Help wanted, space available in East Tennessee

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and not the most frequent user of any kind of forum. After reading through some of the posts here, I'm wishing I would have come across this years ago. My wife and I have been homesteading on our own for years now. We wanted to work with others to ease the burdens and reduce the risks of working alone, but we never met anyone who would or could move to the country like we did, aside from being people we felt would be good neighbors. Progress has been hard, but we've built some infrastructure and gathered some resources on our land in Cocke County, TN. We have nearly 100 acres of rolling hills, mostly wooded, many beautiful homesites, 3 septic systems, 2 wells, springs and a pond. We are open to a variety of purchase / rent / lease / barter options. All we ask is that you have good values, ethics and morals. We hope to someday have a tight knit group of 6 or 7 families working together to provide for all our needs in a sustainable way. We have also developed ways to earn outside income if that is necessary for you. We do not have the means or the intention to pay any wages.

Some of the key issues I've seen discussed here are code restrictions, legal and binding agreements, and organic or sustainable living. This county has no codes or zoning. This State requires licensed installers of mobile homes. The county, state and federal EPA requires septic permits. I'm pretty sure there are no other restrictions. We insist on properly executed and legally binding agreements whatever they may be. We are adamant about healthy land and food for ourselves, but if you want to eat chemically enhanced tomatoes, we won't stop you.

We do have at least four like-minded neighbors with about 200 acres among them and significant resources of their own. We are not as 'close' as I would like to be, i.e. truly working together toward a common goal, but perhaps in the future...

Hi there,

I am looking for a landshare/tenet farming kind of situation.  I have lots of ideas and projects just sitting in my head until I find a way onto some land - either my own or not. Some of my interests are in regenerative organic farming and native and medicinal nursery, food forestry, repairing riparians and conservation of endangered plant species.  I would like to discuss more about what you are looking for in detail, maybe share some thoughts.  If you are still in need of help, maybe we can help eachother.

Hi Sunflower,

We're all about helping each other. I'm not exactly sure what to say about what we are looking for other than good people. I can tell you we consider extremism of any kind to be uncomfortable. For example, many here might frown on my use of machinery. I'd rather not burn more fuel and chew up the ground to build infrastructure, but I can't possibly do it alone and it would be very difficult and time consuming to do it even with many hands. I love nature and I intend to live in harmony with nature, but not to the extreme that I believe Nature Must Not Be Disturbed. We can cooperate with nature just like we can cooperate with other people and smooth the road ahead. I hope this helps, and please do ask questions. If you'd rather communicate off-line, send me a message.

Hi David nice to meet you neighbor. My family and I live in Cosby and we have a small homestead, 47 acres, where we live off grid. I would love to connect with y'all sometime. Please feel free to send me an email myhomesteadlife@yahoo.com
We've only lived here two years so we are looking for like-minded people to connect with.

Looking forward to meeting y'all,
Amber B

David Michael wrote:Hi Sunflower,

We're all about helping each other. I'm not exactly sure what to say about what we are looking for other than good people. I can tell you we consider extremism of any kind to be uncomfortable. For example, many here might frown on my use of machinery. I'd rather not burn more fuel and chew up the ground to build infrastructure, but I can't possibly do it alone and it would be very difficult and time consuming to do it even with many hands. I love nature and I intend to live in harmony with nature, but not to the extreme that I believe Nature Must Not Be Disturbed. We can cooperate with nature just like we can cooperate with other people and smooth the road ahead. I hope this helps, and please do ask questions. If you'd rather communicate off-line, send me a message.

I sent you an email, hopefully we can get to know each other better. If the winds take us your way, then it would be awesome. At this point we don’t know but we have a clear goal in mind. There is a risk:benefit ratio to keep in mind, as you say.. machinery is a must for a large homestead. The land can still be respected and enriched even if it’s tilled. It’s the bad treatment of animals, antibiotic use, pesticide and herbicide use that I don’t want in my food and I think we get to a point we want to make the choice to not have that. The only way to do that is to become a LOT more self sufficient and avoid the grocery stores. For over 5 years I have wanted to do this, and we started with a school bus. We just haven’t found our tribe yet. We went to the first classified ad we got a response for, they said they wanted to homestead and had 50 acres and water and etc. It turned out it wasn’t even their land, they didn’t garden, the woman was a child abuser and the man was later tried for rape. We ended up having to leave 2 weeks after homebirthing our son. It was a nightmare because birthing is a sacred thing requiring safe space and I felt lost! Throughout our experiences we have taken the lessons and we are putting new plans down. Hopefully we can go home to a village soon!!

Hi David,
My name is Josie.
I have been searching around for a place to buy or lease for quite some time now, and what you have described sounds like just what I have been hoping to find.

One of the most important attributes for choosing a new place to settle in and put down roots for me has been really wanting to live and grow somewhere where the spirit of neighborliness is alive and well.

I am kind, curious, hardworking, strong, observant, resourceful and helpful.

I truly enjoy meaningful physical work, simple living, cooperation, collaboration, teamwork, and finding ways to create mutually beneficial projects and relationships.

I have plenty of experience with outdoor physical labor, rustic and off grid living, natural whole foods cooking, baking, and fermentation.

I am good with plants and animals.

Please get in touch if this sounds like it might be a good fit.

Thanks, and Happy Growing!

Josie

I've written a few responses to interested parties and it occurs to me that anyone looking here will likely be interested in the same information. Without further ado...

Good to hear from you. My wife and I have been married for 12 years now. We have 5 children among us from previous marriages, one (17) still at home. None of our children have any interest in homesteading. My wife is a software developer who now works from home part time. She manages our gardening, chickens, and natural supplements/remedies. Her mother lives with us and manages most of the cooking. I have a wide variety of experience in many trades like plumbing and electricity, a solid education in physics, business, and philosophy, and work experience in other areas like database management, reporting, and systems administration. I am currently a member of the National Guard. I do all the construction and repair around here. I have lived on a homestead before when I was younger, and my wife lived on a dairy farm when she was young, so we are not strangers to country life.

We have been trying without much success to connect with others who are decent, like-minded people to share knowledge, labor, and simple 'neighborliness' for many years. We've certainly met many good people who were happy where they were, but we've also met many bad people. So far, no one has been able to join us here. We have good neighbors nearby, but it's not the same at all. Some of them are (sort of) like-minded, but so focused on their own lives they aren't exactly community minded. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes I work better alone too! I don't know how to decide who will be a good fit other than to try it out for a while. Easier said than done. Anyone can come and visit for a few hours, some have even stayed for a few days, but to really get to know someone you need to live and work together for a while. Most people can't do that. I've been busy building infrastructure for growing food, but I've also been trying to build infrastructure for work, housing, power, water, sanitation, etc. We will soon have extra living space to make it easier for people to spend more time here. We know that getting to know each other is critical to choosing good neighbors. Often these days we don't even know who our neighbors are in this country, and that's very sad. Imagine what your neighborhood could be like if you chose your neighbors rather than luck of the draw! We believe people are the biggest problem to deal with in a community or group. Not food, water, or shelter, those things are easy compared to dealing with people. Just look at the world as a whole. Some of the worst stuff going on is because of the things people believe, not hunger. So in order to live together, we need to group together with sane people. I don't know how, but careful vetting is part of that process. Any suggestions?

We are serious about permaculture and agroforestry. For my part, I hope to minimize labor for food production. I'm happy tinkering, not gardening. Healthier, cheaper food and a cleaner environment are bonuses! None of us are experts, so I won't tell anyone to come here to 'learn how it's done', but we are smart and willing to use resources like this forum to help. None of us want to work any harder than we have to (well, my wife might, she's very meticulous). I think laziness is the mother of invention more often than necessity. The machines I use are for constructing all of this and would have no role in food production. We know that tilling is bad for the soil. We're not really doing any one thing, but we are focused on raised garden beds and rotation of animal living spaces. We are also building earth sheltered housing for ourselves and an earth sheltered greenhouse, both of which are designed to be as passive as we can make them. Energy is going to be a premium, and I don't see why we should waste it when we can heat and cool without it. How do you see yourself living and supporting yourselves?

Rules are important. We believe in the U.S. Constitution. They are good rules for people to live by. I tend to favor consensus over majority rule, but that's hard to achieve. Consensus minus one works fairly well if you have time for a longer decision making process. That raises the issue of immediate action and judgment. Sometimes somebody MUST be in a position to react. This is why we elect people to act (theoretically) in our interest. I favor limiting this as much as reasonable. Any ideas on rules for daily living in your community?

Ask anything you like. Take care, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Hi there! My husband and I would love to talk more with you. We’re a family of 4 in Chattanooga. A three year old boy and a baby girl. Maybe we could drive over one day and introduce ourselves. You can reach us at kpageyoung@gmail.com.

Hello Sir and Ma’am,
allow me to introduce myself and my family first. My name is Lyndon I am 42 years old. Been a teacher for almost 2 decades now. 14 years in Thailand, a year in Indonesia, a year in Myanmar, and now almost a year in Japan. My wife is also a teacher 16 years in Thailand and almost 2 years here in japan. We have two lovely daughters 12 and 6 years old. Both of them can speak thai English and Japanese. But there native language is English for we were only and unfortunately have been affiliated with International schools for almost our entire lives. We have started a small garden in our current school and my family had awakened the passion to farming most particularly fermi culture farming. My family would really love to join you there and we will help you and we would love to learn the rest of it on the way. We also wanted to migrate there if that is necessary. My wife and I are excellent thai dish cooks and Filipino dish cooks I am very healthy and been a economics, geography and social sciences and sports teacher for the past 18 years. I can do simple carpentry, can operate truck pickup trucks and any heavy equipments and grew up in my grand parents farming, where we grew corn, sugarcane, bananas, sweet potatoes garden fruits and vegetables, cows, chickens water buffaloes and many more. I would really love to see you succeed and work hard to help you reach your goal in that way I may also reach my goal up to I retire in a new environment that you and my family are going to build and expand. If that is what you envision then my family will do our best to get there. Please contact us and let us get to know each other more. Here is my email. kinglyndon15@gmailcom. Truly yours, Lyndon

David, I feel you, I put an ad up here a couple few years ago, a grand opportunity for the right person/people, no real takers, with 50 million unemployed I can only theorize there will be more people looking for opportunities, were no too far apart, I'm on the other side of 81, if it were not for this dreaded virus spreading like wildfire I would say lets meet and compare notes.

Hi Bruce, I'd love to compare notes. Send me an email!

Hi there,

My name is Christy and I am a single parent to my 12-year old son and 5-year old daughter. We have been living near Murfreesboro TN for the past several years, where I teach high school Spanish. It has been my dream for as long as I can remember to homestead, but so far, life has not worked out that way...I still dream about it though, as I am not dead yet!!! And East Tennessee is one of my favorite places in this world.
I would love to talk with talk if you are interested. Please feel free to e-mail me at: mariasblues@yahoo.com.

Thank you for reading, and best wishes to you.

Hello all! I'm sure most of you are well aware of how much work homesteading really is, so I needn't explain why I don't post here very often. I do try to respond to every request as quickly as I can even though the responses don't always show in this thread. I just want to thank everyone who has contacted me, and assure others who might be passing by that we are still hear and still serious about finding good neighbors. I mentioned before that I am adding infrastructure as fast as I can. Since my last post I have finished installing a mobile home. It now has all utilities, one finished bathroom and two finished bedrooms. It still needs a lot of work to make it a home, but it is a place to crash. I've also planted 16 new fruit trees, built about 130 sq. ft. of new raised beds, Set up a 6 tall by about 40 ft long Hugelkultur mound, and so many little things along the way I can't remember them all, not to mention having to keep equipment working or making/ modifying things to do the job at hand. If you seriously want to find a home in the country, we can probably make that happen. I must say though, that I'm surprised at how many people contact me but then never respond again. Please give me some feedback! Am I saying something to put you off?

David Michael wrote:... I must say though, that I'm surprised at how many people contact me but then never respond again. Please give me some feedback! Am I saying something to put you off?

I cannot imagine that it is anything you are saying that is putting people off from following through with anything. I have found your posts to be honest, straight-forward, clear, and welcoming, all in one. I am sure your private messages are no different. In fact, I get the sense that it would be great to have you and your wife as neighbors! If I was looking for something in your area, I would definitely consider your situation. And I am not one to say so easily. I think it is just human nature to be initially excited about an idea, but when it comes to actually implementing it, that's a whole other situation. And someone moving to a whole new area, starting a new life, well, that's not so easily done, I guess, and a bigger deal in a human's life. My point is that I definitely don't think it's you. I'm sure you'll find the right people eventually. It may be good to bump the post every so often to be sure it gets seen. Good luck - I have a good feeling about you and and your wife finding fitting people for your situation.

Thank you so much Annie for your kind and encouraging words. We just thought the world was full of people looking for an opportunity like this, all we needed to do was connect. We've been trying for years! You would think the current geopolitical and environmental unrest would spur even more interest. What does "bump the post" mean?

David Michael wrote:Thank you so much Annie for your kind and encouraging words. We just thought the world was full of people looking for an opportunity like this, all we needed to do was connect. We've been trying for years! You would think the current geopolitical and environmental unrest would spur even more interest. What does "bump the post" mean?

I find it strange and also interesting how many things aren't going the way one would expect these last couple of years.
As far as "bump the post", it simply means writing something on the thread and posting it so that the thread gets back to the "front of the line", so to speak. With a forum as busy as this one (yea Permies!), threads get buried and forgotten (and sometimes revived again if someone finds it and posts something to it). By you writing a brief post, could be something as simple as "still looking for someone", it will bump the thread to the front and make it much more visible again to people just coming onto the forum and perusing posts/threads in chronological order which always means starting with the most recent posts.

I would be interested I have a fifth wheel to start with I plan on building a house I have 2 disabled people I take care of  also wholesale real estate on the side

Josie Harding.....I can't figure out how to contact you; am new to this forum; but would like to talk.  You can message me on FB at jelizabeth farms or email me at jelizabethfarms@gmail.com if you would like to talk/explore possibilities.  If you message me on FB I won't see it unless you somehow let me know that you did!  Seems life has gotten so complicated in trying to connect with people!  I hate FB and do not engage there, but have a page for those instances when someone might like to know a bit about me before responding to something like this.  Hope you see this!
Janice

Hello!  Our family is interested in helping you create this community.  We have been looking for land in Cocke County for awhile now, as we too have a dream of creating a self-sufficient, intentional community.  I am an herbalist and holistic nutritionist, and I run my own thriving online business.  My husband is a part-time farmer, welder and mechanic.  I'd love to talk more and see if our paths align!  

We have a potential opportunity coming up in North Florida, but if it doesn't work out, we'll definitely keep you in mind!

yes your quest to find decent people to join you is indeed extremely difficult. I watched poor communities in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia be far more successful that communities here...when I worked for Braniff Airways. Back here helped my farmfriend Sandra start an 84 acre commune in Virginia. Over many years a ton of people came and went. Vision? you never really get that far as so many who come have serious issues like drugs, mental illness, criminality, anger and abuse issues, weird beliefs, alcoholism, video game addiction, spending all their meager cash on drugs, booze, cigarettes. I only touched the surface. Our commune had 28,000 hits on a huge forum, dozens came and went, nobody ever committed. Some bragged about being well versed in off grid but usually knew nothing.  If they said they were bringing a dog, they'd bring 6. Not  intentionally trying to be negative, just reality. Sandras farm commune is still there and she is now alone. Struggling. Not thrilled about trying yet another person but needing help and companions still.

Same now with me, I'm starting to look for companions at my home in a beautiful virginia lake town, tiny garden that can feed an army.  But people often are dangerous. Where are the good decent people wanting to band together in these very trying times???

thoughts?    gardnermckay@hotmail.com     "mike"

I guess I'll never give up but expectations have diminished. Apolitical Backwoods and Appalachian folklore shamanism animals writing mountain culture no hard drugs very light alcohol frown on cigarettes paranormal non-religious spiritual

Hello David my name is James and I am currently trying to relocate to Tennessee.  At the time of writing my girlfriend and I are visiting family but are looking for a more long term place to park our small camper. In exchange I would love to add my knowledge of home brewing to your homestead.  Not to mention any help you would need id be more than happy tobe of assistance.  

Hi David!

I recently moved to East Tennessee and am looking to connect with other like-minded folks. I grew up ranching a little in Washington and have been traveling and brewing beer the past 10 years or so. I'd like to get more into sustainable agriculture, and if you're looking for a helping hand still, please let me know! I'm not afraid of hard work, and hate burning fossil fuels unnecessarily as well

Cheers!
If it's easier, feel free to shoot me an email at ashleylgnar@gmail.com

Hello David. Question or two... Are you looking to sell some of your property? If so what kind of price ranges per acre are you looking at? You can pm us at beaches4rn@hotmail.com

Hi Margo, and to all with this kind of question:

Selling land is definitely a possibility, but before we commit to something like that we'd like to get to know you/your family. We're looking for people we can live and work closely with for the rest of our lives, or at least as long as we collectively agree to be community members. If we just wanted to sell land, we'd list it with a realtor. That being said, we need to sell for something like $3K-4K per acre to cover the cost. Exact pricing could depend on the amount of acreage. We planned to split into 15 acre parcels so each could enjoy agriculture tax benefits. That doesn't mean we can't sell smaller pieces, and any owner could certainly decide to sell off a smaller piece of their own land. We are also installing community resources like roads, water, septic, and power. The more of that we complete the more costs will rise. We are not trying to make money, we are trying to build a community we can all be proud of.

David,
I would prefer to speak through email if possible about more personal things yall may want to know about us, but, what you are talking about, is exactly what we are thinking also. We have always wanted to do the same kind of thing, buy a large piece of property and sublet / sell pieces to those who were like minded and wanted peace of mind, away from the hustle and bustle from city life, to the country, to have my greenhouse put up finally, and our small home, with our camper without someone saying it can't be there because of the 'zoning' of the property. AG property is so important to us. My husband wants to raise a few head of cattle; to sell each year to make money (sort of like a 'home based job') and to put into the freezer. Also, some pigs/hogs for the same reasons; chickens, turkeys (which we already currently have), rabbits (which we currently have), goats and ducks and any other farm animals I might fancy. My garden and making a small / medium root cellar for making the length of our canned goods as well as other vegetables and fruits we might get from our garden and the greenhouse, to last a much longer time. We have thought of making an underground 'freezer' out of a tractor trailer; bury it and put an air conditioner or a chilling unit in it, all in due time of course and as money allows. The hubby wants a garage he can work on his truck, tractor and any other vehicles he might get (he has an older truck right now, like a 57 or something he wants to restore) and of course a barn to keep hay and the needs of our animals, feed, etc. We would like a little bit of land to raise barley, sunflower seeds, possibly oats and wheat berries, to make our own feed for some of our farm animals, when/if possible.
We are in our low to middle 50's and just want a small farm, peace and quiet and to live in a 'red' state. Yes, we would want internet, that is how we connect to the world, other than our cell phones. We haven't had cable in years and years. Our children are grown up, Our son, married for 12 years now, with a son who is now 12 years old. We figure there may come a day he will want to live with us and we want to leave our legacy to him when the time comes for us to leave this earth. We have a daughter, also married, no children, who may want to come live on the property also or on one right next to us. She currently has goats, but has wanted a milking cow since she was 5. Momma just can't do the milking when they are working, so that is out right now. They all currently have full time jobs, but our daughter would move and get a new one in a heart beat, to stay near momma and daddy, married or not, she would just tell him, lets go and he loves her so much, they would lol!
We were in a car accident and so no longer work, persay. He works, selling firewood, he does wheeling and dealing like no one else can and he works harder than anyone else I know on anything he does or any job he takes on. I was a stay at home mom and then worked from home when the kids left home, that was until two years before our car accident, when I had to have open heart surgery. Just when our life was starting to feel and be better, the car accident happened, we were back seat passengers, and we were hurt the worst, with my husband being told that his back is inoperable. He is in a LOT of pain, a LOT of the time, but when he feels good, he is up and gets 'er done. We struggled for years to get back to where we are now and we own several pieces of real estate that we would love to sell and just buy someone in the country, build our tiny home, our garages, fence up our farm animals area and kick back and live the good life, like we have wanted for so many years.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask or email me at the email address up above. Also, please let me know when you message so I can watch out for your email. I often just fly through my junk mail and spam and delete rather quickly and may miss it if I am not watching. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Mike and Margo

Hi Margo,

I've sent you a couple of emails now. I always prefer to communicate that way and I always answer posts here with an email if I can. I'm not a fan of their PM system.

Ashley Rang wrote:Hi David!

I recently moved to East Tennessee and am looking to connect with other like-minded folks. I grew up ranching a little in Washington and have been traveling and brewing beer the past 10 years or so. I'd like to get more into sustainable agriculture, and if you're looking for a helping hand still, please let me know! I'm not afraid of hard work, and hate burning fossil fuels unnecessarily as well

Cheers!
If it's easier, feel free to shoot me an email at ashleylgnar@gmail.com

Hi Ashley!

I emailed you a few days ago - in case it went in your spam.

Hi David,

I've just spent the last few months looking for property in your region and haven't had much luck.  I would love to start a conversation about your options and possibly joining your neighborhood.  My email address is in my profile.  Thanks so much.

Megan

Hi,
I am very interested in visiting you and your family, and staying for a week or whatever is comfortable to see if we are all a long term fit. Do you currently have space for one person, a medium sized dog and a cat? Please email me at fooddiplomacy@yahoo.com.
Regards,
Candace

hAS ANYONE MADE IT OUT THERE YET??

MAYBE A QUICK SUMMARY OF YOUR REACTION?? EITHER HERE TO TO MY EMAIL PLEASE

GARDNERMCKAY@HOTMAIL.COM

David is hitting all the right notes but dealing with new people is truly complicated to put it mildly.  I may leave southern virginia soon and Davids situation seems about as good as i've seen.
Anybody in virginia, north carolina?? maybe we could band together, visit david, explore possibilities???
mike

Hi Gardner,

Yes, more than a dozen people have visited. Most have stayed only a few hours and most have made only one visit. I think the most frequent objection is terrain. It seems most people want flat ground. We have a lot of rolling hills.

I think lots of people really want to homestead, but can't quite make the transition to country life. Some people are clearly very serious about moving out here, but being slow and deliberate in their decisions. That's a very good thing in our opinion; this is a serious life changing decision. We're very happy to have two families we met on Permies purchase some land and a home and are moving in in February. Others are considering options like leasing, renting, or owner financing. We're willing to consider any reasonable arrangements.

The last family to stay in the mobile home reported that everything worked well and they were quite comfortable.

As for large groups coming to visit, we'd much rather be able to focus on one person / couple / family at a time. We've tried having two or more groups at the same time and we feel it's not fair to our guests splitting our attention like that.

Hi, I live in gatlinburg and want to go off grid,  very familiar with cosby,  have a nice 36 foot class a  RV,  also another 30ft rv as a tool shop,   please contact me at deniro121@yahoo.com,  
My name is Mark

Time really flies! I can't believe it's been four months since I've posted here. I just want everyone to know that we are moving along as fast as we can. A new couple just purchase 20 acres and hope to build up their homestead over the next several years before moving out here, that would bring our total to 19 full time residents. Several people pitched in and helped them clear a homesite. I'm pretty confident everyone feels good about the foundation and relationships we are establishing here.

Hello, Sir!  I'm not quite sure I know where to begin. My life just made a dramatic turn; not really my fault; I had a devastating fire in my home (which I owned through inheritance) in the City. I, my daughter, Jen and grandson, Caleb (16) are now displaced. I did not have insurance, so it will take me quite a while to have it repaired--and I am not sure whether I should just sell it--"as is". However, I have been youtubing a lot and also I believe things are going to get much worse in USA and then where will those who don't go along with "the system", go?  They will start putting the people who resist, away, some where?

I want to get with 'like minded' people who believe and trust in Almighty God, but are not fanatics. I once lived in a communal type setting in my early 20's, in Garden Grove, California. The matriach was a fanatic. So, I am leery of what could go wrong when people have power over people, if you know what I mean.

Well, I believe its time to have a plan to get off the grid. I just don't have one yet, but would like to get with people who could steer me in the right direction to get going.  My name is Debra. I am 70, my daughter, Jennifer is 43; her son, Caleb, is 16. This is my nuclear family now.  We're looking to move, but aren't sure where.

If you could send me some websites to get an idea how to do the homesteading thing, please send to:  debraguilbeaux903@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Sincerely,

/s/ Debra Guilbeaux **  ** I vouch for us being really good people, hands down, no question about it!
June 14, 2021

Hi David,
My name is Mary Billups.
    I've been wanting to live like this forever, because I don't like the constrictions of city life, & I have been seriously searching for somewhere in Eastern Tennessee for community with Tiny Houses. I've reached out to a few people, but they were just in the planning & clearing land stages.
I would love helping out!
    Please reach out to me, I'd love to have a phone conversation with you.
My email: grandbillups@gmail.com

Hi David!!
I literally just found this website a few days ago. I'm embarrassed to say I was up at 3:00am last night when I saw your post!;/ I was transfixed!! I was reading about all your trials to build community. Virtually everything you said struck a chord with me!!) Your latest post sounds like things are really moving in a positive direction. I just finished my Permaculture Design Course at a farm in Ohio. I helped with a strawbale house in Missouri. Love doing all things off grid. I am kind of a free agent at the moment and would be willing to talk to you about coming out and helping you on any projects you might have. I would love to talk and see if there might be a fit.
Take Care.
Tom

Debra, I think this is a really good sight on how to do the "homesteading thing"!

Yes to your list of property ideals and restrictions. I've answered a few ads and probably seem too straight-laced for many, but have strong ethics. I'm a semi-retired scholar; also a cyclist, vegetarian, gardener, and artist. Could rent or install a small home.
-- Lynne