What does it cost to maintain a hobby farm?

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of setting up a hobby farm but it’s a multi-year project. I bought 30 acres zoned agricultural in Warren County, VA last year. The land was farmed many, many years ago but has been untouched for probably 50 years. I have had to start from scratch. Putting in driveways, getting a shed, buying equipment. I now own an ATV, a bush hog, a disk harrow (never knew what that was before) and all sorts of other equipment I never thought I’d need. I also had to buy a huge shed to put it in. But I needed to clear the land for the shed so I learned how to use a chainsaw. I own an auger because I had to put in gates. Over a year in and it’s still going at a snails pace. I do almost everything myself though because I don’t have the money to contract out. I enjoy it but it’s not romantic and it’s way more work than I ever anticipated. I don’t live there, there’s no house on the property but one day I want to generate a little income for a tax write off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

So you want to another Martha.

Well, I'm pretty sure Martha gets to have her many successful business ventures pay for the farm, at least the NY one since they do so much filming there. Also it's huge and very intensively managed. But yes, something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

So you want to another Martha.

Well, I'm pretty sure Martha gets to have her many successful business ventures pay for the farm, at least the NY one since they do so much filming there. Also it's huge and very intensively managed. But yes, something like that.

Martha's farm is GORGEOUS. And I don't know anything about the financials but I would bet you $1,000 that it is making a profit. She seems very canny and I doubt she is doing anything there without an eye to profit. I have met her a few times. I was prepared to not like her but she was actually pretty charming. I would love to visit her farm. From what I've seen on the various tv programs and in magazines it is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Are you doing it for the tax break? If so it's fairly easy.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, sounds grand! A hobby farm is my plan, if I win a big lottery payout OR if I had to assume another identity.

Thanks, to most everyone, for the insight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am picturing OP as Lisa (Eva Gabor) with or without Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) in Green Acres.

No no no. OP is Lisa AND Oliver. Split personality. Big reveal for the end of season finale.

[Anonymous]

Forget maintaining fields. Just get good electric fended you can move around and get some goats and sheep. Chickens need to be kept in a fenced coop or hawks and foxes will eat them all. Donkeys are pretty low maintenance. Remember that each animal has a job. Goats eat the grass. Chickens scratch and aerate the poop and increase the speed of decomposition. Donkeys scare away foxes and coyotes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am picturing OP as Lisa (Eva Gabor) with or without Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) in Green Acres.

No no no. OP is Lisa AND Oliver. Split personality. Big reveal for the end of season finale.

hahahaha! Thank you for the laugh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am picturing OP as Lisa (Eva Gabor) with or without Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert) in Green Acres.

No no no. OP is Lisa AND Oliver. Split personality. Big reveal for the end of season finale.

Green Acres meets Fight Club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, I think you guys are starting to get my vision. Like Real Housewives of Middleburg except with no conflict and a guest appearance by Monty Don. No fake eyelashes but hiring heavy equipment to transplant unnecessarily large trees. I’m too chickenshit to fox hunt but I would like to provide a beautiful breakfast in my appropriately-historic-but-without-too-much-slavery-stuff home. Glamour chickens chosen for their elaborate feathers and friendly personalities. A hot gardener who, tragically, is gay. Etc. I need to budget so I know how many lottery tickets to buy.

how much is not too much?

[Anonymous]

My family has a farm, basically as a weekend place nearby, and they let a local farmer run cows and cut hay. For that reason, they pay like $400 a year in property taxes because of an agricultural property tax exemption with the county. It’s not expensive. America likes farms.

If you open a winery or some sht, or want to sell culinary herbs or whatever as your main business, and actually be a farmer full time, then yes that will get expensive and you will have a bad time. Unless you can somehow grow like truffles and sell them for $2000 a pound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My family has a farm, basically as a weekend place nearby, and they let a local farmer run cows and cut hay. For that reason, they pay like $400 a year in property taxes because of an agricultural property tax exemption with the county. It’s not expensive. America likes farms.

If you open a winery or some sht, or want to sell culinary herbs or whatever as your main business, and actually be a farmer full time, then yes that will get expensive and you will have a bad time. Unless you can somehow grow like truffles and sell them for $2000 a pound.

This is a good thought but with truffles you'll barely break even. There was an article in one of the foodie magazines this past year about a former actress (I recognized her name so she must have been big time because I don't know nuthin' about Hollywood) who set up a saffron farm. The article put a pretty spin on it but you could tell she was gritting it out. She couldn't even afford labor to help harvest. She had to have friends come and help. She played it off as a "party" but it was pretty easy to read the writing on the wall. Yikes. Only start a hobby farm if you have money to burn and you don't mind burning it.

[Anonymous]

Hobby farms generally lose money. The thing that drives the nail in the heart of the owner is not the hard work or the long hours, it's when they go to sell their product and their customers complain about the price or the quality. The owner is thinking, "I busted my ass to raise that chicken, and I'm selling it to you for five bucks less than my cost to raise it, and you think it's too expensive?" At that point it's very easy to say screw it.

[Anonymous]

Rich people hobby farms can benefit everyone. The Hunter’s Head in Upperville is yummy and all the produce and special animals come from a hobby farm.