I do not want to squelch your dreams, of course, but I have to honestly say your moving place does sound like a lot of work, time and money also. You know better than me, but that is the way I see it. I also see it as a lot of time spent on something that might not be sustainable in the long run as you get older. Then again, this kind of lifestyle does not appeal to me at all anyway. Even when I was younger I would not have liked it.
This all said- I do admire you- and other people - who attempt to live this way.
Not stomping my dream, please do say what you see - I need objective outsiders, because, what am I missing?? Tug is a good place for this, no one is going to take personal shots at me, which I do expect from my family.
For me, the idea is to live darned near free, eat nearly free, and as I get the food going, work on creating other revenue streams. possibilities are endless, a major attraction for me.
I think the active lifestyle will preserve my youth, plus the fulfillment of growing stuff and eating what I grow. Plus, massive decrease in stress, more free time. I look forward to grow season every year, but I'm really only interested in growing veggies and flowers, I don't particularly care to mow, and chopping crap down is my least favorite. Here, all of that is my complete responsibility. there? none of it. Tend the gardens, the stuff I like.
With proceeds from home sale here, and savings otherwise, I can handle a year or two of little food production/sale. I will want to buy a greenhouse at some point, probably make it instead. I'll need a root cellar, someplace to hang herbs to dry, etc., but, build vs buy. I will need to fortify the soil every year, but, a load of dirt plus bales of hay are very cheap. She also has a massive compost effort going, the first one is now "closed", one year in. That is going to be super food for the plants. I am very good at growing from seed, so won't need to buy plants nor seeds, unless starting something new, or my saved seeds go bad somehow.
I grow, we eat, we sell, we donate. Hunger is a problem that won't be going away, so I'm hoping to make a dent in it down there. I look forward to being a vendor at a farmer's market but ideally, people come to us.
I'd like to help build stuff, but she is all over that. She has 2 guys that want to be camp assistants, so, hired labor can take care of a lot of it, and paying them isn't from my pocket. If I need my own assistant, I'll pay for it, but I don't see that happening. I can always get a job, too, tho I really don't want to. I'm 7 years from early claim on SS and can hopefully push that out to age 70, but, I'll take it when I need it. Annual dividends right now could float my decreased expenses (but not expenses here!), so, I'll be fine even if floods wipe out my first two seasons.
I won't have to pay a mortgage, property tax, home insurance, home repairs, no elec bill, no water bill... only car insurance, phone, internet, groceries, meds. She paid for controlled burn , the initial clearings , the well, the solar set up (I'll add panels because I will use elec more than her). If I want to, say, clear 3 acres to put up a manor house, that's my cost, but I don't see that happening. If I want running water in a cabin I put up, that's my cost.
I'm not sure how the AirBnB thing is going to go, but, if it takes off, I could see adding a structure every year, with bath house sooner vs later. One full bath right now is fine, but not once there are guests.
