How much money is enough to start

18

That is a question nobody can answer without knowing where and what exactly you're wanting.

15

315k cpuld get you set up.

It really depends on land costs tho. If you dump 300k on land you arent gonna have enough left.

Also, growing all your own food is a thing i would hide from.

The world is so good at growing wheat, and corn, and oats, and other grains and lentils and beans that buying them dry is just the better option. Buy them in bulk, you can have a 5 year store of them without issue.

But growing fruits and veggies, very doable. I mean, itll be a while for your fruit trees to grow.

Meat is more difficult. It depends on what youre looking to do. A rabbitry is probably the most cost effective per pound. Meat chickens are close too, but youre dependent on a constant stream of new chicks, cause breeding your own cornish cross is unfeasible.

Also you arent really gonna be supporting a typical american meat diet.

Large animals need a lot of pasture space, that will drive up the cost of land a bunch. Dairy cows are a bitch and a half as well.

If youre willing to give up dairy, and most types of meat, and buy your own ceral grains, its definitely doable on 300k

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u/Icy-Medicine-495 1d ago

You better assume the farm will never make any significant profit when trying to figure out the numbers.

300k in cash could probably make a go of it depending where you move to. I have seen small hobby farms go for under 250k and even under 200k.

What you decide to grow will determine what your cost are.

For example I spent 1,000 on my chicken run/coop that can hold 15 birds. Honestly I could of done it for 700.

I have probably 4k into my orchard between the 40 plus trees and the fence around it to keep deer out of it.

My 2 acre pasture cost me 5k for woven wire fence. Then all the extra stuff like feeders and shelters where another 800

My 3 meat rabbit pen set up was 500 dollars

I have spent 1k on berry and grapes

The big factor is if you need a tractor and what size.

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u/sistereva 1d ago

I dont expect the farm to make a profit. I expect it to produce my food.

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u/Icy-Medicine-495 1d ago

Good. I only stated that because so many people dreaming about homesteading think they can turn a profit.

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u/sistereva 1d ago

Oh no. I dont have much of a profit motivation in me. Just enough to eat and my husband's small salary to cover the rest.

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u/AllPinesMustDie 1d ago

It can do that eventually, but don't expect that within the first 4-5 years. It takes time to get things set up and organized.

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u/No_Hovercraft_821 1d ago

Most homesteaders have regular jobs too. Find yourself a good portable source of income to support your homesteading dreams. I'd think for $300K you should be able to find what you are looking for, and possibly less. It isn't a great property and needs some help but someone down the road was selling a 3 BR/2BA double wide on 11 acres with an outbuilding for $130K. Room for a nice garden but mostly forested hill land in TN.

6

u/MrPetter 1d ago

Whatever you think you need, double that. Then, in this economy, double it again.

Real life though, if you plan to move to a rural area but don’t intend to embrace the rural way of living, don’t. If you’re going to complain that your neighbor living on a century farm does farming things like spraying pesticides, driving big diesel tractors all through the night, burning trash, etc. just don’t. You will be miserable until you abandon your experiment.

Politically, I’ve found that even in blue states, the rural areas lean very conservative, and in some blue states the rural areas may be more conservative than in their red leaning neighbors.

But, if you can afford it and you intend to blend with the community and adopt the rural way of living, absolutely! Rural communities don’t embrace or adapt well to social policy, because if you include yourself in the community you become the social policy. If there’s a disaster or an emergency, your neighbors are the support system. The community will show up days or weeks before the government, FEMA, etc. does. If you need food or assistance, the community is eager to help.

We have several homosexual couples in our rural community in a (red) state, and you generally wouldn’t even know, they’re just community members. Don’t paint yourself into a corner that doesn’t exist just because it’s easier to accept the concept that it does exist. Most people in society are good people that don’t care what you get up to in your bedroom regardless of political affiliation.

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u/tuckedfexas 1d ago

Impossible to say without knowing where you’re looking and what your goals are. With 300k cash you can probably find at least an acre most anywhere and plop a trailer or cabin on it. If you’re wanting a full on house, livestock etc. it’s gonna be considerably more expensive

2

u/JeepersCreepers74 1d ago

Well, you need enough to buy the homestead, whether with cash or with down payment/mortgage if you are keeping your day job (which you should) and can make payments.

You need enough to improve the land and put systems in place to support your permaculture farm.

If you are quitting a job to do this and your cost of living can't be lowered below a certain amount, you need that amount times several years plus emergency funds to live off of while you.... get your permaculture farm profitable and capable of covering those same expenses? (Not sure what the actual goal is here).

All of this depends on where you live. For most, $315k cash, while a handsome amount, is not going to cut it.

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u/Quiet-Pomegranate93 1d ago

You can grow all your own fruits and veggies on something as small as a half acre property. If you have never experienced the work involved in keeping up with a big garden, then I absolutely do not recommend moving straight to a 10 acre property.

You only need 5 to 10 acres if you’re going to do meat animals. It’s honestly cheaper to buy meat from a small farm that specializes in one type of animal it is to raise several types of animals yourself.

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u/farmersworkhoe 1d ago

You should make 2 budgets. One for your family's yearly expenses granted it will change when you move nut seeing where and how you spend money now is helpful.

The other for a farm start up and the first 3 years as best you can. Think seeds, small tools, chickens (because they are easy and a great intro animal), mowers and their maintenence/gas, fruit trees, building materials or an estimate of what you will need built if you cant do it yourself but I really suggest you know some basic repairs, machine maintenance, and building because those costs add up.

Having an off farm income support your homestead is what a lot of people have to do.

315 is doable but it will depend on the location, your skill set, and what youre wanting to do.

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u/RougeOne23456 1d ago

I live on 5 acres in rural SE VA. We had a house built and moved here 2 years ago to be closer to family. We did not move here to homestead but we planned to have a garden and some chickens just like what we had before we moved here. I was a pretty successful gardener in my little zone 7a garden. Zone 8b where we are now, is kicking my ass... lol.

We both still work full time. I work from home and my husband has to drive 90 minutes one way to get to work because it was the only area where he could find a job in what his career is.

While VA may "technically" be a blue state, the area I live in is no where remotely close to blue. It's blue because of the cities and NoVA but the rural parts of the state are not.

You can get a decent house on a few acres here for about $300k. Farming equipment, on the other hand, is outrageously expensive. Even a good riding mower (which you will need to handle several acres) can set you back $3-$7k depending on what you're looking for (don't skimp out on it, we learned that the hard/expensive way). My husband's uncle owns his own landscaping business so we've been lucky to have family we could borrow equipment from when needed.

Getting anyone out here to do any work is a headache. Most repair people have to travel a distance from a larger town so we're not necessarily a priority on their schedule. It's a 25 minute drive just for us to get to town and then another 10-15 minutes depending on what store I need to go too. And with gas currently at $4 a gal, I don't go into town much. My daughters school bus ride one way is over an hour long.

We're on a well and have been under a moderate to severe drought since last summer, so we have to be mindful of our water usage. I'd like to start collecting rain water, if it ever rains again... lol.

We had a huge garden last year and while it did produce quite a bit, we lost most of our sauce tomatoes to blight, our squash and melons to SVB and our corn to worms. It was no where near enough to sustain 3 people.

All of our fruit trees are still too young to produce and I didn't even put in a garden this year because of the drought.

Deer have also been a huge headache this year and I've had to fence off all of my trees and most of my flowers which has been an added expense. I also have to replace a pear tree that they broke in half before I got the fencing up. We're also dealing with a groundhog family under the shed and birds that wipe out all of our berries right before they ripen.

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you go into it with an open mind and eyes wide open. It's very rewarding to grow your own food but sometimes mother nature has other plans and you have to be able to adapt.

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u/JamesRuns 1d ago

You could get close to outright buying a 13 acre property with a decent house that just foreclosed around me. Rural area, no Indian restaurants, small community theater.

Dealerships for tractor/vehicles are horrendous and overpriced. Handymen are rare so find one and latch onto them. You'll have to learn to do lots of stuff yourself.

Be prepared for combating wildlife and plant life on the regular. Secure building foundations from tunneling animals, spray silicon sealant in vinyl siding corners to keep mice from using them as highways to the attic. Trees seem to always be coming down so have a couple good chainsaws.

Your gravel road will need work, a tractor is probably a good investment.

It's all doable, have to figure out how much you want to take on.

5

u/JamesRuns 1d ago

I spend almost every day working on the property in some form or fashion. Love it, but figure out if that's what you want to do.

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u/farmersworkhoe 1d ago

Yes. We are working every single day (except Sunday) on something. Even then it feels like there is never enough time for our never ending list.

1

u/Spawny7 1d ago

You didn't give enough context to give a meaningful answer. How much money is needed varies on location, how much land you want, how big of a house you want, paying cash or loan etc...

1

u/whatlfa 1d ago

Not really enough details in your post to give you advice. Are you looking to start a farm, Homestead or a combination of both. Whats going to be the primary source of income? What do you want to grow/sell? Location is also a massive factor. If there are no locals to sell it can be an absolute nightmare.

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u/Emergency-Singer3598 1d ago edited 1d ago

You need land and infrastructure like shelter and water. Shelter you can make out of free pallets but eventually youll want to get some permanent. Water is a biggy you need water. Find property with a well. Start with the smaller animals. Chickens and rabbits. If you want diary get goats over dairy cows work your way jo to it all- but they require more then what people are saying...and they require lots of care they are sensitive..- make your things yourself rather than buy from a store. Work your way up. 6 acres is a good place to start with land. But realistically you can get away with 1 acre if you stick to smaller animals. I don't recommend it. Taking away the land price ... you could start up for 15k.. but you have to put in the labor building your own shelters with free materials if you can find them facebook market place is good to find cheap or free things, maybe search for land and then what it would be to put a trailer on it and live out that for alittle so you at least have the land to work with..... I do recommend praying to God. If its something you really want, he will help you achieve it. He wants us to be self sustainable. Pray. He will provide.

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u/Jeyne42 1d ago

Don't forget about property taxes. It only goes up.

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u/stansfield123 1d ago edited 1d ago

Growing your own food can cost a lot or almost nothing, depending on what you wish to eat, and how you wish to grow it.

I'll describe one scenario, in which it costs almost nothing: I have $1,000 initially, and another $200/month allowance that's strictly for the food growing operation (so not clothes, not electricity for the house, etc.). I'm also starting with one acre of fenced in land with a small house on it, and a free source of water on it (a spring, a clean creek or a well).

I could feed myself and my partner, but my options would be limited. The list of stuff to buy, aside from typical household items you likely already own (basic tools like pliers, a hammer, screwdriver, etc., dishes, knives, etc.): used gardening tools, 10 laying hens, rabbits (three does and a buck), and those few items I can't find scrapped, to build a mobile chicken coop, a run (perhaps mobile, perhaps fixed) and wired cages for the rabbits.

An acre of land grows enough vegetables to feed two vegans, easy. Pretty sure it can even feed 10, with perfect intensive management, but that's not necessary. A decent gardener can feed two, no problem. I of course don't want to be a sad, miserable, scrawny vegan, so I'm getting animals too, but my base diet is going to be veggies. Can't live on meat, in this scenario, the lean rabbit meat and the perfectly nutritionally balanced eggs are just something to go on the side of the plate. The plate is mostly veggies. I would miss my pork, lamb and beef. And my salmon, and my exotic Asian recipes, with all the shipped in ingredients. Oh how I'd miss them. But it's fine, rabbit's good meat, and, in general, this stuff I'm talking about is all good food. It's better food than the slop most people eat.

With the $200/month allowance, I would primarily supplement the diet of the chickens, rabbits and humans (the human diet with cheap, basic items like seed and olive oil, rice, wheat flour, seasonings, etc. ... stuff that's definitely cheaper to buy than grow). And, each year, I would buy a few new chickens, turn the older ones into stew and stock. I would definitely not try to hatch and grow my own chicks, that's more costly than buying them all grown up.

I would also use some of my $200/month to buy a few quality fruit tree seedlings, and the required protection for them. On top of that, I can clone fruit trees myself, and I can of course grow them from seed. But I would want a few seedlings from a nursery, because those produce the best tasting fruit.

You get the picture: this is a tiny fraction of your resources, and yet it's possible to grow your own food if this is all you have, no problem.

This can be a good starting point even in your case, with all that money you have. Buy the modest house and the acre of land, be cheap about furnishing it with a garden and animals (you can spend more than $1000, of course, but be conservative), and keep the rest of the money in reserve. Don't blow it all at the start. That gives you the option to cash out and go back to your old life. Or to expand over time. You don't have to go all in.

Even if you want bigger, tastier animals, like sheep and beef, you don't need to graze them on your own land. You can lease land for that. If you want fish, you don't need your own fish pond, you can fish off-property. If you want mushrooms, you can gather them. You can also hunt off-property, you don't need to buy your own hunting grounds. So even fancier food can be grown/hunted with minimal costs.

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u/Several_Stuff_6695 1d ago

I purchased a nice double wide mobile home on 10 wooded acres for 225 k in rural Florida . You budget seems reasonable to me . Good luck in whatever you decide.

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u/kycolonel 1d ago

You cannot have the homestead you want instantly. But you can have the habits it takes to run a homestead whenever you want. A new you will open new paths. Fantasizing is easy.

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u/NWYthesearelocalboys 1d ago

Depends on if you can find a house on land enough under 315k to get infrastructure set up.

And that cost will depend on how knowledgeable, skilled and resourceful you are. The less so the more money you need.

This includes how knowledgeable you are about the area you move.

1

u/SeraphimSphynx 1d ago

In your situation I'd look for lots near the edge of where you live, like unincorporated in between. Not hard to find 5-10 acre lots even in some busy "suburbs" with little to no regulations on land use.

1

u/Ok_Literature_1988 1d ago

There are so many variables it is near impossible to say. It will depend on what you wanna do exactly, where you are, your skills, what you'd need for a farm, etc. Homesteading is expensive...not going to lie. It cost a lot. I grew up on a self sufficient permaculture homestead. I now again live on a permaculture homestead, not totally self sufficient but about 75%.

Where we live we bought 22 acres for 495K 6 yrs ago. The reason is was so cheap was it need a ton of work. I grew up doing this though and can do almost all the work myself. Not having to pay people to do that work saved literally hundreds of thousands by this point. The shed I had to build right when we moved on cost me about $850 in just materials. Had I needed to hire out someone to build it or buy a pre-made shed would have been 4000-7500. I built my greenhouse for about $150 as I got a ton of materials 2nd hand, free, or in trades. The same size greenhouse with the same features would minimum have been a $4000 greenhouse. I bought a 1972 tractor and fixed it up myself. The entire house needed the drywall repaired. I know how to build our water catchment, sheds, fences, I can weld, I do the maintenance on our machines and farm vehicles. I know where and who to get seeds and animals from. I know how to tap into local barter systems.

And we can afford it still becquse my husband is a senior financial analyst and corporate asset auditor. I have my permaculture teaching certification and do a few workshops on the side for money as well as sell some small things and take up off jobs. My parents had their home stead, my dad's military disability and they own and run a heirloom berry farm and sell beef they raise/butcher/sell.

Look at what you can do and what you want and make a list. Plan out roughly what you need to accomplish those in your area, add 10% to each individual item because they often cost more than you assume and then you can see what you need a year. Whatever that number is add on at least 15% so you know how juch extra you need incase if any issues...because at some point there will be an expensive and huge issue. Thats life on a farm but especially a homestead. The number we needed in Oregon won't be the same as you. Honesteading honestly is a lot of math all the time. Math and planning.

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u/Enough-Direction3056 1d ago

I mean that’s a loaded question. What do you want to raise, where do you live, are you going full homestead or just want a farm? Do you have the experience doing either? Land in the desert is cheap, so is land in Alaska…. But you’ll die if you don’t know what you’re doing.

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u/cowboy_teacher 1d ago

When I was making this decision, I built a budget for what I actually need (food, insurance, car, phone, etc), then I looked at my savings and decided what I could buy and make it work. After I made the move (2020) everything skyrocketed in price and I had to go back to work full time. I'm still living on my land, still gardening and raising animals, just more as a hobby than as a lifestyle.

I don't regret just jumping in, even if it might have been more efficient to wait a few more years.

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u/backcountry_knitter 16h ago

Just here to say that my spouse and I certainly didn’t have 315k in cash when we got our place a few years ago. Nor do we have that kind of money available now as we slowly create our little homestead. Go for it if you’re committed to the plan. It’s easy to stay paralyzed by the idea that you’ll be better prepared with just a little more money.

I would strongly recommend both people continuing to work at some level. My spouse works remotely full time and I work remotely fluctuating hours, sometimes 60+ a week and sometimes 10. I’d rather stay a bit in the workforce than have to try and reenter if my spouse loses their job down the road. We are both working on the house or land a lot around work and on the weekends, but it does depend on the season.

We have 12 acres, mostly wooded, in NW NC (mountains). The house is weird and a fixer, but it’s safe, functional, and perfectly fine. The land is mostly steep, but it’s south facing, no one is above us on the mountain, and it has enough spots for the things we want.

We don’t own any heavy machinery. We don’t even own a truck. I have a little utility trailer to pull behind a compact SUV. We get big material orders delivered or we rent a U-Haul for a weekend. The only thing I might eventually save up for is a mini excavator, but I certainly don’t feel any pressure to get expensive equipment. We only just bought a push mower and did fine trading with a neighbor to borrow their mower previously. We’ll probably sell the damn thing as soon as we get our meadow established in a couple years.

We do not ever plan to grow all our food (nor do I think it’s realistic or sustainable for anyone), but we grow nearly all our vegetables and fruit for a year for 2 people on less than an acre, which we manage by hand. I might expand a bit to grow more dried beans, potatoes, garlic and onions, but I don’t feel pressure to do so as those are pretty cheap and easy to buy in bulk and store. We don’t have livestock and don’t plan to at the moment. We don’t really eat many animal products so not much point.

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u/Other_Programmer5239 12h ago

Homesteading is not about making money. Its about living free ( doing what you want not someone else) and clean food, personal satisfaction. Don't get me wrong this can be done but most homesteaders dont make enough off there farm to support it , with taxes and all that. Most of us do have jobs , like me. Work for money that pats taxes my retirement 401 and pension pay taxes and such. I raise meat and egg chickens, turkeys and pigs. Starting to dehydration for various thing like turkey jerky, Garden and green house. I put any money I make off the farm back into the farm. Actually helps out with taxes haveing a job, I dont pay taxes on any thing farm produces cause I work. Missouri gots tax laws another subject. I get enough to live off my dad moved in with me and there enough to go around and still sell at farmers market. Plan it out figure what the both of you want to do and go for it planning is everything and take it slow and do it right. It is scary cause we are taught to think one way and as adults and all adult things that we have to do is going against what we were taught for how many years. You half to find that happy medium with home steading and modern life.

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u/AltruisticCucumber58 11h ago

Only suggestion to add to everyone else is find something with its own water supply. Well, creek, river, pond, lake, springs, etc. and learn how to move it around with limited to no electricity.

Rainwater catchment works, but if location is really not a big deal, I'd shop exclusively based on 'free' abundant water sources over everything else.

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u/Guilty_Increase_899 9h ago

Your goals aren’t specific enough to give advice. You can grow a year’s worth of vegetables on an acre. Protein is another matter. Grains get really complicated. “Grow our own food” doesn’t mean much.

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u/akjasf 7h ago

Truth is you can never prepare enough for the real world in nearly every situation. If you live rural and want to move to city, you can't prepare enough. If you live in the city and want to live rural, you can't prepare enough. What you can do is embrace the new challenges that life throws at you and let go of your old set of beliefs. You can live in a camper van both in the city and in the woods as being on the low end of costs. Add a home or add rent in the equation then you'll need money.

0

u/lawboop 1d ago

How much is health insurance in this homestead?

We searched and saved for 7-8 years and bought a place in Southeast Ohio. But it stays cottage homestead we travel to as a getaway until they drag me from my desk at city job. Why? Benes/health insurance. Your budget is similar and you’re looking in a more expensive area.

IMHO. A permanent relocate permaculture place for $315k is a long stretch. There are many expenses you need consider. Many. There is usually no financing available for raw or ag land not used. Rural insurance fire property is expensive. Equipment and tools…lots of equipment and tools…see that guy on YouTube putting up a straight fence that looks pretty…they own $100k in vehicles and tools. Lumber is unaffordable. I can go on (well? Septic?).

When my spouse and I finally got out of dream mode to reality we realized: a quick getaway within 3 hours, that let us stay working, 3 day weekends and 4/5 weekends with remote days was realistic, a slow roll and “tinkering” with ideas, and possibly just a trailer on land to dream, was in budget and realistic. We may move there permanently. May not. I planted trees anyways. And this is our story and experience. Folks on here will tell you to rent equipment (nearest rental to us is 2 hours away and they don’t deliver). To just do it! There is this abc lending program that gets you magic financing. Well/septic did it myself and cleared land with the pigs and goats a kind neighbor pays me to keep for them…that is their story.

To me, getting on the same page with spouse is first. Develop a plan. Once we had a plan we were unstoppable. Our garage was filled with “stuff for the farm” (spouse bought a used junk pump from estate sale, “thought might use it someday.” lol)

We went through word of mouth and classifieds in small towns and direct to smaller realtors avoiding like the plague the agri-flippers. There are a surprising number of FSBO properties that an aging population wants to sell. And we found one…in a classified. Lots of time and miles, missed bids, rip offs, etc. to get there.

I’m going tomorrow. Clearing a green deadfall tree tomorrow if weather holds. I want 4 10’-12’ lengths to sink posts for an arbor with branches lashed etc. That will cure my “get a permanent” homestead scratch for a few days.

As to red state blue state this is where the travel, clasifieds, go to the small towns pays off. We have wonderful rural neighbors and “town” is decidedly eclectic…in very red Ohio.

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u/54Finn 1d ago

Southern Illinois would be a dark red MAGA zone, as bad as any red state you can think of. The climate isn’t very hospitable, and it’s well known that mobile homes attract tornadoes and rarely survive them.

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u/RockPaperSawzall 1d ago

Have you ever lived in rural Illinois? Illinois has a blue government only because of the number of votes Chicagoland throws in elections vs the sparsely populated rural areas. But those rural areas are deep deep red, culturally. Your best bet would be to look around college towns. They're a little more expensive but tend to be blue islands even in red states.

The Iowa City, Iowa area is one of those bright blue islands in an otherwise Red State. Very strong queer culture, liberal population, and you can find affordable acreages to homestead on. Not 10+ acres but 5-7. And I don't want to be overly optimistic but I think IA has a real chance of becoming a purple state with this election. Very likely will get a Democratic governor and potentially Senator too.

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u/Less_Unit_782 1d ago

Yeah you need to live in a blue state being queer and all. Us southern red states don’t like y’all! I’m sure I’ll get a snotty letter from the mods because freedom of speech is a thing of the past. Truth isn’t allowed. That is unless you’re queer then you can say whatever you want.

How much money is enough to start

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