Should I farm land I don't live on?

Danaus29 · #21 02/09/15, 04:46 PM

I garden where I live and at another property down the road. I don't visit either garden everyday due to crazy work schedules. I will admit to serious wild and domestic critter problems in both gardens. It's pretty depressing to see fresh deer tracks right through your garden the day after you've tilled it. Even worse is going out to pick your lettuce and watching mama groundhog run out of the patch. I got revenge on the groundhogs but that didn't make up for the lost produce. Fences will go a long way to reducing the loss but it's really hard to fence out squirrels and birds. In some places good sturdy fences are considered structures and you'll have as difficult a time getting a fence approved as a building. Solar electric fencing is available and might be an option since you don't have electric at the property. I don't haul water unless it's for something that is being planted or was recently planted, I mulch heavily with cardboard and grass clippings.

Betho · #22 02/09/15, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patchouli

Just looked at your blog. I have to say I would seriously consider just scrapping that property and buying somewhere else. You could buy pretty much anywhere in the center or southeast of the US and have no building codes whatsoever.
To answer your question we have run cattle on acerage about 5 minutes away with no problems. Like 7thswan mentioned it was a pain hauling water but otherwise no real problems. My big concerns with a garden and fruit trees would be human theft and animal problems.

I'd probably tend to agree with this. In the long run, I don't think I'd bother with property if I couldn't live on it.

I kept thinking I'd do the same before we built our home - I only lived 20 mins away, and my parents live next to our property so I kept thinking I'd do livestock and gardening there until I could get here but with my little kids it just never worked out as planned.

Now that we live here, and my parents are on the next parcel over, I still won't do projects there because I know in all reality that I wouldn't keep up with them being over there. Just my situation, although granted I have no spouse and I have little kids so that makes things a lot more complicated.

NE WA is nice... no permits necessary

nosedirt · #23 02/10/15, 03:03 AM

So sorry you are having problems such as this. Past experience tells me that you feel overwhelmed, helpless, angry, sad, and a whole host of other emotions. If the roof blows off, you put on another one. If the well runs dry, you drill another one. If the cow dies, you get another one. Not always easy to do but at least their IS something you can do. Unfortunately, when it comes to fighting city hall, and especially in California, there is not a whole lot you can do but give in to their ridiculous demands. Stinks that you are shut down before you even get started. Someone previously posted about getting your own soil engineer, could be an option. What options do the county/city give you. Start reading the regs yourself and questioning their demands. What septic do others on the edge of town have? Do you know the mayor or a council member? I really do wish that there was a way anyone of us could help but I just don't have an answer.
As far as farming on someone else's land, farmers lease land all over the country. Many do it successfully but the setup they have allows it to work. I ran cattle on a property 45 minutes from my house once. Worked fine for the first two years. The third year, some brat kids or some @$$head idiot decided to open all my gates. Started out with 40 head. Ended up with 37. 2 I never did find and 1 stood in the road until someone came around a curve and hit it. Husband and wife and both suffered injuries that they still deal with. I just happened to have liability insurance because I occasionally leased the property to others and let people hunt there and such. Can you say 1.5 million? I can. I think I got off easy. I still kick my self for not locking the gates but the sheriff also said that whoever did it wanted the cattle out. 150 acres and all 7 gates open. If I had locks they'd have cut the fence. Never caught the idiots but 99% sure who it was. $30k for a septic is just stupid. So sorry. Wish I had an answer.
Nosedirt

Jennifer L. · #24 02/10/15, 07:18 AM

I guess you must like the place, and it's a good thing you do with what you are going through. If I were starting out and had no ties to a piece of property, I'd be looking for something easier/cheaper to develop. But I understand if you really like the piece, and I realize you aren't asking about that, anyway.

Ten minutes each way is not bad, if you enjoy it. It's really not much of a drive when it's just routine. If you get a phone call in the middle of the night from 911 telling you your cows are out (everyone has a cell phone now, and they don't call YOU, they call 911) then that drive would seem a lot longer. But if you keep the fences up, that shouldn't happen very often or at all. It is going to be harder to keep right on top of things, but it's certainly not impossible.

If it's going to be temporary, your 20 minute round trip is fine.