Barefoot Livin' Farms | Application Preview
Barefoot Livin' Farms is seeking government grants to enhance their regenerative farming operation. They plan to allocate funds for various essential improvements, including acquiring topsoil ($3,000), digging a well to reduce city water reliance ($4,500), installing a protective steel building cover for their microgreens shed and prep area ($11,000), adding a storage shed for tools and materials ($2,000), and creating a retention pond for water management ($4,500).
Their business strategy involves implementing established market gardening techniques to improve soil health, which they believe will enhance their ecosystem, reduce inputs, and ultimately increase outputs over time. In the next five years, they aim to expand their egg production and develop value-added products based on sustainable crops.
The motivation behind their funding request stems from a decade of searching for a meaningful way to contribute to society. As a military family, they found purpose in regenerative farming, focusing on restoring ecosystems and providing healthy food for their community. They are committed to educating others about sustainable farming practices, aiming to foster a vital local food system.
In terms of competition, they view market gardening as a collaborative effort rather than a competitive landscape. While other local farmers exist, they believe that small-scale farming can only benefit from more participants. Barefoot Livin' Farms recognizes that while they have not yet established agritourism, funding would enable them to create an inviting space for community engagement and education, distinguishing their approach from other operations in the area.
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 92-1610153
Location: Stuart, FL, United States
Length of Operation: 1-5
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: Less than $100k
Annual Gross Expense: Less than $100k
Open to Loans: NO
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Funding Usage
To complete building our beds we need more top soil ($3,000), digging a well to offset city water usage ($4500), installing a steel building cover in order to protect our microgreens shed, cooler, and wash/pack station for preparing our vegetables for market ($11,000), Additional shed for storage of our potting soil, amendments, and tools ($2000), and digging a retention pond and corresponding drainage to help store and control the flow of water from rainfall in the months of August and September ($4,500).
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Business Plan
We will use multiple methods that have been designed by the market gardening community around the world to improve our soil health including, JADAM Korean natural farming, compost tea made from local worm castings, and locally composted top soil. By taking these initial steps, within the first 3-4 years we will improve the ecosystem immediately surrounding our farm and by improving our ecosystem we can decrease our inputs while our outputs exponentially increase over time. By year 5 our farm business should be able to expand our egg laying industry and value added products industry based off the consistent production of healthy row crops. My husband Shayne and I have spent the last 10 years trying to figure out how to feel like we are meaningfully contributing to the world in which we live. Initially, we thought being a military family so that Shayne could achieve his goal of becoming a Registered Nurse was the best that we could do but, 10 years of wondering eventually led us to the idea of regenerative farming. We love to work on our land together and we love that we can use farming to help reverse some of the damage that has been done to our surrounding ecosystems and to the bodies of our fellow human beings. We can be together with our daughters and feel that we are continually working towards improving our patch of earth for them. The best part of being a farmer is that the energy and time that we put into the betterment of our farm is not only beneficial for our own family but all the families in our community. We can locally and reliably provide nutritious food, offer a healthy space for members of our community to exist and learn about growing their own food if they choose, and we'll also have the opportunity to teach other people to farm this way, further improving our community's ecosystem. If we can see any of these possibilities become reality I would consider any amount of time, energy, and money spent towards this end to be worth it.
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Self Identified Competition
This is a unique opportunity that I have to try and explain that within the world of market gardening, which operates on a significantly smaller scale than traditionally commercialized farming, that there aren't competitors. Every person on the planet needs to eat and they need to eat food that helps their bodies and brains function optimally. The more people that decide to take on a life of small farming within their respective communities the better! There are 2 small farmers involved in growing fruits and vegetables at the Market on Main in Stuart, FL that we are participating in. There are also 2 farmers that are raising animals to sell for meat and egg production. We are excited for a chance to join their ranks and continue to fortify food production for our community. Our farm is not the only small farm trying to use methods like regenerative agriculture and permaculture to grow food and make a living but, I do know that we are brand new and have not had a chance to establish an agritourism sector of our farm. That seems to be the easiest way for a farm to have reliable income in our particular climate in South Florida. It takes time to build healthy soil and grow crops with reliable yields and in the meantime a grant or investment from an outside source will help us develop the functionality and aesthetics of our farm. This will allow us to be able to invite community members to see what we do and hopefully want to learn more about the market garden style of farming which is something we do differently from other farms in our county.
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Contact Applicant
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