Everything to Know About Starting a Hobby Farm in Ontario

Dreaming of gathering fresh eggs each morning, growing your own produce, or raising a few animals on your land? As the primary rural real estate agents in Guelph, we’ve got insider tips for starting a hobby farm in Ontario.

What is a Hobby Farm?

What is a Hobby Farm?

A hobby farm is a small-scale farm ranging from 2 to 10 acres, and cultivated with self-sufficiency in mind. Hobby farms tend to house fewer animals than larger-scale operations. The most common animals are bees, free-run chickens, and the occasional large animal livestock. You will notice that regular farms, whether for personal use or agricultural business purposes, house larger animals (Cows, Sheep, Horses, Pigs) whereas hobby-farms are the smaller orientation of rural farming. In many cases, activities are more leisurely on hobby farms, with tasks such as gardening and tree planting vs turning over-crops and harvesting (which are common on larger farms). Altogether, a hobby farm is perfect for buyers looking for a little more land, freedom, and self-sufficiency without the heavy responsibility of a larger-scale farm property.

If you are moving out of the city or the larger part of the GTA, focus on finding a property with enough land and house to create a hobby farm. In Wellington Country, there are many plots of vacant land and existing farm-style homes for sale that host great potential for a future hobby farm. If you go into the home search process with an open mind, seeing the potential of a property as your future hobby farm, it will broaden your search, exposing you to more properties.

Capstone is here to help you refine your needs. With over 70 years of experience in rural real estate and a portfolio of over 175 rural transactions across Wellington Country, we are confident we can help you find the hobby farm you’re dreaming of.

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Who Are Hobby Farms Ideal For?

Owning a hobby farm is ideal for those who desire to run a small-scale farming operation without the demands of commercialized farm work. Often these are young families, multigenerational families living together, and retirees.

Young Families

For those who want to provide their kids with a traditional upbringing and situate themselves in a rural setting, away from the chaos of city life. The beauty of Wellington County is the ability to own and care for land in a rural setting while remaining just minutes outside of Guelph. For example, if you want to see the stark contrast of farm to city, follow Woodlawn Rd in Guelph until you turn right onto Elmira Road N/ Wellington Rd 86 and see how the city landscape turns into a rural escape within a matter of minutes. Many of our clients with young families who are moving from the Suburbs of Guelph, or from the crowded streets of Toronto, enjoy the luxury of country living while their kids attend schools in Guelph alongside their friends.

Multigenerational Living Situations

Allows for budget-friendly living, enabling parents and grandparents to live together with their children. Offers a unique lifestyle that typically enables a slower pace and appeals to the peace and quiet of farm living, balanced with the sense of purpose and self-fulfillment it can provide. Once you begin your home search, you will be pleased to see that many 2-storey homes and bungalows on the outskirts of Guelph have basements which are either legal basement apartments or offer an entirely separate living space.

Newly Retirees

For those stepping away from the inner-city due to retirement or the craving for a different kind of lifestyle, hobby farming will provide you with just that. With plenty to do to keep you busy and feel rewarded for your work, owning and operating a hobby farm makes sense for those still chasing a get-up-and-go lifestyle in retirement. Imagine introducing the simplicities of life to your grandkids, from backyard lawnmower rides to collecting chicken eggs and playing tag around the front yard… farms are places where kids can embrace an organic life. When we begin working with you, we don’t just think about what you are looking for now; we ask you questions about where you see yourself in the next five-ten years. From there, we can determine the best living situation for you and your family.

Looking for more farm-related real estate resources? Check out these blogs next!

What to Look For When Buying a Hobby Farm?

So now, you might be feeling even more drawn to the idea of owning and operating your hobby farm! Let’s go over some of the key ways to look for the perfect property to call home. What to look for:

Size of Land

Normally, a hobby farm does not require a large amount of land because of its use. In most cases, anywhere within a 2-10-acre range will work if you are contemplating owning and housing animals in smaller pens. This range of land will also allow for a small barn/ drive shed/ pen.

However, we will also consider your future plans during your house hunt. If you are thinking about having kids, or maybe anticipating having grand-babies around, potentially wanting to have ADU’s, an in-law suite or a guest house… these are all important factors to consider along the way. More to that, you will also want to consider how many animals you intend to home and the amount of space they will require. This will be easy for small animals such as chickens or bees, but more challenging for larger farm animals like horses and cows, which require stalls and grasslands/pastures.

Maybe you will fall in love with farming and decide to start a business based on this passion, such as horse training and boarding, a small dairy operation, maple syrup production, or a commercial garden. It may be hard to anticipate these lifestyle changes, but they are important to evaluate regardless of your current plans.

Soil Quality & Drainage

Soil quality will be key if you are considering gardening as a part of your hobby farm or even using the land to cultivate crops. Drainage will also be an important factor for farms housing gardening facilities, used for small-scale crops (tree planting) or animal pens.

Note: Work With a Rural Real Estate Expert

Soil quality is just one of the intricacies that requires the experience of a rural specialized Real Estate Agent. Many properties along the Grand River in Wellington County will be subject to the GRCA’s restrictions. The GRCA regulates the land alongside the river, placing limitations on what can and cannot be developed, used, and built on.

Why is this important for you?– Let’s say you hire a family friend who has recently gotten their Real Estate License as your agent, they have never sold or bought a rural property, but assure you that they will guide you through the process.

After they have taken you to see a couple of properties, you determine you are interested in an exclusive listing in Wellington because you love the riverside views from the back porch. You plan to add an extension to the back of the home and build a small driveshed at the bottom of the hill near the riverside, to store your outdoor gear and kayaks. After your offer has been accepted, you are informed by a neighbour that no buildings are permitted on the land near the river because it is protected under the GRCA.

This is one example of a mistake that can occur when you choose to work with an agent who lacks the experience or expertise to properly protect you. Do yourself a favour in the long run and hire an agent who deals regularly in Rural Real Estate.

Existing Structures

More than just what exists, you will want to think about what could exist. If there are already auxiliary buildings on your farm, you may want to renovate or expand them for different uses. Other plans might include tearing them down to maximize your farmland or reimagining them differently. On the contrary, if the structures are in good, solid condition, then using them for rentable storage or for your own machinery and toys may be the best use. Regardless, it’s important to assess what’s already standing and consult with your Realtor to determine whether building on the property is permitted.

Proximity to Water & Electricity

If you plan to house animals on your hobby farm, you will want to consider how close your utilities are.

Water and electricity will undoubtedly be the most important considerations for raising and housing animals of various kinds. Your water source will also have to be steady and safe to drink, which means that if your water is drawn from a well, it must be free of harmful bacteria. Well water checks are important for rural properties because they determine whether the well has been properly maintained and regularly tested for bacteria and other buildup.

In many cases, a rural Real Estate professional will have a well inspected if they are suspicious of its current or future condition. The seller will then have a bacterial analysis conducted at a water facility, where the water will be sampled for any impurities.

Legal & Regulatory Considerations

These will all be the kinds of questions you will want to ask your Realtor as you are hunting for your forever farm:

What are the bylaws in the area surrounding farming?
What are the zoning restrictions and or any future zoning proposals?
Hobby farm property tax classifications, and how is this going to affect me on a yearly basis?
Are there any livestock limits for that region?
What are the conditions of the current utilities (water, heat, AC/cooling, hydro, etc)

An experienced agent, on the other hand, will answer these questions before they are asked. At Capstone, we have done over 175 rural sales across Wellington County, compared to the average local agent, who has closed 3 rural deals total. With this experience comes an unmatched level of expertise. When we walk our buyers around a property, we are keen to notice all of the warning signs, current issues and things to keep an eye on down the road.

Now let’s go over what starting a hobby farm looks like for most people…here are some of the most common features:

Chickens
Raised gardens and small-scale greenhouses
Small herd of goats or sheep
Fruit and vegetable gardens for the purpose of self-sufficiency
Small at-home businesses
Lavender and herb farming
Pumpkin farm
Sunflower farms
Small corn crop farming
Pinetree farming
Highland Cow Farms

Thinking about buying a home? Check out these related blogs next!

Budgeting For Your Farm

Think about the initial setup when starting a farm, and begin planning what you need to add and/or change to ensure it works for your lifestyle and wish list. However, we will remind you that it isn’t just about the initial costs– it’s about ongoing maintenance. Something you will quickly learn in your time farming is that there will be small, unexpected costs popping up along the way. The same applies to older farm homes, which will have predictable costs over time.

There is something beautiful about adopting a farming lifestyle that remains so different from the builder-curated homes in the inner city. Our mission as a rural real estate team is to help you find the home that feels right for you.

Depending on the size of the property you purchase, equipment may become another major cost factor– common equipment used for property maintenance includes a sit-down lawn mower, a quality snowblower or small tractor to clear the driveway areas and in some cases… a four-wheeler or designated farm vehicle used for transporting materials back and forth.

Making Local Connections

Rural areas are often among the most tight-knit communities, with families having been part of them for many generations. The small-town feel will allow you to make close connections with neighbouring homes. Often, farmers and property owners are more than willing to help another neighbour out because they have encountered a similar issue at somepoint themselves.

Bonding with locals through the land, food, and lifestyle will help you feel all the more at home. A great way to do this is to join community efforts– events such as town hall meetings, going for Sunday morning brunch at your local restaurant, heading over to your local weekend market in the morning, or visiting a neighbour’s produce stand and making the introduction.

For example, if you decided to buy a farm property in St Jacobs, Ontario, you might consider popping into Harvest Moon (the local family restaurant) from time to time, getting to know some of the employees working at local businesses downtown, attending a church service in your community or partaking in community clubs and committees.

Getting Started

Now the biggest takeaway is that, contrary to what you might think, you do not have to be an expert to understand the ins and outs of starting a hobby farm; you just need to hire one to ensure your best interests are protected! The best thing you can do is go into things with an open mind and give yourself enough time to decide if this is the right move for you.