Well crap, I think I'm going to be a farmer.

[darkelf105]

So I've always wanted a farm...okay not a farm, but a vinyard in Catawba. I've known that it would never happen because I don't have the neccessary skill set to engage in viticulture. I just happen to enjoy the fruits of other Ohioans' labor very, very much.

However, I love gardening and my uncle Larry had a working farm and that was the best time of my young life. I need being dirty, working hard (at stuff I want to do), finding shit out for myself, experimenting, and in general doing things because I deem them worthwhile. So, after finding out that Cleveland has a land bank, and that parts of the city have been re-zoned for agricultural production, and finding out that there is a local foods scene in Cleveland AND successful urban farming/gardening, I have come to the conclusion that I need to be an urban farmer, too.

It's sorta been lurking in my subconscious for awhile and when I finally articulated it to the significant other, his face lit up and he was like "I've been thinking like that for awhile, too....I was just too embarrassed to tell you..." I knew it was going to happen.

I have alot of freaking work to do, but I think that first step is to talk with the family financial wiz and then write a business plan. Then I have to find some serious business partners (though I am looking at you, lenusazul) and save some money to buy some land. This is probably the biggest committment I've ever made in my life and unlike many of my other musings and fantasies, this one feels right and not at all like an idle daydream.

I have been forbidden, however, to keep bees, even though Cleveland will let you keep hives.


This is going to be so, so much work, but worth it in the end because I think Cleveland needs love and this is one way of showing it.

Comments

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I'm gonna need it.

You too! Pics when you get there!

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! I pay for flikr for a reason.

[snarp]

Good luck! (It sounds a little terrifying to me...) Also, you and your SO together must be a terrifyingly adorable sight.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Thanks, we will need it. It is scary! I'm very scared, but I take that as a good sign. Besides, this whole plan will eventually lead to goats. I want goats.

[guinlet.livejournal.com]

John and I want a little farm, enough to keep a chicken or two, and a goat, and a pig, and a sheep. I also want BEES! I didn't know if there was a good area in Cleveland to do all of this, though, so we were talking about moving to Wisconsin. :|
But you could sell your wares at a farmer's market! How awesome is that? So awesome.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

I know for sure that the city council rezoned areas of the city and that you can definitely now keep chickens and goats in the city limits. Dunno about pigs or sheep, though. And bees. You can keep two hives per property. And there IS a land bank and a lot more focus is being put on using that land for urban argriculture. So we could all farm!

[guinlet.livejournal.com]

I likes it. What are suburbs that are conducive to this? Probably not Rocky River or Bay Village or Westlake. I am sure people wouldn't notice a few extra chickens in Ridgeville...

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

This is actually what I am researching right now. I am pretty certain, however, that we wouldn't have to go to any of the suburbs to do this. Cleveland has it's own argicultural initiative for inside the city limits.