Lincoln Zaegen

My entire off-grid home is lighted with warm white LED "5 meter, 300 led's" 12vdc strips from ebay.

I usually pay about $2 each.

My favorite are 3014 LED's - the most light for the least power draw. 2835's are a close second.

5050's draw too much juice for the light, and 5630's are too expensive.

When I bought my 6 acres, the very first thing I did was build an outhouse. I actually built the walls in town, and assembled it on-site.

I *then* built an 8' x 8' shed. Because, you will get REALLY sick of hauling all of your stuff back and forth, back and forth.... A place to keep shovels, tree branch loppers, machete, claw hammer, cheap $40 chainsaw, small camp stove, etc. etc.

If you are smart, on the back wall you'll make a fold down bunk that can hold a twin size air mattress.

My first barn (shed) was a simple 8 X 8 structure with 6 sheets of plywood (2 on each of the threes sides), about 2 dozen 2x4's and a big tarp. It housed my tools, let me camp out of the rain, held my solar panels and housed my batteries and inverter. I built it in 3 days by myself, but two good & fast men could do it in a few hours. It served me well for months.

"Barn/shed 2.0" was built about 30 feet away and was about 300% larger, and took a month to build. When I got to the point where I needed the materials, I tore down shed 1.0 (it was held together with screws, not nails) and I used the materials to finish the next one.

You can keep "leap frogging" this idea forever.  It's *ALL* about which you have more of: time or money.

There is a HUGE difference between "homesteading" and "organic gardening".

The former requires extreme time management... the latter is a hobby.

As mush as I'd like to go 100% organic, all I'd end up really doing right now is making a bunch of very WELL fed bugs.

I buy cabbage and potatoes cheaper than I can raise them. Someday, that will change, but not right now. I have fences to build and a shop building to finish FIRST!

Esmee Silver wrote:
-Max. 30.000 EUR for a piece of land or house with some land.
-A safe and stable country. Preferably no stream of immigrants.
-Climate change influence...?
-Enough rain and sun (for gardening & solar energy).
-Not too many rules and regulations. (for instance, forcing kids to go to school or get vaccinations etc).

GOOD LUCK! You'll need it!

In the United States, with only "30000 EUR for a piece of land or house with some land" you are VERY limited.
North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming will be your main choices.
In these states, crime rate is VERY VERY LOW.
not many regulations, either.

I'm really curious to know what you will find.

Deb Stephens wrote:Well, you get the idea ... Let me know if you're interested or have any questions I didn't answer in my Craigslist ad or here. Thanks for looking!

Very cool! How far along is the straw bale house?

Best of luck!
If I hadn't already started construction with two shipping containers, I'd seriously consider it!

That was interesting... about 20% gardening and 80% psychological!

Travis Johnson's post is right-on.

Travis Johnson wrote:. Where rock removal still is too rough, you will need to add gravel, and you want fairly small stuff.

When the rocks are huge, you have ONLY two options - dig them out, or bury them.

It's usually easier to bury with rocks, gravel or base.

If bringing base in is expensive, then do the best you can with what you have now.
Build a rock sieve and keep everything golf-ball sized and smaller. Chain link fence work for this.

Save the purchase of road base until after you've done all you can.

Look into getting box blade for the 3-pt hitch on your loader tractor.

It isn't extremely easy at all.  I will ssay it's less stress.

Some folks want to be 100% self-sufficient, but that's hard to do when a spool of thread is less than a dollar at the store. Same with shoes/boots, cooking pots/pans, etc. - yes, they can be made by hand, but it's a waste of VERY precious time.

Time will be your greatest asset, and your most terrifying thief. It takes time to E V E R Y T H I N G!!