Off-grid Farming

[MomInFlux]

DH and I have an accepted offer on an off-grid mini-farm :

There's a 3-bedroom house with attached greenhouse, a 20x30 two-story barn, and "established" organic garden and orchard. Two streams and a pond on 25 acres, with recreational access to another 75. Plus the option to buy another 100 acres for a pittance. The refrigerator, stove, and hot water heater are propane. Electricity at the house and barn is a year-round hydro system from a spring-fed stream. There's a nice wood-burning cook stove in the kitchen. I think it will be perfect for us. We'll be able to buy the farm outright, so we'll show up with no debt but no jobs, either. We'll have a nest-egg to live on while we get established. What we want to do is year-round market gardening, ala Elliot Coleman's Four Season Harvest.

DH and I will be moving our family from Southern California to Nova Scotia, Canada to accomplish this, and I'm a bit freaked out about the commitment we're about to make.

I don't know what I'm asking for here, but I'm desperate for any suggestions, advice, warnings. Let me have it!

[Sasha_girl]

It sounds like a huge change (I've never been to Nova Scotia but I *have* been to SoCal and it is so lovely) but wow, what a great opportunity! Your farm sounds like a dream.

[AllisonK]

Wow that sounds like an amazing opportunity!

[Sundance_11]

Wow! Congratulations!

I was drooling reading that, and looked at your location, and thought it totally doesn't apply to me!
But I'm from Nova Scotia, and living in New Brunswick now! That's so awesome....it's what DH and I have been looking for, so I'm super jealous!
If you have any questions about climate/the area or anything, feel free to PM me!! Do you mind me asking where the farm is? Is it in the Annapolis valley? That's the part of NS that I'm most familiar with.

Nova Scotia has a wonderful slowed down lifestyle, I'm sure you'll love it!! The Maritimes rock...congrats again!

[superstella]

Originally Posted by AllisonK

Wow that sounds like an amazing opportunity!

: Good luck!

[MomInFlux]

Maybe *this* is why I posted - to remind myself that this is a great opportunity, and not let the unknowns scare me off

Originally Posted by Sundance_11

Wow! Congratulations!

I was drooling reading that, and looked at your location, and thought it totally doesn't apply to me!
But I'm from Nova Scotia, and living in New Brunswick now! That's so awesome....it's what DH and I have been looking for, so I'm super jealous!
If you have any questions about climate/the area or anything, feel free to PM me!! Do you mind me asking where the farm is? Is it in the Annapolis valley? That's the part of NS that I'm most familiar with.

Nova Scotia has a wonderful slowed down lifestyle, I'm sure you'll love it!! The Maritimes rock...congrats again!

The farm is tucked in the foothills of the Cape Breton highlands - on the Cabot Trail between Baddeck and Margaree Harbour. There's a tiny hamlet called Middle River - there's where we'll be if all goes well. I'm sure we'll have to work hard to make a go of it, but it'll be so rewarding working for ourselves, rather than for The Man. :

[Sasha_girl]

Maybe *this* is why I posted - to remind myself that this is a great opportunity, and not let the unknowns scare me off

I tell myself, during those moments of uncertainty, that if I wanted to take the well-travelled path I would work at, say, that bank. I'd drive a Honda Civic, have 2.5 kids who go to public school and who do Little League and Cub Scouts, and a small dog named Buster. I'd have a McMansion kit home in a subdivision with a homeowner's association that says I can only paint my house this shade of yellow, tan, or white. We would vacation every year to Disney World and my dh and I would fly to Las Vegas for the weekend of our anniversary. We would have a kind of security, provided the stock market was stable and the economy does what it is supposed to do.

It sounds like a good life for other people but not the life that I want to live. My life is insecure and there are unknowns--a series of bad luck can destroy everything (and that has happened to us before). If one of us were injured badly we could lose everything--there is no short term disability. Retirement is something that is terribly unclear. Of course, I have a different kind of security. The stock market can fall to the bottom for all I care--I have milk in the pasture, eggs and meat in the henhouse, and pork in the pigpen. I have heat in the form of wood on my property. We'd get by if it hit the fan. It wouldn't be fun but we'd be a heck of a lot better off than the people in my above scenario.

But it's my life. It's mine to make a success or failure of. It's a road that is my own and nobody elses. And it's satisfying.

Sometimes it is very scary to leave one lifestyle and move to another one, especially when it is one that is foreign to most. But you can do it and I think you'll love it.

[salt_phoenix]

Originally Posted by Sasha_girl

I tell myself, during those moments of uncertainty, that if I wanted to take the well-travelled path I would work at, say, that bank. I'd drive a Honda Civic, have 2.5 kids who go to public school and who do Little League and Cub Scouts, and a small dog named Buster. I'd have a McMansion kit home in a subdivision with a homeowner's association that says I can only paint my house this shade of yellow, tan, or white. We would vacation every year to Disney World and my dh and I would fly to Las Vegas for the weekend of our anniversary. We would have a kind of security, provided the stock market was stable and the economy does what it is supposed to do.

everytime I open up facebook, i realize that i am glad i moved away from where i grew up and made my life my own. MY OWN.

you have an amazing opportunity unfolding before you... you really ARE going to live the dream! (however much hard work it takes)

[cindyanne1]

It sounds amazing!! The attatched greenhouse alone made me wipe drool. :P Best of luck to you!!

[muttix2]

Wow. That sounds great! I would do it in a minute. Leaving the city (Making an assumption since you mentioned So Cal) for an isolated area would be hard. But the freedom would be unbeatable. That is like my dream life!

[mamadelbosque]

Count me as jealous too! If DH & I had a decent stash of cash built up, we'd probably be looking for something similar!!

[gentlecowgirl]

It sounds like a gorgeous opportunity. I farm off grid and love it. Although I am often overwhelmed by the to do list. My only advice is to make some local friends who you can learn from and observe. I live in a thriving farming community and we all pitch in and work together when we can. We also have so much to debate at potluks. I also am a fan of Eliot Coleman and grow a winter garden. What latitude is Nova Scotia? I wonder what it would be like to winter garden there? I look forward to hearing about your adventure!

[Dillpicklechip]

Wow, that sounds just amazing! Dh and I have sometimes talked about moving out to Nova Scotia (where his family is originally from) when it comes time to buy our farm. It's supposed to be beautiful, with friendly people, and lower land costs than in Ontario.

Please, keep us updated on this adventure so we can all live vicariously through you!

[Sundance_11]

Originally Posted by MomInFlux

Maybe *this* is why I posted - to remind myself that this is a great opportunity, and not let the unknowns scare me off



The farm is tucked in the foothills of the Cape Breton highlands - on the Cabot Trail between Baddeck and Margaree Harbour. There's a tiny hamlet called Middle River - there's where we'll be if all goes well. I'm sure we'll have to work hard to make a go of it, but it'll be so rewarding working for ourselves, rather than for The Man. :

Cool! I've only been to Cape Breton once, though, so I won't be much help, I'm afraid!

Please do keep us posted, though...what a wonderful opportunity!

[didelphus]

Wow, that sounds like an awesome situation!

[99lauren]

Hi! I just wanted to share my thoughts and experiences of Cape Breton. We visit a couple of times a year (we have a summer cottage). I actually have friends that live in Middle River on an old farm! It is very beautiful.

I have been to Southern California, and Cape Breton is probably close to the polar opposite. The winters are really long and really snowy. I stayed with my friends one winter, I think it was February, and it snowed every day, and the snow was up to our hips! I love the snow, but I'm from the North East, so...

Please keep in mind that I am not trying to discourage you at all, but it sounds like such a major change that I felt I had to give my :

[Red]

How amazing! It will be a huge change, of course, but also a huge opportunity. You and the kids will all learn so much together!


Will it be hard? Sure! But you know that. What if you hate it? You won't ever get to know if you don't try it.

We moved from the city to the country. (Boston area to a town of 900 in western Mass) IT was a big change for all of us, but we love it.

A few ideas. Expect one of the kdis to hate it, at first. Go to the library, join local groups, go to local political meetings, hang out in 'town'. You;ll want to meet folks and so will the kids.

Don't expect to make enough money to live on the first year. You'll need to attract customers, learn how things work, etc. Local jobs should be available, esp since you'll be debt ffree!



Have a blast!

[MomInFlux]

WOW - I didn't know my thread had all these responses - I didn't get the notifications. You're all so encouraging, and Sasha_girl, you made me tear up.

99lauren - your friends don't own Old Man Farm in Middle River, do they? I appreciate your 2 cents on the winter issue. I hope it won't be too rough for us. Even though we're in Southern California, we're at 5,600 feet, so we experience "winter" on a pretty regular basis. One of our storms this past winter dumped 4 feet of snow. And DH and I have both lived in Ohio, Colorado, and Wyoming.

DH just got back from viewing the farm and meeting the neighbors (the owners of Old Man Farm). They are just across the valley and have 3 small kids. DH spent several meals with them, and they will be a great resource and potential friends. They indicated that there is a small but growing group of like-minded folks doing the back-to-land thing. The farm has some pretty significant issues to overcome. The water and power are located offsite, so we'll need an easement to protect them. The house has been unoccupied for 3 winters, and has some rot and other neglect problems. Nothing that credits from the seller can't overcome, though.

fandangofarmer - You may find me picking your brain Cape Breton is about 45 degrees latitude, I think. Not too far off from what Eliot Coleman wites about (44 degrees). I've been assuming I can apply most of what he does to our new location.

Then there's that immigration issue We've been advised to apply for permanent residency through a provincial nomination, so we have to convince Victoria County, Nova Scotia, that they really want a young couple with 3 small kids who want to start a market gardening farm and small boat building business :

Red - you might be right about one of the kids hating it. Fortunately, we're homebodies and homeschool, so my 8 year old DS doesn't have a lot of really good friends yet. My 5 year old DD is already there, mentally - painting pictures of horses and barns and telling us, "that's where we're going". The "baby" will go anywhere happily

I've been devouring Eliot Coleman's new book, The Winter Harvest Handbook. along with anything I can find about market gardening, gardening in general, and farming. It's overwhelming, and very exciting.

[Dillpicklechip]

MominFlux, I just found this old thread again and I was wondering if you have moved to your farm, and how things are going? My dh and I are still considering moving to NS (maybe even Cape Breton) so I'm really interested to know how things went for you!

[PreggieUBA2C]

Cape Breton is probably one of my very favourite places in Canada. It is stunning and you can watch pilot whales off the northern tip. The mountains are gorgeous and will burn out your brakes and your transmission if you don't have a heavy duty vehicle, but I was happy to trade my chevette's tranny for a visit.

It's been a while since I was there, but if not much has changed, you have to be fully self-sustaining to live there, and they had a very high suicide rate amongst first nations youth there. I hope that has changed!!!

We moved to the opposite side of the country, but if we were ready at the time we began moving west to be self-sustaining, we probably would have settled in Nova Scotia were it not for the few issues that I'll mention here. It truly is gorgeous and the people are really relaxed and just awesome in general.

We're now in a very relaxed and liberal place and one major difference here is that it is recession-proof and there are always more jobs to fill than people to fill them, so pay is very high relative to the rest of the country. N.S. has a lot of trouble during recessions; it takes a very long time for them to pull out and that goes for pretty much everywhere along the east coast.

It is all so gorgeous out there though.

Also, for anyone interested, N.S. has some environmental issues that I definitely wanted to avoid when we were deciding where to move 4 yrs ago. Their pesticide spraying laws are getting better, but the land there is pretty well poisoned by years of farming with heavy chemicals and then the manufacturing district's lax dumping of wastes hasn't helped either. I'd google this sort of thing about N.S. if I were considering settling there.

Soooo pretty though.