Homestead general

>>135843685
Bump.

Does anyone work a regular job and own/manage a small (3-5 acre) property on the side? I'm trying to get a feel for how realistic it would be to try to own a goat or two, a handful of chickens, dig my own well + filter, run some solar panels and wind turbines to a battery in order to power my electronics, grow vegetables, and tend some fruit trees/berry bushes

I do the best I can with what little yard I have. My advice is to plant lots of fruit and nut trees. Relatively little hassle compared to vegetables crops.

>>135843685

Hobby Farmers are the greatest pretenders on this planet and need to be erased.

>>135846575
Thanks for the input, anon.
>>135846775
Pls elaborate. What's wrong with someone trying to grow a bit of veg in the garden?

>>135845255
It's possible but you'll work yourself to death. Just save enough money to pay property tax (or Canadian equivalent)/dire emergency funds and live your life unfettered.

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>>135846575
How hard is it? Would doing chores in the morning before work and the evening after work + weekends be viable?

>>135846874

People who grow on a small scale are fine. It's the people who grow 10 acres of some stupid crop like watermelon and call themselves farmers.

Check out Urban Farming by Curtis Stone. He farms on 1/2-1/4 acre parcels. Very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycxrE6hlox4

>>135848245
Yeah, that's retarded. Would appreciate some feedback on my set-up idea. Would start out with just me, and maybe add a wife and kids at some point. I'm just trying to wrap my head around how one would even go about having an off-grid set-up

>>135845255
It's really really fun working over the years building a little permaculture heaven but
Once you have it all running and you're harvesting and planting and amending and irrigating and fencing and feeding every day--

It's still fun.

Then one day you'll fence the 10th mile of fencing you've ever done. You'll build your 4th roof. You'll pump your millionth gallon of water.

Then you'll say fuck this menial mindless bullshit I need something intellectually challenging.

Or that's me right now. I've taken up writing a lot. I'm just bored with farming now that I'm proficient it's just manual labor with delicious food.

>>135850725
Do you still work another job? I'm trying to figure out if I can have my permaculture heaven and still work.

>>135849643
>>135848245
there are certain parts of a country that grows something better than other places
why wouldnt you maximise crops in their respective areas?

>>135850832
No I make money selling my produce, eggs and meat and middle manning produce, blueberries, peaches, figs, etc
Middle manning allows me to make a market for my own foods and I make a good amount off each run

I buy 1000# of whatever easily transportable fruit and sell it to double my money at 10 lb increments to customers I advertise to through Facebook groups and flyers

>>135845255
This is my goal to reach by 25. I don't want to ever have to see another nigger if I so choose.

>>135852285
Same here man. My family does't own any land and hasn't lived on a farm for probably ~150 years (if not more) and I am really attracted to the idea of being even a little bit self-sufficient. In the event of a real happening, I don't want to be caught with nowhere to go.

>>135845255
>>135843685
I own 5 acres. 3 of which has my outdoor green houses and other buildings for my seasonal mushroom farm. On the other two acres I have about one full acre of veggies/fruit, chickens, 4 goats, and my house. Also have 2 dogs. All my profits come from the mushroom side of it.

This is my 4th year on the farm but started growing mushrooms for 6yrs. I work about 70-80hrs a week and have two full time employees that work 40. I pay them decent and provide medical benefits. Last year the farms gross profit was just over 100k. I pay myself give enough to pay my bills and get by, reinvesting the rest back into my property.

I wake up everyday knowing the profits I generate go right to me and my farm. Being your own boss and being the one fully in charge is exhausting but incredibly fulfilling at the end of the day.

Plus my employees (who are both /pol/acks) and I can make nigger/kike jokes all day. It's a good time.

>>135853346
Neat, thanks for posting anon. Do you think it would be possible to work a 9-5 and grow some of your own food if you're a single guy?

I'm seriously considering getting 40-120 acres in the middle of bumfuck nowhere so I don't have to be near cities or neighbours any more.
I crave isolation.

>>135853764
Absolutely. But be prepared to put in work for it. You gotta do it every single day. It's tough at first but you get the hang of it and it becomes just part of life. Plus you know the food you are eating is as healthy as possible.

>>135845255
>Does anyone work a regular job and own/manage a small (3-5 acre) property on the side? I'm trying to get a feel for how realistic it would be to try to own a goat or two, a handful of chickens, dig my own well + filter, run some solar panels and wind turbines to a battery in order to power my electronics, grow vegetables, and tend some fruit trees/berry bushes

I do this.

I'm a full time software engineer. A few years ago, we moved out an older 14ac farmstead in the middle of actively farmed cropland.

We have sheep for wool and meat. We have lots of laying hens for eggs. We have bee hives. We have goats just to chew on underbrush in our forest. Some years, we have done meat turkeys and meat chickens.

We have a good size garden, and we continue to experiment with different garden setups.

The property came with some mature, big producing apple trees, so we get an absurd amount of apples and crab apples.

In addition to a full time job, it's a lot of work. The animals themselves aren't much effort. My wife does almost all gardening and chicken related stuff. My older son is now able to let the sheep out first thing in the morning. My older daughter feeds our cats at night.

One of the things we wanted from this life was to be able to give our children useful, functional jobs that have to be done.

We have been able to enjoy evening meals that were 100% from our farm - meat from our animals, fruit and veggies from our orchard and garden. It's not every day, but it's pretty awesome.

My wife is a stay at home mom. She homeschools our children. They all spend significant time outdoors every day, but will go several days in a row without leaving our property at all.

My job is also now full-time work from home, so I also go days in a row without ever leaving my property.

The thing is that maintaining a lot of buildings, a lot of ground, and a lot of equipment, just takes a lot of time.

>>135853764
>Do you think it would be possible to work a 9-5 and grow some of your own food if you're a single guy?
Not the other poster but I'll answer anyway. GF and I have a small garden for personal use and it gives us more lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries than we know what to do with. Peaches and grapes will be ready soon. The garden needs attention every day or two for watering and harvesting before the fruits go rotten.

Also depends on the crop, the crop size, and how much you can automate. Automate as much as you can, like watering, so that you can invest your time on less menial tasks, or even just relax.

Be aware of pests. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, etc can get in your shit. Even if you have a barn cat to kill small pests, the downside is cats will also shit and piss in your garden.

I say go for it, self sufficiency is a virtue.

>>135849643
>an off-grid set-up

This is very hard unless you start from scratch and design everything for it.

Most existing structures are just not setup for off-grid living.

To make off-grid work, you need to

1) maximize winter solar heat gain
2) minimize summer solar heat intrusion
3) figure out how to do all of your heating, cooling, water heating, refrigeration, freezing, and cooking with roughly zero electricity

Most conventionally built houses just aren't efficiently built enough to heat/cool with off-grid energy.

The biggest limitation in off-grid electrical living is finding high quality inverters that pump out significant AC current. You will never run an electric clothes dryer off of your batteries and solar panels. You certainly won't run the dryer, a welder, electric heat, a fridge, a freezer, a bunch of lights, etc, all at the same time.

That said, if you _do_ design from scratch, you can go a long way with the following

1) solar hot water heat
2) solar hot water space heating, or, outdoor wood boiler and embedded PEX loop radiant floor heat
3) high-mass construction; double staggered exterior 2x6 walls.