Joe Watts

I'm know I'm getting ahead of myself but infrastructure isnt something you can easily redo so let's say we have the trenches run between the homesteads of our ev, we've already dropped in water lines, power, and a conduit: what do we put in the conduit?

Ethernet for a wired local network? pros/cons? Better alternative?

Phone line for another local network incase cell network goes down? P/c? Better alternative?

Coaxial cable? Is there something useful there we haven't thought of?

Yall are the experts.

Despite the corporate requirement, large scale solar farms and cell towers provide a substantial amount of residual income. Does anyone here have experience getting either installed on your property?

We have a long property, creating a 100 acre back-40 that could easily hold a large solar farm and a peak that's ideal for a much needed cell tower. Does anyone have experience working with any particular companies? Anyone try to do it themselves? Grants? For anyone who has done this, what quality infrastructure do these company install along with the structure(s)?

(We're aware of the potential health conflicts, but let's there are already plenty of threads devoted to that.)

Hi, we don't post often but yall have been a constant source of wisdom for us this last decade. Thank you.

tl;dr: The wife and I run an increasingly sustainable, 5 acre homestead, eventually open to a intentional community of artists and hermits, but also campers and events. My brother, tired of succeeding in corporate culture, wants to join us but wants to greatly expand the scope of the project. Looking for proof-of-concept testimonials, social contract must-have's, warnings in regards to scalability or hints that we might take advantage of. Eventually, come Spring, we'll be looking for on-site, long term assistance.

For the last 8 years, my wife and I (30's) has been working to convert our 5 acres into a sustainable homestead, centered around a pavilion available to rent for the multitudes of peoples who purchase our goats. We will eventually open it to homeschool groups, birthday party rentals, and nerd nights, dotted with tiny homes available to rent, and worked by us and whatever hermit or permie that needs a place to get away that season. But now, my brother, a structural engineer thats been living in the heart of the city for the last couple years, wants to get back to the country. He is in the process of acquiring 350 acres, including some mountain hollers, running creeks, a pair of peaks with great views and a back slope perfect for livestock. He wants to convert a couple dozen acres to campsites, maybe a couple treehouses, all around a new mountain reservoir. He wants to put the homestead and a solar farm on the back end while putting the rest in a timber rotation or divided up for hunting leasing. I'm here to find the benefits of opening such a property up to a landshare and/or intentional community from the get-go, and to find those that would be interested in helping us make that happen.

At this acreage and with this many potential partners, we're out of our element and any direction would be welcome. We're re-scrolling over past posts but any particulars or outside material would be greatly appreciated. Also, we're going to be large enough to qualify for grants and tax breaks if we do this right. How do we do this right? haha

Finally, if this comes together, we would need workers to help build the community, those with practice tending homesteads and relationships, but also those with the passion and open-mindedness of youth. This would be perfect for someone active in the lifestyle who wants to branch out and shape their retirement home based on experience, or a young person who wants to build a new kind of future, and something to return to when they find a family. We have enough land to build a central village and/or to partition off small plots along the ridge, so there are plenty of option. However, an expanded homestead cuts into the timbering revenue and eliminates the hunting stream so we will also need investors and/or outside income. We are open to a purchase/rent/lease/barter, again, there are plenty of options. This is also where that experience comes into play as this is beyond our original plan and our research is ongoing.

4-5 additional households is probably the limit.

Thank you and thank you again.
J&K

Hi, we're Joe and Kittie, a newlywed interracial couple with an increasingly sustainable homestead in NW Georgia, which we hope to call First Shell Farms. For the past 8 years, we have been slowly turning a 5-acre family home into a sustainable homestead with milk/meat goats, beehives for mead and free range poultry. The plan was to keep grinding for another couple years, get the pigs, the orchard and the smokehouse, and then open up our home to a community of artists and hermits. Unfortunately, family deaths cut those plans short so now we seek partners to help us finish the plan and set the tone for the intentional community to come. The only absolutely requirements are a helluva work ethic, an open mind and the ability to produce an outside income. From there, ideally but not necessarily, we're looking for another married couple, similar age (we're 29 and 36), with various agriculture and husbandry experiences. A touch of nerd doesn't hurt either (mtg or d&d come to mind). Kids...are...welcome, probably, we'll see. This definitely won't work if you're afraid of dirt or animals, or guns as hunting is a part of our sustenance. No MAGA or Marxist fanatics, or extremists of any kind. And we are at our domesticated animal-limit so we're sorry but no pets...at this time.

If you're still with us, if you think we still want you, let's make sure you still want us. The farm is the foundation but the purpose and the feature are completely separate challenges. The purpose of First Shell Farm is to provide a temporary respite for artists and hermits, particularly those produced by our local college town. With our partners sharing the three bedroom home, we will construct villages of tiny homes and RVs that will house the traveling characters. It is in these first shells that we hope to help these hermits prepare for their next, more sustainable step. In the center of all that, separate from the purpose, is the feature that drives the whole thing, Hamer Hall. A multicultural cooking and communion space that will also serve as a space for artists, a classroom for homeschool groups and a forum for nerds, Hamer Hall is the culmination of customers, from around the world, telling us that if we had a place were they could source, prepare and cook the animal to eat it with their family, they could keep us busy year round. We describe it as "a different episode of Bizarre Foods every weekend" and that may sound great but make sure you understand the unique challenges, the prep, the hosting, the interactions, that come with those goals, the only goals, of First Shell Farms.

From there, even if you aren't the partners we're looking for, keep up with us and join us when we open up to hermits as a whole.
https://www.facebook.com/FirstShellFarms/
https://www.gofundme.com/f/HamerHall
(Not asking for funds, just a more detailed explanation for it all)

Thank you.