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  • From: "Lisa K. V. Perry" <lkvp AT floydva.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Minimum acreage and thoughts
  • Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:44:16 -0500

Okay homestead gang, here goes:

Hubby and I purchased our home on 36 acres going on six years ago, then built an addition in the last two years with the intention of taking care of a live-in client with disabilities. Our client finally moves in late June.
We're concerned about the economy, the falling dollar and our debt (mostly in mortgages (farm and house in town) a small car loan and consumer debt.) We have tossed about the idea of selling our home. We could get top dollar (or close) for it now then would buy a house of similar size (a bit smaller but with room for the client) and less land. If we sell, after paying off debt we'd have enough left to put 20-30% down on the next home purchase. The idea of being debt free other than a smaller home mortgage is very appealing. This has been our goal all along, but we're years away from achieving it as is.

How much land would you consider the bare minimum to have a small garden (to feed 4/5 people), 4 or 5 fruit trees (semi-dwarf or reg. apple/peach/pear), 30-40 blueberry bushes and a dozen +/- chickens? The book _Five Acres and Independence_ by Kains comes to mind, but can you get by with less land or is that not enough? We love our farm and aren't certain we'll sell, but we've struggled with the maintenance and harvest of 40+ fruit trees and 50 blueberry bushes while the boys (almost 16 and 10.5) are at active in sports and we work full-time in town (self-employed.) In a frank discussion, my husband confided that he doesn't enjoy this much pruning and doesn't want to spend the rest of his life maintaining the farm. He used to love working outside before we moved here. I love to garden, but have figured out that I can't take care of a gigantic garden. A smaller garden would grow less weeds and provide plenty of veggies. I'll work only part-time after the client moves in, but I have to agree with my husband that I don't want to spend every spare moment of my life taking care of the farm. This place would be great for an organic farmer (especially a fruit farmer), but we've learned that isn't us.
Now that I've bared my soul...how much land is necessary? We won't keep any animals other than chickens and pets. We don't intend to grow fields of grain either. The move we're considering is something I didn't think we'd do for 20 years--if ever, but we're tired and overwhelmed, in debt and mostly ready to lighten our load and move on.

Lisa
sw VA





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