When we started our homestead back in 2010 we were living on land that was given to us to build our own home and become self sufficient. We started our journey by building a home from the ground up, attaining livestock like goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits and even geese! We milked, collected eggs, smoked our own meat. We gardened, canned, dehydrated all the while finishing up the interior of the home, adding a mudroom, front porch and a large workroom off the back of the house. After four years and nearly completing our home, we were asked to leave and take our house with us!
It was a devastating blow and many lessons were learned from this experience. The biggest one we wish to pass on to you, is no matter who you are dealing with family, friend or stranger, get everything legally in your name before you break ground. Makes perfect sense I know but when you trust someone to keep their word and they decide not to keep it, it becomes a long expensive battle in the courts to make things right. Because money was tight, we opted to not pursue the courts and instead looked for another place to create our homestead. We personally did not want to live between two hostile parties who thought nothing of throwing a family out of the home they built as a future with that kind of relationship would only be dark and hostile.
In the column on the left you can still find all the information on how we built our old homestead from the ground up including building techniques, materials used even special projects like custom bedrooms we made for our children. Although these don't exist anymore as we had to dismantle the home, we learned a lot from our experience and maybe it will help some of you in your own journeys.
Now it has turned 2015. We are now living in an old Maine farmhouse that was built in 1863. She is not perfect but is situated on 10 acres of land. We may not have built her but we are giving her a much needed face lift and updating so that she can be safe and efficient for our family. We will show you how we are doing this in steps so you too can use this information if you find yourself renovating an older home. We are also going to be replacing/rebuilding the barn at some point as it has seen better days, having trees harvested, reclaiming a 4 acre field, building all new animal habitats as well as making a new orchard! It is sure to be a busy year so I hope you will join us as our journey continues into a life of self sufficiency.
It was a devastating blow and many lessons were learned from this experience. The biggest one we wish to pass on to you, is no matter who you are dealing with family, friend or stranger, get everything legally in your name before you break ground. Makes perfect sense I know but when you trust someone to keep their word and they decide not to keep it, it becomes a long expensive battle in the courts to make things right. Because money was tight, we opted to not pursue the courts and instead looked for another place to create our homestead. We personally did not want to live between two hostile parties who thought nothing of throwing a family out of the home they built as a future with that kind of relationship would only be dark and hostile.
In the column on the left you can still find all the information on how we built our old homestead from the ground up including building techniques, materials used even special projects like custom bedrooms we made for our children. Although these don't exist anymore as we had to dismantle the home, we learned a lot from our experience and maybe it will help some of you in your own journeys.
Now it has turned 2015. We are now living in an old Maine farmhouse that was built in 1863. She is not perfect but is situated on 10 acres of land. We may not have built her but we are giving her a much needed face lift and updating so that she can be safe and efficient for our family. We will show you how we are doing this in steps so you too can use this information if you find yourself renovating an older home. We are also going to be replacing/rebuilding the barn at some point as it has seen better days, having trees harvested, reclaiming a 4 acre field, building all new animal habitats as well as making a new orchard! It is sure to be a busy year so I hope you will join us as our journey continues into a life of self sufficiency.