Jeff Steez

Looking to relocate at that time…

The woodworking culture there is phenomenal. I’ve worked as a yacht carpenter, and I’d like to build folk guitars and learn luthiery. Otherwise, I’m a bit of a transient person with many various skills.

As far as a career, timber framing sounds wonderful. Otherwise, the only reason I work is to buy land and build a cottage so I can homestead.

Currently making wine out in California.

There are definitely a multitude of possibilities.

With all of my philosophical pondering lately, I've realized deep down, music has been the main part of my life that has never exactly left. Many other aspects of my life have come and gone, but I've been a musician since childhood. Yes, I gave up being a diligent musician like many do after high school, but I still kept aspects of it around. I even have a recording studio in my room, albeit a small one, I've got many guitars, a banjo, synthesizers etc... Building guitars is an intersection of two major interests of mine, woodworking and music... It is unlikely to be a profitable one, however... And so, yes, all of these opportunities sound great.

If I could have it my way, I'd be mostly self-sufficient, build guitars, and produce music... But that is unlikely and a very difficult lifestyle to achieve.

For now, I will have to sacrifice homesteading and making music in order to build a guitar, at least to an extent. After I build my first guitar, I will go from there... I will have to reevaluate continuously as you said... That is a great way to put it.

It looks like between my passions of homesteading/gardening, making music, and building guitars... Well, I am going to have to balance that triangle, and see if I can't find success along the way, neglecting one while tending to another, and vise versa.

Hello all,

I've been doing my due diligence lately, while also completely giving up on everything... But not in a bad way! In a Stoic kind of way... The old "when you stop trying it comes to you", or "the harder you try, the more it resists". So I gave up, and I find myself perhaps slowly succeeding. I want to hear opinions on an email I was sent by a gentleman I contacted a few months ago.

Brief summary :

I reached out to a sawmill opportunity in Tennessee a while back... The opportunity was to work a sawmill, and create a micro-farm, while using the milled wood to build structures and sell projects from the property, with ZERO monetary overhead to begin this venture. He has 4 acres, a 12 inch Swingsaw, access to trees to mill, a giant barn for storing wood, tractors, trucks, trailers, everything, from a tangentially related business. The gentleman just got back to me after all this time, we spoke for a while initially but then things went silent for a while, until today.

Fast forward a little, I have ALSO secured a 2 month guitar building position in... None other than Tennessee, which is where I want to relocate in order to homestead... I do not know if I will go on to become an apprentice, but if it doesn't work out, I can surely leverage that into the following opportunity. It's a little complicated to me, it's hard to see the bigger picture, how it will proceed and such... But as I get the farm going, basically, everything is free, it's a blank canvas, except providing my own food for a few months, which I have savings to do so.

I am genuinely interested in what everyone else here thinks about this opportunity. As a millennial who doesn't exactly have a path to homeownership when prices have skyrocketed 3x - 4x the past 5 years, property taxes, insurance, blah, blah blah... This looks quite interesting. I am interested in advice, words of wisdom, motivation, caution, whatever... I think to an extent, I should just jump into it if I'm chosen and give it a go. I have family to fall back on, it's not particularly risky, aside from bruising my ego should I fail. Don't have anything to lose.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be "mine". So if SHTF... Well, that's a worry for another day, I suppose. Maybe the gentleman could connect me with some available real estate as I work on developing the place...




Without further ado, here is the email. I mean no offense, if the gentleman is here on this website! Some of the terminology is sus and it'll be a little embarrassing if he's here floating around. I march on, shameless.

Opportunity Email :

"The dream of best use of space at my property continues to evolve.  As you know, I originally posted for a person to run the sawmill for a split if the profit.  That has not changed.  There are 3 of you that I believe would be great fits.  I am not interested in building a multi headed monster out there with too many decision makers.  

I do believe there is a modest opportunity with the mill alone for an enterprising person to make some reasonable profit and very fexible schedule/time.  

The other steps of the plan are more exciting, but seperate.  The whole picture could be titled “Building a lifestyle brand based on a simple lifestyle, farmstead/market garden/regenertive/organic/no-till —ideally this garden would be profitable thru subscription or CSA type sales, but a small garden designed to feed just a few families in a most healthy way is fine too.  Equally important here would be that it is “on brand” as part of a lifestyle and to help sell hand crafted (wild crafted/upcycled) mini farm structures.  Chickens and other may be part of this farmstead.  Small scale or larger (subscription) either. Stays on brand.
Separate from the mill and lumber sales would be the “woodworking shop”.  This shop would build, mainly from milled lumber, coops, sheds, as well as “crafts” like farm style tables, wood candles, and more.  All on brand and supported by other parts of the farm.  These items would be sold via a multitude of outlets.  Related things for expansion would be wood cooking items, iron/blacksmith items, etc.
VRBO.  Once the mobile home is gone, I’d like to add a farm style short term rental that could be used for “farm stays” and “classes” or Wwoofer types, etc.  I’d also like at least one boutique type Glamping option like a airstream or tiny house.  This type thing could also house “students” or seasonal workers. They would utilize a shared kitchen/bath/pavilion style structure.  
Yoga/meditaiton/mental health-  I would love to offer ongoing yoga classes to a small groups through freelance instructors as well as offer “retreats” geared toward yoga,wellness etc.  
As part of the common area kitchen above , I think catering and cooking classes could also be part of the longer plan.

As part of the building of the brand, a social media presence will have  to be cultivated. IG, FB and YouTube would all be integral in this important task.  This is not only were products would be , effectively,advertised in a wholistic/on brand way.  This person would be instrumental in “brand management”.  This venture could grow from there and support/nurture other possibilities related to it.

So, if you will, picture the farm and the current nothingness that it is.  Attach my vision of its endless possibilities and then fast forward your mind out 5 years and tell me the steps you’d be able to take to make it a success.  

To me it sounds like the ideal person would possess the following ;

1.  A strong desire to live this lifestyle.  The lifestyle is that of a hardworking , laidback (at least desires to be laidback) yoga loving, healthy food eating, thirsty for knowledge on these topics and entertained by the pursuit of the knowledge, handy/crafty/woodworking type.  This “person”could be a couple or family.  

2.  Ability to plan, budget, schedule, expenses and labor needs.  Eventually, ability to hire, delegate, instruct employees.

3.  Ability to record and edit pictures and videos for all social media etc

4. Ability to build relationships in all communities related to the farm as a whole.  

5.  Ability to understand basic financial accounting papers on profit/Loss.

6.  A strong desire to build the farm into an attractive and productive business that provides goods and services based on itself.  

As I  mentioned before, the mobile home has got to go.  It will free up a lot of investable funds and space for better things.  I would not be opposed at that point to brining in the first airstream as living quarters for this person.  

I see this as an unbelievable opportunity for someone.  It would take away any risk of capital for the candidate in exchange for sweat equity in each individual venture that the candidate participated in (preferably all of them).  This split would need to be ironed out in a way that is equitable for both parties as well as giving a long term incentive to “grow the business”.  I would not be opposed to offering performance based ownership sharing opportunities to the correct person.  The performance would have to be Herculean in away that I could not have accomplished on my own.  We would negotiate this first.  I see this person acting, after establishing momentum, more like a company president.  Albeit, a hands on one.

Let me know what you think and if you are still interested."

Japanese folks have lived for centuries into old age off of staples like millet during times of war.

Part of me thinks simplicity like rice and fish combined with fermentation (pickles, soy sauce) is definitely a suitable lifelong combination.

I’ve been a hardcore baker for about 5 years, I roast my own coffee and I would safely say I’m a self declared pastry and coffee addict. Even in NC just yesterday I did everything I could to have those two things, I feel mostly satisfied when I get them lol.

I’m well versed in vegan baking as well, the owner of the bakery is vegan but the bakery itself is customer facing, serving all assortments of deli sandwiches, sourdough loaves, cakes and pastries, but they also supply a wide region their bread, restaurants and events and such.

The bakery is very well known, it’s basically “the” bakery for the entire region and all sourdough, very high quality, ancient grains, gluten free options.

It supplies all the food for the best entirely vegan restaurant in the area as well.

So… well, it’s a very good bakery. The quiet overnight solitude of being a baker suits my personality, and it’s a skill I can use to survive just about anywhere once I learn commercial processes and skills.

Some very difficult lessons have been learned.

I drove 10 hours in a rental van with all my belongings. I got to the apartment across the street from the job. There is no Uber, surviving without a car would be unreasonable and inefficient. My time is worth more than that.

The job started at $15/hour and over a few years I’d expect to make no more than $18-$19/hour or so. Therefore, after taxes, over 3/4 of my income would be going toward living expenses. I would not be thriving. I would be working to be able to afford to work.

As a carpenter and aspiring woodworking, the apartment was atrocious. Floor boards had nails sticking up, the floor creaked, some boards were warped so badly they stuck an inch off the ground and there would be 1/4 inch gap between them, all discolored from mismatched patchwork fixes… oh. I’m sorry, but I have an eye for quality and it was unreasonable. I would never make someone pay $900 to live in a place like that, $300-$400 maybe… that $900 didn’t include electric or internet either. All night you could hear upstairs people walking on their hardwood floor. I am not weak willed, but I have a certain standard of living.

If I setup a tent to live in, it would be prettier than that apartment, more intentional and cared for.

Anyway, I swallowed my pride and drove the 10 hours back home, down quite a bit of cash for the car and gas, but that’s ok. I am the type of person that needs to experience something in order to fully understand it. I could write my financials down on paper, acknowledge I’d be without a vehicle, but until I experience it firsthand I just never internalize things, though I surely will never forget and never make the same mistake twice.

I am grateful for what I have here.

Which is the fact I make $25/hour working whenever I want to, and I’m going to a baker’s apprenticeship tomorrow. I wanted a job there over a year ago... and the owner emailed me again asking if I’m interested the day before I left.

As for timber framing. It unfortunately was a bit of a dream job… and the location was unbelievable. But I would not be thriving there, I’d be scraping by and trapped in a run down apartment with truly no hope of ever saving money to homestead.

I am going to take some timber framing courses here and there so that I can still gain the knowledge, and continue reading my books on the subject, and enjoying what little permaculture I can do in the backyard, while enjoying the little things in life, such as having cell service and fresh coffee.

Until next time… it might be a while until my next post here. I just plan on working and saving money, I can’t do anything else, but at least here I can save every penny I make. I am ashamed of living with my family still, but as an unskilled worker, you simply can’t make it on your own these days and truly excel, that’s my own experience at least, and I don’t think 5 years working there would change that.

I don’t know where I’ll end up, or where I hope to buy land, but I know that my heart is not settled in Florida (unless it’s far north Florida, I guess).

Cheers.

Timothy Norton wrote:Congratulations Jeff!

That is an AMAZING update. I hope you are feeling excited for this new chapter. I have friends in North Carolina that love it there for a variety of reasons. I hope you find your experience is the same and I hope your confidence builds just like your skills when you are there

Well done.

Thanks, I absolutely enjoyed flying into NC... It felt like I was "coming home" the moment I saw the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Folk Arts Center. I loved everything made of wood and clay that I saw in there, and although I'm a modern millennial, I have a bit of an Appalachian heart and think I always have. The wood there is abundant, the culture there appreciates it, and I've never felt at home in Florida. I live 5 minutes from the beach and can count on my hands the amount of times I've gone the past 10 years. Besides that, there's not much to do here, in my opinion, and the land is scarce and expensive. I drove all over the Parkway and hiked a mountain, which I've never done. It was amazing to me.

I've come to grips with and realized that all I can ever do is try, and I'll never make it if I'm not at least content with my efforts and satisfied with where I'm at, because homesteading itself is a never-ending act without a goal or destination, one must be happy with where they are, because you can't rush nature if you're frustrated and makes things grow faster (for the most part).

Not unlike The Myth of Sisyphus and the now popular quote "The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Being met with constant failure and disappointment makes the mildest of successes that much more meaningful and I do not take them for granted.

Scoured internet for various jobs. Found a nice one in North Carolina doing timber framing full time... This would teach me to timber frame my own home while getting paid for it, and would also allow me to use the shop for my own personal projects to sell through the LLC I already had established. Visited the Folk Arts Center and there are a lot of very talented woodworkers in that region. The owner has a lathe he said he'd teach me to use.

So, I booked a vacation, and I traveled to Asheville/the job site from March 12th - 16th. Met with the owner, he told me of apartments nearby. When I got back I called the apartments and they'll be ready in a couple weeks at a suitable rental price.

I was offered a job and decided to accept it, so I'll be moving in a couple weeks, working in my spare time doing some small carpentry jobs to offset the cost of moving.

The land is cheap in the surrounding area, it's a true small town, small enough to where the owners finance the land easily... Surrounded by mountains mostly, with some flat lands suitable for building and farming. Soil is not the best, but it's workable, for whatever can be grown in that zone, of which, I have no idea being subtropical... I think it was Zone 7A when I checked. However, with the mild winters (minimal snow if any) and mild summers, the region is completely suitable for raising chickens for eggs, goats for milk, etc.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I understand what you're saying.

I like the idea of renting a place for 3 or so months and doing everything I can to find some land before the lease ends while saving all I can... Once it ends, put whatever non-essential belongings I bring into a storage unit that I can easily access as I build (pressure canner, miscellaneous woodworking tools, bread baking supplies, etc.). Once I have land, get a simple structure up and get to observing the land, maybe a bit of gardening. Enjoy the peace and quiet of building a foundational life while I begin the first timber framed structure: a small home... I'd need materials to purchase for timber framing, oh right, I can just purchase through the job! They even sell DIY kits.

I have rather "good" credit for now, although it took a bit of a tumble during COVID. It's hovering around 780, a number of old accounts on there, some new ones, I always try to use credit and pay it off for points and for payment history, etc.

I guess at the end of the day, I simply have to take a chance. As I stated in my first post, I don't have all the answers, but I do have a brain (that mostly works). I have... A sketch in my head, an outline, it is not a finished drawing, nothing is set in stone, it's not a painting, it can be erased and altered as necessary without much loss.

I suppose I can't be particularly afraid of failure. I do have a fallback, my family to return to if I really need to, but at this point in my life, that is becoming the last resort. I would almost rather live in a tent on some property for the rest of my life than be stuck here fantasizing about this reality I have in my head in my comfort zone.

And this reality does include a number of timber framed buildings! A small home, a workshop, a kitchen... I want to make a little village of tiny timber framed homes rather than a gigantic house, which I would be getting paid to build and learn about anyway... Not to mention, I have personal goals that inspired this desire to jump, I want to build and design furniture, learn to make guitars, etc and the job lets you use the large workshop on your own time.

It seems like quite the opportunity for me. Everything aligns, almost too well, though balanced by my uncertainty about living arrangements and my ability to "rough it".