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Hello! We are Lazy Mule Farm (LMF), a small-scale, organic, draft-powered veggie farm located at the base of the Wallowa Mountains.
We are raising funds to jumpstart our business on a strong foundation. Our farm plan is based on building a one acre vegetable garden focusing on producing fresh salad greens and on a larger field-scale production of seed garlic totaling to 3.75 acres. We plan to supply our local restaurants and food distributors with the fresh salad mix that will include delicious herbs and edible flowers. Additionally we'll have spinach, arugula, green garlic, garlic scapes, culinary garlic, strawberries and ornamental flowers for sale. Our seed garlic will be sold to distributors so that organic garlic for planting can be available at nurseries all along the west coast. The most dynamic part of our plan is producing all of this food via a combination of draft (animal drawn) power, hand tools, and season extension in the mountains within a short, harsh growing season.
Why mules (and a horse or three if we're honest) you ask? We are hooked on carrying the tradition of working with draft animals forward. Plus it makes "work" so much fun! As our mentor says, "the pursuit of a craft is a journey with no end". Our long-eared coworkers each have their own personalities, they can't be turned off, and every day is a unique challenge to get something accomplished that could not be done by hand. And hey, they can go with us for fun adventures packing in the mountains, try doing that with a tractor! Working with mules aligns with our ecological farm goals of increasing soil health and lowering heavy impact on the land. Our farming practices focus on reduced tillage and mitigating soil compaction; meaning we are trying to lessen our impact on the soil to increase fertility and biology. The result will be healthier, nutrient-rich plants that will taste better and last longer than produce bought from the grocery store.
Guided by our passion for working with animals, soil health, and human-scale farming , we have designed LMF to maximize our potential to stay true to these principles. Beginning any business has a start-up cost associated with it, and our unconventional style of farming and mountain location has us needing to invest $42,000 to get the farm off the ground. Originally we had planned to take out a USDA Micro loan and fund our business in a fairly traditional manner. After months of paperwork, we recently found out that we would need to withdraw our loan application because all of our farm assets that we listed to secure the loan did not have "legitimate" value. Our assets include all of our mules, horses, horse drawn tools, stock trailers, our truck, to name a few. Real equipment and beings that made it possible to get garlic in the ground last fall, and spring ground readied for this year.
With our growing season just around the corner we refused to give up, and so we have revised our budget a bit and have decided to reach out to our personal network for help. We still need to raise $6,000 for the 2022 season to keep our momentum going! If you didn't get to contribute to the Kiva Loan, now is your chance to help! We will be fundraising from now until June 7, when our fundraising period will come to an end at a dinner event hosted by the Gold Room in Joseph, Oregon. We are setting our goal here at $4,500 and hoping to raise about $1,500 at our dinner event. If you can't physically make the dinner, please consider donating here to our gofundme!
If we are able to go above and beyond our fundraising goal, and back to our original un-revised budget, we will be able to invest in season extension greenhouses this year. This will allow us to produce more food for our community next season, and help us maximize our production on our high-cost fixed investments such as getting connected to the grid, irrigation, drilling a well, and building the deer fence.
We appreciate any amount you are willing to give. If you would like, please send us an email at [email redacted] with your physical address so we can send you a personalized card and some cute mule stickers with our logo! Thank you all so much for the upwelling of support!
Why mules (and a horse or three if we're honest) you ask? We are hooked on carrying the tradition of working with draft animals forward. Plus it makes "work" so much fun! As our mentor says, "the pursuit of a craft is a journey with no end". Our long-eared coworkers each have their own personalities, they can't be turned off, and every day is a unique challenge to get something accomplished that could not be done by hand. And hey, they can go with us for fun adventures packing in the mountains, try doing that with a tractor! Working with mules aligns with our ecological farm goals of increasing soil health and lowering heavy impact on the land. Our farming practices focus on reduced tillage and mitigating soil compaction; meaning we are trying to lessen our impact on the soil to increase fertility and biology. The result will be healthier, nutrient-rich plants that will taste better and last longer than produce bought from the grocery store.
Guided by our passion for working with animals, soil health, and human-scale farming , we have designed LMF to maximize our potential to stay true to these principles. Beginning any business has a start-up cost associated with it, and our unconventional style of farming and mountain location has us needing to invest $42,000 to get the farm off the ground. Originally we had planned to take out a USDA Micro loan and fund our business in a fairly traditional manner. After months of paperwork, we recently found out that we would need to withdraw our loan application because all of our farm assets that we listed to secure the loan did not have "legitimate" value. Our assets include all of our mules, horses, horse drawn tools, stock trailers, our truck, to name a few. Real equipment and beings that made it possible to get garlic in the ground last fall, and spring ground readied for this year.
With our growing season just around the corner we refused to give up, and so we have revised our budget a bit and have decided to reach out to our personal network for help. We still need to raise $6,000 for the 2022 season to keep our momentum going! If you didn't get to contribute to the Kiva Loan, now is your chance to help! We will be fundraising from now until June 7, when our fundraising period will come to an end at a dinner event hosted by the Gold Room in Joseph, Oregon. We are setting our goal here at $4,500 and hoping to raise about $1,500 at our dinner event. If you can't physically make the dinner, please consider donating here to our gofundme!
If we are able to go above and beyond our fundraising goal, and back to our original un-revised budget, we will be able to invest in season extension greenhouses this year. This will allow us to produce more food for our community next season, and help us maximize our production on our high-cost fixed investments such as getting connected to the grid, irrigation, drilling a well, and building the deer fence.
We appreciate any amount you are willing to give. If you would like, please send us an email at [email redacted] with your physical address so we can send you a personalized card and some cute mule stickers with our logo! Thank you all so much for the upwelling of support!