Earl Edward

Wow thank you everyone for all the great replies. There's definitely much work that needs to be done. I ended up mowing a big portion of it, mainly just a path around the perimeter of the property. I also took the steps to seriously step up my composting.

I also ordered a chip drop but who knows if they'll even do it considering there's about a foot of snow. Then I'll have to study the lane and see what I can come up with in terms of water flow and stuff of that nature.

Hi everyone!

Been quite a while since I've been here. When I found this wonderful place I was still trying to figure out how to get my family out of the city and onto some land.

About six months later and we're now living in our new house on 2.5 acres. It's a few hours away from where we were, so we didn't really get a chance to fully check everything out until we moved in but it checks off most of the stuff that was on our list. It's in a very small rural area, has a well, and a good chunk of land.

It turns out that our entire property is basically completely sand. I haven't had it tested but I would say it's at least 80%. I have read numerous ways of improving the soil and some of the things that we will be doing along the way are these.

I have started composting all of our food waste, along with leaves and all the other things in the yard. I kept all of our cardboard and will be laying that down and putting organic matter on top of it.

My main question is this. The back half of our property is probably waste high with "weeds". It will probably snow within a week or two but I am wondering if I should do something with the weeds.

I came across this video and think this is a pretty good process to follow. It's not very clear in the video but I think he just flattens all of the weeds and then plants the seeds or seedlings in the middle. I considered just mowing down all of the weeds and leaving them in their place so they can break down over the winter, but I'm not sure that's even necessary.



I also just recently watched the back to Eden gardening documentary and will be incorporating that, eventually. It just seems like that won't produce immediate results, a few years at least.

My current game plan is to just wait till spring, lay down the cardboard over the weeds, then throw down some of the soil I made at our old house (coco coir, worm compost, and perlite), plant some seeds, then mulch it. I probably only have around 20 sq feet of that soil though.

Another idea I had was to 'cut' the soil I made with the sandy soil.

My original idea before we moved was to just till a bunch of organic matter into the soil then plant and be on my way, but have come to understand that the act of tilling alone destroys something like 30% of the micro biome, so I'm looking for a more sustainable method.

My main concern is being able to have enough usable area to provide at least the majority of our produce next year, as cheaply as possible.

I'm new to all of this and have only had one garden, and that was this year, it was definitely successful.

Anyway, thanks to whoever takes the time to read this. I'll definitely be frequenting this forum now.

This is my second post, and hope someone finds it useful.

I just discovered this method tonight, and had to share it with some people. Basically there are tools that exist in today's world that allow you to find cheap unlisted land, but it will require you to put in some work.

I am a 31 year old father of a 1.5 year old baby girl, and I'm sick of this consumer lifestyle. I do not have much money saved up, nor do I have a job right now due to this whole plandemic that is happening. What I do have is unemployment, the majority of my stimulus check, and a small amount of savings from before, and an overwhelming drive to create a better life for my daughter.

I have always managed to find a way to do my thing, whatever that was. Whether it be to hustle up enough money to get my heroin fix or score a place to sleep for a few days, etc. (I'm 2+ years clean now in case your wondering).

I am going to talk to you today about publicly listed tax parcels.

Basically what they are is this.

They are usually available as a map, provided by a particular county or city. You can view the entire area and lookup each individual parcel and see the tax information. You then can determine if the owner is living on the land or if their address is in another location.

Unfortunately in my area, a free tool was not available, so I had to pay up for a tool at landgrid.com (1 year for $100). You can use the site for free, but not all of the features. Keep in mind you can search google for "Lansing Tax Parcel Map" and you can find one thats free, but in my area one didn't exist, maybe you'll be lucky.

In the image below you can see an example of a parcel in my area, that has an owner in another location (All Purple areas).

You can then lookup that owner (by name and location) on another site like voterrecords.com and then you can send them a letter.

A hand written letter would work best here because imagine being a landowner in a cold place, but living in florida for the winter and getting tons of junk mail while your in your vacation spot. You'd most likely open a letter that was handwritten vs some printed out letter that looked like an ad.

I will be starting this hand written letter process within the next couple of days once my girlfriend and I decide on a few locations we'd like to live.

Hope everyone is having a good day, and happy travels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67-M3slkJ18
I discovered this in this youtube video, so I'll leave that here too. I just had to get this out in the open because I am at the end of my rope living this consumer lifestyle and I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else in my quest to homestead.

Hugo Morvan wrote:I'd like to use it in water control. Water is essential it's ok to put on a little solar pump and walk away, but if you forget to switch it off you're wasting water. It would be great to automatize these things. An Arduino can fail too, don't get me wrong, but probably not as many times as me.
I got an automatic door for the chickens that lived in the caravan. It opened in the morning a lot earlier than i would have opened it for them, but in nature, chickens are out at first light, because that is when the bugs go hiding, a lot of their protein comes from that moment. I forgot to check the batteries and apparently it was open constantly,at night a marter came in and killed all of them. If i had had some kind of battery low warning system that wouldn't have happened, but since it was pretty complicated as it was, to get that system working, i didn't do something like that. I didn't think of either, but that aside.
If a greenhouse gets hot an automated system to open the doors would come in handy. I'm sure it all exists already, but it would be nice to make it myself, so i can fix it as well. Chickenfeeder, automated.
I saw one little system that was even lower tech, which i am going to put to use when the new chickens come.
It's priceless to have things automated, i am a hobby farmer, i need to go to work, and it would be nice if things run smoothly so i don't have to do it after work or before.
For real farmers it's the same. My neighbor wants a system that uses the well water when it's above a certain level, pump on..but wants it to shut down when it comes below a certain level so it doesn't suck up muck. And still you can walk away in stead of doing chores closeby and maybe forgetting when an emergency arrives.
Stuff like that. Maybe i'm dreaming, i wouldn't know, but i guess these systems will be worth a buck for farmers to install. Bridging the gap between the cheapest chinese stuff which breaks and the fanciest systems that cost a fortune. Stuff custom made.
Me being me, i started to worry the farmers would deplete the watertable. And the love for electronics was over when i just got too busy with a new project outside, but it's just shelved.

Those some like some awesome applications for sure!

I am hoping to become a hobby farmer as well, at least until I learn enough to be completely self sufficient and only need to work to acquire the non essential things.

I did just discover a possible way to acquire some land in a non conventional way so I may write a post about this soon, if one hasn't been done already.

I just wanted to send a quick reply before I hit the hay. Look forward to sharing our experiences in the future!

Hugo Morvan wrote:Yeah partying is good for a bit. Let it all hang out. No skills you say? Doesn't sound like it to me. Nothing you can't learn. Electronics can be of great help in permaculture, i bought a beginners set, it's just sitting there, waiting for me to be motivated. It can be of great help though! That's a skill. Heroin is a bummer, not as damaging as alcohol in itself.
Having a child makes you want to fight harder  normally. Gardening has helped me a lot in staying away from alcohol and cigarettes. Permaculture has given my creativity a boost, i guess i was bored really, filled that gap with drugs, which can teach you a lot, but man, the hangovers. I guess i have filled that gap with gardening now, it tastes great, i feel much cleaner , clearheaded and healthier and love that what i am doing really makes a difference. I build nature, it's god's work really. Deeply satisfying. Drug culture never gave me that, it's a lot of talk and waste and consumerism and more talk about quitting and geting away, chatter. Feeling despicable afterwards. Gardening is about producing, about being more clever than the critters, about the wholeness of life.
Good luck with changing! Aren't children just magical?

Yeah heroin taught me a lot, and yeah I agree alcohol can be worse especially because it's literally everywhere. I had my problems with that as well, my run with that didn't last nearly as long.

What is your main goal with electronics? What do you hope to put together once you get to a high skill level? Just curious about some of the things they could be used for. I would love to start building drones and other robotic type stuff, I think that would be fun.

I do feel a sense of accomplishment and togetherness with everything when I'm out doing stuff in the yard and cooking. I am in need of really being able to have a creative element in my life, especially in nature and not in my computer room. I would Definitely love to turn that into my job or at least do that more than work for money.

Yes, having a child really does make me want to try harder and I've learned so much in this year and a half. I knew I wanted kids for quite a few years but didn't imagine it could be as rewarding and awesome as it is.

Thanks for the kind words and have a good day

I have been composting for over a year now, and the majority of that time was in a 1 bedroom apartment. Like someone already mentioned vermicomposting is a great way to start. I have one of the bigger Tupperware containers, it's probably close to 3 feet long, maybe a got wide and a foot tall. I bought a $20ish dollar thing if redworms from uncle Jim's worm farm online and now they have probably quadrupled in quantity. I put food in every few days and even when I'm in the same room as it I can't smell it.

I have some holes drilled on the lid and around the container that I stuffed full with polyfill, which is essentially synthetic cotton. They say it's good because mold doesn't grow on it. I'm not sure it's even required to fill the holes with polyfill because over the last few weeks my dog has been pulling it all out and so far none have crawled out.

Anyway, hope you get started and maybe show us some progress pictures when you do. Have a good day and good luck!

I feel their pain. Like someone above mentioned I wouldn't recommend the supplement route because regardless of how natural or un-narcotic they seem, any supplementation can alter the way their body works.

I don't know the exact situation but what helped me was blue light glasses. There are some available for like $10 on Amazon and they are orange. What they do is eliminate all of the blue light that the wearer is absorbing. I would also recommend switching to incandescent light bulbs in the house and giving the toddler the glasses to wear for a couple hours before bed. What this does is enable the body to start producing melatonin earlier than normal. They make new drowsy about an hour after I put them on.

Also, reducing their exposure to blue light in general a couple hours before bed does wonder. Light from TV, tablets, led bulbs etc. I would also recommend buying a Himalayan salt lamp and placing that close to their bed. When the salt heats up it changes the structure of the air, acts as a filter for EMF, and also produces a large amount of near infrared light which has been shown to calm and soothe. Just make sure the lamp doesn't use a led bulb and actually heats up.

Also, if you really do think you need something herbal to help. I would get some organic lavender and put a bit in the bath with the child before bed. There's significant studies showing that just smelling lavender helps encourage sleep.

We only do this on really bad nights, but it seems to help, and much less is actually being absorbed by the body than if they were to drink a tea made with it.

Idk if you could get a toddler to wear a pair of glasses for an hour but who knows, maybe the toddler will think they're cool and want to wear them!

Thanks for the warm welcomes from everybody. I'm looking forward to spending some time here.

Hugo Morvan wrote:Welcome. Looking to change your life, you've come to the right place.
I don't know, if your skilled you can join a community, they are usually looking for people.
Or you could find an older homesteader who has land and an extra small house, they need manual work doing , you'll learn skills.
Some people are WOOFFING, helping out on organic farms, but with a young family less choices, they're usually looking for students. Although right now, the local farms need hands, less immigrants and lots of demand.
Or just wait this out, learn on here, find a job, put all the money aside you can, not get sucked back into consumer life and jump out.
I don't know, good luck. Talk to us.

Not really skilled in anything that actually matters, yet. I have pretty much partied away the majority of life, and had a significantly long run with heroin. Luckily I learned a lot about struggle and what's actually important in life, and know that I can do some incredible things if I am able to direct my intentions to something that can enable me to work for myself.

I've lived in apartments for the majority of my life around the country, and I think my favorite job that I've had (out of the many) was a door to door meat salesman where I decided for myself when to start, how much to work, where to knock on doors etc.

I don't really have any skills that matter, as far as providing for myself, although I am great with electronics and computers in general. I've recently started a few projects around the house with a raspberry pi, which I will eventually use to build something actually useful.

Nathanael Szobody wrote:Good thoughts. It all starts with a garden. Have you ever grown stuff?
Tell us more about your hopes!

In my last apartment I bought an aerogarden and attempted to use the ambient light to grow a few things outside of the aerogarden, didn't work out too great mostly because of my cats.

My family recently moved into an actual house, with an actual yard big enough to grow some food. Turns out that my yard is mostly clay and on top of that, it floods in a major way.

So I bought some lumber, and some tools, and some stuff to make my own soil to fill my planter boxes with, using red worm compost from one of those big Tupperware containers that I've been nurturing for the last couple years in my apartment. I used coco coir for one and peat moss for the other.

I guess I do actually have some skills that matter... I had an abundance of other materials from my days of growing mushrooms in my apartment.. Vermiculite, coco coir, and some perlite that I accidentally bought before I knew there was a difference between perlite and verm.

Anyway so now I have two raised beds, one has decent sized plants because I started them inside (I didn't use the farmers almanac like I originally planned). I didn't really do too much research before I did it, and just learned what perennials are literally a couple hours after I planted my food. I also planted everything at the same time, But now I know a little more, for next time.

Also, I've been working out a way to increase the drainage in my yard or route the water somewhere else. I have some ideas but haven't done much yet except add some organic matter to the part of my yard that floods the most. I'm considering maybe once I get a bunch more I'll just till it all in. Maybe, haven't fully decided yet.

bob day wrote: Yes, welcome, knowing you want a change is the best beginning, before there is a catastrophe and you are simply being swept along with the flood.
This is certainly a good place to start and develop friends and possibly even find the situation that suits you. In the meantime, save your money, develop your skills  and keep your eyes open.

I would be looking at Permaculture courses, some are free online, and develop a new way of organizing your knowledge

Yeah that's a great idea!

I didn't even know permaculture was a thing until late last night but I will be definitely submerging myself in as much information/courses as I can.

I have met so many unhappy people in my life that don't even know why they aren't happy with their lives. I was one for quite a while and I think that this is something I just have to do.

I do not want to raise my daughter to become a zombie consumer that has no idea that there is a better way.

Orin Raichart wrote: Welcome Earl,

The Community forums will provide you contacts of people who have large farms and need help (but you need to bring skills and  a work ethic or it won't last long).  That forum is here. Read the right hand side of the screen carefully for all the sub-forums contained in the Community forums.

You will also find other folks there who are looking for a place (maybe find a way to make the leap with seven of them (very tough since most people have no idea of what living in community really is like).

Under the Experience forums, you may also find what you're looking for here.

Thanks, this forum at first seems pretty hard on the eyes, and at first glance seems a bit overwhelming. I will be definitely checking out the threads there.

I couldn't even imagine what it would be like actually living in a community. I mentioned it to my girlfriend about a week or so ago when I first considered that it could be an option. She immediately defaulted to assuming there were only cults. I can understand how some could be, but I also understand that some are just people like me that want a better way of life.

Anne Pratt wrote:No avoiding the fact that this is easier to do with money.  But a good start is either gardening where you are (and thus learning permaculture principles and how to grow food), or getting a job in a rural area, moving there, and setting about getting yourself some land.  It's all a process, and the process (while hard) is mostly all good.  We are all on the road; none of us has arrived.

I am hopeful that this pandemic will cause others to take a second look at our wasteful, harmful, stupid-consumerist way of living, and seek alternatives.

Yeah money makes everything easier it seems. I will be looking for employment opportunities in my area sometime this week to see what I can learn and build up some cash.

I really hope people can learn from this too. So far it seems that there are many people at least aware that there is a better way. A few of my family members want to change their lifestyle as well.

Hello everyone, the name is Earl, yes... like that TV show.

Anyways, I am 31 years old, Have a 1.5 year old daughter, and a girlfriend of 3 years who is also the mother of my child.

ith the recent crazy huge fear attack on the global population, I have been seriously thinking about a way to separate my family from the system which has been failing for so long. I currently live in lower Michigan. I have been out of work due to the craziness in the world and don't really have any money to start my own farm. After a lot of searching on google it seems that I may have found a place to at least start looking for a possible solution. I was looking for a place where I could be in contact with people doing what I want to do, and maybe help me turn this into a reality.

Maybe I can find a place for my family to start doing a little good in the world and for my daughter, and myself for that matter.