We bought a trailer house and 9 acres back on taxes last year. I was empty for six years. Borrowed against the house in town to fix the farm house up. No one is buying so it looks like we will be renting it.
We already had chickens and goats in town so we scrambled to build a 1/4 acre pen for the goats. Before we got moved out there, the neighbors dogs plowed under and over the fence, killed 5 goats (two were expecting). I photographed the bodies and wrote them off as "loss of Livestock."
With out goats I got carried away with chickens. We went from 3 hens and a rooster to 30 plus. And production went down and the feed bill went up. Now I am approaching this more like a business. Sold enough chickens to build a smaller pen, and production went up. Guess they were using all that feed to run laps instead of making eggs. Don't give your chickens too much room. That is the best advice I can offer.
I recommend having a gun handy to protect your livestock, and yourselves.
Get an Ag Sale and Use tax number, as long as you are selling to the public
. That will help save you from paying sales tax on most farm purchases.
Also, claim your millage for anything farm related.
Then file 1040F farm profit & loss. I can email you a spreadsheet.
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Reinvest your tax return into the farm.
Start small. Get the chickens producing where they do not cost you, rather they benefit you. Sell or trade the eggs. Sell or trade hens after they are about two years old, they start slowing down. Keep a good momma and let her hatch the new generation of chicks to sell. Sew the feed sacks into shopping bags and sell them to buy more feed.
Turkeys eat 5lbs of food a week. Not worth it to me to raise and breed for meat. Getting rid of mine since they eat eggs.
Goats a blast. Get a couple of does, borrow a buck.
I used to have rabbits as a kid. I would show and sell butchered meat rabbits. We are planning on doing again, maybe this year.
We would also like to get quail.
We are gardening in free tractor tires with the sidewalls cut out. Also have a spot to garden for the farmers' market.
You might want to try canning. We use free local wild fruit to make jelly and sell.
Learn to make and sell bread and rolls. People crave home-cooking, and you don't have to be inspected to sell baked goods.
The best way to repurpose something is to look at it from every angel and study how it moves and woks. We used a futon for a hay feeder, a bunkbed rail for a gate, a mailbox to hold shovels... Dumpster diving pays off.
Run it like a business. If you are losing money or groceries, find the problem and fix it.
I like the bigger tiles and thin grout lines because its easier to clean and I like the way it looks. Just my personal preference though. Also, if you decide to go with a tile counter top be sure to buy some grout sealer. This way you won't get stains in your grout lines.
