Hi Homesteading Permies,
I have a 116 acre farm in far southern Illinois. After I inherited the farm, I could not find a farmer to do regenerative agriculture (permaculture) for me. So, like a crazy person, I decided to do it myself at the ripe old age of 68 and with no experience farming (I am currently 70 and my partner is 73). We moved here from Austin, Texas (BIG change!) One of my hopes is that the farm will eventually be a successful example of regenerative ag that other farmers can learn from and will hopefully copy. But I have a long way to go and definitely need partners.
The county has less than 4,000 people, no stop light, and no Walmart. If you like rural, you will love it! It is the hilly and scenic area of Illinois -- the glaciers didn't get this far south. And the county is home to 93,000 acres of the Shawnee National Forest (I am guessing it is about 1/4 of the county). Lots of wildlife, horse trails, camping, and hunting. My farm is 4 miles from the county seat which has about 700 people, 4 restaurants, hardware store, grocery story, Dollar General, a great library, post office, and convenience store/gas station. The nearest larger city is Paducah, KY which is about 25 miles (35 minutes) away. It has a population of 25,000 but the metro area has a population of about 100,000. It has almost every chain store, restaurant, etc you could want. Carbondale, home of Southern Illinois University, is 1.25 hours away.
My farming focus so far has been on agroforestry. I have a CRP/USDA contract for 22 acres that includes 14,500 tree and shrub seedlings -- which are now in the ground. A major feat! From the list of options I was given, I chose trees and shrubs that will eventually have a marketable crop. About 5,000 of the seedlings are hazelnuts. The rest are elderberry, American plum, silky dogwood, chokeberry, white oak, and red cedar (the red cedar was chosen to create a barrier around the farm to help protect it from volatile herbicides that are used by farmers in the area.)
I am open to selling acres from just a few acres (5 or so) up to about 70 acres with owner financing as a possible optionu , having someone work on the farm to earn acres, or leasing acres. The average price of farm land in this county is $5,600 per acre. I have not had mine appraised lately but I might be negotiable on price. You MUST agree to use only regenerative/permaculture practices.
For the farm co-op: So far I have a 60 HP Kioti tractor with front loader bucket and pallet forks, Titan 6 ft cutter, biochar kiln, and Whitfield tree planter. I am in the midst of building a barn. I plan to get an egg mobile to be able to rotate chickens to a different pasture every day. I might put in more fencing for rotational grazing but don't want to take on livestock until I have a partner. We have a large fifth wheel RV (has 4 slide outs) that could be used for temporary housing until you get your own home established.
If you have questions, might be interested, email me at
greeningacres@gmail.com. Thanks. Pam
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