What neither of us had, however, was any idea of how our gardening knowledge could be transferred to a farm business that could be economically sustainable. Like you we spent a bunch of time reading books and trying to research how to start a farm. We also hit the farm conference circuit, which means we went to any state or regional conference we could find that looked even remotely related to veggie growing. Each state NOFA organization (i.e., VT, MA, NY) has its own annual conference, plus there are other annual conferences for things like CSAs, seed savers, etc. We found the workshops at these conferences to be very valuable in exposing us to how farms work, and we tried to talk to as many people as we could at these conferences. The conferences were also helpful for us because we saw people who were living our dream, so it helped us to realize it could be done. Plus, we liked the people we met at these conferences and figured that we wanted to be like these people.

(Although looking back we have learned a lot since then. Maryellen was remembering the other day that at one of these conferences she went to a basic tractor repair workshop, and she had no idea what anyone was talking about. Now, 5-10 years later, she knows as much about farm tractors as anyone.)

We also took a course at the New England Small Farm Institute about how to start an agricultural business. I think it was call "Building a farm dream" or something like that. We drove almost 2 hours each way for 6 Tuesday nights in a row to attend this class, and it was well worth it. The New England Small Farm Institute rocks, and they have a variety of resources that might help. Here is their site.

Another thing we did was get subscriptions to relevant publications, like NOFA's Natural Farmer, Growing for Market, etc.

The other thing that I did was I worked on two other farms. That experience was obviously invaluable. I didn't do an apprenticeship, but I wish I could have. I couldn't work on either of these farms full time, because I had to keep my day job happy, but working for someone else is the way you learn. To get a job on someone's farm, I just started asking for work. I tried to pick successful farms, and I told people I was willing to work hard for cheap because I wanted to learn about farming. It worked, and now one of those two farmers I worked for is a mentor to us.

Hope this helps.