5 acres in Illinois

[vrman]

Anyone got any ideas what to do with 5 acres? Currently it is full of trees. About 43 dead ash trees which I'll be cutting down, and it has some apple trees. Only a few of those are still viable. A couple black walnut trees, which I still don't know how the heck you open those **** things. :confused2: Everything else is mostly just maples and pines.
I have a little garden by the house. The house and garages are situated about the middle of the property. The front yard has the septic on one side of the driveway. So I know I can't do much there. I can throw up a link to an overhead picture if you think that would help.

I'd like to do something to bring in a little extra income on the side. I thought about maybe renting out garden plots. Or maybe growing hay or something. Not sure how profitable that stuff is though. Just looking for ideas that others may have done. I don't think I would be against putting in a pond somewhere too maybe.

I don't know, I guess I'm open to anything! :scratchchin:

 

[Western]

I would forget hay, 5 acres isn't much and you'd have to clear it of to be viable. I would weight the value of a crop against the loss of trees if that is important to you (privacy)

I think I would look at specialty items to grow in a greenhouse maybe, like some kind of berry or other plant that is high $$/demand in your area. You may also research growing Genseng . Here is a place to start, but do a Google search on the $$ you could make.
Ginseng Regs

 

[dave1949]

With the price of groceries, some fish raised in a pond would be worth something to you without selling anything. If you like fish.

Same with chickens or ducks. Both are low investment, low risk, food sources. And a good garden is like getting paid too.

 

[smstonypoint]

There have been numerous TBN threads from members seeking to generate income on small acreages. Forget trying to produce a commodity (including hay) if you expect to cover your variable costs.

Specialty crops might work, but these are labor- and management-intensive and require access to suitable markets and savvy marketing.

Here are some specialty crop budgets from Iowa State https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/pdf/a1-17.pdf. These budgets indicate the potential of profitable small-scale production, but see the following disclaimer:

"Note the budgets include receipts as well as costs through harvest and handling. Marketing and/or transaction costs have been excluded. Marketing costs vary tremendously based on whether products are distributed through a community supported agriculture share, wholesaler or direct through a farmers market or other outlet. For this reason, they have not been included in the budgets. Marketing costs should,however, be included to determine crop profitability because, in some cases, costs can shift annual returns from a positive to a negative number."

Steve

 

[forgeblast]

Could look at aquaponics, or you pick berries. Or if the site is right for ginseng you could do a forest planting.

 

[dmccarty]

What Steve said.

Are you sure the apple trees cannot be saved? You might want to talk with your extension office for more information. Do you know what apples the trees are producing? There are many heritage apples that are disappearing. If these are very old trees they might be valuable from a genetic standpoint. If the trees are truly to old to save cuttings, from the tree could be taken and used on root stock.

Later,
Dan

 

[smstonypoint]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is an extension office?

For you, it would be the University of Illinois Extension Office. You can find the location and contact info for the office in your county here: University of Illinois Extension.

Steve

 

[vrman]

Here is an overhead of my property:
5 acres

Lots of "soft" maples.

 

[Western]

You should "analyze The infrastructure" of your property, you may decide to keep most of those better trees Of course, I would'nt expect you to know anything about "infrastructure analyzing"

Joking aside, I would still look strongly at Ginseng, same as I posted in my 1st reply. Me personally it would be that and maybe some greenhouse high dollar plant/berry or expensive hard to find produce. If Ginseng wold grow in Texas, my place would be covered in it.

 

[dave1949]

Are the black walnut nut meats good? I mean not wormy or whatever.

If so, maybe you could sell those if you take the husks off. I know that can be a sticky and hard job, must be a relatively easy way though.

 

[forgeblast]

You could look at permiculture. You have areas where you have shade and sun and just match the plants for those areas. You could do all edibles when you plant, eg hazelnuts, blueberry's, etc... The maples if you ever want to tap later on you could make syrup from them.