Ed Martinaise

Chris Kott wrote:

And $10 000 for an acre or two? I wish. Not with anything on it that would qualify for a mortgage, and not anywhere near anything that would make it useful.

-CK

I sure didn't mean to insult you or anyone Chris, actually most of your post seems to justify my take on it all. I guess I didn't explain well. I believe the system is broken, and that's why saving $10,000 for an acre of land (I didn't mean an acre with a home on it, just land) before 30 may seem daunting or impossible. I just gave a few examples of things eating disposable income, you described a long list that we all recognize. As you described, our required financial inputs are way too high and we can't get ahead. Sounds like factory farming.....

What I believe is that a young person DOES have the ability to save early and actually pay cash for a piece of bare land that they can begin their permaculture dream upon sometime later in their life. I feel it's a shame that so many young people have so many immediate financial pressures that they feel the only way to pursue it is with a mortgage and all that comes with it. Spread over enough time, it's possible with cash. My take is that a great way to own land is to save money early early early (right out of school) a little bit all the time. In 10 years, take that cash and start looking. Take your time. Wait for a recession. Send letters directly to the parcels' tax addresses. Buy your raw land. Now you are ready to save for the next step............But if you are too far into today's debt and financial circus, I do understand. That's what I think is a shame, and is not a good reflection on our society. I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just encouraging young people to take a really long term view and save pennies all the way. Hard to do in America today.

Regarding the high cost of land everywhere, I just don't get it when spending $10,000 to purchase 1 or 2 acres is considered out of reach, but many young urban folks spend $200/month on coffee, streaming and cell phones. It's really a matter of financial priorities, you have to SAVE to get there and that might mean giving up some small things over the course of some years. If you can find $200/month, you'll have your $10,000 in less than 5 years. It's such a shame that so much of our disposable income is now consumed by debt and mindless expenditures.

Eric Hanson wrote:

I am a teacher and as such I acquire literally hundreds of pounds of paper at the end of a semester.

What a great untapped resource and strategy, we gotta find a local teacher to supply us!

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions. We completely recognize that we will never eradicate ticks, we're simply looking for a way to sit in the newly cleared area for some months and maybe reduce our exposure while there with no house or anything.....at least do something I guess. Sounds like keeping it relatively clear of tall grass, treat our clothing, encourage opossums (we already know about possum boxes and attracting, we have them at our current place and love them), and probably most importantly, really good tick checks every day. We may try a bit of sulphur dosing in spring to see if that helps as well. Again, thanks for the suggestions!

We are very close to closing on 20 raw acres in eastern Oklahoma, land is mostly woods with a few small clearings. We are planning to have an access road cut and built, and a small 1/4 acre area cleared just inside the property so we have a place to hunker down and figure out our land over the year. Our question is how to control ticks in that area we initially clear. Guineas are just too noisy and we don't want to annoy our new neighbors (non of which are into permaculture), we'd like to avoid jumping into chickens immediately as we'll be away from the land quite a bit. We read somewhere that surrounding the area with a 3 ft pile of woodchips would create a barrier against them. Not sure about that. We may be able to have some of the limbs from trees in the access easement chipped after it's cleared if that really is a viable option. Anyone have any suggestions or advice?

One aspect we looked into when beginning our search was the state's property tax laws. I believe MO is a personal property tax state where personal possessions of certain types or values are taxed each year that you own them. Definitely raises your long term cost to own cars, farm equipment, etc unless you try to make it a small farm business. We initially were interested in Arkansas, but learned of their similar laws and treatment of vehicle taxes. They would require us to pay AR state taxes on our RV we've owned for only a year (and already paid OK state taxes on it), literally thousands $$$ and also tax it as personal property every year until we no longer own it or it's worth less than $4,000. Crazy. Watch out for these type of state laws, they are all looking for ways to raise revenue without increasing the most visible taxes.

My wife and I are early retired and ready to build a homestead, grow veggies and camp in Eastern Oklahoma. We have cash for the land purchase. If you are considering selling some of your land in this area of Oklahoma, we'd love to hear from you.