Southwest NB, Canada

My wife and I have more land than we need.

We have also some under-utilized facilities.

We are hoping this is an opportunity for someone to become like-minded neighbors keen on mutual aid.

We have settled on around 70 acres of prime mature woodlot and lots of brookfrontage. We have built a log cabin, a woodworking shop, and a sawmill/outbuilding assembly pavilion with ample solar power. These resources could be of use to build a home of your own for example.

We are fully off grid and about 1k off the road, but there is plenty of build able land available, including some along a public road with no traffic other than visitors to our land.

We have a lot to offer in terms of woodlot, forestry equipment, the sawmill and wood shop, log building skills, timber framing skills, firewood from sawmill offcuts, etc.

So at this point, after building for a few years and getting our infrastructure and equipment dialed in, we feel comfortable seeing if we can find mutually beneficial arrangements to share our land or even just get good neighbors who could be of mutual aid. I can think of a lot of different arrangements that would work such as renting to own a parcel on our land, work swaps for land, etc.

It’s a lot of land to work alone, and I am realizing I cannot alone scrape the surface of what this land has to offer.

Our land is private and off the main road, so we have a lot of freedom in what we do with it.

We already have good neighbors with a thriving barter exchange for all sorts of things: garden bumper crops, heavy equipment, labor for builds, lumber, etc.

We would like to foray into keeping birds and meat rabbits as well next year.

We would be interested in some suggestions about how to work together. Potentially hosting a van lifer with skills and labor to swap for what they need, potentially a rent to own buildable land subdivided off our plot, perhaps host someone who wants to live in a yurt and perhaps use that as a stepping stone to something more permanent… the possibilities are endless.

Let’s start a conversation about what it is you need, what we can offer, and what you can offer, and I bet something could work out.

My wife and I are in the process of getting to Canada. We've been consider NB as an option as well.

Hello!
My name is Dave.  I just found this forum today, so I'm still finding my way around.

I noticed your post is about 10 months old and you've only got 11 posts total, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that you will read this reply!

I'm currently living in southern Ontario in the golden triangle.  For my entire adult life I have wanted to purchase some vacant land on which to
start growing food, focusing on permaculture.  I'm now 42 and am starting to realize that I need to get things going soon before I'm too old and physically
incapable of accomplishing what I want to do.    At this point in time I can't afford to purchase land by myself, so finding like minded people who I
can work together with is a really good solution, and might actually be better than trying to do it all on my own.

My intention was to find property in northern Ontario, Quebec, or New Brunswick.  Ideally it would be in
an unorganized township so that property taxes would be lower as well as not having to apply for permits when building things.

I'd love to get some details on your property, such as if it's in an organized township or not.  You said it's got some brook frontage which is a great detail.
Is there enough continuous flow to be useful for irrigation purposes?
What is the drinking water situation like?  Is there a well on the property, or are you filtering brook water or collecting rainwater or something else?

My main focus is to plant and propagate food producing trees and shrubs.  Native nuts, berries, and fruits.  I intend for most crops that I'll produce to be of
these types since they are perennial, and once established take little care aside from harvesting, pruning, and occasionally feeding.

The first couple years I plan to focus on planting a large number of trees and shrubs since most will take a few years before producing fruit.  After I've
gotten a number of trees and berry bushes established, I'll start preparing plots for annual vegetable planting.


Joining other homesteaders rather than doing it alone on my own property gives me the potential to benefit from having livestock on the property.  It
wouldn't be possible for me to keep livestock unless I'm living on the property full time.  Depending on what my future has in store, that might not happen
for quite a while.  Without staying there year round, I wouldn't be able to care for the livestock, but there are lots of different solutions and compromises
where everyone involved would benefit and feel good about the deal.  As a simple example, we could split the expense of purchasing and caring for a goat, and
both of us could make use of the goat for clearing brush when needed.

My intention in the long term would be to live there year round, but it isn't something I would be upset about if it didn't happen for another 10 years.  I don't
want to put myself in a position where I'm forced to live on a property before it's suitable to be lived on.  It makes sense to start out basically camping on the
property.  Each visit I'd bring a load of saplings and spend a week or two clearing brush, digging holes, and planting the saplings.

I probably wouldn't start constructing a cabin until the second year or so.  Initially building a cabin is not a top priority.  I could likely
put together a much better building if I took more time to do so.  There are lots of startup expenses to handle during the first couple of years such as
buying trees and shrubs, equipment, fencing, etc.  If I were to add the expense of building a cabin at the same time, it would make things extremely difficult.
I would probably make a lot of decisions based on money and would likely regret them.  Being able to build a permanent dwelling at my own pace as the
funds become available would make everything more enjoyable instead of causing me stress.

I wouldn't be able to care for my own livestock until I was living on the property full time.  Until then, we can likely come to compromises and arrangements
that benefit everyone and allows me to have the advantages that come with having livestock as part of a permaculture system.  An example might be
something like you have laying hens in a coop which you take care of.  I grow soybeans and flax.  I give you the soy and flax to use as part of your chicken
feed for the year.  In exchange for the feed, you let me have some eggs and allow me to use some of the chicken manure for next year's soybean and flax grow.

Anyways.. I hope this message finds you and you're able to get back to me!
If anyone is in a similar situation on the East side of Canada and thinks they might want to team up in this kind of way, feel free to reach out!
All the best.
-Dave