Homeless to Homesteader. Anyone here successfully make the transition?

[Celeree]

Here it is nearly a year later since my response. We've moved out here. Grid tied, as it was cheaper to get electric ran than set up solar. Still hoping for solar some day. It's freakin cheap living. I guess technically we are squatting, since the land is not in our name yet, and the house isn't registered.

Off-grid would be nice, but man it would take a lot of work. Am not sure I would want to be tied down with animals. The only utilities we have are power and internet. Plumbing still needs work, but the well works to fill up water jugs. No septic yet, compost toilet til then. Hey, it works, still have more amenities than I had while living in my van.

 

[stove]

So, I've got some land in Vermont. I'm not off-grid yet, but I plan to be this year (minus internet, b/c yeah). I have a 3bd 2ba double-wide with 0.8 acres ~4 mi out of town, with a well, septic, and oil heat.

This is still gonna take a year or more, and just the power storage (batteries) will cost a small car.

The biggest benefit of the area: *NO* zoning laws, I can build whatever I want.

The biggest downside: VERMONT. It gets COLD, and lots of SNOW. That means tons of energy spent HEATING everything, and material to INSULATE everywhere.

Oh, all that insulation? Rodents *LOVE* it.

 

[Deleted member 24782]

So, I've got some land in Vermont. I'm not off-grid yet, but I plan to be this year (minus internet, b/c yeah). I have a 3bd 2ba double-wide with 0.8 acres ~4 mi out of town, with a well, septic, and oil heat.

This is still gonna take a year or more, and just the power storage (batteries) will cost a small car.

The biggest benefit of the area: *NO* zoning laws, I can build whatever I want.

The biggest downside: VERMONT. It gets COLD, and lots of SNOW. That means tons of energy spent HEATING everything, and material to INSULATE everywhere.

Oh, all that insulation? Rodents *LOVE* it.

What town? I got a friend in Newfane.

 

[Lamentations]

So, I've got some land in Vermont. I'm not off-grid yet, but I plan to be this year (minus internet, b/c yeah). I have a 3bd 2ba double-wide with 0.8 acres ~4 mi out of town, with a well, septic, and oil heat.

This is still gonna take a year or more, and just the power storage (batteries) will cost a small car.

The biggest benefit of the area: *NO* zoning laws, I can build whatever I want.

The biggest downside: VERMONT. It gets COLD, and lots of SNOW. That means tons of energy spent HEATING everything, and material to INSULATE everywhere.

Oh, all that insulation? Rodents *LOVE* it.

It'd be cool if you could somehow rig free internet.

 

[Darren Scout]

I was traveling in my car in southern Missouri, when the rod in my engine blew out the oil pan. The junk car wasn't worth fixing.
Ended up living in the Mark Twain forest in a tent. I was just outside a small town and got a 3rd shift gas station job. I worked 4 days a week for 10 hours a day. I was saving all my cash. About 3 months later I came back to camp and a forest ranger was waiting for me, and told me to pack up and not return.
I went and bought a Astro van for $1000 and moved in. On my days off I would drive around and go fishing. I started noticing a lot of land for sale signs. I looked into it and 2 months later paid $500 down on a 1.3 acre parcel, $200 a month.
I lived on the property in a shed I threw together for a year and a half as I continued to save money. I was able to sell the land and shed for the amount I had in it to another guy that hired on at the gas station, when I left.

 

[Darren Scout]

I traveled to Eastern Oklahoma and purchased 10 acres of woods for a grand per acre. 660 feet by 660 feet square. Full of red and white oak, pecan, and black walnut. Also has a few persimmon, apricot, and plum trees. I planted some apple, pear, and berries.
No building codes or restrictions, so anything goes. I am off grid, without any utilities.
I built a funny (star plate) shed to live in. My area gets a lot of rainfall, so rain catchment works great. One harbor freight 100 watt solar panel system and a 100 amp hour battery, handle lights and a fan. I can also charge my trac phone and kindle. I cut firewood and have a small woodstove for heat.
I raise a few chickens for eggs, rabbits for meat, and quail for meat and eggs. I plant a small garden for mainly root crops like taters, carrots, and onions. I go fishing almost everyday, there are 2 rivers close by and also 2 big lakes.
The life is pretty laid back once you get everything working. I spend a few hours per day, feeding animals and chopping and splitting wood.
The only bills I have are $6 dollars a year for property tax, $80 for my phone, Around $80 for taxes and tags for the van, and $360 for auto insurance.

 

[Omightydarkone]

I would love to be truly off grid. To me that means nobody could find mem so far out I will never been seen again and just try to live. Build a cabin somewhere plant your seeds and away from people. Just ghost everyone. Nothing hut ya rifle fishing gear and a few tool and clothes. Idk if this is possible with the population. Canad and alaska are pretty much the only places I believe I could truly be free and not worry about being found.

 

[Darren Scout]

I don't think it is possible to go somewhere and never be found. But it is possible to have a place off the radar, where only a few people know of your location. I live in the woods and have two neighbors that I haven't seen in three months. I hunt and fish and live in a shack and nobody cares or bothers me.

 

[Omightydarkone]

I don't think it is possible to go somewhere and never be found. But it is possible to have a place off the radar, where only a few people know of your location. I live in the woods and have two neighbors that I haven't seen in three months. I hunt and fish and live in a shack and nobody cares or bothers me.

The only place I can think to completely disappear is deep in the canadian woods. Once you go deep enough there isn't anybody. I've been studying up to date maps of north america at night just because light shows up and that shows where the people are at and there are some pretty isolated spots out there. Eventually someone is going to see you if you are close enough but there are spots that nobody goes. Even the rangers- mounties*

 

[iamwhatiam]

I traveled to Eastern Oklahoma and purchased 10 acres of woods for a grand per acre. 660 feet by 660 feet square. Full of red and white oak, pecan, and black walnut. Also has a few persimmon, apricot, and plum trees. I planted some apple, pear, and berries.
No building codes or restrictions, so anything goes. I am off grid, without any utilities.
I built a funny (star plate) shed to live in. My area gets a lot of rainfall, so rain catchment works great. One harbor freight 100 watt solar panel system and a 100 amp hour battery, handle lights and a fan. I can also charge my trac phone and kindle. I cut firewood and have a small woodstove for heat.
I raise a few chickens for eggs, rabbits for meat, and quail for meat and eggs. I plant a small garden for mainly root crops like taters, carrots, and onions. I go fishing almost everyday, there are 2 rivers close by and also 2 big lakes.
The life is pretty laid back once you get everything working. I spend a few hours per day, feeding animals and chopping and splitting wood.
The only bills I have are $6 dollars a year for property tax, $80 for my phone, Around $80 for taxes and tags for the van, and $360 for auto insurance.

What does it cost to feed your animals?

 

[Deleted member 29963]

After years and years of traveling I'm finally at a point where I'm (kinda) ready to settle down and get a small piece of property. Hoping by the end of this year my partner and I will be able to afford to buy a few acres somewhere. A home base where we can still take off and travel a bit when desired, but have somewhere to come back to, and somewhere for our friends to come and chill when they need a break from the road. I know lots of my friends over the years have expressed the same kind of "retirement" plan. My question is has anyone here made the switch and are living off grid or have their own homestead?

Couple questions on the off chance anyone here is doing this sort of thing-

What state did you settle down and why did you chose this area?
What were some of the biggest hurdles you had to jump?
What is your income source if any?

Were you part of the land project meetings at Jank Haus last year? Half the reason I went back to Oly in July this year was to follow up on those.

Becoming a farm laborer is a large part of how I became homeless! I was a hobo in the hoe boy sense, going from land project to land project or collective urban project for eight midwestern farm seasons until I mostly gave up on farming... Though I still haven't exactly figured out what I want to do instead...

 

[Darren Scout]

What does it cost to feed your animals?

Sorry, I didn't respond sooner but I have been slaving for the man, from Thanksgiving thru Christmas. Making my grubstake to get thru another year.

I let my chickens free range spring to fall and they get half rations during that time. Plus any kitchen scraps. About a half pound of feed a week per bird. I get chicken feed from the feed store for $25 for a 50 pound sack.

Quail eat about 25 to 30 grams per day and a 50 pound sack cost $15.

Rabbits get mostly hay. I sythe the area around my cabin and the rabbits get the cut grass and clover. Also a small amount of pellets. 50 pounds for $20. Also they will eat weeds from the garden.

I can or freeze every fall and only keep a couple of breeding pairs over winter and rebuild the flocks in spring.

I get almost all my meat grown fresh by myself. Add in a couple of deer and free fish from my pond or nearby lakes and rivers. Squirrels and sometimes a wild hog. With a garden I grow I spend less then $50 a month on food and any animal feed per month. Most of my spending is on tea, salt, pectin, sugar, and yeast.

 

[super good boy]

Got a pretty nice set up. Far from being self sufficient but doing some work is better than doing no work.

My friend bakes bread almost every day. We sell that to the neighborhood. She also grows about 200 square feet of vegetables, going to double that in a couple years. Agriculture & Food Systems | CALS (cornell.edu) I also make kimchi for selling and for us for storing in the winter.

Our neighbors also homestead, they have three human children of varying ages, three goats and thirty chickens. We barter and get their kids (both kinds) to work for us. Stack firewood and shit in a pile for compost. We give them bread and tutor the kids in school for trade.

We all have day jobs for at least half the year to make ends meet. It isn't perfect but it's a lot nicer than renting.