Lets brain storm ways to make money off our acerage...

[Turkey Creek]

I can think of a couple other things, but I am not sure how much this other land use would impact your hunting. A u-pick pumpkin patch, or a pumpkin patch / corn maze those are a huge success here. The only 1 or 2 Christmas tree farms are big draw around here. While dealing with people can be a pain in the A$$, crops like those have short windows where you have to deal with the public, besides the opportunity to up sell people in those situations can be pretty good. You might be able to lock in deals with local stores for selling pumpkins as well. I know 2 families who do well with that. Pumpkins are a pain for big retailors to have shipped in, lots of weight and volume costs a lot for shipping, marginal profits after that cost for the retailor.

 

[Buckly]

You could always go into guiding and sell deer hunts.

 

[Tree Spud]

Discussed this with my acct & atty ... wanted to set-up an llc.

Their thoughts were you need to have at least $15-$20k of revenue a year minimum to even consider. Admin costs to provide accounting & tax filing (set aside legal) to file every year ~ $2000/yr. You can pay less and then spend 5 times more to defend an audit. If you are allowing folks on your land for a business enterprise, you need legal written up to protect you and then insurance.

Remember an llc adds to your personal income so you need to consider this tax impact, so unless you have off setting legitimate expenses, you are just raising your personal income tax rate.

Just remember , once you start charging people $$ to come on your property, there is a financial threshold at which you are financially liable for their saftey. I think the limit to lease land is $2000. see attached.

Good luck!

 

[shawnv]

You can do a lot with 10 acres but it depends if you want this to be play money or a job. You could go from starting a small Christmas tree farm to farmer's market/CSA to raising some grass fed cattle or pigs.

 

[foggy]

Reminds me of a Frank and Earnest cartoon.....where a bunch of city fathers are sitting around a conference table, with a "City Council" sign on the wall. The caption reads: "So far we have two ideas to raise revenue....a Worlds Fair.....and a speed trap." :rolleyes:

 

[biglakeba$$]

Aaron,
Have you contacted the USFWS office in Fergus about wetland restorations?
They did ours free of charge. They brought out a bulldozer and did it at no charge...... Then after that was all completed, we enrolled all our wetlands in the Wetland Easement Program through the USFWS. They paid us a healthy sum to permanently retire all of our wetlands.

 

[Maya]

Well, this is exactly what I did, but then again I did it more cause I love growing apples. I've been growing apples for over 20 years and I started selling to some neighbors, then wholsale to local stores and then I decided to start my high density orchard and start making some real money at it. I'm also lucky to have great buy local mindset around here and a couple great farmers I sell at so I can make maximum dollars for my apples. I do sell a little wholesale too though. Apples are a ton of work though, you really got to be an apple nut! Just remember to make sure you can sell what you grow!

I like the alfalfa idea. I've got a friend that got out of the milking business and is now just selling hay to a local Blue Seal store and doing ok. I've also got another friend that does real good w/ pumpkins and just had his first sales year of selling Christmas trees. He was open 4 weekends only and sold a little over 200 at $47 a piece. He also buys my apples to go along w/ his pumpkin farm in the fall.

You gotta love it or you'll get sick of it. Whatever you may decide to grow and sell, it's always more work then you bargained for!

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Wow...you guys are all way more ambitious than I am :oops:
All I want from my land is a place to "play" in the woods, maybe shoot some deer at some point, and a learning opportunity. Either when I'm dead or when I'm ready to get the heck out of here I (or my wife/heirs) hope to make a few $$'s on selling it...but other than that...I have zero intentions of ever getting anything financially profitable out of the acreage.

Some work is play to me smsmith! Im 28 An always working on somthing. Just the way I'm geared!

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I know I have lots of maples Phil. Never heard of anyone doing this around here. Something to research though! Their is a guy that has a huge blueberry patch not far from me that charges people a flat rate to pick. Seems like a pretty low maintenance operation.

A blue berry patch is actually fairly labor intensive...especially at the start. like when planning for fruit tree plantings for habitat purposes you have to select the right varieties for your area. then you have to acquire them and depending on size of the plant they can be pretty expensive. then you have to plant them. you will also need to properly amend the soil according to the varieties' needs. Lime and fert will most likely be needed in order to maximize yeild. Then you should mulch the rows of plants and mow between rows regularly as well as taking out any weeds growing in the rows. given your lawn business, i would think you wouldn't need much in the way of specialized equipment to keep the patch cleaned up. Also come harvest time you will need to have the appropriate hours of operation for people to pick. you will also need to let people know you exist which can cost money as well. It would also probably pay to fence the patch in to keep deer and other critters out of the berries. Irrigation also wouldnt hurt especially if your area tends to get really dry during the summer. I know it took my friend about 7-8 years to get to the patch to the point that he could allow the general public in for "u pick". prior to that he was paying a couple local kids to pick what he had in order to produce his preserves and jellies. Part of the reason it took so long to get to the "u-pick" phase was how young the plants were when he started them....add in a couple drought years on top of that. once everything is established and you get into the maintenance phase the work load definitely diminishes.

 

[Native Hunter]

Jordan, just do a bed and breakfast for the city folks. Feed them things grown on the land, take them on little buggy rides, and dazzle them with nature walks on the property. Don't forget to put a checker board on the front porch and bake a batch of cookies in the evening. You will be rich in no time!!:D:D

 

[bat man]

I was thinking about doing wolf tours on my place. Take folks out in a sled pulled by a horse or tractor, show them wolf tracks, part way through I hit the remote and not one but a whole pack of wolves sound off in directions surrounding the sled.

Show them the carcass of my daughters pony that was killed by the pack.



When we get back to camp my wolf hybrid alpha male sprints across the swamp because he knows theres a big chunk of meat waiting for him on the other side. Exciting!


Later that night as they sit by the fire before retiring to the bunks, more wolves fire off chasing them to the cabin as I leave for the night. The howls keep getting closer to the cabin all night long.

Word of mouth business from the stories should keep me busy.

 

[j-bird]

How much mary-jane can a guy grow on 10 acres?

How about convertering an old RV in the woods into a meth-lab?

These seem to be the options of choice in my area!

I have always joked about plantng my ag fields (roughly 100 acres) into mary-jane just once and then round bailing it! Largest blunts on the planet!

 

[wiscwhip]

That's funny right there, bat man...^^^...sad that it must be like that to actually inform folks, but funny!

Also very funny j-bird, you could maybe get Cheech and Chong as your posterboys!

 

[West Branch]

How much mary-jane can a guy grow on 10 acres?

How about convertering an old RV in the woods into a meth-lab?

These seem to be the options of choice in my area!

I have always joked about plantng my ag fields (roughly 100 acres) into mary-jane just once and then round bailing it! Largest blunts on the planet!

My uncle has a old small round baler. They weigh about the same as a small square bale so a guy could actually lift them!

 

[bwoods11]

I was thinking about doing wolf tours on my place. Take folks out in a sled pulled by a horse or tractor, show them wolf tracks, part way through I hit the remote and not one but a whole pack of wolves sound off in directions surrounding the sled.

Show them the carcass of my daughters pony that was killed by the pack.
View attachment 3517
View attachment 3516

When we get back to camp my wolf hybrid alpha male sprints across the swamp because he knows theres a big chunk of meat waiting for him on the other side. Exciting!


Later that night as they sit by the fire before retiring to the bunks, more wolves fire off chasing them to the cabin as I leave for the night. The howls keep getting closer to the cabin all night long.

Word of mouth business from the stories should keep me busy.

Wolf tours that is a good idea!! You could possibly do an episode of Survivor with all the contestants wearing meat packs for one week on your big farm.

 

[Jim Timber]

I can see it now: "Survivor - Jackpine Savage" :D

 

[j-bird]

I figured it would go down something like this.

 

[Jameson]

There is a craze going on with the new photograph equipment out there. Our foodplots seem to really draw in the birds. If a guy could figure out a way to have people pay to go to his place to photo the birds it could be easy money. Have to do some advertising, and maybe set up a couple of photo-blinds.

 

[Jim Timber]

That's gotta be the lowest quality dope on the planet. Nothing but stems and leaves. :p

(I've had the misfortune of stoner roommates in college)

 

[West Branch]

When I get my mass order of trees I was thinking about keeping some spruce (~20) and planting them in containers and seeing how they grow for a year (maybe 2) and then put them on craigslist in the town where I live to see if I can sell them. I will do some more research to verify that I don't need a nursery license, but quick check looked like it should be exempt because it would be a small amount. It would only be a few $100 a year but it would be something that I enjoy doing already.

I have though about putting in Christmas trees up north. I have to talk to my younger brother to see if he would interested to put in some labor, and it would be a bit more long term.