Making money with land

[tcreeley]

tcreeley, You are right, although it is not necessarily a matter of scale.

Breaking even on the investment purely from sales is, and always has been, very difficult. There is a lot more to it than that though. For several decades now I have not chased income, but aimed to live well (and I do) at minimal expense. Having an agricultural holding in most countries (I have no US experience, so it might not apply) is the easiest way to achieve this lifestyle. My home has always been part of the farm.

Many other expenses that non-farmers have to bear are also included in business costs. Rates/local taxes have always been nil or extremely low wherever I have lived, and I feed myself as far as reasonably practicable, buying what is too difficult or impossible to produce. Increases in the value of our properties around the world have kept pace with inflation, plus I always buy somewhere in need of TLC so have improved them all and been paid for my work when we sell. Moving is easy once you get the hang of it, and you have experiences you can never get by living in one place.

I like your approach!

 

[OldMcDonald]

Thanks. It has meant my wife and I have enjoyed a complete change of surroundings every few years. She always looks after the ornamentals so has enjoyed growing new plants too. I am still learning - my next project is hopefully between 500 and 600 almonds so rely heavily on UCDavis for my learning curve. We have a few trees I grew from seed in the farm yard and I am learning on them. Harvested the first of this year's crop yesterday.

People worry about their kids' education if they move. Our son was born in Australia and by the time he was 11 years old he had been in 7 schools in 3 countries. By the next 11 he had two Masters' Degrees (Astrophysics and Radio Astronomy) and had started on his PhD. Well through his 3rd 11years he continues to progress- so I say kids are a lot more resilient than you think and life is the best educator.

 

[Big Barn]

Thanks. It has meant my wife and I have enjoyed a complete change of surroundings every few years. She always looks after the ornamentals so has enjoyed growing new plants too. I am still learning - my next project is hopefully between 500 and 600 almonds so rely heavily on UCDavis for my learning curve. We have a few trees I grew from seed in the farm yard and I am learning on them. Harvested the first of this year's crop yesterday. People worry about their kids' education if they move. Our son was born in Australia and by the time he was 11 years old he had been in 7 schools in 3 countries. By the next 11 he had two Masters' Degrees (Astrophysics and Radio Astronomy) and had started on his PhD. Well through his 3rd 11years he continues to progress- so I say kids are a lot more resilient than you think and life is the best educator.

I recall my father relied on UCDavis for ag advice also back in the 1960's. I'm certain you and your wife are very proud of your son's achievements

Terry

 

[OldMcDonald]

Big Barn, I have found it an excellent source ever since I came here. I have grown a few crops that I had not tried before and I believe they give excellent advice. So do several other state universities too.

Parents should be, proud of their children (or at least tell them they are) although they appear not always to be proud. My son had a friend in school that was dyslexic, and the boy tried his hardest to achieve. He did not have particularly good leaving results of course, but it came back to us that only my wife had praised him for what he did achieve. Very sad. The lad was a hard worker, big and strong, and with the right boss and guidance he would make an excellent employee - I employed him at week-ends along with a few others, and although he did need a wee bit of looking after, he was worth his money. A good brain does not necessarily make a good man.

 

[Jstpssng]

Thanks. It has meant my wife and I have enjoyed a complete change of surroundings every few years. She always looks after the ornamentals so has enjoyed growing new plants too. I am still learning - my next project is hopefully between 500 and 600 almonds so rely heavily on UCDavis for my learning curve. We have a few trees I grew from seed in the farm yard and I am learning on them. Harvested the first of this year's crop yesterday.

People worry about their kids' education if they move. Our son was born in Australia and by the time he was 11 years old he had been in 7 schools in 3 countries. By the next 11 he had two Masters' Degrees (Astrophysics and Radio Astronomy) and had started on his PhD. Well through his 3rd 11years he continues to progress- so I say kids are a lot more resilient than you think and life is the best educator.

I believe that the parental approach has much to do with that, starting at a very early age.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Big Barn, I have found it an excellent source ever since I came here. I have grown a few crops that I had not tried before and I believe they give excellent advice. So do several other state universities too.

Parents should be, proud of their children (or at least tell them they are) although they appear not always to be proud. My son had a friend in school that was dyslexic, and the boy tried his hardest to achieve. He did not have particularly good leaving results of course, but it came back to us that only my wife had praised him for what he did achieve. Very sad. The lad was a hard worker, big and strong, and with the right boss and guidance he would make an excellent employee - I employed him at week-ends along with a few others, and although he did need a wee bit of looking after, he was worth his money. A good brain does not necessarily make a good man.

Yes. I work with about 20 PhD's and I can assure you they put their pants on 1 leg at a time too.

 

[dave1949]

I thought this is an interesting point of view. I didn't attempt to validate the information.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/o...=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

 

[chopitrakeit]

I am in Canada, east coast. Sitting on 25 acres of mixed woods, field, alders, hydro lines, marsh land. I have been toying with same thing and have come to the conclusion that the real payback is satisfaction and having control over your food supply. If you happen to find a niche and fill it, make some bucks, great but I would not go at it trying to make money. Be flexible, plant and learn, reapeat. I would grow what you can use yourself, plus extra of eveything for selling or bartering. Just my 2 cents. I am still trying to figure it out myself.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Those are a very valuable 2c. I have lived the way you describe for a few decades. My wife and I eat and drink exceptionally well on minimal expenditure - one of the reasons we live in Portugal is that food and very acceptable wines (important to us but perhaps not others) are both exceptionally cheap. We have jsut finished dinner - roast chicken breasts, pumpkin, potatoes, brussel sprouts: English cheddar cheese, a very good local semi-hard cows cheese, an imported soft cheese with garlic and herbs; Californian almonds (bought fresh and roasted), home grown half.dried figs. Drinks - a local white, two Ports, a Moscatel de Setúbal. I might have a Portuguese brandy later. Oh, and I had a couple of glasses of the local red (same as the white) at lunch with leftover Spaghetti Bolognese. Total cost - I am not inclined to calculate, but knowing how much we spend on groceries (I am canny enough to have kept a record for 4 years) and some of it homegrown, it was probably less than driving to my namesake 15 miles away and having a hamburger and coke.

 

[diamonddan]

Plant sun-flowers. Bag the seed in various size zip-lock bags.
Sell to friends, bird lovers & Tractor Supply..
diamond dan