if you are in good physical condition then 52 years old isn't too old. an acre is a lot of produce. i am 66. retired from this after last growing season.

we are early 60's fourth year. 1/4 acre. an acre is a big undertaking. start smaller and grow into it

It depends on what you grow and what people want to buy. Do you live in the country or an sophisticated area?

Years ago at Super Flea in Melbourne. herbs were my hot sellers. I grew them in 4" pots. Rosemary and Basil were my top sellers. Malabar spinach always sold out to the oriental crowd. You have to know your market or be willing to try different things weekly until you find out what it is.

The initial cost of any thing you do will be expensive and you will probably not recovery that cost during the first year.

Irrigation will cost you a bunch of money. Can you even dig a well in that location? Where is the water coming from and how much does it cost?

Is the property fenced in? You are going to need to protect your investment.

Have you research what type of tools and equipments you will need and how much it cost?

You probably won't make any extra cash for the first few years and it will cost you money for the first few years.

Hello gardengirl12

We started our nursery using the garden of Eden plan. Love it! My DH is 57 and I'm 54 we started a few years ago and have just an acre. It is hard work and of course you want to grow "everything", but like a poster above said, fine something that will sell is the absolutely positive! We have several plants that are local to our zone and guess what we know what they like, floods, droughts, freezes, and I can name everything. Anyway, check our Backyard Nurseries there are very friendly people to help you get started or contact me by email and we could chat.

I wish you the best of Luck!

What are you going to grow?

How are you going to grow it?

How are you going to harvest it?

How will you market it?

Those questions might be a start.

It is going to cost you money to get a small tractor to till up the soil. I can't imagine a person walking behind one of those small tiller and tilling 1.5 acres.

Weeds and insects control will be your worst enemy.

it is important to know the market you will sell at. for the most part growing the stuff is not difficult. selling it can be frustrating at times. don't let the trolls discourage you.

She said she wants to sell to a local farmers market. If the local farmers market is not busy, then they will not buy much produce. She will already have competition there. The competition has been doing this for years and can produce a large quantity at a very low price.

My busy supermarket sell herb pots, but I hardly see any sold. More than half die. They only carry 10 of each. The supermarket doesn't buy many.

Vegetables are not profitable. Most are a few pennies a pound.

The farmers market pay about a quarter of the price for what they sell it for at retail.

Tony....are you a market farmer? Do you sell produce? Where do you sell it?

You can often get help from your local farm bureau. NM has an entire department that provides help.

Your business plan is just what Jim Mat asked - research these points and make some decisions. Growing stuff is a tiny part of the business.

How much money can you put into the business? Your outgo will be much larger than your income for a while, even if you start slowly. Can you stay in business long enough to build the business?

What local laws and regulations do you have to comply with? Permits, licenses, fees, inspections?

What are you going to grow? (Is there demand for it?)

How are you going to grow it? (your on-site processes, planting schedules, record keeping)

How are you going to harvest it, cool it and transport it?

How will you market it? (What is your advertising plan? How will you reach customers?)

Where are these markets? (how far, how big, what fees, who runs them, what rules and regs do they have?)

What is your competitions product range and pricing? (how can you avoid going head to head with them, and getting into price wars?)

There are some very useful threads on here, and on the web look for how tos on market farming.

http://www.growingformarket.com/categories/marketfarmingbasics 

It is very hard for me to sell my dragon fruit this year because I don't have enough. The distributor wants at least a 1000lbs of the fruit. I cannot produce that many this year, but I will have enough by next year. The distributor pays $1.81/lb which is fair. I grow it in Miami on an acre of my land. It flowers three times in one season so I should have at least 4000lbs. Two different distributors offer to buy my dragon fruit when I am ready to sell.

Once I get the dragon fruit going, the next thing I am going to plant is 100 Longan trees. A mature tree can produce 200 lbs of fruit per tree. That is 20,000 lbs. I can probably get $2/lb for it.

I invested about $4000 into the dragon fruit. I bought concrete post and thick lattice rebar for the dragon fruit to grow on. I want it to last 20 years.

My neighbor uses wood post so his will only last about 8 years before the wood rots.

Dragon fruit can produce up to 30/lbs per post. It only take two years to produce that quantity.

It gets shipped to New York China Town because they can't grow tropical fruit there and the prices for tropical fruit is higher in New York.

wow Tony...that sounds pretty interesting...

I have run the lemonade stand.

regarding age, take it easy, when I was young, aches and pains were an indication of growth, after 50, it is a sign to slow down.

Garden girl 12

I am doing a small scale market garden. I am 51 female doing 95 percent of the work. Plan for problems. I have a business plan but with no extra money for equipment breaking down regularly, mowers, tillers, hoe handles, wheelbarrow tires on and on, it has become difficult to say the least. Hail and herbicide drift just about completely did it for me. But I am pushing forward and will see what I can do. First big market starts Saturday. I am persistent because I love what I am doing. Just sir down and make your plan on paper. Good books help too. The market gardener is very encouraging but he has help also.

Equipment maintenance can be expensive especially if you don't know how to fix it yourself. I got two mowers just in case one breaks. It is worth the extra money to buy quality commercial grade tools. The home owner junk is no good.

Since you don't live where your garden grows, expect to have your equipments and supplies stolen. I had $2000 worth of my equipment stolen.

Just saw this topic and from a buyer's point of view, we have gone to our local farmer's market, but it's a turn off because I don't know how long the fruit and veggies have sat there. They mostly look wilty. Then, there is a farm stand at the edge of town and they have fresh eggs (sometimes), but it takes a good 20 minutes and the gas necessary for that, so we rarely go. They always have big bags of citrus and avocados, but we have those trees on our 1.5 acre property. Once I bought some swiss chard from them and a huge bug crawled out of it. This stuff doesn't happen at the grocery store. I'm just saying...

gardengirl12, LOL! I don't like to spend my money on bugs.

We actually have a raised bed, and bugs are free. I just don't like the wilty conditions of the farm stand stuff. They pick in the morning, then it just sits in the warm day. Not my deal. I've got figs with ants on them now and then. I just blow them off. You can't buy fresh figs at the grocery, and they are not fresh by the time they sit all day at the farm stand either. Pays to have a lot of fig trees!

I wish you luck on your venture.

Most people like the supermarket grocery store because they can buy everything at one location and it has A/C.

The supermarket uses water misters to keep the vegetables and herbs from wilting.

We got U-Pick farmers market, but hardly any people go there because it is hot. They set up a pony ride there so they attract a few people who wants their kids to ride the pony.

You need some type of tourist attraction to get them to come.

Hi, I'm seventy, my husband is 65. we farm about 2 acres. It can be done but it does require planning. The eden method ccan take time to kick in, and I personally would not use it for commercial growing. Check out Jean-Martin Fortier's videos on youtube and or his book. It may not be what you would want to do but it will give you tons of good information to think about. Also Curtis Stone. If you want to make money off of such a small acreage you will need to think about intensive use of the land. Would be glad to chat more off and on as tie allows.

Good luck.

granny green

But just think, if you try and you only get half way there, think what you will have accomplished! Each year, if you observe and respond, will just get better than the one before.

Hi Garden Girl,

I am new to this forum and was shocked at some of the responses. One would think that this is a place to learn and grow, but it does not seem the to be the conscences. It is important to have a business plan for any venture. My husband ran his own business for 30 years (furniture refinishing and repair). As important as a business plan is, you also need to love what you are doing and be very stubborn because it takes time to get it off the ground and keep it going. The size of the property should not be a limiting factor- check out this site-http://urbanhomestead.org/ This is a family that runs a market farm off of 1/10 of an acre. They have the advantage of being close to restaurants that purchase regularly, as well as a CSA (abbreviation stands for "community supported agriculture") program. They have also diversified their "product" into many formats. You have to find your niche. I live in California and I had to purchase comfrey online (ebay) from a family farm because I could not find it anywhere in this HUGE Southern California area. I am a retired nurse and I am working on developing a business selling plant starts of the more hard to find edibles such as Ashitaba, Okinawa Spinach, Katuk, etc. I am doing this because I know there is a demand for these in our gardening market. Start with a dream, develop a plan, work the plan, revise the plan and work again. Just don't give up you day job (lol). What do you have to lose? You may invest some coin into your property, but in the end even if you do not make it a business, you have increased the value of your property.

I am always shocked at some responses. It is good to get advice realistically yet tactful. No one is obligated to read or respond. My first real market went awesome and I am hooked. Myson realized my vision yesterday as well. That will help.

Just got back on the internet after 3 days of farmers market. I am kinda surprised where this post has gone. Yes you can market farm at 52 YO. I am 63. I produce on about a 1/4 acre. I have a business plan that is updated yearly. I add notes of changes to be made to my plan almost weekly during the growing season. I know my market. I grow what I can grow profitably on my farms and customers want. I don't try to grow what farmers with bigger farms can grow more economically such as sweet corn. We have enough equipment to farm more. Our equipment is not new but is in good shape and does what we want with out high cost of new equipment. We use SPIN Farming and Urban Farmer methods of production.

The internet has so many resources out on how to do this. I feel You have a dream and an acre. Yes you can make money off of this, but without a plan and market you would be burned out by mid June. Yes, you are not ready to start your farm

I do about 1.5 acres by my self, because it's what I love to do. I'm 47 and grow only for my farm stand. Selling cheap to be competitive at a farm market never appealed to me. But keeping a stand well stocked for 2-3 months isn't easy and it's kind of a learning curve. I would rethink having a tractor, as a tractor takes a lot of the load off, and allows you to grow more and stay in control of the weeds. An old Farmall Super A or ford 8n/9n are cheap, easy to maintain, and easy to operate. Add a plow, a cultivator, a disc and a couple planter units, and you will save yourself a ton of time and a beat up back. I would also suggest a plastic layer because it makes weeding easy and improves fruit quality, though I understand they are cost prohibited. A cultivator can save you a ton of work, I plant almost everything on 28 inch centers so I can just use the wheel sweeps between all the rows, so one cultivator does it all. With time you will build a market, but you will not likely be profitable in the first year or two unless you have a great location, I couldn't care less about being profitable, it's a hobby for me, and the fact that people will pay for what I produce makes me more than happy, I have a job for paying the bills. Good luck to you.

Garden girl, you need more than a business plan. you need to have a market and know how to sell what you grow. You have to know what to grow and what not to grow. and yes you need a plan as to how to run this business. From what I read from your postings is; I have an acre, I am going to plant it too veggies and sell it and I am over 50. I wish it was that simple. you need to spend time learning how to do this and how to make it a financial success. There is so much info on how to do it on the net. websites youtube vids podcast. and I will stand by my statement based on your postings, yes you are not ready to start a market farm!

I believe you have a strong desire and just beginning with the baby steps. I started years ago

Dreaming and wondering

Studying...I love to study probably should have been a professional student lol

Gathering information into binders.

When I got my acre I had personal health issues that greatly restricted my activities and slowed down my goals. In retrospect it was good because it gave me time to plan. What how much when and where. All questions that each person has to answer for themselves. For me my local market wasn't going to be it for me so I drive an additional 30 miles to get to a really good one. It was well worth it. Saturday I sold out of my main produce in 1 hour. We stayed an additional 2 hours to talk to people and pass out cards. It was so much fun and really enthused about my new venture, I better be since I quit my job, lol

My bad. Peace.

"This is a family that runs a market farm off of 1/10 of an acre."

Ah, yes, the infamous SIX THOUSAND POUNDS of food farm.

it takes FOUR adults, working full time, with "interns" providing free labor to do that. they sell from their front porch in a very high population area. They also sell DVDs, booklets and run tours, and have an e-mailed newsletter you can subscribe to.

they must have an amazing business plan!!!!!!!

Lazy_gardens.....not sure how to take your post? How do you really feel about the Dervaes family ?? Seems like they are doing a great job producing lots of food on such a little space. And randy41_1 ....yep, I'm sure they had an amazing business plan!!!!! So many funny people on this forum!!

Four people full-time sound like a bunch of work for 1/10 of an acre.

People don't look at the big picture.

If you hired four people full-time, then that would cost you $60K. You would have to sell the 6000 pounds produce for $10/lb just to cover cheap minimum wage labor.

If you have to labor hard for some extra minimum wage, then you are better off finding a real job as side work.

Gardengirl12 seems to me the best answer is go execute the best version of what you have pictured in your minds eye. The process and results will be the absolute best guide going forward. You will know pretty quick if you have bitten off more than you can chew and can scale from there.

My Dad is 77. Last year his garden was smaller than the year before. this year its bigger. He found a garden product called ThunderGro, and he was all excitement about last seasons results which made him expand his garden area out again. Your interest and commitment should dictate how much you plant.

Dig in, don't put toxic or poisonous chemicals on soil or plants and don't be afraid of a lot of hard work or making mistakes! good luck!

Thank you!! That's what I'm going to do!! When people tell me I can't.....I try even harder ;)

Thundergro, only $110 / gallon

Garden girl, I don't believe any body told you that you can't do it. I want you to be successful. My advice on this thread is to help you avoid some of the mistakes and problems others have had. If that is bad, them I am bad

"How do you really feel about the Dervaes family ?? Seems like they are
doing a great job producing lots of food on such a little space."

They are hucksters, very good at making money selling dreams.

From one of their fan pages: " 900 chicken eggs, 1 000 duck eggs, 4,300 lbs of veggies, 25 pounds of honey and several pounds of seasonal fruits."

That's in the Southern California climate, which allows year-round gardening, and concentrating on leafy greens (which are mostly water) they are producing about 600,000 to maybe 1,200,000 calories a year.

An adult male needs 2000 calories a day, 730,000 calories a year. The eggs are barely enough to provide enough quality protein for the whole household.

Doing the calculations - four adults working full time at intensive agriculture are producing enough food to keep one of them out of calorie deficiency. That is not farming success ... the average USA farmer is feeding about 155 people worldwide.

ADDING:

With very little effort, I sent in over 1800 pounds of vegetables to my SO's office ... it was a 20-40 lb basket of assorted cucumbers, eggplant, chilis, okra and peppers three times a week over the 7 month growing season.

It was all harvested from a 10x40 foot bed ... so honestly, the Dervaies family are amateurs when it comes to growing.

I am 53 and yes, you can do it.

The main thing is that the most successful people I encounter do not have big "Business Plans" but instead, a lot of family members. That will be your biggest limiting factor. It is just a lot of labor. Waking up in the morning, walking out with a cup of coffee to begin your day and seeing an acre of weeds just sucks the wind out of your sails! lol.

One HUGE thing I have learned both with myself and all my other market gardening friends is that you can produce far more saleable produce in a small amount of land VS planting every square inch of space and loosing it all to weeds. Another thing I have learned is that growing all the "easy" stuff like squash etc. will kill you dead picking and hauling it to market. It is very heavy and space consuming. Not only that but you will have to compete with everybody for a very low price! In the past few years, my wife and I have nearly stopped bothering with regular produce. Bugs, Deer, weeds, low prices and lack of labor just makes it worthless for us. Instead, we have focused on doing a FEW things well. For us, this means berries. Yes, it takes time to pick them but I can bring a case of Blueberries to market and sell them, making more profit than my neighbor in the booth next door who has to sell a pickup truck worth of standard vegetables. I know I am exaggerating but it is true.

Remember, a few things..(1)space- hauling enough produce to make it worth your effort requires a LARGE vehicle. (2) with just yourself and perhaps a spouse, you will NEVER be able to get everything picked "the night before". You will require refrigeration- a huge expense! (3) Bigger is NOT always better. Trying to do to much will destroy you (been there, done that, wrote the book). (4) Pick one or two things and do it WELL! In our very large farmers market, it is a good thing to be known as the "Tomato Lady" or the "Herb Man" rather than the dude over there with a lot of second-rate vegetables. (5) We are about the same age- sadly things aren't gonna' be getting better for us (sigh..) keep in mind about what I have said about weight and hard labor. Small, high value crops will keep you busy forever- heavy junk crops will not be workable for you in 10 or 15 years. You are still young enough to put in perennial crops such as berries and see a big return on your investment. The beauty of that is Pick Your Own! I know that even though I may soon be old, worn out with the wheels commin' off but my Pick your Own customers will still be able to go pick! You may think it requires a bunch of acres to grow berries etc. but this is not the case. A single acre of Blueberries or Strawberries would totally overwhelm one or two people with their production.

You might consider taking a look at my website hooversseasonalproduce.com to give you an idea of what my wife and I do. You will notice the lack of regular vegetables on the "menu" but instead, a bunch of other stuff. We have done and failed at so many things but we still plug away at this. Each year we get better and better but still get slapped hard in the face each season from one thing or another. Usually it is because I try to add yet one more thing into the mix when I am barely able to handle what I have going already.

Bottom line? Yes, you can!!!!!!!!!!!

Where do you live? Muscadines and Scuppernong grapes grow like weeds for us with a little 10-10-10 and some watering. Great crop. You can pick it a few days ahead of time. Keep them cool in the fridge.

I sell herbs in pots, perennials. At the markets I am selling there are always some selling veggies and they are sold out soon. I would simply ask what the stall fee is, get the insurance if necessary and start growing more than you eat and ease into it. I am not a big believer of business plans. Of course you do a plan, but start small and grow. What do you lose if you grow some veggies and rund an occasional stall?

Gardengirl12 - I am 48 and expanding my garden so don't hesitate to move forward. We all have our good days and better days. The only bad days are those days on which we allow ourselves to second guess our dreams, our plans and our ability to carry those out!

I come from many generations of market gardeners (different styles, different relatives) so it is definitely in my blood lol. My parents are currently aged 72 and 74 and they continue to successfully operate a CSA and market garden, subsidized with specialty jams, jellies and baked goods. Figuring out what specifically are good sellers in your area is very vital, however; this takes time and so just plan for that. Keep your expectations low enough that you won't be discouraged and can maintain a positive view as your business grows. Write down achievable goals for each of the next 3 seasons. Keep DETAILED notes on both successes and failures so that you can build from them each year.

Every gardener is unique in their technique, needs, abilities and market area so having a bunch of folks looking over a business plan which is developed specifically for you is not worth bothering with. Only you truly know what you are capable of doing physically, mentally and emotionally to bring your dreams to reality.

Most populated areas have some sort of farmers market already established. If you have not already done so, take the time to visit EVERY TIME it is open to study what others are successfully selling. Make notes on what types sell the best, what seems to just sit there and get tossed out at the end of the day. Also take note if the majority of the sellers seem to carry "value added" products such as soaps, jams, wool, eggs etc to make up a portion of their sales. If there is a well established specialty vendor such as "Tomato Lady", I would plan to grow and sell something different as my main source of income. You can always introduce a specialty item similar down the road but focus on developing your own following and avoid disappointment from trying to directly compete with someone who is already well established.

As you are developing your sales plan, keep in mind that the majority of your first customers are going to be those whom you already know. Just putting yourself and your product out there is not enough to sell the amount you will need to earn a profit. I am not a big believer in local chambers etc and I refuse to pay dues to be a "part of the community business network" in which I live. Consider ways to effectively advertise for yourself at either no cost or low cost. Keep in mind that ANY cost is going to effect your bottom line even if it is only a penny for the ink that printed you those 50 copies on your home computer. Stay detail oriented so that in the future you can truly see where things can be changed to be better financially as you grow the business.

Don't try to be everything to everyone! EVER! You will ALWAYS have someone asking for something that you don't have. Don't fall into the trap of trying to provide it all because the time and product it takes you to grow "just 2" of something special, is time and product which is taken away from what you have developed well already. If you continuously receive requests by more than a dozen customers for a new item, then consider it a possibility for a "limited time only" product. EG - I don't grow zucchini because every Grandma and her neighbor does. However; IF I kept getting requests from more than a dozen of my REGULAR customers, I would consider growing enough just to serve them. I don't see that happening anytime soon though as my market really supports the "unusual" versus the "ordinary".

I could go on and on lol yet I have winter sowing to get done. I hope you do well with your adventure and I truly mean that... it IS an adventure!

Darby that was an encouraging post. As a 1 person operation I need all the encouragement I can gather. My plan is made and I am looking forward to the new season.

In respect for the Dervaes family.. Jules Dervaes recently passed away in December of 2016. He was 69 years young. The world lost a true, wonderful pioneer in urban farming and self sufficiency. He was an inspiration and visionary, and he leaves behind a beautiful legacy to his family. I was certainly in awe of his videos and they inspired so many others across the world.. Peace