What are some good locations to build your homestead? The subject of where to homestead has come up from time to time in various threads, so where are good potential locations? What kind of land prices and what kind of regulations and zoning issues are there to contend with? What are the ups and downs of these locations? For those of you already doing the homesteading thing, where are you? What are the pros and cons of where you are. Did you build your home? What would you do differently if you had a second chance? Got a good water supply? What fuel do you heat with? Etc.
Hey there "evilalaskanlandbaron" - lol. Yeah, I've been reading the thread "Homesteading in the Bush" & I've read other similar threads over the years. Here are a couple posts I made in this forum in the fall of 2006. This first one is an answer to a question about where is the best place to grow your own balanced diet. This one is an answer to a question about land availability & price. Although that was a year & a half ago, similar properties/prices are still plentiful. Where am I: Central Alabama The pros & cons: Pros - the above mentioned growing conditions, access to markets for what I grow/produce, the weather doesn't aggressively try to kill me (if my heating fails, big deal, I wear a sweater or maybe a jacket), the local economy & laws are tailored to agriculture [example; within the city limits of the county seat(15 miles from here) it is legal to keep livestock(horses, cows, pigs, goats,etc)], land was (is) available with no restrictions and at low enough prices with easy, easy financing. I financed mine for the shortest possible time (ten years), worked my ass off and paid it off in five years. Cons - lots & lots of rednecks, although to be fair, some of those rednecks have been have been supporting themselves by farming around here for generations Build my home: No. I moved out here with a very small camper trailer & was starting on building a rammed earth home, when(in 1997) my two young sons suddenly, unexpectantly came to live with me & I had to make some changes in my plans. Got a gutted mobile home, fixed it up, got county water, a septic tank & a phone line installed. Differently with a second chance: Well, this is my third try at a homestead/ self supporting farm / back to the land type thing. I started getting ready by trying communes in the early to mid 1970s, bought 40 acres in Florida in 1978, seven years later that ended in divorce. Restarted in 1990 in northern Alabama, that ended after a two years by getting screwed by someone who was supposed to be a friend. And now I've been here for a little over a dozen years. At 60 years old, alone, with this all been paid for for years now, all the stuff I have growing, etc., I can't imagine starting over. I wish I had more land, just to keep as woods, more (or even some) local friends, a wife, and strangely high speed internet access. But you know, one of the things I've come to believe is that Life, the Universe and Everything ( thank you Douglas Adams) is a set of trade offs/compromises, and the trade offs I've made work for me. FOR ME. Not necessarly anyone else. Also that if there was a perfect place/situation lots of folks would move there and ruin it. Good water supply: Yes. County water system for "domestic water" and farm back up, last month 2300 gallons for $16.30. I also have a large (6' wide, 4' deep, 100' long man made pond) cistern for farm use. With the past few years drought, even with gradually changing over to drip irrigation, I've needed more & more county water. Last year the peak was 6000 gallons/month for $45.00. Fuel for heat: Electricity with propane also. After all, we'll have some nights when it gets down to 25F. BRRRRR!!!! But seriously, I am far enough south that heating isn't a big issue and far enough north of the coast that cooling isn't either. Heating & cooling cost for a YEAR is probably 5 or 6 hundred dollars, a luxury I allow myself. As I type this it is 2/14/08 10:30am CST and the temp outside is 58F and I have to go now. This week I'm starting seeds for early tomatoes and other things. I have 3 tomato seasons per year - early, mid & late. I won't start the late ones until August & I'll be harvesting them until Thanksgiving. Peace, poor_old_dad
Hi poor_old_dad, I remember reading your quoted post a wile back and it's this line that made me laugh at my own situation. Here we have an extremely short growing season with cold winters and never enough time with a job and family. The land prices where you are are very good. I'm a member of another homesteading board and have found you general area is a very doable one for a small homestead. I came from the south and the redneck factor kind of lead me west many years ago. Not to knock rednecks it's just that they seen to have more of a problem with me than I with them. We are in interior Alaska now. Our first homestead was 40 acres in Humboldt County California where our cash crop was illegal and after irradication efforts by the local LEAs stepped up the risk outwayed the freedom and I went back to work. We ended selling out at a loss because of water issues, as in springs running dry after the third drought year. Also the local pot growers weren't mom and pop hippies growing enough to smoke and feed their families anymore. Commercial operations with gun toting guards and dogs were moving in. Land in the interior can be quite reasonable. We paid $25K for our 10 acres with $3,000 down and $200/month payment. We have good road access and a half hour drive to town. If you go a bit further out you can find larger parcels for around $1000/acre to parcels rally in the bush for less. It is very common for one of the land companies or the state to sub-divide an area and offer 3 to 10 acre parcels in the $2500/acre range for a couple of grand down and low payments with absolutely no credit check or employment verification. An interesting thing here is the lower elevations, like the flatter valley bottoms where the soil is good and not rocky, are the coldest in winter. My place will be 20 to 30 degrees colder that somewhere else only 800 feet higher in elevation. The cons of interior Alaska are kind of obvious, it's freaking cold. Our growing season is short. The rule here is nothing out and unprotectd until June 1st, but last year's hard freeze on the 6th shows that rules are made to be broken. On the other side of that in our short season things grow like crazy with the near 24 hours of daylight. We get great harvests of greens like kale and chard, potatoes and carrots. Another pro to this place is the like minded people. The harshness of winter keeps out all but the dedicated. We have no chance of our area being discovered and hoards of people showing up to drive up prices and to ruin the place. We also have plenty of wild game. There are no restrictions on most of the land here that fall outside the city. Our zoning is GU-1 (general use). No building permits, no inspections and no codes to conform to. Outhouses are fine. I know in many places crapping in a hole is forbidden even on a temporary basis. I wantd to build using more alternative construction methods, but in the end used conventional framing, OSB for sheathing with a metal roof. I used some rough cut lumber we milled for the framing, but went with TJI's for the joists and rafters. We moved onto the land on the first of June with five kids, an airstream and a couple of tents. My visions of my straw bale construction went away with the realization that I only four months to have my family in a structure. We have plenty of water. We have a pond for all agricultural needs and a spring that overflows in winter for houshold use. Duing the winter months houshold water is hauled to the house in 5 gallon jugs used to fill an inside holding tank. We heat, and cook during the winter, with wood. Propane runs our refridgerator and cook stove. We burn lots of wood. Last week I pointed out to my daughter that it was 110 degrees warmer inside that out. We are off grid using solar panels and a gas generator for backup. Plenty of solar power in summer, but almost none in mid-winter. Lighting is with CFL and oil lamps. About the only thing I would do differently would be to build a smaller, single story house. Our house isn't that huge, 1800 square feet, but it was build for six kids at home. Now, without even being done with construction, three are out of the house. The upstairs has a hude cathedral ceiling and is great to see, but I spend too much effort heating all that space. peace
Hey there! Just curious if you are still homesteading it in AK. Looking to join a community there and would love to know if you can direct me to some intentional communities, permaculture communities or tribal villages with openings. Thanks so much!
