The "low fruit" is gone, but the area still has some good deals especially when compared to most parts of CA.   

My grandparents had no problem picking fruit, nuts, vegetables, etc... to make a living.

. #1 food producer. 75% of all food consumed passed thru my warehouse at at least 1 stage, be it raw in form of flour or grain, or mid cycle like the granola batch's or the sugar.

If he is well-informed and he thinks it will sell at a premium to the sum of liens then I guess he would probably stand to come out ahead if he let it go to auction from a raw dollars standpoint.

If she looked at you and thought, "man, he's really working himself to the bone," she wouldn't feel like she's getting a raw deal here. 

Been pondering the idea of buying up some land with the intention of having chickens, goats, etc while also growing some sort of fruits, and ideally the land has some timber I can sell for a few grand.

Much like the rest of the country, Chicagoland areas have been sucked dry of the low hanging fruit......

Theoretically, one can syndicate any type of real estate project, be it debt, equity, raw land, or even single-family residential property.

Does anyone how to 'give up' a few acres of raw land?   

There are a lot of reasons why people fail in this business -- and they are the same reasons that people fail in other businesses:- They didn't know enough going in- They were under-capitalized- They didn't have a plan (or at least not a realistic one)- They didn't execute well- They didn't devote enough time/energy to the business- They weren't detail oriented enough- They didn't manage well- Etc...Real estate is no different than any other businesses -- some people approach it correctly and do well; other people treat it lightly or don't have the raw skills necessary to be sucessful -- and fail.