About my extra acres
I have always wanted to own about 5 or 10 acres of land. I have no particular interest in being a farmer. However, my plan is to find someone that would like to use my land to grow crops. The use of my land would be free except for a share in the crop. I especially like the idea of having fruit tress on my property.
This article expands that idea. There is a lot of unused land that is captured in our lawns. We should use it for “farm-scaling.”
Thankfully, this model already exists, but it needs to grow! Back in 2010, Jaymi wrote about Farmyard, which is an Arizona company started by two sisters that does just what I was envisioning above. You can pay them to come in and convert a portion or all of your yard to food production. Then they come by once a month to help you maintain things.
This business model also sets a standard for aesthetics and maintenance, which could be helpful in getting neighbors to see the gardens as orderly projects run by professionals, instead of overgrown chaos that may hurt property values. Wild and free gardens can work fine, but I can see how they could annoy neighbors. Farmers and gardeners making housecalls to tend nice looking gardens could be a good middle ground to help transition us away from lawns.
What if farmers made house calls? : TreeHugger.