Help in finding land to and families to homestead on!!

[moon mountain mama]

Haha, I mean help in finding land and families to homestead with.

Hi all, we currenlty live in the Catskills of NY and would like to relocate. We are renting now a beautiful 40 acres in the woods but we must be out in 20 days!!!! Our well got polluted somehow and my son and I ended up with giardia, fixed the well,put filters in and now the landlord wants us out. So.......its ok because we are ready, just don't have a place to go.
We have solar pannels, a yurt, a loving tight family, and the know how to do it, completely sustainable and off grid.
I was wondering if any of you know or have any leads of land to buy, rent, owner finance or families like you who would like to buy acreage together. It seems that with more resources you can get a larger piece of land for less money than smaller tracts, its like buying in bulk.
Anyways, Our ideal place would be mountainous, good growing season, running year long stream, farming/gardening area.
And very importantly around or with like minded folks who are also into similar lifestyle, home birhting, homeschooling, bio-dynamic organic farming, natural and environmental and into creating a sustainable homestead.
I dream of finding another family or two who would like to buy land or already has land and be able to support one another with building home, childcare, schooling, gardening, preserving and storing harvest, etc.
We have been looking in Maine, Kentucky, North Carolina, Vermont.
Any advice, help, or leads, would be appreciated, or you can also pm me and we can talk.
Thank You!!!!

[writteninkursive]

My bad... no advice. I'm in the same boat as you.

[Ambystoma]

We're looking into doing something similar (yurt as well!) so I'm sorta stalking this board now. We may be locating to Wyoming for DH's work, and if I find out answers to your qs regarding other crunchy folks, I'll let you know. And hey, you could always come hang out with me

I lived in NC for many years, and Western NC (Boone area) is awesome and I would consider living off-grid there. HB MWs are currently illegal there, however, but everything else is easy enough to find.

[Mommy2Austin]

Our dream would be to have a group of likeminded people to live near/with. We're looking at land in TN because there are very lax/none existant building codes/regulations so we can build to suit. We want to build a sandbag home although we've though about yurts as well.

[moon mountain mama]

Mommy2Austin
We did look at some land in Tennessee, it is very beautiful and can be cheap. The property we looked at was completely over run by ticks though. Chickens and bird predators can take care of most of that problem.
Its just a matter of finding a community with like minded people. I would imagine that if you were to find area near Summertown TN where The Farm community is there would be plenty of folks.
For us, I think we would like someplace a little more mountainous.

Ambystoma
Wyoming is beautiful!!! The more you move out west the less water there is from what I can tell and water is a big issue, clean drinkable water, water for home and gardening.
In NC midwives are illegal? I know they are in KY which really started me changing my mind about KY. I don't think we will need another midwife seeing as we have 3 children and I think I could pretty much do it on my own now, hehe. But, there's the matter of being around like minded folks. In a state where homebirth is accepted and regular practiced, I would think there would be a lot more people into that there.
Is Boone area around Asheville? Because I really do love that area and know that there are a lot of folks like us there. Wouldn't want to be by the city but maybe some outlying areas would be good.

Yurt living is great!! We would like to live in our yurt plus a trailer/schoolbus or somehting of the sort attached for more living space. We have mama, papa, grandma, and 3 little ones. Eventually, we will be working on a more permanent structure of an earth bermed home. We're definately into earth rammed homes. We took a class with Rob Roy a couple years back on cordwood homes. So, it will probably be some beautiful combination of sustainable design.

If any of you are interested in buying land or even have land and would like to have the help and friendship of a great family who is environemntally minded, hardworking, simple, homeschooling PM me.
My husband is a green energy contractor and cosultant. He helps families design and maintain systems to be sustainable and lower their carbon footprint. I was a school teacher in my former career but now am a home mama, creating a beautifully artistic nature driven, good food based on a lot of nourishing traditions ideas leaning towards the more vegetarian side of it though,

Lets try to keep this thread going for a little while. Maybe collectively we can come up with some great locations that would be perfect for sustainable living.
I should share with you our criteria so far.
Mountains, year long running stream, magical woods, places for gardening, the ability to earth berm, not too close to a coast line, elevation preferably 800+, surrounded by wild or national parks especially if the land does not have much acreage, a minimum of 10 acres, good people.

There's probably a lot more criteria there but thats the basics.

[moon mountain mama]

Ambystome, thats sweet of you to offer to hang out.
As I was falling asleep last night I had the oil spill on my mind, the destruction it was creating and thinking about how it is not BP fault or Obamas fault. It is our fault, we created this spill, we are the consumers who need all of this oil. How can we fix this problem? Then I fell asleep dreaming of a group of people who had land and helped other's learn how to get off oil, teach traditional living skills and also helping each other actually achieve this by having land, resources, etc.
Don't know how to accomplish this, but.....this is what we need. We need alternatives, not just a solar array but a whole alternative lifestyle and funding or aid to help achieve this.
If people can't see that there is a better way, they will never know.

[wahm]

You might want to post this on the Homesteading Today forum.

A friend of mine is trying to start an eco village based on the principles of The Ringing Cedars series. It is called Verdica Settlement. You can look at the info here: http://www.vedricasettlement.wordpress.com. They have 10 acre parcels.

I, too, believe that we can, actually must, overcome our oil dependence. I have done much research into alternatives. Solar panels are still too expensive. I could build a "bread box" solar water heater, but would prefer one on the roof. I live in PA and don't know if our winters will allow for solar hot water year round.
My next project (I hope) is an AWD car with a deisel engine. I will need to purchase a kit to burn vegetable oil in it.

[eastkygal]

I'm a KY gal myself. There are homebirth midwives in the state, but it is a similar situation to NC. Currently none are serving the Appalachian region regularly. Otherwise, landscape wise, and many other things... I love my mountains. I'm real partial to Appalachia. Things are changing. I'm trying to stay positive about it.

[Koalamom]

I felt in the same boat untill just a few weeks ago. I checked out many community living websites, and either the communities are asking 250,000 for you to move there, or the communities are closed or just devoloping.

What about just getting financing and getting land, house?

We just moved onto 10 acres with a simple house in the VT country. I keep thinking that someday we will open it to others to move here.

The certified organic farm next door has tons of woods and does rent out space to others. They have several hundred acres. You could always rent out something like that, but not sure of them wanting a permanant house there.

Before I go to bed, I will pm you more info...

[bubbagirl]

We are in a rural area in the center of the country - not mountainous but not flat, lots of water but not a year round flowing stream unless the rains are good. Our growing season is long and we plan on putting up greenhouses for citrus and tropicals. We have a garden now and plan on planting larger crop fields, orchards and greenhouses. We are getting chickens in a few weeks and plan on goats too. There are stocked ponds and lots of wildlife.


We have been living mostly off grid using a bit of 120v elec and elec for the well pump for the past year. We are on family land (not ours to make huge decisions about) but have often talked about finding others with rvs or yurts etc to come join us for a few months or more and homestead together. We are in our 30s with a 3 month old and vegetarians with a strong leaning towards raw.

We could approach the owners of the land with an idea of setting aside some of the acreage for other families to homestead on with us. We are 10 miles from a city of 10k and 20 miles from a city of 80k - not that far out but on a dirt road in the "country". The politics are quite conservative but with a very independant/libertarian leave us alone stance in this area. Not a lot of people and homeschooling is quite normal here. HB midwives are here but don't really advertise. I was planning on doing it on my own but my bp had other plans. This is quite a good rural homestead area although I don't find many crunchy families to share this with or even compare notes with.

Pm me if you are interested in talking more about the possibilities.

Wanted to add that there is a great source of acoustic music for listening or learning in the nearest town - great teachers and musicians and instrument repair.

[mum4vr]

I am intrigued-- this sounds like what I have dreamed of for long years. We are in NE OK, and land is cheap here right now. The well water is good and safe (if not too near a factory farm) although can be sulfur-y. I know of a few likeminded families as well. Feel free to PM me.

blessings

[VDubMama]

We too are looking....

We're a young "natural family" living in Albany, NY wanting to homestead/help in NC. Most of our immediate family is there, and I'm from there. We're heavily involved in our locavore movement, DH works at the Co-op, until recently as their head baker. I stay at home w/ our 3 yr. old daughter and we both bake vegan/low-sugar/artisan/locally sourced baked goods at farmer's markets. We were supposed to move to an eco-community in western NC this spring but we're not sure the people developing it have credibility & integrity so we're looking for other opportunities. We want to live more connected to our food source, care for animals on a small scale, live and learn about energy efficiency and alternative housing, escape the toxins in our urban surroundings, homeschool our daughter, have wilderness to explore, and help support a small community of people with similar goals.

We know NC is a hotbed of sustainable farming activity and we've been looking for a work for rent exchange (with stipend or income possibility?) beginning in the fall. My husband is committed to his job till end of Sept. and we're working a market till end of Oct. He could potentially transfer to a local Co-op for additional income and he's also a self-taught chef. We've been vegan and vegetarian over the last few years but have recently begun eating local, sustainably sourced meat. We are like many and just have no capital to invest and we live frugally.

Is there anyone out there who thinks we might be a good fit? Please feel free to PM. We love the Blue Ridge Mountains and would consider other states within the range. I think there are lots of us out there and pooling land/resources is a fantastic idea - so many people could benefit.

Peace,
VDubMama, Captain Sparky & KBug

[bubbagirl]

Just wanted to add we would love to talk with anyone interested - for a short / long term visit or permanent residence. We have woods, pasture, organic grass fed cattle on the property we have access to if we want and dh is interested in goats and chickens for cheese/eggs. We are on quite a large piece of property and have also been considering adding hookups for rvs for those who are likeminded and want to make it a stop on their travels.

We are near two major interstates

[Erinz]

Just had to say this all sounds very dreamy and if my husband reads this thread he'd be spending his evening searching for land!

Subbing to see where it goes as the possibilites are ENDLESS AND EXCITING!

[cottonwood]

I'm going to be keeping an eye on this thread too! My husband and I want to simplify our life quite a bit, our dream is to live as cheaply and sustainably as possible. Right now he's working a 9-5 job that's killing him, but we don't know what else to do for income. We've talked about buying property and homesteading but property is very expensive around here, and I don't know how feasible it is to look at other parts of the country (he's very attached to the NW, family and all that.) What would be ideal would be if we could get somebody to let us stay on their land in exchange for whatever work they needed done. We have a bus that we are ready to live in and we're able to design and build a small dwelling as well -- especially interested in cob. Personally I am dying to get out of the valley -- lots of commercial grass seed farming here and it makes me sick. So, we are getting our house ready to sell and need to start putting feelers out along these lines: "The certified organic farm next door has tons of woods and does rent out space to others."

Originally Posted by moon mountain mama

The more you move out west the less water there is from what I can tell and water is a big issue, clean drinkable water, water for home and gardening.

LOL, then you're not going far enough west! I live in western Oregon and we have a little too much if you ask me.

[bubbagirl]

Wanted to update. I see more people interested and no one has contacted us. We have been talking a lot about this and have so much to offer if the right situation arises. I know I don't have many posts but have been lurking and using a different user (b2*) for a few years and started a new one for privacy when I became pregnant.


We are located in central ok. and we would love to share this land and all the opportunities with like minded people/ families.

Becca

[FarmerCathy]

Originally Posted by Ambystoma

I lived in NC for many years, and Western NC (Boone area) is awesome and I would consider living off-grid there. HB MWs are currently illegal there, however, but everything else is easy enough to find.

I just wanted to pop in and say I just moved to NC in June and was pregnant at the time and midwives are not illegal here anymore.

[goddessjulia]

moon mtn mama, your description sounds exactly like my ideal! wish we were ready to move... or ready to let the family farm become more of a community. unfortunately the rest of the family isn't hip to the idea yet we've still got some financial messes hanging over our heads that need resolution before we can move forward, or so it seems...

I don't know that the legality of homebirth will necessarily indicate anything one way or the other... in GA homebirth is "alegal" (not illegal or protected as legal). I homebirthed my dd and ds2, and I'm on a list with other homebirthers that know my mw. that list is politically all over the spectrum! so I don't find the kindreds there that I, like you, thought I would. however, there are pockets of ppl everywhere that are like-minded, you just have to find them. seems around here we all look like hippies so we're easy to spot

will keep reading here!

[AJP]

Northern California has some sweet places that meet a lot of the desires expressed here - not near the SF Bay Area, too insanely expensive there, but there are appealing places in the Sierra foothills and a few other areas, with really great communities. The land has been very expensive, but now real estate prices are plummeting. You can't get a realistic idea of selling prices on undeveloped land by looking at the MLS, because if you look up recently sold stuff (like on trulia.com) much of it is going for as little as one half what listing prices are on similar properties. We've been keeping track because we want to move to a slightly different area and acquire land more suitable to farming than what we have now (something with actual soil instead of just rocks and clay, irrigation water, gentler topography, and closer to stuff for HSers). We'd love to have chosen neighbors who wish to cooperate on things like farming and gardening, child care, building, etc., and while we've had a few friends interested, it hasn't panned out yet for various reasons. We think it would be great to find a larger parcel that could be split, and then have individual ownership of adjacent parcels, close enough for cooperation and community but still with enough personal autonomy and space for each family, so as to head off some of the problems that come from communal living.

We think the real estate situation will be changing even more dramatically over the next few months, and that will have a big impact on what we're able to do.

[AJP]

I meant to say that while what I posted maybe is more of a "yeah, me too" rather than specific suggestions, I want to point out that people often discount N. CA for things like this, but I think it can be great area for it. I've lived here most of my life and love it. Parts of it have all the things the OP listed. I suppose land cost has been a major deterrent, but that's beginning to change.