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I am not an expert in most things. However, I have had my share of perseverence in adversity. We have been "getting started" for over a decade. I am not the young man that I used to be, much to my regret. This however does not hinder my determination to succeed. There are two suggestions I would make. First, don't let the herd determine how you will farm. It is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing. Farming and the economy have changed dramatically in the past few decades. If it was extremely difficult to get started producing wholesale commodities thirty years ago, now it is basically impossible. In that case, why produce wholesale commodities? Look into other ways of farming. Other crops, other markets. Read everything you can get your hands on about how other people are farming. Search the internet for "alternative agriculture". A lot of that stuff may be impractical, but a lot of it makes sense. View yourself as a gold prospector. You don't have to take everything, but it is good to get an idea of the vast number of ways you could farm. You might consider your youth and lack of resources to be a disability, I don't. You could also view them as assets. First of all, you are young. You can choose a different direction than those older than you. You have got the youthful energy to push through and make wonderful things happen. In addition to this, you have a lifetime ahead of you to follow through on your chosen direction. You can make mistakes and recover and learn from those mistakes. Someone who is older needs to be more certain that things are going to work out. You could completely fail, wake up in the morning and try something different. I am a not so old 39, and I'll tell you, I just don't have the resiliency that I did 15 years ago. In addition to which, I have family responsibilities which require that I not take too much risk. Indeed, your youth can be a great asset. As for lack of resources, this may be hard to accept, but a lack of resources can keep you from making some very expensive mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. It is wise to keep the mistakes and lessons cheap, rather than expensive. Something my parents taught me was to avoid debt. Their attitude was a rather old fashioned attitude toward credit and debt. Throughout my adult life, in the back of my mind I have thought that no banker in their right mind would lend money to me. I know that this is not true. I also know that there are many institutions which are desperate to find someone to lend money to. However, a little bit of fear can be an awesome source of protection. It has kept me from getting myself overextended when I really had not carefully enough thought what I was trying to do. My second recommmendation is to persevere. If you want to farm, farm. Farm even if all you can do is farm in your mind while you do some other work. Steel yourself for the idea that it could take perhaps twenty or even more years to realize your dream. Just don't ever quit. Keep on going. I know the idea of a twenty+ year dream seems unattainable to someone who is young, but if you just keep going, you'll get there. I guess another way to say it is that a glacier might not move very quickly, but no one has ever come up with a practical way to stop one from moving. If you don't quit, you can't be stopped. One additional thing. Don't get sour. Enjoy what you do. Even if you must have a different job right now, enjoy what you are doing and try to learn everything you can. The experience will prove to be worthwhile. Enjoy the trip. Don't allow yourself to gripe about the fact that you're not there yet. Enjoy the scenery on the way. Enjoy the people you meet on the way. Just don't quit. Okay, I'll get off the soapbox. Christopher
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