Advice on Homesteading...

DO IT.. Don't make sense to do like some folks do and wait till they retire. By then you're to worn out and used up from making someone else a living.

Then all you have is the regret. I think anyone over 30 with any brains will tell ya that the only thing they regret is doing something they find is a waste of time. Do it now or wish you had later.

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"Let the beauty we love, be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." Rumi

Go ahead and purchase the land.

Sounds like a good deal to me- owner financing helps a lot. If you are going to have the stumps removed, consider having someone push the trees down first- it's easier than digging up stumps, and safer then felling the trees yourself. On my property, they pushed the trees down with a big excavator. If you have a lot of cutting to do, you might want a better chainsaw, IMHO. The advice about sharpening the chain is excellent, regardless of the saw.

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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley

It is all so much fun when your starting out, but one question, your cutting trees and working on it before its yours? Be carfull not to put money into somthing untill your name is on the title.

Thales, congratulations! I'm jumping in too late to give you advice, but I was reading through your thread intending to write and urge you to take the plunge. I was delighted to see that you'd done it!

I was a dyed-in-the-wool urban pioneer - grew up in the ghetto and never even had the sense to dream about living in the country until I met my husband, who obviously knows me better than I do. To make a very long story short(er), I took the leap - at 42. We took a job as caretakers of a log cabin, off the grid on 70-some acres of wilderness. Nothing like maintaining your own infrastructure to teach you the ropes! We now own a few acres of our own, and we're s-l-o-w-l-y building ourselves a place to live, as we can scrape the money and materials together.

I have never been happier, and although we have had some very hard times, I have never for a minute regretted my decision to leave a stable job I liked and had worked for 23 years. I finally decided that if 42 years hadn't been enough to fully appreciate city life, I was probably doing it wrong.

At this point, I feel a LOT more secure with my retirement money sunk into land, driveway, septic, and well - all paid for, thank you very much. We're right on the edge of too old to start this, especially with no money to hire help. I don't care. It's the adventure of a lifetime, and I'll never regret it.

You've gotten a ton of great advice, most of which I heartily second. Sure you'll be in over your heads. If you were carrying a credit card balance, or crippling school loans, or even a car lease, I'd be advising patience. But it as long as you're not starting out with an appalling debt burden, it sounds as if you've got the determination and the smarts to figure it out as so many before you have. Some of them are even on this board to help you out.

And what would you rather have if what you're dreading actually happens - the knowledge that you played by the rules and are now watching your hard-earned savings dwindle away, or a few acres of your own land under your feet to fight for?

Man, I can SO relate to your need to get in there and start clearing! Here's our story - so far - which I'm sure will be extremely entertaining to everyone who's got more sense than to try and clear a driveway on an unbuildable lot, at 55, with a chainsaw and a musician's budget...http://uppertupper.blogspot.com/

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."

- Henry David Thoreau

We bought land that had septic, water and electric on it. We also bought a 29 ft travel trailer with a big slide out on it. We moved in, in November. I hate it. I feel closed in. It may be because it is winter and I dont have a job so I just sit here. I keep thinking if only spring would come. Well I couldnt take it any longer. Last Wed. I bought a used trailer and am waiting to have it moved out here. I am trading my travel trailer for farm equipment and a tractor. Some people have done this and was fine with it all. I am not one of those people. With a regualr trailer you have space, a place for the washer and dryer. I about fell out at the prices to wash clothes. And if you get mad at your spouse you can go to another room. lol
I wish you luck. Just make sure you think it all out.
Susie

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IT STARTS WITH A DREAM...

I'm for doin it. but I question the TT or RV, What is the cost and what can you expect to get out of it. Lumber is cheap right now. I would think about a 16x24 building I could live in or even larger and divide it in half for living and use the other for storage and a shop

We've actually been discussing that. The TTs we were looking at were in the range of about $2000, the building we can get for about that same amount is pretty nice. We would also have the option of buying one out right or paying half and financing the rest and paying the other $1k off in a few months.

We're meeting with a local guy tomorrow morning to price a building to put on the land and look at the models they have available.

-Thales

i am currently living with elec., but limited water, in a small bumper pull camper on our land. my kids and DH will be renting a house nearby, where i will shower and make larger meals, bake bread, etc. i am in the camper on critter watch, feeding, and have baby goats coming any time so want to be there. if i were alone, or only one other person, a camper would be enough to work in til a house, shed, or otherwise could be up. its not that bad, i spend most of my time outside anyhow, even when its colder. if it is really nasty, then its movie day, or reading. or washing out some clothes. it really dont' bother much, but i ain't been doing it long either! i do feel very grounded and calm in my 'cabin', not closed in. when i fall into bed at night, its seldom much after dark and i'm sleeping, but ready to go by daybreak the next day. and honestly, days that start like this morning, a beautiful sunrise, a hot cuppa joe, fresh goat milk for my cereal, the sounds of the horses munching hay, a neighors distant rooster--it was total heaven... go for it!