Canada, New Brunswick

I have use of 100 acres of raw land; 20 minutes south of Miramichi (Non-Divisible, Not for sale.) I'm looking to gauge interest in the local area for the creation of a small community.

I love New Brunswick! What kind of community do you have in mind?

I haven't given much thought to the type of community; I suppose it would come down to the individuals if they wanted to be dispersed or aggregated, and how that would influence land use. I also don't plan to censor or impose anything on anyone, just that they themselves don't infringe on others; although I do have some baseline assumptions: we're permaculturists, and that we'll keep an eye out to safeguard our common interests (livestock, tools, etc.)

You have my interest so please keep me in the loop.

I will, I'll post status updates here.

Currently I'm working on access; the existing wood's road is impassible to all but a pretty good 4-wheel drive truck or tractor. So I plan to cut another trail, but I'm waiting on a spacing saw to come back in to stock (STHIL FS 560C-EM) to do so. I predict all that i'll get done this year is either a new trail or a widening/ maintenance of the existing trail.

Land Description:
Zone 4b. South-east orientated. Treed and crisscrossed with old grown-in logging roads. South-east orientated NB Power transmission line easement on property (100ft wide x 2000ft long.)  

Water:
There is a spring-fed stream (flowing south-easterly, even during the winter (Feb) following 2020's drought.) There is also ~400ft of river access along the south-west corner of the property. I've not had the water tested. Personally I plan to have a hand pump (spike well) inside my future residence (water quality pending.) The river bottom is flat (shale or slate) so I expect bedrock to be as well. From what i've observed so far the water table is quite high and the land is fairly spongy/boggy in the low parts (I haven't found any standing swamps) so water availability shouldn't be an issue.

Structures:
There is an existing hunting camp on the property, accompanied by a "seen better days" wood shed (needs bracing), The camp's roof is good, exterior OSB is peeling and needs replacing/ upgrading. The windows are very antiquated and non-efficient. The camp is insulated, but due to a leak before the roof was redone there is mold evidence and I have to investigate further. There is a wood stove, suitable for heating, I'd like to upgrade to something that could be used to cook as well or brace the floor and install a RMH (rocket mass heater.) The camp has a kitchen area where the wood stove is, a living room, and a bedroom that can fit two single beds or two bunk beds (single bed size). I am open to remodeling depending on how the community wishes to live, distributed vs aggregated. Although, at this stage, it is useful to note that until others complete a suitable shelter of some sort, the camp would be better utilized in sheltering multiple people.

Planned Improvements for cold months 2021-2022:
Address mold concerns in the camp, and brace the wood shed.
Self-survey the land, identify microclimates, low points, and weather patterns.
Inventory of trees suitable for building lumber

Planned Improvements for warm months 2022:
Clearing space for food production
Soil building cover crop implementation on the NB power easement (vegetation was controlled, so very minimal soil building was done naturally, soil is sandy and lacks organic matter)
Consideration of harvesting building lumber to construct other buildings if needed (if only myself at this point, food establishment is priority. I have alternate housing 40 minutes from site.)

Existing resources:
Small car
Large 4-wheel drive truck
Engine driven stick welder/ generator
30hp 4-wheel drive tractor with bucket & forks; rear attachment tiller, snow blower, and bush mower.
Portable bandsaw mill
4-wheeler
Chainsaws

Prospected resources:
Large heavy duty trailer
Earth mover (ideally a backhoe)
Wood chipper
Spacing saw
Seeds & starters: cover crop, food (vegetables, fruit bushes & trees etc) , trees (landscaping, fuel, and future value)  

This sounds well thought out. Thank you!

Update #1

Access:
Acquired a spacing saw (Husqvarna 555fx), the Sthil product was unavailable.
Begun widening the existing woods' road, and made progress almost to the 5th pole. (Translators note: I measure the land via the hydro-line poles; Pole #1 is at the road, and Pole #7 is at the river where the camp is.) So work begun at the 7th and terminated just before the 5th Pole.

Land Description:
Soil survey data was located for the property; and consists of varying depths (20-100cm) of sandy glaciofluvial material, some over marine clay. Most areas are rated as poorly draining (5-7/8 on the drainage scale), but there is a significant area with better drainage (3/8 ).

Future plans for growing soil:
Ideal growing soil, Loam, is an equal mixture of sand, silt and clay. The soil on the land being primarily sand would need an amendment of clay and silt, as well as a healthy dose of organic matter (future hydro-line growth/forest material) and possibly Ph adjustment. Sources of clay onsite include the layer under the sand, as well as access to a portion of land that is classified as "fine loamy" lodgment till which states it has between 18-35% clay.  

Water:
While working on widening the woods' road, at the 5th, off to the side, a spring was discovered.

Future plans: Separating surface water from the upwelling spring water and testing for potability.  

Structures:
Superficially investigated the mold in the camp; it is dry and inactive. Assuming this is a stable condition, and lacking occupants, addressing the matter is low on my agenda.

Small Structures:
Honey bee swarm traps; up-cycled some offcuts to make 4 hive sized and one smaller trap.

Future plans: Assemble and position swarm traps to assess if wild honey bees are present.

Very interesting. Will you be posting here with progress? Or, is there a better way to stay in the loop?

I have around 36 acres. I have 1 acre lots and a main yard. In development at a fast pace. You can check out my YouTube channel. Glenn Offgrid. I believe a group of like minded can make alot happen. I'm in the Rexton NB. If you are willing to commit to a Offgrid lifestyle. You can contact me. I do Charge $250. Monthly. To offset my taxes. All amenities minutes away. I have a civic #. We are not a cult. We are not trying to leave society. We are developing food forest, permaculture, gardens , animals. Homesteading in general. Self sufficiency. Is key as to where all these distractions are leading. I have all infrastructure tools needed. The rest would depend on you. Rexton NB has lots of work available. So if this is something that would intest you , hit me up. glennie443@gmail.com Ty.

Hi Giri, yes, this forum will be my main avenue of information disbursement.

On that note, Update 1.1, a bite sized update;

Access:
I went to the land today and did some more road work. I finished the cut-back of the small trees & brush from where I left off last time, up to right around the 4th Pole.

Future plans:

Continue widening the road. There is however a complication; the road, beginning at the 4th Pole and continuing to the 1st Pole, is markedly more rutted and filled with water; making it difficult to cut back the sides of the road due to poor footing. I plan to instead cut a 4' path on either side of the road, thus both widening and providing a walking path.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Hi Glenn, thank you for the information on your opportunity, but I am committed to homesteading on the land I have.  

If anyone would like information on my opportunity, please feel free to post any questions : )

sounds so much like what I was going to buy and do south of mirimichi. but it was too much rigamarol for building road.
anyway keep me in the loop, I'm currently near Bathurst but looking for community.
I also have PDC and horticulture instructor and natural health practitioner

Hi Jen, yeah the road is the first hurdle to overcome, my plan at the moment is to cut back the sides of the rutted portions to allow for easier foot access, and my truck can make it once it's a tad wider (we went in only once with the truck and the trees were rubbing the sides and the tire walls.) Once the road has been widened I plan to cut brush, rent a chipper, and fill the ruts with wood chips. Hopefully this helps a bit with the mud, and over time it'll turn to soil I can use for growing, then I'll just replace the excavated soil with fresh wood chips and repeat; a way to stack function in the road I guess.

Update 1.2

Access:
I purchased a used backhoe (1965 John Deere 500, diesel) in excellent working condition. However, I do not have a trailer to move it, so road work will be dependent on availability of transport options until I can either build or buy a trailer capable of moving the machine.

Future plans:

Build or buy a heavy duty trailer.

If still lacking transportation for the machine before the ground freezes, continue with update 1.1's future plans.  

This all sounds so great in theory x'D  I'm feeling so lost right now.  I moved here to NB because I wanted to have a tiny house, raise my own meat, have some small livestock and grow my own vegetables.  Ended up moving too far up north to where the growing season is very short (zone 3), the snow covers the tops of my 5-foot fencing in winter and drifts past my roofline.  Was told I could not build my tiny house and ended up in a previously abandoned house with no running water. plumbing and very little electrical, which I can handle just fine if it was ALL I had to deal with.  My online business of 10+ years has crashed, and I'm now scrambling for rides at 4 AM so I can get to work at Walmart, where I work in the meat department.  I have a lot of health issues that make it a severe struggle to work away from home.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still a hard worker and capable of doing my share of snow shoveling, composting, gardeniing, water carrying, hand-washing laundry, shoveling animal pens, and all the other work that needs to be done around here, but it takes me longer than other people and I generally need to organize my work into sessions in between my computer work.  But now all I can see is a future of working at Walmart and then spending my "days off" working at my second and third jobs online just to try to survive.  I don't know how people manage to make it work to live in these kind of communities unless they have some kind of really well-paying job that they can go to during the day.  I have whittled my monthly expenses down as much as I possibly can and still struggle.  I've given up on the gardening for the most part, and stopped breeding my meat rabbits because the expense is so high for feed and the time is just not there.  

Hey Kitty, you are right about how it could be difficult to pursue this goal without a good source of disposable income. I am fortunate that my parents support my aspirations allowing me to direct a fair amount of my income to this project. I too felt the same as you do while working and came to a crossroads of sorts; "make more money, or reduce the need for it." Ideally doing both would be best, but making more money is not something easily done, and you can only shave off expenses so much, there is a minimum cost associated with living "normally" (rent/mortgage, groceries, utilities, fuel, insurance etc.) This line of reasoning brought about the current project, in which I aim to reduce or eliminate some of the expenses associated with living "normally."
However, when I imagined how the completed project would look, I felt I would feel lonely and unfulfilled if I was all by myself; thus the origin of this thread, as I look for others to join me in my endeavor.    

Update #2

Access:
Acquired a skidder.
The road has been sufficiently widened and maintained so that the truck I have (4x4, 6" lift, 38" tires) can comfortably make it to the camp.

Future plans:
There are some larger trees that I'd like to remove for either "ease of driving" reasons or others that pose a windfall risk to the road.

I plan to cut regular alcoves aside the wet portions of the road to plant white willow; as a water loving tree with vast fibrous  roots, in the hopes that the ground will become firmer in those areas. The white willow will also provide biomaterial for compost.

After several trips with the truck, only one particularly troublesome spot was encountered containing a deep rut and a boulder to which I plan to address in the future, perhaps with the skidder and/or backhoe.  

With the purchase of the skidder, an ice road on the hydro-line for moving things ill suited to the current road becomes a possibility. Examples include: Sheds/Tiny homes, building materials, and large tools like the saw mill.

Structures:
Now that access is passable, more focus can be directed towards the camp and outbuildings.

Future plans:
House wrap the camp to preserve the OSB sheathing, raise the back corner to level, remove mold affected internal OSB sheathing and prepare the camp for overnight weekend accommodation.

Update #3

Access:
The road remains a priority; it's been widened so all of the hazard trees are removed, and most of the "inconvenience trees" have also been removed along with their stumps. Work has begun on water management on the road, several drainage pits have been dug and water levels are lower than before. Some rock work has been done to stabilize one small section, that I alluded to in Update #2's future work section, but more rock work is required.

Future plans:
Source and implement the addition of rock into the base of the road's ruts to abate the deepening of said ruts from continual use. Digging drainage ditches from the drainage pits to further lower the standing water level of the road.

Structures:
The camp has been house wrapped, all except for the gable ends, and where house wrapped has been sided with plastic siding. The camp's back corner has been leveled, the interior ceiling & insulation removed (due to squirrel damage), re-roofed with torch-on-membrane, and a different wood stove installed (the old one had thin walls). The wood shed has been straightened and braced.

Future plans:
Finish the house wrap & siding on the gable ends. Install ceiling insulation & OSB. Replace the antiquated windows & doors for better heat retention. Apply 1/4" hardware cloth to the external eves and any other place mice might be gaining access.

Water:
Began digging a shallow well within the camp, removed 5ft of sand before encountering a compacted layer that will require a mechanical solution (gas/electric augur to turn the hand well drilling rig). Whilst digging the road's drainage pits water was encountered beneath a 1.5-2ft thick clay layer in a sandy clay mixture at a depth of around 5ft from surface. The camp is roughly 2-3 ft above that location so the clay layer is expected at around 5-6 ft deep and is suspected to be the compacted layer encountered while attempting to hand drill the well.

Future plans: Fabricate a coupler device to attach the hand drilling rig to a powered auger to cut through the compacted layer in hopes of reaching ground water at 7ft deep and continue to a depth of possibly 15ft.

Land Scaping:
The backhoe was utilized to excavate & relocate soil for road work as well as the creation of space for vehicles to turn, operate and park. Refuse was sorted and allocated to respective piles for future consideration.

Future plans: Continue to expand cleared area for the introduction of future buildings and garden space.