New Land, Offer Accepted

[JarHeadTed]

My dad and I just had an offer accepted for 55 acres of land.  This place is bigger than I wanted but my dad couldn't resist.  It is mostly sloping with 2 hollows running through it.  It has a good year round spring and a creek that only goes dry in late July/August.  It's less than half a mile from a scenic free-flowing river and only about an hour and 15 minutes from my house.  Looks like there is a ton of wildlife too.

On the east there is river bottom hay fields.  All other sides are surrounded by wooded wilderness.  It's on a dead end dirt road with only 4 other families living there.

Here's a satellite image

[JarHeadTed]

Here are a couple more pics of the land:

[nkawtg]

Sounds like a good piece of land.

[Greywolf27]

The way I look at it...
You can always expand if you have the land, it is very difficult to do so if you have to purchase more.

Congrats on the purchase!!!

[ncjeeper]

Thats awesome.

[Cedar]

More is better.. congrats!

Cedar

[Nicodemus]

That's pretty awesome. Congratulations!

[jimbrtxva]

Awesome!  Now the real fun begins.  Work but great fun.

[amanadoo]

Hey congrats! It looks like you could do all kinds of fun stuff in there!

[Going Galt]

Congratulations!  I see a field there... I love fields in rural forested land.

[rhiannon.douglas]

Congratulations, your new land sounds beautiful. The larger size will give you opportunity to hike and camp at different parts, and expand if you want to. I hope you get a lot of joy out of it!

[JarHeadTed]

Out of 55 acres, there is about 1 acre of cleared land.  There is a deep and steep hollow right down the middle.  Plenty of sign from wildlife and a spring about 50 yards north of the clearing.  There is a 30 x 30 slab foundation from a previous cabin and several empty beer cans and bottles that look like several years of deer camp accumulation.

Like it was mentioned above.....now the real work begins.

I'm looking at planting fruit trees and bushes as well a 2 food plots.  Finding a way to pump water from the spring to the clearing using a hydraulic ram pump will be interesting.  And my dad is moving in a shipping container for storage.  Next year, we'll start on cabin construction.

WooHoo!!!

[Archer]

congrats!

[mxitman]

Thats sweet, We just closed on our land last week. Still waiting for the gate keys so we can get up there. I wish I had gotten that much land, we have 12 acres...plus with all those tree's you could drop some to dry for a year to make a log cabin out of. I don't have that many trees to do that. Great work...keep us posted...BTW where are you located?

[JarHeadTed]

I'm reviving this old thread because I have some real progress and a lot of good fortune going on here.  At the top of the thread I mentioned that my dad and I just got 55 acres.  Well, after a year out at the "Tick Farm" as he calls it, my dad is now ready to retire and move out to the land full time.

But first an update on all we've been doing.  I'd appreciate any comments from anyone on what we're doing right and wrong so we can modify our plans.

2 days after closing on the land we got hit by a tornado.  It knocked down a large number of trees.  Instead of crying about it, we decided to have the downed timber milled and we are about 70% done with a cabin built from this timber.  My dad will be living in this cabin starting next spring.  In addition to the cabin we will be building a garage/workshop/guest quarters in a separate building 100 feet to the north of the cabin.  90% of the lumber for these structures is from our own timber.  We will also be building a greenhouse soon as we want to bring this place to the pint that it can be 100% self sufficient.

We drilled a well to supplement the spring.  Unfortunately it has sulfur gas in it.  If the water it filtered or sits in a cistern over night the sulfur dissipates so its really more of an annoyance than anything.

I'll try to post a few pictures later.

[JarHeadTed]

Here are a couple of pictures of the cabin from last month.  The decks are now complete.



From the loft (no stairs yet).

[JarHeadTed]

Here's a link to a slideshow I've been adding to as the project moves forward:

http://s1137.photobucket.com/albums/n504/teddarr/PSP_Progress/?albumview=slideshow

[ncjeeper]

Looking good. What state are you in?

[JarHeadTed]

I'm in the SW Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas area.

Nice Jeep in your profile pic.  I have a 77 CJ5.

[DrJohn]

Great progress!  Are you making provisions for off-grid living?

[JarHeadTed]

Yes, eventually.  Right now we are using grid electricity.....But.....

This week we are installing a 500 gallon propane tank for cooking in the cabin.  We will add another 1000 gallon tank behind the garage/workshop when we start construction on that structure.  Both structures will be heated by wood.  The well currently has a hand pump from Simple Pump Company.  We will be adding a solar powered submersible pump in the next few months.  The cabin was designed with many energy efficient windows for lighting and with 10 foot ceilings to allow for cooling during the summer months.  We are installing propane lamps in the cabin for lighting in addition to electrical lighting.

Eventually we will add solar power to the workshop and cabin for electricity as a back-up for when times are good and primary power when not.  A DC powered refrigerator is in the plans for the workshop but it is currently well down the list.  According to the plans the AC refrigerator in the cabin will be the only appliance that wouldn't be too useful in a grid down situation.

For waste water we are installing composting toilets and a separate gray water recycling system.

The cabin will have central AC for the summer as long as everything is normal and the cabin is used for my Dad's residence and as a weekend getaway

By the time we're done the whole "complex" will be on grid power but have the capabilities to be completely off-grid.

[Archer]

excellent job!

[yodal]

This is SOOO cool! It's even cooler that you get to do it with your Dad.
Congrats and I hope your having as much fun as it looks like!

[Beaker76]

Looks great. I also like how you have the deck around the tree.

[Dontforgetyourlipgloss]

What a beautiful location, and the cabin looks amazing. I can see why your dad would want to move out there full time. I would too!

[JohnDoel]

Just wondering because I would like to do something similar but how much did you pay for the land.

[Eechay]

That's what I've been wondering is what is a good price for land. I'm flat broke but I'm wondering how to get land. Did you use the VA? I'm a Texas Veteran but I just feel so lost. I don't know how to find an area to live in and how to engage my neighbors to make sure they'll be good to live by. Lots of run down trailers in my AO but I'm trapped.

[Zip]

Great job man.  You and your dad have made fantastic progress over the past year. I really like how you have thought out and implemented the different systems that give you an incredible level of self-sufficiency. Keep us informed as you continue to make progress.

[JarHeadTed]

As far as cost goes, I'll just say that if you pay more than $1200/acre, it had better have everything you want.  But there are plenty of places that will meet the needs of people like us for under $1000.

Check out this youtube video I just made of the place as of 2 days ago.  It's coming along great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxnV0Ohm7RE

[OKCPrepper]

Great project Ted, you have made great progress, is this a family project or are you bringing in additional construction help?

I wish I could have found land for those prices in my area, I paid closer to $1800/acre for 60 acres and that was 3 years ago. That's the going rate around here and that is if you get far enough away from the city. I looked at land 10 miles out that was 5 times that. Too many boomers retiring now with money to spend so prices are going up fast. My brother has made an offer on 40 acres of land, he is closer to $2500/acre with very few improvements.