How much property?

we have 16 but i wanted 25-40 at 40, there'd be an ag tax break. but the more I look at it, i dont' know if we could handle any more. we still have a few acres unfenced cuz its expensive to do so. not to mention more taxes.

our kids are teens, so probably won't be around but for another 10 years at most, probably far less. then the more land won't be needed anyhow. there is enough land for hubs and I to have a couple horses each and the goats, chickens and whatever meat critter i get for that year. plus garden space, fruit trees, etc. and if the shtf, and my kids have to boomerang, well, so be it, we could still make it work.

i wanted enough for our own hay, but buying the land, then we'd need the equip or pay to have it done, geesh , add all that up and i think we're ok just buying hay. like we have time to make the hay anyhow? no!

instead of wishing for more land, i am scaling down to fit what we do have. old animals wont' be replaced once they pass, and instead of mowing we grow stuff. making all we have work for us. i'm 44 now, and altho i do not see this as old, its not 20's either! and do i want to have to fix fence on many more acres when I'm older, or pay for it done? nah.

i've always been atracted to small little acreages, so i got what i wished for i guess! and it is rather irrelevant if i want more or not, the $$ isn't there anyhow!!and if there was more land, hubs would bring home more horses, leaving me to feed/worm/tend them. uh, no, dont' want more. less is best for me!

We've been gradually reclearing forest that used to be pasture. We do not destump but simply cut the trees (and sell the wood) since we are looking to make pasture, not tillable land. We are in the mountains of rocky Vermont so tillable is rather hard between stones, shallow soil depth and steep slopes.

After we cut we frost seeded. This uses the natural action of the frosts to move the seeds into the soil and then when it is warm enough they sprout. Works great. The purpose of seeding is to get the mix of plant species you want. In addition to grasses we plant a lot of legumes (e.g., clover, alfalfa, etc) and other stuff.

Then the animals graze it and that is what makes the final turn to pasture.

See:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/2009/08...e-skidder.html

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/2010/09/frost-seeding.html

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Have 2240 of which 500 is forested, 200 or so is water/lake....1600 is prime farmland.

Don't really need more, but if the right stuff comes available????? I like wild lands. And as agriculture changes and margins are slim, you never know how much land you may need.

My parents have land that we can get hay from, so I don't need a new hayfield. We plan on making a few gardens to rotate through, which doesn't take TOO long to set up (considering we have a good supply of manure from my parents land and the animals we'll have). And as for making pasture we're planning on doing it pretty much as Walter described.

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Got 4 acres, but there's almost 80 surrounding me that I have my eye on. I'd be really happy if I could get even just another 5-10.

The house sits on a three acre parcel and we have 25 acres directly across the road.

i am trying to buy 56 acres and there is annother 34 acres joining it the general plan is to plot it out in rotating thirds or quarters with trees and fruit in the area thats too swampy to plow. ie 10-12 acres trees, looking at fruit and black locust, and 4 sections of 10-11 acres one for garden(this year), one in pasture, one in field crops(wheat corn squash etc) one in hay for winter needs

I feel you. We just bought just under five acres and it is surrounded by corn on all sides. I'd take it all and let it return to pasture if I could. Hopefully some day.

170 acres with national forest on three sides, so it feels larger and I don't feel a need to exercise an option on an additional 170 acres nearby. 80+ acres in longleaf pine, 40 acres in natural Florida jungle, and the balance in oak silvopasture. Will be expending the pastures, planting 3 acres of orchard, 2 acres of garden, building a house and barn all within the next year.

Now that We're getting old, 4 1/2 acers is all we can handle, plus the animals. We also have a small orchard and a garden that is a quarter of an acer. My dad had 1200+ acers and he raised cattle/horses, until us kids moved out. When we had kids to help out and we were younger, more acerage was good. 10 years ago I could pick up and carry a bale of hay or 50 lbs of feed, now I use the wagon to get it to the barns. Acerage is good until you get old.

Sounds like most of you folks have property out in the sticks. My parcel of 1.88 acres used to be out in the country. A huge (and I mean huge) computer chip factory is going just up the street..the traffic is almost to the point during rush hours you take your life in the hands getting the mail. I have a 50 plus year old Willys Jeep I would nuts if I ever attempted to drive it around my town. All the foreigners have taken over my hometown.

So back to post at hand...we have 1.88 acres and our goal is about 5 acres with a smelly old barn and a small small house with shop to store our junk in.

MikeC

We recently bought 9 acres which is mostly open land but on a hill so not a lot of flat area at the top. Just enough for the buildings and a nice garden. We don't want any more than that. It will be all we can take care of I'm sure with DH gone most of the time working and me working also.

This is a perfect location, just across the road is a very nice river and my brother owns 22 acres next to it. Seems like the perfect place to live out the rest of our lives.

I could pick a course, and walk in a straight line towards the north, and if I was careful in my original plotting, would not meet a single home, village, or person, until I reached the north pole...

I would cross three highways leading to mines and logging in the wilderness, one 15 miles north, the next about 100 miles later, and the final road, another 150 miles later, then nothing until the other side of the world in Russia somewhere...

I get mail every day. I don't live in the sticks.

(Because I've lived on ranches that WERE in the sticks and we didn't have daily mail delivery. Consequently, that is the definition of sticks to me: Do you have daily mail? If so, you don't live in the sticks. )

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

We have 20.97 (21 for our purposes) 3/4 is wooded with a mix of Black Walnut, Pine and Sycamores. It has a creek flowing through it.

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You asked how much we had, and how much we plan to have, which is different from how much we want or need, are also two very different questions.

I have 188 acres. I don't plan to buy more, not because I wouldn't like to, but because I don't think I can afford to and do the other things I want to.

What do I need? I guess it could be argued I don't need any, since I have survived in an appartment for ~8 years before buying our first house, but to be content, I need about 10 to 20 acres. Around here they won't let you have cattle or pigs unless you have a "farm" which is generally over 10 acres. Some places have covenants even on that size.

I want 3 things:
1) I want to have a place that feels like the country to me. (i.e. owning central park in new york wouldn't really work for me...)
2) I want to be able to do the things I enjoy most, without having to drive somewhere else to do it
a) shooting skeet or targets
b) having animals - goats, cattle, chickens, pigs or whatever else catches my interests
c) Flying remote control airplanes
d) hiking, having a bon-fire, hunting, gardening, landscaping
3) Have it all paid off before I retire

It's that last one that really defines the size of the property for me. I could buy more and do more if I was willing to give it all up when the money runs out, or pass the debt on to my kids. But I won't do that. I don't mind borrowing for now, but when I retire, I want to live on what I can make off the land, raise to eat etc. So I need a place large enough to do the things I want to do, but small enough that I can pay for it before I retire.

If I won the lottery, I imagine I'd buy more land and pay for everything now. But short of that, I'm on track for what I want to do.

We have 40 acres with the majority in old cedar trees. Mix in white and black ash, soft maple, tamarack, poplar and young balsam. It has one beech tree, a rock elm, a couple of old white pine, and one hophornbeam. I clear cut about 5 acres, of which is a clay/rock outcropping that is pushed up out of the swamp. It is now taken up with wild plants. Then, I have 2 ponds dug and there is mostly cattails growing around them, except for some recently established phragmites. I am going to start the process of getting rid of the reeds next year.

I would like to have a whole section, but don't believe I will ever afford, nor be able to manage one...

Last place was 14.40 acres, combo hay field and woodlands. A Magical place, as I was surrounded by forest land on three sides.
I liked having that much land and that far away from people.

We had to move to find work.
So the new place is 21+ acres, and starting all over again. Hoping this is the last time we have to move.
A lot closer to neighbors than I am used too.
Little over half the property was planted in trees, about 7 years ago. Yellow Pine, Oak and something else I can't remember. They need a lot of thinning to make good timber.
Other part was used as a big garden for selling Veggies at the side of the road.
However, am only interested in a smaller garden and orchard. Am hoping to put the rest of the land into making hay for my horses.
And Hoping to have chickens again this spring and maybe some more sheep, for lamb chops.

Personally for me I like having more land. But not so much we could not support it, ie like keeping up with the property taxes and all that.

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Shari

500 acres of wooded hills .my closest nebiour is 1 mile .I use about 1 acre garden 1 acre to grow sorgum for mallasses .the rest is pasture for 1 milk cow & 4 beef to keep the weeds & brush at bay. plenty of good clean spring water for me and a creek for the livestock = pease & solitude when you want lonly when you don't .a mile of dirt road is hard on the truck but no one complains about the rooster crowing .I love it after living in chicago for 40 years I wish I would have returned to the farm 20 years ago while the strength of youth was on my side .Now a pension check pays the bills while I homestead in the hunting cabin built in the 1980,s. after 3 years gardening (still learning) and growing my own beef n pork ,rabbits n chickens .I'd say I only have to go to the grocery for Junk and exzotic foods and spices .thank goodness for low taxes on unfarmable land .I read somewhere god made mountians so poor people can afford land.

Sounds like a wonderful place!

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Shari