This is a guide I wrote for another site, I plan on trying to follow it as much as possible Since I will be shopping for and buying land soon, I felt it was a good time to start this blog. Enjoy my first post.
This guide aims to give you a basic idea of where to start building your own homestead in the cheapest way possible. With an attempt to cover everything needed to live a normal life in a more sustainable manner. Mostly this guide applies to the USA.
Land:
Chances are if you are like me you'll want land as far away from anyone else as possible. Fortunately this is the best way considering price and, getting land with some decent resources on it e.g.: trees, water.
First off you need to know where to shop, E-bay is pretty good if you are looking for several acres or more of cheap land. Also just using Google to search for rural land sales will turn up quite a few relevant results. Look in local newspapers in the area you are considering buying land in. Depending on what exactly you are looking for will define how you go about looking for it.
Sometimes you can even find decent deals in the advertising section in the back of some magazines, Like Mother Earth News.
Things to consider when buying land are:
Topography (how flat the land is) If you are going to be farming and growing most of your own food, and maybe even have some livestock (pigs, chickens, goats) you will want land that is mostly flat, maybe with some low rolling hills. Also flat land makes it easier to build a home later.
Resources:
Water , You can find land with natural springs and rivers, but the price starts going up with the amount of water on the land. Also there is no guarantee you can get the rights to use that water, even if it does flow across your land. You want to look for land in an area with a high water table, eventually you will want to have a well drilled, which will usually run you about $10 a foot. So the less they have to dig, the cheaper it will be for you.
Until you get a well dug, you will most likely be hauling water, or using a rain catchment system (see below). Rain catchment is only really effective in wetter climates obviously. But even in drier areas, it can be used to supplement your other water supplies.
Timber/trees, You will want to look for property with a decent amount of trees, which tends to be the most expensive. No trees, and the land is cheap, Thick ass forest, the land is cheap. Finding land with a good mix of trees and open space is going to be hard. I recommend just buying the heavily forested land. As the trees you will clear can be used for firewood and building materials later. Land that has been logged before can usually be found pretty cheap from the logging companies. Most of the time they just go in and take all the old growth trees, build roads, and leave it like that. Which is nice being able to actually access your property.
Soil/dirt/ground, Obviously if you want to be planting and growing most of your own food, you will need to find land in a place with decent soil. And without trees like black walnuts, and certain pines that will keep plants from growing well, if at all, in that area.
There are places, like local colleges, where you can have your soil taken and tested.
Sunlight, Yes this is a resource, especially when you are living on solar power. You don't want to build a house on the north side of a mountain, or in an area where it rains 200 days a year. Make sure you get land with a clear view of the southern sky, all the way down to the horizon. This is also necessary if you plan on getting satellite internet.
Building codes:
You'll also need to check out the building codes in the area. A lot of places in the USA still have no building codes in rural areas. These are the places you want to buy land, so you can build whatever kind of house you want, as cheaply as you want it.
Not a good idea to buy land in someplace like CA, where you have to pay hundreds of dollars to get plans drawn up, and permits, and inspections, just to build a shed, or chicken coop.
Size:
Remember you only need as much land as you can take car of. No point in buying 100 acres of land, if you can't do anything with it.
For this guide we will focus on about 5 acre chunks of land. As that is the amount you would realistically need to support a family of 4, and still be able to manage reasonably. If you plan on having more people out there, and more houses. You can go in together and buy more. Just keep that in mind. What you spend on land, you can't spend on digging a well, or something else. So only buy what you need.
Price:
Depending on how you are paying for your land, you can go about this a couple different ways.
Paying the full price in cash, may be the best method for you. As then you will have no land payments, and getting out from under bills is one of the main things this is about. Usually you can get some deals on the cash price, but if you are poor like me, chances are you will have to go with a smaller piece of land. 5 acres can usually be had for between $2000-4000 Cash price.
Financing, oh yes, maybe not the greatest idea, since you will have to come up with some way to pay the loan every month. But usually you can find owner financed property between $50-200/month for a 5 acre parcel. A lot of owners/financiers will not even run a credit check. So no matter who you are, land is within reach. They won't run a credit check because they don't care, it is in their best interest for you to default on the loan. That way they keep your money, and can re-sale the land for the full price. The downside to this option though, is you'll likely end up paying 2x the actual cash price of the land. But if you are lucky, you may be able to find someone who doesn't/won't charge interest.
Shelter:
Well now, if you followed my directions in the “land” section, you should now have a few acres of land, with a section of flat ground, and few to no building codes. Why don't you build a place to live.
Your options here are pretty much limitless, if you got property in an area with no building codes. From:
http://www.earthship.org
http://cobhouse.net
http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/honey.html (CalEarth actually mad the first ones here, in my city)
http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com
Or build you own.
There is a lot of great guides for most of those on the internet, so we will be focusing this section of the guide on building your own house.
First you'll want to envision what kind of house you would like to build. Likely something small, so it's cheap to build and maintain. Something that reuses and uses as many free materials as possible.
If you don't have any construction experience, now is the time to get some. Learn basic carpentry, plumbing, and electric.
You''ll want to have some kind of plan drawn out, whether it's http://sketchup.google.comGoogle Sketch-up, or just jotted down on paper.
There isn't a lot to be said on this subject, since the possibilities are so wide open.
All I can say is be creative. I stayed in a house that was built around an 18' trailer they later converted into their kitchen. They had the power and plumbing to the whole house ran through there, just for the sake of simplicity.
When you are driving around and see an old barn that's falling down, go ask the people if they would let you take it down if you can keep the wood. Barn boards make awesome siding on a house, or floor boards.
I recommend a relatively normal stick built type house (2x4s and shit) Tin roof, wood floors, and a shitload of insulation.
Use a wood stove, instead of an electric or gas heater.
You can buy a LOT of materials real cheap at http://www.habitat.org/restores HfH ReStore. All the stuff that people donate to them that they don't use gets sold at one of these stores, and they are all over the country. Things from doors to windows, to plumbing and electrical fixtures. Some of it is used, but that just helps add character to your new home.
Look around and study up on energy efficient building practices. Like building an upstairs loft, which stays warmer where you will be sleeping, so you use less wood to heat your home.
Don't cut corners on insulation and good double paned windows, since most of your warm/cold air is lost through these places.
Power/Electricity:
If you are like every other American, it would be hard for you to give up electricity cold turkey. Things like your radio, internet, television, coffee pot, fridge.
Well the first thing you need to do is eliminate all non essential appliances, (yes that means get rid of the microwave and stop being a lazy fuck) like your microwave, extra TVs, extra computer, alarm clocks, pretty much anything that plugs in that you really don't need more than one of, if any.
Then you need to replace you existing appliances with energy efficient ones, a smaller more energy friendly fridge, smaller LCD TV, laptop computer.
Now how to power what is left. Well your options are solar, wind, water. Because chances are there isn't a power pole anywhere near you, are using it would be against the whole purpose of this guide anyways.
Solar, You'll need enough panels, and battery capacity to power everything in your house. Solar Panels aren't cheap. Here is a http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php?t=13517 good guide on how to build your own, and how to figure out how many you will need to power your home.
You'll also need some good deep cycle batteries. Which can be really expensive. Find a place where they repair golf carts, and take a flowmeter with you. They will likely have quit a few batteries in good condition (some people replace the batteries in their golf carts every few months or every year) that they will sell you pretty cheap. Make sure you test them all and get the best ones.
I recommend housing the batteries and inverter in a well ventilated, concrete block shed, away from the house. They can blow up. And for Christ sake, don't fucking smoke around them, especially when they are charging.
But you say, “well what if it isn't sunny, solar panels won't work” Well lucky for you god saw fit to make the days that aren't sunny generally windy. And here is a http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php?t=13189 to building a cheap wind turbine, which will hook up to the battery system you all ready have in place.
If you are lucky enough to have fast running water on your property year round, you can build some form of water wheel, hooked to an alternator, to charge your batteries. But you are on your own on how to do that one.
Food:
So ideally we would like to raise and grow our own food. This includes food for an omnivores diet. A variety of crops, and a couple kinds of meat.
What animals you choose to raise, is completely up to you, but chickens are almost necessary. As far as them giving you eggs 6 days out of 7, and being made of meat, so when they stop laying, you can eat them. You can let them go free range. Or coop them up. Either way chickens are the best bang for your buck on a farm. You just need to select a breed that is right for you. Whether you want better egg layers, or better meat chickens. There are some breeds that are ok at both. Do some research.
Another good animal to raise for meat only is rabbits. Even though cute little bunnies are a bit harder to kill for food. They do produce a lot of meat, and quickly. A rabbit can have a litter every couple months, and it is a matter of weeks before they are big enough to eat. You can expect to get a pound or 2 of meat off a 3 pound rabbit. As before do you research and select the proper breed for your needs.
Goats are also a good small farm animal. They produce milk, which can be used for a lot of things. But they don't take up nearly as much food or space as a cow. They can also be eaten, when they have outlived their usefullness.
Lets talk about farming.
Don't make the mistake I have seen a few people do. You need to do the research on what grows best in your area, and soil type. Do not just pick out a bunch of weird ass seeds and start planting. It doesn't work like that. If you do it right, yes, you may end up eating a lot of the same shit all the time, but you'll have enough of it to keep eating all the time.
Green houses do help for growing things, that wouldn't normally grow in that climate, but there are also some things that grow well no matter where you are. (corn, zucchini, squash)
On a small 5 acre property, don't bother trying to grow any grains (rice, wheat, barley) there just isn't enough space to make it worth the effort.
Certain beans, are worth planting though, Pintos can average over 20cwt per acre (1cwt = 100lbs) If you live in a drier climate.http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/beans/pintobeans/pintobeans.html Everything you need to know about Pinto beans.
Research all your crops before buying seed and planting, practice proper crop rotation, so you use as little soil additives ass possible. And plant what is right for your area.
Get used to eating the same thing.
Water:
If you are lucky enough to have running water on your property, you can just use a http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm"]hydraulic ram pump, to move your water to your house or storage tank. It's always good to have a storage tank of at least 1000 gallons for emergencies, and a gray water (water from your sinks and showers) storage tank of a few hundred gallons, to water plants and stuff.
Then you have catchment systems, which usually consist of a large roof area, and gutters that funnel rain water into a large storage tank. http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm
And of course, there is a well. Only thing to mention about this is making a separate PV system to power the pump and stuff.
Making Money: As far as earning a living goes while you are doing this, chances are you will end up growing a lot more than you can can or eat, so try selling the excess at farmers market and such. Or making soap from goats milk. Really the possibilities are endless.
Helpful link:
http://www.diybandmill.com/ Diy Sawmill
