Hello permies, I hope this finds you all well and that I am within the forum rules.
We are a couple, mid-30s, no kids but planning. We've been city/technology people for most of our lives but are now succumbing to the call of the great outdoors. We are smart enough to know what we don't know, which is pretty much everything. We're reading everything we can, but we know nothing will prepare us.
In a couple of weeks, we're going to drive around the interior of British Columbia to begin our search for our home and farm in the woods.
Here's some more about us:
* We don't have a desire to farm commercially. What we raise will be for ourselves and our neighbours if there's surplus. Our goal is simply to raise our own healthy food and for our kids to grow up in clean country air.
* We've learned enough that true "self-sustainability" is probably beyond us. Our goals are to grow our own vegetables, fruits, and pastured animals, but we're not under the myth that we're going to be 100% self-sustaining, and that's okay with us.
* We don't plan to send our kids to public school.
Here's what we are less sure about:
* Do we need an agent? Someone to look out for us? We aren't knowledgeable enough to assess things like soil and water quality. How do we assess if land is a good deal?
* We've been searching Landquest, realtor.com, kijiji, Craigslist. Anything else we should look at? Are most properties going to be available online or do we simply need to put miles on the odometer going door to door? We have about 2 weeks of driving before we have to return to the real world for a bit, and BC is a big place.
* If we find the "perfect" piece of land, but it is only 1-2 acres, how much does that diminish future plans? Early on, we're going to start small with a vegetable garden and some chickens, but what if eventually we want pigs and cattle?
Thank you for having this community and answering (once again!) such oft-asked questions.
T
