A little over 2 years ago we moved out onto the hill in an RV.  We aren’t finished with the house yet, but making progress.  Enjoy these pictures of the build progress!

Today it looks like this, but it has taken a LOT of work to get it to this point, and a lot more work to do before move in time.

Footing Trench

Timber Frame completed and floor joist installation in progress.  The timbers are 6×6, the sill plates are doubled up 2×12, and the top beams are 2×10.  There are 2 sets of 2×12.  One is what is visible on the outside.  The other is on the inside of the timbers spaced 16″ from the outer sill.  This puts doubled up 2×12 under each side of the cordwood walls.

Side view.  In this view you can see the structure at the perimeter that is under the cordwood walls.  The beams on either side of the interior timbers are also doubled up 2×12.  Floor joists are 2×12 engineered I-joists.  Allowed span on 16″ centers is 19′ 6″ and my floor joists are 14′ 4″ long.  That leaves a nice safety margin and doesn’t require intermediate piers.

Subfloor Installation.  The subfloor is Advantech water resistant 3/4″ OSB.  I used the “silent floor” installation method.  Construction adhesive is applied to each floor joist and the subfloor panels are installed with screws instead of nails.  The creeper seat came in handy.  I scooted around instead of crawling around on my hands and knees.

Rafter Installation – Rafters are 2×10 engineered I-joists.  You can see the hangers on the interior beam.  The rafters are supported by doubled up 2×10 on each end and are on 24″ centers.  This gives a sense of the roof line and the open interior space.

Christmas Lights! – With just over half the roof decking in place, I decided to surprise Deb by installing Christmas lights one day.  She works 2nd Shift and loved her surprise when she came home.

Roof On!  – Roof decking installed and underlayment installed to keep water off the plywood.  The front and back overhangs are 4′.  Side overhangs are 3′.  They plywood off cuts at the bottom left ended up being the floor for the solar kiln.

Solar Kiln – Conventional wisdom says that cedar logs have to dry for 2 years before they can be used in walls.  I don’t have 2 years!  I built this solar kiln using free rough cut pine 2×4, off cuts of plywood roof decking, roofing felt left over from the laundry shed construction, and the wrapping from the rafters and floor joists.  All told I have about $50 and half a day in the kiln.  It runs 40-50 degrees above ambient.  On this day it was 42 outside and 85 inside the kiln.  I installed a 12V car radiator fan powered by a deep cycle battery on a solar charger to move air through the kiln.

Built In Shelving – After getting the roof on I built the interior dividing walls.  The wall between the Living Room and Master Bedroom is a built in shelving unit using 2×12 lumber and 3/4″ Oak veneer plywood.  The large center opening will accommodate up to a 75″ TV.  Shelving is on either side and under the TV.  The top shelves under the TV are built to house stereo and video equipment and be left open.  Doors will close off the storage area undernooth.  Open shelving flanks either side.

Radiant Heat – Pex tubing and aluminum reflectors installed under the subfloor between floor joists.  There are 4 zones to keep the tubing length within specs.  I’ll staple 1″ foam insulation with a reflective surface to the webbing at the top of the floor joists, then install R-30 fiberglass insulation below that.  I’ll hold the insulation in place with hardware cloth stapled to the bottoms of the floor joists.  Mice and squirrels don’t like chewing on hardware cloth.

Window boxes – A front view showing the window boxe and the interior walls.  The small window to the left is above the kitchen sink.  The windows flanking the opening for the front door are 60×60.  The left window is the Dining Area.  The area to the right of the door is the Living Area.  The front of the house is an open floor plan.  I hate being in the kitchen cooking a meal and being separated from people.  The large openings behind the window on the left side are the utility/laundry area and the pantry.

Electrical Panel – 200A panel in the back wall of the Laundry/Utility Room.

Wall Outlet – I notched logs and fastend outlet boxes to them so the outlets are flush with the wall and the wiring is in the insulation space.  It is much more aesthetically pleasing than running conduit and outlet boxes on the surface.  It takes some planning and fitting, but it looks nice.  This is the first box.  After this one I covered the box with painters tape to protect against mortar during installation.  Plastic tubing covers the cable into the box to protect it from mortar.

First Cordwood – The first cordwood wall section underway.  The logs are 16″ long.  On each end is a 3″ wide bead of mortar.  Loose cellulose insulation fills the 10″ gap between the mortar beads.  Final R Value of the walls is approximately R-26.  A typical 2×4 stud wall is R-13 and 2×6 walls are R-19.

Back Wall – Behind the windowless walls is the Guest Room Closet and the full Bathroom as well as the half bath in the Master Bedroom.  The head of our bed will be under the window to the left.

Bedroom Interior – The back wall of the Master Bedroom almost complete.  There are outlets down low on either side of the bed.  The switches to the left and right of the windows are for the lights.  I wired it with 4 Way switches so the bedroom lights can be turned on or off with the switch by the door or with the switches on either side of the bed.  No more stumbling in the dark to turn the lights on or off!  The “portable” garage in the background contains tools, materials, and our kayak.  I will remove it when construction is completed.

Target Log – Nature is incredible.  At some point this tree received damage.  It healed around the damage and created this unique look.  The other end of this log is normal with a red heart and light outer layer.  I ended up with 2 of these and installed one on either side of the bed.  The vertical logs on either side are from a tree that had been bent and grew horizontal about 5′ before going vertical again.  The red heart wood was up against the bark and left this burl look that I couldn’t bear to hide inside a wall.  One of the fun parts of cordwood is the artistry you can put into it.

Current Status – I’m almost finished with the North wall which encloses the Master Bedroom and Living Area.  The original plan was to install cordwood all the way to the rafters, which is why there is a 2×10 header above the window boxes.  My sister suggested that instead of cordwood I put in widows to keep the views and let in more light.  It will be lighter, costs only $50-75 more than installing cordwood, and cuts a huge amount of time out of wall building.  The side windows are 24″ tall and the front windows are 36″ tall.  I really like the look.  You can also see the front door frame in place.  The upper windows will continue across the front and the other side as well.  I’m in a race to get the rest of the walls completed before freezing weather hits.

Its been way too long since I’ve written a new blog post, and I really lapsed on updating the progress post from 2019.  The Year of COVID has been interesting to say the least.  This year has been challenging, yet rewarding.  Deb had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in late 2019, then had a 5 week round of radiation therapy to start the year out.  I spent 14 weeks on unemployment due to the COVID shutdowns before being called back to work.  I can’t say I was out of work, because I spent 6 days a week getting infrastructure in place, buying and setting up an RV, and getting moved out of our rental house and out on Serenity Hill in an RV.

Our home while building our cordwood home.

Getting Moved Out and Settled In

In February 2020 we finally got the water meter installed.  Once we had a permanent water supply the electric co-op agreed to install a meter and temporary power for us.  March 2020 was a very busy month.  We built an 8×12 shed to house our refrigerator, freezer, washer, and dryer.  I rented a trencher to bury the water lines and the electrical feed for the RV and laundry shed.  Another necessary item was a sewer line to connect the RV and laundry shed to the septic tank.

Due to rain and soft ground the septic install couldn’t take place until toward the end of May.  Shortly after that we had a 12 x 36 garage building delivered for storing the furnishings for the house.  It costs about $50 more than renting a storage unit and I’ll have the building for a workshop once we get in the house.

June 2020 was a busy month.  We moved the RV out and hooked up utilities, then installed a fence for the dogs.  Then came the move out to the property.  At the time we moved I only had 3 columns up on piers and a big pile of timber waiting to be installed.  It was a crazy month, and being on temporary layoff due to the Covid shutdown of the plant ended up being helpful.  Mid July they called me back to work.  I finished cleaning and emptying the rental house when I got off work at 4AM.

Mid October 2020 HR handed me a severance package because corporate changed the plant mission and shut down 2nd shift.  While not unexpected, the timing came about 6 months earlier than we had been lead to believe.  At that time all the foundation piers were ready for timbers but only 7 of 30 timbers were in place.  Progress really picked up when I was no longer having to report to a 10-12 hour a day job.  I worked 12 days and was off 2.  I searched for another job for almost a year.  The only places interested in hiring me were for Maintenance Supervisor positions  requiring 60+ hours a week.  Maintenance works a lot of weekends and most holidays.  We opted for me to start my Social Security early and make building the house and developing the property my full time job.

RV Living Challenges

Living in an RV has been an interesting experience.  We have now gone through two summers and two winters in the RV.  While it is certainly smaller than a house, we have adapted pretty well.  That’s with two adults, two big dogs, and two cats sharing space.  I’ve had to dumb down cooking due to the small kitchen and lack of storage space.  One of the unexpected expenses is not being able to buy food in bulk sizes due to the lack of storage compared to the house, but that is only temporary.  It seems there is always something to work on, which isn’t a surprise with a 99 model RV.

Fortunately we are connected to county water so we don’t have to deal with the water tank.  I do so enjoy dumping the black water tank every few weeks, but fortunately it doesn’t take long.  The RV is slightly downhill from the sewer line leading to the septic tank.  I had to install a PVC line above ground from the RV.  Since it is between the RV and the laundry shed I built a bridge to cross it.

Building the laundry shed was one of the keys to making long term RV living less difficult.  Instead of having to run to a laundromat we can do laundry whenever it suits us.  Much more convenient, and much more affordable.  We also have 2 refrigerators and the deep freeze in the laundry shed, so we are able to buy frozen foods in bulk for convenience and savings.  The RV has a large fridge, but it won’t hold enough for a week of cooking.

While we have adapted pretty well and worked out how to get by in the RV, we sure do look forward to the space and convenience of the house.  RV living requires a lot of compromises and decisions about what you need on a daily basis.  Having on-site storage and the laundry shed makes life a lot easier.  We really enjoy living in the woods and being able to work every day on the house and the homestead.

It is much quicker to build a pole barn or a stick built house.  Since we are building a timber frame house with cordwood infill the process is much slower.  I can knock together an 8 foot section of stick built wall in a pretty short time.  Getting the cordwood infill in an 8 foot wide section of wall takes about 7-8 days.  Not to mention that during the freezing winter months cordwood installation comes to a halt.

Is RV living while building a house for you?  There are many pros and cons to living in an RV.  Here are some of the challenges we faced.

Pros

1.  Instead of travelling out to the work site every other weekend when off work I was able to do some work each morning when I got home from work.  Now my wife makes the daily commute to her job and I walk 25 feet to the house build site.
2. Being out on the property full time lets you get a much better idea of sunlight, wind, and rain effects on the property.  As a result I picked a different site for our future garden and did some drainage work.
3. You get to enjoy living on your property, which is why you bought it in the first place.
4. I am able to secure tools on location without worrying about thieves between trips out to the property.  They are much less likely to strike when there is someone there most of the time.  Our 2 big dogs have access to the area where equipment is stored, so that helps!
5. A coach type RV is built more rugged and better insulated than a trailer.

Cons

1.  Instead of travelling every other weekend to the property, the daily commute to work increased from 15 minutes to an hour.  That’s a lot of miles on a vehicle, and a lot of hours on the road.  It is worth it when I weigh out the increase in available time to work on the house.
2. Storage – RV’s, especially coach RV’s have a lot of storage, but you will have to pare down your dishes, utensils, pots and pans, clothing, and shoes.  There is also the issue of what to do with all your household goods.  We opted to purchase a 12×36 garage building rather than pay for a couple storage units off site.  We keep off season clothing, small appliances, and books handy there so we have access to them as needed.  Beats driving out to an off site storage when you want something!  The garage building will become my workshop when we move household goods into the house.
3. Laundry – unless you have a newer RV with a washer and dryer you will face the unenviable and expensive task of trekking to a laundromat.  Even if your RV has a washer and dryer it is going to be a compact unit that will have difficulty with jackets, sweaters, and linens.  For that reason we built an 8×12 laundry shed.  I insulated the shed and installed dry wall and a vinyl tile floor.  We fit a chest freezer, 2 refrigerators, washer, dryer, and laundry sink in it.   Above the washer and dryer I installed a wire shelf that also doubles as a clothes hanging area, so it is also our closet annex.  Having that makes life much easier.
4. Food storage – while our RV has a relatively large refrigerator, it is less than half the size of a conventional refrigerator.  This really cuts down on the amount of fresh produce and milk products you can have on hand.  We are able to supplement that with our laundry shed refrigerators.  The pull out pantry in the RV is roomy but there isn’t space to store bulk items.  This drives up the cost of staples considerably.  If you are a bottled water drinker, you are going to find it interesting to figure out where to keep your cases of water.
5. Food prep and cooking – there is minimal counter space available for food prep.  As a result I don’t use as much fresh produce in my cooking as I would like simply because of the lack of space to clean and prep it.  I’ve had to change how and what I cook because the propane stove doesn’t have the space or the BTU’s of a home cook stove.  Baking is also a challenge with the smaller oven because it won’t accept a standard size cookie sheet or 2 round cake pans in at the same time.  We limit baking to pizza, brownies, blondies, and roasting potatoes and vegetables.
6. TV and internet – the largest TV that fits in our RV is 24″.  Satellite internet is currently our only option.  We opted not to have satellite TV because we didn’t want to spend all that money.  We use Netflix and Hulu when we can get fast enough internet to actually make it watchable.  If you blog or do social media it can be challenging to get a fast enough reliable connection to do much.  Sometimes I can’t get Facebook to load on my computer for days at a time.
7. Space to stretch out is at a premium.  Our RV has a super slide that expands the living and kitchen areas.  The living area has a love seat with 2 recliners and a center storage console.  The dining table, which also can double as a bed, can only seat 4.  Space considerations really limit entertainment options.  We do have a picnic table and outdoor seating area, but depending on weather and time of day that may not be an option.
8. RV’s are meant for taking trips, not long term living.  Using an RV for full time living takes a toll on it and as a result there is always something to fix.

All in all RV living while constructing our home has worked out pretty well.  We have made a lot of adaptations due to the limitations of the RV, but we are making the best of it.  Paring down to the essentials has actually been liberating, although we do cheat by having the garage building and laundry shed for storage and convenience.  We will certainly be glad to move into the house.  We haven’t decided yet if we are going to keep the RV and fix it up some to be able to take it on trips or if we will sell it for what we can when we get moved.  By the time we get moved into the house we will have had all the RV living we want!

Our home while building our cordwood home.

The cliche says that the only thing constant is change.  That is so true when you are building a homestead, especially if you are working to make money to fund the build.  We can become so attached to and idea and a dream that when challenges come we lack the flexibility to respond and adapt.  The question for us is, do we want the dream badly enough to fight through the challenges?  The answer, after a lot of soul searching and discussion is a resounding yes.  So, we decided to change the plan.

Plan A

Plan A was to continue to live in our rental house and work on our homestead house on weekends, holidays, and vacations days.  Once we had a livable house, we would move in and finish out the house.  As weather permitted, we would continue developing the homestead.

• Garden
• Fruit Trees
• Chicken coop
• Pathways through the woods
• BBQ pavilion
• Garage/workshop
• Pond

Why a Plan B?

My employer decided to save money by cutting payroll.  That resulted in nobody to relieve me for my 3 days off every weekend.  At one point I worked 10 days, then had 4 days off.  That changed to working 11 days with 3 days off.  After the cuts I am now working 6 days with Sundays off.  While it is great to have every Sunday off (so far), not having the 3-4 day weekend every other week leaves me with almost no time to work on our home.

I won’t try to tell you that I accepted it gracefully when I found out I was going to work for my third straight weekend.  I won’t tell you that I was pleasant when I realized I would most likely work several more 6 day weeks.  Like several months more, except when the stretch of 7 day work weeks starts up.  My response was neither graceful or pleasant, and I’m not proud of that.  In fact, I was pretty upset for a couple days and had to engage in some serious prayer time to get my head right.

When I finished with my anger and disappointment, Deb and I sat down and did some serious thinking and discussing.  We decided that this is something we want, and it is something we are willing to fight for.  I heard a song with a line that really hit me – “safe is another word for regret”.  We have enough regrets in life.  Time to step out of safe.

Plan B

We have actually tossed this one around but were hesitant to go with it because it isn’t safe and familiar.  It will be challenging.  At times it will be frustrating and uncomfortable.  Since my work schedule is likely not going to change, we must make a change.  Time for Plan B.

As quickly as possible I’ll have the electric co-op come out and tell me where I need to clear a path for them to run power to my foundation.  Then I’ll schedule getting power in.  That will be nice because then I can use an electric cement mixer instead of having to finish out the build mixing concrete and mortar by hand.  After that, I’ll get the water put in.  I’ll do it that way because the electric co-op contractors have a history of cutting through water lines and leaving a mess behind them.  After the water will come the septic system.

Once we have utilities in place our plan is to purchase a shipping container and a used travel trailer.  I’d rather purchase a shipping container that we will use for years than to spend money keeping stuff in a storage unit (or units) until we can move it into the house.  I figure that I can cut a panel in the side of the container to bring in power, water, and a drain line so we can put the chest freezer, refrigerator, and washer and dryer in it.  It might be a pain to carry laundry from the trailer to the shipping container, but not as much of a pain as carrying it to a laundromat.  That hits time and the pocketbook.

Of course, I’ll have to expand the fence that we put in earlier so the dogs have space to exercise.  They are going to need it after being in a travel trailer for several hours.  Considering that I put up our existing 50 x 50 fenced in area in about 4 hours, that won’t be so bad.

Having a shipping container onsite will also allow me to have a safe place to keep my tools and equipment locked up while we are off at work.  And I can keep things organized.  Ask Deb sometime how much I enjoy looking for things.  And how lousy I am at finding things.  Since it is something we will continue to use for years to come, we aren’t throwing money away on storage.

We have talked about moving into a travel trailer before, but didn’t pursue it.  We have a lab, a lab mix, and 2 cats that will go with us.  The thought of cramming us and them into a travel trailer is concerning.  It won’t be as comfy or convenient as living in our rental house.  That goes back to sticking to what is safe and familiar.  But then, the whole concept of clearing land and building a debt free home isn’t safe, so why cling to the safety of the rental house?

Pros and Cons

Pros

• We can work each day rather than just every other weekend
• When I do get days off, there won’t be 3 hours of travel involved
• Secure storage for tools and materials, no more toting them back and forth
• We can enjoy our woods every day instead of every other weekend
• There will be time to begin developing a garden area
• We won’t be paying out rent
• We’ve got a LOT of stuff to sort through and decide what to keep

Cons

• Living in a travel trailer with 2 dogs and 2 cats!
• Small spaces will require changing how we cook meals
• No more walk in closets for a while
• Did I mention it will be cramped?
• Travel trailers aren’t really meant for daily living, lots of upkeep
• Driving an hour to work instead of 20 minutes
• Dealing with the black water system in a trailer
• We’ve got a LOT of stuff to sort through and decide what to keep (its on both lists because we both see that as a pro.  We have stuff still in boxes from our 2007 move.)

All in all, the pros outweigh the cons.  We will have to figure out how to work around each of the cons and how to maximize the pros.

Accepting the challenge

All the prep and planning required to make this move out to the property is daunting.  As I find out when we can schedule the utilities installations I’ll have a better idea on when we can move.  Perhaps the best thing about reaching this conclusion is that rather than waiting and hoping, we are taking action and making it happen.  A lot of people will think we have lost our minds.  They may not be too far from the truth!

There will be challenges and struggles.  We have come through many in our lives.  But at least we will be moving forward, and we can continue to find ways to deal with the challenges ahead.

Remember, Safe is another word for Regret.

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And So it Began

Our search for land of our own began 7 years ago when we were living in Texas.  With the exception of a 4 year stint at Fort Campbell where we bought a home, we have spent our entire married lives living in either military housing or rented homes.  Deb has wanted a place of our own for years.  I was always hesitant to put down roots in a place that I didn’t really like that much where I was working a job that I didn’t really care for.  Finally back in 2011 we started looking at homes, land, and discussing what type of place we wanted.

One of the decisions we arrived at is that we didn’t want to live in a subdivision and we wanted no part of a HOA.  Through a friend at work, I learned of a place that owner financed land with a small down payment.  He also told me of a place that did owner financing, moving, and setup of repo manufactured homes.  That would be a start, and it would get us out of our rental house in town.  We looked at some land and it was mostly in the Trinity River bottoms.  Neither of us were keen on buying land in a flood plain and we ended up continuing to look elsewhere.

We Bought Land!

Making a Move

In 2014 I had an opportunity for a job that would finally put us in the area we really wanted to retire.  It would put us close to my Dad and Stepmom in their latter years, but the downside is that our kids and most of our grandkids would be down in Texas.  After a lot of thought and discussion, we decided to make the leap.

Shortly after moving we began looking at property and discussing what we wanted in a home or land.  One of my favorite places growing up was a beautiful lake near our hometown.  We spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday afternoons swimming at the lake or just driving around the countryside.  Naturally, that is the first place we began looking for property.  Unfortunately, reality sometimes departs from childhood dreams.  There was plenty of land available near the lake, the problem is that much of it was really rugged and challenging to build on.  Many of the lots had run down homes or trailers built right next to the road and the property was pretty trashed out.  A search on the web revealed a disturbing number of registered sex offenders and verified meth houses.  Time to rethink!

The Decision Checklist

1. Did we want to buy a cheap home or build our own?
2. Type of area/activities we want to be near?
3. Plans for the land?
4. What kind of land did we want to buy?
5. How remote and isolated did we want to be?
6. What kind of lifestyle do we want?

Did We Want to Buy a Cheap Home or Build Our Own?

Searches on Zillow, Realtor.com, Mossy Oak, and local realtor sites revealed no shortage of cheap homes.  Unfortunately, there is a reason they were cheap and the price would only be a starting point.  Issues with eaves, roofing, flooring, and utilities end up requiring a lot of work and a sizable cash outlay.  Fixing up a place that needed work would cost more than if we built from scratch!  Another issue is floor plan.  Nothing we saw matched what we had decided was important in a floor plan.  Since this home will be our retirement home, we decided to build our own.

Done deal, we would buy a piece of land and build our own home.  What type of home is a story for another day.

Type of area/activities we want to be near? 

After years of living in military housing and subdivisions, we knew that we wanted a place with elbow room.  My wife grew up in town and always felt that was where she would want to live.  People change over time, and she finally decided that she also wanted a place with some elbow room, space, trees, and privacy.

We both love being in the outdoors and enjoy camping and hiking.  Her family vacations as a child revolved around loading up the pop-up camper and going camping somewhere for a week.  My family spent a lot of time driving through the Ozarks and visiting places in the Mark Twain National Forest.  We both wanted to be near areas where we could get out and enjoy nature.  Go for a swim, go on a float trip, go on a hike, just spend some time in a beautiful place without having to drive for hours.

Plans for the land?

Initially we thought of a property with enough space to grow a small garden and perhaps have a few chickens and rabbits.  Our priorities changed as we discussed our retirement years and the type of life that really meant the most to us.  Living more in tune with nature, less consumerism, sustainable living, responsible stewardship became more important.  We decided that we wanted to buy a place that would have enough room for livestock if we felt so inclined.  Bottom line, we didn’t want to get the bare minimum space and not have room to expand if we wanted.

As a result, we decided that something in the 3-5 acre range would be best.  It would allow us to have a garden, and have a chicken coop and/or rabbit hutch that wouldn’t be right next to the house.  We could start with a small garden and have the flexibility to expand.  Funny thing is, we bought 5.3 acres and Deb wondered what we were going to do with all that land.  As we worked on clearing trees and developing the house site, she began to wish we had MORE space.  When the 5.9 acres on our north border became available, we decided to buy that too and ended up, so far, with 11.2 acres.  Now, if only the 6.3 acres on our east border doesn’t sell before we get in the position to buy it too….

What kind of land did we want to buy?

Deb and I both love the rugged hills and beautiful vistas.  Nothing like a piece of land with a view and a pond or stream.  Deb’s left hip had been bothering her for a couple years, and it became necessary for her to have a hip replacement.  In the next 3-5 years she will probably end up having her other hip replaced.  Build a home and garden on rugged acreage is definitely feasible.  Getting around it with a bionic hip isn’t so easy.  Neither of us could imagine trying it with two bionic hips!  They take care of the pain and restore lost mobility, but they just aren’t made for land best suited to billy goats.

We looked at some cleared land, but really wanted wooded acreage.  We didn’t want rugged hills, but we didn’t want flat land.  And we definitely didn’t want to be in a flood plain.  The narrowed our focus to wooded acreage with a gentle slope that would be easy for us to navigate as we age.

How remote and isolated did we want to be?

In the early stages of our discussions, we thought about buying remote land far away from the rest of the world.  Sounds romantic, and for some people it is the best place in the world.  We considered things like the fact that we will be working for the next 6-7 years, getting to church, spending time with family, access to medical care.  Remote wasn’t practical for us.  We began searching within 20 miles of the town we wanted to be near that would meet the other criteria that were important to us.

With retirement approaching, we didn’t want to be so remote that we didn’t have fairly easy access to stores and medical facilities.  We don’t need to be near a big city, but would like access to the basics without having to make a day trip.

What kind of lifestyle did we want?

Determining how we wanted to live had a huge impact on the type of land that would be suitable.  We wanted land with enough space to have room between us and neighbors.  We wanted enough space to have a sustainable permaculture garden.  Space for a chicken coop if we decided to go that way was important.  Since we really enjoy relaxing in our above ground pool, there has to be room for that!  I love smoking meat and want a detached BBQ pavilion.  No more having the smoker right next to the back door and bringing smoke into the house.

We wanted to have enough room to make a few trails to stroll through our woods.  Building a fire pit retreat found its way to our wish list.  We wanted a lot wide enough to build in a location where the house wouldn’t be easily seen from the road.  Private, but not isolated.  And we didn’t want to be in an area with junked up places all around us.  Determining what kind of lifestyle is important is vital in picking out the right kind of land.

We’ve got LAND!

In the end, I stumbled across an add on Craigslist for  owner financed wooded acreage.  A local developer had bought a few hundred acres and opened it up.  He ran county water lines, and had the plat accepted by the electric utility and the county.  In the next year the county will be taking over road maintenance.  He gave directions to get to the property, gave some details, and invited us to go check it out.  There was no high pressure sales pitch.  Just told us to go look at it and if we saw something we like, come to his office and we will talk.  I like that approach because I detest a high pressure sales pitch and will walk away in a heartbeat.

We walked several properties and decided on the one we wanted.  The properties have some deed restrictions that actually make them more appealing to us because they will (hopefully) prevent the kind of things that made other areas unappealing.  Deed Restrictions is an ugly phrase to most people setting out to homestead because they want to do whatever they want on their land.  Problem is, the people around you can do the same, and that could get unpleasant.  We made sure that the restrictions didn’t keep us from doing any of the things we were wanting to do on the land and signed the dotted line.

Making it work

My job doesn’t leave me much free time because I work 10 days and get 4 days off.  This gives us every other weekend to get out there and work.  It is challenging, and at times frustrating because things take time.  Of course, it also gives us time to refine our plans and hopefully waste less time.

Rather than have a dozer come in and knock everything down, we cut trees ourselves.  I’ve left the bigger oaks in logs 9-14 feet long to use as posts in our cordwood home.  I’ll mill hickory logs to use in making cabinets and furniture.  The rest of the oak and hickory we have been cutting up to dry for firewood.  Other brush was burned.  Whatever doesn’t make timbers for the frame or firewood will be laid out to make hugulkulture beds in the garden.  Our initial site for a drive and house changed slightly in the fall and winter when could see the land better.  It really is best if you can see the land, sun, and weather in several seasons before you put down something permanent.

People who have been out to our place love it.  We love to spend time there, even if most of that time we are working our tails off.  Some people get it, some people think we are crazy, and that’s okay.  This is our dream, our adventure to do our way.  Mistakes will be made, amazing things will be learned, and great people will be met as we go along.  At the end of the day, we will have built our dream our way, and it doesn’t get much better than that.  Hope you get to make your dream happen too!