Posts by Jacob Sanders82

Robert Hall7 said:Yeah. You need an LLC card. And you sell without all the drama.

Think of it like this: you need at least one acre of land to register as a family farm. Once that's set up, you get your business credentials, list the primary owner, and everyone else is officially part of the crew. Then, everyone gets their own card.

Patrick Ruiz26 said:Basically saying;

We’ve got this little backyard garden where we grow our own veggies—mostly just for us, but we’re thinking about dropping off whatever we have extra at the local farmers market to sell on the side.

Do I actually need to register as a farmer or deal with some specific USDA paperwork just to legally sell my own homegrown stuff at a market?

I'm not entirely sure about the vegetable side of things, but from what I know about selling cheese, you definitely need to be registered with the state and provide proof that the milk meets all health and safety standards.

Adam Taylor12 said:Who on earth is buying at those prices? I honestly haven't a clue. Usually, it’s just some weekenders from the city looking to grab a little patch of dirt—maybe a small garden for personal use—and that’s about the extent of it...
As for land grabbing—it isn't really happening. People are just buying up plots near their homes, often on land that’s been sitting idle for decades—nothing has been planted there since my earliest memories. Just this past summer, I picked up a small lot myself for roughly $3,500—about 4,300 square feet—which felt like an absolute rip-off, but well, at least the house finally has a decent yard.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: if the land is zoned for residential use, it holds its value pretty well. But when it comes to actual farmland or meadows? It’s incredibly rare to find someone selling, let alone someone looking to buy. I managed to snag three small farm plots totaling about 12 acres for $333. You really can't beat those kinds of prices.

Adam Taylor12 said:Regarding expanding your holdings—it's a pipe dream. Not as long as the current administration stays in power; there's no replacing bad leadership with anything better. And trying to buy land? It’s like trying to purchase a lot in Manhattan—everyone wants a piece, and the prices are astronomical. My grandfather had four brothers, so everything was split evenly—we were looking at tiny 5,000-square-foot plots divided among four people—and it kept going like that until my generation.
It's just a mountain of tiny little fragments now.

Well, my folks were actually a bit sharper than that. They divided the family land into seven sections, giving everyone about 12 acres, but they managed to keep the parcels intact. I once tried to consolidate a property I bought that had been split into four parts; it was an absolute nightmare. The smallest piece was barely 50 feet wide! We ended up with 21 different lots. I eventually sold off some pieces and bought more land nearby, then did a little swap to trade one plot for another next to my main place. On paper, it still looks like 21 separate parcels, but physically, I've got it all down to three solid chunks.

Adam Taylor12 said:The area surrounding the ravine
It’s about 1.7 acres—there's an old plum orchard that's stopped producing, a completely neglected vineyard, and what used to be a garden once upon a time.
A mix of tillable land and pasture, though I can't quite tell them apart myself.😳
For the most part, the terrain is flat, similar to where neighbors out here mow their grass for hay.
There's some woodland nearby, though I couldn't tell you exactly where it starts—the access road has been swallowed up by brush, and even when it was clear, I heard people say it was nearly impassable—they mentioned needing pack animals just to haul anything through.
It's roughly a thirty-minute drive from New York City.

I've actually managed to consolidate quite a bit of land myself—doing a mix of trading properties, selling what I didn't need, and then buying more. Honestly, irrigation is pretty much at the mercy of whenever God decides to send rain around here. As for the pasture, it’s lower-quality soil that used to get mowed just once a year, while the rest of the time it was used for grazing livestock. The meadows were either too difficult to till or just swampy. The cropland was typically worked for corn, wheat, or potatoes; usually, you'd fertilize it heavily with manure first, then plant corn the first year, wheat the second, and after the wheat, you'd let it sit as hay for two or three years before starting the cycle all over again. For the orchard, you'll need to clear out the deadwood, cut down the dried-up trees, and prune whatever is still alive; then, plant young saplings in between the old ones to give them room to grow, perhaps transplanting some of the older fruit if you can. You can find the best nursery stock at a local specialist out near the outskirts of town—they even carry some of those old-school heirloom varieties. Regarding the vineyard, if it's completely gone to seed, your best bet is to rip it all out, plow it under, and start fresh, or if there are a few good old vines left, try to rehabilitate them........................😉

slydrifter39 said:That’s my point. That’s why I asked for book recs before I go out and buy 25 acres or lease some farmland in Iowa. 😬

Look, you can't get anywhere without putting in the sweat equity. You aren't going to master this just by flipping through books if you haven't actually gotten your hands dirty. I run my own vegetable garden, and honestly, I just figure things out as I go when it comes to irrigation or pest control. Some years the tomatoes thrive all on their own, and other years you have to jump in with organic sprays—you just can't learn those nuances from a manual. You have to watch how the plants react in real-time and adjust your strategy accordingly. For someone just starting out with a home garden, you really only need about ten raised beds, maybe totaling 1,000 to 1,500 square feet at most.

So, what exactly do you mean when you say I need to "get an education"? Are we talking about calculating how many beans I'll harvest from a single seed, or maybe estimating the total weight of tomatoes I can get out of one little seedling?

slydrifter39 said:Awesome, thanks, these tips are solid. 👍 One thing is I don't even have soil yet, so I've got room to choose. Aside from the actual growing, I'm interested in books and info on different soil types, what to look for when buying stuff, and so on.

Just a heads-up: land prices vary wildly depending on where you are, so most of the cost is driven by location rather than how good the dirt actually is. If it's not too far 25 miles from a major hub like Chicago, I could actually rent you a little plot that would be absolutely perfect for getting your feet wet.

If you’ve got the drive, all you really need is a little patch of dirt, some basic gardening tools—think a hoe, a rake, maybe a weed whacker—and you're good to go. Honestly, I always say the best way to dive in is by starting a vegetable garden; there's nothing quite like seeing those actual results pop up right after a single growing season.