New Farm, Again

A new farm to look at. This is the farm we went to look at yesterday, December 31, 2009. It is the perfect farm, the barns are in good shape, and could be put back into milking very quickly. The house is not much to look at inside, but it appears to have good bones to work with. It is the location that is a little out of the way, but that can have its advantages too. The area is mostly farms, although there are some houses and even some new houses, hopefully not to many more, at least not right next to us. There is additional land available I hope we can get before it is sold to some developer who thinks they can build ridiculous homes next door to our farm, and sell them to city people. We may have to consider the creamery right away, as it may be to far off the route for the milk truck. Oh well, I will look at a couple of other places maybe, but this one seems promising, but I have to come up with some cash, that is certain. The broker Christmas and Associates offers their own financing, as long as we can provide about 20% down, but that even will be difficult. I need a partner who is willing to put up some cash. I need to modify the business plan, but first I need to do the math again, and do some market research to determine our marketability from that location. I think we are closer to the Adirondacks than to Syracuse to be perfectly honest. Lots of work to do, will have to post more later.

Working Class Hero is Something to Be

Working Class Hero is Something to Be

Whatever don't kill you will most likely make you bleed.  If you don't get the lyrics then you may have already let your dreams die.  There's so many minstrels that have tried to tell you the truth, and in some cases their words are carried on backs of the bards that follow, except it still escapes the masses as it should be.  The mistresses and fools are lined up in the firing line, awaiting the hangman, who is courting the queen, if you know what I mean.  Do you still want to stand in that light, with your head all lit up with the opium and disease.  I can't see you any more, you are just a fool on the hill, and I am trying to find my way through this haze.

There are some great song writers that lived and are living today.  Some of them were more recognized for their talent in music, or other bands in which they existed at one time or another, but either way, there have been many to stand as bards of their generations.  I don't know if it was the times, or what, but the sixties and seventies seem to have given us many very influential minstrels.  One such is John Lennon, but he is by no means the only one.  I have spent a lot of time listening to these artist, and no one stands out, although certain songs may.  John Lennon's "Working Class Hero" is one such song.  There are many others, that when understood have as much weight, but often the writers are unaware of the weight they bare to the world.

I never made my living as a writer, which is what I should have been, but I made a few choices that changed that to some extent.  It still creeps into my life in various ways, but not to the point of consumption that it once occupied.  I only make this point as to demonstrate that I do have an understanding of words, and their intricate meanings when strung together.  I have felt the power I can have over someone when I address them specifically in a writing, especially poetry, but do I really address them, that is the question they are afraid to ask of me.  I have written many things just to test this theory, with various results.  I still use this to some extent even in verbal communications, but it is less effective on an individual as on a mass.  I have turned to poetry on occasion to manipulate situations, and to influence readers, but it is limited in effect to the moment, for the most part.  For true longevity there needs to be something more universal, such as music.

The story is told and then it is sold, often to the highest bidder.  The artist does not know why, but they must eat too, so they sell their soul and hope to buy back some sort of peace with the profits when and if they are given a piece of the pie.  The peasants are all in for the ride, they know not why, but it is better than crying alone.  They will give a bounty of their rice for a moment in the bard's embrace.  The tax man will take his share, and give the rest to the fools and masters, who will carry the rice in wrappers to the man on the hill, cause his priest told them he will bless them if they feed the hoar.  I wait here in this mix tape, splicing the words into the darkness, laughing on the inside.

Don't take this sad smile as a mask, it is the true face of a scar with slit through the light.  Here in the shadow land I can see you there, in your light and airy mind, scared to think, to think what they will think, if you think, then you stop and think, did they think I thought that.  In all that bright and sudden world, you are pretending to understand, but all you really have is a apple core, and the man took away your meat.  It is not so easy to see from your work-a-day cube, where you are burning the past so no one will know who they are, and what you do, but it is there inside you.  Toil away in the fields of deception, while on the rail way to your cartoon cut out house, which you won through hard labor in the machine.  You have paid your price, so lie down and take the rest you have been promised as long as you keep turning that wheel.  Did you take those hard earned grains of sand and bury them in your sack, or did you cast them on the wind, to resend them back from whence they came.

So you don't like this kind of talk.  It makes you weak in the knees to see the woman on TV.  What can I say, open up your jeans and let your mind wander to where there are no codes.  As the book tells you, you need to do what you need to do, when it is time to do it, so you can carry on.  You had better find some way to carry that stone, if you don't want to be alone, and if you don't want to be let down, you have to look ahead, don't let your eyes wander or you will miss the turn and break from the pack.

So what has this to do with anything.  Well I honestly can't say, but it runs that way, so let it be, sister Mary, let it be.  Brother John and cousin Kevin, have gone on to see Captain Jack, in Sufferjet City.  And the man who sold the moon, is now right behind you waiting for the idiot wind to blow through your mind again.  Carol is waiting on Saturn for Arnold Layne, and if you look at that way, you will be back through desolation roe before the men who know, even know you have gone down to the river.  My name is unnamed, here in lies the truth, cause you know not what to do, when the tower falls, and the walls come tumbling down, and the girl you just met is there beside you through thick and thin, but gone again when you realize that you are just spring shower sunshine friend.

This is for the girl who always plays the loot to close to the heart.  Her music is asynchronis to the wind, and the harp is damming up the box of rain.  Are you sure you want to open that note, it may give you to much to fast, but you want it that way, or so you think that is your kink, but is it.

You know who you are... and this little ditty in the middle is for you, or is it... maybe it is just for anyone who might feel a way that you can feel, when someone strums the right cords on your heart strings.  At least I came right out and provided that doubt for you right off, so you wouldn't have to work to hard.  Well there it is, can you take it, or would you rather leave it alone.  You know it is on the edge and you are just hoping that it will come to you, so you can blame it if it doesn't really feel the way you imagined it would.  And you close your fingers around the cold steel, it feels so warm in your hands, you tremble at the feel of it against your thigh.  You don't need this, it is just because you want to, that is what you will tell yourself, and that will move it closer to the edge.

Ah, I jest, as I am just the jester, and you know he is the king of fools.

JD

Doud Dairy Farm Journal 12112009

Ok, so this is just some thoughts. I need to raise either $50,000.00 or $350,000.00 to get the farm going. I have no money, I guess I never have. I have tried to save money, but it just doesn't seem to happen, something always comes along that eats up any money that we try to save. So I have been thinking about it for a while. What I have come up with is that if I could get a bunch of people to lend me a certain amount of money on the basis that they thought it was worthwhile, well then I could buy the farm and put the farm into action. My problem I think is that this is different world. I believe that most people are self focused and do not think about the future.

That is not exactly it, but I am uncertain how to put it.

Here's my take on the whole thing, or at least the best I can do. Okay, I am moving over to Google Docs for a minute to produce the text, then I will post the whole thing here, attempting to explain what I am into agriculture for in the first place. BRB

Doud Dairy Farm Journal 11192009

DDFJ_11-19-2009
Time slips away from me, slowly sliding off my pate, to land quietly in the deep forest of sleep, where I do not often find myself peaceful. Here I find this bit of peace I seek, in a few feathered friends.
I am but given to wonder, if it will make sense to me tomorrow. As I wait, and wait for the weight to fall out from under me. I try to not think of this, but keep telling myself that it will uphold the frame of my dream, but is it really my dream after all, I wonder.



Are all my ducks in a row
or scattered, barely held together by paste, and hide glue.

I hate doubt, it creeps into you like the cold of winter, slowly, but ever still, it is there, chilling you until the spring breaks its grasp with warming sun light.

So there really is nothing new on the farm front. It sits there taunting me, just out of reach, but so close now I can almost smell the acrid flavor in my mouth, watering, wanting to pour milk on the floor, just to swim in the depths of my approaching exuberance.

If anyone is reading this and wondering why the pictures, well I really don't know, they are actually old pictures and they have not been messed with, just snapshots of the animals from a few months ago. I keep telling myself I should take some more recent pictures, but every time I get to work with the animals I am just doing my job and then when that is over, I don't take the time to wait. It is where they are located, there is an urgency to get out of there as fast as possible, because we don't want to hang around there. Besides there always seem to be something else we have to do. I don't want something else to do, I want to take care of the animals and watch them do what they do, and work on my photography, and the other things I do. I am going back to film, because until I can afford a really expensive digital camera, like a Nikon D90 or something, although I always thought I would not own a Nikon, I guess they won, film is better, and I can turn it into digital pictures. I won't set up a lab though, as I think that is worthless at this time. I really would like to move to large format, and then I guess I would need a lab, but I digress.

I wish, I pray, I whatever, that it should be.

Peace;
JD

DDFJ_11-12-2009

Why don't I write everyday, like I was for a while? Hmm, that is an interesting question indeed. I guess it is because I lack discipline, or maybe because I feel I have other things that I am doing that seem to be between me and the writing. I used to write a lot, but now it seems it is really sporadic. I really need to write more often.

So anyway, what's going on with the farm. Well not much to report on the farm really, at least as it stands now. We have been offered a farm lock stock and barrel so to speak. Well the cows, and feed, plus a lease on the barn, at least until spring, when we will buy a near by farm and continue from there. Now I only have to get the money to buy everything, and I need to move quickly, so I can get this running on before winter really hits hard. What I need is for someone to come in as my partner with some money and good credit, so that we can get this show going. I have the contract to sell the milk, and the offer to buy the farm, now I need a good partner who is willing to come on with some cash and run with the plan. Okay so I am a little short on the plan now, as the previous plan does not apply, and I haven't really wrote a new one yet.

This is an opportunity for the FSA to actually help me out, but it is doubtful that they will, even though they indicate that they have the farm start type of program just for such a situation. I can only hope that they will see the opportunity and understand that the loss of another farm will not be good for the economy, and if we don't buy it, it will be lost.

As far as the future is concerned, well that is still up to the wind. No really, once we have purchased this farm, we will operate it from its current location until spring, and then we will have to refinance to buy the farm down the road. When we buy that farm, we will need to cut cost every where, so we will look to building wind power on the farm to cut our input cost. We have other plans though for the farm. We will increase the diversity by many fold to decrease our exposure to economic factors. We will buy 10 Tamrac sows and a boar to produce pork and piglets (which will be increasing in demand in the near future). We will buy an additional 9 Sanien goats, and 10 Oberhalsi goats (does) and a few Nubian goats to round out our dairy herd and for pasture health. We will buy 40 sheep to provide fleeces and lambs for market. We will also fill out our chickens with about 60 more standard egg breeds, although for the most part we will be looking at heritage breeds. We will also purchase about 10 Muscovy ducks, added to our current ducks and chickens for pest control and pasture health.

We will also be buying Milking Devon cattle, Kerry Cattle, and a few other dairy cattle, to begin to build the dairy herd towards 100 head of cattle by January of 2011. To assist in the animal control we will be looking to acquire two more boarder collies (females only) and at least two horses, Belgian would be preferred as I would like them for farm work, although we will also use a tractor for some of the work, we will do as much as we can with the horses.

I still have some pretty ambitious plans, but we can do this if we can just get started. The hardest part seems to be finding a partner that will ride with us to make this happen. I am not asking for much, but I am not doing much to find that partner either, so I guess that may be why we haven't found them yet. I have to be more social, something I am not very good at. I need to write more, in the hope that maybe I can write enough to support the farm until the farm can support its own growth.

Well that's all for now, have a pleasant day.

DDFJ_11-07-2009

Well we have been searching for property, and we may have found some we can rent in Mexico, NY. I hope we can buy it in spring. I am only putting everything I have into this, and I do not know if I can take much more.

DDFJ_09-26-2009

Still searching for a new farm property, with very little luck there. It always seems like we are close to a deal, and then something happens. This last deal just seemed to evaporate. The land owner seemed to be on board, and we seemed close to closing the deal, and then nothing, no returns of our calls, nothing. So I am looking again, with little success. I am trying to get EcoContracting running, but that too, seems a little retarded. I can't get to the sites to make bids, and I don't have the capital to float the cost of materials. The job I did for ServiceComUSA seems to have gone dead, so I will have to try to force them to pay me for the work I have done. This is why I required them to pay for the materials on the job, because I sent in my quote, and they have ceased to contact me. Not some type of refusal or even counter offer, just nothing. I hope to get this other work from Easy to Own Homes, but I don't know about them either. The lack of capital is hurting me, but I think if they agree to the bid with a 50% deposit, I can get a loan for the materials and operating cost, so I can move forward on that.

The rest is going as it goes, I don't get out to the farm nearly early enough, and the animals are still just getting by. We are getting no eggs from our chickens, but I am not certain of why. I need to build so many things, but for that I need to build a building, but for that I need a piece of land, and for that I need to work to get the money, and for that I need to spend money, so that's where I am at. I have got to go, maybe I will try to post again later.