Farming / Homesteading

[sethp]

Anyone do any farming homesteading?

I perhaps have an opportunity to buy a house on 5-10 acres next year. With some Free time to work it a bit.

If it doesn't have a shop/outbuilding I want to build one.
I want to build a basketball court including pouring my own cement.
I want o make a garden growing my own carrots, beats, onions, tomatoes, Cabbage whatever.
I want to plant some apple trees and some grape vines.
I want to build a pool...digging it out by hand.
I want to make some hiking trails, dirt bike trails.
I want to build a horse stable and some fencing.
I want to build my own greenhouse.

Doable? Anyone do anything like that?

 

[Saint_Ann]

Anyone do any farming homesteading?

I perhaps have an opportunity to buy a house on 5-10 acres next year. With some Free time to work it a bit.

If it doesn't have a shop/outbuilding I want to build one.
I want to build a basketball court including pouring my own cement.
I want o make a garden growing my own carrots, beats, onions, tomatoes, Cabbage whatever.
I want to plant some apple trees and some grape vines.
I want to build a pool...digging it out by hand.
I want to make some hiking trails, dirt bike trails.
I want to build a horse stable and some fencing.
I want to build my own greenhouse.

Doable? Anyone do anything like that?

Tell me about the house.

 

[IG_88]

Other than cost it's all pretty doable except the pool.

 

[Que]

Any place that will let you do that list of things without exorbitantly expensive permits and inspections will not be a good place to get any sort of return on the expense of those improvements.

If you do any of the above, do it for your own enjoyment and plan on enjoying it for years with no thought to recouping those costs.

 

[HisArpy]

Tell me about the house.

It has 4 walls and a roof. Hopefully.

Ok, more seriously, everything on the list is possible. Our great grandparents were able to cope and do all on your list without the benefit of heavy equipment in most cases. So, don't be afraid of it but be damn sure it's what you WANT and not just think would be cool to try to do as an experiment. There are tons of "hobby farms" out there where people thought it'd be cool to "get off the grid". Until they found out how much work it actually is. Which is why their "hobby farm" is for sale waiting on the next schmuck, err, dreamer to come along.

You have to WANT to be self reliant to do this. And from there you have to be capable of being self reliant. If you aren't then don't do it unless you have wads of disposable income.

 

[coati]

Anyone do any farming homesteading?

Doable? Anyone do anything like that?

I have been involved in this type of effort for my entire adult life (but on a larger acreage scale). I have always been willing to pay the price of continuous manual labor to obtain independence.

Your list made me smile a little, because it is an interesting mix. If you are going to continue to live in Nevada, make sure you have the water resources available to support the projects you have on your list.

 

[sethp]

I have been involved in this type of effort for my entire adult life (but on a larger acreage scale). I have always been willing to pay the price of continuous manual labor to obtain independence.

Your list made me smile a little, because it is an interesting mix. If you are going to continue to live in Nevada, make sure you have the water resources available to support the projects you have on your list.

Thanks....this will be a lot further north. Oregon/Washington/Idaho

Got any tips?

 

[BotanyBoy]

Thanks....this will be a lot further north. Oregon/Washington/Idaho

Got any tips?

Yea, stay out of OR and WA.

You're not allowed to do pretty much any of that shit. You'll have to hire people with licences to do it at a premium price.

 

[coati]

Thanks....this will be a lot further north. Oregon/Washington/Idaho

Got any tips?

A lot of it depends upon the county you choose as the location. Most building codes are enforced at the county level. You will need to talk to neighbors about the degree of enforcement.


I use a great deal of creativity to get around building codes, such as staging projects over a long period of time so the changes are gradual. Also, I look for agricultural exemptions-- there are a lot of them built into county codes and enforcement. My barn and all outbuildings are covered under agricultural exemptions. My house is the only permitted building on my property. Eventually, aerial photos revealed my other buildings, so the county boosted my property taxes a little, but I negotiated them down because all of the out buildings were constructed with recycled materials, and none of them have grid power.


One note about your list-- pouring concrete with your own resources is a skill that requires advance planning with regard to rebar placement and form work, because there is only so much you can mix and pour in a single day. I have done a lot of this type of work, using sand and gravel from a wash located on my property and using bulk Portland cement from a nearby cement plant. However, big concrete trucks really do deliver an economy of scale. So, for the projects that you do obtain a permit, it is well worth your while to hire a crew to pour and finish concrete at a larger scale.

 

[coati]

Yea, stay out of OR and WA.

You're not allowed to do pretty much any of that shit. You'll have to hire people with licences to do it at a premium price.

I've done work for family members in Oregon without a license, by learning about the local regulations and the local degree of enforcement.

In some jurisdictions, there are exemptions for owner-built work that takes place a certain time period before subsequent sale of the property. The worst that can happen with those exemptions is that you might not be able to recover your investment at the time of the sale, but homesteading is not primarily focused on turning a fast buck by flipping the property. If you are a true homesteader, you are in it for the long run.

 

[Hypoxia]

The worst that can happen with those exemptions is that you might not be able to recover your investment at the time of the sale, but homesteading is not primarily focused on turning a fast buck by flipping the property. If you are a true homesteader, you are in it for the long run.

Unpermitted work may be damn hard to finance, insure, and sell. One is on their own for now and for always. Lemme tell ya, DIY homesteading sounds romantic but it's fucking hard work and one may not have the endurance necessary. I did some of that and I learned to love civilized comforts. YMMV.

Anyway, trails and trees and gardens (even irrigated) and non-structural stuff should be zero problem. Ball courts and simple greenhouses and likely a poured pool are okay too. For significant structures, including stables, check county requirements, also animal regulations.

It can be fun, hey?

 

[BotanyBoy]

I've done work for family members in Oregon without a license, by learning about the local regulations and the local degree of enforcement.

In some jurisdictions, there are exemptions for owner-built work that takes place a certain time period before subsequent sale of the property. The worst that can happen with those exemptions is that you might not be able to recover your investment at the time of the sale, but homesteading is not primarily focused on turning a fast buck by flipping the property. If you are a true homesteader, you are in it for the long run.

I understand there are some loopholes for certain things.

But for a large portion of what he's talking about, no. You pay a contractor or you don't get a permit.

Or you move to a state that is more friendly to the values of the lifestyle you're seeking. If you're wanting a mountainy northern homesteader/farmer lifestyle then Idaho, Montana, Alaska are FAR superior states for that kind of thing. WA,OR and CA are NOT friendly to people who want to be all bootstrappy and independent. But they are pot friendly and the weather/scenery is hard to beat....so maybe just paying the price to have licensed folks set you up a to-code home/pool/hoop court is worth it?

But if cost is of some concern and or doing it all yourself is more important than just getting the fuck out of whatever uber-plex metro ant pile you happen to want to escape......I would highly advise Idaho, Mawntana or Alaska over WA or OR.

 

[coati]

So, anyway, this all brings up a main point: if you want to be a compliant citizen with lots of creature comforts and high resale potential, don't do the homesteading thing.

 

[chillywilly2]

Lots of room up in this neck of the woods...and I do mean woods

many townships are "unorganized" and you don't need permits.
land is cheap

its easy to be alone.

I have 800 acres with a few friends up here that we just use for hunting and a bit of a getaway with the house thats on it


gotta be some kind of a refugee to get into the country though

 

[Hypoxia]

So, anyway, this all brings up a main point: if you want to be a compliant citizen with lots of creature comforts and high resale potential, don't do the homesteading thing.

One needn't be TOO compliant (just don't attract notice) and needn't demand LOTS of comforts. But county water is nice. County animal control, to handle loose dog packs -- that's nice. Not being stuck in one place forever because you can't sell it for more than a pittance is nice.

And not being too far from urgent medical care is nice.

As I said, I tried some of that homesteading stuff. I've built bare cabins and extensive gardens and sweet greenhouses and more. Wasn't for me. YMMV.

 

[mark_j]

Anyone do any farming homesteading?

I perhaps have an opportunity to buy a house on 5-10 acres next year. With some Free time to work it a bit.

Depending on what you want and where you are going, stay away from major metro areas unless you want to pay premium for the land and the taxes. At least 20 miles out would be a good rule.

If it doesn't have a shop/outbuilding I want to build one.

Call a company like General Steel and have them do a building for you. Permits and site prep are usually part of the package and it's fairly inexpensive.

I want to build a basketball court including pouring my own cement.

Get a contractor to do this unless you have experience with large slab work. Trust me it'll save you heartache in the end.

I want o make a garden growing my own carrots, beats, onions, tomatoes, Cabbage whatever.
I want to plant some apple trees and some grape vines.

Sweat equity here. Unless you are really set on doing this stuff by hand and depending on the size of your cultivated area, a small farm tractor and some implements will make the job so much easier.

I want to build a pool...digging it out by hand.

Way more to this than just digging a hole and filling it with water. For your safety get a pool building contractor to do this.

I want to make some hiking trails, dirt bike trails.

Land topography and your neighbors are going to drive this.

I want to build a horse stable and some fencing.

Fencing is easy. Three wire on T-posts with wood peeler-core anchors works really well for containing horses and cows. Even better if you use a hot-wire on the inside perimeter. Please don't use barbed wire around horses, it's dangerous. If you really want a nice fence, 3 rail wood is ideal but it gets pretty pricey if you are covering any sort of acreage.

Building a barn/stable isn't a big deal but you'll have to get it permitted if you want power/water in the barn (depending on the county you are in).

I want to build my own greenhouse.

You could do anything for this. From simple wood frame and plastic sheeting to full on glass. Kits abound. Second hand from another farm is doable. Plenty of options here depending on your skill and how much you want to spend.

Doable? Anyone do anything like that?

It's all doable depending on exactly WHAT you want to do and how far off the grid you want to be.

As others have said:

Secure your water rights.
Make sure your septic is certified.
Be sure of your zoning.
Make sure you have power available (it'll save you major headaches later on).

Good luck.

 

[FL30]

Anyone do any farming homesteading?

I perhaps have an opportunity to buy a house on 5-10 acres next year. With some Free time to work it a bit.

If it doesn't have a shop/outbuilding I want to build one.
I want to build a basketball court including pouring my own cement.
I want o make a garden growing my own carrots, beats, onions, tomatoes, Cabbage whatever.
I want to plant some apple trees and some grape vines.
I want to build a pool...digging it out by hand.
I want to make some hiking trails, dirt bike trails.
I want to build a horse stable and some fencing.
I want to build my own greenhouse.

Doable? Anyone do anything like that?

It's all doable depending on the county, town codes and how much money you want to spend. And how much sweat equity you want to put into it.

Having a stable for horses and cows sounds nice until you have to start doing any type of hay baling. Hay bales are heavy and it is HOT and HARD physical work!! I did it for a week on a friends 5 acre farm and quit after that week and I was in my mid 20's when I did that.

Digging a pool by hand? Are you mad? Do you know how hard that will be or how long that will take? Especially if it is you by yourself!

A small garden is doable but you will still have to water it, weed it and then harvest all the vegetables. If you don't weed it regularly, then it is quickly over run by the weeds. You can't do it once a week and expect it to stay weed free. It really takes almost a daily weeding.

All your items require a lot of hard labor and will take an extremely long time if you do them all by yourself. Plus, you're likely to make a lot of mistakes doing it by yourself if you don't have the knowledge or experience.

You'll save time, money (in the long run) and mistakes if you hire the professionals for those things. Yes, you'll spend money on the professionals, but they won't make the mistakes that you would, so you'll save money and time in the long run.

What about heat, (cooking and house) if you'll need it? Propane or log burning? Propane will need some codes to be certified for sure and then you'll have to pay for deliveries. Are you going to cut your wood or have it delivered? More $$ or more physical labor.

A lot of what you want to do will require a large amount of hard physical labor so you need to be sure that you're up to that. If not, then I wouldn't do it. It will not be a lazy, carefree lifestyle, at all.

But, good luck, none the less.

 

[thør]

Lots of room up in this neck of the woods...and I do mean woods

many townships are "unorganized" and you don't need permits.
land is cheap

its easy to be alone.

I have 800 acres with a few friends up here that we just use for hunting and a bit of a getaway with the house thats on it


gotta be some kind of a refugee to get into the country though

No room here. Private land for sale is scarce and spendy.

 

[coati]

No room here. Private land for sale is scarce and spendy.

Also, no room in Arizona. Too many rattlesnakes and venomous insects. Hotter than hell in the summer. Don't come here.

Do some homesteading outside your home town and call it good.

 

[Bottomlover]

We moved onto a 10 acre farm property a few years ago. We are in a township/county that is friendly to this sort of thing, but you have to be very savvy about the codes and such. Here, the state mandates stormwater regulations at the municipal level, and that is where the trouble arises. My neighbor built a large horse barn, and had to spend $60,000 on engineering and stormwater controls.

When we bought this property, it had a run down barn and several other large outbuildings. I got a demolition permit (a few hundred dollars) to tear them down, which documented the impervious area that I was allowed to "bank" for later projects, avoiding the whole stormwater issue.

You need to know exactly what you're getting into when you choose a property. Know exactly what is there and what the local codes are, and just sit in on planning board and local government meetings to see what their attitudes are. Streams and wetlands can cause you a lot of headaches in many places, so be sure you know what you're getting into.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Lots of room up in this neck of the woods...and I do mean woods

many townships are "unorganized" and you don't need permits.
land is cheap

its easy to be alone.

I have 800 acres with a few friends up here that we just use for hunting and a bit of a getaway with the house thats on it


gotta be some kind of a refugee to get into the country though

True. Hundreds of acres for sale, nobody gives a fuck about permits, crazy motherfuckers for neighbours. There's even something called an 'Island license' no license, no insurance, don't drive like a douchebag. If they catch you it's fines. It's a grand place to be.
That being said, it's a hard and crazy life. Survival and daily existence are a fulltime job, water source is essential and it takes a resourceful spirit to deal with the isolation. My advice? Do it, you'll never regret it.

 

[Noor]

We have close to 100 acres left of the family farm. Last seen the house was close to literally falling over. It has water and good soil. We rent the land out. One of my brothers dreams of living there, but I am not sure he would last the first year of tornadoes, floods, freezes and hail storms, but he is welcome to my portion.