Can you make $20,000 Homesteading

You read it as if we on the board would persecute him for his religion.
I read it as the people where he currently lived would persecute him if they knew his religion.

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WOW Just saw its a 10 year old thread -- wonder if he ever made it?

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Apocalyptic and Survival Fiction - Readers and writers welcome

The regulations for small flocks of poultry in Ontario are crazy; I don't see how it would be possible to make an actual living with it. You can have 300 meat chickens or 100 laying hens per year to be labelled a "small flock" farmer and thus exempt from purchasing quota. To purchase quota you must have 91,000 chickens per year.

Also, small flock farmers may only sell their chicken/eggs from the farm gate.

Some "in between" farmers have applied for and been granted an exemption from the above, but I understand this is few and far between.

Here's more info:
http://www.flockingoptions.ca/#!faq/c22qb

This is an interesting totally side issue drifting away from the thread yet it was put right up in the front... so... Nobody around me, other than family, knows my religion. I've lived where I am for well over two decades but my neighbors and such don't know my religion. I've been online for decades, including here on HT for years, yet people don't know my religion. It will stay that way because I don't make a point of it.

I probably don't know yours either...

If he's worried about that he can choose to run silent, to blend in. It is very easy to do. No body need know you're from Mars if you don't make a big deal about it.

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

Just my 2C;

Of course it is possible to make 20K with 15-20 acres if you have the right business model. But getting there is going to take years. One of the best aspects of homesteading/farming is that you might be able to live nicely WITHOUT making 20k.

Let me give you two opposing examples;

Farmer A; Puts his whole 20 acres to work raising chickens for resale and works 50 hrs a week doing it. He needs to navigate very complex regulations, pay taxes, and carry expensive insurance all of which take up a good portion of his time and money. When he resells his product, after taxes and regulatory costs his 20K is down to 12k. Now he must needs buy his food and pay to heat his home in winter, both of which he must pay a tax on. He pays tax when he sells his goods, and he pays tax when he buys other goods with the money he made. When that is all paid for he is lucky to have 5K left over

Farmer B; Works his 20 acres for 50 hrs a week also, only he focuses on growing the food that he and his family will consume directly and cutting the firewood that will heat his home. The wood and food are tax free production. Farmer B produces an abundance and sells his excess for 8K...depending on where you live his income might not even be large enough to be taxable.

Farmer A has put all of his resources into chickens. If the business doesn't work out he is stuck with housing, equipment, and an infrastructure that is only suitable to one purpose. Farmer B has thrown his net over a very broad area. His equipment is varied, and he might spend more time/effort on any one aspect of his farm if he finds it more profitable. Moreover, farmer B is insulated from inflationary costs or changes in one industry. He is self reliant. Farmer A is heavily reliant upon the fluctuations in the chicken market or changes in regulation/taxation.

Needless to say, I prefer farmers B's model. If my chickens get devastated by a predator I've got my sheep. If my sheep crap out I've got my gardens and my wood resale, etc. I've been at this for about 5 years and my goal is not to make more money, its generally to need less money.

Twobottom has it spot on

First welcome to the forum! If you aren't already in Canada you may want to start the process with immigration as it can take several years to get residency status here. I came 36 yrs ago as I was marrying a Canadian and it still took over a year from first applying to actually moving here. Then we had a week to get married or I would have been deported!

Also as we farm small scale and my husband grew up on a large dairy farm he had lots of experience in how to farm organically and cheaply which is hard for modern farmers to do. All provinces have regulations and rules about selling chickens and how many you are allowed to keep without belonging to the egg marketing board. There are rules about beef and dairying farming also and selling raw milk is not allowed unless a certified dairy. That is why we kept our farm small and developed it as a way of life and not a business. We averaged about $4000 a year profit off the farm.
But our living expenses were low because we raised all our own food.My husband also refurbished old horse drawn equipment and farmed totally with horses and hand tools for years.

You also mentioned about your wife possibly teaching at your kids school? That is also a job hard to get and regulated. You might want to research Canadian Immigration and any rules or regulations pretaining to what lifestyle you hope for.If you are already in this country legally check the agricultural sites on the internet to learn more about weather patterns and what provinces produce what crops when deciding where to live.Canada is a great place to live once here. But the government sure makes it hard to immigrate here. Good luck to you and your family.

Imrose... the OP "Livingguy" started this thread ten years ago. His kids are most likely teens or even adults by now.




I bet ALOT has changed in the last ten years with immigration!


I also wonder if the original posters on here still feel the same way about their advice? Or would they change it now a decade later?

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You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.

If you have never experienced cold and winter then this is something that could completely de-rail any plans you have. Saskatchewan is very cold and New Brunswick has a lot of snow. These are very harsh conditions to work in.

I don't know what your current immigration status is (if you have even applied at all and are just waiting) but meanwhile you should continue to learn what you can. Contact the Federal Gov dept of Agriculture and they will be able to help you learn about the farming in whatever area you choose.

The other question is how do you intend to pay for your acreage? Land, especially close to cities or towns, is not cheap. Saskatchewan is huge and much of it is already owned by individuals and agri-corporations.

$20,000 gross income in Canada is poverty level. Net means that you could survive but with two children this would still be poverty level.

I don't know what your current career is but perhaps you should think about settling in a town or city to begin with and adjusting to the climate. You can still garden either on the property you rent or most cities and towns have gardening allotments.

If you want to learn to tolerate the cold and you have a profession then applying to work in the far north (Yukon, Northwest Territories or Nunavut) where most people don't want to go would be helpful for adjusting to Canada and also may give you a foot up with immigration. The winters are long and harsh but summers have up to 24 hours of daylight so you can farm.

Landed Immigrants have all the status and protections of a citizen including full Universal Healthcare but you have to be financially viable. This means a confirmed job or career that is in demand, a sponsor who will assume financial responsibility for you and your family or a lot of personal money.

I wish you good fortune but I think that you need to do a lot more research about immigrating to Canada and the cost of living here.

Giving information to the original poster as to how he should proceed with moving to Canada might be a moot point considering he started this thread, and hasn't posted again in it for 10 years. As in, he expressed his plans in 2004, and it is currently 2014.

I did not notice the date of the original post so it is probably moot to him - but others read these old posts that appear out of nowhere and the information contained can still be valuable and relevant to them. I have read several very old threads over the years and found lots of good information and suggestions.

I understand that. I wasn't trying to sound like a jerk, was just pointing it out, invade you might be looking for a reply.

Ok what is the difference in $20,000 in Canada in 2004 -vs- 2014?

Now I am curious about inflation and such up there.

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You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.

Hmmm, I thought it was cool to see a thread this old, get revived! The responses were interesting and some contained excellent advice to boot. I'd only add, that I support diversity in income threads 100%. Never wise to put all your eggs in one basket!

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Christie Acres
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http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
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Livingguy, I recommend New Brunswick over Saskatchewan. Cheaper real estate, easier climate to adapt to - especially when coming from SE Asia - , but generally lower incomes. If you can, try the Moncton area, growing economy there.

I don't have any experience of farming anything in Canada. But I do have experience of doing so in Sweden. Far north enough and you only have one chance a year of getting your crop. That is not ideal for an inexperienced farmer.