Is there a small farm, hobby farm, homestead community in Delaware (Delmar: sales, real estate market)

[grouse789]

I don't care for the term hobby farm, nor the preper sounding homestead. So not sure what to call it. My family have visited Delaware, and it is on again off again with a place to pursue our dream.
Three places are in the running, western NY (east aurora, hamburg area), NE Tenn. And then DE.
Wny has good soil and a thriving organic market and pension friendly, while Tenn. Has good soil depending on where you are plus no income tax as well as low taxes, but not a thriving organic market. De. has low taxes good soil(from what I hear), not sure of an organic market there, and the big plus (for me) of being coastal.
There are many many small farms in wny. Is there a growing small farm community in DE? We are looking for 5-15 acres. Have fruit trees, vegetables, chickens, goats for cheese and raw milk. This would be for ourselves primarily, and hopefully within 5 years growing it to where we can begin selling our produce.

I guess location wise SSE PA. is fourth on back burner. As well as being pension friendly for us.
Thanks for the info!

[rdlr]

Delaware is an agricultural state. That is our livelihood.
Here are a couple of links so you can familiarize yourself with Delaware. We were farm owners of a 160 parcel for many years, raising soybeans, corn, wheat, barley, and farm animals. Peach and apple orchards (farms) are plentiful here.

Here are a couple of links:
https://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/delaware.pdf

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_...ochure_web.pdf

[seanlax]

As long as you stay out of the sand hills (mostly in southern Worcester County, MD anyways) and the Cypress Swamps, the lower shore is a really productive farming region. And you can't beat being close to the beach!

Just a heads up though, the number of chicken farms around here is absolutely crazy and, in most cases, far from humane and/or organic. Sussex County raises more chickens than any other county in the US; that's a lot of birds. Combine that with the constant pressure from low-density tract developments and you have a relatively expensive rural real estate market around here. 5-15 acres of good soil might cost you $300,000-$400,000 in the middle of nowhere. That is certainly something to consider.

[grouse789]

thanks for the info guys. by not answering, you are answering something. that organic farming hasn't caught on yet. Honestly I don't care how corporations slaughter chickens. If it's legal they do it. people need to change laws regarding what is ethical and what is not ethical regarding animals.
I know we wouldn't live near the shore, probably west of 13 as land is cheaper there.
If it were just my wife and I, we would move down the Delmarva around cape charles. fishing and wAterfowling is fantastic down there , however high schools leave a lot to be desired.
Delaware is one of the least expensive places in the mid atlantic/northeast areas to live near the beaches. Not too hot not too cold.

[longneckone]

Originally Posted by grouse789

thanks for the info guys. by not answering, you are answering something. that organic farming hasn't caught on yet. Honestly I don't care how corporations slaughter chickens. If it's legal they do it. people need to change laws regarding what is ethical and what is not ethical regarding animals.
I know we wouldn't live near the shore, probably west of 13 as land is cheaper there.
If it were just my wife and I, we would move down the Delmarva around cape charles. fishing and wAterfowling is fantastic down there , however high schools leave a lot to be desired.
Delaware is one of the least expensive places in the mid atlantic/northeast areas to live near the beaches. Not too hot not too cold.

There must be an organic market .I see organic produce in the supermarkets regularly. You are certainly correct about land being cheaper west of US13.In Sussex County that is not where I would want to send my child to school.

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by grouse789

thanks for the info guys. by not answering, you are answering something. that organic farming hasn't caught on yet. Honestly I don't care how corporations slaughter chickens. If it's legal they do it. people need to change laws regarding what is ethical and what is not ethical regarding animals.
I know we wouldn't live near the shore, probably west of 13 as land is cheaper there.
If it were just my wife and I, we would move down the Delmarva around cape charles. fishing and wAterfowling is fantastic down there , however high schools leave a lot to be desired.
Delaware is one of the least expensive places in the mid atlantic/northeast areas to live near the beaches. Not too hot not too cold.

I can see you have a lot to learn about Delaware. For beginners, we don't have a "shore". We have "beaches". Ouch!

In regard to... "hobby farm, homestead community"....You probably can get that in any state.
"Organic" is more than available here in Delaware.

[nuts2uiam]

I am not able to help you re: the farming aspect but pension friendly NY (former NY'er myself) is offset by taxes, sales tax,cola, etc.
As I stated, I know nothing about farming, but I would do a financial audit of my expenses and I would be stunned if the conclusion was still NY as a viable choice.

[grouse789]

I can see you have a lot to learn about Delaware. For beginners, we don't have a "shore". We have "beaches". Ouch!

I never said I wanted to live near beaches rdlr. I said shore meaning rehoboth bay. Touché

As far as ny being more expensive, yes I agree. I live in westchester! Lol.
However, schools overall IMO and zillow stats are better in cny and wny. So it is something we would have to seriously consider if we were to look into rural De.

As far as income tax goes, my pension won't be taxed in ny saving me 6.4%
In De. I will be paying 6.6% on my pension. However as stated ny does indeed have a lot of other taxes .

At any rate, all good information to be aware of. We'll be back down at some point this spring looking around.

[NYJoe]

Originally Posted by grouse789

thanks for the info guys. by not answering, you are answering something. that organic farming hasn't caught on yet. Honestly I don't care how corporations slaughter chickens. If it's legal they do it. people need to change laws regarding what is ethical and what is not ethical regarding animals.

So how can inhumane laws be changed, if too many people like you just don't care how animals are treated, as long as present laws are obeyed?
How many slaughterhouses even bother obeying the laws we do have?

[grouse789]

So how can inhumane laws be changed, if too many people like you just don't care how animals are treated, as long as present laws are obeyed?
How many slaughterhouses even bother obeying the laws we do have?

Not quite sure how to answer that. I mean really, if you eat Purdue or Tyson you ARE supporting that industry. I don't. Ever see the size of the turkey breast in the cold cut aisle of a supermarket? How did it get so big, how on earth could it move around?
How many indeed, are you checking them? De.'s main export is chicken , change starts with grass roots. Hence organic markets, and changing how ppl view food , what it's fed, where it comes from, and even how it's treated.
Just for fun, ever wonder who the humans are who make the clothes you wear, the sneakers you run in? Ever follow that trail? It's not pretty. Things like that I am more concerned about than food animal rights. Just because I said I do not care how those corporations treat the chicken does not mean I wouldn't vote for that to change.