how homesteading works?

I am not sure if it would work out in NE Corridor but here in MN we bought a farm 80 miles west of the twin cities, my dad still commutes to downtown. I am still working on finding, but will have a local job, and spend the rest of my time farming, I would love to become a full time farmer, after I move out in a few years. I just love the idea of not having to work 40 hours a week for somebody else. We have a good sized town, 13000 people (Hutchinson) about 20 miles from here, towards the cities, and a bigger town, not sure how many people (Willmar) about 45 miles from here, I am planning on moving towards Willmar (farther from Twin Cities) because I will be able to find a cheap place out there. You could keep your current job, then the money you save on eating out, going to movies, etc. (We have already saved a ton) and also the time, can be spent on the farm. I would also reccomend doing some reading "You Can Farm" by Joel Salatin is very good. I havent read his other book yet, "Pastured Poultry Profits" but many people on here say its very good, if you want to have pastured poultry. Also John Seymour's "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live it" is very good. It talks about self sufficiency, but running a profitable farm is just one step ahead of that. It is mostly geared towards gardening but also covers many animal choices, and how to butcher them, if you choose to do so. Also if you have specific animals in mind, or if you dont. Goto a public library, they most likely have "Storey's Guide to..." books, which contain a lot of information on specific animals.

Yes, homes can be had reasonably here in Texas (and in Houston one does become acclimated to the heat and humidity as long as one doesnt live 24/7 in the airconditioning :haha: ). We are currently living in a house that is 30 minutes from downtown, 20 minutes from the largest medical center in the world, as well as museums and symphonies, galore and many industries for employment. We have a 30 yr old 5 bdroom 3 bath home that is currently valued at a little bit over $120K.

Acreage is a bit more, depending upon where you want to be. We are looking at paying an average of 10K per acre...but then we want to stay *relatively* close to my husband's place of employment. Further away from the city, of course, it drops. But even then it never gets what I would call "cheap"...I have a friend moving to Missouri who just laughs at what we are prepared to pay...at least twice as much moolah for less than a fourth of the land that they will end up with. But...her dh will be retired, mine still needs towork, and we have a daughter who had a braintumor and we sorta want to stay within range of her neurosurgeon, go figure. Plus, we dont have to deal with that yucky cold wet stuff y'all call snow.

Maybe this will start a flame war, but I got a home in the country at 19 after being raised off and on on farms and a real homestead for 4 years. After bad employment opportunities or a terrible commute to the nearest town, I went to college thinking I would get out, make more money as long as I could stand it and pay-off country land. Along the way somewhere I ended up conserving money living in the city, buying nearly half an acre, a shop and a house that was long-time vacant at the edge of town and started raising tons of veggies, living with my old 4-cylinder paid off truck and generally getting to do a lot of homesteading things like gardening, building outbuilding with recycled materials and canning etc.

I have decided, at long last, although I am not ruling out living in the country someday again, that homesteading in town is not only possible, but desperately needed. We need safe homes without tons of chemicals in the yard for kids to play in. We need kids to see chickens and rabbits and learn to grow veggies. We as adults can also realistically have short commutes (My dad walks to work- I'd even settle to bike!) but still, less than ten miles is good. Especially when even at rush hour it's less than 15 minutes. More time for the garden

This year I am going to try and build a greenhouse in the back with a salvaged furnace and PVC pipe. I'll lay a slip formed foundation most likely. I have gray and green water systems I'm developing and heaps of compost from my masses of plant life. Since most people went to city water my irrigation allotment is artificially high and I have nearly unlimited water for 18 dollars a year and the soil improves each year.

Sure, sometimes I wish it was less traffic noise, but between all my border trees and shrubs and the gazillions of birds and frogs that think it's a refuge of sorts its quite nice to lay in an old clawfoot tub full of comfrey and hot water and look at the stars after working around the homestead. I'm not saying it's better or perfect, but to me, homesteading is to some extent an attitude and you can, as my homesteading mom used to say: "Bloom where you are planted".

I guess I don't see a magic seperation where you are a homesteader one day because you changed everything around you. I think it's internal and I could grow worms and tomatoes in an apartment if I had too, although I'm glad to have a 1/2 acre

I would say: start wherever you can as soon as possible. Don't put it off until you find cheap free land somewhere else. As long as you are alive, improve the soil, the earth and the world around you and you will be amazed at how many possiblities arise each day as you do. Then, when you do get out, you will already know how to can, grow, raise etc.

That's just my take on this, I am not in any way trying to discourage you from moving out to the country, just sharing a perspective that may be of some small help to you or another traveler through this board

~Michael in Boise

im just a guest said:

hello,
i am from (and living in) nj and was looking into homesteading. i was wondering can you get free land and run your own farm easily? any help appricated. sorry im a newbie to this stuff?

Click to expand...

Sure you can get free land. Free *usable* land is something else! :haha: But seriously...get a copy of "How to Find Your Ideal Country Home" by Gene GeRue - Amazon and other places have it...about $17. It'll bring up things most think of - taxes, land prices, etc - and things you don't think of - hazardous chemical dumps, military installations, organized racist groups, etc. You may find you don't want 40 acres...that a couple lots in a small town is "it" for you. Or you may find that *isn't* for you and getting 5 acres would be better. It also brings up things like MO has a bigger fault line than CA does...it just hasn't done anything...and many Californians moving to MO to get away from earthquakes find they're sitting on one that has been quiet a long time. It moved before and made the Mississippi River run north for a while. It pays to know such things or at least be aware of them so you can choose your risks with knowledge!

NJ is working on making it impossible to homestead...legislation on numbers of animals and what you can/can't do with them.

Commuting is a major ???? with fuel prices on the rise. And also...depending on part of the country that hour commute could become 3 hours in a blizzard....or more.