Homestead land in the WA Okanogan

[ineffableone]

I posted this up in the 005 forum, thinking this was just a land search. But I have had my bid on the property accepted and this property shown is now mine once bureaucracy hoops are all jumped through. So thought I would move the discussion over here, to allow folks not in 005 to be able to comment. I have already gotten one PM from someone who had some helpful advice on how to find financial assistance in thinning dense forest and road repair. So want to let this reach a wider audience. As well as just help give others a window into the journey I am traveling so it might help them, as so many other's journeys have helped me on mine.

I visited a really nice 40 acre property with a pond on it. It is in a natural bowl with 3 hills. There hills hills East, NW and SW. I would own up to the tops of two hills East and NW, and a decent amount of the SW hill. The property hasn't been logged since 1987, and has minimal work done on it. A little bit of over grown road, and the pond was man made by blocking the gaps between hills. The pond is 150' wide at the widest, and 620' long. Listed as seasonal, but the neighbor said only one end tends to dry up during dry years and the south side is spring feed and stays all year round. Otherwise in wet years it is all year for most of the pond. I made an offer $8K under the listed price. The realtor said the owners had refused that price 3 times in the past. So bumped up to $4K under the list price and seemed agreeable to that being at least worth taking to the owners. So I made the bid and moving forward. It is a 30 day cash out offer, and while I expect them to counter rather than just accept I have my step father who is an architect, planner, and developer doing the negotiations for me. In other words I let a shark loose in the kiddie pool. So he is ready to keep firm on the price, or if they want more, a list of improvements that are needed as well as extending the cash out to 90 days, or even requiring a partial financing.

But it is looking like depending on the owners and how much negotiation is done, I could be closing in a month or so.

Keep your finger crossed, or send out some prayers, or wish me luck. Any little help I can get to make this happen is appreciated.

But let me share the story of how I got to the property. And then some pics.

First off, I driven over in the night and camped out at a lake park so I could get a nice early start to my land hunt. Had plenty of properties to look at. First one in the Coalville Rez, couldn't find though the area was lovely dotted with lakes and ponds. My GPS said it was right to my right but it definitely was not the right place. Maybe I entered the lat and long in wrong? Second was a nasty mess of slash piles. It would take a lot of effort to clean up and then the property itself wasn't all that great. Another and it was just way too steep slope with no benches or flat. On to two more, and a long drive on paved roads then a gravel road that was not very well done. The gravel road was recently washed out part way up and filled with course rubble rock. Still long ways down the gravel road and I come to a truck stuck in a mud hole, in the path blocking me from continuing. no way my CRV would make the hole if he got stuck. I hung out and did my best to help and offer support to the guy. And he did get unstuck. But the access issue crossed the next two off my list.

On to the property I am hoping to get now.

As I got off the 3 lane wide hard pack gravel road and onto the actual road that leads to the property I saw a guy walking along carrying groceries. I slowed down so not to kick dust up in his face and just past him, stopped poked out the door and asked "do wanna walk, or would you like a lift?" he asked where I was going, I told him and turns out he owns and lives on property that boarders the one I was there to look at. He offers to come up and show me around and tell me about the place and hops in.

View down into the valley about 3/4 the way up the road to the property.


I learned a lot about the road from my new friend and potential neighbor. While not horrible and it could use some work, he had lots to say about it. Obviously it was something he likely complains about a lot. A bit bellow the area I took the pic posted above, is a really nice homestead set up with wind and solar, who I was told are nice folks retired military and I look forward to meeting them later.

My passenger was giving all the gossip about the neighbors, pointing out one set just above where I took the pic who he felt were the ones responsible for the condition of the road. They had a big privacy fence, and posted security cam surveillance as well as a no trespassing including government agents etc. Most likely hard core Libertarians who don't want gov interference. My passenger mentioned the cops wont step on their property. LOL.

My passenger's place was just bellow mine, and the road goes right by his small 5th wheel camper. Not sure why folks put their places so close to the road, I sure wouldn't. Just past his place though and the easement road to the property I am looking at arrives.

The entrance to the property is an easement road that only leads to the property I am looking to buy


The easement road is a bit over grown and there is a small mud hole on easement road, but as you can see not a big problem.


Just a little ways and there is a for sale sign then just past that a barbed wire fence line that looks newish, as it still hasn't rusted. I suspect this is the property line for this side. But not completely sure, as it doesn't seem to cut the land like I would expect.






You can however see this easement road is in a narrow cut between a ridge and a big hill. Which would mean securing the entrance would be fairly easy.

Here is a pic from the road on the property looking up onto the ridge. Nice steep slope that would make putting a gate across the road quite effective.


The first thing you see coming on to the property is a large clearing/pad. Not quite level, with a SE down slope. But I could easily grade and level the space.

Sorry bout the dark camera phone pic, seems it had trouble dealing with the bright light at times.
This is the view coming down the road and looking out over the pad and pond beyond. Mostly east direction wise


Main clearing looking southish, the entrance road to the right of the pic


Main clearing looking northish, the entrance road to the left of the pic, my CRV behind that tree closest


And looking back up the entrance road, sorry again a bit dark


The pond is fairly hidden by trees, which I would do a lot of cutting down and using for some fencing, and other projects. But would want to clear and gain better access to the pond. However I do want to be careful not to go too crazy. I want to leave some trees and bushes around the water edge in places.


So this might be a good time to give you some areal reference to the property. To give an idea of where things are. This is the realtor's posted areal image, which gives not only an idea of the property and it's boundaries but also the parcels around the property. Top is north, the easement access comes in from the west side. *edit to add, I figured out later about 1/2 way along the west property line it turns into the property. The easement Rd actually follows the west line to about the middle of the line.


I had transferred the lines onto google earth to get a much better idea of the property ahead of going to visit it. Really like when they give you the property lines to understand what your looking at.

So on we go, while there is a road continuing down that goes to the south tip of the pond, lets move around the property the other direction, and go North to East and around the pond and back up to the clearing. Since that is the route I explored.

So up on the Northern hill/ridge. This was close to the western edge of the property.

Looking north *edit to add, this is actually looking west, but I had though it was North when making this post originally


Looking south


*edit to add, this is actually the area I plan to build my home, the south view would be the view from my house out.

Up on the hill and looking back over the property and the pond you get a great view. You can see how dense the tress are around the property, as well as the trees over on the eastern hill across the pond. That V notch was filled to help make the pond, and I was told the spring that feeds the pond is on that end.


Looking right from same vantage in pic above, toward the clearing and where I parked


Down closer to the pond looking toward the south end.


From here if you look northish, you can see a marsh where there is spillway for the pond overflow, as well as a nice little meadow.


around and over on that meadow, looking at the wetlands and spill way



And the spillway, a bit dark but it was obviously an intentional spillway man made


The pond mostly runs N & S, but where the spill way is a finger runs off to the east.
This is from where the marsh and spillway are, and the separation between the finger and main pond body


Beginning of that finger of the pond, looking back at the main body of the pond, looking west


same place but looking east down the finger


The pond's finger is fairly narrow and straight, but a decent looking depth.


Berm at the end of the finger


Looking down hill from on top of the berm, if there was no berm here all that pond water would flow right over and down this slope.
[img]hhttps://i.postimg.cc/tTZdRKcG/looking-down-hill-from-finger-berm-eastish.jpg[/img]

continued..

* edit March 21 2019, noticed image links broken and am fixing them so the thread can be enjoyed as it was meant to be.

[ineffableone]

Now around to the eastern side of the property, which seems to have lots of wonderful rock formations, stair step flat benches, and surprisingly the road that goes down to the pond on the southern end actually comes around on this side but is hard to tell when at what looks like the end of the road at the southern tip of the pond.

This is the continuation of the road, over on the east side of the lake


But the roads this side are pretty over grown


Looking out over the pond from the eastern side


Stair stepping flat benches on the eastern side


Looking down on the pond finger from the eastern side


As I mentioned some great rock formations and cliffs over on this side






up on top of the rock looking at the tops of others.


OK so I have mentioned the south side of the pond, and the road going down to it several times. The road comes down to this point and curves and goes into the pond. I think this was done at some point to make a boat launch into the pond. As i mentioned the road actually should continue around the pond. But a dozer blade seems to have cut into the earth and made a step you wouldn't be able to drive over, as well as the area where the road continues is quite over grown to the point you don't see it standing on the road at the southern end of the pond.

Here is the south side of the pond looking westish


This is the path the road used to take around to the east side of the pond, can you see it? Believe it or not I had just come through that. But it is a couple feet higher up than where the road goes into the pond.


This is looking south, and the berm built up to fill the gap between hills, obviously no water escaping that route.


Looking up the road from the south end of the pond, it curves to meet the pond


road going back up to the clearing, pretty straight going


Almost back up to the clearing


Well that about does it, I have plenty more pics but that is a general loop around the pond and a general sense of the place.

The property has a lot of potential. I think I can deepen the pond a bit here and there. Cut back some trees, and clear lots of brush. Do a little leveling and reconnect the road to gain access to the other side of the pond. Likely do plenty of terracing and swales to maximize water run off, catching it and keeping it from eroding soil. I didn't explore too much along the south edge of the property, as it is heavily forested with thick underbrush. I did push my way in a bit, and would want to thin it down a bit but retain much of the trees and patches of brush. I did spot a place in there that looks like it might likely have a spring, due to the vegetation, however it was far too thick to get in there without cutting stuff back. Also on the eastern side I spotted a likely spring where there was lush grass and moisture just under the surface of a dry crust of algae. So there might be multiple springs on the property. Though would need to monitor them and see if they dry up and are just seasonal seeps, or full time.

Well thanks for checking this out, and hope you enjoyed. Leave some feed back if you think of anything. Or feel free to ask questions.

* edit March 21 2019, noticed image links broken and am fixing them so the thread can be enjoyed as it was meant to be.

[ineffableone]

So thought I would share a few Google Earth screen caps of the property so folks could get some idea of the topography. Of course the topography is more general but gives much better idea than a just a flat areal photo and some camera phone pics.

*edit, I lost the original pics I posted here, but recreated them. Google Earth hasn't updated, so it will be pretty much the same. I am also adding in a few that I hadn't had 1st go but these are noted as new

top view


facing East


facing South


facing West


facing North


*edit added March 21, 2019 since I was editing broken image links anyways

top view with grid lines recreated from official website info (might be slightly off but close enough)


top view with grid from above as well as some of the neighbor property lines aproximated


contour line map facing North


contour line map facing South


* edit March 21 2019, noticed image links broken and am fixing them so the thread can be enjoyed as it was meant to be.
facing North

[ineffableone]

So to give folks who did not see the 005 thread, I had visited the property on a FRI, put a bid in on tues

So just to keep 005 in the loop, I made an offer $8K under the listed price. The realtor said the owners had refused that price 3 times in the past. So bumped up to $4K under the list price and seemed agreeable to that being at least worth taking to the owners. So I made the bid and moving forward. It is a 30 day cash out offer, and while I expect them to counter rather than just accept I have my step father who is an architect, planner, and developer doing the negotiations for me. In other words I let a shark loose in the kiddie pool. So he is ready to keep firm on the price, or if they want more, a list of improvements that are needed as well as extending the cash out to 90 days, or even requiring a partial financing.

But it is looking like depending on the owners and how much negotiation is done, I could be closing in a month or so.

Keep your finger crossed, or send out some prayers, or wish me luck. Any little help I can get to make this happen is appreciated.

On Fri, yesterday morning, my bid was accepted without even a counter. The realtor mentioned half the reason was likely the owners didn't want to go through the hassle of the online contract signing more than once. LOL. I think they were just ready to be done with trying to sell it as they had been trying to sell on and off for 10 yrs and it had currently been on the market over 200 days. Just prior to me, there had been a couple who were about to buy, in the whole process and the husband suddenly died. So there also might have been some thinking that they might not get lucky enough to find another serious bidder again if they drove me away with too tough a negotiation.

Here are some of the replies I made in the other thread about my plans and thinking about developing the land, as it is pretty much raw land with only a man made pond and an over grown road for things built on the property.

You echoed many of the thoughts I have had.

Yes the large south facing slope could be a great asset, and the amount of varying terrain creates a lot of micro climates that make for wonderful variety of growing plants that have different requirements. And yes, I suspect I could easily end up growing way more food than I ever need on this property. Though it will take a lot of time and prep to get to that point.

Since there is no power running up to the property, I would have to set up an off grid power system. But then that is what I want anyways. I have already been pricing and checking out wind and solar. And getting an idea of what I can install right away vs what I want to eventually have set up. Only bummer is lack of flowing water to get a micro hydro set up. Though if I can get water capture on the land going into the pond enough, I might end up creating a year round stream coming out of the pond in later years. Which could then allow for micro hydro install.

Since we are both into permaculture it would be great to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and to have someone who is on the same page not only with permaculture but prepping too who might think of something I overlook. Some thoughts in permaculture while nice, don't mesh as well with prepping. So some of info I see on permies.com doesn't quite fit with my prepping planning.

Something I am really looking forward to is getting some of the land cleared, cut back, and thinned out so I and others can really see the opertunities of this property. At this point it is so over grown, it is hard to see a lot of what is going on.

Yep lots of planning, and budgeting.

I have to get a temp housing situation set up, which seems like the most likely being a travel trailer. Since they offer the most bang for the buck, coming with all the necessities and easy to patch a water system and power system into it. Plus it can end up as guest housing after I build my place, I can sell it off to recoup some cash, or hold on to it to travel with.

I have to get some sort of off grid power set up. Generator, solar, wind as well as a decent battery bank. I recently found a nifty generator option that takes regular generators and adds a LP and Natural gas option to it. They even warranty through their company since the mod voids the manufacture warranty. I have a few solar and wind options I am looking at. Big tough part really is sorting through the inverters.

I have found a pretty good video on how to build Water Organization Modules (WOM) like Earthships use. And even also found a nifty backpack that has a small scale WOM built into it. Though I could build the full scale type for similar cost as the back pack one, I could see the backpack useful for folks who are away from their cabin a lot as it would be easy to stash or bring with. *see thread viewtopic.php?f=50&t=118479 for info on these

Composting toilet will be dependent on what the county says I can do. But It could be as cheap as a Homedepot bucket and a toilet seat, or $600 for a low cost professional bucket and seat, or $1500 for a real deal composting toilet from Sunmar.

From there it is just various tools, trading in my CRV for a pickup, build or buy a garage for the trailer to protect it, and build or buy some sort of tool shed that can secure my tools. Buy or rent a backhoe to fix up road access and the property.

Sounds simple but still lots of wiggling stuff around to fit my budget and plenty of time waiting between to do things.

But I am on my way to getting it going.

[ineffableone]

The PM I had gotten was good info to share, so will quote it here.

Ineffableone,

Congrats on buying your property! I tried to reply in your thread but am not a member of 005 group so no go.

I wanted to recommend you find your local Natural Resource Conservation Service and see what they have to offer. Around here, they offer cost shares for projects that are in line with their mission. For example, I had an old logging road that was eroding and they paid 50 % of the cost to install water bars, geotex and gravel. They actually paid me about $1.90 per to kill trees they selected to improve the overall health of my wood stand. They marked them and I girdled them and left them as standing deadwood for the wood stove. 10 years later the canopy is fuller and the forest floor is clearer.

Of course ymmv but our local guy was awesome and would spend as much time as we wanted walking our property and making recommendations on forest and soil management and water retention.
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrc ... onal/home/

Again, congrats and good luck

As I said some good info for property owners, any way to get some assistance for land improvements is a bonus. I have also heard Ducks Unlimited do some assistance with folks with ponds and lakes taking care of taxes and upkeep for the pond. Though something to remember for us preppers, is some of this assistance comes at the price of having to allow access to the property to these groups. So make sure when looking at assistance programs, what sort of opsec issues might arise, as well as just possible inconvenience of having people accessing your property.

[teotwaki]

Pretty exciting. Congratulations! When you mentioned the pond I was wondering about the water source and the spring you mentioned sounds fantastic. As time goes by I'll be curious about the flow rate. If you are inclined to you could take us on a video tour and post it on YouTube?

[ineffableone]

At this point I only have my camera phone, and it's video quality is horrible. But I do plan on trying to locate a camera to do at least moderately acceptable video with so I can do some video stuff. So yes videos are in my plans but not immediate.

[ineffableone]

As for spring flow rates, that is something I too am interested in finding out. So I will be looking into it and monitoring this. As well as if there are multiple springs on the property looking at developing them to tap as water sources for home and landscape water needs.

[Black November]

Instead of a WOM, consider just getting a Berkey water filter, and going not potable for bathing, dishes and laundry. It is much simpler to filter the water you drink and leave everything else as is.

Here is a simple sink design I can up with
http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/ind ... ic=57983.0

Another option for toilets are Dry flush toilets. They are about $500, but are expensive for full time use. About $1 per flush. You may want to go bucket or pit toilet.

Also micro-hydro is very difficult. Very few places can support it. You need a flow rate of at least 100 gallons per minute over like a 100 ft drop. It can be done, but it's harder than most people think.

[ineffableone]

Instead of a WOM, consider just getting a Berkey water filter, and going not potable for bathing, dishes and laundry. It is much simpler to filter the water you drink and leave everything else as is.

Here is a simple sink design I can up with
http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/ind ... ic=57983.0

Another option for toilets are Dry flush toilets. They are about $500, but are expensive for full time use. About $1 per flush. You may want to go bucket or pit toilet.

Also micro-hydro is very difficult. Very few places can support it. You need a flow rate of at least 100 gallons per minute over like a 100 ft drop. It can be done, but it's harder than most people think.

WOM design has a nonpotable diversion before the final stages of filtration for non drinking water needs. The filtering done before that is just the larger particles. And it should be noted, you can still get sick from getting some bugs in your eyes and mouth during showering. So if my water source is the pond, I will want to filter some before the water goes to the shower.

Yes a Berkey could save some money in the short term, but a WOM set up would be able to set me up for a long term solution that I feel justifies the initial set up costs. I might end up opting for a Berkey if getting started just ends up being too budget tight, but so far it looks like I can probably swing the WOM.

As for toilets, I am planning on composting toilets. From DIY to the Sun Mar. but what I can pick really depends on the county regulations and what they will accept. Composting toilets get rid of the need to have any sort of black water system. Saving a lot of money in after the toilet dealing with the waste. The toilet I hope I can opt for if I can't just to the bucket and seat DIY version, is the C head. Which is only $600, and does not have a large after cost. Just saw dust or similar material to spread over the poo.

[ineffableone]

So I got some really good tips and suggestion in PM and got permission to go ahead and repost it here in a quote. Some of the info was already known to me others not, but this is a really good list for anyone starting out to reference.

First, congratulations. I know the joy of buying your first homestead, I bought mine just two years ago. Mine's off grid (and off road as well) as well.

Some suggestions, in no particular order but with a mind to where you are and to what you will have access...

1. Go with the tractor for plowing snow over a truck mounted plow. If the tractor goes down you're delayed in doing chores until it's fixed (miserable as it may be you can always shovel the drifts by hand in an emergency) . If you cause the truck to go down you're stuck on the property until it's fixed.

2. Keep spares of the usual suspects that go out on your vehicle and tractor. Starter. Plugs. Fuel pumps. Belts. Hydraulic lines. Know how to swap those parts out.

3. Look in your immediate area and see what is the most common older truck being driven by others living in the boonies. Then get the same truck. Parts availability, is one factor. That the model truck you're seeing everyone drive has been around a few years in that area indicates that it handles the local conditions well. Lean towards diesel.

4. Get a good set of snow chains. CHAINS not cables. There is a difference, one of them being that chains can also help you if you get stuck in mud.

5. Get front and rear hitch receiver mounts, then get a hitch mount winch with remote. And a snatch block. Many things can be done with this, not the least of which is self recovery of your vehicle.

6. Get a second vehicle as a backup form of transportation.

7. Do not buy used chainsaws. They tend to be used up. Everyone has their preferences, mine is a Husky 460 Ranch&Farm model with a 24 inch bar. Get a smaller one as well for lighter tasks (some of the new battery saws from Husky look promising).

8. Whenever possible, fell trees by winching them over rather than cutting them (unless leaving the stump is desirable for some reason). This gets rid of the stump and roots and will be a hell of a lot easier than felling the tree THEN trying to dig up/blast/or grind out the stump. I recommend the Wyeth-Scott Amsteel Power Puller with amsteel rope and a snatch block.

9. Put some chain on the front of your powered winch cable when you use it. If steel cable parts (breaks) under load it can whip back and remove limbs, maim, or kill you. Or put holes in your truck. Very bad mojo. When a chain link fails it just breaks and drops to the ground, the energy expended right there.

10. When using a chainsaw, helmet/ear pro/face shield......every damn time. Google chainsaw chain injuries to head and you'll see why.

11. Wear chainsaw chaps (Kevlar) every time. Period. See above^

12. Stand on the opposite side of a felled tree when limbing it. If you screw up you have the tree between you and the axe/saw.

13. Get lots of spare chains.

14. Check out Lister 6/1 engines, they're very old school diesel engines that are great for back up generator work. Tricky to get a hold of now, but possible with some research.

15. Get a big propane tank on site. Think propane stove, propane water heater, and propane for a backup generator (not the lister). Propane doesn't go bad.

16. Get an above ground diesel tank. Actually, get two. One for vehicle fuel (tax paid) and another for off-road (no tax, dyed red).

17. Greenhouse. Build one. I suggest a geodesic dome type in order to better deal with the wind and snow load there. Look into rocket mass heaters to heat it in the wintertime.

18. Look up slow sand filters. Also look up hydraulic ram pumps. Mix the two to exploit the water flowing out of your pond as a water supply for your home.

19. If you do screw up while working on the pond and break the seal, get pigs and use the Sepp Holzer technique for sealing a pond,

20. Seeing as you get so little rain, check out Sepp for his use of swales as well. This is also why you'll want a tractor.

21. Look in to aquaponics, run the pump off a PV panel and an NiFe battery. Will save you water...yes, I see the pond, but you will have drought years and will want/need that water for other things.

22. Stock the pond with fish. Check around, some states will help foot the cost of that.

23. Start planting fruit and nut trees right away. They take time to mature.

24. Consider getting some beehives, even if you don't want the honey. Great pollinators. Also a great place to hide a spare key . Google "eastern european bee house" if you have bear issues/concerns.

25. Install a sprinkler system on your roof (which should be metal given where you're living). Ditto around your immediate yard near the house. Use it to wet everything down if there are any brush fires nearby.

26. Look at the lay of your land and the neighboring areas....look at vegetation, ect and figure where you may someday need to make a firebreak. Planning now makes dealing with it later easier. Chainsaw, winch, and controlled burn (from both edges to the center).

27. Trailer mounted water tank with pump....many uses, but putting out a fire is the important one. Get some good fire hose. Ask Dannus for advice.


28. Dig yourself a few cold cellars. Also good as storm shelters or (FSM help you, fire shelters).


I may have more stuff later, this was just off the top of my head.

OH! I almost forgot.....
Your house!!!!!

I'd suggest either going with insulated concrete forms if you can get a readi-mix truck in there and can afford the materials, or go attend the LHBA (Log Home Builders Association) class in Las Vegas. I went, and while I already knew the basics I picked up enough tips and tricks to make it worthwhile....and for you you'd also be very likely to get a crap ton of free labor from other members...lot's of them in your area and they like to help each other out with building. Costs $750 for the two day class, well worth it.

There is a lot of great info in that quote, fire suppression, permaculture swales, greenhouses, etc.. It could take a lot to really discuss everything consolidated in that.

Something I would like to highlight, is the suggestion of the Lister engine. These were the workhorse of the old farms. They are amazing but bureaucracy has made them difficult to source. There are Indian made Listeriods (modern copies) that can be found that are decent quality, just make sure to clean well as they tend to have casting sand metal filing etc left behind in them. But from what I know having researched them for several years, is we are not allowed to import them whole. We can only get them in parts and kits, and have to assemble them here. Which makes cleaning easier. There are some companies who do the difficult work of bringing them in making sure they are functional then shipping from the US to where ever you are.

While I wont be getting a Lister right away, I did have plans to incorporate one into my homestead as things progress. I look forward to the day I have one chugging away on my property.

[raptor]

Wow that is a really nice property.

[ineffableone]

Thanks, I am really happy with it. It was really the #1 choice of properties I had on my list. Everything else was a significant compromise in features and/or size. The only thing missing for this property from my wish list is running water, a stream. But then part of having a stream on my wish list was to create a pond, LOL. Though I do have hopes of improving the water collection on the property and that this might make the spillway into a year round stream coming out of the pond.

[Halfapint]

Oh man I completely forgot about Lister engines, I was researching them when I was looking at property and are really damn cool engines! Also congrats again (said it in the 005 chat). Look forward to seeing progress on the property and hopefully having some camp outs there. Bushcraft central!

I think the most important thing about this new property is the name. Have you decided on what to call your homestead?

[ineffableone]

Oh man I completely forgot about Lister engines, I was researching them when I was looking at property and are really damn cool engines! Also congrats again (said it in the 005 chat). Look forward to seeing progress on the property and hopefully having some camp outs there. Bushcraft central!

I think the most important thing about this new property is the name. Have you decided on what to call your homestead?

Glad to remind you of the wonders of the Lister. They are amazing. Just thinking about them I can hear the chugging of one in my head, such a soothing happy sound.

Yes there will be camp outs, and you will get to shoot my penobscott bow.

As for a name, I am letting it find itself. I figure it will organically develop. Though I wish it would hurry and saying the land or the property doesn't feel right, but I also don't want to force a name upon it. I imagine a high probability of names being thrown around the camp fire during a 005 camp out there. I imagine some feature or animal or silly inside joke will spark a name.

Speaking of camp fires i will have to make sure I check into the local burn ordinances etc, Eastern WA is a lot more strict (for good reason) on camp fires and burning on property. I would be surprised if I could burn in open fire pits past early spring, and there might be a complete ban even with fire rings in summer.

[Black November]

I forgot my most important advice.

It easy easy to get overwhelmed. Focus on one job at a time other wise you will have dozens of half completed projects that never get done. Also I take one weekend a month off to just enjoy the property. I already have a day job, I don't want the property to become another one I dread.

[ineffableone]

I forgot my most important advice.

It easy easy to get overwhelmed. Focus on one job at a time other wise you will have dozens of half completed projects that never get done. Also I take one weekend a month off to just enjoy the property. I already have a day job, I don't want the property to become another one I dread.

Very wise words my friend. The idea of getting land is to enjoy it, not to stress so hard working on it that you feel the need to get away from it to relax.

[teotwaki]

For a name it could be something linked to Eagles Bluff such as (your last name)'s Aerie

[ineffableone]

For a name it could be something linked to Eagles Bluff such as (your last name)'s Aerie

Well the road it is on is called Eagle's bluff thus why I had that pin in the google earth screen caps, and down the road is a place actually called Eagle's bluff where eagles actually do nest in caves up on the face and there is a wonderful off grid homestead right under that bluff.

So I sort of feel Eagle's bluff is taken by those folks who live right under it. I do understand your suggesting "_____ Aerie" or something along those lines. But at this point I haven't' seen the Eagles over the property or any connection to them other than passing their home on the way up.

But I am sure something will come along at some point. Thanks for the suggestion and I will keep it in mind.

[ineffableone]

OK went back over to the property this weekend after picking up some wonderful tools at an estate sale. I got 4 cross cut saws, a cant hook, an adz, a froe, a gas weed whacker (no electric out there to plug into), and a grinder. Slowly adding some tools to my collection for using on the homestead.





I didn't take lots of pics while out this time. I was busy working. Did some work cutting back the easement road foliage, cut some trails so I could explore the property easier and to places I hadn't seen yet. Got up to the South side of the property found it was fenced. Also most of the West side is fenced. Which is a great bonus.

And got to sleep out on my land as well as hang out with the neighbor, and meet the rancher at the bottom of the hill. Slowly getting to hear the stories of the area and gather info on the history. Realized just bellow my property is a buffalo ranch. And yes they sell meat and hides, yay.

So speaking of bellow the property, Here are some pics from down in the valley across the river looking up toward my property.

my place is between the building and the bumper of the passing car, just above the car roof is Eagle's Bluff.


Zoomed in to my property a bit.


zoomed in more, starting to loose resolution


Sort of gives a bit more context of my location. Up almost to the top of the hill.

While out cutting trails and hiking around, I found a new friend.



I suspect in the process of laying eggs, so took a couple pics and left her alone.


Also saw a nice large deer who was too fast to get a pic of. As well as plenty of chipmunks, grouse, and ducks in the pond. Oh and a young rattle snake laying out on the road sunning it self who was being lazy and not wanting to move until I hit it (lightly) with a thrown stick so I could drive around it, I forgot to take a pic of it, but it was a pretty little snake.

So I mentioned I was able to get up into the steep and heavy growth area on the South side of the property.

This is looking out over the property that hill is the Eastern side of the property I own up on to the crest of that hill.


A little further down slope toward the east looking north you can see a lot of timber on this south side that I can use for building and fire wood. The little bit of a hill you can see between trees is the North western hill on my property.


As I mentioned I found that the South side of the property was fenced, looks like it could use some maintenance in some spots, and some clearing back some over growth. But huge bonus to find some fencing in place already.


Similarly the western side had fencing.


And this is likely the North West property corner, which would give me a good reference point to run fencing along the northern side of the property. While the neighbor that direction is the one I made friends with my first trip out, since I plan on having live stock I will want to fence this line and it is the side that faces toward the road and main access. So is also the direction I would most likely get people coming from.


Well that is it for pics to share, sorry I don't have more the share right now but more will come. I will likely be closing over this week, so very soon this property will official become mine in all the paper work etc. Then the real fun begins.

I need to rent a dozer to fix some problem areas on the road coming in. To make pulling a travel trailer, when I get one, up to the property easier. As well as just making the road better to travel on for me and for guests I have come visit. Also I want to use the dozer to do some work on my easement road into the property. As well as creating a level place for a trailer on the property and working the road around to the eastern side of the pond into service again. And likely just some land sculpting here and there to get to a good starting point. Maybe cut a small section into the western side of the pond to have better access there. A lot will depend on how fast I can work and how much of the critical work gets done. While I could find plenty of projects for a dozer to last a month, I don't want to pay a month of rental fees. The idea is to get enough basics done to move out there and start living and working there so I'm not just weekending over there. I can always rent the dozer or other equipment again later to follow up.

[Halfapint]

Man those are some great shots! That property looks better and better, I can see why you were really banking on getting it! Did you scout out some of the springs? Once you close how long do you think it will take before you're actually living on site?

[ineffableone]

Thanks.

No I didn't scout the potential springs, I kept telling myself to go look at them but there just always seemed something more immediate to work on or investigate. Being out there is a bit overwhelming, there is just so much to check out and just going out for a weekend limited time.

As for living out there, that will be a matter of how quickly I find a travel trailer to meet my needs. The one issue on that is of course this is the season for using trailers for camping. So prices tend to be higher, and the better offerings tend to have been snapped up. I might get lucky and have someone list something and just be right on time to get it. Or I might have to wait a bit till the winter is coming closer and people are starting to think "man do I have to store this thing another year, maybe I should sell it"

So when I start living out there is up in the air and dependent on some luck finding the right deals.

On the vehicle front, I might have found the perfect truck. 1992 Chevrolet K2500 4x4 with Snowplow https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/cto/5536637927.html Comes with snow plow, winter studded tires, chains, summer tires, a canopy. In fact I had just emailed him.

[Halfapint]

Nice truck, not a Chevy guy but that will do you just fine and it's a good deal! good luck finding a camper.

[ineffableone]

Well if this truck works out, I might just start expecting a trailer to fall into my lap. The land just sort of worked out perfectly, this truck seems to be exactly what I need. Seems like I am just flowing along with the current not forcing anything just taking what comes as it comes. So hopefully this trend continues and the right trailer pops up right when I need it.