Hi,
Thought I would throw some ideas at you, we just started our own operation here in Washington state, USA.
We first formed an
intentional community comprised of family members, we limited the
community to family members as we were having difficulty finding others we were compatible with. Later, we will again look for others to join us, but not for some time. We did it this way as it lessened the risk for all of us and the original start up costs associated with getting the land, plus it makes sense to have many hands to do the work instead of just a few. Also, there are some legal considerations in regards to passing on the operation to descendants and some benefits going this route and inheritance taxes, etc.
We bought our land on an owner contract, and avoided all the hassles of dealing with a bank, it was much cheaper. We preferred to buy as we wanted control of what we were doing, and did not want to put a lot of work into something that someone else would ultimately get most of the benefit from.
We read that it takes 4,000 square feet of land to totally feed one person for one year, so you could start with
enough land on a small scale for just food production.
In regards to renting, we think it would be okay to start that way, but ultimately owning would be better, I would think it scarier to rent land than to own, as you are at someone else's mercy, if they decide to
sell, you are out, with little recourse. Land taxes are just a part of doing business, once you start to sell, you pass on that cost to your customers, it is how everyone does it.
I am not sure what you mean by creating a network, but working for a "normal" farmer could be pretty frustrating if your are into
permaculture, and if they are entrenched in their way of life, they probably will not welcome much input from you on how they do things. A better choice might be to find friends or family or both and create some sort of intentional community yourself. Not everyone needs to live on the place, some can be absentee, if they want, you just need to make sure everything is spelled out and put in writing, and everyone agrees to the plan. You don't have to be a commune to be a community, but you do need to be able to stand a closer relationship with those you get involved with. I don't know of a better way to do this, it is working great for us so far, and the economic relationship makes it even better, we all share the risks and rewards, so it eases the stress a lot. If you get involved in some other peoples community or operation, you are really nothing more than their "human resource", and will be used as such until you are no longer useful to them.
Look at farming just like any other business, you will be providing a product for someone, who is that someone, what are they looking for, can you obtain the resources to provide it, that sort thing. I read about one guy who was trying to get into market farming, but couldn't find anyone to buy what he had grown, which was the normal veggies everyone grows. One day while he was talking to a buyer for restaurant produce and trying to pitch what he had, the buyer interrupted him and said what he really wanted and needed was chives. The guys wife had about a tenth of an
acre of chives growing that the guy had been trying to kill of for the whole year by mowing them down. He ended up selling the chives to the buyer, and by the end of the year had made 5,000.00 off of them, and he planted more for the next year.
Your third question is something you have to decide for yourself. My wife and I were 51 when we started our community and farm, we have been living as sustainably as we can wherever we are, this can be accomplished in several ways, but it depends on your situation. Just learning to live frugally is one way to start living sustainably.
So far as being an english teacher and playing with plants, I think playing with plants and making a living from farming is a far more interesting life style. I am about to end my 30 some odd years of working in the excavating industry, and start playing with plants full time. A much more satisfying lifestyle, I think.
I don't think there is any such thing as fast gains when plants are involved, everything takes time to grow, but the great thing is something like a market farm is very attainable even with another
job, you have considerable extra work at various times (planting, harvesting, etc.), but it could be done if you are willing to put in the extra work. This is what we have been doing, still building roads but farming on the side.
So far as when to start doing the leg work for any project to make sure it works, well... really, you just do the leg work, research what you think you need to know, knowing that you won't learn it all before you start, that process goes on forever, and then get started. Be prepared for mistakes, set backs, problems, etc., they will happen, but you just work through them and move on, learning from those as you go also.
Don't know if this ramble helped or not, but good luck if you go ahead with it.
Kurt