Farming part-time for income
Updated Feb 20, 2025
Seeking
- 0-5 Total acres
- 0-5 Acres of cropland or tillable land
- 0-5 Acres of pasture
- 0-5 Acres of hayland
Desired locations
Chef looking for farmland
Plan
I’m a chef and have done farming in the past. I would like to combine these skills into a business and I’m starting a wood fired oven catering business. I’m purchasing a mobile wood fire oven to bring to markets and festivals and then work into events like weddings, graduations, winery events etc.
I would like as many of the ingredients as possible to come from what I grow/produce. For instance, I want to grow a crop of San Marzano tomatoes and process and jar sauce for the year. At first it going to be tough trying to figure out what I need but I think in 2 years I can work a lot of the kinks out.
Desired infrastructure
Equipment and infrastructure details
I am open to a lot of different housing options(house, cabin, cottage, tiny house, camper). I would need wt least an acre of tillable land. If it’s a small tiny house, cabin or camper I would need some sort of structure to prep and process. Also, I prefer seclusion.
Preferred type of opportunity
Opportunity details
I would like to find a piece of land and housing that I can build my business on. I have experience with farming and culinary arts and would like to combine the two into a farm to table wood fired oven mobile pizza business. I would like the ingredients to come from what I grow. I think the first yearor two will be a lot of working out the kinks. But once I get going it’s going to be something very special. This is something I’m very passionate about.
Desired farming practices
Practices details
The farmers that I learned from and how I would practice is organic and biodynamic. I was taught to test the soil and amend it organically based on the results. I was never taught to use pesticides, even organic ones.
Production goals
Goals details
I would like to grow all the ingredients for wood fired pizzas. The big thing is sauce. San Marzano tomatoes are the best for this. I would like to grow a crop of them and process and jar them. I would like to do enough to last me a year until the next crop comes in. I also need things like a lot of basil, oregano, rosemary, onions, garlic, peppers, spinach, artichoke, arugula, mushrooms.
Farm experience
Years of experience
3 total years of experience
2 years employed as a worker (non-manager)
1 years as a manager
Education, training, and employment experience
Experience details
I graduated from Morrisville State College with a Bachelors of Technology in Horticulture - Food Crops in 2013. While I was attending school I worked full time on an organic produce farm. For my internship I did my own farm where I planned, operated and managed a 4 acre organically grown produce farm that included various tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, pumpkins, snap peas. I was selling to natural food markets, chefs and wholesale. This led to an interest in cooking so I went to school for culinary arts at Johnson and Wales in Denver and have been working in restaurants ever since and have become proficient in Neapolitan wood fired pizza. I also obtained a Masters in Business Admin.