Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Village Wisdom on July 23, 2012 at 3:46pm

Ok, trying again. I worked on a reply for 30 minutes and then the cleaning lady unplugged the power strip to my computer -- I was about 1/2 a second from posting.

Anyway, here is it again as best I can remember.

Hubby and I have 62 acres in sight of the blue ridge mountains in Virginia. We work jobs that require us to drive 6 hours on Sunday night and we drive 6 hours back on Friday evening. We need to pay off that loan before "retiring" to the farm. While we are 8 years from 65 and a decent SS payment (if it still exists). However, we are planning to be full time on the farm soon. April 2013 for me - don't know for hubby. It depends on how successful I am with my Health Coaching business. I can do that from home via phone anytime and for as many years as I want. While SS will be a nice addition if it is possible to get that money back, we are not counting on it. We are setting up so that we need little and produce most of what we need.

While patiently waiting we have several things in the works. We have Katahdin sheep since spring 2010. A dozen pregnant ewes is where we started. We are going for 70. We have been successful in managing them 2 days on the weekends. This year we took time off for lambing season but again it passed without major incidents and we must have 40 or so ewes now. We added a donkey that same year. She was for livestock protection. She foaled and now we have two -- even better. Last fall we added 3 cows which is now 4. Two milk cows and 2 beef. They are Normande breed. A combo meat/milk breed from France. I love making cheese and their milk is renowned in France for cheesemaking. The meat is also considered prime in France. I love my cows. I was not able to milk this year but should be able to next time we have calves.

We planted a small orchard and have bees. Lots of fruit and nut trees as well as blueberries and blackberries (made 2 blackberry cobblers yesterday). I usually get quite a few things from the raised-bed garden but the weeds take over and I cannot respond to pests and disease in a timely manner. Oh well, we take what we get and go on. Zuccinis get huge, racoons eat the canteloupe. We've fenced the deer out -- that is a function of using the orchard and part of the garden for occasional grazing and weed maintenance.

Our primary enterprise is sheep. Secondary will be farm tours, classes in cooking and food preservation, medicinal herb growing and Home remedy/herbal medical care. We will also have too much fruit for personal use so will likely have fruit and fruit products for sale. I'm also getting my health coaching business off the ground as mentioned above.

What do you have going so far?

Melanie

Peaceful Heart Village -- A Local Farm Community

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Permalink Reply by Steve Kemp on July 23, 2012 at 11:40pm

Melanie,

                First of all thank you for your response, my wife and I read it with growing admiration.  The fact that you put up with a 6 hr commute to and from the farm is true dedication, but how you manage to work the farm with only two days a week is beyond us!  I can only assume you must (like us) have very good neighbors to keep an eye on the place/animals during the week?  Our place is in south central VA, just outside the beautiful little town of Appomattox. During the week we live in Northern VA and the commute to the farm is about 3 ½ hours (depending on NOVA traffic) we try to go every weekend, but we have two girls in college and a 16 year old son in high school so between swim team, lacrosse and mounds of laundry, not all the weekends are our own.  Our farm is 45 acres, 25 acres of pasture and 20 acres of woods circling the farm. We bought the place last year and are working on setting the place up to farm when we move there permanently, rather than try to work it the way you guys are. For example, I put in some large raised beds for the kitchen garden filled them with a blend of compost, Vermiculite and peat moss. I had originally wanted to sow them, but we realized all we’d be doing was feeding the local wildlife and spending half our precious weekends weeding them over and over, so I just tacked weed block over the top of them for now and we grow what we can in raised beds at the other house.  

(FYI:  I love vermiculite as a raised bed soil amendment and as luck would have it, there is a terrific little vermiculite mine in Louisa, VA, where you can buy a giant 4’ x 4’ x 4’ (truck bed full ) bag of vermiculite for the same cost as a couple of small bags at a garden centre).

We are also working on the permanent fencing on the property, making sure it is in good shape and planning for new permanent fencing; at the same time we are working on the house and outbuildings. We have three log tobacco barns, two pole barns for hay, a stable, a cow byre, various coops, garden sheds and a two bedroom guesthouse (all of which are a little neglected). For now we keep building up our orchard each year and continue to nurture our fruit bushes as they mature and hopefully we’ll get some of my neighbors’ cattle on the pasture land this year to start to nurture the soil.

We are 11 & 13 years away from 65 ourselves, but we are going to make the permanent move to the farm well before then. One thing we have in our favor for earlier retirement is that my wife works as a fairly high official for our local county and is eligible to retire with full benefits, so when she decides to quit she will receive a pretty good pension from the county.  We have scrimped and saved our whole lives (I’ve never believed or assumed SS would be there for us)and we also have a house in NOVA that will easily pay off the remaining farm mortgage when sold, so really the only thing holding us back right now is our kids; we’d like to support them all through the undergraduate level in college (to give them a debt free start to independent life) which means 4 to 6 more years at the grindstone then we get to peel off that weed block off the kitchen garden, pick up a used ford tractor, the chickens and pigs and move in permanently.  

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Permalink Reply by Village Wisdom on July 24, 2012 at 11:08am

Wow, small world. We looked at land in Appomatox several years ago when we were looking to expand our original 21 acres. I envy the infrastructure you have in place there -- even if it does need work. We bought raw land. No buildings, no fences, no house.

We started out like you. We bought in 2003, moved a trailer on sight 2005. Cleared trees, put in permanent fences and raised beds over the next few years. It was 2010 (7 years) before we put the first animals on the farm. Just couldn't wait any longer. We've also collected significant equipment including: tractor, hay rake, baler, livestock trailer, etc. but scaling back on hay equipment now. Our pastures are good enough now that we need minimal hay.

Hope to see you at a VABF event in the future. They are a good organization. We have attended in the past before we had animals but just don't have time right now.

We do have excellent neighbors. Here's my post about that. A Tribute To Our Village Neighbors

I hear ya about the kids. We have one more still in school -- nursing. She just told us she would take it from here as she is working and living at home. However, I'm pretty sure we will need to help with books and such along the way.

In my travels over the past few years I have met many who dream of "retiring" to the farm. Not many were actually taking steps. I try to encourage as many as I can. I'm also looking to establish an alliance with the Coop in Roanoke. I'm passionate about getting the message out about local, sustainable food -- and how to make that happen. We'll see how that goes this coming weekend.

Long days and pleasant nights,

Melanie

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Permalink Reply by Marilyn Lakaner on July 25, 2012 at 3:04pm

My husband and I have the same dream.  He is 50 and I am 46.  We both have been preparing ourselves for retirement by aggressively paying down debt.  Our dream is to have a self-sufficient "homestead" life in 10 years, and retire.  We've planted fruit trees as well.  We have one dairy cow, chickens, beef cows and two large gardens.  We produce, preserve and consume most of our food already.  We've changed our main heat source to wood and have enough timber on our farm for the rest of our lives. 

 

I applaud anyone who is striving for this lifestyle, as there is no better feeling than being debt free and self-sufficient.  I'm not quite there yet, but I never take my eye off of that goal. 

 

Peace.

 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Kemp on July 25, 2012 at 9:32pm

Thanks for replying Marilyn, great to hear about your retirement plans, are you living on your retirement homestead now, or will you eventually have to move there?  I admire your goals of self sufficiency and getting out of debt as soon as you can. Personally, my biggest retirement concern is one of the few areas we can't ever be self sufficient - healthcare.  I had a real wake-up call on this topic nine weeks ago when I had to be hospitalized for a triple bypass (at 52), fortunatly I have health insurance through work and even though they picked up most of the tab, the bills were shockingly huge and I cant help but worry about the eventual cost of coverage between the time we quit our jobs and Medicare starting (if its still there by then!) I'd love to hear some feedback if anyone has figured out a solution for that nugget! 

Marilyn Lakaner said:

My husband and I have the same dream.  He is 50 and I am 46.  We both have been preparing ourselves for retirement by aggressively paying down debt.  Our dream is to have a self-sufficient "homestead" life in 10 years, and retire.  We've planted fruit trees as well.  We have one dairy cow, chickens, beef cows and two large gardens.  We produce, preserve and consume most of our food already.  We've changed our main heat source to wood and have enough timber on our farm for the rest of our lives. 

 

I applaud anyone who is striving for this lifestyle, as there is no better feeling than being debt free and self-sufficient.  I'm not quite there yet, but I never take my eye off of that goal. 

 

Peace.

 

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Permalink Reply by Marilyn Lakaner on July 25, 2012 at 10:16pm

Yes, we've lived here since 1999.  I agree that the health insurance issue is scary, and we haven't considered what we'll do about that yet.  Some folks around here drive a school bus for the insurance benefits....so that is one option for us.  At this point, our goal is becoming debt free. 

 

Best wishes for good health for you and your family. 

 

Peace.
Steve Kemp said:

Thanks for replying Marilyn, great to hear about your retirement plans, are you living on your retirement homestead now, or will you eventually have to move there?  I admire your goals of self sufficiency and getting out of debt as soon as you can. Personally, my biggest retirement concern is one of the few areas we can't ever be self sufficient - healthcare.  I had a real wake-up call on this topic nine weeks ago when I had to be hospitalized for a triple bypass (at 52), fortunatly I have health insurance through work and even though they picked up most of the tab, the bills were shockingly huge and I cant help but worry about the eventual cost of coverage between the time we quit our jobs and Medicare starting (if its still there by then!) I'd love to hear some feedback if anyone has figured out a solution for that nugget! 

Marilyn Lakaner said:

My husband and I have the same dream.  He is 50 and I am 46.  We both have been preparing ourselves for retirement by aggressively paying down debt.  Our dream is to have a self-sufficient "homestead" life in 10 years, and retire.  We've planted fruit trees as well.  We have one dairy cow, chickens, beef cows and two large gardens.  We produce, preserve and consume most of our food already.  We've changed our main heat source to wood and have enough timber on our farm for the rest of our lives. 

 

I applaud anyone who is striving for this lifestyle, as there is no better feeling than being debt free and self-sufficient.  I'm not quite there yet, but I never take my eye off of that goal. 

 

Peace.

 

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Permalink Reply by N. P. on August 11, 2012 at 6:27pm

You are not alone Steve.  I'm looking to move soon with hubby in tow and we are in our mid 50's.  I had just been thinking I must be daft the other day to contemplate such a move given the majority of folks here doing it are much younger. 

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Permalink Reply by Karla Upton on August 12, 2012 at 9:02am

Retirement iis just this thought that has us leaving our 5 acres of desert and moving to TN where the climate is more conducive to farmsteading/homesteading.  It was difficult giving up my garden, tiny orchard, and chickens; however, when we started looking at the longer term game plan, we saw that where we were would not work for when we retired (I'm 50, my DH is a few years younger).  We learned a lot from our 5 years in the desert, however, and hope that will be applicable to our new place.  Due to the housing conditions out west, we could not sell our place, so we have had to walk away and ruin our credit.  But, better to be starting over at 50 than to be doing so at 60.  ... and, when thinking of those in their 20's doing this, I am reminded that ""old age and treachery beats youth and skill every time."  Youth often have energy on their side, but having hung around the planet for a while also may bring a certain perseverance that they may not have.  So good luck to all of us "over the hill" folks (as in "we live over the hill" from you - because we are certainly not what most people think of as "over the hill"!!!).

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Permalink Reply by Marjorie Phipps on August 13, 2012 at 9:36am

Hi,

We are another 50 ish couple living and working on a farm. Although I still work in corporate America, I work from the comfort of my home office.  We used to live and work on the East Coast of Florida.  Wanting to get out of there, away from the heat, crime and failing economy in 2004 we began a search for a place in Central Kentucky near his parents.  We found our little piece of paradise in the fall of 2005 but had no idea what we were going to do other than live on it and have a garden and a few chickens.  There was no house, no barn, no fencing other than barbed wire.  The property was in use by local Amish farmers for cows, however they did not own the property.  We allowed them to stay and keep watch while we continued to work on home improvements and selling the Florida house.  

Early in 2007 we discover Alpacas and  decided to take the plunge. In May 2007 we purchased 2 females from a farm in Kentucky where they remained and reproduced until we were able to move there and care for them. In June the Florida house went on the market.  In November that year a contractor began building our home in Kentucky. With NO SALE of the Florida house and the completion of our Kentucky house, in May 2008 I moved to Kentucky with my 3 year old granddaughter whom we have custody of.  My husband stayed at the Florida house and continued with his job at Kennedy Space Center in the weather station.  He would drive, 14 hours, every 4-6 weeks to come up and spend the weekend with us.  He worked a 4 day / 10 hour work week with Monday's off.  He also spent all vacation time and holiday's with us.  During his visits we would work on the farm so that we could bring our growing herd home.  We built a barn, all by ourselves with our own power tools.  We did not use any heavy equipment except for a man lift we rented to be able to attach the siding to the upper level of the barn.  We hired someone with an auger to dig fence post holes for the fencing.  He worked in the pouring rain one weekend with my husband while I was with our alpacas at a show in Indiana.  

We had to consistently lower the price on the Florida house chasing the market down.  The plan was to pay off the money we owed on the alpacas and continue to build our infrastructure and maybe get a tractor with the proceeds of the house..... did not happen.  We eventually ended up doing a short sale on the house in 2009. The people we were buying the alpacas from agreed to an extended payment option that was not in our contract.  My husband was finally able to leave his job and "come home" for good in November.... 18 months after I moved here.  We put the roof on the barn during Christmas week and our Amish friend helped with the roof in the freezing rain on New Years Day 2010 and the alpacas came home in March.  

Since then we've built 3 more shelters and put up several more thousand feet of fence. Our herd is now 23 alpacas.  We are starting to process our own fiber.  My husband has build a fiber tumbler, we bought a carding machine and a spinning wheel.  Until we are proficient in the use of these we will send our fiber to a commercial mill for processing.  I've also started dying some of the yarn we have already had processed. We participate in alpaca shows in the area as well as local farm and craft events and sell online.  

Although my husband no longer works at an outside job he keeps very busy here on the farm and does a major portion of our home chores as well as driving our granddaughter to the bus every day and picking her up.  She just started the 2nd grade.  He has written a couple of science fiction books as well which is something he has always wanted to do.  They will soon be available on E-readers.  

I've still got a few years to go before I will consider retirement.  Although all our alpacas are paid for we still hold a sizable mortgage on the house and property and my job provides a steady income and health care benefits. I would not be here if I had to commute to an office and for that I am extremely thankful.  

We live on 60 secluded acres, 3/10ths of a mile off the main road in a holler... where the only visitors we have are those that are invited, the locals that sometimes come by on ATV or horseback or those that are lost.  We still don't have a tractor, or chickens !!  BUT we have our alpacas which provide us with a fantastic manure for growing huge vegetables in our raised bed garden. We have piles and piles of soft hypoallergenic fiber to work with and create things ..... AND we grew it all ourselves. I knit and crochet and look forward to learning to weave.  We have a relatively young herd that will continue to provide for us for years to come.   We had 6 babies call cria this year and it's so relaxing to sit on our big porch every evening and watch them frolic in the pastures. Sometimes It's hard work and we've had a huge learning curve and continue to learn every day. But most of all it's relaxing, rewarding and what we feel is the very best environment to raise our granddaughter.  It's everything we dreamed it would be !  

Margie

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Permalink Reply by Ann on August 20, 2012 at 12:02pm

HI, I am new to the forum.  Glad to see what others are planning.  Yes, I want to have a farm some day.  I was raised in a small town, but we always had a garden.  Now I live in a city and I am having second thoughts on owning a home here.  I want a farm and I want a garden and a few animals to sustain my family of five.  I am thinking of looking for acreage such as about 5 acres.  I think that would be sufficient to start.  People tell me that I can start where I am, but I really want a country life and not the city.  I miss having things like animals and such.  I want a homestead with land that I can do as I please on it.  I am currently in school and not working yet, so I have to wait.  I am almost done though.  I think it may take me a year or two to get a fund set aside for property.  I had money in the past and I blew it.  I am forty years old and I need to think about my family's future, such as property, shelter, and food to sustain us.  Times are getting tough and I feel that we need to learn how to live off the land and work the land that God has given us.  It all has a purpose.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Kemp on August 20, 2012 at 12:06pm

 

Congratulations Marjorie, it sounds like your dream has become a reality, it never seems particularly easy to take what can be a very long and winding road to farm life, but I have yet to hear anyone say it wasn't worth it. I had heard of breeding and raising Alpacas to sell, but I did not know their wool was a viable product. Is Alpaca wool good for felting at all? I was in San Francisco last year at a craft show and saw these fantastic felted animals, all made by hand using pure carded wool, they make fantastic toys for little babies and they were selling for serious money!  Sorry you are still having to work the corporate job, my whole family is down on our farm this week "on vacation" while I'm tele-working upstairs, so I feel your pain, but healthcare coverage is crucial. Best of luck.

Marjorie Phipps said:

Hi,

We are another 50 ish couple living and working on a farm. Although I still work in corporate America, I work from the comfort of my home office.  We used to live and work on the East Coast of Florida.  Wanting to get out of there, away from the heat, crime and failing economy in 2004 we began a search for a place in Central Kentucky near his parents.  We found our little piece of paradise in the fall of 2005 but had no idea what we were going to do other than live on it and have a garden and a few chickens.  There was no house, no barn, no fencing other than barbed wire.  The property was in use by local Amish farmers for cows, however they did not own the property.  We allowed them to stay and keep watch while we continued to work on home improvements and selling the Florida house.  

Early in 2007 we discover Alpacas and  decided to take the plunge. In May 2007 we purchased 2 females from a farm in Kentucky where they remained and reproduced until we were able to move there and care for them. In June the Florida house went on the market.  In November that year a contractor began building our home in Kentucky. With NO SALE of the Florida house and the completion of our Kentucky house, in May 2008 I moved to Kentucky with my 3 year old granddaughter whom we have custody of.  My husband stayed at the Florida house and continued with his job at Kennedy Space Center in the weather station.  He would drive, 14 hours, every 4-6 weeks to come up and spend the weekend with us.  He worked a 4 day / 10 hour work week with Monday's off.  He also spent all vacation time and holiday's with us.  During his visits we would work on the farm so that we could bring our growing herd home.  We built a barn, all by ourselves with our own power tools.  We did not use any heavy equipment except for a man lift we rented to be able to attach the siding to the upper level of the barn.  We hired someone with an auger to dig fence post holes for the fencing.  He worked in the pouring rain one weekend with my husband while I was with our alpacas at a show in Indiana.  

We had to consistently lower the price on the Florida house chasing the market down.  The plan was to pay off the money we owed on the alpacas and continue to build our infrastructure and maybe get a tractor with the proceeds of the house..... did not happen.  We eventually ended up doing a short sale on the house in 2009. The people we were buying the alpacas from agreed to an extended payment option that was not in our contract.  My husband was finally able to leave his job and "come home" for good in November.... 18 months after I moved here.  We put the roof on the barn during Christmas week and our Amish friend helped with the roof in the freezing rain on New Years Day 2010 and the alpacas came home in March.  

Since then we've built 3 more shelters and put up several more thousand feet of fence. Our herd is now 23 alpacas.  We are starting to process our own fiber.  My husband has build a fiber tumbler, we bought a carding machine and a spinning wheel.  Until we are proficient in the use of these we will send our fiber to a commercial mill for processing.  I've also started dying some of the yarn we have already had processed. We participate in alpaca shows in the area as well as local farm and craft events and sell online.  

Although my husband no longer works at an outside job he keeps very busy here on the farm and does a major portion of our home chores as well as driving our granddaughter to the bus every day and picking her up.  She just started the 2nd grade.  He has written a couple of science fiction books as well which is something he has always wanted to do.  They will soon be available on E-readers.  

I've still got a few years to go before I will consider retirement.  Although all our alpacas are paid for we still hold a sizable mortgage on the house and property and my job provides a steady income and health care benefits. I would not be here if I had to commute to an office and for that I am extremely thankful.  

We live on 60 secluded acres, 3/10ths of a mile off the main road in a holler... where the only visitors we have are those that are invited, the locals that sometimes come by on ATV or horseback or those that are lost.  We still don't have a tractor, or chickens !!  BUT we have our alpacas which provide us with a fantastic manure for growing huge vegetables in our raised bed garden. We have piles and piles of soft hypoallergenic fiber to work with and create things ..... AND we grew it all ourselves. I knit and crochet and look forward to learning to weave.  We have a relatively young herd that will continue to provide for us for years to come.   We had 6 babies call cria this year and it's so relaxing to sit on our big porch every evening and watch them frolic in the pastures. Sometimes It's hard work and we've had a huge learning curve and continue to learn every day. But most of all it's relaxing, rewarding and what we feel is the very best environment to raise our granddaughter.  It's everything we dreamed it would be !  

Margie

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Permalink Reply by Steve Kemp on August 20, 2012 at 12:41pm

Hi Anne,

Welcome to the forum, I think you have a great chance of fulfilling your farm/homesteading dream, perhaps sooner than you think. Some of it depends on the eventual job you're currently in school for. Anything that can transfer to a rural setting or can be done from home is a major advantage. There are lots of opportunities to rent land or even buy reasonably cheaply. Let me give you an example, I have a traditional farmer friend who is about to buy a 200+ acre farm for the land (to augment his current 200+ acres of fields). The farm has a stick built farmhouse (circa 1930's) that he doesn't need, it's not well kept, but it's solid, livable now and a good candidate for a fixer upper over time. It has a well and septic and he is going to attach 15 acres of fields to the house and advertise to sell it locally (central VA) for about $150K. As I was looking at the place I immediatly thought what a great opportunity to start a homestead! I think there are examples of this going on all over the country, so stay positive and good luck! 

Ann said:

HI, I am new to the forum.  Glad to see what others are planning.  Yes, I want to have a farm some day.  I was raised in a small town, but we always had a garden.  Now I live in a city and I am having second thoughts on owning a home here.  I want a farm and I want a garden and a few animals to sustain my family of five.  I am thinking of looking for acreage such as about 5 acres.  I think that would be sufficient to start.  People tell me that I can start where I am, but I really want a country life and not the city.  I miss having things like animals and such.  I want a homestead with land that I can do as I please on it.  I am currently in school and not working yet, so I have to wait.  I am almost done though.  I think it may take me a year or two to get a fund set aside for property.  I had money in the past and I blew it.  I am forty years old and I need to think about my family's future, such as property, shelter, and food to sustain us.  Times are getting tough and I feel that we need to learn how to live off the land and work the land that God has given us.  It all has a purpose.

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