Checklist to prepare for half a year away from property

I’m currently still looking for land in the UP of Michigan or possibly the northern lower peninsula. However, I’m already thinking about what I will need to do in preparation for leaving the property for half a year or longer. I have a strong desire to return to India for both personal and professional reasons. If it weren’t for my parents, I’d ideally just live in South Asia. Governments make this a bit challenging.  And yes, I’d like to do permaculture in India as well. For now, I’d like to split the year between Michigan and India.

I feel it’s important to get my own place set up(at least a little cabin) before returning to India since my parents will be moving to a retirement home after I get on my feet again. Due to potential health issues, visa issues(I’ve been kicked out of India before, lost my visa/passport another time), and other uncertainties(I was in Colombo, Sri Lanka for the Easter Sunday bombings) I feel it’s important to establish my own place in America. Things go wrong overseas, and no matter what goes wrong the result is that I end up having to come back to America. Until I can get permanent residency(or something that resembles it, like an OCI card in India), I feel it’s wise to keep developing my own life in America.

So I’m asking you to help me prepare for being away from land in Michigan for half a year, if not longer.

Things on my mind:

-protecting the cabin from animal intruders of all sizes
-plumbing
-preparing my truck for a winter without any use
-which reminds me, I should really build a garage. Any tips on building a garage. Maybe a link to another thread?
-how to access the property if I have to come back in winter unexpectedly.
-also, a checklist for what to do when I return to the property.

Some details that may help you with advice:

I will likely be gone during winters. I will likely buy a liberator or make something rockety. I drive a Toyota Tacoma. I may build a stick frame cabin on piers due to the time constraint I imagine I’ll have.

Kevin, I have to ask if you have any experience in what you propose, since it will colour any response?

Depends a lot on what infrastructure and stuff you have, and the location/climate.  I'll answer for me, some of these things may be relevant to your situation.

I don't leave for half a year over winter - or if I did I would need to have someone available to check on the property.  There are too many things that could go wrong if no one was here at all.

- pipes freezing, and then thawing and leaking inside.
- freezing damage to anything inside a building if it doesn't stay above freezing on its own.  Happened once here in an uninsulated loft.
- animals getting into things (mice nesting in your car engine or generator too, not just buildings).
- roof leaks (chimney sealant fails, wind wobbling chimneys, falling branch damage, etc.
- winters are humid here, sometimes if there's no sun for a while interiors could mold just from the moisture level if there are no fires.
- trees / limbs falling under snow weight, landing on buildings etc.
- road erosion if they're not trenched out the right way, or if trees fall or debris accumulates - best to be checked regularly during heavy rain.

In summer here there are other concerns, fewer but significant:
- wildfire
- bears destroying fruit trees


When I do leave for a chunk of time in the winter, depending for how long, I'll do some or all of these things:
- make sure any pipes vulnerable to freezing are either drained or flowing slowly (but not too slowly, if it's just a drip it may still freeze)
- build fires in indoor spaces to dry them out and then seal up as much as possible (including closing flu / wood stove to reduce airflow).
- leave curtains open for sun to get in to keep things dry / warmer
- move anything that is vulnerable to freezing into a space that will have the most stable/warm temperature.  This includes lithium tool batteries, I store them in the cabin that stays above freezing rather than the shop that's less insulated.
- turn off the inverter so there's no electricity running.  (solar panels keep the batteries charged while I'm gone.)
- check for any trees or big limbs that could fall on something under heavy snow or wind, and take care of those ahead of time
- anything outdoors that's vulnerable to freezing, like garden hoses and plastic buckets, store somewhere with a more stable temperature.
- take down any plastic greenhouse cover that could fail under snow
- make sure gutters are clear, and there isn't debris accumulated on roofs that could prevent snow from sliding off
- seal up anything inside that needs to stay dry in case ambient humidity does happen, salt is the obvious one, and I usually have all kinds of food drying inside in winter that should be sealed in jars.
- run some non-ethanol gas through generator or chainsaws or other small engines I've been using and then empty the gas and run them dry so they don't gum up carburetors.
- check that culverts are clear, in some spots I'll toss loose branches that have fallen into streams up onto the bank so they don't wash down and block the culvert.

I'm sure there's more, just what comes to mind immediately.

Theft
Squatters

There is a YouTuber named bushradical that does that, has several properties in UP and Alaska that he rotated through. Most of his are simple dry cabins with outhouses so all the plumbing issues aren’t issues.

Build STRONG enough for more snow than you expect, and a pretty steep roof to help it shed.

My shed on piers has a metal under liner so it is rodent proof. Or as rodent resistant as I can.  I have caps or screens on EVERY hole through the walls and roof - chimney, vents, plumbing stacks, etc.

You will need to treat any fuel and have a way to maintain any batteries for home and vehicle.  A solar panel mounted on the south facing wall won’t get snow stuck to it, it might be enough to keep your batteries from freezing.

Many cabins in the UP are only accessible by snow machine in the winter. Have a plan to get one when needed.

find someone who can house sit/rent who knows how to live in that situation.  probably someone on here would fit the bill.

Philip, thank you for that fantastic list. Exactly what I was looking for.

R Scott, interesting you mention bushradical. I’m strongly leaning towards building one of his designs. So if I stick with that plan(or some other simple structure) then it seems I can save myself a lot of these hassles. For example, no plumbing to worry about(as I believe you pointed out). Also, if it does get damaged it isn’t a big concern like it would be with a house.

I think I’m more concerned about my truck than the cabin and the items stored inside it. My truck is worth a lot more than the cabin will be, including anything I might leave in it. Maybe I should just put it in storage. Might be  cheaper than building a garage in the short term while I see which direction my life goes.

I’m also leaning more towards northern Michigan than the UP for a variety of reasons. This should lessen the likelihood of needing a snowmobile to access the property.

John, I have no experience in what I propose.

As for theft, I think I’ll store a few more expensive/valued items with my parents. Probably as much as I can get away with.

John F Dean wrote:Theft
Squatters

I was thinking about a security camera. Maybe a few trail cameras on the property. What do you guys think about that?

If you think it’s a good idea, any recommendations or tips?

I’d personally start a community… that way the other folks in the community are just a call away to check-in or to let them know I’m headed back early or whatnot… everything keeps functioning when I’m gone… that would also leave more potential for food production on the property, security isn’t an issue and you don’t have to worry about an issue escalating and getting worse.

Cameras may be useless if you are gone for 6 months?
If you store the truck off site, you have easy access to to get to the property.

Chris Vee wrote:I’d personally start a community… that way the other folks in the community are just a call away to check-in or to let them know I’m headed back early or whatnot… everything keeps functioning when I’m gone… that would also leave more potential for food production on the property, security isn’t an issue and you don’t have to worry about an issue escalating and getting worse.

Yes, I think finding some trustworthy neighbors is important.

Cameras may be useless if you are gone for 6 months?
If you store the truck off site, you have easy access to to get to the property.

Would you still think cameras would be useless if I had someone nearby to call. I could always inform the police, if it was worthy of that.

I should also say, at this point I’m not sure when/if I’ll make it back to India. This is definitely my first choice, and before the pandemic I was living mostly in India. It’s what I was growing used to. However, due to a few uncertainties in my life(which didn’t exist before the pandemic) I feel like I need to plan for two circumstances: 1) year round living on the property 2) living half(or less) of the year on the property.

When I started this topic #1 seemed more likely, and at the moment #2 seems more likely. I wouldn’t be surprised if circumstances change again, and again. It’s the nature of permaculture to plan for a variety of potential outcomes, that’s what I’m doing here.

Regarding safety though, the UP and northern Michigan are full of cabins that are left unattended throughout winter. So I feel like what I would be doing is fairly normal. There are some Michigan groups on message boards and Facebook where I could ask what these cabin owners do. My guess is they don’t care because the cabin is cheap with nothing expensive inside.

In northern MN cabin break ins were common.  When I was away for more than a couple of days, I used a standard sawhorse type highway barrier blocking my driveway with a sign on it:   Danger Anthrax Contamination ….Do Not Enter.  I never had a problem after the sign went up.  I posted it far enough up my driveway where it could not be seen from the public road. A couple of no trespassing signs had to be passed to reach it.  Yes, the sign was professionally done.

John F Dean wrote:In northern MN cabin break ins were common…

I never had a problem after the sign went up.

So you had problems before the sign went up? How many problems?

I looked up property crime statistics in northern MN. You weren’t kidding, what’s the deal with that? I was on crimegrade.org and I don’t know how reliable that site is. Looks like it’s generally more common in rural areas, but northern MN has more red and dark orange than other rural areas I looked at.

It’s hard to decide if the sign was successful. It went up a year before we moved. And, as I said , there were no incidents afterward.  We had two incidents in the three years prior to that.  I lived in a county that measured around 60 x 90 miles.  There was one deputy covering it each shift. I kept the sign in my barn and only moved it in place if I was going to be gone a couple days.

For the first incident, I caught one of the people in my house.  The guy was more snooping around than being harmful non course, I encouraged him to leave.

The other incident, a chainsaw and other items were taken.  I suspect I knew who did it.   Maybe 20 years later he was found at the bottom of a cliff  several states to the west.   The case made Court TV.   It seems he ticked off the wrong person. His girl friend was convicted.

At the time I was there, it appeared that several people made a living by robbing empty cabins. That was in my county. I am sure similar was going on in  other counties as well.   That was in the 80’s which were generally pre-meth. I imagine it is much worse now.

John F Dean wrote:At the time I was there, it appeared that several people made a living by robbing empty cabins. That was in my county. I am sure similar was going on in  other counties as well.   That was in the 80’s which were generally pre-meth. I imagine it is much worse now.

People keep saying that it’s still common for those in the UP to leave their door unlocked. I wonder if this is really true. It’s easy to believe it was true in the past, even just two decades ago. However, I wonder if this is really up to date. I have read that meth hasn’t hit the UP nearly as hard as it’s hit the rural lower peninsula.

Searching on google, I keep getting links to this story about a whole cabin that stolen: https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/northern-michigan-man-stole-cabin-tried-concealing-it-with-metal-sheets-police-say