Homesteaders! Steemers! Community folk who love a good challenge!
As some of you may already know, my hubby and I are taking the initial steps to building our off-grid self-sufficient Homestead. We live in the suburbs currently, but are already brainstorming, saving, selling, reading, learning, fermenting, sprouting, drying, growing, planning, preserving and minimizing. Our suburban lease ends in 8 months. As we are currently evaluating our next steps, I was considering the importance of community and how incredibly knowledgeable you all are. I just got done watching @mountainjewel post on harvesting their humanure, and a wave of the brain hit me. Who knew composting poop could be so inspiring!
The best way to learn is through personal experience... Getting out and doing the thing, whatever it is. So I thought, what better way than to ask my fellow rural and urban homesteaders who have the firsthand knowledge and experience, as we do more first hand as we can at our suburban 'stead.
So?
A challenge! Of course!
Here is the question for all you gorgeous inspiring growing homesteaders, who now have the benefit of hindsight 20/20 vision. 😉
If you could start your Homestead over, completely from scratch, and you had a hypothetical budget of 100k US dollars in your pocket, how would you plan and prioritize?
Some things to consider. I understand that 100k seems like a lot to some (and maybe not enough to others, all things relative, I mostly picked it as an eye catching round number), but you still have to purchase land, and are starting from Ground Zero, with little more than books on permaculture and composting in your go bag.
Let's also say you are in a moderate temperate climate, where 4 seasons are experienced and rainfall is decently ample.
What kind of priorities would you have or reconsider?
What kind of power would you use?
In what ways would you use this nest egg first?
How would you do your planning again, if you had the option?
I only ask that if you participate in this challenge, please use the tag #100khomesteadchallenge so that I can find you!
I am a Steemit plankton still, so I do not have much to offer for the challenge winner, but I can offer 1 SBD and a resteem (like I said, you've probably never challenged for less, but I will give you all I can offer)!
Maybe this challenge could be seen more as a community effort to help the homesteading noob collective than a steem earning opp. I'm hoping!
I would appreciate any help, even just a resteem of this challenge post!
UPDATE
@goldendawne has agreed to sponsor our #100khomesteadchallenge! She has donated 2 SBD to the winning pot, making a total of 3 SBD for us to give away!
We will also be putting together a post to include all entries when we announce the challenge winner. Results will be determined in a week from today, November 22nd 2018. Good luck everyone and thanks for your contributions!
Steem on, and live life close to the Earth. Peace.
Xx ToL
Photo cred: http://www.friendsofhomestead.com/
And some @mountainjewel cred:
https://steemit.com/dtube/@mountainjewel/v29qwr7z
A very good challenge! My wife and I are still in the planning stages also, but I anticipate seeing some interesting ideas from folks who respond.
Awesome! It's so much to think about, it's hard for us to figure out where to start. I am hoping that a lot of people can learn from this challenge. 😊
Checking out your stuff too @industriousliv!
Thanks! I have not been on the platform for a few months so I have some catching up to do.
You got a 47.06% upvote from @redlambo courtesy of @industriousliv! Make sure to use tag #redlambo to be considered for the curation post!
Fantastic! Thanks @redlambo and @industriousliv!
Xx
You got a 47.14% upvote from @redlambo courtesy of @industriousliv! Make sure to use tag #redlambo to be considered for the curation post!
I'd like to donate to this challenge!!!! Is that possible?
What a wonderful attitude, it is refreshing!
Thats awesome @goldendawne... its a great challenge!!!!
I am still a little unfamiliar with steemit so I'm not sure how to go about that but am open to suggestions! Thank you for the offer, that's lovely.
Ps started following you! Love your content!Hi @goldendawne thanks for the support and resteem!
Oh it's super easy!
I can donate some steem to the winner(s).
So if you have the winnings being 1-sbd to the winner, I can donate some steem.
Are you on Discord?
Find me there- goldendawne#7044 and send me a message- I'd LOVE to donate for this awesome contest!
Fantastic, I am on discord and will head over now! 😁🙏
Okay I got my post done for your challenge - find it at: https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@porters/if-i-were-to-do-it-all-again-a-responce-to-100k-homestead-challenge
Oh great challenge! I've been at this for about 30 years and I've definitely got some ideas of what I would do differently. I'll pull all my ideas together and put together a post for your challenge.
Awesome, thanks @porters, really looking forward to seeing this challenge play out!
OOOOk! ours : https://steemit.com/100khomesteadchallenge/@mountainjewel/homesteadlifewhatwewoulddodifferentlywith100kattheonset-rao46d1si6
UPDATE
@goldendawne has agreed to sponsor our #100khomesteadchallenge! She has donated 2 SBD to the winning pot, making a total of 3 SBD for us to give away!
We will also be putting together a post to include all entries when we announce the challenge winner. Results will be determined in a week from today, November 22nd 2018. Good luck everyone and thanks for your contributions!
I'm really looking forward to this. Great idea! What would be done differently from the first time - you will learn from other people's mistakes., taking experiential learning to the next level.
Thank you @owasko!
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Love the whole idea. Retired 2 years ago and have been planning and executing our ideas for the past 40 years, the day we bought our property. Have done many things right , but would change some things.
Will resteem as you have requested and am more than happy to share, looking for nothing more than to help a fellow Steemian.
Good Luck! Since I have moved to our homestead, it feels like Christmas morning every morning I wake up, my cheeks hurt from constantly grinning.
That's a beautiful thought @thebigsweed 😊
Thank you for the resteem, and very much looking forward to learning more!
My hope is others who are still learning and planning like myself will also benefit from this challenge!
what a great question! i love it!! we will think on it and make an entry ;)
Awesome, looking forward to it! Thanks for the resteem 😊🙏
Well, considering we started this place with only $40,000, that would be a real windfall! We'd have built a bigger passive solar heated house, one floor, added solar water and electric, and built really solid infrastructure for the animals, like concrete floors in the barn! And made a really well built driveway all the way to the barn. That would kill the $100K in 1983 $$....
You are in New England? We currently live in Colorado but New England states are on our list of options, especially New Hampshire and Southern Maine. I'd love to connect about how homesteading is in that area, I have a feeling it would bring much different challenges than warm, dry southern Colorado 😊🙏Wow inspiring @goldenoakfarm! Thanks for your comment.
Yes, Western Mass. I don't know anyone in either state, so can't speak for them. Mass probably has lots of restrictions, especially compared to @papa-pepper and @mountainjewel 's areas.
My sister lives in Farmington NM so yup, very different from here.
The area I live in is rather unique, there being only 2 - 3 others like it in the country. An ancient north-south valley of great fertility with a river down it, college towns in it, and a different sort of people populating it. Makes for an interesting place to live.
But like all things in life, there's the good and the bad.
yes i have some friends who do it in maine, they love it there. too cold for us though with our garden/food forest based visions.@thetreeoflife
and we have basically no restrictions and low low taxes here. it's all that give and take! what are your priorities... finding a place that fits that best.
Here in Colorado we can, with greenhouse growing, grow food almost year round. Our concern with northeast US is that we would be losing that ability.
That's good to know. Love the food forest idea, btw. I had never heard of it before steemit, and it sounds just so cool.
Then... I love trees so there's that 😂
this is a great challenge, I co - founded an intentional community mid 90s and lived with about 40 people on 17 acres in the desert with 1200 fruit, nut, native trees, quite a wild ride that was! I lived there give or take for over a decade and am still involved from distance. I learned a ton of what "not to do"! which is incredibly valuable to others. Clean water, soil, air are crucial elements for place... alternative small energy systems are easier and easier every day with so much free information on the interweb..... I hope to think about this question and share a post... Greenhouse for sure, solar distiller for water, solar ovens. A great old inspirational book I read ions ago is called Gavitos book by Alan Weismanas, Its about this group of geek Nasa inventors that went to Columbia during the drug wars and gave nowhere villages little designs like kids teeter tauter to use as the water pump for a well, reeeeeallly cool designs! I wonder if you can go there now?
Ahh some great ideas! Thanks @kimmysomelove42! :D
Looking forward to reading the entries on this one... what a great idea!!!
Thanks lady! I'm super stoked to learn what there is to learn! And what's more fun than a steemit challenge! 😉
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I cannot deny how interesting this challenge is and am so looking forward to reading all the entries.
I have never considered myself as a homesteader until I started reading some of the wonderful blog posts here and I feel honoured to say that I fit right in and may even find myself entering the challenge with an eye to the very near future where new plans are on the horizon.
You made me chuckle with:
since I am still floundering in the mud myself!Thank you so much for your generosity and thoughtfulness and this opportunity to grow in learning!
Don’t know if I am doing it right, but will resteem and am now following.
Thanks for the resteem! I'll be posting the winner(S) on Friday, keep your eyes peeled for the post cause it will have links to all the entries, and so far they have all been great!@thistle-rock I love your name! Haha floundering in the mud, I was laughing out loud because that's me and probs will be forever as techy things are definitely not my Forte! Lol but here I am after all, involved in these great communities.
Xx ToL
I will do and am looking forward to it, good luck to all.
oh wow! What a great idea. I look forward to reading the entries on this - who knows what great ideas we will pick up on. I suppose in the end, it all comes down to location because that's why we moved here ...it was cheap to buy land.
i'm curious how much it was per acre to buy land in your area! i love that part of the world.
We bought this place with the log cabin etc so I don't know what it cost originally for the land, but we did purchase a connecting parcel ( 65 acres) paying about $33K (Canadian). It is heavily wooded, untouched and there is a LOT of road front so it could be parcelled off, developed - but we intend to keep it just as it is. We actually had to buy it and rather aggressively as well. The family that had owned it since the 40's put it up for sale and the very same day a few companies were surveying it, both into clear cutting and forestry.
Brilliant to save a bit of land from clear cutting and developing! The spirits of your forest thank you 😊
Looking forward to seeing some entries as well!
I just did that over the last year. We bought the land outright for 10k. Then we did a modular building that costed us 40K. We spend another 40 K on all the site work. All in all we have 90,000 in to it.
That's fantastic for you! And super inspiring :-) following you, thank you for your comment, this gives me hope haha!
Building modular can save you about 20 to 30% a little more if you do some of the work yourself. We went through home nation they have the cheapest prices in the United States but they kind of are assholes to deal with once they have you under contract and you have to stay on top of them about everything. But even with all that said and some of the issues that we did come across I would do it again in a heartbeat all in all we have $90,000 wrapped into our home and it appraises at $130k. Home Nations modular homes that they sell are the same ones all the other Builder sell but they sell them for a fraction of the cost of other builders.
Awesome, thanks for the info!
I look forward to seeing the results of this challenge too.
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great question.... i'd have a travelling homestead or 2 or 3 different bases in different countries. thats the thing about homesteads they have a feeling of being tied to it.
Lol we have also thrown around the idea of rv living!
Awesome challenge @thetreeoflife! I am definitely going to enter this one :) You and your husband have a beautiful dream and I can see that you passion is already unfurled before you in your activities leading up to your homestead. I am in a similar situation of not waiting to homestead before finding land so I can very much relate!
Thanks, oh I very much hope you do! I'd love your 2 cents on this topic.
We figured if we are serious about land and off grid, we better start now, even though we are still renting. It's a completely different way of living than either of us were raised, and the most I've learned to grow is a basil plant. Lol! But, everyone starts somewhere right!
Thanks for the support, nice to meet some like minded people, I really appreciate it!
The great thing is that there is so much support for you here on steemit and so much wisdom and many folks here willing to share and help - each step of the way if needed :)
Here's my entry! https://steemit.com/ghsc/@sagescrub/thetreeoflife-s-100k-homestead-challenge-my-response