“I can’t leave, I’ve got too many animals to look after. If anything went wrong I’d never forgive myself.”

Hey, I hear you. I grew up on a farm. I’ve worked on other people’s farms. My mom has run a boarding kennel since I was 3 (that means nearly 4 decades, for the record). I’ve been a farm sitter, a pet sitter, and an emergency back-up when things went wrong. And while I don’t currently have a “big acre real farm”, we have enough animals that it’s definitely hard to just…. walk away, get a day or a weekend away – to attend a workshop, visit family, or heaven forbid, go on a vacation. 

Over the years, I realized that one of the biggest things I struggled with both as a farm sitter and when having someone else look after things so I could leave was a set of clear, well-defined, comprehensive instructions. (The part about not being able to find someone reliable is too often a smokescreen: there are reliable people, and you find them by showing them you have clear, organized instructions to guide them). 

I created the Fillable Farmsitter Manual with two types of people in mind:

• folks with a farm, of any size – even if it’s just a quarter acre or (gasp! not a farm at all but a suburban plot with chickens, a cat and a few houseplants!) who are nervous about going away and leaving their animal loved ones in the care of someone else; and
• folks that want to be, or currently are, hired by the first group.

This is not for you if:

• you’d rather “see how things go” and fly by the seat of your pants;
• you’re so confident in your abilities that you just know you’ll be fine, whatever comes up; 
• you’re not interested in or don’t want to take even an hour or two to sit down, write out your systems, compile some images, and make things super clear for the person you’re leaving in charge; or
• you already have a clear, comprehensive manual in place for farm sitters, and it’s up-to-date with all of your livestock and plant systems documented, emergency contacts, your travel details, water and feed systems, and a basic property map. 

What is it?

The Fillable Farm Sitter Manual is simply a well-formatted Google Doc. When you buy, you get the link, make yourself a copy, and dive in.

• If you’re a farm owner, you simply update it with your own details, add or remove rows or specific areas of detail, and either save the PDF or print it out (or both). 
• Farm sitters can share it with their clients to have them enter details, or can work one-on-one with clients to provide an extra level of service and conscientious care to their work. (Hello, higher fees!). 

Ready to go… somewhere, away, for a weekend or a week or more?

Are you ready to leave, with your peace of mind intact knowing that things are clearly laid out, all the information is available to your “person in charge” (or to you, if you’re the one sitting), and they’ll be fully accountable because you took the time to make things crystal clear? 

Then you’ll want this template in your toolkit.