How to find land for your homestead commons

So you are ready to take the plunge. Here are the first steps.

Part of our homestead commons land. Author’s own photo.

If you are wondering what is a homestead commons, here is the article that explains it.

Finding the right piece of land for your homestead takes time. It took us almost a year. And that is counting only the time we spent looking. It took us another 6 months before that to agree on the criteria and where to look. It is absolutely critical that there is clear and up-front communication with everyone on the team on the criteria before you start.

Clarifying your criteria

These are the things to consider to come up with your set of basic criteria:

1. How much money can you comfortably afford for land purchase. Bear in mind that after buying the land, you will have a lot more expenditure buying machineries, tools, and building/repairing the house and barn. You may not have any income from the farm until the following year or even later. We had other sources of income so chose a price range that ensures no financial strain even if we don’t ever have any farm income. If we were not so fortunately, we would have to put aside at least enough funds to last 2–3 years of no farm income. During that time, it helps to have one or more member of the team with stable incomes. I know that I’ll be making a lot of mistakes in…