Don't give up your dream of acreage. There are many ways and means.
No 1. Do not lease out the land as if you are not operating a farm as a business "intending" to make a profit, if only lol, you cannot register it as a business as such and therefore lose all the tax benefits which I know you understand.
No 2. We discovered yesterday that a place local to us, decided to invite people to camp out in tents for this weekend, for the first time and they were jam packed. Mind you they do have a little cafe there as well.
No 3. Keeping sheep is not a full time job as such, but of course as
@kingpin stated, things go wrong which need quick action, eg pumps conking out, water pipes breaking, sheep sometimes escape etc. But there are jobs which need doing for the sheep, worming, shearing (you can employ a shearer and helper) topping and tailing, checking for fly strike etc.
No 4. There is a group called Wwoof. Which stands for working weekends on organic farms, actually I thing it is possibly weeks?
In exchange for a certain amount of hours of labour per day, you need to provide a camping spot and meals, we have never tried this.
No 5. We used to employ overseas backpackers when we grew our currants. Some stayed in the house, some had camping gear.
We paid them piece work and they earned good money. Hubby enjoyed ogling the young German and French girls
The tales they told us of how they were exploited were awful. Most farmers actually deducted fees from their wages for accomodation in filthy dongas etc and lots of other, some creepy things. They landed up with very little.
No 6. Always buy a farm with an abundance of spring fed dams, like ours. Then you can turn your hand to many horticultural pursuits.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
Jo Jo
