I’ve got about 4 acres of land that we don’t currently do anything with. It’s fenced in and was used as pasture for cattle by previous owners. We only have goats on pasture and they already have more than enough for them. This was just brush hogged by a guy down the road because he didn’t like the way it looked lol. It was getting overgrown because we haven’t done anything with it in a few years.
Anyways, do you have any thoughts on how to use the land? Ideally something that would prevent it from becoming overgrown. We already have a large garden, an orchard, and lots of pasture. Just looking for some other peoples perspectives. Thanks.
by TheApostleCreed
45 Comments
Plant native flowers in it and put some bee hives in there or let a bee keeper put their bees in there.
I think the wildflower beehive angle is nice. You could also rent it out to someone who can use it – like a beekeeper, someone with horses, etc. and make some passive income. Or have someone hay it.
A pick your own business if you have the man power.
Plant native flowers along with fruit bearing shrubs and trees. Consider adding some beehives
Native flowers
Joel Salatin talks about letting people rent your land so they can grow food. If you have somebody local who’s willing to do that to make money, that might be interesting.
How much time do you have? Are you physically able to handle lots of physical work? Obviously you can do just about anything with 4 acres. But it all depends on how much time and effort you want to spend.
I would dig a pond, a well, and plant an orchard.
Lease it out to an organic grower
It looks like a hay field to me. I would want to check what weeds or woody plants are in there. Plowing things under and seeding with winter wheat can improve the soil. You can harvest the wheat or plow it under for soil improvement. Now you have a field that can be for corn, hay, alfalfa, what ever.
You can also rent it to a farmer to do the work and harvest the crop. We have done this. The lease says the rent will be equal to the property taxes we pay. By having an agriculture crop on that plot the taxes are lower. So it means no tax for us on that land. Our benefit is over the long term as property values go up.
I don’t think you could do this on 4 acres, but we made a deal with another farmer. He would run cattle on 80 acres we were not using and then once a year he would butcher a cow for us. We paid the processing fee and picked it up. It worked well. I’d collect manure from time to time to amend the soil on other areas of the farm.
Nature pond, shooting range, and an apiary.
Several options.
Let a neighbor use it for pasture for beef cattle.
Plant wildflowers and raise Bees for Honey. Lease to a Beekeeper.
Plow it up and plant vegetables to sell in a farmers market or your own vegetable stand. Old pasture is very good for growing crops.
Work it up and plant Alfalfa for hay, sell to neighbors. Or let a neighbor use it for a nominal fee.
It would be extra work but, a large vegetable garden for a vegetable stand will bring in a decent amount of money. Cover your seed, cultivating, and time costs. Leave you some extra $$$ for next year’s crop planting and cultivating. And cover taxes and possible improvements to your property. Never hurts to have a little emergency stash of cash on hand.
Could do a small private campground or have a few RV spots and do Harvest Hosts. It’s like Airbnb for RV people. Better if you happen to be near some touristy nature stuff. That does come with maintenance though.
Or just let it be a native pollinator habitat, get with a local conservation club, they’d be happy to maintain it for you, and could help you get permits for controlled burns and whatnot
Have an annual music festival
Dog park!
Plant willow, hazel, and other trees that are good for coppicing.
Planting an orchard would also be a good idea. Several different species of fruit trees, a couple different varieties of apples, a few peaches, pears, plums, cherries. If there’s no local orchards in the area, there could be a good demand for less expensive fresh fruit than what the stores have. Could even supply fresh fruit to the local stores. Self pick what’s in season, or charge more if you pick.
And you’d have first choice for canning your own fresh fruit, making jams or jelly.
A large berry patch could work also. Depending on your area, self pick blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, blackberry’s.
Just have someone sit out there under a shade to collect $$ or run it on the honor system.
Wedding venue
Fruit trees.
contact your local USDA extension office …..they can help you get the most out of idle land
I would make a pond, build up a berm or something similar for some diversity. Plant native plants, and add a KuneKune pig or two, bee hive, maybe eventually start some fish in the pond, even add some perennials of things that you guys enjoy and forage them, tons of berry bushes are very hardy and grow in all types of zones, often being native to the region or very close.
You wouldn’t need much feed for the Kunes, they’re slow growers, don’t rut as bad as other hogs, they’re short snouts oftentimes means they’re not rutting super deep.
The fish would help boost the ecosystem and provide some fun / food to the mix, the pond being a source of water so the pigs wouldn’t run off too far, and the few things you plant for yourself would just be there whenever you felt the desire to actually go out there.
Source: hog farmer and this is what I’ve done with a few older folks 2-10 acre pastures that they can’t work much anymore, but still get some advantages with little effort
Fruit trees, grapes and berries and maybe even some nut trees
Use for hay?
Dirt bike track /s
How about adding a camper in case of emergency and maybe another out building for storage? Live there?
Rent it out to a farmer
Vineyard. Local wineries will buy every grape.
You could create a disc golf course if it’s an easily mowed area. Fun for a 30-40 min walk around what is clearly a beautiful piece of property! If you feel like sharing it/letting people on your home, possibly make a couple bucks. 🤷
Legacy hardwood forest( black walnut, maple, native oak…) nature will love it and your grandkids can log it off and sell for big $$
Build a barn and host weddings and events. Make alota $$$
Have you done any reading on grazing? There’s a good book called management intensive grazing. When I see pasture like that I think it would be perfect for a little paddock shift system for cows. 3-5 cows paddock the 4 acres into for one acre paddocks and then play with the schedule for rotating them.
Motocross park. Without question.
People will pay you to be allowed to take pictures in that gateway.
Food forest would be perfect for that land – plant native fruit trees, berry bushes, and perenial herbs that’ll mostly take care of themselves and provide food without the maintanence of a traditional garden.
lol if it was used for cows and is completely fenced, just put two cows on it.
Disc golf course.
Football field. lol, I did it and it’s beautiful
Mott and Bailey. Defence first, then attack when the peasants least expect it.
I would help to know what climate zone you live in. If you want to plant and forget I would recommend berry brambles around the edges, and something like Jerusalem artichoke (*Helianthus tuberosus*) that will self-propogate and can be harvest for human and animal food.
Ask the guy that cut the grass, maybe he wants to use?
Permaculture All Day!!!!!
Permaculture food forest.
Can I open a Chili’s on it?
Would you like to make money from the land? If so, how much effort are you willing to put in? That will be very good soil. It would be worth it to grow organic produce. You could also plant sunflowers for seeinvasive? Growing native flowers to sell as cut flowers is profitable if you’re in the right area.
I wouldn’t waste that good soil on hay. It’s a little small for hay anyways. If you don’t want to put to much effort in, find out what native plants could use a boost in your srea. The seeds from your land will spread around the area. To combat invasive insects is there anything you could grow that would attract insects that will kill invasives?
Grow food for your animals