Jacob
I see it's been many years since this original post. I hope you have been able to shape your operation to what you really want. It's tough in our region. I'm on a hillside farm in Cabell County, outside of Huntington, WV.
Some things you can do on a small plot is use small animals which dont attract attention to authorities, or might not even have prohibitions. You mentioned rabbits and your wife. I hope she would change her mind as they offer a small
footprint, little work and huge production with a very high protein yield. Also consider coturnix quail. They are a domestic variety from japan and NOT covered by the DNR. They also have a small footprint and high protein yield, for both meat and eggs.
Additionally, you could look into aquatics or aquaponics. It would be a side addition to grow much quantity, but you could also raise various fish. You could also do small scale plant propagation to
sell starts to other folks. Even prune
fruit trees for others to get free scions to graft to your own grown
root stock and sell the grafted saplings.
Besides just using your 1/5 acre direct living lot, even if you dont move, consider looking for a vacant lot to use in town, or even a larger plot outside of city limits where regulations may not restrict what you wish to grow. Even without living there,you could go visit the site daily or as often as needed for the chores required. It could even support the High Tunnel that Vickie mentioned. You could purchase such a plot. Or another option might be to coopt that space from a friend or acquaintance who just doesnt use their land. Possibly rent it from them, or maybe just use for the value of keeping up some maintenance. If it meets certain criteria, the owners could benefit from you operating a "farm" on it by qualifying for an agriculture exemption on their
real estate property taxes. It's close to a 50% reduction. So if they normally owe $1000 for taxes, it could cut them to paying $500. That value could be worth them leasing you the space for no money out of your pocket.
Best of luck with your agricultural aspirations and pursuits.
Roy Ramey
Avalon Farms
Lesage, WV