Homesteading

[Faye]

Does anyone here have experience with homesteading or living on a small farm?

I find the idea appealing for several reasons, but I'm not sure how wise or feasible it actually is for me. The fantasy is to be partially self sufficient so that I could have minimal contact with others; maybe a monthly supply run or less often if possible. Living in the city has become increasingly awful, and I expect it will get worse.

So the problem begins with the cost. Land prices have been increasing quite a lot. I've spent a few days scrolling through landwatch recently, and even though I do not know much, I get the impression that many of those properties are lemons that someone picked up at their county tax auction and want to pass on to fools who don't know what they are doing (while making a substantial profit of course). If the advertisements talk about going "off grid" or whatever, that is a red flag from what I've seen because it feels like they are targeting newbs hopping on the trend. A piece of land could be in the middle of nowhere, no access roads, no electricity, no tillable soil, and they will be like "start your off grid adventure here" and want $10k per acre. Seems insane to me.

I guess at a minimum I would want electricity and decent access roads, and that leaves having a well drilled, installing septic, and building or buying a house. Some middle of nowhere places still have boomer HOAs somehow, and I've seen restrictions banning manufactured/mobile homes and requiring large square footage amounts. I don't have faith in my skills to build my own home despite encouragement from youtubers. So buying a piece of land, a single wide (or paying for a small house to be built), well/pump/etc., and installing septic would cost about the same as a small 1 bedroom condo in the city.

Saving up that money is feasible in the long term, but I worry that I wouldn't be self sufficient enough to make it worthwhile being out there (particularly in regard to food production). I don't have a good sense of the cost of raising livestock or growing produce, but from what I can gather, it could easily cause someone to bleed money. This is especially true if they have to rely on buying feed for the animals.

It seems like the only safe way to do it is if I had a ton of money saved up, but at that point its really just retirement with some potentially expensive hobbies gardening, raising animals, etc. And by the time that happens, I'm not sure my body will be in shape to handle the labor. I am also lacking in the skills I would need. I've started reading up on them, but realistically they would take years to acquire. I guess I'm curious if it would make retirement more accessible or allow me to retire much earlier than I normally could (if you count doing manual labor as retiring).

The bottom line is this is something I would look forward to if I could make it work. Right now I have nothing to look forward to, and spending the rest of my life shackled to a stressful desk job isn't really appealing. I want to get away from people and be somewhat of a hermit. Every year that passes I become a bit more misanthropic because of how awful people are to me, and I fear it wont get better.

 

[Asa]

Even though I don't homestead, I'm very familiar with rural life, farming, etc. I'll post at length later.

 

[Wyote]

I know there are grants and special loans for farmland so I'd look into that to help with finances.
You might also consider indoor farming / vertical farming,
Which could achieve the kind of sustainability you are looking for with less of the unknowns of land farming.
Either way it is going to require quite a bit of learning but if you start small now you can be prepared for larger scale later.
I've known farmers and homesteaders, there are lots around where I'm at.
It is a full time job if you want it to be comfortably sustainable on its own.

 

[Faye]

I know there are grants and special loans for farmland so I'd look into that to help with finances.
You might also consider indoor farming / vertical farming,
Which could achieve the kind of sustainability you are looking for with less of the unknowns of land farming.
Either way it is going to require quite a bit of learning but if you start small now you can be prepared for larger scale later.
I've known farmers and homesteaders, there are lots around where I'm at.
It is a full time job if you want it to be comfortably sustainable on its own.

I thought that the land had to have a house on it to qualify for a FSA loan? Anyway I will look into it more, but ideally I would want to do this without having to pay loan interest.

I've been interested in greenhouses and vertical farming (especially hydoponic towers), but I don't have a good sense of how well they would work since I'm completely inexperienced. Building a sunken greenhouse with polycarbonate panels doesn't look too difficult though.

I'm extremely limited in what I can do at the moment. I have no space where I could grow anything at all right now. I still haven't replaced my stolen car either.

 

[Sloe Djinn]

This sounds kind of like something you would best be able to apprentice your way into by befriending someone who already does it or is actively working towards it. Do you know if there are any local online communities who discuss it?

 

[Faye]

This sounds kind of like something you would best be able to apprentice your way into by befriending someone who already does it or is actively working towards it. Do you know if there are any local online communities who discuss it?

Aside from the reddit homesteading sub and youtubers, I don't know.

I've also come to the conclusion that the area of the country I'm in (the desert southwest) is really not suited to it. Like you could still do it here; however, you'll be completely or almost completely dependent on animal feed, fertilizer, watering stuff yourself, etc. Its much more of a money sink in this environment. I would only want to do it in a much greener and wetter area of the country much further north.

I also realize that actually doing this is semi-unrealistic for me. My main fantasy is to be able to get away from people for long periods of time, not to actually be off grid or whatever. Electricity and modern tools/equipment would be a must. The videos people make for social media tend to be very limited in what they show (picture perfect with little or none of the labor involved).

The more likely or realistic scenario is that I eventually get a place about an hour outside of the city where I could have a garden, chickens, etc. I'm not sure if that actually qualifies as homesteading though; its more like just having a few hobbies at that point. It could be a retirement goal maybe.

Right now I've started applying to go back to school and take online courses. Assuming I get accepted, I'll be busy with that and my desk job for the foreseeable future.

 

[Matty]

Perhaps your options would be greater if you looked outside your home country.

 

[Faye]

Perhaps your options would be greater if you looked outside your home country.

I thought about that but am not sure where I could go. Immigration is pretty difficult. They generally only want healthy young people who are bringing their families, rich people, or professionals with specialized credentials. If I managed to improve my credentials, I could possibly be allowed somewhere else, but then I would be tied to a professional job in that country.

 

[Moranga]

Does anyone here have experience with homesteading or living on a small farm?

I find the idea appealing for several reasons, but I'm not sure how wise or feasible it actually is for me. The fantasy is to be partially self sufficient so that I could have minimal contact with others; maybe a monthly supply run or less often if possible. Living in the city has become increasingly awful, and I expect it will get worse.

So the problem begins with the cost. Land prices have been increasing quite a lot. I've spent a few days scrolling through landwatch recently, and even though I do not know much, I get the impression that many of those properties are lemons that someone picked up at their county tax auction and want to pass on to fools who don't know what they are doing (while making a substantial profit of course). If the advertisements talk about going "off grid" or whatever, that is a red flag from what I've seen because it feels like they are targeting newbs hopping on the trend. A piece of land could be in the middle of nowhere, no access roads, no electricity, no tillable soil, and they will be like "start your off grid adventure here" and want $10k per acre. Seems insane to me.

I guess at a minimum I would want electricity and decent access roads, and that leaves having a well drilled, installing septic, and building or buying a house. Some middle of nowhere places still have boomer HOAs somehow, and I've seen restrictions banning manufactured/mobile homes and requiring large square footage amounts. I don't have faith in my skills to build my own home despite encouragement from youtubers. So buying a piece of land, a single wide (or paying for a small house to be built), well/pump/etc., and installing septic would cost about the same as a small 1 bedroom condo in the city.

Saving up that money is feasible in the long term, but I worry that I wouldn't be self sufficient enough to make it worthwhile being out there (particularly in regard to food production). I don't have a good sense of the cost of raising livestock or growing produce, but from what I can gather, it could easily cause someone to bleed money. This is especially true if they have to rely on buying feed for the animals.

It seems like the only safe way to do it is if I had a ton of money saved up, but at that point its really just retirement with some potentially expensive hobbies gardening, raising animals, etc. And by the time that happens, I'm not sure my body will be in shape to handle the labor. I am also lacking in the skills I would need. I've started reading up on them, but realistically they would take years to acquire. I guess I'm curious if it would make retirement more accessible or allow me to retire much earlier than I normally could (if you count doing manual labor as retiring).

The bottom line is this is something I would look forward to if I could make it work. Right now I have nothing to look forward to, and spending the rest of my life shackled to a stressful desk job isn't really appealing. I want to get away from people and be somewhat of a hermit. Every year that passes I become a bit more misanthropic because of how awful people are to me, and I fear it wont get better.

Hi Faye,
I started growing and raising chickens a few years ago. I have killed a lot of expensive plants/trees by assuming to often and getting ahead of myself a bit. Regardless I am a student forever and have learned much during this time.

Note: Being in the desert SW the plants will need a type of solar shield screen to defuse the direct sunlight until they are established.

I found some videos to speak specifically to your environment. There are some issues related to your local base environment that if addressed will make your gardening more successful.

Another option to consider is Moringa will do well there too. Once planted in the ground It grows easy and faster than you can consume. Provides some shade for new things to add in. Alone it covers a wide range of vitamins and minerals as well as diabetes, cancer, arthritis, eyes, hair, skin. Its one of those special plants that holds strong health and healing properties. That might be a good place to start that will be very little out of pocket. Something that is user friendly and beneficial.
It is rewarding to watch your plants flourish.