In this post, I’m talking about how I plan on starting a one acre farm from scratch. If you are thinking of starting a small farm from scratch, you can use this as a guide of what needs to be done to start.
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*This post contains real budget numbers based on our area and cost of living.
How did It start?
Back in the fall of 2020, my husband and I met with our realtor almost every weekend to look at homes for sale in the country. We live in the big city so it would take us about 30-45 minutes to get to homes in the area we wanted.
We only had 2 criteria for our new home. Number one was it had to be a reasonable drive to my husband’s job. He is the breadwinner so it makes sense.
Number two was it had to be on one acre of land minimum. Based on my research, one acre would be enough room for us to grow, learn and be comfortable for at least 5 years. This is what I plan to give this whole farming thing at least.
I did not want to go through this whole process of buying our first home and crying to Demetrius every day for the last 8 years about how I want to farm just to buy a home that didn’t have enough land to farm on.
Why a One Acre Farm from Scratch?
Now let’s be real. I’m a born and raised city girl with a dream and no experience. I owe it to myself to at least give it a try. If I don’t like it, the world won’t end. I can always move back to the city. If I do love it and find I can never go back to being a city slicker then I would love to move on to a bigger property.
The homes that up for sale and in our budget ($140,000) were on an acre of land AND a reasonable drive for hubby’s job. BUT there were a few other reasons why we had to pass on them.
The number of bedrooms. For some reason, they were all two-bedroom homes. We plan on having kids in these next 5 years and I wanted to make sure we had plenty of room to grow and be comfortable.
The home’s condition. All the houses we looked at weren’t in great condition. They either had foundation issues or structural issues. As a first-time homeowner that is something that’s really scary.
“If you can’t find your perfect home, build it.”
The Land
So for all these reasons we decided to just start from scratch.
We stopped looking for homes right before Christmas to give us some time to think. After a few months, we decided we can’t afford to pay for the land, our apartment, AND have a house being built all at the same time. We’re just not there in our life right now.
So we went the mobile home route. After some research, we found a company that had some one-acre and half-acre lots in the country and not extremely far from Demetrius’ job. Win-win.
We went to go look at it and instantly started seeing our future lives there.
A couple of weeks later we signed the contract and we are now proud owners of some land out in the country. Man it feels so good to say that
One week after that we were told the city water was now connected to the property. Yay!!
The property was bear, which means it did not have electricity, water, septic, AND the original trees are all still there.
The Home
3 weeks after signing on the land we finally signed on the home we chose.
It was a 2021 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms single wide. (Would I have loved a double-wide yes. But our budget said “single-wide and one acre or double-wide and a half-acre pick one”) and we see what I choose.
All in all, I found a home that I see potential in and I know I can make it a beautiful home no matter what. No, it’s not the 19th-century victorian farmhouse I dream of, but it’s MY starter farmhouse either way.
This home serves TWO purposes for me. To help me learn how to live a more sustainable life but growing and raising my own food. And giving me a place to grow my family.
I know it’s not my forever home and that’s ok.
What’s great about all of this is that the home and land ended up costing us the same budgeted amount ($140,000). But now we have a brand new home and I can choose where everything will be placed.
After signing the contract on the home, I had to meet up with a 3rd party company. This company had to make what’s called a base pad for the home to sit on. It was my job to tell them where I wanted the home to be placed. Once I told them, they got to work making the base.
Exactly two weeks later our home was delivered.
The Connections
Now that we have a new home I couldn’t just start sleeping in it. The connections were not hooked up and the home was still on wheels.
A few days after the home was placed on our one acre, the company came back to do what’s called a tie-down. This is taking the wheels off and replacing them with cinder blocks. Plus other means to keep the home from shifting.
Luckily the city water and electric hookup are part of our land loan. The Mobile home company we are using also will be in charge of setting it all up. Another win for us, because we don’t have to figure it all out.
Even though the water and electricity are at the property, they aren’t at the home. So now the agency needs to come again and connect them to the home.
They also need to put in a septic tank. Unfortunately, the cost of the septic was not included in our land loan so we have to handle this ourselves. We’re still going with the same company since they know everything they need to about us and our home anyways. This will save us time.
I will keep you posted on starting a garden and adding animals to my one-acre farm in the future but for now, you can read how I keep a rabbit in my apartment and how I started my balcony garden from seeds.
Ready to Start a One Acre Farm from Scratch
I hope that reading my story gives you some insight into starting your own mini-farm.
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I’m so proud of you! You have the perfect attitude for what you are doing. I am still working on my homestead dreams after over 40 years. I ain’t there completely, but I’m farther along than when I started! The truth is, you are always going to be working towards your goals, that’s just life, homesteading or not. God bless you, and remember that I am out here, praying for you and cheering you on.
Thank you so much Evelyn that means a lot to me. And knowing that there are people out there like you and me who are still working towards a homesteading life is why I’m writing the post. So thank you.