We use QuickBooks accounting software to track our finances. Within QuickBooks the different items that we track are broken down and organized into categories like income, expenses, and payroll. 

When you are starting to farm your financial accounting may be simple enough that all you need is a spreadsheet or even a notebook. QuickBooks is just a fancy notebook that helps you keep track of what you are doing with your farm business finances.

When I started using it I had to learn too things:

1. It's not as complicated and terrible as I thought
2. It's best to not make things too complicated

Camps Road Farm works in conjunction with Kent Falls Brewing Company and Neversink Spirits as part of The Food Cycle, LLC. Camps Road Farm works in a supportive role of the other two businesses while also producing farm goods for sale.

In 2018 we are focusing on the definition of a farm brewery and putting the most effort into agricultural enterprises that add value into the brewery while minimizing the farm's overhead.

2017 brought with it one of the most fun opportunities I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. After a couple years of selling chickens off the farm and running the brewery mostly off wholesale we were finally able to open our own tasting room.

This was fun for me for a few reasons. There’s the business reasons like being able to finally pour beer and sell at retail prices (until now it was primarily wholesale). But that’s the boring stuff.

If you remember back a few blog posts, I went to school for scenic and lighting design. Here at my home, the place I’ve been toiling over for the past few years, I got to scratch an itch and help design and build a tasting room and farm store.

As I've now looked back at every year leading up to this one something became very clear to me. Not for one season have I ever tried to be only a farm. What I mean by that is I never told everyone else "sorry, I can't do that, I have to focus on the farm."

Granted, that wasn't necessarily the original vision. The farm was always part of a bigger strategy involving two other businesses. However, looping in land and project management along with other odd jobs was just too much. Where we fell short was thinking I could create a viable farm while balancing all these other obligations. Lesson learned.

2015 was my second year on farm. After the successes and failures of 2014 I had a little bit of a better handle on things but it was still a big growth year for the farm. We were busy digging out of old farm “infrastructure” which means we were throwing out piles of junk, while trying to build too many farm operations at once.

In my 2013 farm season I grossed about $20k which is about what I expected for the year. That number does not support a family of three by itself, especially when you consider that doesn’t account for my farm expenses, but it was the start I expected.

When I moved onto my new farm I took on partners. I was given the goal to gross $100k while also growing two different perennial operations that weren’t going to make any money for a few years. I figured that if I grossed $20k with 1300 broilers and some herbs that if I just took that and multiplied it by five I could hit my goal. Man was I wrong...

There are a handful of major milestones that you can go through in life. Being born is a good start, graduating school, getting married and starting a family, buying a house, etc…

In 2013 I was fortunate enough to experience several of those milestones. Now several years later they remain important aspects of my life for one reason or another. For those of you following my story looking for advice, I would advise against trying to cram all of this into one year.

Together, my wife Kate and I traveled 5,500 miles all by pedal power. From New York City to Seattle to San Diego we visited farms and craft breweries across the United States of America. We have dozens of great stories from the road that usually start with “oh man, remember that time we…”. Perhaps those stories will surface in future blog post, but for now I must stay on task.

Today’s post highlights some of our farm experiences from our trip. If pedal power was how we got there, let’s talk really quickly about why we were there in the first place.

I left a cushy job on the Howard Stern Show to live on my bicycle and work the land. If I had to do it all over again I would not change a thing.