Hi from rural New Jersey

[cbcansurvive]

Hey everyone. I just found this site and it looks like a wealth of information so I'll be using the search function a lot, but I just wanted to introduce myself. I live in Hunterdon County New Jersey, which is still a very rural and agrarian area of New Jersey as is most of the northwestern portion of the state. My wife and I bought our home here because we like the area and it works as far as location for both of our careers. Though we live "in the country" (small town of 4,000 people surrounded by farmland) by New Jersey standards, we still live in a small development on a 1/2 acre lot with public utilities, etc...in your average ranch home. However, we're hoping to one day adopt a true homesteading lifestyle, or as close as we can get to one, here in New Jersey. Our family is here and our whole lives are here-we've considered hopping just over the river to Northeastern Pennsylvania, but we couldn't bear to go any further.

The concept of homesteading isn't new to either of us as we both grew up with rural type lifestyles. My parents built their home on land that was my grandparents' small farm. I grew up hiking in the woods, hunting and fishing, helping my father with his large garden, and tinkering with tractors, mowers, and the like. She also grew up in a rural area and had a similar upbringing. We want to be able to give our children the same experiences we had growing up and more, so one day we hope to settle onto a true homestead. Though we both have "day jobs" at the moment (I work for the government she is a teacher) we still maintain somewhat of a self sufficient lifestyle. We heat our home primarily with wood that I obtain for free from local property owners that allow me to cut, power line ROW trimmings, etc... I have converted my diesel truck to run on waste vegetable oil that obtain free from local restaurants, we compost all of our food waste for use in our garden, and I handle pretty much all projects and repairs around the house myself.

What we envision is eventually saving enough money and coupling those funds with the (hopefully substantial) profit from selling our current home and using that to purchase 10-15 acres in either Northwestern New Jersey or Northeastern Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, land prices and property taxes in New Jersey are extremely high (Pennsylvania is somewhat lower), so we plan to offset that some by operating as a small farm in order to receive a farmland property tax assessment which requires that the farm encompass at least 5 acres and sell at least $500 worth of product per year (firewood sales do not count). This is our current dilemma as we have each had some exposure to farming during our lives (I worked many summers on a farm in South Jersey), but still have a lot to learn. I am interested in learning how folks here make an income from their farming operations, whether or not they have day jobs, etc... We aren't millionaires so we will both need to work at least in the beginning-hopefully I will be able to retire at age 50 (I'm 27) and work the farm full time, expanding it into a larger operation. My wife will be able to help out during the summer months of course.

Here are some of the ideas we've come up with:

Christmas trees - Anyone here farming Christmas trees? Obviously this one takes the most startup time as it would be 6-8 years before the first seedlings planted are ready to be harvested. We wouldn't have that much land therefore wouldn't have that many trees-what I would attempt to do is team up with a local organization (fire department, boy scouts, etc...) and use them to sell the trees with some of the proceeds going to their organization. My biggest question here is land-how many trees per acre can be planted?

Livestock - As with the Christmas trees, at first we're looking for livestock that are relatively easy to raise and eventually sell for slaughter. Sheep (for wool vs. for meat?)? Goats?

Organic vegetables - Certified organic vegetables are in high demand as we live close to many "yuppie" type areas, but we don't know much about growing them. What does it take to be certified? What are the challenges vs. conventional farming? How much land would we need to devote to it?

Finally, we would of course sell firewood as an income generator though it wouldn't count toward our farmland assessment. Fortunately that's something I'm fairly familiar with and since a cord of seasoned hardwood currently sells for about $150 here we could make a reasonably good profit by clearing forested land for pasture. Anyway, I'm just interested in hearing from folks in the same boat as me, what worked/didn't work for them, and what they think of our "plan."

[Penny-Ontario]

Hi there and Welcome,

Keep us posted on whatever you decide, but it looks like you have some great ideas so far.

[beaglady]

I know this doesn't give you much notice, but the PASA conference is coming up in early Feb, and has lots of sessions that will help you. It's just a few hours away via Rt 80, in State College, PA.

http://www.pasafarming.org/conf2009/pre-conference.htm

http://www.pasafarming.org/conf2009/pre-conference.htm

[cbcansurvive]

Originally Posted by beaglady

I know this doesn't give you much notice, but the PASA conference is coming up in early Feb, and has lots of sessions that will help you. It's just a few hours away via Rt 80, in State College, PA.

http://www.pasafarming.org/conf2009/pre-conference.htm

http://www.pasafarming.org/conf2009/pre-conference.htm

Wow-looks like a great conference! Sadly I won't be able to make it-maybe next year.

[ldc]

Welcome cbnj! I was from Mercer County originally, went to Y Camp in Blairstown, and grew up working on the last remaining farms around Mercer (I'm 53), strawberry, potato, and small dairying. Used to manage a Christmas tree farm in Skillman and a garden biz. The farm had a Green Acres Act exemption, which you may want to look into for yourselves later, but you may still want to look in NE Pensy ( b/c as you mentioned) about the lower taxes there. However the NJ NOFA group is great and helpful. Best wishes, ldc

[mustangsally17]

Welcome , you will love this site, lots of good info. and if you have a question someone on here , if not many, will answer. Warning!!! It can be addicting!! By the way i was raised in Morris Co. Montville, but i am southern at heart, been here 30yrs, except for a short stay in MN.

[kruizeag]

Hey no way! I used to live in Oldwick and graduated from Voorhees HS in '93. I worked for Cedar Lane Farm in high school and college. I also worked for Alstede Farms in the late ninetys. I was a member of Oldwick VFD too.

It is a great area, but I couldn't afford it, hence my home in Virginia. Hunterdon Co has a great farming infrastructure. At least in the ninetys. There used to be farm land for use around there so people could get the farmland assessment for taxes. Scott Clucas and his dad Fred (when alive) made a good living farming other peoples land.

I would not count on Sheep for the wool. There is no money in it. NJ used to have the "Wool Pool" at Rutgers to sell your wool, but it cost just as much per head to have them shorn as what you made on the wool. You can thank your NJ senator for doing away with the Wool Incentive program.

Hay used to be a good business in that area with all the little backyard horse people. Vegetables are always a good business even with Orts, Alstedes, Melicks and others, there was always plenty of business to go around. You can grow a lot of vegetables in a small area. I crop 5 acres of fruits and vegetable and do very well on it.

Good Luck to you and your endevors. If you want to chat about Hunterdon and farming there, feel free to contact me. Kruizeag@hotmail.com

[SunnyJim]

Does the "cb" part mean you were or are a Seabee?

Cheers,

BU2 Sunny Jim

[cbcansurvive]

Originally Posted by SunnyJim

Does the "cb" part mean you were or are a Seabee?

Cheers,

BU2 Sunny Jim

Ha! No, but had I decided to join the Navy (my father was a proud Navy man and I once seriously considered it as well) I probably would have been as their work is right up my alley. The whole name "cbcansurvive" is an homage to my favorite song by my favorite country singer, Hank Williams Jr. If you're not familiar with him or his music he has a famous song called "A Country Boy Can Survive," which I'm sure is well known by at least a few folks here, but I'll post the lyrics for those who've never heard it.

The preacher man says it’s the end of time
And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry
The interest is up and the stock market's down
And you only get mugged
If you go downtown

I live back in the woods, you see
The woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun a rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant make us run
Cause we're them ol boys raised on shotguns
We say grace, we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a ----

We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the Western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine

But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
Id love to spit some beechnut in that dude's eyes
And shoot him with my old .45
Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Cause you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
Cause we're them ol boys raised on shotguns
We say grace, we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a ----

We’re from North California and south Alabam
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

[foxpawz]

Market gardening may be your best bet. Lots of people in New Jersey. We left Hunterdon County in 1970. We lived outside of Hampton. I hope you can find a piece of land where you can achieve your goals. Lots of luck. You will get lots of information on this site.

[cbcansurvive]

Originally Posted by foxpawz

Market gardening may be your best bet. Lots of people in New Jersey. We left Hunterdon County in 1970. We lived outside of Hampton. I hope you can find a piece of land where you can achieve your goals. Lots of luck. You will get lots of information on this site.

Seems to be a recurring theme here. Call us crazy but we both love it here and again, leaving New Jersey would mean leaving nearly all of our family. We're both from clans that don't stray very far Perhaps we will eventually make the jump to Northeast PA though-not too far away. I'd love to hear more about market gardening. I'm guessing this involves growing fruits and vegetables not quite on the scale of a small farm but large enough to sell via a roadside stand or farmers market?

[kruizeag]

Market gardening or Truck Farming as it is called is just that, grow and sell from your yard, farmers market or the back of your truck. When I started in VA, we had a 20x20 garden. Now we are up to 5 acres. Start small and grow with it. Try to find a niche market. Most of the guys around you sell corn, tomatoes and pumpkins. Try something they don't specialize in like salad greens or ethnic foods. You can still have the crops they do, but you need a specialty that draw people to you.