Homestead mailing list

["Lisa K. V. Perry" <lkvp AT floydva.net>]

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