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  1. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Just to update everyone I may have found another property, but will have more details soon. It's 8 acres, already in farmland assessment, and the house is older/smaller, but it's also much cheaper, which, depending on the condition of the property, may allow us to purchase it with a renovation...
  2. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    I do look from time to time, but most of the properties there are pretty large (50+ acres) and therefore too expensive. In NJ, properties that large are mostly sought after by developers if they're not otherwise preserved, so you're bidding against millionaire investors looking to build a...
  3. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    All good points-I have thought about reaching out to the rear property owner just to test the waters. As for the road issue, the house is actually next to last on the road and the road is about a 1/4 mile long. Great for privacy but concerning for other reasons. Lebanon Township-a large...
  4. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Hi all...sorry to not get back all week-it was a crazy one at work. In any event, it's a property that's got a ton of potential-the house is everything we need and more, it just needs some paint and cosmetic repairs. The property itself is great-very private, 24 x 24 framed outbuilding that...
  5. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Good point-guess I'm just using to seeing treeless pastures. To Deb's point, I'm assuming the county agent could also tell me which trees are not good for cattle (poisonous, etc...). I am getting a little ahead of myself at this point as I haven't even seen the property house yet (going...
  6. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Thanks! My next question is grass...how do I know that the grass that's there is any good? If it's not suitable, what could I do to improve it?
  7. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Will do! Here is a picture (from the listing) looking from the front porch toward the road: Again, that's about an acre and a half + of cleared land, save for the few small trees here and there which I would take down. The structure off in the distance near the road looks to have been some...
  8. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    That's what we're looking into now. I think Baymule is envisioning two Holsteins or full-size Jerseys at 1000-1500lbs each on one acre. I'm talking about two Dexters (or a similar breed) weighing about 600lbs. We're going to look at the property this weekend-going over the satellite photo in...
  9. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Thanks for the feedback-I've also been looking into smaller breeds, like Dexters, and actually just found that there is a Dexter breeder near me. According to what I've read they are pretty manageable for a small homestead.
  10. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Bumping my own thread now that winter is almost over and we're back looking at properties again. This weekend we should be seeing a home on 5.5 acres, set off the county road on a private lane with a few other large properties. The house needs a little updating/TLC but nothing major. The back...
  11. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    Definitely stay away from those. The only proper way to clean a chimney is with a brush. I have a brush sized to fit my 6" stainless chimney and a set of 4' long fiberglass rods that are threaded 1/4" NPT on each end. I just get up on the roof, pop my cap off, insert the brush, and screw in...
  12. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    You'd be going through much less wood if it was seasoned ;) If you are cutting, splitting, and throwing it right into the firebox you're getting lots of water vapor and creosote and not much heat. Well seasoned wood (less than 20% moisture content) will give you many more BTUs per cubic foot...
  13. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Tons of great advice here-thanks all!
  14. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    I am in Northwest NJ, about 60 miles from the nearest coastline and about 450' above sea level. We tend to see slightly colder temperatures than the rest of the state. Sub-zero is not the norm, but it's not uncommon either. We usually get about a two week stretch where I see the minus sign on...
  15. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    I hand split with a Fiskers splitting ax-its light weight allows for an extremely fast swing and it doesn't tire you out the way hoisting a traditional maul does. Once you get your form down it's amazing how well it splits. Most of the time I opt for my 20 ton MTD clone though...
  16. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    He's a better man than me! I'm 34 and have had a splitter since the beginning. I do enjoy splitting by hand for exercise though.
  17. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    I think you misunderstood my post. We only use oil heat for very brief periods in the early fall/early spring when the temperatures only drop to the 40s or so at night and then warm up to the 60s during the day. If I were to run the wood furnace in those temperatures, even with a partial load...
  18. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    There are many forced air central wood heating units on the market. Some are even combination units that will burn wood or oil. The Englander is a good solid unit but it's not very efficient. I could get the same amount of heat out of less wood if I had a furnace with a secondary burn. There...
  19. M

    Heating with wood burners/fire places only?

    We've been heating our entire house evenly for nearly eight years with this: Its an Englander 28-3500 add-on furnace. The silver duct you see exiting the top feeds into my existing furnace plenum. The wood furnace has it's own blower and filter box which draws air from the basement, blows...
  20. M

    Part-time "hobby farming" on 3-5 acres?

    Hi everyone-within a year my family and I are going to be relocating and we have our eyes on properties between 3-5 acres because given the type of house we need (at least a 3 bedroom/2 bath) that seems to be about as much land as we can afford. We may end up getting lucky and being able to...
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