Hello from New Hampshire

I have mealworms, quail and chickens. I'd like to eventually raise guinea pigs for meat.  

Welcome I am in central NH
Jon

Hello and welcome to permies.

I've been thinking of raising mealworms.  Do you like it?

I've known people to raise guinea pigs for meat.  I understand it's a lot like raising rabbits, but I haven't tried it yet.  

Hi Dove;   Big Welcome to Permies!
So your raising chickens , worms  & quail.
I assume you are eating eggs and the occasional chicken. What are you doing with the worms and quail?

So tell us more about yourself.  What part of the beautiful state of New Hampshire are you living in?
Your state has it all!  Rocky coastlines , towering white mountains,  green forests that turn red and gold in the fall!  
I spent many happy years in central Vermont.   The summer humidity finally drove me west over the rocky's, but New England will always hold a special place in my heart.

Lots of great folks hang out here and there is a forum on just about any subject you might want to know about!
Come back often and stay awhile.... We will leave the light on for you!

Welcome!  

I am southern NH and we have laying hens, honey bees and a spoiled garden cat.  Our big focus is on veggies and fruit production

Hello from Manch Vegas, NH!

Looking to get out of the city in the next couple years and relocate to some land where I can start practicing regenerative agriculture/ranching, biochar production etc.

Have spent a season working on an organic farm and visited an experimental permaculture farm in Belize. Have friends raising pigs and cattle for friends and CSAs.

I'm also evidently pretty handy, as I've already done about 90%+ of the permaculture merit badges. so if anybody needs a hand, give me a holler.

Cheers!

I'm on 129 acres in beautiful Meriden, NH, just south of Hanover-Lebanon-WRJ area.  We garden, have chickens, 1 1/2 barn cats, 1 horse, and the uninvited deer and ground hogs, and occasional skunks.  Focusing on zone 1 and 2 again.

Hello New Hampshire Permies,
I currently live in NY, but I grew up in Maine and I'm contemplating a move to New Hampshire. I was pleased to see there are a handful of folks on here. Anyone want to put in a plug for their favorite part of the state? I'll be visiting in summer. I hope to be able to check out Michael Phillips' apple orchard.

The entire state is just beautiful.  Southern central to the southern coastal part of the state is the most popular and great if you need access to most urban and suburban convivences. It also tends to be the most expensive and highly regulated part of the state.  Most of this  this area is zone 5a to 5b most years. It is easy to be in a semi rural to rural setting and still be less than a 1/2 drive to what NH has for cities. The cites have between 20,000 to 113,000 people in them.  Depending on what part of NY you are from you may not consider them cities but more like larger towns. We chose to be in the part of the state due to my husband's work and my health issues.  We love it!  We settled into a town with agricultural zoning to minimize the department of making you sad and we lucked out with great neighbors who are supportive of giant front yard garden and nosy chickens. While we are really happy where we are we have a friends all over the state.

The western and northern parts of NH tend to more rural and have areas that are less expensive and have less zoning and permit requirements.  The permits and zoning vary dramatically from town to town and it is worth digging through each town before you buy anything.  Grey water systems are illegal and many towns prohibit tiny homes and living year round in 3 season vacation homes.   Other towns  don't require permits other than a state septic permit.  It all varies and you need to do your homework.  HOAs, deed restrictions, easements, and wet land set backs all come into play on what you can do with a piece of land.  

The housing market is insane right now and I strongly suggest renting when you move and take time touring the state and figuring where would make you most happy.  

Kate Muller wrote:The entire state is just beautiful.  Southern central to the southern coastal part of the state is the most popular and great if you need access to most urban and suburban convivences. It also tends to be the most expensive and highly regulated part of the state.  Most of this  this area is zone 5a to 5b most years. It is easy to be in a semi rural to rural setting and still be less than a 1/2 drive to what NH has for cities. The cites have between 20,000 to 113,000 people in them.  Depending on what part of NY you are from you may not consider them cities but more like larger towns. We chose to be in the part of the state due to my husband's work and my health issues.  We love it!  We settled into a town with agricultural zoning to minimize the department of making you sad and we lucked out with great neighbors who are supportive of giant front yard garden and nosy chickens. While we are really happy where we are we have a friends all over the state.

The western and northern parts of NH tend to more rural and have areas that are less expensive and have less zoning and permit requirements.  The permits and zoning vary dramatically from town to town and it is worth digging through each town before you buy anything.  Grey water systems are illegal and many towns prohibit tiny homes and living year round in 3 season vacation homes.   Other towns  don't require permits other than a state septic permit.  It all varies and you need to do your homework.  HOAs, deed restrictions, easements, and wet land set backs all come into play on what you can do with a piece of land.  

The housing market is insane right now and I strongly suggest renting when you move and take time touring the state and figuring where would make you most happy.  

Hi Kate,

Thank you for your tips. I got several job offers last summer, but couldn't even find a rental in some places! I did explore around somewhat, but stayed mostly in the south. I'll check out the north this summer.

How did you go about investigating the towns and how they handle zoning and permits and such?

I think it's such a shame that they don't allow tiny homes. Plenty of trailer parks, though. :(

Julie Anne wrote:  

Hi Kate,

Thank you for your tips. I got several job offers last summer, but couldn't even find a rental in some places! I did explore around somewhat, but stayed mostly in the south. I'll check out the north this summer.

How did you go about investigating the towns and how they handle zoning and permits and such?

I think it's such a shame that they don't allow tiny homes. Plenty of trailer parks, though. :(

I searched each town's website to figure out what the zoning and permits requirements were.

Guinea pigs are fabulous meat, for several reasons

Tastes good, and even is the national dish of Ecuador

Reproduces quickly

Needs small area

Takes little food

All in all was said to be very ecologically friendly, because they don't damage the ecosystem as much as other livestock.

I live in western NH,  township of Meriden in the town of Plainfield, NH.  Our town is mildly regulated.  You're supposed to get a building permit for new construction unless its a movable structure of a certain size.  There's a tiny home I see on a trailer type platform near me, also, a couple of underground homes.  There are co-housing opportunities nearby in VT.  I don't know about the rest of NH.  I find the more rural you are the less building codes there are.  My son and his family live nearby in Canaan and it has no building codes.  Not sure about the zoning.   Another son lives in Claremont, NH in a decent town house rental and works at a computer company, but easily works from home.  Claremont is cheaper and nearer to some real rural places.   I've spent time in the north country and the towns are inexpensive to live in, but check out the internet speed before you decide on a spot.  Its definitely slower up north and if your job depends on it you will likely have to stick close to a town.  Streaming is still slow up north.

Its because I live in the Hanover/Lebanon/White River Junction area  that you find more regulations the closer you get to those towns.  Dartmouth College is in this area and its much more white collar.  My town has zoning issues, but its a smaller quicker process for getting exceptions now, and it usually depends on your neighbors objecting or not.  Still I'm a bit too close to that main area.  So draw circles around the major population areas for the jobs,  and rings outside of that for places to live.  Spending time living in one area and help you explore while here and find the places with the best fit.  Southern NH is notorious for lack of rental housing right now.  Best of luck!

Kathy Vargo wrote:I live in western NH,  township of Meriden in the town of Plainfield, NH.  Our town is mildly regulated.  You're supposed to get a building permit for new construction unless its a movable structure of a certain size.  There's a tiny home I see on a trailer type platform near me, also, a couple of underground homes.  There are co-housing opportunities nearby in VT.  I don't know about the rest of NH.  I find the more rural you are the less building codes there are.  My son and his family live nearby in Canaan and it has no building codes.  Not sure about the zoning.   Another son lives in Claremont, NH in a decent town house rental and works at a computer company, but easily works from home.  Claremont is cheaper and nearer to some real rural places.   I've spent time in the north country and the towns are inexpensive to live in, but check out the internet speed before you decide on a spot.  Its definitely slower up north and if your job depends on it you will likely have to stick close to a town.  Streaming is still slow up north.

Its because I live in the Hanover/Lebanon/White River Junction area  that you find more regulations the closer you get to those towns.  Dartmouth College is in this area and its much more white collar.  My town has zoning issues, but its a smaller quicker process for getting exceptions now, and it usually depends on your neighbors objecting or not.  Still I'm a bit too close to that main area.  So draw circles around the major population areas for the jobs,  and rings outside of that for places to live.  Spending time living in one area and help you explore while here and find the places with the best fit.  Southern NH is notorious for lack of rental housing right now.  Best of luck!

Hi Kathy,

I did get up as far as Lebanon last year. I really liked the Canaan, Plainfield, Meriden areas. Very pretty rolling hills and farms and woodland. I like that variety of terrain.

I will be checking into internet speeds, for sure. It's a modern convenience that would be hard to do without.

We also saw Claremont. It was a convenient size and plenty of available housing. Still, I think I'd prefer to live near it rather than in it. I know the taxes there are considered "high," but compared to most places in NY, it's still reasonable.