Jim Misencik

Hi everyone,

I'm a new farmer, tenant farmer, and caretaker for a large (900 acre) nature preserve in northern Virginia. I lease about 30 acres of farmland (7 acre deer fence market garden enclosure, 20-some acres of pasture). Since May 2021 when I began, I have been a one-man operation, raising pastured broilers and pastured eggs within the 7-acre market garden enclosure. I desperately need labor, mainly because the market garden is waaaay too much work for me alone, and I still have an awful office job, which I must jettison asap. The previous tenant farmer had access to cabins on the 900-acres in the forest and he used those cabins for 15-years to house about four fulltime farm workers each year. He left the land in large part because the relationship with the landlord has changed and it is no longer permissible to use the cabins in the woods (the non-profit nature preserve is morphing into a state park with all of those bureaucratic trappings). The change wasn't what he wanted, and I also don't consider it ideal, but as a new farmer I'm trying to frame the change as an opportunity to have the community come to me for produce rather than me hauling the produce to (God awful) D.C., as he did. But I need labor and loyal labor (or partners) at that. So I am certainly not trying to cut corners when it comes to taking care of people.

My goal: convert the cottage into a four-season dwelling for a farm worker or business partner. I'm running electricity to the 200sf cottage and there is a good wood burning stove. I've also begun building a tree bog. A tree bog is an elevated outhouse where feces are eaten by willows; I harvest willows, convert to biochar, inoculate with urine from the outhouse. Biochar feeds the market garden compost. So human waste and heating is squared away. But I am trying to figure out the shower situation.  

My challenge and plan: How do I handle the shower gray water and how do I keep the shower portable? The farm has a 200amp panel and my plan is to install a 60 amp subpanel at the 200sf cottage and dedicate 30amps to an on-demand water heater for the shower. I am thinking there is some sort of an electric disconnect that I can plug the cottage into and plug the shower into, kind of like a motorhome camping scenario...that way I can tow the small cottage away on a trailer when the time comes. Then I build the shower frame on a couple of 4"x4"s for tow-ability and put a prefab shower in it, smash a hole in the cottage wall, tack the shower to the cottage, and--boom--farm worker ecstasy. I'm confident that I can enforce a biodegradable-soap-only dictate for the cottage and shower and I can run the gray water into some sort of garden.

What do you guys think, what did I miss, how can I do this the best, are there any dangers to people or the environment...Any resources I am not recycling?

Thanks a lot for any comments, Jim

This came at the perfect time, getting ready to design a greenhouse for my market garden next year - can't STAND the polytunnel plastic structures. Was already thinking a sink it ~3 feet into the ground but those little ideas in the vid got my brain working.

Yeah pretty dope.

Hi Josh, I'm curious if you ever made any progress with this. I've been looking and thinking about doing the same thing in the same area. I started looking in Frederick County Md, then Loudoun, Fauquier, Clarke, etc., and reasonably priced land is pretty tough. Looking more at Culpeper County now and there seem to be some pine plantations. I'm thinking maybe I could clear cut the pine (loblolly seems popular in Va, not sure why), leave the hardwoods for diversity and aesthetics, and turn the clear-cut pine area into pasture. Thanks a lot for any info or lessons you've learned in your process. - Jim

Perhaps I didn't read closely enough, and if you have an adequate amount of land, I'm surprised I haven't seen mention of hunting, in particular bowhunting, as a homesteading skill.

If you dislike butchering your "pets," perhaps a dozen egg-laying chickens, a Jersey cow, and the occasional whitetail would provide plenty of animal products without the same sharpness to it that butchering animals that you raised has (although many to that method as well).

In addition, you'd gain a much deeper familiarity with all the natural characteristics of your land and its cycles.

I like Rainbow sandals, flip flop style. Stylish enough. They form to your feet and are leather, but def on the pricier side if the comparison is $1 Old Navy sandals.