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Have you looked at properties up in Long Valley which is the mountain valley Cascade is in? (Cascade to McCall). It is close to Boise and is surrounded by forests and mountains. The growing season would be shorter compared to the Treasure Valley and the winters similar to what you would experience in North Idaho.
Small homesteads are popular in the Treasure Valley and several of them grow veggies for the local farmers markets.
The tradeoff is you are situated in a valley with a long growing season, near Boise and the forests are close by as you know since you already live in Boise.
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Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke
Adding: if you hope to make money selling at a farmer's market, you have to be close to a population center where the residents have generous disposable income. You won't be happy getting up early enough to fresh pick, drive 2 hours to the farmers market, and be there early enough to set up before they open.
Boise meets this criteria in a big way. The Capital City Market and Boise Farmers Market (one of the largest organic farmers markets in the NW) held downtown each Saturday is posh and people are spending $$ on premium products.
There is also a farmers market in downtown Eagle as well as other towns around the valley.
I've "homesteaded" all of my life, raising meat animals, veggies, and fruit. The chances that you can support your family on five acres are just about zip. You'll do well to grow most of your own food, let alone raise enough money to pay taxes and insurance and to buy clothing and pay utilities.
So, my advice is to buy a small homestead close enough to commute to work where you can earn a paycheck.
My experience with farming is that one spouse drove to town for the paycheck and health insurance and the other spouse ran the farm. Usually it was the husband working for a salary and the wife doing the irrigating and running the tractor. All of my neighbors were doing that. I ran my farm by myself but I had an independent source of income and health insurance.
If you are determined to support yourself by growing agricultural products, I suggest that you look into regulations in Washington about growing marijuana. You can make a lot of money on 5 acres and land around Spokane is relatively inexpensive-- although I do not know if Spokane has growing conditions suitable for growing marijuana. It should be easy enough to find out if marijuana will grow there.
Thanks for your advice on homesteading. I should have mentioned that our intention is just to supplement our food with the garden and small livestock. I can work anywhere there is an internet connection. But we still want to be close to some sort of town for the sense of community.
Thanks for your advice on homesteading. I should have mentioned that our intention is just to supplement our food with the garden and small livestock. I can work anywhere there is an internet connection. But we still want to be close to some sort of town for the sense of community.
Be aware that in a lot of these rural areas your only Internet option may be satellite, which at least for today means you won't be able to use most (all?) VPNs. If your work doesn't require a VPN, and you can tolerate the relatively slow speed and high latency of a satellite connection then you will be fine.
Just as an example, my wife's work requires a VPN, so she rents a small office in Sandpoint so she can get the Internet connection she needs. We have satellite and marginal 4G at our home in eastern Sagle.
There are a few good threads here on Internet options in north Idaho. You might search for those to get a sense of what your options will be here in the panhandle.
Growing conditions are a mix of latitude / sunshine, elevation, water, soil quality, frost dates. Some southern locations have acceptable or better soil, sun, sometimes water but in east the elevation may be higher than north. In north, it is the frost dates that are the biggest issue though amount of sunshine may not be ideal for some crops either. Experiment a little but see what grows well for neighbors before making a major planting.
True central Idaho is too cold for much gardening without greenhouse and heat. Garden Valley, Bellevue, Salmon, places on the edges, are decent candidates.
Be aware that in a lot of these rural areas your only Internet option may be satellite, which at least for today means you won't be able to use most (all?) VPNs. If your work doesn't require a VPN, and you can tolerate the relatively slow speed and high latency of a satellite connection then you will be fine.
Just as an example, my wife's work requires a VPN, so she rents a small office in Sandpoint so she can get the Internet connection she needs. We have satellite and marginal 4G at our home in eastern Sagle.
There are a few good threads here on Internet options in north Idaho. You might search for those to get a sense of what your options will be here in the panhandle.
Dave
You are absolutely right, I'll need to see what internet options are available. I assumed the towns like McCall & maybe even Garden Valley had DSL at a minimum. I don't know much about North Idaho, so I'll search the forums for that.
"homesteading" historically was a type of land acquisition for a farmer. Somehow this term has been re-invented to describe someone that wants to plant some carrots and have a few chickens. I hope people are realistic about their abilities and the time commitment to become a "farmer".
"homesteading" historically was a type of land acquisition for a farmer. Somehow this term has been re-invented to describe someone that wants to plant some carrots and have a few chickens. I hope people are realistic about their abilities and the time commitment to become a "farmer".
I don't get too wrapped up in what we call it. I think the modern usage of the word probably describes what we want. Basically...to live somewhere and be pretty self-sufficient and minimize our reliance on outside food/energy sources.
You are absolutely right, I'll need to see what internet options are available. I assumed the towns like McCall & maybe even Garden Valley had DSL at a minimum. I don't know much about North Idaho, so I'll search the forums for that.
I think in most places "in town" you will find some reasonable Internet options - DSL, and often cable. The challenge will be funding 5 acres "in town."
I think in most places "in town" you will find some reasonable Internet options - DSL, and often cable. The challenge will be funding 5 acres "in town."
Dave
Correct, don't need to be "in town". Just close (within 20 min) of a town.
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