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Greetings! I would like to buy some land to start my own small homestead, but I have no idea about how to buy land or even how much land I would need to buy. My desire is to own enough land to grow my own organic fruits and vegetables, keep a few chickens, and (eventually) build a home and workshop for my creative/craft businesses. Being in a rural area is not a problem. I just need to be within easy distance of a city with great healthcare facilities and have access to high-speed internet (cable or fiber optic).
What's the minimum amount of land I need to do this? And, can anybody point me to some land purchase websites? Thanks!
CN
First, depends where you are. Some land is easier to farm than others. Second, I can tell you now, if you haven't lived rural, having access to high-speed internet, especially cable or fiber optic, is a tall, tall, tall order and even if it's nearby can cost many, many thousands to run to your land (e.g. if I want cable which is at my road to run to my house, it would cost me over $100,000).
You can homestead on 5 acres if you have decent land (e.g. fertile topsoil that you don't have to worry about nutrient depletion too much) where you can do some crop rotation, no low lying areas to worry about, and good water. Enough to have pigs, chickens, other small animals, gardens, some structures, and a place to live.
Based on the OP’s stated needs, two acres with a house would be be plenty to do what she wants. I don’t believe she intends to farm to support her lifestyle. Of course, I could be wrong. Heck, Mom and Dad did it, had a cow and goats, and a pond on two acres.
Based on the OP’s stated needs, two acres with a house would be be plenty to do what she wants. I don’t believe she intends to farm to support her lifestyle. Of course, I could be wrong.
Greetings! I would like to buy some land to start my own small homestead, but I have no idea about how to buy land or even how much land I would need to buy. My desire is to own enough land to grow my own organic fruits and vegetables, keep a few chickens, and (eventually) build a home and workshop for my creative/craft businesses. Being in a rural area is not a problem. I just need to be within easy distance of a city with great healthcare facilities and have access to high-speed internet (cable or fiber optic).
What's the minimum amount of land I need to do this? And, can anybody point me to some land purchase websites? Thanks!
CN
There is a substantial difference in how your land can be financed and taxed when you exceed a lot size of 10 acres. It's worth looking into at the local level (taxes and zoning), state and federal levels (taxes and incentives).
You can have land declared as farm or forestry depending on your intentions.
Greetings! I would like to buy some land to start my own small homestead, but I have no idea about how to buy land or even how much land I would need to buy. My desire is to own enough land to grow my own organic fruits and vegetables, keep a few chickens, and (eventually) build a home and workshop for my creative/craft businesses. Being in a rural area is not a problem. I just need to be within easy distance of a city with great healthcare facilities and have access to high-speed internet (cable or fiber optic).
What's the minimum amount of land I need to do this? And, can anybody point me to some land purchase websites? Thanks!
CN
What is your goal? Are you going to be off grid? If so I believe you'd need an area you can do that. You'd need septic or an outhouse or composting toilet.
I've been watching shows like building off the grid, live free or die. Pretty interesting. You can really live comfortably now off grid but I couldn't live off grid where my house is now because of sewer and would need a low tax area, surely not where I live now.
It's my dream that to retire off grid. As for internet, I'd have my cell and tablet. I don't know about a computer and if I could share a connection with it.
As for how much land, you'd need probably a minimum of 3 acres. I think 5 to 10 would be nice which would allow you to grow if need be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3
All right, I can see the signs of a downward spiral here, but I am going to try to provide something constructive.
OP, I think your question as it stands is too broad to admit of any kind of simple answer. I mean, the lifestyles you're talking about could range from "big garden and some hens for eggs" to "totally off the grid" with many gradations in between.
I would suggest going to the library and systematically reading through everything they've got - and there have been many books written on this subject and allied ones over the last 40 years or so - to get a more well-defined view of how you envision yourself doing this. Also, talking to some people who have made this change.
I agree. Her question is too general. I wouldn't suggest the library as their are TV shows, FB groups, message boards and you tube where she can easily get answers. I think finding a home steading or off grid message board or FB group would be best
There are tons of ways to build a house. Many people use yurts which appear to eventually leak if not done right
I agree. Her question is too general. I wouldn't suggest the library as their are TV shows, FB groups, message boards and you tube where she can easily get
wrong
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roselvr
answers. I think finding a home steading or off grid message board or FB group would be best
There, fixed that for you.
Keep in mind that internet "sources" typically go back a few months or years, and are almost always heavily skewed toward a particular interest that's being promoted. If you read actual books you have access to knowledge going back centuries. Heck, millennia, if the subject is farming/gardening.
There's a reason why people who want to carefully study subjects and get genuine right answers don't rely on what some guy posts on the internet.
What you don’t want to do is to get “information” from wannabes. The ones who armchair homestead and hope tomdomit someday. When we started out we’d gotten info from Mother Earth magazine, BackwoodsHome magazine (now defunct but the forum is still up I believe),
HomesteadingToday .com, and there is a homesteading group on proboards called Homesteading Families.
Lots of people who have really done this, lived offgrid, raise all kinds of stock. In my experience, some of th biggest blowhards are the offgrid wannabes. And they LOVE to give advice.
Greetings! I would like to buy some land to start my own small homestead, but I have no idea about how to buy land or even how much land I would need to buy. My desire is to own enough land to grow my own organic fruits and vegetables, keep a few chickens, and (eventually) build a home and workshop for my creative/craft businesses. Being in a rural area is not a problem. I just need to be within easy distance of a city with great healthcare facilities and have access to high-speed internet (cable or fiber optic).
What's the minimum amount of land I need to do this? And, can anybody point me to some land purchase websites? Thanks!
CN
I used to advise getting 5 acres, but with our propensity to acquire “stuff” I think a minimum of acreage is 10, more if you can afford it. If I were a person starting out in life today my goal would be to eventually acquire a minimum of several hundred acres.
Too much emphasis on acreage, no discussion of water. If you have water, you can grow anything. If you don't, you are screwed. The minimum well for irrigating 5 acres is 20 gpm. That's a big pump on a good well. In many western states, you can't irrigate more than a quarter acre without water rights. A typical rural residential well and pump (5 gpm) will handle domestic water and a big garden.
Rural high speed internet is available anywhere via satellite, but it will cost you about $100/month for a true high speed connection. Cable or fiber internet is an urban thing, not usually available on acreage, unless it's a mini-ranch subdivision and it was installed by the developer.
Medical care in rural areas is tiered. There is primary care, usually handled by an urgent care clinic or fire department EMTs. Secondary care (minor surgery, ongoing therapy like dialysis) is handled by a small hospital, which may or may not have an ER. Tertiary care (major surgery, specialist care) is usually handled at a regional center in a large city, which may be a long drive. Getting to my wife's hip replacement surgeon took over an hour and a half one way. Major trauma care usually requires a Life Flight, so keep your ambulance insurance paid up. The ambulance company keeps a unit stationed only 3 miles from my house, but once they get here and get me loaded into the ambulance it would still be 20 minutes to the helipad and another half hour in the air to the trauma center. Lack of emergency care is the single biggest reason rural people die younger than city people.
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