Alberta: My Top Picks For Locations To Homestead

“How to Find YOUR Dream Homestead Property”

50 States:

10 Provinces:

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About Curtis Stone:

Curtis is one of the world’s most highly sought-after small farming educators. His book, The Urban Farmer, offers a new way to think about farming𑁋 one where quality of life and profitability coexist. Today, Curtis spends most of his time building his 40-acre off-grid homestead in British Columbia. He leverages his relationships with other experts to bring diverse content into the homes of gardeners and aspiring small farmers from around the world. Learn more at FromTheField.TV.

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Music and Footage commonly used on this channel:

[chinookpreparedness]

"THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO THE WOKENESS, THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO THE TYRANY" bro said the quiet part out loud!

[darknappster]

Listen to this guy! We live in peace region and it is horrible. Long summer nights, ample water, vast open areas of good arable land and not too crowded. And we want to keep it that way so stay further south please!🤣🤣🤣

[manwithbeers]

I have 2 points to add that were missed on land in Alberta.

It's important to understand that Southern Alberta (Calgary South) is completely covered by Surface Irrigation Systems. So all the Center Pivots you point out are actually pulling water from the irrigation canals in the summer and not wells. Especially the region South of Hwy 3 including the mentioned Dry areas in the East. These Canals were constructed in mid 1900's and created the Alberta Industrialized Farming Industry. The canals transport water from mountain snowpack runoff via the many reservoirs. Curtis still has a good point about large scale spraying, GMO and Economy of scale.

The second point missed is that the region from Grand Prairie in the West, spreading East, and North of Edmonton, and onward through to Lloydminster is known to have decent moisture content, robust aquifers, and the richest soil conditions in North America. (Parkland) It does have shorter growing seasons, but a few notable YouTube videos have shown that taking advantage of Solar Efficient Construction can make growing inside greenhouses economical, and even a simple hoop house can stretch the growing season nicely. Having good road infrastructure gives fast access to Edmonton as a target market for small scale or Organic Produce sales which is fairly high in demand. Larger acreages can take advantage of mixed woodland for animals such as cattle and goats perfectly. There is always wood available for heating.


Otherwise a very good synopsis of Alberta as a homestead destination. Land prices are highest in the Red zones close to cities as well as anywhere within 30 Km of the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies which is Alberta's Oceanfront Equivalent. The smaller towns are still filled with decent, friendly and resilient people. They have been declining over the past 40 years like any small town in North America but I predict a bit of a revival for a lot of them. Land and home prices are up due to Immigration into the cities and movement of city folk into rural Country Residential areas.

Pay attention to County land zoning if you are buying in Alberta. There are a lot of areas that have zoning that doesn't allow for keeping animals or for constructing multiple greenhouses. (Country Residential) anything less than 3 acres is a red flag for this issue and its growing, taking over otherwise really nice homesteading areas. Areas bordering many rivers are also being zoned for no livestock and minimal allowable agricultural land use due to very restrictive water preservation measures. (Not really a bad thing IMHO)

[spacemanspiffy]

Peace River baby!!! Which is actually under-rated for the reason of useable summer daylight hours. Im surprised were not loaded with pot growers.

[MisterDaryn]

I love rural Canada. Alberta and BC are arguably the most beautiful in the country.

[gkozak]

As a traveler and resident in Alberta for the last 12 years, anything along the foot hills of the rockies would be my go-to. People are generally in the same mindset and more capable than the average folk of living off the land

[MichaelDewar]

I just picked up half an acre in Cardston town limits. Love seeing that Green Circle you put down there haha.

[UmaidIqbal]

Please continue this series and cover the rest of the continents as well!

[Thehandysamaritan]

FYI, you mentioned muskeg has permafrost, muskeg never freezes with the exception of the surface, some cases it never freezes when covered by snow. Consider those areas a big composter, the fermentation process creates the heat preventing the frost.

[kakwabushcraft]

Good day Curtis, love your channel! It’s funny how you mentioned Slave lake. I do have an off grid property by Lesser Slave lake. And have a home in the Peace River region. You are correct about the bugs! I have been looking for more land as my off grid property is only a recreational property with a cabin on 1860 Watt of solar with a 3000 Watt inverter ( will be expanding ), filtered rain catchment, and a small garden. But nice to be close to the body of water, fishing and good hunting. I do have a YouTube channel called Kakwa Bushcraft that I have started. and working on spending more time creating this year. Taking people through the ups and downs of off grid living as you know there are a lot of trials and tribulations especially with the short grow season in this region for harvesting. Anyways if your ever in the Northern Alberta region look me up. I would love to take you Walleye fishing. Cheers! Keep the dream alive. And thank you for the encouragement!

[VicNorth]

A consideration for prairie provinces, well water quality is not suitable for irrigation and surface water is iffy from a quantity perspective. Check out Alberta well water quality reports available online. High pH (8.x), high bicarbonate, high sodium (>200), high TDS (>700, seen some >1600), and some with iron bacteria and/or sulphur bacteria. Average precip in AB is around 14 in. but check out Canada's drought monitor (online). It's been a dry time for a while. Another item which wasn't covered, hail alley, highest hail in Canada (potentially NA). Sylvan Lake area up through Red Deer in particular, but Calgary always gets nailed in the summer (enough to damage any exposed crops). Gets a bit more sporadic as you head north towards Edmonton, but still not immune. Comparing to other growing areas, on a small scale you're spending on irrigation (probably rain catchment systems with water treatment systems as backup) and crop protection (hail and severe temp "surprises"). On a large scale you are at the mercy of very volatile and inclement weather. As an example: frost free days near Calgary can swing from <80 to >115 from year to year. Another example: mid 20's (C) during the day and single digit lows overnight are a common environment (warm nights are highly unusual), so plant selection and local varieties are a must (I suppose this applies everywhere, but taking risks on this here is a true gamble!). Sidebar: RO water treatment isn't cheap and resulting water is so pure it is highly corrosive (all things plastic only!) Another sidebar: hail is bad enough that Olds is home to the weather modification air fleet sponsored by insurance companies (silver iodide dispersion), and home to the best weather radar system in the province 😁.

[norastorvik]

Am currently 6km from Pigeon Lake and completely agree with you about your video! There are properties for sale every 10km at the moment

[jacquesgagnon]

Curtis i think you are totally wrong about slave lake, i have leaved here for 31 years and the area is the best kept secret of canada!

[pattonger]

I am 20 min south of athabasca. Just love it. Top of a valley with lots of trees and two ponds.

[LarryMercredi-pp]

Im from northern alberta grew up on lake athabasca in the hamlet of FORT CHIPEWYAN most beautiful place to grow up if you love the isolation like i do

[cowboyssawmillandwoodlot]

Im glad you didn’t mention the Rocky area. Too busy here already. Thx

[kmilton]

(1) I am a small farmer (age 76) with irrigation in sw alberta: I have never once met or heard of any irrigation farm in southern alberta that "draws water from the aquifer". (2) You missed one hazard and that is airplanes spraying out a crop with "roundup". A friend had an acreage east of Pincher Creek beside hutterite land: the airplane (some call them crop duster planes) turned on the spray too fast entering over the hutterite land, and the spray killed all of the trees, bushes, and gardens on my friend's acreage. Also that spray can drift in a wind onto your adjacent property. Having to replant your vegetation and grow it to say 20 feet high can take decades.

[damageinc.]

High ground in trees in AB is typically colder with shorter grow season.

[randyvandenbroek]

Southern Alberta center pivots are NOT from ground water around lethbridge, taber etc.

[glendalivingston]

Curtis, you are generalizing about 'avoiding all areas with central pivots' because you will not have aquifer water. There is no aquifer water! The irrigation district takes from the canal system which is fed by the mountain water (Bow/Little Bow/St. Mary rivers). If you homestead in this area you will succeed only if you are connected to the irrigation system. The sunshine factor in this area is the phenomenal for growing large, productive gardens and for keeping honey bees. The 1-2 hour distance from Lethbridge or Calgary has its pros and cons. One must be very resourceful to homestead here but it is still rich with possibilities.