Two things have been on my mind hard and heavy for the past 2 years.  The first is whether to sell our place or not in order to move to a larger plot of land and lower our debt at the same time.  With the economic hardship we are facing I am not sure that we should sell because we can grow food there, but I also know I cannot have a very profitable business there either. The second is the very fact I knew 2 years ago that the economy was going to tank very soon and I have read enough business advice to know that starting a business during a recession or depression is the best time and if you ever thought of starting a business now is the time to do it.  Most of you know I am kind of an independent mind who desires more than the average Joe for my family.  Most of you know I have heart felt convictions that shape my principles and therefore the direction I move in life.

All that said, I am one confused person!  Throw in the fact that I also want to have Godly wisdom in how I lead my family and you have a person constantly questioning what the right answer is.  I have always felt I would be different than most people and I have always desired to have my own business.

When I began to farm last year full time I thought I had arrived and I just needed to work heard and be smart and it would work out.  The wake up call came when we found out we were going to have a baby.  As it stands now, Brandy is the soul income provider (other than my beekeeper work) and I was going to work to get the farm up and going and profitable to make for a business.  Because it is Brandy and I’s firm belief that she should stay home to raise our children, I must go back to work because the farm is not up and running yet.  Even just writing that feels like a knife plunged through my chest.

I have time, though a little time  it may be, to finish up my unfinished projects and get a full time job.  I have learned a valuable lesson about starting a business.  NEVER DIVE IN HEAD FIRST!  Most of the time there is no water to catch you and you have to work to fill the proverbial pool.  If I could do it again I would have kept my full-time job (which made good money) and worked weekends on the farm for a few more years to get the Business established. But NO, I had to think I could just jump in and make it work.  Actually I thought God would make it work, I thought that with all the signs I was seeing that it was an indication I should move in this direction.  Little did I know it wouldn’t succeed.  But it got me moving in that direction so I guess its better than nothing.

For the future of Myerstown Family Farm, it remains to be see what shape it will take if any at all.  I have been getting a few new ideas lately but I feel they are a little too late.

One peice of advice I can give to everyone, though I may still be young, I have already learned this lesson the hard way, Dont Go Into Debt! This is the reason most of my ideas can go no farther than just an idea.  Debt puts a set of chains on your freedom and you will not…cannot get past them. That is unless you somehow pay it off but that is a luxury I will never be able to afford as I will probably pay the rest of my life for my debt.