Our farm is for our own needs first, then we might branch out. In Alberta the rules are kinda tight about livestock sales and butcher, but the farm we are looking for is in Saskachewan. We can do gate sales, but not advertise, except by word of mouth. We are moving out there to be near my Dad.
2 farms we are looking at are $69,900, and 1 which is bare land, is $33,000, but has a small lake, about half with trees on it, and the rest gentley rolloing hills with native grasses.
This last one is the one my DH wants and is waiting to hear back from the realtor. My DH grew up in northern Alberta, and his parents and their kids actually homesteaded their place. Took bare land, moved a house on, waited 6 months before they had running water in the house (they hauled it in, from a water truck parked out in the drive) and they waited a whole year before they could have electricity. This hard work and starting from scratch really appeals to my man, but judging by his character and the hard work he has done already on the place we have now, I know he'll do it.
We want to grow most of our own food, like you, HC. Whatever else we have need for we want to get from locals in the community we live in. The only obvious grocery store things would be coffee and sugar (we only use sugar in DH coffee) . (and oranges, gotta have them oranges!)
On our in town lot we already have;
Meat rabbits (red satins, flemish giants, french lops)
Chickens for eggs
Garden to provide for our own needs
Apple trees, strawberries, raspberries
Access to good friends who have the rest(beef, pork, honey, wheat for grinding, etc.)
We fully expect to flop in some areas! We have witnessed personally, 2 families start out on their own for the first time. (within the last 4 years) 1 friend flopped over and over, but since they didn't "go big" right off the bat, their flops weren't serious. The other friend went gung-ho! Everthing withing a 2 month time period (they had NEVER done any of it before) They had a jersey, 8 dexters, pigs, chickens, rabbits, a garden that flopped because she never had time to tend it, and her kids didn't know how to work) a horse, and 2 new dogs, 1 was a 6 week old pup. I watched as the wife became seriously ill and disenchanted with the whole process, and her husband. Because off to work he would go, and come home too tired to do much. The whole load was on her and the kids! They weren't even set up, but "made due" till they could finish the pens, coops and fencing!
This was an invaluable lesson to me! Start small, start with what I know, and add only 1 or 2 small things at a time. My husband will be working full time, (journeyman plumber/gasfitter) but plans on cutting back to 4 days a week. This means the brunt of the responsibility will be on my shoulders, along with my 4 kids. We homeschool, so that means I will have 4 sets of hands with me. (they ALL helped when we tore out our basement walls, 1 at a time, haul gravel for the footings, haul out dirt from the pit, we did it all together as a family)
I guess what I'm trying to say is: I know it will be hard, harder than anything we have done before, but I am willing. We have a couple of naysayers...but mostly we have the encouragement of family and friends that know we don't belong in town.
Thanks for reading my novel...lol
Tanya
