freemotion
Food Guru
Sorry, SKR8PN, I hope one day one of you can work less and enjoy goats! Er....work more and enjoy goats? Work less for pay and more for satisfaction, would be the most accurate way to say it!
If you had only one acre what would you do with it?
- Thread starter kitchwitch
- Start date
PunkinPeep
Humble Ambitions
Everyone has pretty much already said everything i can think of, but i would emphasize that if you're wanting to make some money and help your fruit trees, bees seem like a really good idea. You can definitely do it without your husband's help; once you get going on it, you can sell the honey and possibly wax; and if you move, you can take your hives with you.
I should mention that i do not raise bees (yet), so i'm sharing my dreams with you more than speaking from experience.
I have one and a half acres - at least one third wooded.
On that land, i have a small house, a small garden, a couple of fruit trees that may or may not make it, and give or take about 30 chickens. I am planning - and feel i have plenty of room to get a couple of goats or hair sheep (haven't decided for sure yet), a pair of muscovy ducks to raise their offspring for meat, a much larger garden including an herb garden, and lots of bees.
The chickens provide eggs and meat, and we sell eating eggs, fertilized eggs, and chicks to help cover the cost of feed, which it most often does.
I should mention that i do not raise bees (yet), so i'm sharing my dreams with you more than speaking from experience.
I have one and a half acres - at least one third wooded.
On that land, i have a small house, a small garden, a couple of fruit trees that may or may not make it, and give or take about 30 chickens. I am planning - and feel i have plenty of room to get a couple of goats or hair sheep (haven't decided for sure yet), a pair of muscovy ducks to raise their offspring for meat, a much larger garden including an herb garden, and lots of bees.
The chickens provide eggs and meat, and we sell eating eggs, fertilized eggs, and chicks to help cover the cost of feed, which it most often does.
hwillm1977
Almost Self-Reliant
We have .8 of an acre here... that includes a house, stream, 200 foot driveway, shed and a chicken coop.
I think the Backyard Homestead is a great book, and whether or not you want to do every single thing in the book or not it does have some great starting off points.
We use WAY less than 1/4 of an acre and produce a lot of veggies, some fruit, all the eggs we need from 4 chickens, and next year we'll have turkeys and meaty chickens here too.
Check zoning in your area too... in ours livestock housing and pens have to be 18m from property lines if you have less than 6 animal units... 70m if you have more than that. And we're only allowed 1 animal unit per acre (20 chickens is one unit, 6 goats, 1 cow, etc... )
I think the Backyard Homestead is a great book, and whether or not you want to do every single thing in the book or not it does have some great starting off points.
We use WAY less than 1/4 of an acre and produce a lot of veggies, some fruit, all the eggs we need from 4 chickens, and next year we'll have turkeys and meaty chickens here too.
Check zoning in your area too... in ours livestock housing and pens have to be 18m from property lines if you have less than 6 animal units... 70m if you have more than that. And we're only allowed 1 animal unit per acre (20 chickens is one unit, 6 goats, 1 cow, etc... )
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
Depends entirely on the climate and the LAND (topography, soil types, existing vegetation, etc)... I think it is a mistake to fantasize too much about generic plans, they have to be tailored to the particular site.kitchwitch said:
If you want to try to make income off one acre you need to be very good at marketing and public relations, and before planting (etc) a single thing you need to find out what will SELL in your area. For instance some people make good money selling herbs to restaurants, but if there are no interested restaurants in your area or if that niche is already amply filled then it would not be a good thing for *you* to do. Every place is different. And in a lot of places I do not believe that there IS necessarily a way to make 'agricultural' net income off an acre, unless you get into things that can be sold over the internet (again, finding a "need to be filled" and being good at selling your stuff are the key).
Pat
