Going Exploring in the NorthWoods (Ely, Johnson: taxi, taxes, living)

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

I am not thinking of anything huge as far as a farm goes. More along the lines of a hobby farm. I was worried land might be pricey up there. Still, there may be a deal lurking somewhere, I hope.

CrazyMe, your plan sounds totally awesome. I hope it works out for you

Depending on where the land is (by a lake or THE lake will be more expensive), it can be quite affordable, I've found, especially the places that are more remote.
One thing to watch out for, some of the listings I've seen say there's 'high ground' and 'low ground' on some properties. Not sure what that's all about, but I'd guess that low ground could mean that it's marshy, and not suitable for building on.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by northbound74

Depending on where the land is (by a lake or THE lake will be more expensive), it can be quite affordable, I've found, especially the places that are more remote.
One thing to watch out for, some of the listings I've seen say there's 'high ground' and 'low ground' on some properties. Not sure what that's all about, but I'd guess that low ground could mean that it's marshy, and not suitable for building on.

That is exactly what it means. Lot of low ground in Northern MN. Marsh, bogs etc. Also a lot of land that does not have utility or road access, and could have been logged. When you narrow down to buidable property with road, electric and decent spot for well and septic, that has not been logged recently, prices are not as cheap as they appear at first.

[kuan]

What about land that's unbuildable, hilly, full of trees, but withing couple three hundred feet of a road? Anything like that?

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by kuan

What about land that's unbuildable, hilly, full of trees, but withing couple three hundred feet of a road? Anything like that?

Tons of that type of stuff if you include stuff tucked back aways on county roads or less. Problem is you can spend 50K-100K getting a driveway, electric, well, septic .....

I spent 5 years looking before I purchased a 13 acre piece. I made sure I would be able to do most of the work myself and not have to pay huge money to get services.

I found a nice lot with road and power. I built a small cabin myself. I collect water from the roof into a 350 gallon tank and installed a gray water disposal system and water heater. We use an outhouse for human waste. Works great for weekend getaways and I like to spend at least a full week at some point in the summer. I suppose I spent 25K for all that, plus what I paid for the land.

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

I have decided it is time for me to pick up sticks and start exploring possible areas to relocate to. I plan on heading to the Northwoods of Minnesota this winter with my Chevrolet Caprice (affectionately dubbed the Whale) for greener (or is that whiter) pastures. Originally I wanted to go to Alaska but with recent upheaval in the economy I decided perhaps it would be wiser to wait out these events a little closer to family and in an area with a lower cost of living than the Last Frontier.

What I want is some advice from some native Minnesotans about the Northwoods and some answers to a couple of questions. I am curious to know if Minnesota has the same hard drinking party it up culture as Wisconsin, frankly I am sick of it. I never have nor will drink. It is difficult to find things to do with people when the first activity that they come up with involves getting wasted. But enough on that rant.

Are there any areas that seem to attract people with a more "Bohemian" nature. Alas I seem to be the only person in my town that has any interest in off-grid living and living green. When I went out to Oregon last year I met all kinds of people similar to myself, but unfortunately it is much too hot for me out there and the winters consist of nothing but rain. I have a couple more questions, but it is late and I need my sleep.

Thanks in Advance......

Dont knock it unless you've tried it.
I dont see the sense in sitting on a couch watching American Idol for an hour every week for 9 weeks either.
Not everyone drinks to get wasted either-
I work 50 hours a week. I read more in a week than the average person does in a year.
So, when Friday rolls around its time for a good time.

[PhilJohnson]

Originally Posted by Clifford63

Tons of that type of stuff if you include stuff tucked back aways on county roads or less. Problem is you can spend 50K-100K getting a driveway, electric, well, septic .....

I spent 5 years looking before I purchased a 13 acre piece. I made sure I would be able to do most of the work myself and not have to pay huge money to get services.

I found a nice lot with road and power. I built a small cabin myself. I collect water from the roof into a 350 gallon tank and installed a gray water disposal system and water heater. We use an outhouse for human waste. Works great for weekend getaways and I like to spend at least a full week at some point in the summer. I suppose I spent 25K for all that, plus what I paid for the land.

I don't care about electric or phone being available. I've been off-grid for the past two years so that sort of thing isn't a big deal. Road access would be my main concern along with drainage.

Originally Posted by knke0402

Dont knock it unless you've tried it.
I dont see the sense in sitting on a couch watching American Idol for an hour every week for 9 weeks either.
Not everyone drinks to get wasted either-
I work 50 hours a week. I read more in a week than the average person does in a year.
So, when Friday rolls around its time for a good time.

Lets just leave it at I have my reasons. I am not going to get into them here.

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

Lets just leave it at I have my reasons. I am not going to get into them here.

Whatever the reason, I admire you for it, and hope it works out for you.

My wife and I are looking to do something similar. We're tired of the city, tired of having to rely on so many outside forces to make life work.
We want to be more self-sufficient. Nothing radical, just go back to something not terribly unlike what our parents and grandparents did. They had gardens for food, a well for water, wood stoves, chickens for eggs, cows for milk, etc... we'd like to take it a few steps further, and maybe even rely on a windmill as much as possible for electricity.
Every time I sit down and make out bills, I feel like I'm throwing so much money down the tube needlessly. I realize that we'll always have bills of some sort, but I figure I can at least cut them in half, with more hard work in another direction.
I could live without TV... quite happily, in fact. On a recent vacation, the room at the Inn we were staying at, didn't have one. I actually dreaded going home to the thing, because it would just be sitting there, waiting for me to plop down in front of it and watch.

I've think you've found a good place to do it in northern Minnesota. It quickly became one of my favorite places after I finally got around to visiting it. It seems very peaceful there.

[crazyme4878]

Originally Posted by Clifford63

I found a nice lot with road and power. I built a small cabin myself. I collect water from the roof into a 350 gallon tank and installed a gray water disposal system and water heater. We use an outhouse for human waste. Works great for weekend getaways and I like to spend at least a full week at some point in the summer. I suppose I spent 25K for all that, plus what I paid for the land.

This brings up a good point--water. There is a lot of bedrock in the area, making a need for very deep wells straight through the rock in some areas. The cabin we rented for a couple years didn't have water because of this issue. So find out the cost of drilling on a particular site before finalizing any sale. Or find out if you can live off of collection only. Actually, that probably wouldn't be too hard. I know of at least one man that does full-time. We did as well--it was my husband and I and an infant. We went through about 35 gallons a week (I think), but we did laundry in town and took showers at work.

I'm not sure about the North Shore, but there are multiple natural artisian wells along the Wisconsin and Michigan shoreline. I would imagine it would be the same along the MN shore.

[nerfer]

I think you should be able to find land for that price. I've looked at land a fair bit west of the Iron Range, and there's undeveloped land for maybe $1000/acre, but it was way out in the boonies, not many jobs (or young people) around - hunting land. I grew up on a farm in that area (100 head of sheep, my uncle had 150 head of cattle and we raised the hay and oats to feed them). There was a bit of clay if you dug down, but the topsoil was plenty good, especially if you mix in a little manure. We had about an acre in vegetable garden, and it pretty much fed us most the year (with canning and freezing). Not a long growing season, but the days are long in the summer, so things grow well. Pick your garden location carefully and you should be fine.

Drinking and meth isn't a real problem there, but it depends who you hang out with. There's poverty on the closed reservations, and they do have some problems. Bemidji may not be the best for that reason also. From what I've heard, people working in the Iron Range area drink quite a bit, but I would recommend Ely - it attracts the free thinkers, artists and off-gridders more because of the canoeing/tourist industry. Blackduck has the woodcarving festival and people are pretty independent. I think most people up there would understand living off the grid if you present it as being independent. Plus, if you do start with an undeveloped piece of land, running an electric line to it costs a lot of money if it's not close (which probably affects the price of the land a bit).

Compared to central northern MN, Duluth and the North Shore has more jobs, higher prices, rockier soil, prettier scenery, slightly fewer mosquitoes (better drained land, for the most part).

I would be cautious about carving out a homestead from a forested plot - clearing the stumps and rocks can take significant time and money, better to start with at least part of the area already opened up in a field or something. And taking out all but 10% of the trees for your yard will result in skinny ugly trees, better to have ones that grew up with more sunlight.

[PhilJohnson]

Hmmm, I didn't think much about water. I harvest rain water here or haul it. But some sort of well would be nice. Someone told me once that there were cougars in that area, are they full of it?