Courtesy of John S.,Blue Ribbon Eggs, Â Franklin NC
So you’ve got access to an acre that is 1 hour and 15 minutes away? You don’t mention what type of vehicle you would be driving, but a two and one half hours round trip drive, Â two to four times a month, is going to burn a lot of fuel. Assuming a vehicle sufficient to haul a worthwhile amount of produce once you harvest, it would add up. My SUV would cost $25 a trip (2 to 4 times monthly). Plus non-productive hours commuting, not to mention the cost of 43,560 sq feet of green house plastic and your drip system. And the best crops for a remote plot are low value ones.
And an acre is a BIG hunk of land to work with hand tools. Are you going be hauling -or have access to- large equipment? Once you make that drive (even two times a month) you are going to have a lot of work to do, and that will take quite a bit of time. Labor (time plus sweat) is money.
I would do the math on this one really closely before I committed. The conditions you describe are the whole reason that Wally started SPIN-Farming in the first place. Near at hand, small, manageable and profitable. My favorite picture in the SPIN books is a photo of Wally driving his tiller through his OWN neighborhood to till a back yard. What can you see from your window? There’s your expansion opportunity.
