We get asked all the time about how much land should a person get for their homestead. Like most questions, the answer depends on what your goals are. Do you want to live off grid? Do you want livestock? Do you want to harvest timber? Are you going to grow crops?
Once these questions and others are thought about and determined, you can better think about the size of homestead that your family needs.
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my experience in the eighties on the Llano Estacado.
you only need and acre...maybe two.
For the house, the garden, the workshop, and the animal shelters
Anything else can be use for fields(grow your own feed?), pasture (let the critters find their OWN feed), wood lot...and if you are extremely lucky...a pond or stream.
note...everything needs FENCES...and they are NOT cheap.
If you're LUCKY, you can fence using native stone, dirt , sod, or timber. OR...you can buy stuff (wire, metal posts, livestock panels....etc, etc ....$$$) The more time you SPEND building with found stuff, the less money you SPEND buying stuff to build with.
But you're gonna SPEND...If you do NOT put up fences...you're gonna SPEND more.
Totally true! Fencing is a top 5 for every homestead and its not cheap.
when i tried it i was green as grass (raised in a town)...had NO idea what I was doing...there WAS no internet then..the Whole Earth Catalog hadn't been published YET. So I learned from trial and error...mostly error.
I learned REAL Quick...fences FIRST...animals next.
it's EASY to fence in a weiner pig....four months later...not so much.
LOL So true! Fences...a must have for any homestead.
Take it from me... buy as much as you can take care of. I purchased 5 acres, 2 of which is heavly wooded... 3/4 acre pond and the rest is grass with moderate trees. Its a pain in the rear if your doing it alone since its contant maintenance. But as much hard work it is; in our busy lifes, its well worth it.
OH YEAH! I never said it would be easy. Life on a homestead is constant maintenance and work but it's very rewarding work. You get what you put into it. Great Comment!
We just purchased a 7 acre property and I am a little worried it might be a lot for us to handle. The previous owners have the entire property as a lawn. I don't want to mow 7 acres of lawn that is for sure. Very good piece of advice to only take on what you can handle. So, for us we are going to be turning some of the property into garden and pasture for free range chickens. Maybe in the future we may try to take on a beef cow or two.
Three classic books come to mind, Three Acres and Liberty, Five Acres and Independence and 10 Acres Enough. They were published between 1864 and 1935 and all three are available through links at http://journeytoforever.org and on Amazon.
THANKS SO MUCH! We love book recommendations!
Maybe I'll do a post on book recommendations?
I sometimes forget that people actually do this, i always think how cool this would be to do so I play video games to get the experience, but yet I never actually would do this in real life.
When you do this do you continue to use modern technology or is this something you do without the aid of modern technology?
Not my question. Imho much of modern tech is not sold to help a person. It is sold to make money. I don't have a tiller, tractor, or plow. Yet we manage to produce food to sell. Man was created in Garden, and did not have a tractor. In fact, the Word says Cain was cursed to plow the ground and Not yield for him.
Some call it modern homesteading. There are some who go back to using horses and no vehicles...but there is no point in going back to the 1800's and beyond. I can cut a tree down with an axe. But I can also cut one down with a chain saw. I can haul a tree out of the woods with a mule. But I can also haul a tree with my tractor.
How extreme you want to live is up to you. There are no rules. You'll get out of it what you put into it...kinda like STEEMIT. LOL
The size of the family that you have to take care of is a factor, but you can do much on a small parcel of land with creative ideas. Thanks to the internet and those that were pioneers, there is plenty of ideas to explore. Great post.
Yep, absolutely. There are people who do amazing things on 1 acre of land. I've seen it. The more land the more work you will have.
My husband, Gary and I watch your show off our Roku all the time. We learned about Steemit form you. I dream is to retire and homestead in Missouri in 5 years. God Bless and keep going. Please follow me too.
I've watched this video before but it is worth watching again.
THANKS!! We appreciate you following!
I am wondering about what questions I should be asking as I am thinking about purchasing some acreage. Things like mineral rights, restrictions, etc. I would love to find a good guide on that as well as the great info you provided which I found very helpful.
Make sure you don't have ZONING restrictions. Usually the farther out you go, the better options you find...but that means you are sometimes pretty far out there. That can be good or bad.
I am looking as far out as is reasonable and still be close enough to hospitals, etc.. I just do not think being near the cities is where I want to be anymore.
I've thought so many times about this but I would never do it unless I found someone who I could just escape the world with. Otherwise, I unfortunately need a lot of people around for my business ventures. I have a good friend back in my hometown who is doing this there. I will have to email him a link to the video, since he's not on Steemit.
Very beautiful =) follow me to help us
Yes, good luck in your homesteading efforts. Will follow! THANKS
Guess it depends what you plan on doing on the land, not to mention the type of land it is. I always wanted at least 10 plus acres mostly wooded. My area is the Shenandoah valley in Virginia.