Behold. Free land for Permies (Nova Scotia)

Have you ever wanted to live a permaculture lifestyle but realised land ownership was beyond your means or that with these tumultuous economic times, that settling into a mortgage was way too risky. Well, how does 1$ a month rental sound for access to a plot of farm land near the north shore of Nova Scotia sound to you. Good well water. Lots of good soil. Uncertified organic and a permies wet dream landscape. Rarely do we hear an internal combustion engine…and a land owner committed to keeping it that way. Sound too good to be true. Well it sort of is. LOL.

We need a caretaker…so that we can leave the farm occasionally. It’s one of the downsides of rural living. The animals can keep us stuck and this leads to mental atrophy . So we are willing to take a gamble on the right couple. It would take the type of person willing to winter in a motorhome, preferably your own though we can lend you ours till you find one, afford to maintain your own car since living rurally requires it, and most likely commute 45 minutes to a low paying job in a depressed small city…unless you bring some type of job with you. You will most likely have to use an outhouse, carry your own water and create your own electricity. You may have to walk up the hill in the winter from the road. Plus we will want you to help out on some of the jobs…and we will return the favour when needed.

Ah, the gamble. We have been reluctant over concerns that it’s never good to say free. Something not earned can easily be treated as cheap and disposable. We would prefer to have someone that has financial skin in the game…But for me, there is also the Karma part of it. I once had nothing and no future. Now I have more land than I can possibly use. I’d like to return the cosmic favour. Hopefully I am still purchasing something valuable…like your good will as we age and hopefully some loyalty.

About us. We are…12 chickens, a Berkshire Pig, 2 dogs , 5 cats…and a couple of humans. We share the land with about 40 tomato plants, a few hundred asparagus plants and a big weedy garden, A food forest of about 40 feral apple trees, service berries, sour cherries, grapes, raspberries, chokecherries, several deer, solar panels that don’t quite fully provide all we need and one very shy bear that passes through occasionally but would prefer to not be noticed.
We have prepper tendencies. Don’t worry. Not the crazy rightwing Alex Jonestown types. We just acknowledge that we now live at the period of history we call The Age of Consequence, Peak everything, or The End of Business as Usual. No Kool-Aid required. We are both overly educated, laid back, motorcycle riding people that are also somewhat grumpy about the state of the world.
We eat meat, avoid drum circles and shoot stuff once in a blue moon. We have Zero Tolerance of racism, homophobia or sexism.

About you. Laid back…and slightly obsessive compulsive. LOL. You have to Really, Really, Really,….Really want to live the permaculture, off grid, homesteading lifestyle because you need that type of obsessiveness to tolerate the downsides of the lifestyle, like shovelling a 6ft snowbank in front of the car to get to work, then shoveling it again to get back in, cutting your own firewood and facing a plethora of bugs that all see you as a smorgasbord. Preference goes to a couple because there isn’t much in the way of dating options out here. You have some savings, some experience, you love animals, have never been diagnosed as bipolar nor use copious amounts of pharmaceuticals. You are a Canadian Citizen. (Sorry, we are not in the position to sponsor your immigration though we have no problems if you have already immigrated). You are adventurous enough to just jump at this and smart enough to realise an opportunity like this will probably never happen again.

Ok, Now. Tell us about yourself on Private Message (Purple Mouseages). It may take a few days to get back to you . We need to get to know you a bit. We probably won’t get back to you if your message doesn’t tell us much, like “Sup. I want to live off grid. When can I come.” In some ways, this is sort of like internet dating for extended family. In other ways, it’s like a job interview.

We are looking forward to hearing from you

One last afterthought. This property is fully paid for, not mortgaged, therefore, it is unlikely to ever be lost due to foreclosure. We, thus you, are safe here. We are committed to staying debt free. It is also substantial in size, so very underutilised.

Nice. Cool post Ross. I hope you can get some great people to come to the area. It is a welcoming and open-minded area. Alot of really cool folks interested in permaculture in the area. Like Ross and Wilma, I've known them for a few years now and what a good opportunity they're offering for someone to get out of the city and get doing what they've been dreaming about. Like Permie pioneers.

Thanks Jeff. You make us sound more romantic than we really are. We are not farmers nor permaculture experts. Just a couple of folks with some land and a plan to help a group of people get through the Transition from Fossil Fuels in a time of a faltering economy and social system.

But yes. This is an opportunity to help someone break free from their urban life and achieve the goal that many people dream about and talk about...but never actually do. We want to facilitate people actually accomplishing there dream

I just wanted to bump this back up and say the position is still available.
We did meet a cool couple from this post already but they are thinking more about a Buy In option with us in our never ending quest to start a land share, echo community. Keep em comming

Just bumping it up again for the weekend. I spent the day using the food processor chopping up windfall apples, then putting them on recycled window screens to be dehydrated into winter pig food. I must keep collecting more window screens. The greenhouse is making a fine dehydrator....but its wasp madness out there.

Hi Ross

Have you had any takers on your offer?

K

Kate Michaud wrote:Hi Ross

Have you had any takers on your offer?

K

Not yet. though as mentioned above, we have made a fantastic connection that will take a different land share option with us. I know where you are going with this. Keep advertising everywhere because it only takes one right person. No body wants to be the first person at a party. If you can get just one couple, its easier to get two. Once you have two, then you can get traction.

Thanks for the encouragement Ross.

I guess that's where I differ from most people, I ALWAYS found there was a great advantage to being first at the party.
I got to help out, set things up, be part of the Logistics, visit longer, and doctor the punch bowl if it needed it!

Thanks again, take care!

K

OOPS! I almost forgot to bump this back up. We are busy harvesting and canning, finishing last minute building projects and preparing to buck up the firewood. Tomorrow I help a friend butcher a pig. Something new. My own pig runs with the dogs when I take him off harness (A future permies post topic). He has gained himself a few bonus years because he is smart enough and social enough to be bread. Until then, he is tilling us new garden space. A pig with a job.

This is all just fluff to give me an excuse to say we are still looking for someone. I know you are out there somewhere ...so I will just keep pestering everyone else.... until the right person reads this.

Sounds. Like an awesome opportunity! If I were not an American I would be sending you a purple moose age instead of a comment. Good luck and God bless.

We're moving in - read about our side of it :

Preppers and homesteaders

**BUMP!!**

I just thought I would add a piece here. Rachel and Peter are taking the "buy in" option and not the "Caretaker" position so that option is still available for one couple.

Hi there,

I likely found this too late, but are you still looking for caretaker? I would be very much interested in this.....have been homesteading now for about 6 yrs and really enjoy it ...but realising the same as you...with animals its hard to go anywhere to do anything.....my partner and I live off very little and he does have a job with the shrimp boats....if you havent found anyone let me know...I would be more then willing to answer any questions you might have

fellow growers

Lora
 

lora holland wrote:Hi there,

I likely found this too late, but are you still looking for caretaker? I would be very much interested in this.....have been homesteading now for about 6 yrs and really enjoy it ...but realising the same as you...with animals its hard to go anywhere to do anything.....my partner and I live off very little and he does have a job with the shrimp boats....if you havent found anyone let me know...I would be more then willing to answer any questions you might have

fellow growers

Lora
 

Wow. What convenient timing. My partner was writing up an ad for a caretaker somewhere else. We need a break from the farm for 6months to a year and plan on doing some over seas volunteer work. So we need someone to live in our house, not burn it down and keep the animals alive......and stay on afterwards.

We are a bit burnt out from chatting with people online but send us your phone number in the private message/ purple moosage section of the board and we will give you a call and see if you are the right fit

No hear back so far......so the position in still available.


I cant believe the amount of food we will just leave to rot this year.......but there will be even more next year. That's permaculture.