Robert Tiller

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I ate ginko nuts for supper tonight. Thrice boiled, they were still a bit bitter, but nothing that couldn't be hidden by coconut oil, curry, and salt.

I wonder if your colder more dry growing zone has made the seeds more bitter?

I'm in jersey, hopefully not stuck here too much longer in the future, but I'd be happy to meet like minded folks while I'm here.

L. Johnson wrote:

If you none of those solutions work for you, maybe we can help you find a solution that will work.

Spamming the thread and sending PMS to an admin would be less than ideal. I think we can find a way forward though.

modern problems modern solutions? It really doesnt seem to like multiple images for me, I took a screenshot of some of the most relevant images to fit them all in one image, if this doesn't work I'll think of something else.

Chris Bernard wrote:I didn't get a chance to read all the replies, so apologies if this is repeated information. Have you looked into property management gigs? Or ranch hand jobs? I know of a few people who live 'rent free' (part of their payment is housing) while maintaining a plot of land for someone; ie weeding, prepping irrigation, animal husbandry, etc.. One person I worked with has now lived on the land they maintain for 10 years, and as well as the house they live in, have 5 acres of land to work with how they wish. I believe they have paperwork drawn up for the inevitable transfer of ownership to maintain their home and parcel. Good way to develop skills, learn mistakes, and build a foundation of knowledge to the land you eventually purchase as your dream parcel.

Definitely look into all codes, state and local prior to purchase. We purchased land withing the Williamson Act. So we have strict guidelines of how we can develop our property. Not impossible to do what we have in mind, but has to be done in a methodical and painstakingly long way.

I got tied into a bad "rent free work" gig not going to get too detailed in public (maybe I'll talk about it in PMs if I trust you a lot), but there's definitely risks that can seriously hurt the rentor in this situation. Normally at a job you are employed and it is a separate aspect of your life, aka you have the decision to leave, you have the ability to stand up to the boss, and you have the option of privacy. In these live in situations your boss is your tenant and essentially owns you. You have no options and no consent as to what happens if the landowner decides they want extra. Its not a fair playing field and I've seen and lived through the less positive aspects of this.

This doesn't fully apply to what you refer to though, I wasn't renting with the expectation of inheritance, just as sort of an "extra family member". If there was a permanent legal arrangement that the ownership has to be transferred after the passing of the Landowner, it is a more fair playing field, that means you have similar standing as an actual blood relative and nor some grafted branch waiting to be shed off.

Lielubelle Rios wrote:The more “high quality” the land the more expensive it is. I wouldn’t diss shrubland. My neighbor is in her 60’s and runs a sheep ranch on 80 acres, with a huge garden, an orchard. There’s something called a USDA microloan you should check into.

what's the location? I know goats can eat just about anything, sheep are also fairly ravenous. How many sheep?

What level of arid to desert is the cutoff in your perspective?

Ted Abbey wrote:Sorry to hear about your predicament, and the resulting frustration. One thing you may want to consider is caretaking other people’s property, or room and board situations on farms and ranches. As rural populations age out, there is an ever increasing need for help. I have done this at several places, in different states, over the last decade. Read my thread below for a little bit about my current situation, where I will have spent the last 5 years as of this coming Thanksgiving Day.

https://permies.com/t/192087/Desert-Southwest-opportunity-person#1674715

Feel free the message me with any questions, and keep your head up.. it’s always darkest before the dawn!

What prevents me or anyone else for that matter from becoming an indentured servant of sorts in that situation?

Maybe a better way to phrase it is, how did you avoid becoming an indentured servant?

Nathan MacAilpin wrote:Hey man, I too get it. I’m ahead now but it wasn’t easy. I started out with 13 k, bought a junk mobile home and renovated it. Lived in it 4 years, sold it bought 2 acres and another mobile. Bout to sell and buy a bigger property.
I learned to build community and relationships; couldn’t do it without that. My brother is in a similar situation like you, but worse. He has debilitating health issues, lives in his car, and makes bad money decisions. He’s 26 years old. Trying to get an apartment, and struggling along. But his heart is in the right place, and he is always striving to do better. No friends except me and my community I’ve introduced him to.
I think you deliberate thing by trying to connect with people on here. Folks have suggested an intentional  community, and I think that’s the idea, although I personally wouldnt choose that.
I’d suggest becoming a truck driver, or getting yourself a motorhome camper, and driving to an area that embraces the rural  lifestyle, get a job, live in the camper, build a community of people. Get invested in that community, make connections, get to know people. Doors open up.

I've heard new England can be a real hard place to making connections, I've been told there's a polite coldness as part of the culture there by a buddy I used to know. New jersey everyone kinds keeps their distance, friendly but not friendly, but I've heard you guys have that cranked up double. How did you manage to meet folks? What were some of the biggest challenges you had integrating with folks? (Not integrating as getting to know folks but integrating as in getting in their actual friend circles).

Really sorry about your brother, I can relate to his struggle on a very personal level. Car life isn't easy, especially in the cold season. And everyone and their brother tries to "help" you by calling the cops to give you a warm place to sleep, so you are always stressed about who may notice your presence. Make sure he has blankets, and that he can keep showered, staying clean was one of the hardest parts when I was in that situation but I couldn't talk about it much and it was hard to find good openings to get washed up. Everyone suggests gym memberships but it can end up being a matter of time before folks catch to what you are doing depending how bad of shape you end up in.

You are right, trailer living is probably the best idea, I don't believe I'd need a whole lot of trailer space. And thankfully I drive a small truck so it should not be too difficult to get a lightweight trailer to store my books, put a bed, pisser and shower of some sort inside that won't overload the truck.

I've been going to church regularly and have met a few nice folks, tried joining a local seed swap/gardening club but that dissolved lol. But in the end you are completely correct, in a suburban to urban area I guess I won't be able to connect with people so well since my goals and motives in life are very radically different, maybe this is why after 4 years here I haven't made much a network?

Peter Ellis wrote:There's a thing called a self-fulfilling prophecy. Be careful about building one for yourself. You say you don't want to be rude - but you're also putting a pretty extreme set of expectations on the people you are asking for help. I'm currently building our homestead on 20 acres in Michigan that we bought for $30k in 2017. It's rural agricultural, we can build on it, we can farm here - everything we want to do is legal. We looked for awhile before we found this, but we did.  Our search was limited to one state, for our personal reasons.

I'll suggest that you need to work on your skill sets for both assessing what kind of land you can work with and for searching on-line for locations that match up with what you need. You say you want a site where it is legal to build - there are actually very few locations where it is not legal to build. But if what you mean is you want a site without building regulations - well then you've limited your options to a very, very small portion of the USA.

For the money you have, you'll be looking at a site that other people do not find desirable. It may be remote, or rough, or "too wet", or otherwise poor in quality or location by any number of measures. That's where knowing what you can work with is important.

Our site is 90% low lying and excessively wet. Aerial photographs show it was probably cleared in the 1920's and an attempt made at draining it. They failed and the land was abandoned to return to woodland. I know how to work with a wooded wet land site and so this was a great deal for us.

Sit down with pen and paper and spend some time making lists. What are your goals for a piece of land? What are the reasons you want a piece of land? What skills do you have to work with a piece of land? What qualities does the land itself need for you to consider it? What legal limitations are acceptable (like zoning restrictions, building regulations, wetlands restrictions, etc.)? Climate requirements (do you need four seasons, do you want inter, etc.)?

There's an amazing amount of information available online about most locations within the USA, if you know how to look for it and have some perseverance.

As some examples; as I contacted several counties in Kentucky in regards to relatively cheap properties the places were cheap because there was 3 pages of covenants on the lots including no houses below 1000 square feet exclusive of garages and patios, no mobile homes and no temporary structures or livestock animals. Another lot, if I recall correct in Texas, required a county certified septic tank installed on the property in order to have a mobile home on the property, the state official I was speaking with kindly informed me that the process was extremely expensive ($25,000) and in my situation I would swiftly be in over my head. Depending on the states you can not permanently build on a wetland parcel at all without a perc test, which means it is a gamble that could cost. A plot near me in PA had failed the perc and the owner was forced to wait several years to redo the test and that was why he was selling cheap, he also knew it was a gamble and was pulling his losses. Landlocked spots are also highly illegal to build on since you need to trespass to get to them. Essentially if the restrictions make it impossible for me to realistically in my means have something built within two years the laws have prohibited building thus making building something I could realistically build illegal.

I want to be able to profitably farm trees (fruit and wood) and livestock for meat, also fiber would be nice (pigs, goats/sheep/alpacas, I really like emus/rheas also), livestock profit would be before trees are profitable since the animals grow faster than trees grow. To my math profit should be able to be turned relatively easy given 3-5 years on 10-20 acres. I would want to eventually have a nice earth bermed house, but to start with I'd need something cheaper to live in such as a trailer, or similarly tiny structure. I want to start a family and thus will try to avoid politically hostile "blue" zones as much as I can reasonably afford. I have my prospects and options quite open and most the south and a fair chunk in the west in on the table as extremely good places in my book. I do have a paper list of "perfect land" requirements, but I am happy to settle for less than desired if the price is right. Most important is that it can be built, can be used, can be warm enough, has enough space and can be afforded. Affordable within means is so important, I can not go over my head in debt and refuse to take that kind of risk since I am on my own and would be stuck back on the streets as a filthy bum if I cant pay the debts for some reason.

I am very thankful the internet allows such great access to info such as regions, maps, and climatological data, it has been a very powerful tool.

Robert Tiller wrote:Got physalis, black walnut, poncirus, black locust, Japanese yam, Kentucky coffee tree in the specified quantities at least. Also included a bag of unprocessed ginkgo seeds and to be processed honey locust, I tore two open to verify they were not an infertile pod producing tree.

I can't send more than a pic at a time (am using a mobile phone) should I spam the thread or send PMS to an admin?

Got physalis, black walnut, poncirus, black locust, Japanese yam, Kentucky coffee tree in the specified quantities at least. Also included a bag of unprocessed ginkgo seeds and to be processed honey locust, I tore two open to verify they were not an infertile pod producing tree.