Peak Oil Homestead Plans

jato · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:10 pm Post subject:

<It'll be over five years before I'm able to initiate my homestead plans.>

I am still plugged into the matrix. I have 2 acres to work with, but I don't have any free $$$$ right now to make any big changes.

I would like to end up owning a small farm someday.

If nature & the economy don't allow for 5 more years & TSHTF I will just have to improvise.
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"Peak oil isn't more than an interesting industry factoid and doesn't have anything to do with the hysterics speculated on ad nauseum around here!" ReserveGrowthRulz

jato · Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:25 pm Post subject:

skateari · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 26, 2004 Posts: 548

I picked 1-2 years. Thats our goal, we could have already bought some land and done this on our own (mainly just me and my mom, who has the money to invest, and me with my work), but we want to meet up and see what we can do with others first.

We have been looking for land, and other people who are interested in the same thing. We dont have any pinned out plans but we have met some people via a meetup group and hope to look into our options soon. We have the needed cash but we just need to find where to go/who to do it with. We are idealy looking for a small sustainable post peak community, but those are rare and hard to find (we have looked at Earthaven only so far) as I see it.

Jato: Glad we got to meet up last week for a chat. You mentioned you have two other families 'on board', so what are your plans? Stick together and share ideas? Or are you guys looking at land yet? I mean, as I see it, it would not be too costly if a group went in on land together, and shared the work. Your guys plans are just to stay in your area the next 5 or so years correct? And survive together if the need be?

I agree with the survival part. But I want my own land I can survive on with some sort of sustainablity aready implemented. I dont know if I could just go out and make it on my own. I would rather use the time now to make the survival part easier. Skills, tools, land, people who can do the same things, etc. - gain them while I can.

I really hope we have our land within the next few years. I think if we dont get together with some other people who are serious about something, we will just end up buying some land on our own. Thats a big deccision to make I know, but I dont want to be left with nowhere to go as well.

MikeB · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 14, 2004 Posts: 211

jato · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:45 am Post subject:

MarkL · Moderator Joined: Sep 13, 2004 Posts: 281 Location: US

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1420

Well, we're here. Does that mean we're ready? Far from it. But we're working on it. I moved back onto family land after about 20 years away, last March. So we've been through almost one year on the land. We're still hooked to the grid, and probably will be for a while, since alternative energy generation is out of our price range right now, but I am working on what I can do as it currently stands. That being said, our house does face south - and most windows are on the south side, so though it is not a passive solar design, per se, I do utilize the sun to warm the house in the winter, by opening up windows and doors and letting as much sun as possible come in. Then in the evening, we close up curtains and such, and it keeps heat in nicely.

We have only one large debt on monthly payments - and that is the car payment. If need be, we could sell it and get a used car. We have only decided to keep this one for now because my husband has to make a trip every 6 weeks or so to a doctor about 70 miles away - we need a dependable car. Other than that, our monthly expenses include utilities, and honestly, luxuries. Many things we could do without - like the cell phone for example. We have some room to trim, if necessary. We do not have any credit cards.

We've had a big garden the past several years, even before we moved here, and I started canning a few years ago, so I feel comfortable with the process. This year's garden is being expanded to include things that I have not previously grown, but feel I may need to in the future - for example, grain sorghum. I'm experimenting to see if I can get enough grain out of it to feed my chickens. We'll see how it goes.

In the past year, we've set up our chickens (25 laying hens right now - 38 more arriving the end of this week; 4 roosters, with 12 more arriving at the same time). The hens provide us with all the eggs we care to eat, and I sell the rest. They pay for their food as of now.

We're almost finished with our greenhouse - it should be done this week. I need to put on two doors (I have an airlock built in), and put the glass on the south side and it will be done. I hope this investment will go a long way to giving us more food independence (I have visions of fresh salads in december Smile

)

Although we haven't started doing anything with it yet, we have access to about 35 acres of my family's 160 (the rest is owned by other-than-immediate-family members), and will be able to run cattle, goats, or other livestock in the future. We'll need to fence some of it, though some is fenced, before we'll be able to run any livestock.

Since we're in a very rural area, game is very plentiful here, and until/unless overhunting decreases populations, we should be able to rely in at least some game for meat in our diet in the future. My father also has a pond - about 1/8 mile down the road - that is well stocked with fish. Fish will also be a good source of protein if the need arises.

I think for food, we'll be okay. Other things - like energy - will be more of a problem. But, we have an advantage in that we're here, and every penny we invest is a preparation for the future. I feel fortunate.

Kathy

OldSprocket · Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:55 am Post subject: On the land but . . .

I'm on the land and in the steep part of the learning curve. I moved here four years ago for a lot of reasons not related to PO. Reducing my dependence on large corporations and far-off farm fields are two big reasons.

The steep part of the learning curve includes beginning to save seed and growing crops that are new to me. I have lots to learn about gardening.

I have a pretty good handle on shelter, heat, light, and water. These and the garden have allowed me to trim living expenses to under a quarter of city levels. By this measure I'm doing OK. Measured against some notion of "self-sufficiency" I'm not likely to do well at all. (My neighbors have animals and a far larger garden and I can fix machines that baffle them.)

Renaissanceman · Coal Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 1

Family is looking into the possibility of a cohousing development here in coastal Rhode Island. I'm sure the way to do this is with a group of relatively like minded folk. I sure hope it doesn't come to guns and defending your turf. I also like the idea of aquaculure, whcih in this area, includes mussels, oysters and the like.
Also, the way to go with biodiesel if your in a sunny climate is with algae as the yield is tremendous. Rape, the plant and not the act of course, is another high yielder and in the brassica family: broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
In a month or so we will be getting a web site up and running to be called Aquidneck Cohousing.
It'll happen in the next three years or so. Keep plugging otherwise. Smile

Backpacker · Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 9:10 pm Post subject:

cmlek · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:53 pm Post subject:

Backpacker,
I'm with you about 60%. The moving in with relatives, blame games, and fighting to keep the old way of life - sure. Absolutely right. People being willing to die vs. going back to wilderness living? That's a romantic notion, and only very pampered people have time and mental space for romantic notions. Some cold, some hunger, some fighting, and they'll have all that knocked out of 'em in a hurry.
It will make them a bit cold, practical and selfish, so people will start thinking of their own personal comfort and how best to get it. If you're a city slicker, we're raised on romantic notions of "the wilderness" and "returning to nature" without any real understanding of what that means. So ppl will run out to the wilderness and run it down learning that. I don't think they'll stay forever, but I do predict a nasty, hard knock to all wild areas during that time.

My $0.02.

RIPSmithianEconomics · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 1:16 pm Post subject:

I'm already here, and I've lived here (the Highlands) all my life. It's you lot that worry me!
_________________
There'll be war, there'll be peace
But one day all things shall cease
All the iron turned to rust
All the proud men turned to dust
So all things time will mend
So this song will end

bobaloo · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 484

Barring winning the lottery we're pretty much where we're going to be. We're only on 2.5 acres but it's in the Willamette Valley in western Oregon where the grass grows all winter, so it's a lot more productive than in most places. Moved here 15 years ago and started working on the place, we have about 20 fruit trees, a small flock of sheep, chickens and about 1/2 acre of garden for now. We'll be expanding the garden some this year and next. We're in a great situation where we have a stream uphill from our property, it's an old millrace, which means irrigation water can simply be siphoned with a hose and am looking at ideas for paddlewheels to generate some power. Currently saving for a few hundred watts of solar panels.

My wife and I built a homestead in the Ozarks 30 years ago, just don't have the physical ability to start over from scratch again, so hoping we can make it where we are.

Half-Mad · Tar Sands Joined: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 49 Location: Canada

I'm hoping to get a house with at least 5 acres of land. The house itself doesn't matter too much, as long as if it has at least 2 bedrooms (3 or 4 would be better), and a woodstove or fireplace.
For the land, I would prefer about 20% cleared for a garden, and the rest being forest.
Some solar panels and/or windmill feeding a battery bank would be nice. Have a light in each room, refrigerator, and one extra electrical outlet being fed by the battery bank.

The problem with getting all of this, a $40,000 debt due to my student loans and the wife's car. Not to mention the lack of my having a job at the moment, as I'm still finishing up in college for another couple months.

Hopefully, by the time the crash hits, I will have at least bought the house with the many acres of land. I'm hoping the crash doesn't hit for at least 5 years. By that time, I should have the house, and some savings in silver.