Looking for a new farm.

[miss_thenorth]

The interior of the First home, yeah it would need attention, ( but I do have a white rug in my living room ) All carpets would need to be pulled, and hardwood or tile put in place, the kitchen would need refacing. But did you see the size of the kitchen? The older home, while ithas been prettied up, it is an old house and I don't see anything where the wiring or plumbing have been updated. Old homes need alot more maintenance than a newer home needs. And it doesn't have a bath tub. that could be a deal breaker for me.

Well, we are just looking. Our house is not ready to be listed yet. We are probably looking at late fall or early spring for the move. But that is what we are up against. I do think I am leaning towards more land, since not having enough land is what got us into this mess in the first place. If we had lots, we could sharecrop. If we needed more, we would either have to rent more or move. Who knows, maybe by the time we are ready, a house that meets our expectations with land will turn up-in our price range. Stranger things have happened, right?

 

[freemotion]

If I were to look at 7 acres I'd want it to ALL be usable. I think at this point I'd rather have a few more acres and let some go wild. I'd establish food-type plants in the part I let go fallow.....permaculture. Native fruit trees and berry-bearing shrubs such as native plum, apple, crabapple, elderberry, blueberry. Nut trees. Ostrich fern near water, ramps, etc, whatever will grow without maintenance. Wooded areas for the goats and enough open land for a steer and a Jersey cow. Plenty to rotate pastures so I have grass for all the animals until snow completely covers it....even in a drought year. Enough woods to rotate the pigs through so they are not on the same plot every year. Even with a small homestead it takes a bit of land unless it is really, really rich land.

So fencing could be done a paddock at a time, one or several per year, depending on finances. Animals could be added accordingly. Meat animals processed in the fall would only need small shelters (such as my pig A-frame) within their paddocks. Barn space would be needed for dairy animals, hay/grain storage, and whatever breeding animals are kept over the winter.

A Salatin-style set-up would not require much, if any, large equipment. I'm finding that even with my too-small set-up, if I am careful, the animals can pay for the hay, which is pretty close to making it myself but without the equipment or heavy work of haying, other than the supplemental haying I do with a scythe. Which I wouldn't do if I had enough land to rotate in paddocks. Kids, eggs, and soap are paying for feed this year for the first time. Soap sales are growing faster than I can quite keep up, so I'll have to stock up this coming winter to be ready for the farmstand season. Plain, unwrapped, unscented, uncolored, rough cut homestead-style soap, selling like little square hotcakes!

Just writing out my own dreams.....

 

[pinkfox]

personally if i could afford it id go for the 25, not because id use it all but because im a big fan of bigger is better when it comes to land, you could easily leave most of it natural and have your own trails for your horses ect...

generally though i think 7 acres would probbaly hold what you have now plus the babies but if you plan to expand anymore definatly go for a minimum of 10...
im told an acre per horse and an acre per cow if you want to acvoid feeding hay most of the year so assuming 3 hourses your cow and her calf thats 5 acres right there.
another acre for the sheep and goats minimum since you dont have that many and then land for a vegi garden...i think 7 would be your "minimum" if youd like to avoid suplimenting hay most of the year.

but id still go 25 acres.

lol i havent even bought my house wiht 4 1/2 acres yet and im alreayd planning on seeing if the neighbor that owns the 2 acres at the back of the property which is to be mine would sell it to me (its not realy usable for him and its all woodland right now)

my "dream" homestead is about 10 acres, big enough to do anything on but not so big that id get lost.
or if i were getting horses 20 acres with 10 left natural with trails