Moving to a farm? Save money?

We are considering the notion of moving to a rural property with some acres and getting out of the subdivision. We think it would be great for the kids to have the space and we could save a lot of money on food, heat, taxes, etc. by having a large garden, cow, chickens and using fallen wood for heat. Do you think there is money to be saved and the lifestyle a pleasant change? We really want to do this but are scared of the unknown. Just to add this wouldn't be a 'farm', really a country property. It's not far from town and DH would have his same job. Only animals we may have would be one cow and some chickens and our dogs we already own. We've had a couple homes in the past that only have an airtight wood stove and that's all we used and it was great. Currently in our city house I have half our yard as a garden and enjoy taking care of it and harvesting, freezing, canning, etc. I'm not thinking of a fantasy, just a more basic and private lifestyle than in the city.

Public Comments

1. There will be a huge amount of adjusting, to be sure. But the change will be good for the kids, and good for you. Good luck!
2. Dear DS..you need to do a lot more research on farm life. We have a 15 acre farm and livestock. The chickens alone (we have 8) cost an average of $75 a month for feed, shavings, sand, etc. In order to save money on heat, you need to have an efficient wood stove with back up. Solar is a wise investment. I always get a giggle when folks think that by moving to a farm will save them money. Let's start with the garden. Garden equipment? Tiller, rakes, hoes, shovels, etc. $$$ fertilizer, greenhouse, seeds, stakes, cages, $$$$ Livestock...whew, fencing $$$ Stables $$$ Feed $$$ Feed $$$ Hay $$$ shavings $$$ Vetinary bills $$$$$$$$$ Ok, back to the garden.. saving on food... how are you going to store what you grow?? Canning...cost of supplies $$$ Freezing??? Supplies, freezer, electricity...$$$$$ Root cellar $$$$$$$$$$$ Fallen wood for heat....not a good idea. Generally already rotted and burns to quickly. You need hardwood. You really need to do a lot more research before you try to delve into farm life. It is not always simple and peaceful. We work on our farm year round. There is always maintenance to do, repairs, start the garden, work the garden, work the orchard, cut the pasture, harvest the food, can it, freeze it, store it.... Plus, water consumption? You would need a well in order to save money on your water bill for the livestock and the garden. I am sorry if I burst your bubble but farm life is not as easy as folks think it is. I have been on a farm most of my life, and it is hard work and daily. You can't go on vacation like most do when you have livestock. You can go to Backwoodshome.com and read up on "off the grid" living and you will see it is not as easy as you seem to think. Good luck.
3. I think that you are kidding yourselves. Living in the country is great - if you can afford it. You have no idea the work involved in tending a large vegetable garden; let alone the work taking care of cows, or to a lesser extent, chickens. And by the way - cows need to be milked EVERY DAY, SEVERAL TIMES A DAY - they don't take days off - and neither do you! Using fallen wood for heat?! LMAO!!! This is starting to sound like a fairy tale! You want to live in the country, you have a modern furnace - and usually a generator - like everyone else. And if you do have some animals, or a garden, you had better realize how much work that can be, and that you will still need to go into town for groceries, and everything else. You think you have a really good idea, but it is all based upon an idealized fantasy. Yes, you can live in the country, but it is not the idyllic paradise you seem determine to make it out to be.
4. It is quite easy to spend a lot of money setting up a farm. you will need equipment for the livestock and garden, buildings, fencing. It costs money to buy animals and seeds and there is much to learn and a lot of hard work. if you get animals say good bye to taking vacations unless you can find a good farm sitter (not easy to do). Animals require that you work 7 days a week. Heating with wood can be cheap but it is also very dirty. Wood will bring bugs and other small critters into your house along with a lot of bark, sawdust, etc.. Add to that poor air quality as smoke does escape wood stoves. An outdoor wood burner is a pretty good option. But like animals with wood you cannot leave the stove for more than 5 or 6 hours with a small indoor stove and no more than 48 hours with an outdoor boiler. You also have to know something about wood. Not all wood burns well and you have to stay away from green wood and rotten wood. A garden will produce a lot of food that you will have to learn to put up for winter via canning, freezing, root cellaring and dehydrating. Get book on the topic. http://www.Back40books.com has a lot of great titles for the budding homesteader as well as videos. You might also want to volunteer to work on a diversified farm this summer to see if you even like the work. There are a lot of people with romantic notions that are destroyed as soon as they have to put in a few 14 hour days of back breaking work. Personally, I love making my living as a small farmer but at times it is a real love/hate relationship. Check out my blog http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com. I write about my life as a small diversified market grower and there are a lot of links to other such blogs. You can learn a lot from us small contrary farmers.
5. If you do it, do it for the different life, not to save money. You might find it cheaper to live in the country, particularly if you go to a cheaper property and reduce or eliminate a mortgage, but you might have to make a substantial investment in the property to achieve smaller monthly bills. For instance, I Iive on a small acreage. I like it very much and won't leave until I'm too old to do work around the place. My taxes are low, but I just spent $10,000 on a new well. In town, taxes are higher but the water comes with a small annual bill. I'm probably going to need a new septic system in the next 5 years, there goes another $10,000. I have lots of nice trees, but soon some will have to come down for safety reasons, it's going to cost $3-5,000. Some of my fence has to be replaced soon too.The trade-off with wood heat is that it doesn't need to cost much money to get the wood, but you pay instead with your own labour. And it can be a lot of labour if you're in a cold climate and need 20 cords for your winter heat. Ever heard the saying "he who cuts his own wood is warm twice"? Very true. You can't just burn what has fallen down unless you cut it soon after it falls.It must be dry and seasoned or it will give poor heat and gum up your chimney, not safe. A really good woodstove (I had a cookstove for 13 years) will not leak smoke but is going to cost a few bucks to buy and install. Check out wood heat options--ever heard of a masonry stove? I don't even want to get into livestock myself, don't want to be tied down that much. It's bad enough finding someone to sit the cats when I'm away. Whether the daily chores of livestock will work for you depends on the way you live, think about it carefully before committing.