[SadieRenee]

Hello All!

I'm looking for suggestions and seriously debated which forum would be appropriate. My decision was made when the "work at home" group seemed to have more time to establish their endeavors than I feel we do. My husband is retired and I will be in about 8 years. We are looking for ways to make our homestead of 5 acres (field, no trees) support the inevitable taxes and insurance, and would appreciate ideas. Our house is quite small and since I work full-time at the moment, my time is limited, especially when garden season arrives (we live in mid-Ohio). We moved out of town to this beautiful place only 5 years ago and are still developing the property so creativity is a plus with this topic. Yes, I realize this is a very open-ended question and that is intentional so that your thoughts are not directed or boxed-in. This group has a wonderful tendency to branch in all directions!

Thank you in advance.

 

[SadieRenee]

Part of a realistic answer depends on your (and your husband's) interests your skills, and your equipment for whatever. Give us a little more info, please.

Our interests are simple such as woodworking and cooking. The income level will soon be social security only and our savings went to purchase the land on which we built our small home. Equipment is minimal at this time which is actually helping us stay fit since we do so much without the help of machines. The suggestions made by TnAndy are fantastic but I'm fairly certain we wouldn't have enough time left to pay off such investments. We are on a 2-year plan to completely be debt free and I'd love to stay that way! So, that being said, I have about 8 years left of my current external income with which to prepare for our retirement. We have electricity, heat with a wood stove, a standard water well/pump. Should we consider small livestock, or grow lavender, or buy a van to be an Amish-driver? Ideas, Ideas, Ideas! ...or even pitfalls…

 

[SadieRenee]

If your husband enjoys wood working he can build "stuff" and sell it. I build yard swings, I have a simple plan that is comfortable. I sell them just word of mouth. I do some wood turning, pens and other small projects, get a catalog from pennstateind.com There are plenty of ideas in there that should give you both some help. Bird houses sell very well around here, NEGA. Adirondack chairs is going to be my new "line" this spring. There is a whole world of things that people want and need, they just don't know it yet. Go SELL it to them! I built a set of shelves for a friend of mine who did not like the way HE finished them I took them to the fleamarket with me and sold them the first thing. The best advice I can give anyone who is going to retire is: Get everything done that you can BEFORE you retire cause you won't have time after you retire. Good luck on getting out of debt and saving all you can. Dsmythe

Nice ideas!!! These suggestions may actually work in our area. We have a few "touristy" towns that could benefit from some of these items. I think if my hubby can make them, I can sell them. Thanks

 

[SadieRenee]

Going to depend on your interests, and what will sell in your area. Clearly "Amish-driver" must be a local opportunity as I've never heard of it.

I believe the Dept of Agriculture still has money available for building green houses. You could start with a small one (say 20x40) and grow fresh greens for sale to local restaurants/farmer's market. If that goes well, and suits you, scale up to whatever time you want to spend doing it. You could start with small covered ground beds quite cheaply. World of YouTube videos on the subject. Key is to develop you market before you get too heavy in the growing side. (growing is easy, selling is the trick)


We grow an awful lot of food (for us) in our little homemade 3 season 20x36 house, and it doesn't have to be built as fancy with the concrete floor and raised beds. (that was for us personally to be able to keep gardening a long time into old age)

BEAUTIFUL!!! This is certainly something I'll check into.

As always, the HT folks are a goldmine of suggestions and information.

 

[SadieRenee]

No frills advice here- Start adapting to living on retirement income now. You can evolve from the learning/informational stage just as an urban dweller would as they prepare a move into the country.
If you earn 60k and you'll be retiring on half that, start socking that half away now. 8 years x 30k is still 240k above and beyond.
When you finally drop your time card in the slot for the last time, you won't have to transition, you'll already be there and the additional revenue streams won't be so life or death in importance.

This is actually what I'd like to do AFTER the debt is paid off. It is actually possible to get our outgo beneath his SS check and that is my goal while I am still working.

 

[SadieRenee]

We do a lavender field. My wife always wanted one and yes, there is money in lavender, you just have to dig a little.

What do you do with the lavender? Do you sell the flowers fresh and dried, make potpourri pouches, distill the oil? We keep coming back to this thought because I have nowhere to buy lavender in any form in our area.

 

[SadieRenee]

If you have a lot of snow and a big enough property you could also make a snow maze and charge admission.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/snow-maze-manitoba-record-1.4967680

We used to always create a huge snow running track for our dogs using the snow blower. Just a big oval run but with very high walls. Our dogs loved it as did all of the dogs of our friends who lived in the city and would come out to our place to give their dogs a good run. We never thought of charging them but why not? We had two entrances to the dog track - one on each side and we would let one dog in at each entrance. They would then race around trying to catch each other - never being able to see the other dog (or person) but knowing that they were there.

Interesting direction.... my hubby has mentioned several times that we have enough space and decent location for a seasonal miniature golf course.