Ideas to make money from land

[BTS]

converted busses shepherds huts also sounds good

[urbandekay]

Was going to suggest Christmas trees but someone beat me to it? Organic fruit and veg under plastic? Mushroom tunnels?

[Logrod]

Green "cemetery" / memorial wood. Charge people for burial plot/memorial trees - supposed to becoming more popular.

[JLA Arborists]

On the second pic the red areas are the lakes. Only thing to consider is not putting carp with trout. The carp will stir up the mud, trout like it clear

You need around 1/2 acre for certified location. Also you could have hens and sell free range eggs. It all depends on how involved you want to be

 

Thought about a petting farm. We visit a local one (set in 3acres) http://www.highfieldshappyhens.co.uk/

Edited February 3, 2014 by JLA Arborists

[BTS]

hens would have been good but neigbhour has beaten me to it hes has about 200, can see the money in fishing lake idea

[MattyF]

Asparagus makes good money and uses the same beds for 10 years or more, down side is its seasonal and takes a few years to get going.

Pick your strawberries.

[JLA Arborists]

hens would have been good but neigbhour has beaten me to it hes has about 200, can see the money in fishing lake idea

 

But is his a petting farm. My kids loved stroking and hand feeding the hens

(So did I. Shhh don't tell anyone lol)

[agg221]

Tomorrow we complete on 4.75 acres of field which adjoins our house. It's grade 2 arable and we have had an access agreement with the owner since November (the hold-up has been due to their solicitor rather than any of the purchasers and we will be the first to complete). We have an arrangement with the local farmer - he is farming it for us on a contract basis and we currently have a winter wheat crop coming up nicely. We are a registered agricultural holding and get the single farm payment entitlement that comes with the land. The plan to start with is mostly to sell the wheat crop in with the farmer's, however I am intending to hold some back and see if there is a market for locally grown stoneground flour. I will also be in discussion with the local thatchers to see if there is a market for thatching straw. None of this will make us a fortune (or anything like a living!) but it will make us a bit and let the land cover its costs. In the 'off' year of rotation we will investigate high value, small demand crops which may be a little more labour intensive and see what we can do.

 

Coincindentally, since we do border a river, we also have a secondary crop of cricket bat willow, planted and maintained by JS Wright, so one day in the future we may be able to say that it was our willow that helped England to lose the Ashes!

 

Alec

[Marsh Monkey]

Tomorrow we complete on 4.75 acres of field which adjoins our house. It's grade 2 arable and we have had an access agreement with the owner since November (the hold-up has been due to their solicitor rather than any of the purchasers and we will be the first to complete). We have an arrangement with the local farmer - he is farming it for us on a contract basis and we currently have a winter wheat crop coming up nicely. We are a registered agricultural holding and get the single farm payment entitlement that comes with the land. The plan to start with is mostly to sell the wheat crop in with the farmer's, however I am intending to hold some back and see if there is a market for locally grown stoneground flour. I will also be in discussion with the local thatchers to see if there is a market for thatching straw. None of this will make us a fortune (or anything like a living!) but it will make us a bit and let the land cover its costs. In the 'off' year of rotation we will investigate high value, small demand crops which may be a little more labour intensive and see what we can do.

 

Coincindentally, since we do border a river, we also have a secondary crop of cricket bat willow, planted and maintained by JS Wright, so one day in the future we may be able to say that it was our willow that helped England to lose the Ashes!

 

Alec

 

boy is there a market for thatching straw, i cut reeds for thatch in the broads, you gotta get the right variety of wheat and find and old boy with a reaper binder to harvest it for you and a thresing machine you can charge for people to watch you harvest it!!

[agg221]

boy is there a market for thatching straw, i cut reeds for thatch in the broads, you gotta get the right variety of wheat and find and old boy with a reaper binder to harvest it for you and a thresing machine you can charge for people to watch you harvest it!!

 

Conveniently, the local thatchers to here have their own reaper-binder I know it normally uses traditional long straw varieties but I am looking at whether you can use the straw from some of the modern F1 hybrid varieties which get higher grain yield from slightly poorer soil. If I can combine both then it will offset the cost of the F1 hybrid seed.

 

Alec