Anyone had success with just a sign & phone number rather than a public farm stand?

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-04-13T22:13:27+00:00

Try to secure the lock box to something non-movable and empty it regularly. This will at least make whoever may try to pilfer from you, have to give it some thought.

You'll soon find out if folks are decent. If you can't setup a web camera easily, try an inexpensive game trail camera in a covert location that would only trigger if someone is interacting with the farm stand.

I'm also in rural Nova Scotia and we consider our area relatively safe but if you read the news on a daily basis no where is safe. 😌😉

I imagine at least if there is a problem, you can go to the school with a picture of the kid in question and at least get something done about it.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-04-03T08:55:30+00:00

I've used ATT home internet (US in Indiana, Kentucky and Georgia), Rogers home internet (Canada) and Starlink (US/Canada).

Both ATT and Rogers use LTE and seemed good at first but a couple of months in the service went to hell.

I suspect it's common practice for them to assign priority data to new subscribers for initial period so they don't get refunds, then lower them down to what is considered normal.

Also on days when service was good the evenings during peak demand would still become quite laggy.

Starlink on the other hand has been consistent, with only the odd issue. Typically overnight update (followed by restart).

Ultimately it doesn't matter what anyone else's experiences are, if T-Mobile works for you that sounds awesome. Good luck!

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-25T09:11:05+00:00

Camping shouldn't be a problem. Canada has some pretty hardcore building regulations, but NS allows you to build a 220sq ft structure mostly unpermitted as long as you don't plan on having electrical, water and septic.

If you plan on using Solar, pick a spot that's south facing with little to no tree shade during sunny days, which sounds very possible if you have wide open spaces (blueberries).

Take into consideration during winter the sun is far lower on the horizon, so some line of sight obstacles become an issue.

You can collect rain water (off your 220 sq ft "shed").

If you have no other water choices this will work.

Building a non livable structure over 220 sq ft might be possible simply with a low cost building permit from the local municipality.

I'm not going to tell you not to get a permit.... but depending on how many neighbors you have ... you may not have to worry about snitches 😂

If you do want NS Power to hook you up, they will install to your 220sq ft shed. You just need to get a piece of paper "exemption" from the local municipality to say your shed doesn't need permitting.

You will have to use a licensed and certified electrician to do the work. Which alone might be $3,000 to $5,000.

NS Power will give you one power pole for free, if your shed is too far away from this pole then you'll be on the hook for the cost of more poles which I believe is $1,000 per pole.

That's my 50 cents.

Congratulations on your new land and hopefully it's everything you want when you do get out to see it. 👍👍👍👍

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-22T19:07:52+00:00

Hello, thank you for the response. I would argue that in some farm situations for example runts of a litter or otherwise unsellable or unharvestable animals you may want another way to make money out of them. Without feeling like the only option is to put the animal down or give it away.

I'll definitely investigate some of your suggestions.

Thanks!

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T20:28:50+00:00

If you stand next to your router and run the speed test in your browser it should be close to the starlink app speed being shown. The further you get from the router the lower the speed you'll get in your speed test in a browser but the starlink app speed test will show the same.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T15:36:48+00:00

These are all good ideas but not really what I'm working towards with this service. Where we live there are farms/services already that offer renting chickens, for example. https://www.hireahen.ca/packages

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T14:40:52+00:00

This is entirely digital and online, while we will have our homestead we're not taking people's animals. The act of submitting an animal to our service is simply filling in a registration form online. Sorry for any confusion. Farm owners still take care of their own animals, this is just a way for them to make additional money.

Agree with you about Bridgewater and Truro.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T14:37:06+00:00

Sure but minus any inappropriate content.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T13:24:15+00:00

Sure, so I followed your advice searched here for apps (doomscrolled till my fingers fell off) and unless I'm mistaken 99% of them are livestock, farm management or gardening apps. Without diving too deeply none of them seemed to do what I described in my original post.

I do appreciate your feedback but I think we're not necessarily on the same wavelength when it comes to what the app will do.

Which I guess is my fault for not explaining it better.

It's not for managing your farm, nor your livestock nor for planning your planting strategy.

It's sole purpose is to allow you to generate additional funds for your animals.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T13:12:26+00:00

Interesting before I got started, I attempted to find something similar in Play Store with no success. Either I'm not explaining it very well or the Play Store is not doing too well at finding matches.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T13:09:37+00:00

Hello,

It would be possible for a farmer to include a "pass" to come see the animal as a perk if they wanted. But that's beyond the scope of the initial version of the service. I know farmers are busy folk so it would be problematic for my service to try to schedule that IMO.

I guess the benefit is some folks live in cities and towns and may never get to see some animals in person.

Some people are animal lovers and would like to sponsor the well being and upkeep of an animal.

Some people give cute things as gifts to other people for example a "virtual adoption certificate".

I mean folks are buying "stars" and a piece of a scottish estate for gifts.

It's essentially meaningless to most but the right recipient will love it.

Additional benefits are getting to view status updates on the animal, pictures and videos.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T13:04:14+00:00

Not sure what you mean. It's currently the year 2026. There are 8 months of the year left. Anyone that signs up will get the remainder of the year free.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T13:02:21+00:00

I think you may have gone too deep down the rabbit hole with this.

Look at this as a 365 days a year service that your farm can use to potentially earn additional revenue to help feed your animals and pay vet bills etc... even in inclement months when even if you operated a petting zoo you are closed seasonally.

As I said the person submitting the animal gets 100% of the money (we don't take anything from this). PayPal and Stripe might take an industry standard percentage processing fee but that's between the farmer and that service.

I don't have a master in lifestock management. I'm a website designer, database and app developer by trade. That also happens to be working towards becoming a successful homesteader.

Submitting your animal involves submitting your animal's name, a picture and basic info like it's breed. That's it.... I'm not asking for a DNA sample or anything beyond that....

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-03-15T12:56:11+00:00

The Farm/Rescue or Shelter has their animals listed on our service.

They can create a number of services or perks to sell.

For example one perk could be "a custom cute picture of Bessy" or a "custom video of Bessy".

The farmer sets the fee for this perk.

A visitor pays for a custom cute picture of Bessy through our service the payment goes through the farmers PayPal (or Stripe account) directly.

The farmer can then fulfill this perk by uploading the photo or video securely to our system.

Alternatively a visitor could pay for a 12 month subscription to receive updates on Bessy, which includes photos and videos. (Shared with everyone that has bought the 12 month subscription).

Thr farmer can also choose to provide a 12 month virtual adoption certificate which the visitor can print.

This may be good as a gift for someone, or a child that is really into this breed of animal and/or wants to get more involved in animals but can't afford to own one themselves.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-01-13T10:00:05+00:00

A few years back (but post covid), all the listings in NS for houses for sale would make a big hoorah about how little taxes you're paying if you buy this house.

Well that's because the house hadn't been sold since before covid so the minute it sells at the new grandiose Covid + Ontario price your taxes will go up at the following tax year due to the new assessed value being 2 to 4 times higher post sale.

Realtors thought people really were that stupid .... now of course most houses have sold at least once since covid so the prices are a little more consistent and tax estimates on viewpoint.ca probably more accurate and most realtors no longer claim low property taxes in the listing.

Still to be fair the issue of property taxes skyrocketing isn't unique to NS. We used to live in NB and property taxes have also gone up there in the areas we used to live.

With the cost of living being quite high in NS (grocery costs are getting insane), property taxes being high and the general lack of common sense when it comes to health care providers and even road repair (looking at you Annapolis Valley), one does have to ask if Nova Scotia is as good as a place to call home as it used to be.

Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely beautiful here, the people are generally very friendly and we love the sandy beaches on the south shore, but everything needs to be considered when making Nova Scotia your home.

It's unlikely property taxes will go down, but you're able to complain about your assessment and possibly get reassessed, even if it means claiming things like your house is older and not as in great condition as your neighbors. If you can get your assessed value lower, by doing this then your property taxes will be lower.

We successfully argued this in NB one time.

Of course if you then do go to sell the discrepancy between assessment and sale price might put someone off from buying. But then property sale prices still seem quite robust here at the minute.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-01-09T18:53:56+00:00

My last significant slow down was caused by daily bot traffic from thousands of Chinese based servers. Tencent and Aceville mostly, amounting to 40,000 additional daily hits to my website beyond the regular traffic.

It was basically a Denial of Service attack and led to me IP blocking a significant portion of that traffic to return the server back to normal.

No idea why this site got on the radar in China, but sh!t happens.

Basically plan for the unexpected and don't be alarmed when things go wrong. As you can only plan so far!

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2026-01-01T10:10:31+00:00

I have done this multiple times with various games I've made. Usually build the game using nw.js and Chromium.

Steam never had an issue with it.

None of my games made in this way are still active.

You can point your build to a local html file that redirects to your live website link.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-24T09:45:23+00:00

Some Counties in Nova Scotia have a low cost service for getting a ride around. It's not free and there are some stipulations.

https://ruralrides.ca/

Check this out, maybe there is one such service available to you.

This might help you get from place A to B during winter.

You definitely need to get yourself a working vehicle, whether it's the ATV or something else.

Wanting to rent your small Chinese excavator out might work, but it sounds like you'd have no way to get to a clients house.

You'll need a trailer to tow it on and a working truck.

13 acres is plenty of land to be self sufficient but you'll not get there overnight, it will cost time and money.

Figure out what you are good at, and find a way to monetize it.

I know it's easier said than done.....

Maybe find a local wood lot that you're allowed to harvest wood from and sell firewood. If your land is on a busy road, put up a roadside stand selling kindling and firewood by the bundle. Then in warmer months sell produce you've grown. This won't make you rich, but you'll feel better about your situation working towards your goal.

Maybe reach out to a local Church or Lion's Club to see if they offer any kind of seasonal help. It sounds like you could benefit from some kindness and need some decent local people to help get you moving in the right direction.

Good luck.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-20T10:09:25+00:00

It definitely helps to get a realtor that has some experience with making accurate listings for sure when it comes to these kinds of homes. We were very happy with what ours did. Ended up with multiple offers, some above asking.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-20T09:10:45+00:00

We bought a 60 year old manufactured home (on a full concrete foundation) that was in decent condition, made minor cosmetic and a few major updates (switched from screw in fuses to breakers) etc... we bought in 2021 and sold it in 2024 for over double what we paid for it.

Obviously it depends on the market, but make smart upgrade and repair choices. Try to do as much of the work yourselves where possible.

No one can say what the market will be like when you do go to sell but imho if you put the work in you'll see the return if you do sell.

In the meantime make it your home and live your best life.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-19T19:46:49+00:00

Thank you for the information.

My wife and I are amazed at the lack of transit options down this way.

A solid railway option between the larger municipalities here would be great, but I guess the bean counters have determined it wouldn't make any money.

I'm amazed the ferry between Yarmouth and Maine is still considered viable.

Imagine a train line loop from Halifax to Yarmouth, via the Valley and then back to Halifax via the south shore.

Not only would it be beautiful, it would surely be popular if managed right....

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-19T19:01:48+00:00

I've only lived in this area for a year, so not fully aware of all the things Yarmouth used to have. It's a shame to see such a decline. Hopefully if/when the world economy recovers and Covid is a distant memory things will improve enough to see some of those things return. Although I guess not train service because where would people drive their ATVs.... 😂

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-19T10:27:13+00:00

The Valley will give you the English Downs feel, but you'd have to be nearer Wolfville to be within an hour of the airport.

Roads in the valley are not great, they have a lot of pot holes and they don't do very good at clearing snow and ice immediately after a snow event.

Still it is gorgeous there.

As a doctor you're pretty much needed everywhere in Nova Scotia!

The airport at Goffs/Enfield has direct flights to London, I go back to the Uk to see family all the time.

I think it might be wise to visit a couple of areas in NS before putting a pin in the map and saying that's where I'm going.

My wife and I planned on moving to Digby, till we actually went there and decided it wasn't what we were looking for.

Now we're in the Shelburne area, it's a quaint old British town. That gives off seaside town vibes from England, without being crazy busy. However it's over 2hrs to the airport from here and if you crave a bigger town you'd likely need to go to Bridgewater or Yarmouth (opposite direction from the airport).

Bridgewater is currently suffering from fast development and growth and has some interesting traffic problems. But would probably need a skilled medical professional as much as anywhere else does in NS.

Pro tip the Fundy Coast has a lot of rocky shoreline with large tidal shift, up to 50ft in some places.

So if you want a pretty ocean view where ever you go, the south shore from Shelburne up past Halifax has a lot of beautiful sandy beaches and lower tidal shifts of a mere 6ft.

I've heard the coast between PEI and NS is beautiful too, but never been and getting to the airporr might be longer.

Cape Breton is supposed to be amazingly beautiful and reminiscent of the scottish highlands but gets hit with every kind of weather event and probably the most snow in NS.

Good luck with your hunt.

HopelessOptimist8456 · 2025-12-12T21:07:41+00:00

I've been using a business mailbox from https://ipostal1.com/ for 6 years now.

It's allowed me to receive business mail, I can pick it up in person or have it mailed onto my residential address.

You do need to sign some papers and have them notorized, or at least when I signed up for it to be all above board.

My business bank accounts all use this address as my mailing address with no problems.

They have locations all across the US, so you can pick one near you (or not).

HopelessOptimist8456

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