How to start your very own small farm in 2025: a beginner guide

Here is an overview of my experience from buying 6.74 acres of rural land, to having a barn center built on it by the Amish, to navigating permits with the hopes of opening the farm this year.

Whether it’s the egg prices at the grocery store, the awareness that the food we buy is covered in pesticides, or a deeper, divine calling to get your hands dirty (don’t worry, it’s not just you), more people than ever are craving a return to a simpler life, one that sits in stark contrast to the 9-to-5, corporate monotony that has seized so many people, unaware, today.

For me, I had just completed my 9th year as a freelance writer on Fiverr, working anywhere from 6 to 14 hours per day, grinding out press releases, blogs, website content, and e-books for clients through the freelancing marketplace. It paid my bills (and then some). But after nearly a decade of sitting for the majority of the day, typing until my wrists hurt, I hit a wall.

I hit the wall so dramatically that I decided to close down my business completely. I knew if I was to entirely change how I see and navigate the world, I had to step away from the identity I had too closely clung to as a ‘boss babe’ for the majority of my 20s.

Don’t get me wrong - being a boss babe allowed me to save up the capital I needed to get started on this small farming journey. But, there are many different paths to a similar destination, which is why I will touch on all of the options available to you in this article.

It’s hard to deny that there is some kind of cosmic trend alive and well today among people young and old, craving their own land, garden, farm, and freedom. All you have to do is log onto social media and start scrolling through your feed to know that thought is top of mind. What I have learned so far on my journey is that ‘farming’ doesn’t have to look like what you think it should. For some, farming is going to be urban, convincing your building to allow you to garden on the roof or through your balcony… or proposing to the city board transforming unused alleyways into shadier gardens.

For others, it’s buying 10+ acres and going off grid. For me, it’s somewhere in the middle, having bought 6.74 acres (with a loan) relatively close to a nearby town (only 5-minutes away) and under 20-minutes away from a small city. I plan to only work/farm 2 of the acres, without a tractor, and demonstrate that the picture we all see when we hear the word ‘farming’ is changing (and it’s a good thing).

Therefore, if this resonates with you, I am going to break down how to find land, what to look for, how to get a land loan, how to find Amish contractors (or general contractors), permitting battles, and beginner purchases for farming multiple acres either solo, or with some help.

Let’s dive in!