You should raise chickens.

if you ever want to get further off the grid, think about alaska. lots of people up there with your same sort of setup. winters would be a bit of a different animal though.

Great thread OP, thanks for sharing.

One note on the trees you have mentioned a few times -- it is possible pruning/clearing out some space could make the tree(s) produce better apples, but it is possible it is not a high quality apple tree either. Unless it was a high quality tree planted by the previous owner that has just become overgrown, it is most likely not a high quality apple tree.

Apple trees need to be grafted when you are first planting them to grow into a tree that will produce high quality fruit. If you just take a great apple off an already great apple tree and plant the sees, you will end up with apple trees that grow terrible apples. I'm sure the commercial place you mentioned would only be selling good trees that have already been grafted (unless there is another method commercial growers can use), otherwise, if you find a neighbor with an already good tree you can take a branch from that and graft it onto rootstock from another tree to end up with a good apple tree.

I don't know specifically how to do that, just know it needs to be done. Also, I'm not sure if the same applies to the cherry tree you mentioned (or other fruit trees) or not.

Hope everything goes well for you and I'm interested to hear what you do with the property. I want to get some acreage some day and still not sure if I want to have it and live somewhere else, live on the land, something else? I always debate between how minimalist I would be willing to go compared to how many modern amenities I don't want to give up. Like you said, being able to make a few minor sacrifices can open up a lot of freedom.

It all depends on where in Alaska. I believe that places more southern and on the coast (e.g. Juneau, Anchorage, etc.) are no worse or even warmer than upstate NY in the winter--although the winters are longer.

Fruit trees are long game, all depends on how long you plan on being there. Everyone plants fruit trees thinking they will have fruit in no time. In reality, it takes years to get a meaningful amount of fruit off a tree. If you go with a dwarf rootstock, it will probably bare fruit sooner, but when it matures, bare much less fruit. If you go with a semi-standard, it will give you much more fruit, but take longer to give you fruit.

gotta get them goats and a moveable pen and use them to help clear the land.

There are companies, at least in the midwest, that will rent you goats to clear your land.

same in Oregon, but I'm guessing in both situations they won't let you harvest that sweet sweet milk.

Absolutely--I know a chick!(guaranteed the avg dude would say she's Hot) in Potter Valley that has a decent sized herd of goats--they follow her around and she speaks to them in her own made up language. You can rent them to come eat up -whatever- around your place.

Lots of people living 'off the grid' in this country--just kinda depends what circles you travel in I guess, plenty in California for sure.

Riding mower more fun and doesn't leave goat poop.

lol like OP can afford a lawn mower

Mower cheaper than a goat in the long run, no? Especially a herd?

The problem isn't clearing little stuff, but fallen trees, which are too big for a goat. ... Love the idea of using goats, but the old Christmas trees toppled when their roots hit shallow rocks. Goats would work in the field for stuff growing back, but that's a large space and I'd have to fence it well because apparently because goats can just about get out of anything.

I don't plan on selling this place at all right now, and certainly not near-term. I've thought about putting four dwarf fruit trees into the space I cleared, it's about 5,000 sq feet.

Some of this is beyond what I'd do now, but thanks. The nursery I mentioned is Cummins Nursery. They have a price list and tons of fruit varietals. I'm taking suggestions.

http://shop.cumminsnursery.com/

http://www.cumminsnursery.com/

For me, it has gone beyond a few sacrifices (which, a year in, no longer seem like real sacrifices). It's more that I'm working on changing my definition of success, and trying to work out what it is I want as opposed to the things I think I've supposed to want.

As much as this has been an amazing adventure, not all of it has been easy. My family has really struggled to figure out wtf I'm doing. Their version of success was much more tied to my city-life apartment-living 401k-having non-bucket-****ting lifestyle. I literally had a relative kind of slip up and say they thought less of me now, and while that sucked I've tried to keep it all in perspective.

Anyways. I'm glad the thread is resonating with some.

Goats seem like WAY more fun than a riding mower.

Fainting goats, ftw. I imagine once Gonzo worked this out, it would be non-stop fun.

Goat poop may be non-negotiable, however, true.

I think I said it before, but what you're doing is totally cool and it's great that you can still do your job from there.

What's that like? You do research online and write articles? Freelance? How much research per article? How many articles? Of what nature/kind of publications? You hear there's very little money in this nowadays, is that true?

Thanks!

I work as a full-time reporter, in an industry I've covered for about 15 years. So the track record, and existing freelance relationship with the company, certainly helped land a FT position.

I'm definitely grateful for the job, and for having employers who look at what I'm doing and think "cool" and not "unhireable." I write a lot of shorter pieces, more than two dozen a week, probably 350 words or so, and then two longer pieces that are typically in-depth and run about 1,200 words.

There are tons of publications that focus on business, legal, policy, regulation, business-to-business, and so on. And they pay well, depending on what you're doing and your experience.

Years ago I worked for Education Daily, which is fairly well known. The same company published Death Care Monthly, which was a small pub aimed at funeral directors. I've known people that worked on pubs focused on the mattress sector, for instance.

The job I quit in D.C., when I freaked out and moved to the woods, focused on chemical regulation and consumer protection.

Some of these are highly technical publications read by industry insiders, lawyers, traders, lawmakers, regulators. Others have a broader audience, and don't get into analysis so much as news.

The key is that these are highly technical pubs, so getting someone with that knowledge is a tough hire. It means companies are willing to take on younger reporters with less experience, and train them in the subject area.

Over my career I've reported on Congress, any number of court cases (including one trip to the Supreme Court), commodities markets, a ton of regulatory agencies and rulemakings, company projects, ratemaking proceedings ... If you're a policy wonk, it's awesome. And if you're not, it probably isn't the job for you (at any of those publications).

EDIT: I should add that those jobs typically exist in a half dozen markets, centered in D.C. and NYC.

Also, while it's not unusual for companies to make remote hires (I've twice been FT for people I never met), that very rarely happens at entry-level.

I've been working on this greenhouse project and off for about a week on this. Uber-simple, four posts in the ground, framing around it, 6 mm plastic sheeting. Six weeks ago I had some awesome looking baby spinach that came up in what seemed like just a few days. Then the deer ate it.

Gotta knock down a few trees around it, obviously, but the spot actually gets late afternoon sun.

Long-term I want to recycle plastic bottles to create a more durable exterior.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL...D3nQdBA/videos

this channel might be relevant to your interests ElSapo

Happy I didn't see this 18 months ago. Would still be working towards the bronze age. Thread would be centuries from happening.

WRT goat herds, I don't think a fence is necessary. When I've seen them at work they seem to stay organized and in the same area. Maybe they're trained somewhat.

or put them on a leash

Then how do you keep them anywhere?

One day when I was building the woodshed, I turned around and there was a huge frickin cow standing behind me watching me. I don't own a cow.

Anyway, it took a **** on my drive and then wandered back down to the road. Surreal. A half hour later I saw a bunch of people out looking for it.

There's gotta be some fence. I think goats are known for being tricky to contain.

The old owners of my property (3 acres) had goats on part of it. There was a simple wire fence on the perimeter. I believe that the goats were kept in by this, as the neighbors never told me about goats roaming the neighborhood.

http://thegoathouserenovation.blogsp...uary-20th.html

How well do your solar panels work for you? How often do you need to rely on the generators?

Like I said, I think they were trained.

You do now. Free steaks!

No fence. This was on open space owned by the city/state.