What do other readers consider to be most important to look for in a potential homestead? We are buying property in VA. We already know a source of water is very important. What about soil? How do you judge?

Also, what is the best way to clear land. All property we are considering is completely wooded.

-- Alana Potter (lester@erols.com), May 02, 2000

Answers

If you can,try to get a place that has nice neighbors. Bad or obnoxious neighbors can make even the nicest homestead unbearable! I would also tend to be interested in whether or not they are heavy chemical users who are going to be polluting the ground water, and possibly poisoning you thereby.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@transport.com), May 02, 2000.

1. price 2. location 3. access 4. water 5. neighbors

-- homestead2 (homestead@monroecty.net), May 02, 2000.

In Reader's Digest's Back to Basics it says to take a shovel and dig a hole. Look at the soil. Is it clay, sandy, loam, rocky? Dig down about 12 inches. How far down is the topsoil? It should be 6-12 inches deep. Of course, any soil can be made better with cover crops and compost but that takes time, money and work. If you are willing almost any soil can do, even the worst can be gardened with raised beds.

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), May 02, 2000.

If possible, try to look at the property during different seasons. Observe it for at least a year. Different weathers can show the property at its worst and best.

Talk to neighbors. If you are not familiar with the area, neighbors can tell you what is good and bad about the area and if there are any political situations that may not be desirable. For example, is a hazardous waste landfill being contemplated nearby for in the future. You may laugh at that, but it could be any situation like that. A friend of mine was contemplating buying a farm with just that situation going on in the area. He finally decided to buy the place when he found out he would be up wind and far enough away that it wouldn't bother him.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), May 03, 2000.

I agree with Rebekah about the neighbors, I'm currently selling my "dream homestead" because of the neighbors not liking livestock and allowing their dogs to run loose and tearing up the terra with ATVs all hours of the night. We just aren't on the same wavelength!

Following that line of thought, my next place will have plenty of frontage! and deepness.

Also, study development trends. Is there a nearby city expanding? Lots of new home starts in the "country?" I was first in my present area; the "yuppie" neighbors built their $300,000 country homes a few years later...learn from my tribulation. If any of the above is true, is there a lot of large farms with open fields near--developers love to buy those and divide them up into 5-10 acre "slot-farmettes."

Check for deed restrictions. Maybe some insightful politician put a frontage requirement on new builds.

Homesteading means doing things that most people think you are nuts to do. So, I think a certain amount of space is needed. Unless you can find great neighbors with common interests to share.

I'm also looking (have found) wooded acreage to clear. I'm too old to buy open land, plant trees and wait for them to mature. I'd rather carve my spot out of the woods and produce lots of firewood in the process and have shade where I need it now. The land I found,has about 10 acres of very mature white pine planted 12 x 12. And I'm planning on having a lumbering company clear enough out for my home, barn, and pasture. That way I get a rough driveway, trees cut and hauled, and get some of the needed lumber for building and only need to pay for the price of milling, which will be paid for by the money I get from the lumber company. I'm hoping this plan all comes together. I'll let you know.

Soil tests are a good idea. Although, for crops, you can always alter the soil over time to fit your needs.

Have somebody check the land, soil/type for drainability for your septic system.

Ask around the area about the availability/quality of good ground water.

Hopes this helps some. I'll be watching this thread for more ideas that I'll need too!

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), May 03, 2000.

Beauty, good tasting water, proximity to things you will travel for, neighbors. Thriftiness. Best way to clear land; cut down a swathe for your road or hire it done.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), May 03, 2000.

All good points to keep in mind -- here's another -- check the amount of sun the property will get at different times of the year. A place on the north side of a hill or at the bottom of a narrow steep-sided valley can be very gloomy for weeks at a time in the winter -- just when you most want as much sunshine as you can get. And of course the amount of sun will affect growing conditions, and how long the snow or ice stays on the ground in the winter. My in-laws have a north-facing property, also very heavily shaded by tall pines to the south, and winter lasts a lot longer at their place than the place on the other side of the same hill.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 03, 2000.

Find out what is up-stream from you. Close water is not enough if there's something nasty coming into it upstream from you.

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), May 03, 2000.

Make for sure you are not in a flood plain! Our whole town floods-- but we are on a side of a hill we can see the water comming-but we are up high enough it doesn't get us! But we have been flooded in for several days/ some times with out phones & electricty, or water. I'm an old farm girl who always has food, water, oil lamps, & the things we need to get by. But it is terrible helping our nieghbors clean up or get rid of all they lost! The last flood we lost three more houses in town & this is a very, very, small rural town--most would not call a town at all. --I would also go to the area coffee shop, when it is raining & hear what the farmers are talking about in the area! Gives you a real clue to the hot topics of the area!

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), May 04, 2000.

I also live in Virginia and find it a very nice state to live in except for the darn red cement, oops I mean clay. It never occurred to me to look under my feet when I was buying the property because it was a nice pretty pasture land with a well-built stable. But the first spring when we brought out the rototiller to plant the garden we got a surprise. We have the largest troy-built and it barely made a dent in the dirt. We had to have the guy next door come over with his tractor and disk it for us so we could till it. Since then we have been concentrating on putting compost, leaves, grass clippings, etc. on it to make better soil but it is a long process. We plan to really dump on it this year so it will be better faster. I plan to use that method this fall that you put about 18 inches of mulching material on it and overwinter it and till it in in the spring. We have also built some raised beds to get by while we are building up the soil. Some day this will be a really nice garden but for now it is a lot of work instead of a lot of pleasure.

Secondly, I echo the comment about the flood plain. There are some parts of Virginia that have quite bad flooding problems and you want to make sure you are not in the middle of them. By the way, what part of Virginia are you looking in? We live in Stafford which is forty miles south of Washington, DC. It is a nice area but it is expensive to buy real estate. If we had not bought seven years ago I don't think I would be able to buy a homestead in this area now.

Good luck.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), May 08, 2000.

Alana, one of the things I did when I got my land in Virginia was to go to the county agricultural agent, forester, and all the local government folks I could find. They were all very helpful. They gave me aerial photos of my area and soil maps and invited me to various short courses and lectures -- many of which I have gone to.

Much of Virginia has the red clay. In the spring and wet weather, it turns to grease, in the summer it bakes as hard as adobe. However, if you amend it with lots of compost, or even just mulch your plants heavily, it does quite well. Where my land is, is mostly a yellow thin soil. When it rains hard it turns the consistency of malted milk and you can get your vehicle mired badly. In the summer, this soil turns to adobe, too. Some cities in Virginia provide free bags for the residents to put their leaves in, which they kindly set out by the curbs, so do like I do -- fill up your truck with leaves which make wonderful compost!

As to the wooded land. Loggers are very fussy and generally they want all or nothing. I took a three-credit course in forestry, one unit of which is on harvesting and selling timber. One of the most important things I learned from that course was that the best choice is to have a professional timber broker "cruise" your land. He will measure and mark all your trees and put the trees up for bid which can make a big difference in the amount of money you get.

Ha! But you don't want to clear cut? Well, of my 23 acres, the logger I chose bid on all my trees but he only cut seven and a half acres. They laid a very nice road out for me on a ridge which would have cost a fortune if I'd hired an engineer. Loggers made a big clear area to load the logs and they make skid trails over which they drag the logs to be loaded. They are supposed to follow Best Management Practices. Virginia has a good forestry site and you can learn a lot there.

Anyway, you are welcome to come see my land and see what the loggers did and look at the soil and etc if you like. I am always happy to exchange ideas with homesteaders or prospective homesteaders as long as they are peaceable!

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), May 08, 2000.