Learning About Farm Life

Good morning to all. I have a busy day ahead of me since I got up late. I couldn't fall asleep last night so I didn't get up early.I spent the first part of my morning trying to promote my blogs then I ran across Swampy Acres Farms and began reading about chickens. There is a wealth of information on raising chickens on this website. The great part is it is easy to read and not to technical.

I am looking at at least 1-5 years before we can start looking at a farm or a property where we can raise a few farm animals. So I want to learn how to take care of any animals I might purchase well in advance. Since I live in the city and can't have any farm animals I can't even have a few hens. I don't have the room for them and my dog. I know they don't need a lot of room but I also know that it would be better to wait until I have more room and am less likely to disturb the neighbors.

I was actually hoping to find a way to learn about what it is like to raise farm animals. I don't really know anyone that has a farm so I have no idea how to learn other than to read. I live in the heart of Toledo Ohio but I know there are areas with in driving distance that have farms. I just don't know how to go about learning from someone who knows their stuff. This is not something that I can go to school for or apply for an internship. If I knew someone I would offer to work for knowledge and maybe some milk or eggs but no actual money.

I would like to research what kind of farm animals are reasonable to keep and save us more than they cost us. I am not looking to make a big profit on farming I am just hoping that whatever we buy will help us come closer to supporting our own living expenses. We don't have any concrete goals yet but we would like to have some chickens for eggs and for meat. We would also like to have some milk producing animals but that would be an addition after we learned enough to raise chickens. From what I have read they are not extremely hard to learn to care for. Don't get me wrong I realize they are work but they are not say the kind of work you have to do if you have a cow. Chickens are not super expensive to keep once you have all the fences and coops in place so they are (as far as I can tell) the perfect farm animal to start. Still I tend to like to know what I am getting myself into before I make a plunge.

I know we have lots of time to figure this out but it is not impossible that our duplex would sell and we could find a great deal on a small farm in our area. This is not likely but also not impossible the only good thing about the housing market anywhere near us is that if you are buying a house there are a lot of great deals. Selling a house is near impossible though.