Wilmington, NC longshot looking for island land

Hello all,

I feel a bit ridiculous writing this, as it feels like the longest of long shots. But we've been following our hearts lately and it's lead us to here and so here I am.

I am 36 years old, a husband and father of 2 young kids: 6 and 9. Six years ago I was a Lt. and a pilot flying for US Air Force in New Jersey when I got sick with what ended up being two differentish autoimmune disorders.

Since then, we've obviously gone through a lot of change, and have slowly tried to simplify our lives, remove stressors, downsize and relocate. It's been a long difficult journey with a lot of additional unrelated challenges and trials along the way, but we've been here in Wilmington for about 6 months so far and are very happy with our move.

The warmer weather has been better for my health, which was a primary reason for us moving. There's a school here that should be a great fit for our kids next year. It's been cheaper than NJ and we're appreciating the slower pace and nicer people as well!

We're currently staying in an apartment as we get to know the area and decide what we want to do next, but we're pretty sure this is where we'd like to be long term. At a minimum for the next 5 years, but ideally 15 plus.

We have a decent amount of money saved up from the sale of our old house and we've been trying to figure out how to best use it; especially since my ability to work moving forward will be very limited at best. While I've always loved the SKIP program here at Permies (and while I'm a huge permaculture fan and proponent myself), my ability to work a farm or large property is severely limited now. So, I don't think something like that would ever be a good option for us.

That's why instead, I thought I would just post our own listing on here to see if there was anyone in the Wilmington, NC area who had land and was looking for someone like us to take it over. We are certainly open to buying some land or a property too depending on the situation.

But--and here's the long shot--my wife in particular has been through so much over these past few years. She has essentially been a single working mother for the last few years who has had to balance far more than was good for her. And her dream would be to live on one of the islands down here if possible--yet I don't think that's something we could ever afford. So, I know there are some amazing, incredible and generous people out there in Permie land and I figured that even though it felt embarrassing and like such a long shot, I owed it to her--for all she's done--to ask.

Thanks for reading!

Bill

I too got smacked down with auto immune crap in my mid thirties while raising two daughters. I did have minimal help for a few years but by 2011 it was just the girls and I. Then it was another decade + of managing with just the the girls and I.

You got this and the land will help your rehab!

We lived in the area for about 10 years broken up over 3 stays. I worked in Wilmington 5 days a week for 3 years and eventually just a few days commuting. During that 10 years we lived on Topsail Island for 7 years and in Holly Ridge for 3 years. I have worked all up and down the different barrier islands in NC and VA.

Some native tribes did live on a few barrier islands but most lived on the mainland at used the islands for resource gathering. If you have had a chance to spend time on them, there are just a few thriving native species of vegetation and if it was not for the bulldozers, the islands would be constantly built up with complex dunes that would get washed out during hurricanes and on the cycle goes. They used to be great resources for seafood, especially in the intercoastal waterway.

The preserved areas of the OBX are a good place to see this. Ft. Fisher is a closer preserved area where you would get the idea of what things would look like without all of the "beach nourishment" programs.

When we were first on Topsail, it still had a lot of remnants of a fishing community with about 1/3 of the houses being cottage style. Now it is a lot of new construction pushing whatever max elevation height the towns decide on. Huge 4 story beach rental homes everywhere. Oak island and Harkers island along with a handful of others are still mostly low key with a lot of local full time residents. That is changing though.

My opinion is that if the towns/state/federal did not spend millions a year on "beach nourishment", most everything you see on most of the barrier islands would be gone after 2 moderate hurricanes.

Equally problematic is that if you go too far off of the coast or too far away from more developed areas, be wary of existing or possible poultry and hog houses. NC is very friendly towards these type of feeding operations so long as they do not interfere with the coastal tourism income. It could be a nightmare to buy some rural property and not know about or have a future feeding operation come in close to you.

I would recommend looking up Dave at Changing Ways Farm. He is a retired USMC pilot, great guy, regenerative farmer. We got our food from him when we started to become educated on conventional farming practices and looked to find regenerative practices. https://www.changinways.com/

Looking forward to any updates you post!

Wow, that's aaaa lot of CAFO's. Great point

Thanks for the referral, advice and support!!! I'll try and keep you updated as we go!

Bill