Espana

Shouldn't screws hold it stronger, albeit much slower process?

Espana

Well done! If you manage to live in an expensive area all from the proceeds of your farm.
Can I see a link to your website? Perhaps not on this forum, if against the rules.
My relatives in Toronto may be interested in buying from you.

Espana

Thank you Siouxie.
You always provide useful links!

scrubbedexpat142

Not necessarily, when you consider post build settlement / movement.

dbd33

I'm not going to study the past posts but I'd be surprised if that was claimed. This is a less expensive area. People here who inherited their farms and combines and have 400 acres and 80 or so cows also have day jobs. They need the day jobs because, even at farm rates,, the property taxes on several million dollars worth of land are appreciable.

Lots of people nearby do live off their land but, again, they didn't have to buy it. They have religious exemption from taxes and live simply, no vehicles, no electricity, no power equipment, no access to any form of healthcare. Some downsides of this are that lots of them die from accident or illness and that they can't find anyone but another Mennonite to marry so they suffer from genetic conditions such as extreme near sight. It is also ****ing cold in a Mennonite house.

The religion-free people I know of who are able to make a living exclusively from a farm have combined operations, beef and tourism for example, Peace Valley Ranch is an example. That sort of operation is a serious business, shareholders, business plan, bank financing, teams of accountants and tax advisors, lawyers on call. It's also very high risk; I know of a horse business that lost 30 boarders overnight after an EHV outbreak. 30*$30/night is a serious loss of income. There are constant breaches of employment and health and safety regulations that might be prosecuted. .It would be more relaxing and rustic to operate something like Camden Town Canal Barge Rental than a farm for profit.

Oh, and if you live in the country there's always the risk of shooting yourself by accident while dealing with rampaging bears, or something.

Espana

I don't know, I simply assumed that areas near Toronto must be expensive to live.
Further, I assumed that Gerchikov didn't inherit their land but moved from the UK sometime late last century.
I may be wrong, of course.

Aren't there any farm subsidies in Canada as it is in the UK and continental Europe?

As far as I'm concerned though, I doubt that we would be running a large farm. I did look at some listings for 100-200acres farms last year, but decided that we'd only cater for our needs and on a much smaller plot. Even 10-15 acres can still provide surplus produce for sporadic sale.

HGerchikov

Sorry you misunderstood something, we don't live off the proceeds of the farm. We both have jobs, my husband has a nicely paid 9-5 job and I sell real estate, which is a bit less reliable on the income front. We spend the money from those jobs on the farm, although the ultimate intention is to get set up sufficiently so that the farm income supplements our pensions. We could be self sufficient in terms of food if we wanted to be, but it would be boring in the winter as we would be down to stored, jarred vegetables, duck eggs, honey and whatever we could shoot.
The link to the farm website is in my signature, I don't think you see it on a phone but you do on a laptop.

Jerseygirl

I can see it on my phone.

HGerchikov

We moved from the UK in 2004 but lived in Oakville until 2017 when we sold up and moved to the farm. We have just over 33 acres but 13 of them are heavily forested conservation land. The 18 acres of workable land is more than enough for us.
Dbd33 is absolutely correct about many/most farmers having other forms of income. I guess those with a quota for dairy can maybe manage.
I assumed from your original post that you were looking for something to give you a self sufficient lifestyle in terms of food etc and a little income to supplement another source (either pension or investment income for example).

dbd33

You could add some pigs. I still don't think it's viable though. We don't buy vegetables when they're in season but that makes hardly any difference to the grocery budget. Perhaps if one had a vineyard ...

HGerchikov

We have thought about it but I don't think I am country enough yet to be able to do the necessary, its tough enough with the ducks.

HGerchikov

Maybe it's to do with mobile site vs full site on the phone.

Jerseygirl

I always use ‘Full Site’.

dbd33

I worked with a woman (until she had a horrific accident while commuting) who, with her husband, has a fully computerized self-milking dairy operation. I forget how many cows but the annual seed bill is fifty grand and they put in a million dollar shed for the combines for some reason to do with needing farm expenses, so it's not a trivial operation. She does computer stuff and the husband is the service manager at a tractor dealership. I think it's really exceptional to for a farm to be able to support two adults.

I feel bad about chuckling at the accident. She's a germaphobe. She was very nearly killed, seriously injured, when a vehicle pulled out of a turning and she had no rime to stop. She went under a commercial manure tanker.

Siouxie

I don't have a smallholding, land or animals, but I do grow the majority of my vegetables in my small back garden - which have lasted most of the winter. (I also grew miriads of tomatoes, as well as sweetcorn, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, spring and white and red onions, basil, garlic chives, coriander, garlic, radish, canteloupe, gooseberries and raspberries).. but I didn't grow my usual runner beans this year as I ran out of space, lol.

I'm still eating fresh carrots grown last year which are stored in huge plant pots full of dry potting soil in a cool dark place. I'm amazed they have kept so well, still tender juicy and delicious 5 months after being dug up (all 147 of them!). I grew and froze beetroot; zucchini; green bush beans; beet stalks (very nutricious, as are the leaves); broccolli; celery; but left the last of the kale to the rabbits. I've just finished the last of the cabbage. I've also grown 'salad greens' in the basement at times.