Whast's best way to start alone?

[mommydenise]

I do not have much money but I already have some land (over 5 acres) in another state. I will be pretty much doing everything myself. I have a daughter but she is still young. I am 42 and had a stroke 4 years ago. I have recovered 95% well. The only thing is it's takes me longer to get things done and don't have full use of left hand. I plan on having a garden but not sure what else would be easy to start. I'll only be feeding 2 of us but I will need to make enough money to pay bills and such. I'll be pretty much off grid, so hopefully it won't be too expensive.

I'd appreciate any ideas.

[SFM in KY]

The best advice I can think of is to start small. Whatever you plan for the first few years, write down the plan ... and then cut it in half. If you plan on a 50 x 100 foot garden space, cut it back to 50 x 50. If you are planning for 20 chickens, go with 10.

Not sure what plans you have for livestock, but again, start slow. One type of livestock at a time, learn what they need and only then go on with the next. Also, before you get any livestock, make sure you have good shelter and fencing for them, otherwise you are going to have to spend way too much time repairing rather than building.

[Johnny Dolittle]

Sorry to hear of your hardship

I hope you have great neighbors

[Maura]

Be very certain of what you can and cannot do. Use labor saving techniques such as lasagne gardening so you don't have to turn over the soil or rototill. Don't be afraid to find someone local to do the things you can't. If you can't plant the plants you bought, get someone to do it for you. A few hours of paid labor can be the tipping point of success or failure.

When you start looking for goats or sheep, find a farm near you with friendly people who will mentor you. One of my knitting buddies was invaluable when I had sheep. As for where is everyone, a shearer will know who has sheep in your area. Don't know about goats. Make an early contact with county extension because a good office will be very helpful.

Look at your tax record. It is probably on a computer, but you can call the tax assessor and ask for a copy to be mailed to you. This way, you will know that the information is current.

[farmgal]

No home is on the property now? If there is a local manufactured home dealer in the area go see them. they can get you a place and set it up, with a well and septic all under one note. Here I could have got a large new mobile home with septic, well and on concrete for 30,000$ . this isnt a huge mortgage. They do all the leg work for you like permits etc. Dont go trying to struggle along living in temporary housing. You have child to think about. The sooner your place is built the sooner you can just enjoy the land. 5 acres is a nice manageable piece.
Sorry you have to do it alone, I did and it isnt easy, dont make it harder than you have to.

[stef]

Originally Posted by mommydenise

I do not have much money but I already have some land (over 5 acres) in another state. I will be pretty much doing everything myself. I have a daughter but she is still young. I am 42 and had a stroke 4 years ago. I have recovered 95% well. The only thing is it's takes me longer to get things done and don't have full use of left hand. I plan on having a garden but not sure what else would be easy to start. I'll only be feeding 2 of us but I will need to make enough money to pay bills and such. I'll be pretty much off grid, so hopefully it won't be too expensive.

I'd appreciate any ideas.

A few things come to mind:

Perhaps you've talked about this in another thread, but do you have a house on your property? Do you have some kind of income?
I would focus on the basics like food, clothing and shelter and being able to pay for them before getting any animals.
Is the house weather proof and insulated for energy efficiency? Nothing takes the 'romance' of homesteading like a cold house in the middle of winter!

Have you lived in the country before? If not, how do you know if you will like it or not?
Do you have dependable transportation?
I would want to live on the property and study the layout and the best light for a garden.
I would start with a small garden at first, rather than a big one, especially if you need to build up your physical endurance.
Chickens would be my first animal of choice.

If you have a house and an income, I would start to build up a small pantry. Not tons of five gallons buckets, but just a three to six month backlog of my everyday pantry.

[treasureacres]

Where are you located? Are you expecting on making enough money from the the 5 acres to live on with no other income? If so, what skills do you have to do so? I think you will get better advice if everyone knows exactly what your situation is, and what your expectations are specifically.

[FarmboyBill]

U indicate, TO ME, that you intend to make a living off your 5 acres, enough to (pay bills). That being your idea, and in your health situation, Id say, it isnt gonna happen. That aint to say that you cant have a garden, and put it up, but for you and your daughter to have enough eats to last from year to year, would take, a 1/2 acre. 2 blocks come close to an acre in size to give you an idea of what your looking at. AND IF you freeze alla that your going to have a doz freezers and their electric bill, or hundreds of jars to store and keep clean after use.
You can have a couple, 3 goats to provide you milk all year round, and maybe make a couple hundred off of trhe babies, BUT youve got to hay them in the winter, and they eat grain to resupply their calcium, being lost in the milk from their bones.
You can have a doz or 2 chickens to provide you with eggs. 2 doz would be better, and the X crosses would be better as they forage better than the usual varities thereby you dont have to buy them much feed. You wont get as manyt eggs per hen, but with a couple doz, you ought to get enough.
If you go to rabbits, Figure out the colony way of raising them. Cheaper. Start out with 5 does and 2 bucks. Make the bucks 2 different colors, and eat the one who isnt measuring up. Dont forget mushrooms,

You will need gardening tools. Not knowing how limited you are, I cant suggest what exactly would work for you.

You need to cut and put up your own hay. If you pay someone to do it, AND IF YOU CAN EVEN FIND SOMEONE WILLING TO DO 3 THEREABOUTS ACRES, YOU WONT HAVE BUT A COUPLE BALES OUT OF THE DEAL BY THE TIME THERE DONE

Go to U tubes, and look up ( stacking hay with oxen), and figure out how to do that with a tractor or horse.

A SMALL, mid size horse, and the 1 horse walking machinery to go with it might be ideal for the garden. With a 5 schovel, and expandable harrow found at large farm oriented sales you could pick the both up for around $50. Fiond a bioplastic harness. There light and a whole lot easier to put on.
Plant taters in bins so you dont have to use horsepower you wouldnt have to list them up. You could rig up a 2 wheel cart for a horse with shafts instead of a tongue. Build the bed around 10ft sq, and make detachable sides for it for hauling stuff out of the garden. Without them, for hauling hay. Learn how to make proper hay stacks outside.
Plant lots of sweet corn. Get a wood chipper, and when the corn is ready, cut the stalks without takeing off the ear, and haul them to the house on the cart to be processed. Only pull off the ears as your ready to do them up. Thatll save the flavor longer in those that you havnt got to yet. When the corn is all put up, Run the stalks through the chipper. Not knowing how many you have limits me telling you what kind of silo to put them in. Bags? Those 4 square tubes that hold a couple hundred lbs of liquid and can be picked up with a forklift?. If you could get one, cut the top out of it, and fill it with the silage. then tape plastic around the top. Put your DD inside to tamp it down tight as its being filled. That will help with feed and hay bill. (IF YOU DO THIS, GET ADVICE AS TO HOW MUCH TO FEED A SMALL MED HORSE, AND/OR GOATS, AS FEEDING TOO MUCH CAN FOUNDER THE HORSE, AND I DONT KNOW WHAT TO THE GOATS.) I would say feed it free choice to the goats with hay and grain also so that they can take their pick as to what suits them.

IF you can do alla this, then you should be able to have the animals mentioned, and except for things like salt for the rabbits, or oyster shell for the chickens, or calf manna for the goats when they drop young, and a reular, mineral, and sulfur blocks for the horse and goats, You ought to get your food for near free.

[jwal10]

Keep it small and simple. Small animals and a nice garden. Build as you can/go. If you need to build, build just what you need and then add if/when needed. A small solar systen, 12 volt, minimal for a few electronics and lights. Manual labor never hurt anyone. I too have a bad left wing and hand, am small yet get it done, slow and steady....James

[Big Dave]

Square foot garden with your abilities would work. Way to water the garden. What kind of soil? Fencing to keep the critters out and others where you want them. Chickens and gardens do not mix in my expeiance. Read the book Five Acres and independence. It wil give you a whole lot of insight. Most important thing about livestock or animals of any kind. They never read the book you read about them in.

[uncle Will in In.]

The ground won't pay much in the way of bills. If you don't have an outside income that will pay your bills you won't be able to support yourself and your daughter.

[fishhead]

Start small. It's more likely to succeed and when it doesn't the cost is less. You're going to need an outside income of some sort.

[maddy]

I started out on my own just over 2 years ago, also alone, and with similar aspirations of becoming semi-self-sufficient. Since then, my thoughts about what is "do-able" have changed drastically. Making the transition to a semi-self-sufficient lifestyle is extremely time-consuming and has involved a very steep learning curve--not to mention the expense involved in acquiring the tools and equipment necessary to get basic tasks done. I don't mean to discourage you, but as hard as I work (and that's really saying something), I haven't been able to come close to making a living from the farm. The property has been a constant net outflow so far, and I expect that things will continue that way for a while.

Life in the country is far more challenging than I ever expected. Just about everything I need to do involves a skill, or a piece of equipment, that I do not have. Everything that I take on with the goal of improving my ability to be self-sufficient entails many hours of research and an outlay of cash.

You are starting out with a number of strikes against you--being single, being middle-aged, having little in the way of savings, having a young child, and having some significant physical limitations. This doesn't make the plan unworkable, but the deck is certainly stacked against you. If I were in your shoes, I might give some serious thought to partnering up with another person--preferably a strong man with some skills. I'm not necessarily talking about pairing up romantically. For example, you might consider allowing someone to live in a trailer on the property and providing him meals in exchange for some labor. Or there might be someone on this board who has a wealth of country skills but no way of affording the land. Just some ideas.

[fffarmergirl]

If it was just me doing the work and I had to start all over again, it would be all about doing everything with the least amount of work possible.

This is what I'd do the first year:

I'd lay down a bunch of black plastic right away, where your garden is going to be, to kill off all of the weeds. Then I'd leave the plastic down and pile mulch deep over the top of it, plant in holes and only water and fertilize the holes. No tilling, very little weeding, very little watering - then you'll have time to harvest and preserve.

Get some chickens - fewer than you think you need. 2 eggs per day is plenty for you and your daughter, so I'd say . . . 4 hens, just in case I lost one, because they don't always lay every day.

If it was me, that's all the farming activity I would do for the first year. I'd get a canner and a food dehydrator and a good chest freezer.

Next - I'd get to know any farming neighbors I could. Maybe somebody nearby has goats and you can milk them or help out in some way so that you can have some of the milk. That's a lot easier and less expensive, and less of a long-term commitment, than building fences and getting goats.

[Wolf mom]

First, if you'd put your general location in the upper right, it'd help people answer a little more specifically. You don't say anything about being rural or urban, so the very first thing is checking out your county zoning laws for animals, etc.

From what I've gleaned here, the first thing is planting fruit trees. Look into dwarf or the next size up for easy picking.

Then, yes - start small. Small garden, raised beds or square foot garden. How long is your growing season will determine to a large extent what you can easily grow. Are you gong to start your own seeds or buy starts? How are you going to preserve your food?

Small flock of chickens. for the two of you, you don't need many just for eggs. If you are gong to eat them, you have to kill them. That was a big hurdle for me.

If you're rural - think fencing - not only to keep your animals in, but other's out.

Plan, plan, plan first! Kinda' hard to move orchards, out buildings, etc. Animals need some shade, Gardens need a lot of sun. How are you going to get water to both?

The best thing you can do is read the forums here - a wealth of information! And make friends with your new neighbors.

[ronbre]

i think if it was me I'd look for a place that deals in used trailers or doublewides and have one put on a foundation on the property..well and septic if you can afford it...you could also go with a travel trailer if you aren't in a really cold area.

I'd also get my trees in ..make a list of everything you generally buy to eat, and then cross off anything you really couldn't grow in your area (say like bananas in Michigan)

then start with the perennials that take the longest to grow like fruits, nuts, berries, asparagus, rhubarb, etc..and get those in.

if you have a library avail borrow a copy of Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway, a quick read and it will give you a lot of ideas.

[CherieOH]

I'm afraid to recommend anything without knowing if and when you plan to move to the five acres. And working alone with only 5 acres isn't going to support you and your daughter. You will need another source of income. Be careful moving to another state if you are on any state welfare assistance because you might lose that income and may need to reside in the new state 6 months or longer to qualify for aid there. Aside from those considerations, I agree with the poster or posters that suggested fruit trees first. They take awhile to begin production and don't have to have continuous care. If you live within driving distance, you could probably prune, spray and harvest without even moving there. As for your daughter being young, go ahead and start giving her some responsibilities as soon as she can handle them so she learns early on that the two of you are in this adventure together.

[mommydenise]

I wan to thank everybody for all the helpful advice. Sorry I didn't put more info. i do have income and that will contnue even with the move. The land is in east OK and rural. There is no home so I was thinking of using a travel trailer while i build a small cabin. I grew up in the country on a small farm, so I do have some skills and already know I like the lifestyle. I've always used the square foot gardening method in the past. I do want animals, but not sure what is easy to start with other than chickens. There is the possibility of a 3rd person to help me, but he is a city boy and is not sure about country livng, so I need to be able to do everything by myself as I don't know how much help he'll really be.

[mommydenise]

Guess I should've explained my daughter too. I said she is too young to help. She is 12 but her mind is closer to a 6-7 year old. She helps as much as she can but I cannot expect her to do much. I homeschool her but learning is a slow process for her.

[Ravenlost]

Definitely start with a garden and chickens. I have seven hens...it's just me and hubby so we have extra eggs. He usually gives them away at work, but you could probably sell your excess eggs.

Keep a close watch on Craigslist for free items. All my chickens came from Craigslist, as did my three free goats. People give away farm tools, animals, etc. all the time. You might even score a free house!