At least in my area, the fastest growing segment of agriculture is ornamental horticulture. Like anything else, it takes money to make money, it's a lot of hard work, but not without it's rewards, and you won't get rich overnight. As short as you're growing season is, there are plenty of other areas of the country with the same climate(like mine), or even worse, where industrious nurseries succeed. I suggest reading "So You Want to Start a Nursery" by Tony Avent. It's an honest introduction on what to expect and what not to. Good luck.

Have you thought of renting out your land instead of doing the crops yourself? Used to be farmers would rent for shares of the crop, now it is more common to rent the land for a flat fee.

Locally, any usable land over 5 acres is often rented out, often with farmers almost bidding to rent it.

Renting could save you having to invest in machinery or take losses with crops failing. Just an idea, to keep the land mowed and in use. You can check ideas further for your own use in developing the land. Take time and visit similar farms, get in a group of folks doing that kind of crop. Better checking can prevent missing future problems developing. Do you have markets for the crop, whether berries or shrubs. Maybe a mixed production farm, so you can spread out the labor, or just focus on one thing each time of the year.

Bob, all I can do is come up with some questions like, "are you living on the acreage now, and commuting to work?" "Are you close to large cities or towns?" "How much effort are you and your SO, (if you've got one), are willing to put in?" "How much capital, equipment and knowledge can you bring into your venture?" All of these are much more important than what can I do to make a living on 60 acres.

Now as to what you can do, the first idea that comes to mind are native or climatically native fruiting trees and shrubs. Berries and other produce can provide good returns but you must have either a ready outlet for them, such as farmer's markets, food coops, or commercial processors or be willing to make them into value added products. (You put in additional manhours and capital to make them into things that you either sell direct or through retail outlets.) Of course you can raise livestock, but the market for cattle, poultry and hogs have pretty much been taken over by large producers. If you want to get into this market you must produce a product that there is a demand for on the market. Things like free-range or organic poultry and hogs are two of them. Others include beef raised on organic feeds, with minimumal use of antibiotics, and no growth hormones. As to the idea of greenhouses, you might look into hoop houses. The principal is the same, just you use solar gain to have heat in the space, along with the heating process of decomposing manure and bedding materials. (No need to use fuels to heat the space; lowering costs, but requires the materials for composting.) Of course you can look into raising mushrooms using earth contact structures or cellars.

Then there are the non farm businesses like bed and breakfasts, service businesses that are needed, but lacking in the area, and retail businesses that market locally produced items. I hope my response will help you.

Another option, which depends heavily on available cutomers, is you-pick, either berries, fruit, flowers or veggies. BUT, you have to have a customer base within an hour, half an hour is better, and you have to be willing to be there to supervise, whenever you are open, as the honor system may not work too well. You also have to plant, maintain and generally take care of your berries, etc., as well as provide some sort of shelter and security for your cash box for you or whoever is overseeing. Equipment, if only mowers, and buckets (at cost) for the spur-of-the-moment picker who doesn't bring their own, will also be needed, and either a bathroom or porta-potty, esp. if you want to attract families with children. I have heard that providing picnic tables is NOT a good idea - between the mess and kids running around getting into things, it's a lot more trouble than it's worth.

You might be better, esp. if there is a slaughter house nearby, to grow grass-fed beef, pork or chickens, letting the customer handle the butchering. If you do it, you will need a lot more equipment and certification, which can add up to big bucks. Don't try for certified organic, at least in the beginning - it takes 5 years of not using any chemicals/antibiotics etc. to get certification, anyway. If you can combine raising hens for eggs and birds for slaughter, free-range eggs could also be a possibility. Milking goats and possibly processing that for cheese, etc. is another possibility, but which also needs careful attention to detail, cleanliness and possibly certification/inspection.

As well, where are you going to get your animals - will you be raising your own, will you be buying them in, etc., etc.? Raising young stock to be able to pasture them, if not letting mamas raise them, breeding, and the vet bills that can go with it, over-wintering, haying, storage, shelter, etc., etc., all need to be thought out and planned for.

I'm not saying you can't make a living on the land, just that you need to think things through very carefully before and while you are doing it.

Read some of Joel Salatin's books, as well as anything else you can find on grass-grazing. If you are going to do it right with cattle, you should fence off areas and move the cattle every few days, so they are always on fresh grass, and the grazed areas can recover and grow up again. Access to water, etc., needs to be carefully planned as well.

If you have good quality trees on your 30 acres of woodland, you might want to invest in a small portable lumber mill. Good quality hardwood can sometimes go for quite a bit. Poor quality trees can be culled for firewood to run a smokehouse. Smoked meats can make a good profit. Also, renting out the smokehouse to neighbors, etc.

Around here, potatoes are generally a good money-making crop. Rabbits and lamb can be decent money-makers. The rabbit processors around here always complain of not being able to get enough rabbits. Goat and sheep milk might sell well for you, also.

Don't bother with getting certified organic. It's generally a hassle and a waste of money. For food crops, I do, however, recommend getting certified kosher. It's something that's often overlooked. Many people specifically buy kosher and are willing to pay extra for it. The kosher rules are a whole lot easier to work with. They're a little more strict than certified organic in some ways, but much better for the grower in others. The Kosher rules are for the safety and healthfullness of the foods, while organic seems to care only about how the food was grown using only certain sprays, fertilizers, etc. In general, kosher food is much better for you tha certified organic. Getting a Rabbi or Vedik(sp?) to inspect your farm shouldn't cost more than $200. Rabbit meat isn't kosher, so if you were to raise rabbits, don't bother trying to get them certified.