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I don't know how needing $ to start farming is a myth at all. My family started and owns a farm and I grew up on a farm in Michigan. No matter how you slice it you need some money to get started.
You need land- ok you can lease it but you'll need some sort of $ for that.
You need seeds, starters which cost some sort of $
You'll need irrigation, a well, etc.
Pesticides if you're not doing organic.
Plenty of other things before you can sell your first crop.
Even if you already own the land and want to start a garden to sell enough produce to sell at local farmers markets you are going to need money to get started....Maybe not as much as if you were trying to commercially farm big commodity crops but you still need $ anyway you slice it. Please let me know how to start a farm with $0.
EDIT: there are ways to start a farm with no money, but it wouldn't be "your" farm quite at first without some work put into it How To Get Into Farming With No Money | Small Farmer's Journal
This is kind of what I was saying when I said find an old farmer who needs help and he will let you stay on his land.
Hey ! that's a nice magazine ! - new to me but I now subscribe ...thank you for posting this . Somebody in my family needs to have a farm and looks like it'll be me
I think water availabilty is very important....knowing some horror stories about paying 15K to drill hundreds of feet and hitting nothing (while all neighbors had good wells), I'm starting to think that if I buy a property it'd have existing well on it. This leaves previously unused land out. Or, in area with shallow water table, so that one could afford to drill again. In general, wouldn't want any area with deep water table for farming....during droughts the level drops and wells can go dry...with 30K to put in one well.
I think water availabilty is very important....knowing some horror stories about paying 15K to drill hundreds of feet and hitting nothing (while all neighbors had good wells), I'm starting to think that if I buy a property it'd have existing well on it. This leaves previously unused land out. Or, in area with shallow water table, so that one could afford to drill again. In general, wouldn't want any area with deep water table for farming....during droughts the level drops and wells can go dry...with 30K to put in one well.
I agree.
Many drought-prone regions are known for having water shortages. Many aquifers dry-out completely. Where I grew-up it is common to see farms wells go dry as each summer the different aquifers dry-up. Only the deepest wells that strike deep water can hold-out the longest before they go dry.
You say that, but what's the difference between living off grid and long-term camping, really? They lived okay without indoor plumbing, running water, electricity, or any of the modern "essentials" for centuries. I want truly unrestricted land, no requirements for septic, water, or electric, rules that allow me to do almost anything I want. I want to set something up for very little cost. I know it would take some sacrifice at first, but later hopefully it would pay off well. My biggest expense would probably be a way to collect water; that's an essential. Almost everything else would be extra; even heating and cooling could be done naturally.
landwatch dot com. go buy some land then. I looked on there for a few months on and off.
Now, the actual "county" had real citys in it with building codes. but I am far far from city limits, and I am in "partridge hills" township, which is basically dirt roads, out in the woods, with absolutly no codes at all. I even called the county to ask about a permit, or code for puttting in a culvert, they said " no codes, do as you wish"
the road isn't even a minimum maintenance road, its just a dead end dirt road maintained by the 7 or so of us that own land on that road.
Main thing is don't look for a whole entire county to not have building codes. see what "township" it is in...
what state are you looking in ? If you are looking in Minnesota I can defintiy help you out in much more detail.
Also, water is 108 feet down if I want it, the septic is a 55 gallon drum buried in a hole in the ground, and the electric is my honda generator for now, and solar "someday"
In order to make it worth buying, you need to have the ability both financial and
physically to actually transform the cheap land into something that yields a product
of value, otherwise it becomes just another investment which may or may not rise
in value over the short-term.
If you're going to buy your groceries at the store, then it's just as important what
land surrounds you as what is technically yours. For example if you are adjacent to
a large landowner who lets you do some things on his land or lease it, or if you're
near trails or protected forests you can enjoy/hunt/fish and use the money for something else.
Just saying that if you're going to blow a ton of money on land, it can strap you down
and I've seen people do this who do nothing with the land except walk around sometimes,
and it's like "ok, so you can walk in the woods"...
In order to make it worth buying, you need to have the ability both financial and physically to actually transform the cheap land into something that yields a product
of value, otherwise it becomes just another investment which may or may not rise
in value over the short-term. If you're going to buy your groceries at the store, then it's just as important what and surrounds you as what is technically yours. For example if you are adjacent to a large landowner who lets you do some things on his land or lease it, or if you're near trails or protected forests you can enjoy/hunt/fish and use the money for something else. Just saying that if you're going to blow a ton of money on land, it can strap you down and I've seen people do this who do nothing with the land except walk around sometimes, and it's like "ok, so you can walk in the woods"...
Makes sense.
Most land here is dense woods, where you can grow your own groceries, and hunt, fish, trap, forage on.
'Blowing a ton of money' means different things too. There is a big difference between $300/acre land and $1,000/acre land.
I would love such a wilderness ranch and $4000 bucks is, as the saying might be, chicken feed (not really but something like that for the purpose of our discussion).
So, what's the catch...or two....or three...or more?
First of all, it is in the middle of nowhere. Someone like me who lives in Central Texas would need a small plane or lots of time to get out there and back.
Secondly, there is the question of water. It might have a well, it might not.
Third, it's very close to the border, it is potentially "war zone" land. People smugglers are not just criminals, they are KILLERS. The warning to LE, for example, is that if you stop a vehicle smuggling people and you are the only cop there, you are in GRAVE DANGER because there will be an armed enforcement vehicle very close.
Still, it's a dream......and unfortunately, that's all it can be.
I'm a recent college graduate who wants to pursue green living at one point in my life, preferably while I'm young and able to really enjoy it, but I don't know where to find affordable land with zero restrictions where I could live without hooking up any utilities if I wanted to do so. Where could I possibly find such land for a price I could afford?
I have an acre of unrestricted land in Alaska. I paid about $12K for it, and it's an hour outside Anchorage. Since the Anchorage suburbs have grown a lot, it's now just a few minutes' drive to restaurants, grocery stores, and gas, much closer than it was just five years ago. I plan on building a yurt on it so I don't have to pay property taxes on the structure itself, as soon as I can convince my wife that Alaska is not as cold as she thinks. So far I haven't succeeded in my attempts at persuasion
I have an acre of unrestricted land in Alaska. I paid about $12K for it, and it's an hour outside Anchorage. Since the Anchorage suburbs have grown a lot, it's now just a few minutes' drive to restaurants, grocery stores, and gas, much closer than it was just five years ago. I plan on building a yurt on it so I don't have to pay property taxes on the structure itself, as soon as I can convince my wife that Alaska is not as cold as she thinks. So far I haven't succeeded in my attempts at persuasion
That's Awsome !
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