18 Acres and limited time

[Morning Glory]

Hi, just brainstorming ideas here I have an 18 acre "hobby farm" on fairly wet land close to a medium sized town. I would like to develop some sort of small business (more of a moneymaking hobby) that is not too labor intensive, and doesn't have a large upfront cost. 

Ideas so far:
 I have a lovely 100 year old barn that I have received  suggestions to turn into a wedding venue, but it would cost a lot to set up. Plus not sure about permits, etc.

 Raising cows or goats for meat: I would have to spend some money on fences, and also we would have to arrange someone to take care of them when we go on vacation. Also I don't know anything about raising animals.

Boarding horses: same issue as the cows/ goats

Scale up our chicken flock and sell the eggs: not a lot of income, and would need an inspection/ permit to sell off-farm. Plus could be smelly if we got too big.

Rent part of our land to an actual farmer: probably too wet to grow crops, and also worried about water contamination

Water bottling plant: lol.

[davisgang90]

The wedding venue and renting to a farmer sound to be the least labor intensive.  The rest are pretty big in the labor department.

[bwall]

Fascinating concept.

To be able to provide meaningful input, we need to know the climate which can be derived from the location. If it's West Texas, you're sitting on a gold mine with all that water. South Louisiana, not so much.

Just curious, but how did you get the 18 acres? Inherit? Purchase?

How come it has a barn, but no house? And speaking of the barn, what kind of barn was it, what was the prior use? Hanging tobacco, milking cows, storing hay, raising pigs, storing implements, etc? Does it have water or electricity? How many floors/stories?

[trollwithamustache]

Are there other things you want to do to develop the property? The venue idea sounds like a great way to make a lot of improvements deductible or depreciable against your business income.

[BDWW]

The wedding venue and renting to a farmer sound to be the least labor intensive.  The rest are pretty big in the labor department.

Farmer would likely want a lease, possibly for several years and terms would have to be worked out, such as if you would like/need any kind of access during the lease period. Important because crops are livelihood, and people tromping around in/through them is not good.

Depending on the area, the wedding venue idea might be a gold mine. Around here people pay ridiculous amounts for nice venues, 2000+ a night, and are usually booked out years in advance. 

[Indio]

If you could put in swales to guide the water, you might be able to dry it out enough to not drown "crops." Fruit tree orchards don't require as much work as other ideas and you can go on vacation, though you might need dogs or cats to keep squirrels away near harvest time.

[bobechs]

Mud wrestling?

[MrGreen]

Mud wrestling?

Or a tractor pull. That would be cool.

[Mountainbug]

I don't know where you are or what your land looks like but maybe look into a conservation easement or program. The gov will pay you to not use your land, esp if it is wetlands. Most hands off money generating thing you could do. However, if you're looking to actually do something with it I would def suggest leasing the land to a farmer. Planting an orchard may seem hands off but depending on the crop may actually require quite a bit of work to produce a decent harvest.

Can you give more of a description of the land? Using it as a wedding venue sounds great, but people who are planning weddings are usually pretty needy/demanding.

[Morning Glory]

Fascinating concept.

To be able to provide meaningful input, we need to know the climate which can be derived from the location. If it's West Texas, you're sitting on a gold mine with all that water. South Louisiana, not so much.

Just curious, but how did you get the 18 acres? Inherit? Purchase?

How come it has a barn, but no house? And speaking of the barn, what kind of barn was it, what was the prior use? Hanging tobacco, milking cows, storing hay, raising pigs, storing implements, etc? Does it have water or electricity? How many floors/stories?

My husband and I purchased the land 3 years ago, and we live in a house on it. Basically we paid about $100k more than we would have for a similar place in town. We enjoy the peace and quiet, and the property taxes are low because we are outside city limits. Utilities are more expensive though. We are able to offset some of this by growing a large vegetable garden and raising our own eggs. We tried meat chickens in the past but it ended up costing more than just buying it.

 We are in Minnesota and the barn was originally a dairy. It is 80 feet tall, and it has electricity but no plumbing.

Husband is a bit averse to anything that would have a lot of people coming and going.

We are close to a wetland so that is one idea. Orchard is another but we live near an established orchard so we would need some kind of fruit that they don't have.

The reason for the limited time is that we have a 2 year old son and we work opposite schedules to avoid daycare.

[Morning Glory]

Are there other things you want to do to develop the property? The venue idea sounds like a great way to make a lot of improvements deductible or depreciable against your business income.

I would love to have solar panels, but I got a quote and the ROI was way too low. Calling it a business expense might change things.

[trollwithamustache]

Are there other things you want to do to develop the property? The venue idea sounds like a great way to make a lot of improvements deductible or depreciable against your business income.

I would love to have solar panels, but I got a quote and the ROI was way too low. Calling it a business expense might change things.

Solar economics are better for businesses than private individuals because of the Accelerated Deprecation treatment the business can take advantage of, but this benefit isn't super huge.  The business activities may also shove you into a higher electricity rate structure.  But at the end of the day, the solar economics of MN are limited by your relative lack of solar energy compared to other parts of the world.

[HipGnosis]

A mud / obstacle course.

There are co's that lease land (very short term) for this and put on events (I saw one on Shark Tank and saw a couple events on the TV news).
A handful of saturdays a year, and maybe a weekend or two.
You could also rent it out to companies for 'team building'.

For anything with people; they will need porta-pottys.  Is there a rental Co. near enough?

Could you turn the barn into a haunted house for a couple weeks before Halloween?  Hire older teens to dress up and act scary.  And sell warm cider, have a fire pit...

P.S.  I (mostly) grew up on a dairy farm in Minn.

[acroy]

Rent/lease it out.
Private Gun range.
Sell it.

[NorCal]

Honeybees.  Honey seems to attract good prices.

Or a small crop that you could easily sell to a booth at a farmers market.  My dad has a small number of blueberry plants that produce over 1,000lbs of blueberries each year.  He's able to maintain it in his spare time.

[stashgrower]

Retreat space might bring quieter, less demanding people.

[Morning Glory]

Loving the ideas. I have actually done a big Halloween party in the barn for my co-workers, about 80 people came (including kids) and they loved it. 

I have thought about honeybees and I might pursue that this year.  I might also start some blueberries: a few for personal use and then more if they do well. I already have raspberries and freeze the surplus to use later.

My brother suggested RV campsites. These could have a separate entrance but I would have to put in another septic system and some electrical.

[Axecleaver]

Thought about hobby farms a lot, so I'll share some ideas I had for making the farm I never bought work.

Blueberries will do really well in Minnesota. They like the cold weather. But, the wet, not so much. They also need acidic soil, so you'll need to find a source of peat moss or pine needles.

For wet land, consider mushroom farming. Shiitake mushrooms in particular sell for a lot, especially if you develop your own networks with restaurant owners. You only need a source of maple logs and some shady, damp land.

Work out a deal with microbreweries near you to cultivate hops or build a malting house and grow barley. Hops are infrastructure-intensive, and require 2-3 years to ramp up, but you can get good money for growing local.

Advertise for yard waste; let people drop it off for free. Talk to your county extension to take sawdust, wood chips or whatever organic waste their road crews produce. Buy a used tub grinder to grind it all up; age it in piles, sell the high quality, organic compost. Even better if you have animals and can compost their manure.

[Poeirenta]

Contact the offices of your local Cooperative Extension, Conservation District, and NRCS. One, if not all, will offer free site visits to help you evaluate your options given the specifics of your property and your goals.

Blueberries can do great in wetter soils. The wild ones grow on the edges of ponds. We had a fabulous patch in our boggy Seattle backyard. I sure miss those berries!

[fidgiegirl]

I'm still stuck on the wedding idea, especially if you are within an hour of the Twin Cities.  I know one couple who just delayed their wedding a whole year because they want a barn and can't find one to book in 2018.  You'd have your initial investment, yes.  Would you have to put in separate septic for bathrooms?  As far as managing it, once it's up and going you could hire someone out of the proceeds to do the bookings, be on site during the event, etc.  You'd probably have to develop some kind of parking area, and maybe limit the size of the events?  Maybe more work than I initially thought.  But man oh man is that a hot thing right now.

[J Boogie]

Thought about hobby farms a lot, so I'll share some ideas I had for making the farm I never bought work.

Blueberries will do really well in Minnesota. They like the cold weather. But, the wet, not so much. They also need acidic soil, so you'll need to find a source of peat moss or pine needles.

For wet land, consider mushroom farming. Shiitake mushrooms in particular sell for a lot, especially if you develop your own networks with restaurant owners. You only need a source of maple logs and some shady, damp land.

Work out a deal with microbreweries near you to cultivate hops or build a malting house and grow barley. Hops are infrastructure-intensive, and require 2-3 years to ramp up, but you can get good money for growing local.

Advertise for yard waste; let people drop it off for free. Talk to your county extension to take sawdust, wood chips or whatever organic waste their road crews produce. Buy a used tub grinder to grind it all up; age it in piles, sell the high quality, organic compost. Even better if you have animals and can compost their manure.

Cranberries like wetlands as well.  I live in MN too, I always enjoy driving by Bosshard Bogs whenever I go to or from Milwaukee/Chicago.

[SEAKSR]

In addition to blueberries (don't forget that there are non-commercial varieties that are WAY WAY better, just need to be cultivated) you could also add highbush cranberries, Lingon Berries, some varieties in the Raspberry family like moist areas too (Salmon berries are fantastic and prolific in the rain-forest here in AK).

Something I know also can work for you if you are ok with some animals are fiber animals. Sheep, Angora/hybrid goats, Angora Rabbits, Llama, Alpaca (though camelids are expensive to get into, and probably not worth the startup costs). You don't have to process the fiber for sale if you don't feel like it. I know plenty of spinners/felters who will buy it raw and process themselves. You can also sell lambs/kids/other babies for pets, or (depending on breed) sell animals for meat. Since you already have a dairy barn, you could go into goats milk! Depending on location and demand, there can be a premium on goats milk, or products made with the milk.

All that said, count me among the jealous of your space folks! About 20 acres is my ideal, though probably not in the Midwest. I like Alaska too much.

[NorCal]

One idea that isn't income generating, but would be a good use of the land would be to let some FFA or 4H kids use some land for animals.  Or maybe free use of the land in exchange for helping put up appropriate fencing.

[k-vette]

Here's an article I wrote that you might be interested in:  https://www.fodderworks.net/blogs/fodder-fridays/selling-barley-fodder-for-profit

Livestock related, but without requiring any animals of your own.  :)

[Proud Foot]

One idea that isn't income generating, but would be a good use of the land would be to let some FFA or 4H kids use some land for animals.  Or maybe free use of the land in exchange for helping put up appropriate fencing.

FFA is a 501(c)3 so you could have an appraiser determine fair market rent on that land and take it as a charitable contribution.  Might need to use a tax attorney to make sure everything is done properly for it to qualify.

[Morning Glory]

Update: I have ordered 50 asparagus crowns, 6 blueberry bushes, 2 apple trees, 2 plum trees, and 2 peach trees. They are all zone 4 hardy (I am in 4b), and should require little maintenance after the first year. Organic farming website said to use elemental sulfur to acidify the soil for blueberries. I would like to plant pears as well.

 I also plan to get some more hens this year as I am down to one right now (she is smart enough to hang out with the cat to stay away from predators).

I looked into growing mushrooms but it looks like I have missed my time window to do it this spring (wood needs to be cut before it buds). It sounds like a fun project though.

None of this is enough to go commercial but should reduce our grocery bill for years to come and give us enough to share with family and friends. Also it is a good way of trying things out to see what would do well commercially.

[albireo13]

Lease out your barn to a small business. 
How about an incubator space for micro-breweries?
A start-up microbrewery would love a funky space like that for starting up!
They need space and tall ceilings for fermenting tanks, etc.
I can see it now ... "Muddy Hollow Brewery"   
The label could show a pig wallowing in mud!  It would take the beer market by storm.

Just a thought ....

[cerat0n1a]

Update: I have ordered 50 asparagus crowns, 6 blueberry bushes, 2 apple trees, 2 plum trees, and 2 peach trees. They are all zone 4 hardy (I am in 4b), and should require little maintenance after the first year.

Just wait and see :-) Pruning, picking the fruit, keeping weeds down... Asparagus you need to be there with the knife to cut it every day or two in May/June. It's lovely straight from the garden though.

[hoping2retire35]

10 acres here.

Honey bees are pretty easy but expensive initially. harvest day is intense. Lots of work and the bees are pissed and keep finding you.

We have planted a lot of fruit trees. recently I pruned then used the limbs with some root starter to get ~60 more peach and pears started. All but maybe 4 have leaves now.

Chickens are easy, if you can keep predators away. Vacations would have to be fall/winter when they molt since eggs have to be harvested daily, unless you have some help. They really don't smell if they are free range.

Do all the above or just some. keep experimenting. dont suddenly decide "We will do this!" Sounds like you are trying fruit trees. That is great. see which ones work and get more of those. be patient, it will take years to really see what works there and for you.

[homestead neohio]

Contact the offices of your local Cooperative Extension, Conservation District, and NRCS. One, if not all, will offer free site visits to help you evaluate your options given the specifics of your property and your goals.

Blueberries can do great in wetter soils. The wild ones grow on the edges of ponds. We had a fabulous patch in our boggy Seattle backyard. I sure miss those berries!

This is good advice.  I am personally in favor of establishing permaculture homesteads, and teaching ones that offer classes for skills like gardening, canning, animal husbandry etc are even better.  There are a lot of people who are wanting to learn to grow food or just want access to local food and knowledge.  But if your goal is income for little time/effort, an extension agent could help you with info specific to your soil/situation.  A "you-pick" blueberry patch would be great, just put a little sales counter, scale, and bucket washing area in the barn.  There is a place local to us that does this, 8 acres of blueberries, and they do well.  Much less spraying/pruning/management than other market fruit and you do all your sales in about 4 weeks, then shut it down until next year.  This would keep traffic relatively low for DH except a few weeks in the summer.  You can set your own hours, though most of the business would be on the weekends.

Do you get a tax break for agricultural use?  In my Ohio township residential taxes are lower than residential taxes in the neighboring village, but if you have 3 years of ag sales at $1500/yr, taxes can be figured based on ag rates, and they are MUCH lower.

[Fishindude]

There are various degrees of "wet" land, so hard to understand what you have to work with.
Might want to think about doing some drainage work to make it more useful or desirable, and / or just cut your losses and relocate to better land.

Almost all of your ideas listed will be either expensive or time consuming.  My first thought is to cash rent the land to be used as pasture or for agricultural production.   
I lease a 14 acre field for $1800 annually.  It's not a lot of money, but it pays the taxes and we pocket some as well with almost zero effort.