Homesteading Preferences
In several of my previous posts, I outlined some of the attributes that are important for a piece of homesteading land. In this post, I want to outline some additional attributes. Where the previous attributes were things that were needed for anyone considering property for homesteading, here I want to outline those that are specific to my circumstances and preferences.
Mixture of Treed and Cleared areas
In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that having timber on the property would be useful for firewood and organic matter for gardening purposes. In addition its value as firewood and gardening material (and, now that I think of it, for fencing and as windbreak), my personal preference is for a mixture of evergreen and deciduous forest. I like being in the woods, I love looking at trees, and I enjoy the diversity of insect, animal, and plant life that are made possible by tree cover. Trees also break up the monotony of the landscape.
At the same time, I and my partner are limited in our physical capacities and I don't want to wait for years until we are able to have cleared enough space for a garden, house, outbuildings, and pasture. We'd not only have to cut down the trees, we'd have to remove the stumps (which from what I remember as I child, is a serious bitch), do any grading that was necessary, and improve the soil for garden and pasture. That is an incredible amount work, and if I can avoid it, I'd like to. It took more than ten years to clear and improve the open space on the land I grew up on, and even then grass was still getting established in the horse/goat pastures. It would be one thing to have to clear some trees to make additional space for an outbuilding; it's entirely another to begin with a piece of completely forested land and make all the necessary improvements.
Running and/or Still Water
Access to potable water for people and animals, and water suitable for gardening are essential for all homesteads. This water needs to be accessible throughout the year; it's not sufficient for it to all appear as run off during monsoon season--that means a well or a cistern.
In addition to consistent access to potable and garden-suitable water, I would love to have running water nearby in the form or a year-round stream or river. Nearby ponds or lakes would also be really nice; standing, still swamp water that generates mosquitoes, not so much. I don't have a use in mind for this--it's really just an aesthetic preference. I love watching and listening to water flow over rocks and again, I enjoy the wildlife and plant life that come with a fresh, open water source.
Shelter
I've been thinking a lot about whether or not the homestead should already have shelter on it. Ideally, I'd like to start from scratch and design and build my own off-the-grid home using locally sourced materials. M. and I talked about this. It would mean either renting a home while periodically traveling to the homestead for short periods of time to build, or staying in temporary shelter on the land, while permanent housing was being built. Neither of these options is impossible, but I'm skeptical about them. Renting/traveling means paying rent while also expending money for building materials and tools and gasoline, as well as time spent sitting in the car (which is often painful for me). Staying in temporary shelter means that most household goods would need to be stored, and there would be a short window of time in which building would need to take place (before winter), and the inconvenience of living in primitive conditions. Both options require a great deal of physical labor and involve a lot of psychological stress. As I recall, one of the main reasons I wanted to move was the stress of needing to finish the construction of my torn apart basement in Maryland. Neither of us has built anything as big as a house before, so it would be a major learning experience, and I'm not sure I'm up to that. Part of my disability is periods of cognitive confusion and ongoing fatigue. While I enjoy learning very much, having to learn and learning under a deadline when my brain and body are not up for the task are another matter.
I can imagine building a chicken coop or a goat pen, and installing fencing. I can also imagine installing solar panels and building a greenhouse addition. And if those projects went well, I can imagine building a very small place for my mother to stay. Realistically, though, I can't imagine building a house suitable for three people from scratch, and doing it either in short bursts of time while living elsewhere and traveling, or trying to get it all done in a short period before the weather gets bad. Again, age and disability are factors that need to be considered.
Where does this leave me? I have a fixed, monthly income, and not much in the way of extra money to put away. That means that if I want a place with liveable shelter already on it, I'm going to have to take out a loan. I was happy to read that disabled people living on their disability income are eligible for home loans from lenders such as banks. In 2012, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) charged Bank of America with discrimination because the bank required an applicant for a home loan who was receiving federal disability benefits to provide additional documentation from his physician testifying to the permanence of the disability. According to the press release from HUD about the case,
I don't want a fancy-pants house. I'd like something rustic with real and exposed wood. I'm good at finishing work; I'd be happy to finish things the way I want them, with tile in the bathroom and kitchen, lots of light through added windows or skylights, plenty of counter space for cooking and canning, etc. I'm competent with outside landscaping and can put in beds for perennials and herbs, a kitchen garden, a full-on garden for preserving, and stone work.
Financing a piece of property over time with shelter on it already, also frees up some money to invest in improvements needed to make it a functioning homestead. Likely I'll need to buy things, such as a generator, fencing materials, a chainsaw, etc. If we buy property and plan to build on it, all of our money will go into building it until it is built, or into building it and paying rent at the same time. Although financing does involve being involved with some kind of credit-giving agency (or perhaps a person) and paying interest, given our limited start up funds and limited physical capacities, it seems more realistic to have the creditor pay now for what we'd need to live, and then have us pay it off over time. It would also say us from paying for rent during the building process.
Land to Explore
Apart from the land I'd purchase for my homestead, I want adjoining property that is not developed and that offers the possibility of exploration. My preference would be for public land that would not ever be developed, or private trust preserved land. In any case, I want to be able to walk off my property in multiple directions and find things to explore.
I realized that it's more important to me to have wild places to explore than it is to have easy access to a town that has cultural events. I like to explore every day when I'm physically up to it. Cultural events I'd access only occasionally.
There are many other preferences I could add here, but I won't; I want to keep it to the core ones. Writing this and my previous posts about homesteading property has been really useful in helping me to clarify what it is that I'm looking for, what my priorities are, and what kinds of choices are available to me, given limiting conditions of health and finances.
I'm tired. Time to stop writing.
Mixture of Treed and Cleared areas
In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that having timber on the property would be useful for firewood and organic matter for gardening purposes. In addition its value as firewood and gardening material (and, now that I think of it, for fencing and as windbreak), my personal preference is for a mixture of evergreen and deciduous forest. I like being in the woods, I love looking at trees, and I enjoy the diversity of insect, animal, and plant life that are made possible by tree cover. Trees also break up the monotony of the landscape.
At the same time, I and my partner are limited in our physical capacities and I don't want to wait for years until we are able to have cleared enough space for a garden, house, outbuildings, and pasture. We'd not only have to cut down the trees, we'd have to remove the stumps (which from what I remember as I child, is a serious bitch), do any grading that was necessary, and improve the soil for garden and pasture. That is an incredible amount work, and if I can avoid it, I'd like to. It took more than ten years to clear and improve the open space on the land I grew up on, and even then grass was still getting established in the horse/goat pastures. It would be one thing to have to clear some trees to make additional space for an outbuilding; it's entirely another to begin with a piece of completely forested land and make all the necessary improvements.
Running and/or Still Water
Access to potable water for people and animals, and water suitable for gardening are essential for all homesteads. This water needs to be accessible throughout the year; it's not sufficient for it to all appear as run off during monsoon season--that means a well or a cistern.
In addition to consistent access to potable and garden-suitable water, I would love to have running water nearby in the form or a year-round stream or river. Nearby ponds or lakes would also be really nice; standing, still swamp water that generates mosquitoes, not so much. I don't have a use in mind for this--it's really just an aesthetic preference. I love watching and listening to water flow over rocks and again, I enjoy the wildlife and plant life that come with a fresh, open water source.
Shelter
I've been thinking a lot about whether or not the homestead should already have shelter on it. Ideally, I'd like to start from scratch and design and build my own off-the-grid home using locally sourced materials. M. and I talked about this. It would mean either renting a home while periodically traveling to the homestead for short periods of time to build, or staying in temporary shelter on the land, while permanent housing was being built. Neither of these options is impossible, but I'm skeptical about them. Renting/traveling means paying rent while also expending money for building materials and tools and gasoline, as well as time spent sitting in the car (which is often painful for me). Staying in temporary shelter means that most household goods would need to be stored, and there would be a short window of time in which building would need to take place (before winter), and the inconvenience of living in primitive conditions. Both options require a great deal of physical labor and involve a lot of psychological stress. As I recall, one of the main reasons I wanted to move was the stress of needing to finish the construction of my torn apart basement in Maryland. Neither of us has built anything as big as a house before, so it would be a major learning experience, and I'm not sure I'm up to that. Part of my disability is periods of cognitive confusion and ongoing fatigue. While I enjoy learning very much, having to learn and learning under a deadline when my brain and body are not up for the task are another matter.
I can imagine building a chicken coop or a goat pen, and installing fencing. I can also imagine installing solar panels and building a greenhouse addition. And if those projects went well, I can imagine building a very small place for my mother to stay. Realistically, though, I can't imagine building a house suitable for three people from scratch, and doing it either in short bursts of time while living elsewhere and traveling, or trying to get it all done in a short period before the weather gets bad. Again, age and disability are factors that need to be considered.
Where does this leave me? I have a fixed, monthly income, and not much in the way of extra money to put away. That means that if I want a place with liveable shelter already on it, I'm going to have to take out a loan. I was happy to read that disabled people living on their disability income are eligible for home loans from lenders such as banks. In 2012, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) charged Bank of America with discrimination because the bank required an applicant for a home loan who was receiving federal disability benefits to provide additional documentation from his physician testifying to the permanence of the disability. According to the press release from HUD about the case,
"Holding homebuyers with disabilities to a higher standard just because they rely on disability payments as a source of income is against the law,” said John Trasviña, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “Mortgage companies may verify income and have eligibility standards but they may not single out homebuyers with disabilities to delay or deny financing when they are otherwise eligible (http://www.fha.com/fha_article.cfm?id=368)."It appears, then, that banks will consider my disability insurance money as income if I were to apply for a home loan. My current thinking, then, is that I would like to buy a piece of property that has liveable shelter already built, with sufficient (although possible temporary) living space for me, M., and my mom. My preference is that it already have a well drilled, and be set up for wood heat (rather than a oil furnace) and propane cooking/refrigeration.
I don't want a fancy-pants house. I'd like something rustic with real and exposed wood. I'm good at finishing work; I'd be happy to finish things the way I want them, with tile in the bathroom and kitchen, lots of light through added windows or skylights, plenty of counter space for cooking and canning, etc. I'm competent with outside landscaping and can put in beds for perennials and herbs, a kitchen garden, a full-on garden for preserving, and stone work.
Financing a piece of property over time with shelter on it already, also frees up some money to invest in improvements needed to make it a functioning homestead. Likely I'll need to buy things, such as a generator, fencing materials, a chainsaw, etc. If we buy property and plan to build on it, all of our money will go into building it until it is built, or into building it and paying rent at the same time. Although financing does involve being involved with some kind of credit-giving agency (or perhaps a person) and paying interest, given our limited start up funds and limited physical capacities, it seems more realistic to have the creditor pay now for what we'd need to live, and then have us pay it off over time. It would also say us from paying for rent during the building process.
Land to Explore
Apart from the land I'd purchase for my homestead, I want adjoining property that is not developed and that offers the possibility of exploration. My preference would be for public land that would not ever be developed, or private trust preserved land. In any case, I want to be able to walk off my property in multiple directions and find things to explore.
I realized that it's more important to me to have wild places to explore than it is to have easy access to a town that has cultural events. I like to explore every day when I'm physically up to it. Cultural events I'd access only occasionally.
There are many other preferences I could add here, but I won't; I want to keep it to the core ones. Writing this and my previous posts about homesteading property has been really useful in helping me to clarify what it is that I'm looking for, what my priorities are, and what kinds of choices are available to me, given limiting conditions of health and finances.
I'm tired. Time to stop writing.
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