Wayne Kostencki

I know this is a  pretty old thread, but we are finally retired and sold our house in Alabama. We are heading up to the UP to look at land in about two weeks. Any other advice or things we should know?

Thanks for the information.

It is the kind of stuff I was looking for. As for the counties, I copied the wrong list. We are interested in finding out more about the UP and its counties and if we end up crossing the UP off our list the other counties are where we were looking next.

Does anyone know the land prices between the two areas and what to look out for when looking at land in each area?

Thanks again.

Thanks for your information

> How are are you all?
We are in good health and looking to start a new adventure in a few years. We are in our 40s.

> Is this a retirement plan, or did you sell a startup?
It's an early retirement plan as my wife and I will both be able to stop working in 4 1/2 years.

> Are you picturing raising all your food and churning your own butter, or is this more a SHTF retreat with a generator type situation?
We want to eventually raise our own food and live there year round.

> Are you wanting to build a little house yourself or have somebody build something respectable for you?
We want someone to build us a cabin (1100 sq ft). We already have a floor plan and know what we want.

We have about 4 1/2 years left to work and get our last child going in college (He's in 10th grade). Right now we are practicing our homesteading skills and trying to downsize our clutter from a home which used to have four children in it, to something that will fit in a cabin.

My wife and I are looking to start Homesteading in 4-5 years. We would like to buy land in the next 1-2 years. We currently live in Huntsville, AL in a suburban area where we are working on our homesteading skills. I’m originally from Chicago. Our first choice of area to move to is the UP in Michigan. We have narrowed the counties down to the following:
-Houghton
-Mason
-Oceana
-Manistee
-Muskegon

We are looking for people who can tell us about these areas in general and homesteading in these areas in particular. Maybe someone we could email our questions to as they come up.

Here is some information on what we are looking for:

-about 20-40 acres with timber and a good water supply that we can become self-sufficient with.
-secluded, but year round access where we can build a small self-sufficient cabin.
-jobs are not necessary as we already have other income.

Thanks for any information and advice you can provide.