Best place to go off grid and find land? (farming, wild, winter)
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How fast do you actually need the internet to be? Can you survive on expensive and not so fast satellite internet or do you need actual high speed wired dsl/cable/fios? If you can survive on satellite internet, you can pretty much go anywhere. If you need true high speed internet, then there are few places that would allow you to live completely off the grid, where there would be no one else around, that would have no building/zoning codes, where it would also be warm enough to allow you to live in an Airstream year-round, and where you could actually grow/produce/catch/hunt a wide enough variety of food to be able to feed yourself year round entirely through your own efforts.
Many people try to live off grid and be completely self sufficient for a period of time. Very few manage to do it successfully for very long because it's incredibly difficult and takes a tremendous amount of time. Ask yourself if you'll really have time to run an online business if you're busy spending all your time just trying to accomplish the basics of life.
Also, what's your budget for land and how many acres do you want? Depending on your budget, you might not be able to afford many areas of the country so that would really help narrow the possibilities down.
Last edited by patches403; 01-22-2016 at 02:34 PM..
I moved onto our land in 2005. I lived here the first year in a 1972 Fleetwood Southwind RV, while I built our house. Today we live in a 2400 sq ft house with solar-power, and the RV is still alongside the driveway [as a guest house].
Our home should be nearly 'net-zero' by next winter. Winters are not all that bad here in Maine, if you design your home for it. Heating a house is far easier than cooling a house. With solar-thermal you can heat any size house. Cooling a house in a hot region generally requires electricity and lots of it. We currently go through 3 to 3 1/2 cords of firewood each year, when we are done with our solar-thermal addition our heating should be down to less then one cord a year.
We searched for a perfect homestead site for about 15 years before selecting this place.
If a region has ever in recorded human history experienced a drought, avoid that region. Drought will come back, again and again.
I have a small pension, so earning a living locally is not a big concern for me. High priced land with high taxes will generally have high COL too. Economic depressed areas tend to have lower land prices and lower taxes. Where average household incomes are low, you can get a good deal and you do not need to earn much money to be doing better than all your neighbors. The problem with depressed regions, is if you ever need to get a job, you will have a hard time doing it.
Maine is real good for small off-grid organic farm homesteads.
I sort of understand the issue of wet and cold, but, here is the thing, when it is cold there is not much wet. Wet kind of implies that it can't be very cold. Wet usually means liquid water, if water is liquid, then it is not very cold.
I am an organic farmer. We produce around 95% of our family food and we market the surplus. We have no greenhouse, but I do understand that as you go further North the need for a greenhouse is more and more. Thankfully down here in Southern Maine we grow plenty of food without need for greenhouses.
They do require a 'septic' design. Your land must be capable of supporting a septic system. Nobody says you ever have to put it in, but you do have to have a valid design. Outhouses are acceptable for use, but you need to have an approved design for a complete septic system.
Income taxes; Maine has income taxes. I don't pay any, you need to have a certain level of income before you begin to paying that. My pension and my farm income together are below that. But wealthy people pay income taxes here.
I agree definately not Arizona or western Colorado. They are infested with rattlesnakes, and Californians and there's just no space left until the Bundy's chase the BLM out.
Maine is the place to go for sure.
Posted from my winter bunker on the Colorado river... leaving soon for the summer bunker in the Rockies.
Yeah them Californians are a pesky bunch! They move into an area and try to change it like back home.
Anyway, Is the area along the Colorado river fairly mild in the wintertime? I wouldn't mind having a bunker there as well. Good bunker land is so hard to find!
Although, a cave might be fun. I have some Hobbit in my I am sure.
As for the OP, I know he wants to stay back east But, check out Oregon. It seems like a perfect choice away from the Coast where most of them live.
Hey there! My fiance and I want to go off the grid, but are having a hard time trying to find the best place to do that in. We want to find somewhere that doesn't have building or zoning codes and permits. First we plan on living in our Airstream on the land and slowly working on other things on the land like setting up a place for a garden to grow our food, build a chicken coop, root cellar, storage shed, etc and then build our own little cabin. Then the Airstream would become a guest house. We want to be completely off grid with the exception of internet since we run an online shop. Does anyone have any ideas on where we can find a place that will allows to do what we want? Preferably we don't want to go any further than Missouri. We live in Pennsylvania right now and would love to stay here, but I feel as though it would be too hard to do what we want to do here. Too many restrictions. Any help would be much appreciated!
If a best place existed, everyone would be there. The more people drawn to any particular area, the necessity for more codes and regulations follows.
I recommend that you ignore the stereotypes and assumptions about locations from anonymous online posters, including me.
So true. Every person who is self sufficient believes they have chosen the best location. But since they range from Maine to California, from Alaska to Florida, it seems anyplace a person settles to be self sufficient is the best location. Odds are the location became the best due to the needs of that individual. Since everyone has a slightly different vision of self sufficiency, and different needs from someone else, their optimum location is just as different. I think there is a trend at times for people to pick a location based on someone else hype over the location that may not be reality when actually checked out.
We ought make a Top 20 or so type list of voted on places in US, to see where most go. I like MT, ID, WY & eastern sides of WA & OR but some argue it is too close to Cali or too cold or whatever. I also like WV or N FL but again folks claim nuclear plants, coal fired unhealthy plants, or too close to major metros if folks face crisis, & loot or storm places in disasters.
Then I think upstate N ME but again, desolation, extreme snow & cold, etc. dissuade many as can't grow food as well there. I'm in AZ now but this is desert sand here & I plan to move out anyway soon. Where we're looking to permanently settle (as both us over 50 now) is unsure yet -- but we're working on it, haha, yes I've said it for a few yrs now. Haha, glad I'm sill on earth to attempt it yet.
Submariner here had a good idea as in '05 he posted saying he & wife, had a 1972 RV Fleetwood back then, & went from Cali to ME & lived 1 yr in it -- til finding land to buy & move into to. Great idea to roam, if you need ability to checkout places -- til one picks you! Like getting a pet from a shelter -- let it pick you, not you it.
We ought make a Top 20 or so type list of voted on places in US, to see where most go. I like MT, ID, WY & eastern sides of WA & OR but some argue it is too close to Cali or too cold or whatever. I also like WV or N FL but again folks claim nuclear plants, coal fired unhealthy plants, or too close to major metros if folks face crisis, & loot or storm places in disasters.
There are a lot of Nuclear Reactors in Western Washington and Nuclear weapons and the Nuclear Weapons storage and maintenance facility [The highest concentration of nuclear warheads is at SWFPAC in Washington, our second highest concentration obviously is SWFLANT at Kings Bay].
We also have smaller clusters of Nuclear weapons at: Warren in Wy, Malmstrom Mt, Minot ND, Whiteman in Mo, Nellis in NV, Kirtland in NM, Barksdale in La, and the Pantex Plant in Texas;
I would draw your attention to INL in ID located between Arco, Idaho Falls and Blackfoot. There is a lot of old nuclear power plants sitting there.
We ought make a Top 20 or so type list of voted on places in US, to see where most go. I like MT, ID, WY & eastern sides of WA & OR but some argue it is too close to Cali or too cold or whatever. I also like WV or N FL but again folks claim nuclear plants, coal fired unhealthy plants, or too close to major metros if folks face crisis, & loot or storm places in disasters.
Then I think upstate N ME but again, desolation, extreme snow & cold, etc. dissuade many as can't grow food as well there. I'm in AZ now but this is desert sand here & I plan to move out anyway soon. Where we're looking to permanently settle (as both us over 50 now) is unsure yet -- but we're working on it, haha, yes I've said it for a few yrs now. Haha, glad I'm sill on earth to attempt it yet.
Submariner here had a good idea as in '05 he posted saying he & wife, had a 1972 RV Fleetwood back then, & went from Cali to ME & lived 1 yr in it -- til finding land to buy & move into to. Great idea to roam, if you need ability to checkout places -- til one picks you! Like getting a pet from a shelter -- let it pick you, not you it.
If I were you Id first look in my own backyard. Before moving to Wyoming we looked at eastern Cochise County and were very impressed. Arizona finished second, but it was a strong second. There were many refugees, California conservatives who would have made great neighbors.
Hey Sub & HappyWY, Here's a prob. We got family back east all over past Mississippi. River. All in FL, PA & NJ/DE. Only two sis's we got west of Miss. is my g/f'f sis, her hub & kids -- & my sis in Cali. So, most folk we know are back way east. Thus, WV (where we both went post-grad school in way early 90s -- my g/f & I) or FL (only up north FL though, as south isn't my style & dad passed away in '14, & lived & sold his home in P. Orange, FL across from Daytona Beach -- a dump, DB is though ).
I like N FL yet hi costs, & nowhere near Amer. Redoubt & bugout areas of Pac NW, according to guys I listen on the patriot radio. WV is good but overpriced often due to old coal $, I think. Also, I got asthma so air isn't real good for that there.
MT is nice, open, cleaner, less crime (up north than WV maybe, but less than N FL crime for sure) so... here we go again. Latest idea comes from Sub, re buying a used RV (found a 1983 Fleetwood Southwind RV for decent cash. But needs some work, but at that age what doesn't).
So toying w/ buying & using RV to roam, as I said, to see where'd be best longterm to live. Ok, keep the posts flying...
I think this is the biggest drawback to living in a remote area where there are no zoning requirements, etc.
Colder climates tend to cut down on the percentage of such characters. Perhaps this is part of the appeal of Maine.
I disagree. In rural areas with small populations, all it takes is one or two "outlaws" to make everybody else's life miserable, so fewer doesn't necessarily make for less trouble.
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