What is the coolest thing you own?

[TexasHusker]

We own three farms. Started out in 1990 and we bought 100 acres that has been in the family for over 100 years. Since then we've added another 60 adjoining acres to it in several purchases. Only about 15 acres of this ground is tillable farm land, the balance is in woodlands, and wildlife habitat much of which I've planted. Have planted over 40,000 trees and 60 acres of native prairie grasses and misc. habitat. Also dug two fish ponds and there are a couple marshes.

Down the road about a mile we picked up another 70 acres. 35 Acres is tillable farmland and the balance is woodlands a small stream and marsh.

Also have 132 acres in southern Illinois, 62 acres of which is farm ground. The remainder is woodlands and wildlife habitat and there are three fish ponds and a stream though this place. Also have a nice cabin there as we spend a lot of time there hunting and fishing.
It's a great getaway five hours from home with no cell service, no close neighbors, no cable TV, etc.

Was always self employed with a couple partners and invested in the 401k towards retirement, but I've never been 100% crazy about betting everything on the stock market, counting on others to invest my money and get me a return. Farm ground is a good way to preserve cash, it can always be sold pretty easily, it generally increases in value, it kicks off some annual income, taxes are low, and annual upkeep expenses can be very minimal. I'm an avid outdoorsman so that is a big plus too, we hunt; deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrel and waterfowl which are all good eating, also pick mushrooms and berries and harvest firewood to supplement heating.

When you live on a farm, you never get bored, as there are always projects that need to be taken care of, work to be done. I really enjoy the physical labor and playing around on machinery, it's relaxing compared to running a business and dealing with all of the people problems, etc.

Do you farm the land? If so, what do you look for in yield-to-price ratio? Sounds like it’s more recreational use.

[james.hendrickson]

We own three farms. Started out in 1990 and we bought 100 acres that has been in the family for over 100 years. Since then we've added another 60 adjoining acres to it in several purchases. Only about 15 acres of this ground is tillable farm land, the balance is in woodlands, and wildlife habitat much of which I've planted. Have planted over 40,000 trees and 60 acres of native prairie grasses and misc. habitat. Also dug two fish ponds and there are a couple marshes.

Down the road about a mile we picked up another 70 acres. 35 Acres is tillable farmland and the balance is woodlands a small stream and marsh.

Also have 132 acres in southern Illinois, 62 acres of which is farm ground. The remainder is woodlands and wildlife habitat and there are three fish ponds and a stream though this place. Also have a nice cabin there as we spend a lot of time there hunting and fishing.
It's a great getaway five hours from home with no cell service, no close neighbors, no cable TV, etc.

Was always self employed with a couple partners and invested in the 401k towards retirement, but I've never been 100% crazy about betting everything on the stock market, counting on others to invest my money and get me a return. Farm ground is a good way to preserve cash, it can always be sold pretty easily, it generally increases in value, it kicks off some annual income, taxes are low, and annual upkeep expenses can be very minimal. I'm an avid outdoorsman so that is a big plus too, we hunt; deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrel and waterfowl which are all good eating, also pick mushrooms and berries and harvest firewood to supplement heating.

When you live on a farm, you never get bored, as there are always projects that need to be taken care of, work to be done. I really enjoy the physical labor and playing around on machinery, it's relaxing compared to running a business and dealing with all of the people problems, etc.

Fishindude - that sounds really, really great. Planting all those trees must have been terrific exercise.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I may have jinx'd myself because my ebike broke, F@%&.

[Fishindude77]

Do you farm the land? If so, what do you look for in yield-to-price ratio? Sounds like its more recreational use.

No, we cash rent the tillable to local farmers. Rental price per acre is based on yields for sure; corn, beans, or tons of hay. You need some local knowledge in this area so you don;t get screwed on your rental rate or get billed for things you assumed your farmer would cover.
Also have a good bit of the ground in federal CRP and similar programs which produces some good income, some of which pays better than farming. Feels pretty good to get a check from the feds, considering how much we've paid them over the years.
We've logged a couple times also which nets a nice chunk of change.

Long term appreciation is also a factor to consider. Bought the first 100 for $75k (market price at the time) and could easily sell now for $4-500k.
We certainly do enjoy the recreation opportunities as well, and sharing those with friends and family.


Fishindude - that sounds really, really great. Planting all those trees must have been terrific exercise.
It's really not a big deal to plant a couple hundred per day with nothing more than a shovel. The times where we planted thousands at a time we used a mechanical tree planter on back of a tractor. You can plant close to 1000 per hour with one of these rigs and a little help.

[Milly]

Homemade log furniture.

My in laws make log furniture and railing. We made our bed and our ginormous dresser. Probably the coolest piece we have though is our log crib. It's similar to this one, but with a better latch, a little taller so you don't have to bend down in, but with detachable legs so it can be short for a toddler bed once you take off the hinged portion. The back wood is also arched instead of a straight line. So pretty. We also have a toddler sized bunk bed (toddler sized mattresses and the top bunk is only chest height) as well as a normal twin sized bunk bed.

We started having kids at the same time as some of my husband's oldest siblings stopped, so we got some good hand me down furniture.

[ua_guy]

Last year DH and I bought our first motorhome. It was the perfect solution for Dh and I because we love to camp, wheel, and take our dog everywhere. We did something like 45 nights in it last year including the 9-day trip we took to drive across the country when we moved for work. Small wins- we were also able to flatbed-tow my pickup behind it, which saved us over $2k in shipping costs. We've enjoyed our trips so much.

We're in Minneapolis now and it sucks having to store the thing over Winter. I'm itching to get out!! So we started planning a 12-day trip down to Moab in April, going to tow the Jeep down to play in red rock country, and hit a couple of destination stops along the way and meet up with friends. And we're trying to do a quick trip in March locally as a shakedown run, make sure everything is up to the task of hauling across the country and back.

[myrdale]

This past fall I purchased a couple of bee hives. No bees yet though. They are on order for the end of March!

[creditcardfree]

This past fall I purchased a couple of bee hives. No bees yet though. They are on order for the end of March!

Oh how exciting! I think this is something I want to have in retirement. Much research to do!

[rennigade]

Hmm...probably an 1885 penny farthing (big wheel bike.)

[kork13]

This past fall I purchased a couple of bee hives. No bees yet though. They are on order for the end of March!

That's awesome. Hopefully you've done some extensive research, or spoken to an experienced beekeeper for how to get started. My understanding is that getting the hive started with a new queen can be a challenge initially. Alot of work to manage them sometimes, but the payoff of incredible! Our secretary has 5 hives, and they produce gallons of honey over the course of the year! She'll sell us their excess, and it's wonderful.

[myrdale]

That's awesome. Hopefully you've done some extensive research, or spoken to an experienced beekeeper for how to get started.

I joined a local bee club this past fall.

I am starting with out drawn comb, only blank foundation. That will be a challenge, but watching YouTube videos, they can have it partly drawn out within a couple of weeks.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

1001 folded cranes i folded and put into a picture frame for my wedding. My husband gets a kick since the idea behind it was to teach the wife patience in a marriage and he tells everyone i learned nothing from it. Probably true.