Hi Shaun,
As far as places where the local farmers gather, I'm not sure. They have community events, like bingo,
cards, and fundraising dinners at the legion, but different people show up to different events. There are the churches in town as well, which many people attend. This would probably be a good place to meet and chat with folks. We basically told everyone we met that we were looking for a place and if they knew of anything to let us know. But that requires spending significant amounts of time in the area. There are a few rich people there who own a significant amount of different properties who you could track down and ask if they might sell something.
I don't know what your situation is, but it would be good if you could get up there and spend time talking to folks. It's best to do that when all the cottagers aren't there, so after labour day or before July.
I think the group you had contact with, who are looking to buy a very large piece of land and create an
intentional community on, are farther south into the bush from South River off highway 11. That is a different area from where we are looking. The people I was referring to are just random folks who have moved to the area and purchased their own respective properties and are doing their own thing, but still getting together and trading, talking, making community. Port Loring is on highway 522, north more, closer to North Bay. Google map it. It is still part of the same large section of unorganized area that the other folks are looking to purchase in, but it is more in the "middle of nowhere".
For income we are going to be running our herbal tea business at local area markets in the summer and selling
online all year. We are also going to be farming/gardening to provide ourselves with food and sell some down the road. We are also going to be setting up an education space where we will teach about herbalism,
permaculture, wild plants/foraging, all that good stuff. There is a group of us who have just formed an organization to get some government funding to get some cool things going, focused on, arts, history, environment, and recreation, so this may lead to other
income streams.
We are looking for a smaller scale set up, around 10 acres, probably with a home already built, so we can jump right in a get the things going we want to see happen.
Are you in a position to be able to go spend some time in the area talking to folks? I still think knocking on doors is a good idea. If not knocking, then driving by and looking for farmers who are outside and then walking up and talking to them. They are really quite friendly in the area and do like to talk.
