I just acquired eleven acres with a 5600 sqft. dirt floored pole barn and just over 500' of frontage on an old but freshly paved state highway. It was part of a larger parcel that had been a farm with a stable and boarding operation. There's no fencing and it's all pretty much just been left go to seed in the past few years. Now it's pretty overgrown with tall grass.

I'm hoping to build a home there but would like to do something productive (and income producing) with it in the meantime and even after I'm living there. Being a 'city guy,' I really don't know what might be the best way to go here. I'm running electric to the barn right now. It had water from the old and now condemned farm house (which I do not own) which now has no electic to power the well pump. That well isn't on my ground anyhow so I'm going to have to put in my own well if I want water there now.

Well, that's my story. I'm really open for suggestions and ideas here so feel free to share any you might have for me. Thanks so much.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), June 24, 2001

Answers

Have your county extension agent come out and tell you if that grass is fit for hay. If so, see if you can get a local farmer to bale it up for you. It is common to strike a deal where you keep half and he takes half for his labor and equipment. If you don't have anything to feed it to, you can sell your half. Depending on your location, you may be able to get several cuttings this year.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), June 24, 2001.

If you live alone slap an apartment in the barn on the sly, call it the tool room when others are around, put in the well and phone line, fence the place and by the time you have that done you will have a much better view of the potentials. If you do build a house in the future leave the apartment for the hired hand or weekend visitors, this way you do not need to spend too much for guests quarters on an overly large house.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), June 24, 2001.

P.S. If you want it to pay its own way a horse boarding facility (or dog kennel) might be in order.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), June 24, 2001.

If there is an equestrian competition arena nearby you can fix the place up as an overflow boarding stable if the arena has large crowds of participants by cutting their rates.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), June 24, 2001.

You don'y say where you are, whether you're within an hour of a fairsized town or if you are in a zone where you could do it...but raising specialty mushrooms is not too labor intensive and some of them are quite profitable.

-- Mitzi (Egiles2@prodigy.net), June 24, 2001.

Be wary of insurance problems when boarding animals.

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), June 24, 2001.

Mitzi,

Sorry for leaving that out. This property is just outside Fort Wayne, IN (approx. 300,000 population in the county). It's within two minutes of either of two state highways and within five minutes of the interstate but still zoned agricultural.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), June 24, 2001.

I too would build at least a temporary apartment in the barn and get on the land as quickly as possible! That way you will be there in all your spare time and will learn what is good and what is bad for your land; and you'll also be spared the expense of living somewhere else so can use all your money on the land...for building your home or whatever. you can start small even for your house because you can always add later.

Starting a garden area for your own needs and also for selling excess produce might be one way to make some money but probably not a lot at first.

What do you do at your regular job? Is that adaptable for life in the country? My husband has had great success during this past year being a handyman. good luck

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), June 25, 2001.

Having the extentiion agent is a good idea. They have all kinds of free brochures for small farmers. Having a dog kennel might be a good idea but think about the start up expence almost as much as a house. Horse boarding might be better if the barn is good. and fencing would be necessary. I would go for having a local farmer or yourself if you have a bushhog cut as much as possible and then walk the land to get to know it you'll get a better idea of it that way. It's not to late to have the field cut for hay and because you have a big barn store it on pallets (sometimes free) and sell in the winter. We bought 8 acres in Owen County in the fall and found a gently used doublewide very nicely priced. Paalm Harbor Homes in Indy are brokers and have a selection of used trailers and doublewides for sale. Our only problem with them was the set up crew it took 6weeks to do a 2 day job. This trailer was financed by Greenpoint Financial and we wondered after the fact if we could have gotten a list of foreclosures from them. We paid less than half of retail for a 1 year old home. enjoy your new place. Linda of IN

-- Linda in IN (peaceful valley3@juno.com), June 25, 2001.

Suzy,

I'm a truck dealer by trade (25 years now). My business would not be able to be there due to zoning restrictions (and it wouldn't be a good place for it, anyhow). I intend to keep my business but am interested in doing something there also.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), June 25, 2001.

That much pole barn space could be rented out for storage ... whatever time limit you want to set ... 3-6-12 months or more. You could offer people a place to park their boats, trailers, etc. to keep them in (out of the weather) in the "off season", whatever that is. Maybe a place for a local farmer to keep some equipment in. Depends on what you have planned for the building and when.

-- Dave (peasedj@sparc.isl.net), June 25, 2001.

WOW! What an incredible wealth of ideas and information. Thanks to everyone! At this point I'm going to contact my extension agent on the hay idea and any other ideas he/she might have. As to moving out there immediately, I have almost a full year remaining on my condo sublease here, so, while it's a good idea, it's just not doable at this time.

Rather than building an apartment in the barn, which will require almost as much money as building the same size freestanding accomodations, I'm leaning more toward renting the barn out as storage now. To do the apartment I'd need to have a foundation, walls, insulation, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc. as well as needing to have a septic and well in place. I think for the money I'd spend on that, I'd be better off spending a little more to build a basement and close in the upper level weathertight for a permanent home there. I think I could live in the basement while I finish the upper levels if I put in a 3/4 bath and set up a small, temporary kitchen there.

Doing it this way I'll have to contract everything out myself but I think that'll just make it even more affordable. I think I ought to be able to self contract for way less than I'd pay a builder. It will also give me the opportunity to do a lot of the work myself (and nobody works cheaper for me than I do).

Again, thanks so much for all of your ideas and information thus far. I really appreciate all of the help.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), June 26, 2001.

Tried to post this a day ago, but expletive-deleted Greenspun (and AOL - for whatever reason) didn't want to know me.

For income, I can't give you any better advice than you've got - except to see if you can get hold of Ken Scharabo's e-book on earning income in the country. Ken of course posts all the time - just click on his e-mail address (which incidentally is on AOL - hmmm).

Oh - one thought there - a lot of "income producing" or even anything- producing things don't - immediately. If you lean towards something like an orchard or a berry-patch or a tree lot (Christmas tree sales?), those could be planted before you were there full-time - whether you were there or not they still would just be growing. Same if you were going to grow things that are normally wild - gourmet mushrooms, ginseng, whatever.

On accomodation - maybe a thought. Old caravans - too old for the road, and maybe no longer completely weatherproof - possibly trade- ins, can be had very cheaply. YOUR contacts might even be stretched to make that "free" - or nearly so. Make sure stove, refrigerator and whatever plumbing and wiring are working, park one in the barn, and you've got inexpensive weatherproof accomodation. Wind, rain, snow, heat - none of it will get to the walls you're living inside. Catch rainwater from the barn roof in a tank for personal use. Build your own composting toilet - there are plans and kits available. If it works, great - you know you could move it to a house, and your water requirements will be much lower. If it doesn't prove best suitable for you, it's still better than most of humanity has had for most of history (and pre-history) - it will still be usable. Incidentally, are you like me - single or born-again single; or are there others in the picture?

Not ideal, but a start - something you could use on weekends while getting to know the farm and its behaviour year-round, in all weathers. That's the best basis on which to decide where to build what in the way of housing. Also, as others have said, you may be able to save on cost of accomodation elsewhere, so hurrying the day when you can build your own home there. If you plan to build yourself, or manage the building of your own home, you should live there during that time as well, or your risk of theft skyrockets.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 27, 2001.

Found it. Greenspun doesn't like ZoneAlarm personal firewall. If you don't allow Greenspun to hack around in your system, it doesn't play nice with you. In fact, it doesn't play with you at all. "Let me have my way with you, and do with you as I will, and I'll give you a cookie, and I'll do a few other things whose details we don't need to go into - just let it happen, and I'll play with you". Not sure I like that attitude.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 27, 2001.

That's odd, Don, because I come to the Greenspun forums every day, and I have a ZoneAlarm firewall, set to HIGH security, and I don't have any problems!

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), June 27, 2001.

Hey Gary, would you mind sharing how you found your property? We're on the west side of Indianapolis right now but we're hoping to relocate to the Anderson area in a couple of years. All of the real estate agents around here are too citified, they don't know diddly about selling land. Any advice would be appreciated. You can email me privately if you'd like. thanks

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@aol.com), June 27, 2001.

Sheri,

This is a little embarrassing, but here goes. I was NOT looking for property at all. This was owned by someone with whom I did business and they approached me on it. They owed me money. Acquiring the property was about the only way for me be able to collect some of it. I know this is probably of zero use to you, but wanted to answer you, nonetheless. Wish I were able to be more help.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), June 28, 2001.