hobby/retirement farming in pa (Philadelphia, Reading: transplants, for sale, real estate market)

[sombrueil]

My husband and I are wondering where to land once he retires in a few years. PA is a possible option because our daughter in Philadelphia (at the moment anyway). We know zero about Pennsylvania, so any info is pretty much news to us. I'm a native northern Californian; he's originally from North Carolina.

We would like to find a location that would be good for a hobby farm, by which I mean where we could buy fifty to a hundred acres, graze sheep and goats on it, have a nice little home orchard and some free range hens. We also want a wood lot and hopefully a lovely old barn which doesn't need too many repairs. House is immaterial; we have built our own before and could do it again. Although we are both highly educated we also have a lot of country skills and experience.

We're leaving California for certain; the future there does not look good to us, climate wise, economically or any other way. We do NOT want to live in suburbia or exurbia, but maybe within range of a small college town. City amenities are not very interesting to us, at least on a regular basis. Money is not a big issue because of the enormous disparity between our present long-paid-for home's location, which has become one of the most expensive real estate markets in the nation, and everywhere we would be interested in living.

We are hoping to find a compatible community which contains enough small farms and alternative-type (organic etc) farmers that we'd make some friends.

Suggestions as to where to explore in Pennsylvania? If it helps, the other places on our 'possibles' list include western Oregon, southern Wisconsin, and New England.

[ki0eh]

Perhaps the #1 area in PA to look for something like that would be eastern Centre County, say within a couple of towns around Millheim. It's a little ways outside State College. Nearby Mifflin and Juniata counties initially look similar but probably less hospitable to transplants.

Other possibilities might be the areas around Bloomsburg, Lewisburg, and Selinsgrove, three smaller college towns a little further east. Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, southeast Lycoming counties. Maybe even far western Schuylkill and northern Dauphin counties.

More remote and colder (since you're also considering New England and Wisconsin) could be Bradford and Tioga counties, there's a few up there on the list linked here Pennsylvania Certified Organic - Certified Organic Producers in Pennsylvania - or maybe even Susquehanna County, home to many beautiful dry-laid flagstone walls.

Although the greatest concentrations on that list are in such counties as Berks, Lancaster, and Franklin, the zone of the state south and east of the Kittatinny Ridge (basically the I-78 corridor and I-81 south of I-78, and south/east from there) is pretty much suburbia and exurbia with higher land values, maybe tough to find parcels as big as you're describing.

You might also consider the area around Ithaca, NY - say from 10 to 40 miles out you'd be within range of critical organic mass from Cornell, one of the most liberal-leaning of land-grant universities. (Penn State is among the most conservative-leaning.)

[sombrueil]

thank you, that info is most helpful!

[Lion11]

I agree that you should look in the areas outside State College. State College is a small town with a large university, and the area is great for having a hobby farm. Eating local is a popular thing in State College, and even restaurants buy produce from local farmers. Look around the areas of Centre Hall, Spring Mills, and Millheim, as well as around Bellefonte. Good Luck!

Good website for farm real estate: Rural Real Estate and Farms for Sale in Pennsylvania
Centre County BUY FRESH BUY LOCAL Chapter Page: Centre County - Buy Fresh Buy Local
State College farmers market: Welcome to the
Homegrown Happy Valley: Homegrown Happy Valley

[PeeAye Native]

I also thought of State College, and the farming areas surrounding it when I read your post. And there is clearly an under current of other people doing the same thing in that area. I also think it would be easy to connect with others there, partly due to the college and the atmosphere it fosters, and partly because the local population supports it fairly enthusiastically.

The 'Centre Region' as it is called has a very good bus system that covers the small outlying towns and villages. For example, you can see buses stopping right next to a farm field at the outskirts of the small outlying villages. And so you could live on a dirt road leading to a farm, walk a few hundred feet and catch a bus into town. It's not especially relevant to what you ask, but little things like this are indicative of the culture and mindset of an area.

[itsajourney]

I read your post and I thought how lucky you are to be able to do such a thing. Tho I now live in Florida (dislike it), I lived in Mechanicsburg, PA for 11 years--and loved it! I really don't know much about hobby farming in the area, but I do know there are numerous farms and farmettes in the area. I am most familiar with Dauphin, Cumberland, York, Berks, Adams & Perry counties. That would be the area around Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, Gettysburg & Reading. Tho there are many smaller cities/metro areas here, there are also lots of farms. The least expensive area would be Perry County--just to the north & west of Harrisburg/Carlisle. Adams County. which is toward Gettysburg is full of orchards--paarticularly apple orchards. Perry county has some Christmas tree farms. Pumpkin patches can be found in any of these areas. I remember reading about a lady who raises sheep over by Hershey on a hobby farm. I have also read articles on folks who raise llamas.

I absolutely loved living in southcentral Pennsylvania and have often regretted leaving the area. I would go back in a minute if I could convince myself to put up with winter again. I just got back to Orlando from being in Philadelphia last week and I still love it up there.

I also love the New England area. I am sure that land prices there are much more expensive. However, there are some rural areas of New York state that have reasonably priced land.

If you haven't yet done so, I know that you can search "hobby farms for sale" on the net. I can't remember the specific sites, but I have searched under that before and came up with quite a lot. Also, United Country Real Estate is pretty much nationwide and they publish several magazines with different types of property across the USA. You can buy their magazines in some bookstores, but if you go into one of their offices they will give you the magazines for free.

Good luck with your search. I would love to hear where you eventually end up at.

[sombrueil]

thank you to everyone who took the time to respond, it's all helpful. Reading the posts, I keep thinking how relative definitions like "cold", "expensive", and "hobby farm" are. For me, a lifelong resident of a very clammy but above-freezing winter climate, almost any place in the US has more winter than us. I will have to discover for myself how much winter is the right amount for me. Who knows? My aim is to figure this out before I buy anything!

Nobody knows expensive until they live in the greater SF Bay Area. Even though housing prices have dropped 45% in my area, they are still at least double what they are in even pricey markets elsewhere, outside of luxury residential areas. DOUBLE. They used to be triple . . .

Everybody has such a different definition of hobby farm. You'd think that the simplest would be, a farm that doesn't need to support you financially -- but the majority of farms today, even those which turn a good profit, don't completely support their residents financially. For some people, an arable acre with room for chickens and a vegetable garden is a hobby farm. For some, a couple hundred cows is a hobby farm . . . I really enjoy raising grazing animals, so for me, the carrying capacity (# of animals it will feed naturally) of the land is all-important -- and that is vastly variable depending on the climate, the soil, etc.

I'm hoping to have a wonderful adventure discovering our new spot on earth -- thanks again!

[Hopes]

Another bonus: Pennsylvania doesn't tax retirement income.