5 acres is plenty for a family. His garden will be his food plot clay. It's inevitable
5 acres is plenty for a family. His garden will be his food plot clay. It's inevitable
+1 on an insert for your fireplace - so much more efficient and will heat your house quite well. Also safer if you plan to burn blackjack due to the way blackjack pops and throws hot coals out of a fireplace. A freezer or two will be important to keep produce from your garden and meat from deer, hogs, etc. Our family ran a dairy when I was a kid, so we always had milk, etc. We raised hogs at one time - lots of ways to preserve and utilize pork. And you can mix it with deer meat and spices for sausage.
Cedar Creek
Cedar Creek
I didnt say he didnt have "enough" but he will be limited. If its covered in trees its hard to grow grass to sustain a cow and buying hay gets expensive quick. If its just one cow, this is doable for sure if he clears at least 2 acres and puts in some good burmuda grass for the bovine. Then a half acre garden and hes used halfhis land already. Want a pond on it? Another acre...
I have 7.5 acres so I know what is possible with it. Mine is all grass though.
At the end of the day, you'll be better off on five acres then you would in the burbs. Do what you can with what you have. Buy some Advil, you're going to need it! 
I will say the prize was well worth it and we have not even closed on the house. Waiting on the abstract to be finalized and then we are all a go. I will say to adventure_advocate that be patient and the right house will come along at the right price. We lived in a RV for 14 months before we found the perfect house. Looking back there were a couple of houses that I should have bought and could have made them my own by the time I found this house that was perfect. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with, since we just lived it
This confirms it, the insert will be one of the first purchases that we make. This is exactly why I started the thread, I had not even considered the insert, but after all the recommendation and research on my part it is a MUST HAVE. thanks to all
We an insert in about 18 months ago, so this will be our second winter with it. It is amazing what a difference it has made. You will NOT be sorry ...
My only regret is that we didn't get the one with the blower ... if we'd done that we'd NEVER have the heater go off. Our thermostat is set at 62, and only kicks on if we leave the fire out for 24 hours or more. Even with going to bed at 10, if we stoke it before we go to bed and get up at 6, the heater never kicks on.
We just put new windows, siding and a roof on a few years back. Next project is new insulation in the attic/ceiling. And some shrubbery on the west side of the house ... for a bit of a wind break ... I want some kind of fruiting shrub ...
I figured patience would be the key. I'm not sure what we will do when it actually comes time to sell our current house and buy some land. My dream (in a perfect world) is to buy land while living in our current house, get it groomed and ready for a home, then build a home on it and sell our current home just as the new home is ready to be moved into... We would be extremely lucky for that to happen though... We may have to look into a 6 month lease on an apartment or something of that sort when that time comes because we've got two boys and living in an RV with them would most likely be hell (lol), to cover any time gaps that may occur. More realistically though, we may end up doing as you did and buy a place that already exists. Thanks for the offer of a helping hand, I will definitely look you up if I've got any questions that arise!
Buy some Advil, you're going to need it!
JT speaks much wisdom here!
I will restock on the advil and a good pair of work gloves. There is plenty on changes coming.
Question for EFsDad, you have any experience in inserts vs The Grate Wall of FIRE? Which would you rather have, price considering?
