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| View from the road |
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| Somewhat run-down little house |
Beginnings of a future duck coop near the pond?
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| Rather run-down kitchen |
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| House from the side and rear |
The place in Arkansas fell through, and I am kind of glad now that it did. It had a quit claim deed, and that violated the terms of the buyers agreement so I got to back out of it and it did not cost me anything (except expenses for a trip to Arkansas.)
This property I jokingly call Swamphaven, I got out there not long after a rain and it was crawdad country. The soil is heavy black gumbo that repels the rain, it has two ponds on it (one well-built, the other appearing a little improvised.) The house I would call barely habitable (though considering the state of Wildhaven I probably shouldn't throw stones.) It is nearly a perfect size for me, but rather run down. Thankfully the roof seems to work, there's no internal water damage, though I might throw a steel roof on at some point. It probably needs a proper livestock-proof fence around the property. The property is 3 acres which should be about right for me.
I was going to build raised beds anyway, but on this property they would truly be needed as the land appears to have been bottomlands in relatively recent geological time. Heavy, black soil, full of nutrients I am sure but it needs to get some air and drainage into it before it will grow vegetables. The big pond is clean and full of minnows, the small seemingly improvised pond more muddy and was probably intended just for drainage which is what I will use it for too. Apparently the neighbor's livestock has been grazing it, which has kept the land cleared and the weeds down, but I will need to fence it off. No garden plants for you, cowies.
I signed the agreement for it today, closes in 30 days if all is well. I can't wait to get back out there, the air smells so lovely. Full of green things. It's 20 miles from Paris, Texas which is a good-enough sized town that I can get everything I would need there, but it is also in an utterly secluded area. There is one house on acreage next to this one, and then only fields and pasture on a gravel road to nowhere. I don't think they'll have subdivisions there anytime soon. ;)
Assuming everything goes ahead, I am going to burst into a flurry of activity. I have stuff to move, nonessentials first and then once I get everything lined up I will move out there altogether. I have to get a proper cell phone with unlimited data plan and a wireless hotspot so I can connect out there. I need a proper laptop. I'll need a power system and to build a variable-angle platform to mount solar panels on, plus the interior batteries/power station. I am going to massively insulate one room of the house, the bedroom/power room, so I can run a window AC in there and keep it cool in summer without completely destroying my battery charge. Once the brothers get what they want out of the house and it gets sold, I have literally a year's worth of work to do on the property. I need to get seeds, LOTS of seeds, in the hopes I might actually get a crop in this year. That's honestly going to be touch and go.
There's actually more to be done than I have space or energy to write about. But it is exciting. :)
The overall goal: get as self-sufficient and independent of global food/energy grids as I can. Grow my own food, produce my own power, possibly obtain my own water (though there is co-op water available supposedly.)
