Where did you learn to be a farmer?

[messybun]

Okay, this might seem strange to some of you, but where did you learn farmee stuff? I know for many farming is the way it has always been, so you learned from your family. Where did the rest of you learn?

 

[Grant]

I moved to a family farm, 1100 acres when I was 13. There through high school and went to Mizzou as an Ag major. Out of farm life for 30 years before getting back. Ag Extension centers are great for information.

 

[Mini Horses]

Exposed since a toddler at grandparents....not like a "today" farm in most areas. I mean 70 years ago not equipment like now. But it is where I was introduced to self sufficiency. The acts of growing, canning, hunting, butchering and bartering or sharing were all instilled from that. As soon as I could, I had a farm! Studied at farming and learned from local long time farmers, fervently followed Mother Earth News and such sources. Spent time experiencing pros/cons of gardens & animals. Studied with my vet of 25 years. Asked questions of other gardeners & livestock breeders. School of hard knocks!

 

[secuono]

Instinct/genetics, trial n error & lots of reading/seeking help from forums, I'd say.
I learn best by jumping in & doing. If I fail, fine. If I succeed, great.

My aunt raised sheep & had an orchard, but they weren't animal people, so not anyone I took any advice from. When I visited during 8th grade, she had a dog & 3 wool sheep left. Neither were actually cared for, toss food/water in & otherwise ignored. Already knew as a kid, this wasn't right.
Grandmother raised nutria a long time ago, but again, Polish people aren't known for their kindness towards animals nor people different than themselves, so I didn't ask her either.
My parents only had pets because it is part of "the American dream" or whatever.

 

[Baymule]

I was born loving animals and dirt. My Daddy always had a garden and my earliest memories are of toddling after him in his garden. I loved horses and wanted one of my very own and bought one when I was 12. We had to board her, we lived in the city. My grandparents had 40 acres of unimproved land, went with them on weekends while they cleared, built a cabin and fences. I was allowed to scamper up and down the ladders, help drive lead head nails in the corrugated tin for the roof, had hand saws and an axe put in my hands to clear brush and got to set posts with post hole diggers. I was having a blast. My grandfather took me hunting and taught me how to clean game.

Animals? I just absorbed it through the pores of my skin. I learned as I went, I rarely did not have animals of some sort. My ex's family had cattle and I was always in the thick of things. I was always ready to do anything outside and I enjoyed working the cattle.

I had rabbits, quail, chickens, and pheasant in my 20's and did my own slaughter. The times in my life when I did not have animals, I kept a garden or bought produce and put it up. I loved hunting and cleaned game and I did my own butchering and putting it in the freezer. I have always loved farm living, even when I did not live that way, I just did my best.

Now, I am having the time of my life. I wake up to my horses that I can see from the kitchen window. I step out the front door and the sheep BAA BAA at me, the steer moos at me, the dogs come running and life is good.

 

[promiseacres]

I grew up on hobby farm of sorts. Both my parents grew up on a small farm, Dad's family lost theirs due to a highway needing to be put on the land, Mom's family had a "hobby" farm of sorts. Meaning they had animals, some were for consumption some were not, not always the best intentions or plans. I took ag classes and was in FFA in high school then went on to get my BS in Ag/Equine Sci in college. Also did 10 years in 4H. Now I'm teaching my kids. Trying to do it right and keep our focus. Just this year we started butchering our own rabbits. You can say it's in my blood. I hope my kids feel the same when they grow up.

 

[River Buffaloes]

Instinct/genetics, trial n error & lots of reading/seeking help from forums, I'd say.
I learn best by jumping in & doing. If I fail, fine. If I succeed, great.

My aunt raised sheep & had an orchard, but they weren't animal people, so not anyone I took any advice from. When I visited during 8th grade, she had a dog & 3 wool sheep left. Neither were actually cared for, toss food/water in & otherwise ignored. Already knew as a kid, this wasn't right.
Grandmother raised nutria a long time ago, but again, Polish people aren't known for their kindness towards animals nor people different than themselves, so I didn't ask her either.
My parents only had pets because it is part of "the American dream" or whatever.

It was kind of a mix for me. I grew up in a farming community and was born in a family who had farmed since times immemorial, but the only thing they did were growing rice, wheat, millet oilseeds, pulses and fruits and vegetables and also sugercane . Large livestocks like buffaloes and cattle were also an essential part of the farm, but no poultry other than a few country Chickens.

My family used to cultivate sugarcane, but it was incredibly labor intensive crop and suger industry was collapsing in Bihar. It had to be grown on higher plots to save it from floods, that left flood prone plots for rice. So I stopped the planting sugercane. I increased the number of chickens, added ducks, chickens, turkeys and guinea fowl.

I also stopped raising cows, they find them more susceptible to diseases and parasites specially ticks. For two years I was tormented by cows catching mastitis. They also tended to be more aggressive. I have seen a heifer attacking my great grandmother and breaking her arm and hips. Years later another heifer attacked my grandmother and that was like last straw. I said no more cows.

With poultry it was completely trial and error for me. I had jumped into it and learnt in the process. Actually that's how I found BYC and from that BYH.

Side Note :- As a Catholic I was biased towards Poland. I was sympathetic towards Poles, you know because Poland is like Christ crucified between two thieves.

 

[docteurmccoy]

My dad actually. He's never been a farmer, but we moved out to the country and he enjoys reading. One of the books he read most was "Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle". He built our chicken coop and barn.
Now it's me, and I do the reading. I actually just got "Managing your ewe and her newborn lambs", "Holistic Goat Care", and "Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep" for christmas.

 

[Beekissed]

My grandparents, then any old farmer I could learn from, years and years of soaking up any and all farming information I could glean from any source available. Lived off grid for 9 years as a youngster, so learned practical, hands on knowledge and then put all of that in practice as much as I could through the rest of the years of my life. Still farming now and have been actively doing that in various ways since I was 10.

The very first cabin we built on our off grid experience...this cabin was constructed in 3 wks and still stands today, looking much the same 44 yrs later. Not fully finished in this pic, but you get the picture...yes, that's cardboard underpinning and we had a heavy cardboard on the raw lumber floors also...Mom and Dad had spent all their money to buy the land and had nothing for building structures.

We built another, larger and better cabin on the land a few years later but I lived in this two room cabin from the time I was 10 until I graduated HS and moved out. That's my mother in the pic, then 42 yrs old and with 4 kids still at home, she started her homesteading journey.

 

[Niele da Kine]

My dad had a large backyard garden so gardening happened as a kid. For a few years, my grandparents lived on my uncle's farm although he didn't farm it. My grandfather had a half dozen milking cows and a very small dairy there although as a Realtor, he had a job in town. My grandmother had a large garden and chicken house there, we had quite a few of the chickens as dinners when visiting. My uncle - who lived in town - kept an apple and peach orchard there for his bees, but the neighboring farmer farmed the acres with corn, soybeans and hay. We camped in the woods at the back of the farm during the summers. Some of the cousins kept a sizable ranch with cattle and some other cousins are still farming square miles of wheat/corn/milo, although we didn't visit them much as kids since they were a day's drive away.

Living on a sailboat as a young adult with a dog did a lot for learning how to be self sufficient. There was a very small 'garden' on top of the dock box, but it was all of three by five feet. Moving back to land, couldn't afford to live in town so there was room for poultry and ducks and learned a lot about building for the first few properties. Also, tropical gardening which is much different than the type I originally learned.

All that was prior to the internet so it was reading whatever books were available, asking neighbors who had figured things out and just sheer trial and error. Now, with the internet, things are soooo much easier.