land search--documentation of my process, lessons learned, emotions felt, values lived up to or not

I'm trying to figure out how to upload it stil, but for now if you want to listen I'll just give you a link privately.  Send a purple moosage.

My goal was initially to get an acre and live more self-sufficiently.  Then it was to get 30 acres and build a home for $50 and live self sufficiently.  Then it was to get a house 30 acres.  Then a house with 1 acre.  Now anything with a roof and walls, and the possibility of heating without fossil fuels.  in New England still.  Have I lost my way? gone completely bonkers? become part of the system?  Find out in the exciting installments of

Joshua's Home Search Soil-less Garden

Ugh I feel really bad for those currently trying to find property. Everything has changed so much within the last 2 years...namely cost increase and availability, not just in the land itself but every tool and supply you'll want to use in creating your home and landscape.

If you can, I'd suggest hanging in there with the idea of wanting more land! On the worst days, it will reward you with several hours of walking and you never know what opportunities that gives you to think about.

I got about 30 acres here, and now I have this idea to share it by offering seasonal weekend primitive tent-camping sites. I could never do it if I was within city limits, or only had a small amount of land. The value is in in the hilly, sprawling, diverse land. Making the roads and access is tough and takes time but I really really enjoy having a large (to me at least) piece of land to look over and live on.

I decided to just buy a pre-built 14'x28' shed to live in.  It cost 10k US dollars. It was either that or live in my truck or a tent all winter...no way. I had just enough time before freezing temps to build a small bath/wash house next to it. So while the pre-built shed thing isn't exactly environmentally friendly it was a sacrifice I made to be able to live quickly (my suburb house quickly sold and I didn't really have a good plan) in relative comfort, put more $ and time into the land, and it was assembled down the road by Amish so it could be worse I guess.

Stay focused, stay driven!!! Good luck :)

We looked for years before we found our farm. Stay with it!

Is it possible in your area to look up contact info for owners of land that looks worth considering? Many homesteads never formally go on the market. You'll have some promising starts that go nowhere and meet some very unusual characters along the way, but it only has to work once...

Best wishes for your land search.

Previously we had bought two homes.  I really thought the second one was the one we would live in forever.  Then something happened with our daughter so we decided it was time to get out of the big city of Dallas.

We bought raw land with nothing on it to start our homestead.  When dear hubby retired we sold the homestead so we could travel.  Since then we have bought two more pieces of land on which to build our home.

We are very happy with the home we now live in and feel that of all our land/home purchases this one was the most economical.

This purchase came with the shell of a house that needed to be finished inside though what save us a lot of money was that it came with electricity and a water well.  All three of those are expensive and I got them all for the price of the land.

My best suggestion is to look for something with an older home that is livable with a few repairs that you can do yourself.

Best wishes for finding your dream!

Episode 2 is up.

I have one listener so far.  Thank you, kind person!

I had two people click "like" on this thread.  I assume you don't want to subscribe, but know that my podcast is awesome so thoroughly that you don't even need to listen to it to know its awesomeness. Thank you for your support.  If you do want to subscribe, purple mooseage me.

I am feeling really good about putting this experience into words.

6 episodes up so far.  Anyone listen yet? please let me know if you're getting value from this.  

I really wish I could have gone on someone else's journey with this ahead of time and could have learned from their experience.  I love Paul's stuff on this, I would love about 8 more podcasts on the ins and outs of the process.  And other people's journeys too.  Post yours here?