Lifestyle not a living?

Or a part there of?

Hello all, I have been visiting the site once in a while after a friend with a block recommended it to me. This forum seems a friendly, busy and informative place! My family are soon to take up residence on 12 beautiful very productive acres near Waihi (all things being equal). 10 acres or so are rented by the farmer next door.

We are in the happy position of "going in" on this property with my parents who we have a great relationship with and have done massive projects before. My Dad wants a big shed again for his various hobbies and somewhere to indulge his interest for old tractors and old machinery (he is a very skilled guerrilla engineer and ex contracter), we want to have a good kitchen garden and improve on the existing orchards and berry gardens and see the first few years tied up with this and getting the very pleasant house tuned for our family of two adults and 3 kids and a bun in the oven.

After this we have considered gradually over time reducing the amount we lease out and cultivating some sort of cash crop. We will have fairly low payments on the land and anticipate continuing to work and parent and study as we determine what we are going to do to focus more of our time and energy on the land.

After reading this forum at length I get the distinct impression noone actually makes any money from their block. Have I got it right?

Welcome to the site, modcons

I was very wisely advised early on to go from the angle of how much money can your block save you in expenses, rather than what you can make out of it as such.

So, for us, homekill fills the freezer for a fraction of what we'd pay in meat for a year if we had to buy it (and its nicer); one day a big enough vege patch and orchard will save us the cost of buying fruit and veg; selling lambs puts a bit of money towards our rates etc; selling some surplus eggs helps us pay the cost of the production of the eggs that we eat ourselves, etc; stuff like that.

We aim to have everything paying for itself as far as the animals go, so that cost of our feed etc is covered by what we can sell and its a break even - no paddock ornaments!

Hi modcons and welcome to lsb

Firstly, congratulations on your new block, I'm sure you'll love the rural life.

You can make a living from a very small block - but you'd have to invest big money and work very hard. You can grow saffron or herbs in tunnel houses and may be able to support yourself, but it's not what most of us do.

Living on a lifestyle farm lets you cut down your expenses by growing your own meat, eggs, fruit and veggies. You can milk a cow, ewe or doe and make butter, cheese and ice cream. You may not make any more money but you'll spend less.

Livestock and crops can bring in money, but often not enough to keep you...we farm angora goats and the money from the fleeces makes it worth it to us. Actually, we have no goats right at the moment but as soon as the drought breaks up here we will re-stock!

So it's not all doom and gloom. It all depends on what you want to do and how much work you want to put in

Cheers
Kate

make money from ? well i guess that's relative eh
to me... all i want a block to do is ... pay for its day to day expenses, ( like power for fences, vet bills, feed for animals) and provide me with home grown meat, vegies, eggs .. ( milk would be nice to )
then to me , its paying for itself and keeping me alive doing what i like doing .. being outdoors and having animals
an no neighbours over the fence that can hear when you swear at the dogs if they missbehave

very well said both Kate and Tigger

oh welcome to the site Modcons
am sure you will find this place very helpful and friendly place .. as no such thing as a "Silly question".. and loads of help and advice

My suggestion is don't overload yourselves with ''to dos'' lists. In the position I am in now, I woulnd't want to have a bun in the oven and be studying whilst trying to keep on top of what I currently have stock and land wise and work part time.

Aim to do one thing well, don't be disappointed if it takes more than the first year to get up and running because it does, and don't go on budget forecasts on estimated potential income because I don't know how many we have gone through of those re selling lambs, wool and the like, but the eventual figures never stack up to what was expected....

Go with the flow from that. Tigger's suggestion of plan on savings is perfect by eating your own, but please don't discount the amount of work and expenditure involved in managing a property. Right now the health and comfort of the pregnant person and love of your family is paramount.

Money, what the heck is that stuff ?????

Birman Babe;302255 wrote: Money, what the heck is that stuff ?????

Its what grows on the little tree I just planted. Let's hope I get a better crop off that than my orchard trees this year! [}]

tigger;302256 wrote: Its what grows on the little tree I just planted. Let's hope I get a better crop off that than my orchard trees this year! [}]

so you planted a chinese Jade. I haven't seen them here but M & D had one in Aussie. it was yet to mature and beare fruit when I left some years later..... []

Thanks for the advice and welcome everybody. We have definitely, as I mentioned, got the first few years lined up for improving the gardens and adding to the fruit trees. Apart from chickens, which we have experience of, I imagine we will be taking a very measured approach with animals. We have discussed this and agree that it is the right approach too, however, two or three years down the track I rather thought that we might have identified a little niche vege market or similar and worked to get some income off that.

i don't know what your financial position is Modcon, and its none of my business.
However i also thought when idealising the move to the NZ country, the birth home of my Husband and back to some of the land that my in laws used to own (that we bought back, not inherited) that I too would have found my crop or niche product by now....

I am yet to find it, but did suffer an incredibly bad year or two of negatives that forced our hands somewhat in other directions we never planned to take. However whilst some of our circumstances will never be experienced by others, it goes to show that you can only plan ''so much'' in your lifetime and the rest of life's hand will deal to you regardless.

What was john lennon's song about ''life happens to you whilst you are busy making other plans'' is equally appropriate to us all.

Keep the dream alive MC, but allow to have to bend in directions you may not have planned and don't go into it expecting bigger plans for each other than yet may be realised, esp. with 3 bubs underfoot and another on the way.

Hi and welcome great place up there Waihi my advice is same as others but you seem to have that worked out just keep a look out around you to see if there is a need for sometning you could get into

Welcome modcons, you've chosen a very beautiful part of the country.

I have a friend who farms in Waihi and she's always talking about the amazing rainfall they have, despite all around them being dry. I hope you have the same rainfall

I would second all the great advice you've been given here, and also add that whatever you choose, make sure it's something you enjoy. For example, I've lived on a farm all my life but didn't find out that I was born to own goats until I was 30 years old. Wouldn't be without them now!

I'd recommend seeing if there are breed societies or a local Tree Crops and groups like that and see if you go along and have a look at other people's properties, even if you don't think you'll be interested. It's amazing the ideas and inspiration you can find where you least expect it and in ways you never dreamed possible.

hi modcons welcome...as above our 23 acres covers its costs, fills the freezer, pays the rates and I think we sort of break even lol, but we bought it for the lifestyle..not to make money.
We have space, peace and quiet, no neighbours within half a kilometer but the ones we do have are friendly, we can plant trees, have animals, sheep horse, chooks ducks and the best thing is ...tonight my hand raised belted galloway cow had her first galloway calf. So instead of going to a show I was more that happy watching the little fella for hours. There are highs and lows but its the lifestyle ...chillaz into it. Try a drink on the verandah with friends around and the BBQ looking over your "land" .