Farming part-time for homestead
Updated Jul 29, 2026
Seeking
- 6-10 Total acres
- 0-5 Acres of cropland or tillable land
- 0-5 Acres of pasture
- 0-5 Acres of hayland
Desired locations
Multigenerational family seeking a small farm to call home: investing in community, continuing a legacy, & building ours
Plan
We're new to farming at scale, though experienced with home garden: raised beds, fruit trees, kitchen gardens. We're committed to regenerative and organic methods, learning new skills as we go, and living in synchronicity with the land as much as possible. We'd love to keep goats and at least one donkey, grow food for our family, and explore renewable options like solar over time. We're patient, hands-on learners, deeply motivated to steward the land well. Open to mentorship from experienced farmers willing to teach us through the transition.
Desired infrastructure
Equipment and infrastructure details
We're starting light on equipment and value a property with existing infrastructure: fencing (secure enough for goats, donkey), a barn, reliable water access. We're especially interested in properties with existing outbuildings, multiple structures, or housing we could adapt, since that flexibility matters given our multigenerational household. Long-term, we'd love to add a greenhouse/hoophouse, expanded fencing for rotational grazing, composting systems, and solar infrastructure. We see equipment and infrastructure as something to build thoughtfully alongside the land and its existing owners' knowledge.
Preferred type of opportunity
Opportunity details
We're flexible. A traditional cash/mortgage sale for the right price, with down payment from selling our current home. Also interested in a owner-financed sale, which could allow for a better transition. Lease with an option to buy, or a lease with mentoring, would let us grow into full ownership over time while learning from you, which we'd genuinely welcome. We're also open to an employment-with-transfer arrangement, working alongside you as part of the path toward eventually taking over the land and its care. Ultimately, we're most interested in whatever structure honors your goals for the property's future and gives us a real chance to learn before taking full responsibility.
Desired farming practices
Practices details
Regenerative and biodynamic principles resonate with how we want to relate to the land: building soil health, working with natural cycles, and minimizing outside inputs. We're open to formal organic certification or transitioning toward it if that fits the property and makes sense long-term, but what matters most to us is ecological integrity, even where certification isn't practical or the priority. Practically, that looks like companion planting, cover cropping, rotational grazing for goats and donkeys, minimal or no synthetic chemicals, and composting. We're eager to learn from anyone further along his path than we are, and adapt our practices to the specific land and its history.
Production goals
Goals details
Our primary goal is food self-sufficiency for our multigenerational household: vegetables, herbs, fruit trees, and an orchard to feed our family and share with neighbors, likely not a commercial operation. We'd like to keep goats for milk and land management, and at least one donkey for companionship and grazing help. We're planning small-scale infrastructure over time: raised beds, greenhouse or hoophouse, composting systems, and explore solar as we're able. We want to teach ourselves to grow and care for food and animals alongside our community. If the property and timing are right, we're open to a larger vision, inviting another family to share the land and workload as a small co-op.
Farm experience
Years of experience
8 total years of experience
25 years employed as a worker (non-manager)
2 years as a manager
Education, training, and employment experience
Experience details
My agricultural background is largely self-taught and volunteer-based rather than formal. I've volunteered with several farms and community gardens, and learned alongside family members and friends who grow their own food and raise animals. In college, I led a trip to Costa Rica where our group worked alongside the country's Minister of Agriculture on his farm, learning tropical growing methods and land stewardship firsthand. That experience shaped how I think about farming as both a practical skill and a relationship with land and community. I don't have formal agricultural employment, but I bring genuine curiosity, a strong work ethic, and a real commitment to learning through mentorship.