2014 : Narrowing Down land Choices.
First couple steps with my father
1.5 million gallons of water.
The search narrowed to three counties: Leduc, Sturgeon and Strathcona.
Traveling to each buying a land map, and talking with each counties development officer, trying to learn the ropes of buying the land in each area.
Quickly Strathcona County was out of the running, as much as I wanted to live there, plus the future in-laws live there. There is no way I could afford the extra 25-40% hike in real estate prices, just for being in Strathcona County.
With the remaining 2, I searched MLS for all land for sale in my price range.
Marking the maps with desired locations. Calling each agent finding out about the land. After a couple days I realized Rosy Farms had to be north of Edmonton, not south. Due to Brianna wanting to start her naturopathic clinic in Fort Saskatchewan, times have since changed, still with the information I had.
Sturgeon County it was; relatively close to the city, reasonable land prices, perfect.
My friend called a dozen farms, narrowing it down to a half dozen. I had to drive to each and check out my needs and wants.
Checking out some farms by Redwater, with soil so sandy, the land would be better for building sand castles then growing haskaps.
Another farm by Legal was so hilly there is no way a harvester could drive the orchard rows. My favorite, on paper, was a perfect 80 acres just outside of Gibbons, the advertisement suggested there to be a new 500 Kilovolt towers close buy. Driving up to see the gigantic lines traveling right down the middle. No thank you.
Only 3 properties remaining. Two were a couple kilometers from each other, a 35 minute drive from Edmonton, 5 km off highway 2 on highway 37.
The first farm
76 acres, was a half km off highway 37, perfect for processing, but surrounded by neighbors, counting 15 acreages in site, and there was no water source, plus the land cost was $3,800 per acre, high price tag.
The second farm
2 kilometers north on Alberta's finest gravel roads. Few houses in sight, but the land was really flat, with a good 5 acres of wasted land due to low spots, water source would have to be dug, and time would be needed for it to fill. Most dugouts are excavated for road construction, needing road crush.
The last location was perfect
Minus, it did not meet one of my needs, no more than 40 minutes outside the city, it was 50 minutes.
However the land is at a 2% slope, perfect for having frost run though the orchard, not allowing it to settle on the haskaps. Large dug out, calculated out as 1.5 million gallons, and the soil quality was acceptable- barely. The first 6" were nice black loam, but anything under that was either hard as a rock or clay.
The best part was its price $3,000 per acre.
So what if 5 acres were wasted due to brush. Lots of Neighbors in the area, seeing it as cottage country or farming in a fish bowl. Knowing my crazy farming antics would keep everyone entertained. Happy to have found some good land.
