I’m in a spiral of feeling overwhelmed by the blank slate presented by our place - so many options! Some serious paralysis by analysis happening 
Could people recommend the most useful farm planning processes, tools, resources that they have found?
We are starting with Holistic Management and the best guide I have found was curated by Dan Palmer from VEG - see here Our farm team (Kirsten and Jonathan and I) are going through this process at the moment. We are also working in a buddy system/peer support with Mel Turnbull who is using this tool on a non-farm related project. It is a very versatile planning tool. Maybe we could share our first draft / initial workings as we go on this forum?
I would also recommend a PDC as a baseline on the fundamentals if you havn’t already done one. Not sure when David Arnold is running another one but that would be my pick for extra value of being able to network within your region (and he’s awesome and the PDC is onsite on his small farm).
We also found Tammi and Stuart’s Grow Your Ethics workshop VERY valuable and also good way to network with other beginner farmers: http://jonaifarms.com.au/workshops/
And then books like Richard Perkins’ Making Small Farms Work and Grown and Gathered for inspiration and very practical suggestions re small farm context.
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Thanks Serenity! I remember reading Dan’s posts ages ago - I think before I had a property to hang the ideas on - but yes, that’s probably just what’s needed!
Regrarians have an online course starting very soon. Incorporating aspects of permaculture design, keyline strategy and holistic management to build your farm plan and design. It’d definitely be worth looking up. It also depends if your farm plan is to be for an agricultural business, homesteading or somwhere bewteen the 2. When we started I tried to be the whole farm thing with all the animals and vegetables and nature corridors and tree crop plantings. Now I’m pretty much a straight up market gardener and I chip away on the other things from the centre out. It’s worth thinking about what products you want to and are able to sell then use that as your starting point.
Great tip, thanks @Fraser
For others interested:
"WANT A FARM PLAN FOR YOUR PLACE OR PROJECT?
#REX Online Progress — last week I finalised 2 programs for our much anticipated online REX trainings.
You can pre-register (no obligation) at http://rex.farm/ so you don’t miss out. The first 50 people to register will have a 10% discount on the full training cost!
We’re working on the final price, scholarship and a generous affiliates package - these will be announced over the next couple of weeks - so pre-register now so you don’t miss out!
Our initial training will be held over 10 weeks, with live weekly interactive webinars/Q&A, homework and dialogue through the week, assessment of the homework and another Q&A session to wrap that week up.
I’ve also devised a 44 week program with a similar workflow — we’re going to start with this shorter version and then we’ll look at going longer after that.
The primary outcome for participant in this 10 week training will be to create their own farm plan, which though relatively basic, will start building that vital bridge between the client, enterprise and landscape contexts. It will also help you to refine what to focus on first so that you don’t waste your time, money and energy on things you probably shouldn’t be.
Great thing is that pricing for this training will be better value than if you got me to consult - plus I’m very confident you’ll get a better outcome - best of all it’ll be YOUR PLAN!
On hand to help will be the ‘Regrarians Team’ - a select group of clients, colleagues and graduates who will assist me with the task of delivery, answering questions, and looking over your work throughout each week.
Our official launch will be on the 26th of May and the training will commence a month later on the 26th of June.
We look forward to working with you all to make this unique training a success and the first of many.
Thanks and all the best,
Darren J. Doherty,
Regrarians Ltd.
PS. Remember to pre-register at http://rex.farm/ and be in the running for the 10% discount offer!