And by A Lot… I mean… a lot!!
This particular 9+ acres of land not too far from our current residence came to our attention recently. This lot has a lot going for it… and a lot going against it. And that’s why we think we can get it for a lot…less than the asking price.
The things going against it include very limited utility infrastructure and a nearby “river” (not seen in this view, as it is concealed by trees, but there’s a waterway along the left side of “The Strip” and it turns at the lower left and follows the bottom property line for a while) which causes significant portions of the property to be designated as wetlands. Wetlands more than anything in this case simply means: there’s a bunch of things you can’t do with it.
However, one may have a home on wetlands (we would put ours at the dot). One may do small amounts of farming (in The Strip) on wetlands. One may construct adjunct buildings such as a shed / barn / workshop on wetlands, provided one is generally respectful of what’s there already. In this particular case, the “wet” part really refers to protected runoff areas that drain into the “river” and not actually wet land per se. The land is sound and the banks of the waterway and surrounding features suggest that flooding doesn’t really happen. Or if it does, it’s rare.
So no town water or sewer? No problem. We were going to use a well, manage graywater, and compost solids. Electric? That’s what the sun is for, though there is actually electric utility poles on the property. Internet? Get that from cell towers or dishes.
The property listing stipulates that any use must be approved by the town zoning board – doubtless because of the wetlands thing. I wrote to the zoning agent and revealed our plan: tiny homestead, apiary, workshop, light farming. He said: cool, all good, except the current regulations say you can’t live in a “mobile home” year round in the town. And then he said “so we’ll have to tweak the regulations to find a way to make this work”. So now we’re both putting together an offer for the property and getting educated on how to make an appeal to the ZB for accepting our TH as something other than “a mobile home”, which while technically it is a home and is mobile, it is so not one of those. It’s much more like a modern cabin that happens to be built on a chassis with wheels under it. Except for that foundation, it’s built like a conventional house. We’re working on that part.
I didn’t think that we’d be looking for land before the TH was done but this came into view and seems uniquely well suited to our homestead plan, so, hey, why wait? And if we can get it for the price we think it’s actually worth, it’ll be quite affordable.
More on this as things develop.
Today I officially opened construction season (it’s been oddly cold and anyway, there have been other pressing projects and everything is more complicated with this C19 stuff, which is why the delay). How did I mark the occasion? I have settled on a system for electric power management. It’s this.
What’s this? It’s three very useful things, all put together. 1. 4kW charger/inverter to direct energy in and out of the battery system and make AC to run appliances, etc., in the house. 2. Control Center with cut-off switches, breakers, surge protection devices, etc. 3. Battery charge controller to manage energy flow in and out of the battery system.
I also bought two of these.
One each for the two 48V battery banks. This widget monitors the 16 individual LiFePO4 cells, keeps their charges balanced, looks out for various limit conditions and cuts the battery bank out of the system if a limit is exceeded (over charge, under charge, over current, out of balance, cell failure, temperature out of range). It doesn’t look like much but it’s a critical safety system.
So, yeah, there’s a lot going on. And there’s a Lot going on. As soon as the power management system arrives, I will find a place for it in the TH and begin to build out the battery cabinet. That will start to define the interior space a bit better, as well as some critical areas of the storage/utility loft.
And it needs to get just a little warmer before I install that mural into the bathroom. Or maybe it’s warm enough already! I should check the tube of adhesive. And I should probably buy more. And that is more complicated than it used to be, what with that nasty virus going around.