homestead... what do you need?

[WAB]

Not sure what part of the country this BOL is in, but I would add an off-grid method of for heating & cooking, probably wood, with propane backup.
Then I would get seperate but close by housing for each family. You may be tight with the 4 couples until you start living together in close quarters.A garden spot, and chickens.
So you have the basics, shelter, water, food, & heat. With security being a ongoing process.

Having assumed you have talked to these familkes of coming to your place, I would make sure that the other families had something to live in by themselves. Campers or those already built storage buildings. You can take the storage buildings, wire them for electricity, plumb them for water, wire them for telephone and maybe TV, make a small bath with commode and shower, make a kitchen area with sink and whatever else, run gas lines if needed or add a wood heater, insulate them. It would still look like a storage building from the outside. Have the families preposition supplies,etc.
As preparing for a hurricane, you need to do that BEFORE you need it than after!!


WAB

[pixel]

you should be planting perennial edibles NOW!! Why now because the sooner the better. It takes a long time for some trees and bushes to become mature enough to start producing fruits or nuts. Forest gardening or gorilla gardening is a good way to go. Find your land on Google Maps and draw out how you want to layout and design it where trees, fences, pond, creek, etc all go. Look at whats around you that you might not have been aware of.
Rainwater catchments are cheap water security. Even though you have a creek and maybe one day a pond one can never have too much water.
Do you have any cleared areas for farming? if not you need them. Good sunny location where you can pump water to reasonably. A solar well pump or small solar pump from the creek or lake will help irrigate your farm field.
Battery, solar, wind backup. Those security cameras you want will be useless without power. Make sure you have some sort of backup power in an emergency. redundancy is your best survival tool. have at least three different ways to do the same thing.
Fencing is nice as it keeps honest people honest. Sure its easy to circumvent but we arent keeping the bad guys out just people that may be wandering onto your property.
Animals. You need them for food and security. Nothing beats a good dog for security and letting you know whos here that shouldnt be. (except maybe guineas) Rabbits, fish in that pond, chickens, goats, and more. chickens are good at keeping the bugs down, provide eggs, and meat as well as manure for your fields. Goats can provide meat, milk, cheese, and keep areas cleaned out of bad brushy areas.
Storage storage storage. If you are going to have people possibly moving out there with you where will they stay, sleep, bathroom, shower, etc. Do you have backup systems of all of these? Small hunting campers work wonders and give people more privacy to sleep change clothes etc. Have communal dinners to save fuel when cooking. Composting toilets or humanure setup helps relieve the septic system.

Hope that gives you a few more ideas and let us know how it goes and what more you do. Sounds like fun doing much of the same thing here. :)

[rockriver]

small diesel tractor
fuel tanks diesel and gas
##both treated with pri d and pri g purchased from a company named JRH##
to help the fuel last longer

[610Alpha]

Cows eat a lot and from what I remember about Wisconsin is there is a long winter up there so you will need to put up a lot of hay or grain or both to get through the winter.

Living in Wisconsin, I am completely accepting of incorporating dairy cows. I am familiar with milking techniques. Besides producing milk, cows would have other benefits. They really wouldn't require food besides grasses if they are available. Plus, their waste is good for restoring soil.

[rockriver]

i got "into the story"
and forgot the list.
water

.. the stream is too dry.
big berkey water filters and clorox. and finish the well!

[rockriver]

elittle,
great suggestion.
the tractor is a 990 by serial number it was mfg in 2006 the equipment is varying ages and conditon, but all functional. the tiller is 06 also.
the next time you come by notice that garden behind his house.. that's all the tiller was ever used for. shoot, that garden's only about 100 by 300 ft.
the Floalaga jd dealership does the work on his equipment. i know them through my work. they said all equip. was in great shape except the 5' rotary mower. the gear box leaks bad. it is an off brand from italy! they advise total package to a good customer would be 17000 o.t.d. new.
used. they could get 12,000. quickly. by the way the farmer has 300cx front loader that looks new in his hay barn. the only thing he has that can use this is the 990.
the tractor is diesel.
the 10 acres is mostly open pasture. gently slopes downward toward the road. on the back side, there is a small head of mixed trees. mostly overgrown. it's boggy back there. a small stream comes out of the boggy area and spreads into the pasture that we are talking about. farmer says
it's an artesian ?? i don't know what that means. but i know that boggy area puts out water year round. keeps the first 5 acres green. the deer come and out of there regular. i've seen a few hogs too.
--
i'm holding up talking to the farmer again. i want everybody to check out the land first. gotta find out what an artesian is. good thing? or bad?
farmer acted like i should know. he seemed proud to have it. that water soaked area didn't look like a positive thing to me!
--

[610Alpha]

rr - get more details about the tractor, model number etc, same goes for all the attachments then call up the local JD dealer and ask them what used would retail for with all the details.

"He who has the most information and patience wins the negotiation" - Quoting Dave Ramsey who quoted someone else.

Sounds like you are getting somewhere....Depending on the details for the tractor you might go up to 2750/acre. Is the tractor Diesel?

What do the 10 acres look like? Who pays to have it surveyed and carved out? Lots of little details still to be figured out.

[rockriver]

arc,
dept of nat. resources (i think that is correct name) in our area have some "fisheries." actually i don't know if they grow fish for distribution into
public rivers/lakes or if the public can go buy or obtain fish from them...
thanks for the x10 comment arc, yes.. they have a website that another couple have recommended. if you've heard negative stuff about them, do you have a recommendation of where we can get cameras and monitors. ... hey do you know tim... yeah... the guy that does all that bank work? i've seen boxes full of old cameras etc.. in his warehouse. you know him better than i.. good guy and he'd know how to wire them up,
but you know his idea about survivalism.. "with my weapons, i don't need to store food" that philosophy concerns me. but would you ask him
if they could sell you some workable cameras, wire and monitors... i think your church needs some equipment don't they.. i believe you and i could rig up the wiring. probably best not to have tim out here. good guy. great 2nd amendment supporter, but he doesn't have a single extra can of beans.
--
guys, we've all seen that foundation that's in place.. it's about 30 x 30..
i'm thinking that as money is available, how could we build a real strong chapel/meeting house/defensible structure/bol safe house?
any ideas.. i've dug down around that foundation. it is real solid with wide and deep footings. ideas?
--
by the way.. consider this offer for the land. farmer has a small 40 hp john deere. he just used it around the house. not in his farming operation. it only has 500 hours. he's got a finishing mower, rotary mower, fertilizer spreader, 4' tiller, box blade and a boom pole that all go with it. he'll take 3500/acre if we close soon, for 10 acres and he'll throw in the tractor and gear. at new prices that's probably 16,000 worth of equipment. used maybe 11- 12,000. should we go for the 10 acres and the tractor? i've checked. the engine is a yanmar.. sips fuel.

[arcangel911]

rockriver-

A DNR (Dept of National Resources- NOT a Do Not Resuscitate (got into trouble a while back ;) )) supplied pond??? Tell me more...

Also, x10 as in home surveillance and home automation program??? If so, be cautious a while back I looked into x10 and the reviews and the programming with support were not good. (Sam's Club though has some nice surveillance systems for a decent price....

[rockriver]

this location is in the southeast. it's hot. but you can make it be your location. feel free!

we found a bud with some equipment. the dam for pond is going in. i called the dept of nat. resources. they've signed me up for some
little fishies to stock the pond.
found some scrap lumber real cheap. gonna build a chicken coup.
a house that adjoins the property is going up for sale. also brick. but up on the road. about an acre lot with lots of grape vines and fruit trees.
a low offer has been made.
a farmer next door wants 4000/acre. too high. most of it is in rough pasture. made a 2,000 offer per acre for another 10.. trying to do it gently.
we don't want to make him mad, but we heard he lost his day job and wants to sell out completely. he's got about 300 acres and a small but well built frame house way back off the road. wish we had a rich guy in the group!
some fema trailers are being auctioned off nearby. they are going for about 3,000 each. considering this to help with short term housing.
one couple thinks we need a milk cow and calf. i'm staying quiet. we had one when i was a kid for about 3 years. i didn't like milking it then..
but i did it. i think it's a good idea. but i'm gonna let the group make the call. no one else has ever messed with cows. i want them
committed to the idea.
(that will be fish, chickens, milk)
the metal building has one room about 400 s.f. that used to be a craft shop. insulated, and commercial carpet. hmm. if we insulated the other area, about 1100 s.f. it could serve as living quarters in an emergency.
a gate would be a good idea.
x10 has a video surveillance system one couple wants the group to order. i don't know much about these, but the price looks cheap.

[Bearman202]

Just a thought I've been tinkering with. Rather than relying on fifteen packs of the 12-24 roll of TP from Wally World, how about buying some older, used diapers from a diaper place and making some wipes with them? Make them slightly larger than your average pot holder, and hem the edges so they don't come apart. Then you use them, toss them in a bucket, then wash them. I know that sounds nasty, but I'm thinking that after a bit, you're going to run out of TP. Rinse the wipes really well, maybe dip them in a mild chlorine solution, hang them on a line, and you have a source of never-ending, (or at least not for a LONG time) TP. Thoughts?

[610Alpha]

excellent point arcangel911, I would go to Sams or Costco or online and get a couple cases of those big rolls of tp that you see in bathrooms in schools, dept. stores, etc... Might even be more cost efficient :)

[arcangel911]

Toliet paper..... that or more phone books ;)

(Will post more later- I am at school for the moment...)

[610Alpha]

I second what ex121 said, you will want more housing for those additional families. Lesson learned from "Patriots" upgrade your septic or add out houses now, LP/OP, foxholes/ambush spots, and range cards (Matt in Oklahoma).