Farmall Cub

I'm new on this board but I thought I should mention that those that own land and can do as they please are the luckiest people around. I live in the suburbs near Philadelphia and my wife and I both work in the city. We make good money and have a nice home in a nice neighborhood. I had a taste farming as a kid and always dreamed of owning land and being a hobby farmer of some type. As I get older I realize that will probably never happen. Around here land is about 100k per acre if you can find it. Even if you bought it, you would have tons of restrictions placed upon you by the McMansion gang. Taxes would be through the roof. Around here a farmer is a multi-millionare. We could drive an hour away and have decent land, but our kids are in school here and the drive to work would be killer. So I am kind of stuck. Sure I could wait till retirement and move away ,but would I be able to handle that type of work then or would I even want to. When I see those pics of the wide open land of the midwest or south, makes me think how lucky some people are. Don't take it for granted.

Steeltoys,
I empathize with you, same general situation in the central Midwest if you stay around the major cities to make the bigger bucks. Small plots of land are expensive per acre and the larger plots command totals in the millions. I can’t blame the farmers for selling out when the developers show up with huge offers for their land; so many of our small scale farmers are dirt rich and cash poor. A nice retirement bank account would be comforting for a couple who has struggled most of their life just to make ends meet.
I too put a priority on family and made my choices with them in mind, however the kids are grown and unfortunately our parents won't be with us too many more years (all in their 80s, withone or more likely to move in with us). I've slightly amended my focus to the final preps before retirement and did manage to find a few acres of trees about 30 miles away and across the county line. Restrictions are minimal at the moment but will be increasing as the develpment creeps out further.
Hang in there man, keep your eyes and ears open along with knocking on a few doors, a reasonable deal can still be found on occasion. Even with restrictions and aging, you can still enjoy yourself with your personal little slice of heaven. Sometimes we can’t make our own luck but we can influence it, don't give up the dream.

Eikel

I like living way out in the country, however I turned down the chance to take over the family farm. If you have a small farm you must work at another job, to make enough to live on. I was raised with the farm and Dad working at a job. Literally at one or the other form before daylight till after dark. No time you could just take off for a few days, unless you had a grown or semi grown person to stay there and keep an eye on the cattle, etc. Use your vacation to put up hay, not take a trip and get away from it all. I decided I would prefer to have time with my family

I should mention that those that own land and can do as they please are the luckiest people around. I always dreamed of owning land and being a hobby farmer of some type.

I'm in agreement with John. A good number of the small farmers in this area, either they or their wife work off the farm - sometimes both.

Doing what you please. Not really. State, Federal and local laws and ordinances limit or prohibit any number of "farming" activities.

Short story. Relatives from Chicago would visit my grandfather. Grandpa had a number of hired men. Grandpa would spend the visit time entertaining the relatives, not working on the farms. Relatives thought this was the life. Sold out in Chicago and bought a small farm in central Iowa. Surprise, Surprise. Point being - things are frequently not what they first appear to be.

We kinda have the best of both worlds, live in a city of aprox. 50,000 and hace 100 acres 20 mins. away Hopefully someday if I get to retire we will get to move there, that is if my 401K doen't go belly-up

steeltoys you should move on out here in the country before it moves on out any farther. consider moving off of one of the big roads and commuting in.you wouldnt be the first. i commuted to the south street exit off 76 for a while .just a thought.land can be reasonable in some areas out here.

Yep. I live on an acre and a half (no real restrictions, yet) at the literal edge of the sprawl of northwest Houston (65 miles from downtown). Though I should mention the same is true where I grew up 3 hours from here and at least an hour away from any small city. Farmers and cattle owners have to have a full time job elsewhere to afford it. All this economic trouble can't help but make me wonder why we as humans do what we do. Guess it must feel like progress at the time.

The irony I guess is that I wish I could make enough money to stay home and focus on taking care of the garden, kids, and our budding orchard...

Dave

Steeltoys, I think you have all but totally offended me with your ignorance. I live 30 minutes south of Philly in NJ. Philly has destroyed gloucester county, that is the county directly across the bridge from Philly. So how did Philly destroy that county. Easy, well to do city folk moved there to enjoy the beauty of the country. They make their big money in the city and don't want to live downtown. They have moved all the to my county now, Salem County. FARMETTE's pop up everywhere a big farm gets cut down into 10 acre lots and city people buy them and a tractor and become an instant farmer. They then complain to the local government that the nearby pig farm or cattle operation stinks. When that farm was there years before they ever moved in from the city.
I am a farmer, I am no millionaire. I work a fulltime job as a Firefighter/EMT(excess of 48hrs a week). I also farm just under 100 acres, I was doing 180 acres at 1 point. My wife works a fulltime job. I also have 2 kids. We buy all our clothes at Walmart, can't afford anything else. this year we have 4 camping trips planned 3 of them are 12 miles away, so I can get back to the farm everyday for a few hours. I am up before the sun and way after it sets. I use most of my vacation from my fulltime job to run the farm. My bank account at best has $100 in it at the end of the year.
So the next time you are out doing the back country road tour on a saturday or sunday. When you see that man or lady up on a tractor. Remember, we don't get weekends off and we don't get weekend pay, not time and a half. Be thankful for them and what they do for what little pay they recieve. Green Beans don't come in a can, they are grown in a field and some farmer got less then a penny for what was in the can.
This my life and I am proud of it, not to be mocked and called lucky.

It always looks better on the other side.... the secret is to enjoy what you have, cause things don't get much better than owning a Cub!

Sometimes it is better to have access than to own, bet if you looked hard enough you could find some land that needs a keeper. Owners can't always be farmers but often want the land to be used. The taxes are different around here for farmland, so I know some folks that get 'free' use of someones land. Just a thought.

Buzzard Wing wrote:It always looks better on the other side.... the secret is to enjoy what you have, cause things don't get much better than owning a Cub!

Sometimes it is better to have access than to own, bet if you looked hard enough you could find some land that needs a keeper. Owners can't always be farmers but often want the land to be used. The taxes are different around here for farmland, so I know some folks that get 'free' use of someones land. Just a thought.

Buzzardwing you are right. Steeltoys I live in Jersey just over the DE memorial bridge. I will let you use a 1/2 to an 1 acre for a garden. If you live south of the city it would not be far. you can bring your new cub down and make a big garden. No charge, your kids can enjoy some fresh country air and grow something. I will even give it the first plow for you.

smigelski wrote:Steeltoys, I think you have all but totally offended me with your ignorance. I live 30 minutes south of Philly in NJ. Philly has destroyed gloucester county, that is the county directly across the bridge from Philly. So how did Philly destroy that county. Easy, well to do city folk moved there to enjoy the beauty of the country. They make their big money in the city and don't want to live downtown. They have moved all the to my county now, Salem County. FARMETTE's pop up everywhere a big farm gets cut down into 10 acre lots and city people buy them and a tractor and become an instant farmer. They then complain to the local government that the nearby pig farm or cattle operation stinks. When that farm was there years before they ever moved in from the city.
I am a farmer, I am no millionaire. I work a fulltime job as a Firefighter/EMT(excess of 48hrs a week). I also farm just under 100 acres, I was doing 180 acres at 1 point. My wife works a fulltime job. I also have 2 kids. We buy all our clothes at Walmart, can't afford anything else. this year we have 4 camping trips planned 3 of them are 12 miles away, so I can get back to the farm everyday for a few hours. I am up before the sun and way after it sets. I use most of my vacation from my fulltime job to run the farm. My bank account at best has $100 in it at the end of the year.
So the next time you are out doing the back country road tour on a saturday or sunday. When you see that man or lady up on a tractor. Remember, we don't get weekends off and we don't get weekend pay, not time and a half. Be thankful for them and what they do for what little pay they recieve. Green Beans don't come in a can, they are grown in a field and some farmer got less then a penny for what was in the can.
This my life and I am proud of it, not to be mocked and called lucky.

Hey dude, I don't think he's mocking you. Rather lamenting the fact that he doesn't live in wide open spaces. (Not sure how his original post could be interpreted otherwise). Knock that huge chip off your shoulder that you work your A#$ off and have little money to show for it. And while it's twisted irony, those city-folk that get you so riled about keep more tax dollars coming in to pay your salary (as you're a firefighter). To have the nerve to feel like people don't have the right to move into "the country" because they weren't raised there is dangerously close to "ignorance" to use your words (like ignorance of what freedom is)...


Dave

Edited for misspelled conjunction...

I think this thread has gone far enough. A variety of observations have been made from different persepectives. Everyone is free to contemplate these observations to their heart's content. But I am locking out any additional comments.