4 ms·

> Kara Stiff holds a BS in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Maine. I'm sure that education helps quite a lot. I would love to have a small homes

> Kara Stiff holds a BS in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Maine. I'm sure that education helps quite a lot. I would love to have a small homestead (e.g. 1 acre) and I am currently in the process of finding a property to buy. I have been looking for about 6 months now for an appropriate place and it is quite difficult. Perhaps it is just the region I live in but the prices are ridiculous and the majority (like 99%) of available residential real-estate properties are cookie-cutter suburban homes embedded within suburban sprawl. The modern world is just not developed around the idea of people having gardens and chickens. When I started looking I naively assumed I could find a rural property with high-speed internet within proximity of a small town. I even have extremely low expectations on the quality of the house and would take a quarter acre lot with a home built in the 1960's. I've been out to see probably 50 properties with my agent and it is like a non-stop crushing disappointment. Still, the dream of living on my own quarter acre and working remotely is worth the effort. I just feel like the article glosses over the first hurdle: finding an appropriate property within a like-minded community. Depending on where you plan to live that could be significantly more difficult than you expect.

selimthegrim 7y ago
Come to New Orleans and you'll see all the chickens roaming around the neighborhood you'll ever want. The only problem is some of the roosters think 2 PM is the time to crow.
markdown 7y ago
> I would love to have a small homestead (e.g. 1 acre) > Still, the dream of living on my own quarter acre and working remotely is worth the effort That's just a house in a residential subdivision. A homestead should be at least 5-10 acres at a minimum IMO.
- reggieband 7y ago
  That's fair, although there are more than a few 1 acre properties I've seen in the middle of rural no-where that have been carved out of the corner of a large farm. I just haven't found one yet that also has high-speed internet.
  - JshWright 7y ago
    Hopefully Elon will come to our rescue with Starlink.
    - reggieband 7y ago
      You have no idea how much I hope that is true. In fact, one of my fears is I give in and take a lesser property just because it has high-speed internet only for Starlink or similar to come a few months later. Starlink would completely change my situation and expand my options 10 fold at least.
- JshWright 7y ago
  Where are you living that subdivision lots are 1 acre? Even a half acre would be a very large lot around here (in central New York). You can do a whole lot on an acre of land. You may not support a family of twelve and twenty head of cattle, but you could produce a pretty significant amount of food.
  - rootusrootus 7y ago
    I read it differently. They said a quarter acre was a subdivision size lot. That does sound about right.
- janj 7y ago
  With about 1/3 an acre I have a pear tree, two lemon trees, three apple trees, a nectarine, a nectaplum, a plum, two pomegranates, and a fig (there's also a redwood and various other non food producing trees). I've got some grape vines started and a couple volunteer avocados. Every year I grow a bunch of tomatoes, carrots, rainbow chard, kale, lettuce and other veggies. I have rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, lavender all growing happily year round. There's a couple guavas and other berry bushes maturing, not yet producing. I have 6 chickens for eggs and they help me work through the compost. Every day I'm eating something from my yard, one of the benefits of being in Northern California. I dream about having a few acres but there's a lot you can do with <1.

selimthegrim 7y ago

Come to New Orleans and you'll see all the chickens roaming around the neighborhood you'll ever want. The only problem is some of the roosters think 2 PM is the time to crow.

markdown 7y ago

> I would love to have a small homestead (e.g. 1 acre) > Still, the dream of living on my own quarter acre and working remotely is worth the effort That's just a house in a residential subdivision. A homestead should be at least 5-10 acres at a minimum IMO.

reggieband 7y ago
That's fair, although there are more than a few 1 acre properties I've seen in the middle of rural no-where that have been carved out of the corner of a large farm. I just haven't found one yet that also has high-speed internet.
- JshWright 7y ago
  Hopefully Elon will come to our rescue with Starlink.
  - reggieband 7y ago
    You have no idea how much I hope that is true. In fact, one of my fears is I give in and take a lesser property just because it has high-speed internet only for Starlink or similar to come a few months later. Starlink would completely change my situation and expand my options 10 fold at least.
JshWright 7y ago
Where are you living that subdivision lots are 1 acre? Even a half acre would be a very large lot around here (in central New York). You can do a whole lot on an acre of land. You may not support a family of twelve and twenty head of cattle, but you could produce a pretty significant amount of food.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  I read it differently. They said a quarter acre was a subdivision size lot. That does sound about right.
janj 7y ago
With about 1/3 an acre I have a pear tree, two lemon trees, three apple trees, a nectarine, a nectaplum, a plum, two pomegranates, and a fig (there's also a redwood and various other non food producing trees). I've got some grape vines started and a couple volunteer avocados. Every year I grow a bunch of tomatoes, carrots, rainbow chard, kale, lettuce and other veggies. I have rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, lavender all growing happily year round. There's a couple guavas and other berry bushes maturing, not yet producing. I have 6 chickens for eggs and they help me work through the compost. Every day I'm eating something from my yard, one of the benefits of being in Northern California. I dream about having a few acres but there's a lot you can do with <1.