Sounds good why don't you get the ball rolling? ;)

Blayne

Well, we (myself,wife and four kids)have 11 acres in central NY. and we are finishing a ag. building for temporary living. (Barn with apt./loft on top and shop on bottom.) For the last 5 months we have rented this house(moneypit) in town while we build the barn. We have lived rurally for the last 14 years or so but never have done more than living on several acres with some sort of traditional dwelling. We have read tons of info, networked with lots of people with the homesteading mindset, and live simply. I mean like grind our grains, homeschool, homebirth, home business, milk cows, large gardens, compost etc. etc. On this 11 acres, it is completely off the grid. we built a 440' drive way, and our solar set-up is hooked up and working. It's in a insulated 8x8 shed. We have 1 panel now that supplies our batteries through our inverter. It has been plenty of power for running any tools and air compressor for several hours. I have it wired and ready for the next set of solar panels as we go along, to see what is needed to live there. Our well is running off our large outdoor generator Kohler 8.5 and will get that through the inverter later. The barn/apt. will have a compost toilet. We plan to start building a log home spring 2006. We are preparing the land to do some small scale organic farming, and organizing our ideas for the layout of outbuildings, pond, horse pasture, chicken house and so on. We will initiate these ideas while we live in the barn for a while. My wife teaches workshops on homeschooling, school curriculum work & personal growth. We have had some teenagers come to help in the barn building and I think that it will become a habit, I mean kids coming to learn different things. Whether it's building, farming, homesteading, animal husbandry, woodworking and lots of fun! We have had the honor to have young individuals enter our lives in many ways. It's been very helpful meeting local farmers, guys with mills & other homesteading families. They Have been a blessing in so many ways, with their ideas, friendships and helping hands. WHEW! anyone still awake? :lol: So. I guess we fit into the self sufficiency/reliance group. If there are any questions about what we have accomplished please feel to ask. Steve L.

Thanks, I think that I spent more energy on writing those thoughts here than on most of our projects! :lol: Steve L.

Well, Gabe,
I don't know how old you are, your web site says 70, so I don't know if I am very qualified to be giving you advise. But, I will do my best. I lived in Willow Springs, NC. for 8 years. It is about 40 miles south of Raleigh on Hwy.40. I can tell you for a fact that the farmers south of Raleigh where growing watermelons,cattle,pigs,corn and the #1 item was sweet potatoes. Aside from tobacco, the soil is perfect for sweet potatoes and feed grass for cattle. I moved back to Maryland in 1998 when my mother had a stroke, but at that time land south of Raleigh, Willow Springs, Fuquay-Verina, Rawls and Angier was very inexpensive. You might have to go a little further south or east now. Stay away from Durham and Chapel Hill. That is prime land. With the way Raleigh is growing, in 20 years, land to the south will be part of the city and worth a fortune.
As far as what I would do first, I would buy as much property as you could comfortably afford. Find a cattle farmer or other farmer willing to lease the majority of your property for growing feed grass or corn or whatever. Move your trailor onto the property and let him make your payments. Farmers down there where always looking for property to lease. Work your day job and work on your web business on nights and weekends, but, DON'T LET IT INTERFERE WITH YOUR FAMILY LIFE!!!
Let your wife help you work on your web business with you. If she doesn't know how, teach her. A family working together towards the same goals has a better chance of staying together. After the land and the trailer are paid for, take a year or two to stockpile as much money as possible. Then take a year off and build your log cabin. Take one acre of your property and subdivide it nto two half acre parcels. Chose an acre as far away from where you built your house as possible. And build two more log cabins. Make them look different of course, and sell them at a huge profit. If they turn out nice that is. If not you can stil rent them out. Either way you make a decent income. Your dream home is now paid for, your land is paid for, you made a large profit on selling two homes or a steady income from two rental properties and a farmer is leasing your land. Keep an acre or two for your garden and green house. And retire, keeping your internet business if you need to. Depending on how many acres you purchase, you could always sub-divide more and build more log cabins. Now you have tons of time and tons of money to spend on your family and start your little ethenol venture, which, by the way, is super easy to produce in your back yard in a still, from garden and kitchen waste. Don't forget the explosion risk. And it is still legal to do in North Carolina, unless they changed the laws in the last 7 years. Don't rush things. All of this could happen in the next 5 to 10 years. Don't forget to keep your family by your side and active in all of this.

Good Luck, Morpheus62

Hi Steve,

What a great topic I am enjoying reading all the posts. As for myself -

Current Dream: (apart from getting to the course) To move to the states and buy land in either Alaska possibly around Fairbanks or Minnesotta and build my own home. As I currently live in Perth Australia and only have 4 dogs but would like to have 20, this is pretty big. I am a dual national citizen so no problems with visa's etc.

Inspiration: My sport of choice is dogsledding and I participate socially over here and have entered a few very small competative races. I came over to the states a couple of years ago and was very blessed to stay with some good friends of mine and their dogs, to camp out with a multitude of mushers and their teams of Inuits, Mal's and Alaskans. I also got to attend the Alaskan Mushers Symposium in Fairbanks. I got to meet so many mushers of varing skills, abilities and achievements including the current champ. This of course has given me the idea to push the dream a little further and try living in the states to work dogs in snow myself. Of course having a dog team requires land of the size that neighbours are not likely to complain about noise etc and councils will allow, with good acess to training grounds. When I started real estate searching I kept coming across log cabins and then found this site.

Plans:
1. Attend the course
2. Prepare a full cost analaysis of the move, purchase prices for house/materials, land etc plus 3mths income on arrival and routine expenses in setting up a new house.
3. Locate and purchase land, materials / house. Requirements - Area where dogs are allowed in large numbers, suitable size land and layout for dogs and training areas, proximity to training trails, proximity to shops and employment,. Not so fussy on house, just needs to have a floor thats easy to vaccuum / mop away dog fur, is warm in winter and has a good kitchen incase I get visitors. Probably 2-3 bedrooms is fine. Initially may just have 1. Would like to have or start veggie garden so may need to build a sun room. The kennel area will also need some roofed sections for shelter I have some ides for indoor/outdoor kennel styles with runs, I prefer these to the chain style.
4. Income - Good thing there seem to be lots of Jobs I can do in Alaska. Gain job prior to moving.
5. Vaccinations for the Dogs and I.
6. Move - Trying to cull my belongings at the moment! Also working out the best method per cost of by sea, plane or spliting myself and dogs for the journey - my least fave option.
7. Either rent a house while building or move straight in - Depends on outcome of 3. May also move into smaller place on property while building. Buy a car.
8. Do a course on extreme cold survival / camping etc
9. Join a mushing club and make new social connections in the area through various other clubs and sports.
10. Get more dogs! Although I have handled over 3000 in the last 2 years and assisted 70 in finding new homes I think my maximum would be 20. This includes old and pups, plus working dogs. So far I have kept every dog thats come to me till it's death. I lost my 17yr old that I had from 6 weeks just before Xmas. The four I have now are 14-Malamute,10-DaneXMastiff,and two 4yr olds-MalxSibe and Irish TerrierxBorder Collie.

Ideas: A lot of ideas are coming from pictures and forums on this site, the Grass Roots and Earth Gardner Magazines and Sleddog central. It would be great though if anyone is/has been already in Alaska or the cold parts of Minnesotta and can give me more because I'm sure using solar power and compost toilets in Australia on a regular day are not as challenging as in a blizzard etc.

:)
Kimberley

ps Thanks to the person who posted about Anderson etc I checked it out but they have already given away those blocks. I think it would have been a great opportunity.

Thanks Shannon,
Will email you soon
:)
K

Wow! It's one thing to say it, but it's a whole other thing to do it. Way to go on the big leap. I'll say you're tougher than me. I can't take those long, cold Winters!

Only a stink with the undocumented ones who are willing to work for a few bucks a day, taking jobs that would otherwise be filled by citizens, don't pay taxes, put a drain on our educational and health care systems, and send money back to their own country, further eroding the economy. Don't get me wrong. Anyone coming here legally, I welcome with open arms. But what I really can't stand is the media portraying the evil INS coming in and destroying families and, as they always like to say, ". . . treated us like criminals."

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck . . . . . .

(I know this is off-subject and slated for Ellsworth's smack-down, but it poked a nerve)

I'm curious because there is so much stink here these days about foreigners coming to live here, it's become such a political hot point.

Only a stink with the undocumented ones who are willing to work for a few bucks a day, taking jobs that would otherwise be filled by citizens, don't pay taxes, put a drain on our educational and health care systems, and send money back to their own country, further eroding the economy. Don't get me wrong. Anyone coming here legally, I welcome with open arms. But what I really can't stand is the media portraying the evil INS coming in and destroying families and, as they always like to say, ". . . treated us like criminals."

its funny, I keep remembering the native americans complaining about that too, something about "manifest destiny" or something.....I cant remember, it was over 300 years ago.....

I just wanted to know how she did it because I was interested in some properties in Canada and Mexico and wasn't sure how people crossed borders to live and purchase land. I wasn't going to reply to the hot point because I'm just not interested in discussing that stuff when someone has to take stuff out of context and go all ape over it. I realized again today after looking at the recent post list that some people thrive on conflict regardless of the previous tone of a discussion.

People cross borders all over the world. Alot of Americans are going to Costa Rica. I just wanna know how.

Frances

OK, I really like how this thread started out, so I'll put it back on track!

Here are our dreams & goals:

1. work weekends to build 14x14 shed (with loft for sleeping & room to store tools & supplies)

2. continue working weekends to build a full size home on our property

3. have kid(s), (I'm 37, wish me luck)

4. sell our house in suburbia and take the equity & run!

5. build a 2nd house on an adjacent lot to our property, hopefully make a large profit :)

6. retire & raise our kids full time (or build a 3rd house if necessary & wash, rinse, repeat)

Doesn't that sound great? Now I hope We can just do it all. Step 1 is well on it's way. We just finished peeling all the logs yesterday for our tool shed. Next week we will start building the pier forms and get cement! We have some rebar already, and will collect a few more materials along the way.

2 cents :)

PS-- seriously thinking about putting step 4 before step 2, but just got our first basement quote for the first house and it's way high.... may have to work longer... dammit!!! Definitely going to get a couple more quotes...!!