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.