How much money can 1 person live on an few acres (homesteading)? (market, book)
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These days I am thinking about living low cost on an off-grid homestead. Lower cost by not having electric, water, sewer, etc. Also, living in an area without building code enforcement so I build/live in a rickety container type home.
Maybe, even try save more money by substance farming and keep chickens, goats, etc.
The question really how much will this cost? Will farming/ranch feed end up costing a lot more $$ than saving?
Anyone ever tried this? Or anyone put together costs associated with this type of lifestyle.
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Originally Posted by unseengundam
These days I am thinking about living low cost on an off-grid homestead. Lower cost by not having electric, water, sewer, etc. Also, living in an area without building code enforcement so I build/live in a rickety container type home.
Maybe, even try save more money by substance farming and keep chickens, goats, etc.
The question really how much will this cost? Will farming/ranch feed end up costing a lot more $$ than saving?
Anyone ever tried this? Or anyone put together costs associated with this type of lifestyle.
I think you can look how people live in shacks in Appalacia and have chickens and get a ballpark figure.
Are you thinking about working in a low paying job, or are you hoping to live off savings?
You can shoot for various levels of independence & self sufficiency.
Trying to grow/raise 100% of your food is a lot of work and unreliable-- weather/pests will have variable impact from yr to yr. Storage to get you thru to next growing season has its difficulties. Few people are willing or able to be 100% self-sufficient.
Lesser degrees of self-sufficiency require progressively higher need for cash. Remember, we never really "own our own land"-- see how fast you lose it if you don't pay your RE taxes on time.
If you locate so far out in the boonies that the govt will ignore you, then you're also so far out you'll have few opportunities to earn cash.
All solutions require compromises among the competing factors.
These days I am thinking about living low cost on an off-grid homestead. Lower cost by not having electric, water, sewer, etc. Also, living in an area without building code enforcement so I build/live in a rickety container type home.
Maybe, even try save more money by substance farming and keep chickens, goats, etc.
The question really how much will this cost? Will farming/ranch feed end up costing a lot more $$ than saving?
Anyone ever tried this? Or anyone put together costs associated with this type of lifestyle.
I live in rural Maine. In this area, there are a lot of people in the 'back to the land' movement, homesteading, off-griding, etc.
I have 150 acres of forest land with 1/4 mile of riverfrontage, where we grow stuff. Our taxes run a bit under $800/year, so we need about $65/month for property taxes.
We can produce most of what we eat. Obviously there are some things that we produce a lot of, and some things that we do not produce any of. We are vendors in a Farmer's Market, and we barter a lot. It works out that I go grocery shopping once a week for things that have slipped through the cracks, per say. We spend around $20 a week for our shopping.
Our farm is on solar power. We heat with firewood.
I am a beekeeper, we breed pigs. We raise meat chickens. And we are very active socially with various groups of like-minded homesteaders in this community.
The big problem for most who attempt this is outside costs for which there is no alternative. Property tax is just one. Healthcare coverage is the elephant in pretty much every lifestyle room - unless you're retired, Medicare, SSI or whatever, you aren't going to be able to trade a few hams and a jar of honey for medical treatment, much less continuing care.
Back in the 1980s we were milking goats and my Dw bartered goat cheese for all her prenatal care.
Where we live now there are MDs who go 'barefoot' [they refuse insurance]. Doctors who published flat fees for each procedure and always much lower cost than what healthcare networks charge the insurance companies.
Every few weeks I see another article about doctor offices who form their own networks free from the insurance companies.
I have coverage from my employer [US Navy] so I can walk into any hospital in the nation. I am going through radiation treatment now for my cancer, I just have to wait in line with the Canadians here for medical tourism [the curse of living in a border state].
Back in the 1980s we were milking goats and my Dw bartered goat cheese for all her prenatal care.
Where we live now there are MDs who go 'barefoot' [they refuse insurance]. Doctors who published flat fees for each procedure and always much lower cost than what healthcare networks charge the insurance companies.
Every few weeks I see another article about doctor offices who form their own networks free from the insurance companies.
That's all nice, but it pretty much only covers what one skilled person can do - which means you're going to need a doctor with shoes when it comes to x-rays, MRIs, chemotherapy, major surgery... or, I guess, you can die like traditional homesteaders of yore, of "consumption" and "fever" and "tumors."
Quote:
I have coverage from my employer [US Navy] so I can walk into any hospital in the nation. I am going through radiation treatment now for my cancer...
Which, IMHO, completely and totally moots what you said above, and (if I may be politely honest) is a big part of why I roll my eyes at people who buy a piece o' land way out inta boonies and pretend to be homesteading or off the grid or roughing it.
Even the homesteaders had Sears, Roebuck, who didn't take chickens in trade for the endless number of things needed for a "simple life." Most people are probably not willing to give up nearly all of modern healthcare to go with a "barefoot doctor" - or, more likely, they'll be fine with it and crow about their independence until that big lump comes up on their jaw or they start passing blood.
Having lifetime maximum healthcare coverage on demand makes prattle about off-the-grid doctoring a leetle bit nonsensical and misleading, doesn't it? Maybe when we all have it, the options will open up. (You fully earned yours, but not everyone has that option.)
These days I am thinking about living low cost on an off-grid homestead. Lower cost by not having electric, water, sewer, etc. Also, living in an area without building code enforcement so I build/live in a rickety container type home.
Maybe, even try save more money by substance farming and keep chickens, goats, etc.
The question really how much will this cost? Will farming/ranch feed end up costing a lot more $$ than saving?
Anyone ever tried this? Or anyone put together costs associated with this type of lifestyle.
If you can't answer these questions yourself because you haven't done it before that's a huge problem. Money is just one aspect of it. You can have the money to start but injure yourself or get sick and be unable to do the work. You may not be able to acquire enough land to support the livestock or crops you'll need to produce to be self-supporting. Just where you try to do it matters as well. If you are lucky enough to try it in an area where others are also living this way (and can support you by helping, educating, bartering/buying your produce) maybe. Not all vacant land waiting for a homesteader is productive. It can take years of effort and investment to get it in any shape to produce a thing. You have to support yourself until it can.
Last edited by Parnassia; 10-19-2018 at 12:26 PM..
These days I am thinking about living low cost on an off-grid homestead. Lower cost by not having electric, water, sewer, etc. Also, living in an area without building code enforcement so I build/live in a rickety container type home.
Maybe, even try save more money by substance farming and keep chickens, goats, etc.
The question really how much will this cost? Will farming/ranch feed end up costing a lot more $$ than saving?
Anyone ever tried this? Or anyone put together costs associated with this type of lifestyle.
To help educate yourself, there are plenty of Pinterest posts about homesteading. They can cover everything from getting land to starting a homestead to how to make money at your homestead for the things you NEED money for ( like the land taxes), to raising food , both garden and animals to MISTAKES COMMONLY or uncommonly made.
It WONT give you ALL the education you need. But it can act as a starter.
Also go to the library or Amazon book section and look for a variety of homesteading books, or pioneer ways that we are losing that certainly come in handy on a homestead.
The more you can educate yourself BEFORE you plunge into it the better your success will be.
So load the Pinterest app ( or try pinterest. Com) and search for homesteading posts, survival posts can come in handy, as well as foid storage fir long time posts.
The posts will lead you to articles you can save on pinteret or you can email them to yourself.
Get a binder and print them off and categorize them fir future reference, especially if your homestead is off the grid with no internet.
Tyeres even articles on how to get land for homesteading, but dont expect those to be accurate for all circustances.
Educate furst, then learn while you have modern ammenities, then build up a stickpike of equipment youll need to run off grid to get things done ( hand crank meat grinder or hand crank food mill for example). Also reasearch things like solar and wind power and battery banks for your actual power needs ( to do things like run water pumps perhaps)
Then when you are confident you THINK you know what you'll do, take the step to finding suitable land.
Theres a wealth of information on Pinterest (and YouTube has many videos) that may or may not be helpful.
Good luck.
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