Very interesting video! My husband and I have learned through time that we should only move forward on a decision if both are totally at peace with the decision. The bigger the decision, the more important this detail is. When we don't heed this, we pay the price down the road. If both of you aren't totally at peace with either property, don't move forward. The right one will appear when you least expect. Don't settle for less, even if pressured by other circumstances. In the future, you will apreciate the wait more than you can imagine now. We are starting off grid from scratch too.
I almost made a similar comment on the last video! My husband and I are both big on following peace. We almost settled for what we thought might be good enough, but there was always a nagging feeling. We definitely ended up blessed and I am so glad we waited!
Agreed. When we were searching we looked at so many over quite a few years, and it was disheartening sometimes not finding every box ticked, or someone else offered more than we could - but the right place did come along and we are so ridiculously happy now!! If it's not the one, then it's not the one.
Patience, hold out THIRD PROPERTY, will show up! Widen region radar area, for possible land option!! Lower your standards and expectations. Having livestock established, should be first priority in land property location. Water of some resources should be top priority. Some states, ban any rain water collection of any type. Researching local vs state laws, on rain water, mineral rights etc. will help better secure the right property. Good Luck!!!
Unless you guys have a time limit and need to be out... I would personally wait for the best of both of those properties to come along, they are out there you just need to be patient for just a bit longer. Both properties are beautiful but I think you guys can do much better then both of those, looking forward to future videos! Happy homesteading
It's fun being on the viewing end of property searches! We spent 2+ years, and looked at ~100 properties until we found 'the one'. (and posted 60 of them on our YT channel). We love love love our property; it's a lot like your crawdad creek (although it already has infrastructure). Lots of hidden costs, 20+ years of re-foresting, lots of clearing and work to do to get it usable. However, we still love it. So peaceful. We are also in a bit of a valley, so no views, but that's ok for us. While crawdad creek is amazing, I think hilltop (forgot what it's called) will get ya'll up and running faster and that view...wow. I (silently) voted for hilltop on last video. just my 0.02. Looking forward to this journey with ya'll. BTW, you and a few select other Homesteading channels are what motivated me to move from the city to the rural areas to start our homestead. Thank you for what ya'll do. -Nate
Wait til you see it's 10k for a well 2k for a small barn running power in the mountains is a lot too We just bought a 10 acre homestead in the Appalachians and learned a lot of hard truths. Praying for you
I learned while living completely off grid for three seasons. Rain water is better in middle TN vs a well. A large good tractor, 4 by 4 with a bucket of course is awesome. Being able to do most of the work is also huge as you know. We moved back on grid because we both work outside of our property. Now I'm 55 semi retired building a homestead and it's going well. God bless you
What about doing flat rail cars as a bridge? That’s a popular option here in Washington state it’s not the prettiest option but they are functional for a long time
Having heard more of your thoughts I do think Sunny is the better choice. The money to make it livable is one issue, but I actually think all the water might be to your detriment on Crawdad Creek. Issues with hoof rot and potability would potentially be huge problems (cows = nasty drinking water). That and if you allowed your animals close to the creeks, it could lead to sediment issues along the entire stream. Sunny has the infrastructure, the ability to do solar for electricity, easy ability to do rainwater harvesting since it’s so open - with the benefit that if you’re collecting at the top and the animals are downhill, then you won’t have to pump anything (❤ Gravity). It really does make more logical sense. I hope you are able to pick Sunny Mountain.
It was just a matter of choosing which set of problems you preferred. Both sites have problems, which is why they were cheap. If you had chosen the hilltop, you would now be discovering more about what is wrong with that site.
I didn't get a chance to watch the last video about the two properties but I did see the photo of each and immediately knew the more open property would be the better option. Clearing and getting through land is expensiveeeeeee. Plus, wet, mucky, muggy, buggy, etc when the land is so wooded. Definitely go with land that is pre-cleared. And has a driveway!? Yes, they are super expensive. It's insane.
I live on a site like sunny mountain. We built a passive solar house. Temps are down in the twenties at night right now and 30-40 during the day. The house stays at 70-72 degrees without any heating. Watch some videos by Alan Savory. You can use animals to improve the land.
That’s awesome! Everyone should be building with passive solar in mind. And Alan savory has influenced a Lot of the decisions we’ve made over the last 10 years homesteading.
I've heard from homesteading family that when finding new homesite and it has water you need to find out if you have water rights to those creeks. I like the area where it's open in the sun and leave the forest mostly forest. If there would be snow melt you would want to be somewhat far enough away from the water for flooding purposes. Just a though? Glad you picked this property is thought it had more potential. Nancy from nebraska
I originally voted for Crawdad Creek. But I didn't realize it had that many creeks and ravines through it. Dirtwork is definitely expensive. I had work done 2 years ago. 16 yards of rip rap rock was $1000. Bullrock was $700/16 yd load. I had about 3 acres of dense trees cleared, stumps pulled and burned, dozer work to smooth, an 18" plastic culvert over the small ditch (not a main drive) and a rock spillway added to my pond, and it cost me $12,000. And they got to keep the pines to sell for lumber. They had a huge excavator, a dozer, and a skidsteer working over a week. But, I'm not sure Sunny Mountain is really the best for you, either. I know you want to get this new homestead going, but I'm hoping you find a third, more suitable property. Don't feel pressured to jump too soon. We will always be here, no matter what.
I meeeean... I did SAY that. I'm looking forward to watching you build no matter where you end up, but for some reason plumbing is cheaper than dirt work 😜
My property looks like that. The only creek is on the back side. I bought it two years ago in January. Yet as you said. Very expensive in doing so. So after I bought it the prices went threw the roof. Doing everything by myself. With tools I collected over the years. With no big tractors. It will cost me more in gas getting there and back then working the property. People love cutting trees and burning them. Yet trees are good for firewood but other resources as well. As even fence posts. Each to their own. Like I told my dad that tried to tell me what to do. You have your way. Everyone else has their way. I am doing my property my way. You all do yours your way. Enjoy.
Sunny mountain! I knew it lol. Crawdad looked like nothing but work, and ravines are not something I'd be willing to deal with (maybe there's more to the property we didn't see). Like others have said though, unless you're in a hurry to move, I would keep looking until you're sure of your decision. Excited to watch this journey. We made the move last year and it was brutal.
Crawdad looked like a jungle dream life could be there, like robinson crusoe type stuff you dream of as a kid! but it sure did look like a lot more work and expense to get up and running safely with kids and animals to look out for!
I wish I hadn't watched this on my TV so I could've replied. I honestly thought that Sunnyside Mountain would've been the best choice. Especially with how wet Crawdad Creek was.
I immediately thought $50k bare minimum if there were no big rocks or trees in the way. Kay’s $5k unfortunately wouldn’t even cover the cost of the gravel finish layer. Dirt work is so expensive.
A bridge is going to be really, really expensive- And with a very watery property like that, you could end up building on a seasonal spring which will make your foundation unstable and your basement wet and moldy- Crawdad is going to be muddy and moldy!
Access to water is the single most important issue in our context (Australia). Your valley site has potential for hydro power and so many other options - I almost drool over the possibilities I can see. Driveways can be innovative design on contour and built up over time. History is full of ways and means you can develop driveway for the short term that are not as expensive as initially indicated. Think dam/pond banks can also be a driveway. That hilltop would have a serious water shortage and need a deep bore and pump to get water up.
Something to think about. We've been offgrid for 11 yrs. We did the same thing. Bought heavily wooded property. We love it. But.... buying heavily wooded property set us back yrs. Seriously like 5 yrs or more. All the land clearing, leveling, stumps, tree roots. Unless you have the money and access to huge equipment it's a TON of work to get the land to the point where it's farmable. While other farmers are up and operating in 1 or 2 yrs we weren't able to really get serious about 7yrs in cause it took us that long to clear the land and build everything.
Picking a creek area.... Oh no. That's my parents' house in temperature rainforest. Learn how to deal with mould. Light, ventilation, vinegar, bicarb and a house on stumps. Not cheap construction! I know all about the problems of maintenance and costs of long driveways that are wet and slippery. Ticks and leeches are no joke either and in wet areas, the ants move into the house if they can. The hill top is so nice and you have the latest science to build top soil. Bridges can be done with suspended slabs, even timber rather than big pipes... it can be cheaper. But to be in a flood zone is crazily dangerous.
You need to talk with your county building permit people because there are alot of requirements like setbacks from the road, can you use a non-conventional waste system like an outhouse, well permits, etc. If you get it wrong they will make you remove your structure(s). How close are emergency services, how close to suppliers etc. No homestead can be 100% self sufficient. How are you going to feed livestock when the creek freezes and the grass is gone? I think you need to consider what you would need to do if you were in need of cash and needed to get a job to supplement your income. Lots of factors
Yep, have talked to all the county officials. We’ve also been homesteading for 10 years now, so we’ve been very fortunate to have learned a lot along the way. And we have many mentors who have so much more experience that we are consulting with as well.
Another channel I watch just installed a driveway and culvert. You might want to look them up: Fernsby. They keep bees and have a garden, they're just starting out.
The creek is a money pit. Spend 50 to 70k and if you were to sell, it would not increase the value. If you put the same amount into the sunny hill, you would find a increase or profit. I know you don't want to build just to sell again, but you would have that option if you needed/wanted it.
I knew the cost to get you far enough away from the road on that property was going to change everything. It's very expensive to build a road with culverts etc. Plus you haven't cleared a place for your house, pasture etc . The Sunny property already has the road and is cleared for house, pasture, garden and so on. Can't wait to see next Video Peace from WV
I'm very glad you didn't pick Sunny Mountain because of the potential fire hazard being at the top of a mountain. It's so hard to mitigate that risk when the fire could come from any side even without wind encouraging it. Access is vital, too, though. Can't live somewhere you can't get to.
I’m at spot 2:02 and before I finish this video my first thought when I saw you picked your property, “what about snow run off in the spring? Does that area get a lot of moisture? Will it flood the land out? What’s the soil nutrients? What minerals are under the land?” My husband and i want to go off grid eventually but the more I learn about buying just land there are so many factors in play. Okay back to the video to see how this ends.
Total fake out. I really enjoyed the video. I have spent somewhere around 8 grand in gravel just gravel to lay a base coat for our driveway to our homestead. You’ll want to get quotes for concrete for your house before deciding on a place because they have standards and minimums.
Have you done a worst case scenario with Sunny Mountain for your biggest expense? Which sounds like access to water. Can you get water trucked in if you need it, or are you too far out. Can you sink a well? What is the average depth and price ranges for that region? What will be the price of upkeep on a well? Sunny Mountain looks better, if you haven't priced the worst case scenario for water access on a mountain. By the way, in permaculture circles, the sweet spot for building on a mountain, is the mid-slope. You can used gravity fed water in a header tank, on the highest peak, with a solar powered pump to take water up to the header tank. Because it's gravity fed, the pump doesn't switch on, every time you turn on a tap. So they last longer. You also avoid the wind velocity on top of a mountain, as well as less intense bush fires at the mid-slope. While the expense of a road does seem daunting, what will you be saving with gravity fed water, and not having to truck in countless loads of soil improvements? In my opinion, you need to spend more time on both properties, to see the different seasons at play.
Hope this message meets you in good health? What a beautiful and radiant smile you got. Pardon my guts for intruding into your comment how are you doing
What kind of a head water would you get from your creeks if you funnelled the water through a pipe to a turbine to produce an amount of electricity. It may help to dry portions of the property also. Pipe the water through. This is an income making property. NO FEAR ONLY FAITH.
I don’t know if you can take any ideas from this but.. Look at slag instead of gravel. gravel is like $25-30 a ton and slag is $6-7 a ton from the slag quarry where I’m at.. I bought 26.5 acres of woodland and my thought is in going to use free wood chips for a makeshift drive way because I’m not sure where I’m building and I’m not sure if it will even work but it’s free so I’m going to test it.. and I’m also putting a camper or tiny house on it until I have the money to build where and what I want to build. So maybe do something on this side of the creek and slowly work at it until you have everything for the crossings
Keep looking if its not going to work for you and hope the mortgage rates go down in the mean time, unless youre paying cash. You have to have water, run off will not support self suffincency.
Well, if 50k of your subscribers each donated $1, you could do it!😄 Seriously though, we had to give up the perfect spot for our forever home, due to the driveway cost, needing a bridge, etc. You also have to think of the cost to maintain it. Gravel is so expensive right now. Can't wait for the next video! I'm new to this channel and am going to enjoy watching your new journey.
I'd guess you'll spend 10-15k to try and get reliable water at sunny mt. Hard to gauge the length of driveway but if crawdad has aggregate in those hills, that will drastically drop the cost. Also the ponds don't need to be so much made by dams but rather by digging out the creek bottoms and letting the water overflow into the current creek bed. Than if later you want to dam it, you just get a deeper pond. If you can rent a 5 ton excavator for a.week or two for.a couple grand, you can do a pile of work. Leave stumps in the ground, just a pile of money for no real livestock benifit for pasture. My thoughts anyways
Bro, what a cliffhanger video. I'm like angry at yall for doing this to me, yet I'll probably watch the next video as soon as it comes out to quell this "desire to know" inside of me. I sure hope this next video is worth the wait.
Withholding information from viewers when you have available could potentially backfire if I ever find that dislike button. I liked the sunny and dry property better, I would set up a rain water system, and maybe put a well in the future, but who knows if that's possible.
Crawdad creek has it's drawbacks. Maybe you start by the road and get the basics done electric, sewage, water and down the road you work on the driveway to your permanent place you want to live and your home. This gives you time to explore and find the perfect spot.
My only "fear" is... I'm not sure about the mountains in PA if that's where you're looking but here in VA the mountains are WINDY and COLD. Much colder then at the foot of the mountain and second how deep will your well have to be to hit water. You have to have water and that could also be a huge expense unless you're thinking of water catchment. Does it rain enough there to water livestock and you? I don't envy you buying raw land....much harder to do.
Yikes that is quite a bit! Thank you for taking the time to really delve deep into these properties and what it would cost to make them work. Is 50k really the budget to build the house? We have a property in Colorado and were looking to build on it a few year ago and that was what we were looking at for just preping electricity,and putting in a well and septic. We were told by multiple places that we couldn't get anything put in for less then 300k for just the building, and mostly DIY we still estimated at least 200k. That was about 6 years ago
I know, the cost of everything is insane. We haven’t settled on our budget quite yet, but we are already seeing that we have to be really creative in what we build and at what point we can do certain things.
Crap 🫤 I really like the view of that other property. Regardless I’m sure you guys will make whatever property you’re at absolutely beautiful. At least the creek looks like the Shire 🤷🏻♂️
Bought myself a 40 acre homestead in E TN and I have to cross a 30’+ creek to get to the homesite. Post Covid it’s so outlandishly expensive (70-100k) that I am just holding off for now on doing any build. I feel your pain on the bridge and road budget hehe
Have you watched Doug and Stacy homestead please watch before you make decisions you don't need septic or electric find Amish people who make decisions for you and help create driveway
Im sure for a traditional driveway it would cost that but y'all would die just seeing the undeveloped road just getting to our property! But it seriously is in the middle of nowhere. I'd say maybe search a little longer for the perfect fit that maybe has pasture and forest for your hunting.
Did you do the math for getting water to the top of Sunny Mountain? Rain catchment is all good until you have a drought. Still think you have the right property.
Very interesting video! My husband and I have learned through time that we should only move forward on a decision if both are totally at peace with the decision. The bigger the decision, the more important this detail is. When we don't heed this, we pay the price down the road. If both of you aren't totally at peace with either property, don't move forward. The right one will appear when you least expect. Don't settle for less, even if pressured by other circumstances. In the future, you will apreciate the wait more than you can imagine now. We are starting off grid from scratch too.
I almost made a similar comment on the last video! My husband and I are both big on following peace. We almost settled for what we thought might be good enough, but there was always a nagging feeling. We definitely ended up blessed and I am so glad we waited!
Was going to say the same thing, this is us now too.
Agreed. When we were searching we looked at so many over quite a few years, and it was disheartening sometimes not finding every box ticked, or someone else offered more than we could - but the right place did come along and we are so ridiculously happy now!! If it's not the one, then it's not the one.
you could look for a third property option that combines the best of these two!
We have a winner Bob...Show him what he's won!
I assumed that these two were the best they could find that were affordable. Better sites were too expensive.
Patience, hold out THIRD PROPERTY, will show up! Widen region radar area, for possible land option!! Lower your standards and expectations. Having livestock established, should be first priority in land property location. Water of some resources should be top priority. Some states, ban any rain water collection of any type. Researching local vs state laws, on rain water, mineral rights etc. will help better secure the right property. Good Luck!!!
Unless you guys have a time limit and need to be out... I would personally wait for the best of both of those properties to come along, they are out there you just need to be patient for just a bit longer. Both properties are beautiful but I think you guys can do much better then both of those, looking forward to future videos! Happy homesteading
It's fun being on the viewing end of property searches! We spent 2+ years, and looked at ~100 properties until we found 'the one'. (and posted 60 of them on our YT channel). We love love love our property; it's a lot like your crawdad creek (although it already has infrastructure). Lots of hidden costs, 20+ years of re-foresting, lots of clearing and work to do to get it usable. However, we still love it. So peaceful. We are also in a bit of a valley, so no views, but that's ok for us. While crawdad creek is amazing, I think hilltop (forgot what it's called) will get ya'll up and running faster and that view...wow. I (silently) voted for hilltop on last video. just my 0.02. Looking forward to this journey with ya'll. BTW, you and a few select other Homesteading channels are what motivated me to move from the city to the rural areas to start our homestead. Thank you for what ya'll do. -Nate
Thanks Nate! That’s awesome you’re at your homestead now.
I’m glad you did this video because I’m new to all of this and am looking for land to start. I am now researching what I need to look for.
Thank you.
Wait til you see it's 10k for a well
2k for a small barn
running power in the mountains is a lot too
We just bought a 10 acre homestead in the Appalachians and learned a lot of hard truths. Praying for you
I learned while living completely off grid for three seasons. Rain water is better in middle TN vs a well. A large good tractor, 4 by 4 with a bucket of course is awesome. Being able to do most of the work is also huge as you know. We moved back on grid because we both work outside of our property. Now I'm 55 semi retired building a homestead and it's going well. God bless you
Wouldn't take either of them I think you should look until you take one look and know it's yours
Totally agree that Crawdad Creek is better. We know Temps are getting higher and water scarcity is real.
I hope that you consider setting up on the south side of a hill with plenty of sunshine from morning to dark. God Bless!
Love you including your parents in on this and sharing their company!
Thanks for keeping us guessing lol 😂😂 I pray y'all make the best decision for you and your animals.
Gotta keep you guessing, Nita 😂
What about doing flat rail cars as a bridge? That’s a popular option here in Washington state it’s not the prettiest option but they are functional for a long time
Having heard more of your thoughts I do think Sunny is the better choice.
The money to make it livable is one issue, but I actually think all the water might be to your detriment on Crawdad Creek. Issues with hoof rot and potability would potentially be huge problems (cows = nasty drinking water). That and if you allowed your animals close to the creeks, it could lead to sediment issues along the entire stream.
Sunny has the infrastructure, the ability to do solar for electricity, easy ability to do rainwater harvesting since it’s so open - with the benefit that if you’re collecting at the top and the animals are downhill, then you won’t have to pump anything (❤ Gravity).
It really does make more logical sense. I hope you are able to pick Sunny Mountain.
It was just a matter of choosing which set of problems you preferred. Both sites have problems, which is why they were cheap. If you had chosen the hilltop, you would now be discovering more about what is wrong with that site.
Wait for the right one don’t rush. Write down everything you want and need on your property and believe you will get it all in the one place
The baby is absolutely adorable
Thank you!
Just a thought... get a log slicer and you can mill so much of the stuff laying around and also a mulching machine.
I didn't get a chance to watch the last video about the two properties but I did see the photo of each and immediately knew the more open property would be the better option. Clearing and getting through land is expensiveeeeeee.
Plus, wet, mucky, muggy, buggy, etc when the land is so wooded. Definitely go with land that is pre-cleared. And has a driveway!? Yes, they are super expensive. It's insane.
I live on a site like sunny mountain. We built a passive solar house. Temps are down in the twenties at night right now and 30-40 during the day. The house stays at 70-72 degrees without any heating. Watch some videos by Alan Savory. You can use animals to improve the land.
Yes! Geo thermal opportunities too!
That’s awesome! Everyone should be building with passive solar in mind. And Alan savory has influenced a Lot of the decisions we’ve made over the last 10 years homesteading.
I've heard from homesteading family that when finding new homesite and it has water you need to find out if you have water rights to those creeks. I like the area where it's open in the sun and leave the forest mostly forest. If there would be snow melt you would want to be somewhat far enough away from the water for flooding purposes. Just a though? Glad you picked this property is thought it had more potential. Nancy from nebraska
I originally voted for Crawdad Creek. But I didn't realize it had that many creeks and ravines through it. Dirtwork is definitely expensive. I had work done 2 years ago. 16 yards of rip rap rock was $1000. Bullrock was $700/16 yd load. I had about 3 acres of dense trees cleared, stumps pulled and burned, dozer work to smooth, an 18" plastic culvert over the small ditch (not a main drive) and a rock spillway added to my pond, and it cost me $12,000. And they got to keep the pines to sell for lumber. They had a huge excavator, a dozer, and a skidsteer working over a week. But, I'm not sure Sunny Mountain is really the best for you, either. I know you want to get this new homestead going, but I'm hoping you find a third, more suitable property. Don't feel pressured to jump too soon. We will always be here, no matter what.
I meeeean... I did SAY that. I'm looking forward to watching you build no matter where you end up, but for some reason plumbing is cheaper than dirt work 😜
😂 that sounds suspiciously like an “I told you so!”
My property looks like that. The only creek is on the back side. I bought it two years ago in January. Yet as you said. Very expensive in doing so. So after I bought it the prices went threw the roof. Doing everything by myself. With tools I collected over the years. With no big tractors. It will cost me more in gas getting there and back then working the property. People love cutting trees and burning them. Yet trees are good for firewood but other resources as well. As even fence posts. Each to their own. Like I told my dad that tried to tell me what to do. You have your way. Everyone else has their way. I am doing my property my way. You all do yours your way. Enjoy.
Sunny mountain! I knew it lol. Crawdad looked like nothing but work, and ravines are not something I'd be willing to deal with (maybe there's more to the property we didn't see). Like others have said though, unless you're in a hurry to move, I would keep looking until you're sure of your decision. Excited to watch this journey. We made the move last year and it was brutal.
Crawdad looked like a jungle dream life could be there, like robinson crusoe type stuff you dream of as a kid! but it sure did look like a lot more work and expense to get up and running safely with kids and animals to look out for!
I wish I hadn't watched this on my TV so I could've replied. I honestly thought that Sunnyside Mountain would've been the best choice. Especially with how wet Crawdad Creek was.
Homesteaders live off rain water in Arizona you guys can 100% live off rain water on east coast. The sunny property is better in every way.
I immediately thought $50k bare minimum if there were no big rocks or trees in the way. Kay’s $5k unfortunately wouldn’t even cover the cost of the gravel finish layer. Dirt work is so expensive.
Yeah probably can't even do a subdivision driveway for $5k nowadays.
But DIY is far cheaper, Buy the machine and then sell it after a year. And is the really no route around with less crossings?
A bridge is going to be really, really expensive-
And with a very watery property like that, you could end up building on a seasonal spring which will make your foundation unstable and your basement wet and moldy-
Crawdad is going to be muddy and moldy!
Noooooo!!!!!! Crawdad Creek is swampy and buggy. Sunny Mountain is the way to go!
Access to water is the single most important issue in our context (Australia). Your valley site has potential for hydro power and so many other options - I almost drool over the possibilities I can see. Driveways can be innovative design on contour and built up over time. History is full of ways and means you can develop driveway for the short term that are not as expensive as initially indicated. Think dam/pond banks can also be a driveway.
That hilltop would have a serious water shortage and need a deep bore and pump to get water up.
Agree... what will hilltop cost in the long run? Water is life. Hope they keep looking, but I know the land search can be frustrating
OH MY GOSH! The suspense! You know I'm going to be wondering all night as I do chores.... WHAT'S THE GOOD NEWS!!!?? 😬😅
Something to think about. We've been offgrid for 11 yrs. We did the same thing. Bought heavily wooded property. We love it. But.... buying heavily wooded property set us back yrs. Seriously like 5 yrs or more. All the land clearing, leveling, stumps, tree roots. Unless you have the money and access to huge equipment it's a TON of work to get the land to the point where it's farmable. While other farmers are up and operating in 1 or 2 yrs we weren't able to really get serious about 7yrs in cause it took us that long to clear the land and build everything.
Wow! Awesome insight here, thanks for sharing! 11 years way to go!
We’re making some big decisions too. It’s nerve wracking. Gotta give yourself grace.
Picking a creek area.... Oh no. That's my parents' house in temperature rainforest. Learn how to deal with mould. Light, ventilation, vinegar, bicarb and a house on stumps. Not cheap construction! I know all about the problems of maintenance and costs of long driveways that are wet and slippery. Ticks and leeches are no joke either and in wet areas, the ants move into the house if they can. The hill top is so nice and you have the latest science to build top soil. Bridges can be done with suspended slabs, even timber rather than big pipes... it can be cheaper. But to be in a flood zone is crazily dangerous.
Ticks and leeches!!! 😳
You need to talk with your county building permit people because there are alot of requirements like setbacks from the road, can you use a non-conventional waste system like an outhouse, well permits, etc. If you get it wrong they will make you remove your structure(s). How close are emergency services, how close to suppliers etc. No homestead can be 100% self sufficient. How are you going to feed livestock when the creek freezes and the grass is gone? I think you need to consider what you would need to do if you were in need of cash and needed to get a job to supplement your income. Lots of factors
Yep, have talked to all the county officials. We’ve also been homesteading for 10 years now, so we’ve been very fortunate to have learned a lot along the way. And we have many mentors who have so much more experience that we are consulting with as well.
Love the intro and your new adventure!
Okay I take it back, for your budget, choose the sunny mountain
Once again…. There’s a third property, isn’t there…
Great video
what a cheeky ending!!!!
Another channel I watch just installed a driveway and culvert. You might want to look them up: Fernsby. They keep bees and have a garden, they're just starting out.
The creek is a money pit. Spend 50 to 70k and if you were to sell, it would not increase the value.
If you put the same amount into the sunny hill, you would find a increase or profit. I know you don't want to build just to sell again, but you would have that option if you needed/wanted it.
Always good to consider resale. You never know what will happen with your life.
Have a look at Sep Holzer's property in Austria and his work. He also has 2 books on the subject!
Great book
I knew the cost to get you far enough away from the road on that property was going to change everything. It's very expensive to build a road with culverts etc. Plus you haven't cleared a place for your house, pasture etc . The Sunny property already has the road and is cleared for house, pasture, garden and so on. Can't wait to see next Video Peace from WV
I'm very glad you didn't pick Sunny Mountain because of the potential fire hazard being at the top of a mountain. It's so hard to mitigate that risk when the fire could come from any side even without wind encouraging it. Access is vital, too, though. Can't live somewhere you can't get to.
Wildfires in the northeast are few and far between, especially fires that involve anything that isn’t on a cliff.
It’s really interesting reading everyone’s perspectives. Thanks!
Going off grid sounds great, however many decide later to hookup. I wonder which property would be easier to hook up if you decide to.
Great question! We actually are working on answering that question, have engineers scheduled to meet us to answer that
I’m at spot 2:02 and before I finish this video my first thought when I saw you picked your property, “what about snow run off in the spring? Does that area get a lot of moisture? Will it flood the land out? What’s the soil nutrients? What minerals are under the land?” My husband and i want to go off grid eventually but the more I learn about buying just land there are so many factors in play. Okay back to the video to see how this ends.
keep looking
Gahhhhh left us on a cliff hanger what the heck guyssssssss
Total fake out. I really enjoyed the video. I have spent somewhere around 8 grand in gravel just gravel to lay a base coat for our driveway to our homestead. You’ll want to get quotes for concrete for your house before deciding on a place because they have standards and minimums.
Good cliff hanger! I'm still rooting for sunny mountain!
Have you done a worst case scenario with Sunny Mountain for your biggest expense? Which sounds like access to water. Can you get water trucked in if you need it, or are you too far out. Can you sink a well? What is the average depth and price ranges for that region? What will be the price of upkeep on a well? Sunny Mountain looks better, if you haven't priced the worst case scenario for water access on a mountain.
By the way, in permaculture circles, the sweet spot for building on a mountain, is the mid-slope. You can used gravity fed water in a header tank, on the highest peak, with a solar powered pump to take water up to the header tank. Because it's gravity fed, the pump doesn't switch on, every time you turn on a tap. So they last longer. You also avoid the wind velocity on top of a mountain, as well as less intense bush fires at the mid-slope.
While the expense of a road does seem daunting, what will you be saving with gravity fed water, and not having to truck in countless loads of soil improvements? In my opinion, you need to spend more time on both properties, to see the different seasons at play.
PS: I think these two properties, both exist on the 100+ acres you're managing for Kay's family, and you're planning to subdivide off. Possibly?
Ooh cliff hanger!!!! Tune in next time. Boooo lol 😆 😂 I want to know now! 😝
Hope this message meets you in good health? What a beautiful and radiant smile you got. Pardon my guts for intruding into your comment how are you doing
You only need a 2” black pipe and 100’ or so of head water. Not like your building a city. Free electricity for the farm would be nice.
What kind of a head water would you get from your creeks if you funnelled the water through a pipe to a turbine to produce an amount of electricity.
It may help to dry portions of the property also. Pipe the water through.
This is an income making property. NO FEAR ONLY FAITH.
REALLY Aust….How you gonna leave us hanging like that 😂….Fingers crossed for you that you get Sunny Mountain property God Bless
I always love a good cliffhanger
I don’t know if you can take any ideas from this but.. Look at slag instead of gravel. gravel is like $25-30 a ton and slag is $6-7 a ton from the slag quarry where I’m at.. I bought 26.5 acres of woodland and my thought is in going to use free wood chips for a makeshift drive way because I’m not sure where I’m building and I’m not sure if it will even work but it’s free so I’m going to test it.. and I’m also putting a camper or tiny house on it until I have the money to build where and what I want to build. So maybe do something on this side of the creek and slowly work at it until you have everything for the crossings
I would put a well on the sunny mountain!
Keep looking if its not going to work for you and hope the mortgage rates go down in the mean time, unless youre paying cash. You have to have water, run off will not support self suffincency.
Well done...
When is the next video? Curious on what you discovered at Sunny Mountain.
Well, if 50k of your subscribers each donated $1, you could do it!😄 Seriously though, we had to give up the perfect spot for our forever home, due to the driveway cost, needing a bridge, etc. You also have to think of the cost to maintain it. Gravel is so expensive right now. Can't wait for the next video! I'm new to this channel and am going to enjoy watching your new journey.
This all makes me so happy I bought a property that already had a house, driveway, etc. New building is always more expensive.
I'd guess you'll spend 10-15k to try and get reliable water at sunny mt. Hard to gauge the length of driveway but if crawdad has aggregate in those hills, that will drastically drop the cost. Also the ponds don't need to be so much made by dams but rather by digging out the creek bottoms and letting the water overflow into the current creek bed. Than if later you want to dam it, you just get a deeper pond. If you can rent a 5 ton excavator for a.week or two for.a couple grand, you can do a pile of work. Leave stumps in the ground, just a pile of money for no real livestock benifit for pasture. My thoughts anyways
You should link the next video so we don't have to dig for it
Our area you have to have 30 acres before a logger is really interested. GA
Come to North GA!
5k for a driveway??? Mine was 15k. On flat, sandy land, no creek crossings and about 1/4 mile long. I did gravel with culverts down the sides.
Bro, what a cliffhanger video. I'm like angry at yall for doing this to me, yet I'll probably watch the next video as soon as it comes out to quell this "desire to know" inside of me. I sure hope this next video is worth the wait.
Well you could build or get a modular home down close to the road just for a while then sell it and half an acre and build up where you want to be.
No! No!
Choose Sunny Mountain!
I would cut some trees and make some temporary Bridges.
You forget simple, simple.
Just a gravel road would suffice on cheap side but sufficient and it would work. Nancy from nebraska
Withholding information from viewers when you have available could potentially backfire if I ever find that dislike button. I liked the sunny and dry property better, I would set up a rain water system, and maybe put a well in the future, but who knows if that's possible.
Crawdad creek has it's drawbacks.
Maybe you start by the road and get the basics done electric, sewage, water and down the road you work on the driveway to your permanent place you want to live and your home. This gives you time to explore and find the perfect spot.
We have to wait? Aaarrrrgggghhhhh! 😊
Money shouldn’t be the sole factor when it’s decades of living with the consequences.
Can’t wait to see the next video.
You'll spend that at the other property just getting water.
I'm with the lady on this one. Sunny Mountain is gorgeous!!!!
My only "fear" is... I'm not sure about the mountains in PA if that's where you're looking but here in VA the mountains are WINDY and COLD. Much colder then at the foot of the mountain and second how deep will your well have to be to hit water. You have to have water and that could also be a huge expense unless you're thinking of water catchment. Does it rain enough there to water livestock and you? I don't envy you buying raw land....much harder to do.
Good choice
You be the only person I know on ever to wear you got to drive over a creek to get to a house
Tree companies don't stump either. Is there any other possible entrance to the property?
They will stump, depending on what is agreed upon with the landowner.
Yikes that is quite a bit! Thank you for taking the time to really delve deep into these properties and what it would cost to make them work.
Is 50k really the budget to build the house? We have a property in Colorado and were looking to build on it a few year ago and that was what we were looking at for just preping electricity,and putting in a well and septic. We were told by multiple places that we couldn't get anything put in for less then 300k for just the building, and mostly DIY we still estimated at least 200k. That was about 6 years ago
I know, the cost of everything is insane. We haven’t settled on our budget quite yet, but we are already seeing that we have to be really creative in what we build and at what point we can do certain things.
@@Homesteadyshow I'm really excited to see what you all come up with for it.
Ticks!!
Crap 🫤 I really like the view of that other property. Regardless I’m sure you guys will make whatever property you’re at absolutely beautiful. At least the creek looks like the Shire 🤷🏻♂️
Sorry that didn’t work out! I hope the next one is better
Bought myself a 40 acre homestead in E TN and I have to cross a 30’+ creek to get to the homesite. Post Covid it’s so outlandishly expensive (70-100k) that I am just holding off for now on doing any build. I feel your pain on the bridge and road budget hehe
woo that is expensive! probably worth it though!
So mean to give a cliff hanger Aust.
😂 suspense is good, Cyndi!
Why don't you have the property timbered and let the timber co do the install of the driveway and bridges?
The property has been recently (50 years or so) timbered. So there aren’t many large trees to lose. Great option if we had more mature trees
Eastern Kentucky ❤❤❤😊😊😊
Have you watched Doug and Stacy homestead please watch before you make decisions you don't need septic or electric find Amish people who make decisions for you and help create driveway
Im sure for a traditional driveway it would cost that but y'all would die just seeing the undeveloped road just getting to our property! But it seriously is in the middle of nowhere. I'd say maybe search a little longer for the perfect fit that maybe has pasture and forest for your hunting.
Yes! There’s always the “basic” driveway model 😂
I think I commented to keep looking...
Sunny Mountain. Your worst year won't come close to an average Texas year for water issues and Texas is famous for rancheres.
That’s the truth!
with sunny mountain what can you grow in none productive rocks because that's what sunny mountain is,
I’m sad that it didn’t work out for you but I’m also So excited because I liked sunny mountain more (:
Keep looking.??!
Did you do the math for getting water to the top of Sunny Mountain? Rain catchment is all good until you have a drought. Still think you have the right property.