have similar ideeres. I would suggest posting on the new weather forum for specifics on weather. Once you can zone in on an area then you can get a better idea of the weather it varies quite a bit - and changes and the saying goes "don't like the weather wait 5 minutes."
Also I think soil and the types of crops you grow will be a big factor. I believe coming from NC you will face the reality of the cold and flooding issues and rock. Also there are tax incentives for folks that can establish and keep a family farm - they are tough to maintain - I am looking for thread here that had a lot of good links on that. There is a good potential for any road side stand or coordinating with local markets and other venues for selling your produce. You might consider a greenhouse for getting a jump start on the season, and looking at seed varieties that like the colder climates. Also at city data there are gardening forums with great info.
NYS has great potential but little support from government or towns, but I believe the local farmer is crucial to any local community. Who would rather eat that crap at the stuper market than buy fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and any other organically grown product.
good luck I will watch this thread.
Last edited by BovinaCowHateWindTurbines; 08-06-2007 at 06:06 PM..
Reason: doh
You can get in touch with Cornell University where they run a statewide conglomerate of agricultural offices in each county of the state for further information.
The majority of farms are corn, soybeans, onions, apple orchards, vineyards, and dairy with some maple syrup. Smaller truck farms grow a variety of vegetables including tomatoes, zuchini, squash, pumpkins. The corn is just ripening now, and apples/cider will come in late Sept/Oct which is the last crop. Most plantings I believe start after the end of May. You can get two cuttings of hay in a season.
What will you be growing? We could use a bigger variety of vegetables and minature ones so popular elsewhere are hard to find. There are tons of defunct farms all over.
I'll second much of what Bovina has posted. I think most of the areas of NYS you'd want to consider, as far as proximity to markets and at least fair land (ie. not mountainous elevations) for production fall in zone 5. I don't know for certain, but I suspect that the most successful (surviving that is, certainly not getting 'rich') small farmers in upstate NY are specializing and have some sort of high value-added product to sell (artisinal cheese, organic-free range meats....). There are plenty of people who disagree with me on this, but I think NYS really could be positioned at the forefront of re-localized food production/organics, etc., and I see plenty of evidence that it is happening. In the last several years the farmer's markets in NYC have really exploded (though I'm becoming a little skeptical of the standards of some of the vendors), and most of the at least moderately sized towns/cities upstate now have seasonal farmer's markets. The best evidence I've seen of the beginning of some kind of a 'boom' is the CSA I belong to. It went along slowly adding members for a few years, but this season it seems like the number of subscribers has tripled- maybe it's just a fad (a lot of hipsters gaping at things like kohlrabi and going 'what the heck do I do with this!?'), but I hope not. It's also possible that if climate change plays out the way they suggest it may, upstate NY could actually do OK as far as food production.
A couple of resources to look into:
The Finger Lakes Permaculture mailing list (Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute | a project of the Cayuga Nature Center)
They host various workshops on permaculture as well as occasional natural building things.
Cornell in Ithaca has a large and renowned ag. department. A little large-scale/industry/conventional ag oriented for my taste, but still a valuable resource.
You could check Local Harvest (Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food) to find out where many of the farmer's markets are.
The Yestermorrow school in VT (not too far from the border of NY) offers a lot of natural building classes (cob, strawbale, etc. as well as classes in more conventional building skills).
There at the least is quite a bit of interest in natural building (straw-bale in particular, as it seems best suited to our climate), as I receive email notifications of workshops fairly often.
Certainly upstate NY would be a big change from NC, but might offer what you are looking for. C'mon up for a visit.
In NC I grow a wide variety of vegetables -sold through tailgate markets, a CSA I operate, and to local restaurants. This year crops included kale, broccoli, collards, lettuce, turnips, radish, cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes, squash, onions, etc. I also sell herb and vegetable plants, as will be having a small cow herd and goats and chickens on the new farm. I try to be as self sufficient as possible, and like to make my own cheese, etc. The land I buy will be for me to have a small family farm and to live "rustically". I will hopefully find good farmers markets where I move to so I can continue selling veges that way, as well as probably having a csa.
There's lots of farming in Columbia county with a Cornell Cooperative Extension (see Sgoldie's post above) right outside of Hudson. Here's their website...
CCE of Columbia County Newsletters (http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/Columbia/Local%20Newsletters.html - broken link)
Every little town and village, cities small and large, have farmer's markets, generally one day a week in season. Some are during the week and others on weekends so you could go to several. I wouldn't say collards and kale are very popular here, but hey, maybe you'll start a trend. What about celery and garlic? I also see asparagus (it's one the earliest up) and all kinds of berries.
I believe Rochester is considered Zone 6, and would expect that to be the same for most of the flatter areas of WNY....you may want to consider Wayne County, just east of Rochester, or Orleans County, just west of Rochester, which ar both somewhat moderated by lake ontario like Rochester is, putting them full zone higher than the higher elevations you find in most of the rest of Upstate NY.
Am searching desperately for someone with extensive knowledge in organic farming....need to manage/teach/make profitable some of the best land in new york state...farm is already established, but we need help, ASAP... salary, living accommadations, farm shares for the right person...Thanks
Check out: Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFANY.ORG). Once there, click on the CSA directory. Various farms are displayed on the embedded table, which can be sorted by any of the column headings - very user friendly. Double click on any of the records to view the respective contact info.
The organic farm we patronize is Blooming Hill in Orange County. Give Guy Jones a call. He's a wealth of info and experience. He started his farm from nothing and has a strong commercial business, selling to restaurants in NYC as well as at the NYC farmers market. A few years ago, he started selling retail at his farm on the weekends and it had become an area destination for many.
We have other farms in Blooming Grove (Pen Hills, Roe's and Pennings [mainly is a nursery, but is branching out), but Blooming Hill is the only organic place.
Happy searching!
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A good resource
