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jhnpldng
02-05-2011, 04:14 PM
DW gave notice for 3/25 as her last day, We're out of this house by the end of March and sometime in the first week or two of April we're headed 1,000 miles to the Ozarks to start the homestead.

We backed out of the 6.8 acres we were going to get and the seller graciously gave a full refund so we're getting another piece from him.
4 acres with a full time creek which I believe is spring fed. The topo map shows it just appearing out of nowhere and the property is surrounded by springs including 3 within walking distance and a total of 8 within 2 miles. Most of these springs feed a couple of large creeks, one on either side of us, which are actually tributaries for Norfolk Lake in N AR. It's undeveloped property so no well but I think it will be an easy well. The property is at the same elevation as most of the springs.

Electric is a mile away so we'll be off grid for a while. We'll be starting out in a 5th wheel and building a big roof over it asap. The roof will be oversized so that part of it will be a big room attached to the 5th wheel.

The 1st property we we're going to get was on a paved road but this one's on a gravel road that google has as "unknown road". :) Good for a prepper type like me.

The off grid and no well thing will be tough for a while but we'll be collecting rainwater, have the creek and can buy drinking water if need be. We already do that because the well here is nasty. I've been collecting propane items and have five 20 lb tanks to get us by and will find a big permanent tank after we get there as well as a big water tank.

For electric the 5th wheel is set up for minimum usage already, I've been doing research on solar and have a generator for high usage times and/or recharging when the solar panels won't cut it. We'll be buying more of those as we go but will be starting out with 200 watts.

The property has a SW elevation and it doesn't quite reach the NE ridge so we'll have a NE land mass windbreak. Even though it's a SW elevation, it's near the end of the ridge so in the cooler months when the sun is laying down towards West we'll have a full sun/solar day.

BonnyLake
02-05-2011, 10:21 PM
The 1st property we were going to get was on a paved road but this one's on a gravel road that google has as "unknown road". Good for a prepper type like me.
... this usually means that you get to name your road yourselves! That alone is exciting and fun to think about when you have all that future hard work frying your brain cells.

You have a great plan in the works and it sounds like you've really done the homework necessary to get a general feel for your living arrangements ~ but... here comes the BUT >>> it will be more rewarding then you can imagine! And once you actually dig in and walk your land and admire every single square inch, you will get more and better ideas then you thought possible, so when you and your family are wandering around floating your dreams, take a small tablet and pencil with you for those idea bubbles that will start coming faster and faster ;)

We had a few ideas that helped us out...
- for water storage we were looking at buying an old road construction type water truck, we had friends that had one and it was a unique tool to have on hand, and they could move it where it was needed when planting trees and bringing in their driveway ...
- we got an estimate in writing from the power company for bringing in poles and lines and so that protected us for 3 years of inflation
- plant your fruit trees 3 days after you get there! That's what we all say :D