This was first posted at REAL Men RoCK Blog

My wife, Kat, and I are working with our friends, Rick and Karen, in the pursuit of a dream. That dream is a mini-farm with hoop houses which are small greenhouses for year-round organic gardening.

I am reading a book I "Mini-Farming Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre" by Brett L. Markham.

Photo above found at Ecology Action

It describes Intensive Agricultural Techniques. This techniques uses raised beds and grow vegetables more closely together than traditional row methods. It is said that this technique requires less land--thus requiring less water and labor while reducing the need for weeding. Intensive gardening produce the same amount of food in 20% of the space or even less that that, leading to greatly reduced costs.

Photo above was found at Ecology Action

The advantage of using a hoop house or a greenhouse is that it will allow for year-round gardening. Even when it is freezing outside the temperatures in a greenhouse can reach 70-80 degrees. Of course not all vegetables can be grown in winter and I will later be posting more information on which can and cannot be grown. For now this post is about the dream.

What is behind this dream?

Kat and I are in our early sixties and we have decided to take what little we have in the stock market and invest in a small farm of 15-25 acres. We believe that investing in this farm will be a better use and bring us a better return on our money. The main reason we are doing it is to become self-sufficient through having the resources for growing our own food. We have purposely chosen a small farm because it is something older people can manage.

On this farm we will build three different sized greenhouses to be used for different purposes. We will build a small barn to be used for farm animals and for a learning center for teaching other people interested in either greenhouse or hoop house gardening.

Mini-Greenhouse Farming also requires less expensive tools and can almost be done using the tools pictured in the photo to the left.

I will post photos as we move forward in pursuing this dream. The first photo will be of the land we purchase. The photos following that will be of the greenhouses, the cabins and the barn that we build.

One of the most important reasons we are pursuing this dream is because we feel it can be a ministry where we can use the gifts and talents God has given us to help others.

I hope this post will stir in you a desire to pursue your own dream.