Cabin in the Woods?

I highly doubt that exists...

:-)

Loving this thread.

It's on US 18 which is the Main Street thru town. The realtors last name, father and son was Babb and they're out of Soldier's Grove.

Check out Northern AZ

PDXTrack wrote:

If you've never read or seen the story of Dick Proenneke and how he built and lived in a log cabin in Alaska, you should.

I wish I had read/watched this when I was much younger...

Here's the website:

http://www.aloneinthewilderness.com/

The documentary usually gets shown on PBS during fund raisers - catch it sometime, then read the book.

Building it by himself, with only the use of hand tools. You should see some of the stuff he comes up with...

that's awesome. I just don't think i'd go up to alaska. I'm from RI. hoping for something a little warmer

Former Average Runner wrote:

http://www.greatfallsidx.com/listing.php?sid=570953&mls=10-2073&site_id=405&page_current=1

I know that area well. You'll be stupid to buy that place. It's very isolated, and 20 acre parcels around there are selling for very cheap. For the price tag of that cabin you could buy land and build to suit for much less, and in a more desirable area.

Strangely enough i had a thread about this a little while back.

Just over 8 months ago i finished "rebuilding" my house. By rebuilding i mean i found a cheap, old house that needed some serious work, and it came on a pretty large parcel of land. The house would of cost too much to fix up, so for VERY cheap, i had it torn down. Only the foundation remained (for later building purposes). My house is relatively isolated, having 38 acres of my land surrounding it, along with a very large state forest bordering most of my land and my "neighbors" (can't see their houses at all) land also creating this little wilderness retreat.

I built a "solar homestead" (look on simplesolarhomesteading.com), but mine's different in design and larger than the one on the website. My electricity is provided by a relatively inexpensive solar array i set up, and a wind turbine that i just recently finished putting up as well (cleared some land on one of the hills nearby my home). You'd be surprised how cheap both ran. As for heat, i have a wood stove that heats up the home VERY quickly (i have a little heat powered fan on it too), but just in case, i have a propane GlO-WARM heater built into one of my walls. I've used that very effectively as well. Natural sunlight can provide some heat too. When i first moved in, my water was provided through a combination of water collection (rooftop) and filling 40gallon tanks at the local spring. Since then i've been able to fix the old well which was on the property, and now that provides me with all my water needs. Hot water is provided by an instant hot water heater, which uses propane as well. As for sewage, you can buy composting toilet/sewage systems for not TOO bad, so i went that route.

I have some animals that i raise (8 chickens, 2 goats), but that's about it. Thinking of doing an underground greenhouse on the property (found it from Mike Oehler's "$50 & up underground house book") next spring/summer, so it'll be ready by the winter, but that's if i find enough time. Property has some old walking trails that work as running trails, but a future project is to expand those so i don't have to go far to run.

All this together was very cheap, and as a result i have barely any debt (if i'd waited a year i could have paid for the entire thing without any loans), which should be paid off very soon. No utility bills either, except for cable/internet/phone, which aren't too bad.

Sorry for the length of the post; i'd be happy to answer anyone's questions about homesteading!

I'm interested in cost and difficulty of the solar and the wind turbine. It sounds like you have your shit together as they used to say back in the day. I have electricity but am still interested in alternatives and other ideas. Just curious how you did it.

Try the wild lands outside Durango or Alamosa or Gunnison or Pagosa Springs, CO or northern New Mexico

Top Cat wrote:

It's on US 18 which is the Main Street thru town. The realtors last name, father and son was Babb and they're out of Soldier's Grove.

I was actually joking. (i.e. "Silent Woman") :-)

I thought you might have been. Sorry. Sometimes just coming on this website makes me defensive because as many times as not someone is going to come at you in a negative manner. Peace.

"I'm interested in cost and difficulty of the solar and the wind turbine. It sounds like you have your shit together as they used to say back in the day. I have electricity but am still interested in alternatives and other ideas. Just curious how you did it."

Solar array wasn't that "expensive", when looking at the grand scheme of things. Cost me a little under 3k, i was able to set it all up myself, so i didn't have to pay for an electrician. However my town requires electricians do check the home, so i had a family friend (who's an electrician) come over, and it was very cheap. He actually gave me some tips and made the system a little more efficient. As for the turbine, that was a little more expensive (wind hasn't quite caught up w/ solar in the affordability category). Wind Turbine cost about $3500, including the "tower" (45ft). Was able to do most of the work myself, but did need some help with the tower itself. Total cost for the turbine around $4k.

The real key is just managing your electricity, knowing how much you'll produce on a daily basis (which can be read real-time on most gauges), and structuring your use around that. If i'm going to charge anything, i'll do it during the day so i don't drain the batteries at night. I can watch plenty of TV, but i can't watch 8 hours straight at night. I cut down on peak load too, so i don't waste.

It helps to find appliances that'll help you conserve too. I have a Danby Propane fridge, so i save an enormous amount of power there. My lights are all flourescent, and i even have a few DC trailer lights (they use almost no power, and you can put them in nice covers so they don't look cheap). I do most things by hand, and try to recycle my water. It's actually a lot easier than it sounds, and not very labor intensive. For normal everyday clothes cleaning i can even use one of my WonderWash machines However, i have a 2200 gasoline generator that i occasionally use for some tasks around the house (in this case i will do many things at once, because the generator can handle it) - vacuuming, some clothes drying/washing, and depending on the situation, dishwashing. The generator will also help charge the batteries too, so it's a win win situation.

With the help of some friends, I built a little 10x12 shack about 100 yards from my house. Woodstove, bookcase, bed, rocking chair, desk...in a big stand of red pines. It's not quite 'escaping' it all, but I like to hunker down out there.