Buy more property than you will think you need! We went from small lot to 1 acre. After a while, 1 acre seemed small. Now we are at 5 acres...guess who is wanting to think about 50-100 acres now? It is so nice to be able to sprawl and do what you want without people having a cow because it's too noisy, too stinky (like compost), etc. It IS a lot of work though. Which is why I can't believe we're getting chickens now...