Have you ever wondered how in the world hobby farmers or homesteaders vacation?
Whether you are just jumping into the homesteading or hobby farming lifestyle, or you are a seasoned homesteader or hobby farmer, this easy, templated, 10 page farm sitter care guide will be helpful to you, your homestead, your garden, and your animals!
Click HERE to download the FREE Care Guide
You will fill our your email, first name, and birthday, and then receive an automated email with the downloadable file. Make sure to check your promotions and/or spam folder if you don’t see it immediately. If you run into any issues, send us an email at TheSunshineFarmNY@gmail.com.
The Care Guide | What it Includes:
- Front Cover Page
- Home Instructions
- Emergency Instructions
- Garden Instructions
- Chicken Care Sheet
- Horse Care Sheet
- Goat Care Sheet
- Bunny Care Sheet
- Dog Care Sheet
- Cat Care Sheet
- Farm Daily Report (thank you to Rose at Wholesome Roots for the idea for this addition!)
- Blank Care Sheet (use this for animals not listed above!)
- Back Cover
See below for the cover page in addition to a couple of the sheets that are included in this farm sitter care guide:
How to Use This Guide:
- Print off pages that you need. Feel free to print off as many as needed. Maybe you have two horses that have entirely different care routines! Print out two of those sheets to help your farm sitter stay organized.
- Use the blank care sheet for animals that are not included in this care guide.
- Since care routines are frequently changing, this printable care guide will make it easy for you to print off and make new copies each time you have to go out of town!
- If your care routine is consistent, you can always make copies once you fill in the boxes, so that you have backups if needed.
- Teach your farm sitter how to fill in the daily report by walking them through it during your farm routine. Teach them what they need to look out for when it comes to healthy stool and healthy eating, two of the most important signs of a healthy animal!
- Walk your farm sitter through your daily routine and reference the instructions on the guide to help guide them through your animal and farm care routine.
Need to find a reliable farm sitter? Turn to your community, find out who other people use and make sure to get REFERENCES! Try to find someone who has significant experience with your most complicated farm animal. For us, that means someone with horse experience. Other people might need to find someone with goat experience, alpaca experience, or a lot of experience in the garden. It may be hard to find someone who has experience with all of the animals you have on the farm, and with gardening and home-sitting experience, so stick with the ones that are the most difficult to learn, and plan on teaching them the rest.
You will also need to determine a fair rate, you’re not going to want to pay someone next to nothing. They are caring for the animals you love the most! It’s important to pay them well for the responsibility of caring for a property and animals that are so important to you. Typical rates in our area range anywhere from $50 – $100 per day, which can add up quickly depending on how long you go out of town for. The bigger the responsibility, the higher the rate should be, just like a typical job.
Additional Resources for Vacationing as a Homesteader or Hobby Farmer
- Keeping Your Farm Animals Happy While on Vacation | By the lovely Christina at Thermaland Oaks
- How to Take a Vacation When You Have a Homestead | By Jill Winger at The Prairie Homestead
- How to Homestead (and Still Go on Vacation) | By Teri Page at Homestead Honey
- How Homesteaders Can Vacation | By Mary Lou Shaw at Mother Earth News
What animals would you like me to make additional care sheets for? Comment below or send me an email and I would be happy to add on to this farm sitter care guide!
Click HERE to download the FREE Care Guide
That’s all for now friends! If you use this guide, share your experience in the comments below. I would love to hear how it goes for you.
All my best,
Jenn
SUNSHINE FARM 
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