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The sweet spot is when you have passions about products, expensive things or impractical crops to scale... We have a homestead with acreage in Hawaii. Chickens

The sweet spot is when you have passions about products, expensive things or impractical crops to scale... We have a homestead with acreage in Hawaii. Chickens and eggs are zero effort. We don't even need to feed them, just collect the eggs. We grow heirloom tomatoes in the greenhouse because they are crazy expensive to ship from the mainland and we love them. Likewise, we also grow a lot of white pineapples because they are amazing, but not commercially viable to ship... There are lots of small scale / high margin areas to work in, you just need to explore and find them. You won't build a business empire, but you can find a lot of satisfaction.

gabereiser 6y ago
To think if the whole community could do this you could have more sustainability and variety and setup local farmers markets to shop local-to-table. Granted in Hawaii you have finite land to work with, but remember engineering is hard at work to figure out vertical eco-friendly hydroponic farming to increase those yields per acre at the expense of up front investment in the infrastructure. I want to emphasize the last bit though about “building an empire”. It depends on what your metric is. You can be rich and be broke. You can be poor but wealthy. The empire here would be in community and not in money. Giving back by selling your produce, locally, and helping the community. That, is satisfaction. On top of the satisfaction you have from growing your own food of course.
- dehrmann 6y ago
  > To think if the whole community could do this you could have more sustainability and variety and setup local farmers markets to shop local-to-table. I go to a farmers' market in the Bay Area. It draws farmers from a 100-150 mile radius. Being California, you get produce from a lot of different climates; some things need a cool coastal climate, some need the heat of the central valley. You also see the season of crops move. Things usually start in the south where it's a bit warmer, and the season (and vendors carrying) that crop moves north over the next few months. The community approach can really only get you some amount of diversity in produce that does well in your area, and maybe a bit from the soil type. Talk to anyone who's grown squash will tell you there's a month where their one plant has more squash than they know what to do with. The problem is everyone in the community has the same squash surplus at the same time. I appreciate the idea, I just think that produce production will always tent towards hobbyists and professionals because of economies of scale.
pvaldes 6y ago
Potatoes and eggs are a reasonable project for starting. Fruits need some planification, but are also a reasonable goal at long term. Veggies, tomatoes, milk, soft fruits, any meat... even chicken meat, are more hard and need lots of planification.

gabereiser 6y ago

To think if the whole community could do this you could have more sustainability and variety and setup local farmers markets to shop local-to-table. Granted in Hawaii you have finite land to work with, but remember engineering is hard at work to figure out vertical eco-friendly hydroponic farming to increase those yields per acre at the expense of up front investment in the infrastructure. I want to emphasize the last bit though about “building an empire”. It depends on what your metric is. You can be rich and be broke. You can be poor but wealthy. The empire here would be in community and not in money. Giving back by selling your produce, locally, and helping the community. That, is satisfaction. On top of the satisfaction you have from growing your own food of course.

dehrmann 6y ago
> To think if the whole community could do this you could have more sustainability and variety and setup local farmers markets to shop local-to-table. I go to a farmers' market in the Bay Area. It draws farmers from a 100-150 mile radius. Being California, you get produce from a lot of different climates; some things need a cool coastal climate, some need the heat of the central valley. You also see the season of crops move. Things usually start in the south where it's a bit warmer, and the season (and vendors carrying) that crop moves north over the next few months. The community approach can really only get you some amount of diversity in produce that does well in your area, and maybe a bit from the soil type. Talk to anyone who's grown squash will tell you there's a month where their one plant has more squash than they know what to do with. The problem is everyone in the community has the same squash surplus at the same time. I appreciate the idea, I just think that produce production will always tent towards hobbyists and professionals because of economies of scale.

pvaldes 6y ago

Potatoes and eggs are a reasonable project for starting. Fruits need some planification, but are also a reasonable goal at long term. Veggies, tomatoes, milk, soft fruits, any meat... even chicken meat, are more hard and need lots of planification.