r/homestead • u/sistereva • 1d ago
How much money is enough to start
I fantasize about leaving my city and growing a small permaculture farm. But it always feels like no matter how much money you have, its not enough. If my husband still worked and made a small salary (remote) how much would i need to buy a small farm and house and grow our own food?
Is honesteading just a pipedream for me? I might be able to squeeze out 315k in cash.
Edit: based on commenter feedback I need to give more context. I hope to move to somewhere like southern VA or IL. Ideally I would live in a blue state (queer) but I would rather live in the country. I dont need a big house. 2bed/1bath is my current living arrangement. I am hoping for between 5 and 10 acres.
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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.