Hello from N Central Arkansas

Cleburne Co. Found this site looking for info on rocket stoves. Find there is lots I'm interested in besides that. Building a greenhouse now, big garden and getting more into food storage. I'm a machinist, welder and half ass know it all. Always getting new ideas so this will be a good place to find people with some depth of knowledge.
Very much into being thrifty.

Howdy Rosco, welcome to permies!

Hi Roscoe and welcome to Permies.

If you have a half-assed idea, someone else here is sure to have the other half - lots of wonderful innovations going on here!

Jen

Howdy Rosco and welcome to Permies from another new guy. Lots of interesting ideas here, especially for a guy who likes to make stuff from metal.

Rosco Heber wrote: Cleburne Co. Found this site looking for info on rocket stoves. Find there is lots I'm interested in besides that. Building a greenhouse now, big garden and getting more into food storage. I'm a machinist, welder and half ass know it all. Always getting new ideas so this will be a good place to find people with some depth of knowledge.
Very much into being thrifty.

Hi Rosco and welcome! We are in Stone county...with quite a bit of snow on the ground still...a real winter for a change.
It is good to hear from more folks from Arkansas

Hi Rosco and welcome! We are in Stone county...with quite a bit of snow on the ground still...a real winter for a change.
It is good to hear from more folks from Arkansas

Good to hear from someone near me. It always seems like I'm always the only one interested in things in my area on these sites. I was on that yahoo group for gardening and such in Ozarks and everyone was in Missouri.
All the snow is 99% gone in Heber. I'm working on new greenhouse today, getting things ready to make a little rocket stove. I saw that about your poor soil. If your in Heber the city has free mulch. They load at certain times or you load anytime during regular hours.

Conway area here

Heber Springs or Bust! My grandfather is there and I plan to have my tiny house delivered to an RV park in Tumbling Shoals unless someone has a better idea. (Open to suggestions!) The park idea is just temporary while I find a few acres in Cleburne county, most likely owner financed. It is a relief to learn there are permies in the neighborhood. I too am interested in joining a community of like-minded folks.

Hi, Janet, welcome to permies! It is good to have more folks in the Ozarks. Lots of gardeners, many organic and all kinds of folks in these hills. Glad to have you here

Janet Branson wrote:Heber Springs or Bust! My grandfather is there and I plan to have my tiny house delivered to an RV park in Tumbling Shoals unless someone has a better idea. (Open to suggestions!) The park idea is just temporary while I find a few acres in Cleburne county, most likely owner financed. It is a relief to learn there are permies in the neighborhood. I too am interested in joining a community of like-minded folks.

What do you mean by "tiny house"? Is it an RV? I stayed at the RV park near the COE park in Tumbling Shoals while I looked for land. Never found anything I could afford, but I wasn't going to settle for 2 or 3 acres. I ended up buying a house in Heber. All sorts of people around here looking for "owner financing". Look on Facebook at Heber Springs, Drasco, Ida, RoseBud. THere are several Facebook groups. I've seen an add for some acreage to put an RV on down Libby Route. Check our Worlds Worst "News Paper" for an add since I don't remember where I've seen it. Might have been on craigslist.

Laurie Belle wrote:Conway area here

Laurie...welcome to permies...we are not far north of you but I think your gardening season is a bit longer great to have you here!

It is a park model RV about 117 sq ft by Tumbleweed Tiny House. http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/products/elm

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll start searching Facebook. The area is pricey and I am open to anything in about a 2 hour drive from Heber. I don't want to be too far from my grandfather. He did a bit of homesteading in the 80-90's and has wisdom to bestow.

I'll be checking out the Wagon Circle RV Park on Libby Rd next week and will certainly look for land. Thanks! I'll be checking them out next week, plus a few others. The Tumbling Shoals park is so new they don't yet have electric in yet, but they should by July. The downside to any of these RV parks is definitely the cost. They range from $350-$425 per month or $1500-2200 per year and the yearly will not be prorated if you decide to leave early. Finding land via virtual means these past couple of years has not been successful. I need to be there to look and I don't know how long it will take, so having a hard time deciding on the park situation.

"Wagon Circle RV Park on Libby Rd" They are very strict (stupid) about their very low speed limit. Are they putting in some new sites at Tumbling Shoals park? Must be if they don't have electric yet. Chick and Deb who own Tumbling Shoal park are great people. Lived there a year and been planning on going out to see them. What kind of work if any are you looking for? Not much in Heber. Searcy or too big Conway. You got to get away from all the weekend, and retired people. They are driving up the price and taking everything. Mt View is even worse or maybe the same. Land divided into lots for retired people to bring the suburbs to Mt View and even fewer jobs there. Some land between Drasco and Mt View maybe, back way back off main roads.
Might try advertizing for a place to put your house RV thingi. Maybe on Facebook. You could always haul water I guess. There is a guy in Pangburn selling 55 gal, food grade barrels for $10ea.

Well, I'll cross off Wagon Circle then. Never heard of Tumbling Shoals Park, or perhaps I eliminated them early for some reason. I will check them out for sure now, thanks! Extreme Boat Storage, owned by Bill and Wanda is now or will soon be Extreme Boat Storage and RV Resort.

I am an educator, license pending in AR. There are a few positions, for which I am qualified and will apply, in the towns surrounding Heber. Thankfully there is a high need for special education and science teachers in the area. Still, it could be rough going. I am willing to do most any work though. Not sure if there is a sustainable client base, but I would be a really good freelance reading specialist. I envision teaching reading to struggling readers that are either home schooled or not getting what they need in the public system. After Hurricane Katrina I was fortunate enough to teach a group of young men, 14-16 year olds; they went from about the 1st grade level to the 5th grade in one year. I have not been able to repeat that in Chicago Public Schools and see this move as an opportunity to try again.

The area between Drasco and Mount View has very low light pollution and way off the main roads sounds perfect. In my case as light pollution decreases, employment opportunities also decrease. As the commute increases, Earth-harm increases.

Advertising for an RV site is a good idea. My grandfather has 6 acres and a nice level spot near a few water sources. He might see the house and offer a temporary arrangement. Just have to explore all the options.

Ten dollars for a NEW 55 gallon drum? That is a super deal! Good to know! Installing the rain catchment system will certainly be the first big project on the house. Just one drum raised on some salvaged cinder blocks would make it easy to catch water, even in the temporary situation, do you agree? I need to look into making rain potable; so far I have only considered it/researched it for food production purposes once land has been purchased.

You have been a big help Roscoe! Thank you!

" Never heard of Tumbling Shoals Park" Well that's not the name of it. (870) 307-5250 and its Lakeside RV. When i live there I could hear the frogs from the pond over at the campground. You can walk to the beach. Those 55gal plastic barrels are used, but food grade. Someone in LR sells them claiming they had juice concentrate in them. There are two people in Pangburn selling them. One shows pics and they had some kind of chemical in them. I'm going to see this week about getting a few from the other guy. One is not enough unless you want a tiny garden. I lived up in the National Forest before coming back to Heber. They told me there when buying land to make sure about water. I'm using too much from city for my garden now so that is why I'm looking for storage. I've got a real big garden for in town. I've seen several teaching jobs advertised lately in Heber and I think maybe in Concord. Might call the school.
Another thing. City give out mulch free. Its leaves, ground up trees, and grass thats sat out for a year or so. Some times its great, some times too many sticks and rocks, but overall can't beat it. Its south on 4th street (from court house on Main) about 1/4 mile. East of cemetary. SHow up at 7am or noon and they load it. I've gotten dozens and dozens of trailer loads. Soil here is Clay and terrible. Mulch is the answer.
There is also a Community Garden in town. Last spot got taken other day. Call extension office in Heber and maybe next year. They said they might expand it. They have free water and some mulch. I've got big spot but ground is terrible and i'm going to have to put a lot of mulch on it. THey do plow in spring.

Lakeside RV is now top on the list, thanks.

How did you like living in the National Forest? I looked near Caddo Gap, but every property looked to have been clearcut and with the clay and seasonal streams, every rain created a mudslide. Permaculture could probably fix the issues in the long run, but in the mean time the shelter would slip out from under you.

"I've got a real big garden for in town." Could I check it out? Perhaps that is too bold a request. I would like to see the Community garden at least, even if it is too early for much to be growing.

"City give out mulch free." That is great! Sounds like they give out enough to really work with too!

Thanks for your tips Roscoe. On the road again, I expect to explore Heber to Drasco tomorrow. Yay!

Let me preface my permie wisdom mining by saying that so far I have only absorbed about 25 of Paul's fantabulous podcasts and a few videos. Just a few more hundred hours to go! Averaging 2 hours a day I should be caught up in a few months.

Finding affordable permie perfect land near some family has been a challenge. Still, I found a beautiful 11 acres in the Ozarks with a south-south-west facing slope. With Mountain views and the raw materials laying around for cob (wofati), hugelkultur, and mountain views, I was pretty close to making an offer. Then, I checked out the area. It is VERY close to a Royal Oak charcoal processing plant and they have not been in compliance with air quality standards. It seems they keep getting permits with no penalties however. During the peak pollution time, the middle four days of burning, they reach a 'moderate' level of PM2.5 contamination.

http://echo.epa.gov/detailed_facility_report?fid=110043503679

Is it a no-brainer to just walk away here? WWPD? What would a permaculturist do? Could permaculture mitigate the problems or is it too dangerous to even try?

Newbie in training,
Janet

If your thinking of living as far out as Leslie then I'd say there is going to be a lot more land available. Its only near the bigger town where all those looking for weekend cabins are buying everything up. Marshal, Alread west of Clinton, Snowball by the Buffalo. But a long long commute unless you can find a local job.

You are right Roscoe; get a job first then buy land. I hope to find something with beautiful views like this one. How would you go about looking for land around there? I check craigslist, landwatch,com, and realtor.com regularly, but I think land like this might more likely be sold by the owner and not formally listed with an agent. What do you think of Arkansas's dual-agency practice? With the agents I discussed it with thus far, it seems pretty slimy. Think I'd rather avoid real estate agents all together. It does not seem like they are adding any layers of confidence to a potential purchase.

Janet Branson wrote:You are right Roscoe; get a job first then buy land. I hope to find something with beautiful views like this one. How would you go about looking for land around there? I check craigslist, landwatch,com, and realtor.com regularly, but I think land like this might more likely be sold by the owner and not formally listed with an agent. What do you think of Arkansas's dual-agency practice? With the agents I discussed it with thus far, it seems pretty slimy. Think I'd rather avoid real estate agents all together. It does not seem like they are adding any layers of confidence to a potential purchase.

Janet, we bought our land after seeing an ad in the Stone County Leader (the newspaper out of Mountain View). The owner was selling, we had cash and went through Mountain View Abstract co. (I think that is the name) to do up the paperwork...no real estate agent, no lawyer...no extra survey, there was a good one and the land size had hot changed since). I would check out local papers...although the Marshall Mountain Wave never has many listings. Some folks post on the board at the grocery store, maybe the feed store, signs out in front of their home...etc. We have a sign about our place at Stone Ground, the local health food store.
I am looking at the classifieds in the paper and see a few 3-6 acre pieces and then 40 and larger. Word of mouth often works around here...sometimes just bringing it up at the grocery store will connect you with what you are looking for.
Are you looking for a house also or only land? a limit on how many acres?

EDIT to add.....here is something from last weeks paper, sounds expensive though...
"six lovely acres with breathtaking views. Very private setting. Can finance or sell for cash, $39,000, Mtn. View AR."

I will PM you the phone number if you want...I don't want to put someones number in a public post.

I think the going cost per acre, depending on the parcel size is more like $1500 to $2000, not over $6000 like this ad.

"Arkansas's dual-agency practice?" I don't have any idea what this is. After finding a job I would just ask people. I found out that a lot of the land listed for sale was being bought by people who were contacting absentee owners of the land. Lots of people moved out of the hills for jobs and lot of land is owned by people who rarely come back. You might look and see who is behind on taxes and contact them. I remember in Newton Co,(where Jasper is) lots of small parcels were delinquent. People with the small stores know what is going on. Could put some notice at the store that your looking for land. I was checking the paper every week and almost bought 10 acre outside of Drasco, but I was beat by someone who didn't need to think about it as much as me. So i guess to sum it up I'd say get a job, talk to people and look around a lot. I also had a book on buying land in country which was very informative.

Janet, we bought our land after seeing an ad in the Stone County Leader (the newspaper out of Mountain View). The owner was selling, we had cash and went through Mountain View Abstract co. (I think that is the name) to do up the paperwork...no real estate agent, no lawyer...no extra survey, there was a good one and the land size had hot changed since). I would check out local papers...although the Marshall Mountain Wave never has many listings. Some folks post on the board at the grocery store, maybe the feed store, signs out in front of their home...etc. We have a sign about our place at Stone Ground, the local health food store.
I am looking at the classifieds in the paper and see a few 3-6 acre pieces and then 40 and larger. Word of mouth often works around here...sometimes just bringing it up at the grocery store will connect you with what you are looking for.
Are you looking for a house also or only land? a limit on how many acres?

Thanks I try to find all the small town papers in the vicinity and start checking the Stone County Leader too. Checking the boards at the feed store etc is a great idea! I am just looking for land and would prefer something in the 7-20 acres range. Having more than ten has a few permit related benefits; mostly I am open to the right place. Word of mouth has already lead to a few properties, they just happened to each have north-facing slopes.

In Arkansas one real estate agent can represent both the seller and the buyer.

More great ideas! Thanks, you have been a big help. Job applications, resumes, etc. will go out next week and I will start interviewing in June. I'll let you know when the right place comes along. : )

Now you've got me looking...a listing from Green and Partee real estate is mostly wooded 24 acres on the White River for $2000 an acre....they call it a hunters dream. Can't believe it is that low priced if it is really ON the White and thru a real estate agent.

"they call it a hunters dream." That means its mostly vertical and there is no road going there. Nearest electrical is going to be a mile away. Usually you can tell by the price. If its the cheapest/acre thats it.

Rosco Heber wrote:"they call it a hunters dream." That means its mostly vertical and there is no road going there. Nearest electrical is going to be a mile away. Usually you can tell by the price. If its the cheapest/acre thats it.

ahhh...thats what they used to call 'hippie land' when we bought some back in '73...our first land was a ravine and did not get sun until ten am and it set about 3 in the afternoon...no water but a 'seasonal' creek...lots of rock , no road access, just a trail. During the big rains in dec of '82 the hill slid down on our cabin and we had to dig out. A few years later, after we had moved out, a neighbor way up the hollow was burning his pasture for spring and set a wildfire that burned the cabin...a bit ill fated, we think. We lived there 12 years and had both of our sons there...young and foolish, I guess

by the time we bought the land i mention in the post above we knew what we wanted and needed...we just got too old to do it all.

Wow, Judith! Those are certainly cautious lessons to be shared!

Road access has been the main problem when checking out 'hunter's dreams.' But you still see permanent residences, usually with a four-wheel drive in the driveway and a deer feeder in the back yard.