Homestead / small farm beginnings

[ShadowWolf 13]

ISO advice;

I currently live in a decent size village (15 thou. people roughly) in a fairly urban area in upstate NY. However my girlfriend lives in a small town in PA and we've been discussing living together for a while now and I've always liked the idea of having a homestead / small farm and being at least 60% self sufficient. However as we all know monetary funds are tight right now. Anyway my question is this dose anyone have any suggestions for starting a homestead / small farm on a budget of less than 5 thousand dollars ?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[lonewolf]

15,000 is a village?

 

[MOS0231]

I think some of this would depend on you and the GF credit score, how much you could put down (of that $5k).
Are either of you vets?
Other or current assets (camper, RV)?
How would you feel about living in a tiny home?

 

[ShadowWolf 13]

15,000 is a village?

Yes it is all be it a small one, thanks for your reply

 

[ShadowWolf 13]

I think some of this would depend on you and the GF credit score, how much you could put down (of that $5k).
Are either of you vets?
Other or current assets (camper, RV)?
How would you feel about living in a tiny home?

I don't think so on the tiny home would prefer a regular size house even if it needs a little work as long as it had good bones and I'd most likely be needing some form of loan such as farm credit or a credit union home loan etc. thanks for your reply though

 

[lonewolf]

that would be a medium sized town over here.
I live on the extreme edge of a small market town and the PARISH population(town, a couple of smaller villages, hamlets and farms) is 1,800 and we are sometimes referred to as a village. we arent.
$5,000 wouldnt even buy you a small field over here.

 

[Mountain trapper]

15,000 is a village?

Thats a big city here.

 

[Mountain trapper]

ISO advice;

I currently live in a decent size village (15 thou. people roughly) in a fairly urban area in upstate NY. However my girlfriend lives in a small town in PA and we've been discussing living together for a while now and I've always liked the idea of having a homestead / small farm and being at least 60% self sufficient. However as we all know monetary funds are tight right now. Anyway my question is this dose anyone have any suggestions for starting a homestead / small farm on a budget of less than 5 thousand dollars ?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

There are ways that you could leverage that $5,000 and possibly buy a 20-40 acre parcel of land. Possibly you could do an owner carry. Look in to Farm Credit Service. They generally offer low interest loans, with very little down. Also look in to their First Time Farmer program.
What are the land prices in your area? I'd suggest getting married too. A married couple will usually get better loan rates.

 

[lonewolf]

Thats a big city here.

I know everything is bigger in America but a village of 15,000 is ridiculous.

 

[DrHenley]

15,000 is a village?

LOL, I know, right? The largest town near the BOL has a population of 2,000. And that is the county seat. The largest population center anywhere near there has a population of 15,000, and that's called a "city."
I guess that's NY for you...

 

[Mountain trapper]

I know everything is bigger in America but a village of 15,000 is ridiculous.

Thats usually Texans that think everything is bigger in Texas. I like to point out to them that if Alaska was cut in half, Texas would only be the third largest state.

 

[Illini Warrior]

it goes "hamlet" or something similar >> "village" >>>> "town" >>>>

15,000 population is over town size - that goes from 5K to 9,999 usually

states that have "self rule" laws usually use 25K as the jump point for a "city" designation ....

 

[DrHenley]

Actually, the county seat I was referring to, population 2,000, is legally classified as a "city" in that state.
Down the road a ways is a "town" of 200 people. It has a duly elected mayor and city hall.

 

[lonewolf]

yep, we have a town mayor and a town council.

 

[Dracos]

Farming for profit is a very risky business. You are dependent on the banking industry, the weather, and the market, neither of witch you have any control over. Farming to feed your family good, healthy, natural food is a bit less of a challenge. The best cash crop is a good daytime job. There was a time when a young couple could hack a living out of the wilderness, with no income tax and free or nearly free land. Even then there was much hardship, bankruptcy, and hunger. Very hard work and luck were required. Nowadays the best advice I would give to a starting farmer would be to win the lottery or have a wealthy generous family.

 

[Schattentarn]

My home town was 12,000, it was So. California, and we called it a city. We had our own police, fire dept., several elementary schools, high school. The high school had 1200. That was a village.

 

[DrHenley]

We don't have villages. The only thing comparable would be a "unincorporated community." Anything larger is a town or city.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

With your limited budget, one option is tax lien sales held by the county. A lot of old homesteads being used as hunting camps through out the southern tier of upstate or even PA.
There is reason that they failed and became hunting camps. Look carefully at the soil.

 

[Amish Heart]

We have a population of 780 people in our town, mostly Amish. The next town over, where the grandkids go to High School is 1200 people and not many Amish there. Our bigger town is maybe 20 miles out, and that is 40,600.
I don't know if you can get much of anything for $5,000. You are talking purchasing, or are you talking renting? Do you or your girlfriend have places to sell so that you can buy a homestead? What is a homestead to you...a farmhouse? How many acres? Is there a job guaranteed where you want to live for you and your girlfriend? You're going to need an income. Is a homestead to you a place to raise crops? Animals? or are you looking for an acre with a small kitchen garden and a couple of chickens? You'll have to decide what you are looking for and see what is available job and home wise where you want to be.

 

[Dracos]

About 25 years ago we got our first and only stop sign.

 

[Amish Heart]

We have stop signs, but our places are very spread out. Our neighbor across the road (our dirt road) has almost 200 acres he farms. He's our neighbor, but their farmhouse is a bit of a walk.
Soybeans and corn everywhere you look right now. And alfalfa. Our back acreage is in alfalfa.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Our "neighbor" to the north of us has 22,000+ plus deeded acres and 130,000 acres of public grazing allotments. The other ranches in the area are a little smaller in size, but not much and some are bigger.
Our town has a pop of 500, and is the county seat, the county has 2800 pop. Theres no traffic lights anywhere in this county. Town has 1 grocery store, 2 bars, 2 gas stations, feed store, 1 Cafe and 1 pizza place. Town is 20 miles from our place. Next town is about 45 miles south, in another county, and has about 300 people. Next town north is also about 45 miles and has about 200 pop. Nearest large city is about 56 miles northeast and has about 3,000 people and is in another county. This area is considered low density population, but I still think its getting too crowded.

 

[Dani]

$5000 is not alot to buy a homestead. If you can find it jump on it! I can only imagine that you will have to bring in a well and electricity? Then you have to have a place to live, put in fencing for livestock and a garden. The garden will be the cheapest, buying seeds, but them you need to take in considerations of what your rainfall is. Do you need to make raised beds verses a traditional garden of just rows? I know it is a lot of work, but that is what works for me. This year I let my huny just till and me plant. Complete fail!! But I did let him try and proved my point. Then you need to worry about the livestock and if they have enough feed. Even down south,where grass normally grows year round, we have to supplement our feed. Just saying it may not be as easy as you may think.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

I used to live where the OP lists his area as. His mentioning of his GF narrows it down quite a bit too.
I used to hunt private and state land along that border. Lots of state land with old foundations abandoned in the 30’s on the state lands. Best hunting was always around the old foundations. But looking around at the reforested areas under Conservation Corps you could under why the homesteads failed. And they were probably farmed hard in the 1800’s.
No public grazing rights and much of what is common out west isn’t happening for him there.
Just trying to give my best knowledge of the Eastener part of my name.

 

[Schattentarn]

Maybe you can get some property for 5K in Alaska but nowhere I know. The best prices I have seen are in northern Idaho, top three counties. Sometimes property is advertised with only water access which is cheap.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Maybe you can get some property for 5K in Alaska but nowhere I know. The best prices I have seen are in northern Idaho, top three counties. Sometimes property is advertised with only water access which is cheap.

Spoken like a true Californian. Theres nothing cheap in Alaska or in North Idaho. With only 5k he'll need to borrow another 50k minimum to even think about buying 5 acres.

 

[Digout]

About 25 years ago we got our first and only stop sign.

Did the Sheriffs horse bolt and he had a near miss?

 

[backandbeyond]

15,000 is a village?

Today it's just a brand real estate developers put on dumps to make them sound more palatable. It conveys the image of village community, that sort of psychology.

 

[DrHenley]

"Village" rhymes with "Greenwich Village" and "It Takes a Village To Raise a Child" by Hildebeast Clinton.


BTW, did you know that it was Michelle Obama that gave her that moniker? I bet you didn't!

 

[backandbeyond]

15,000 is a village?

Today it's just a brand real estate developers put on dumps to make them sound more palitable. It conveys a sense of community, that sort of psychology.