Kevin Carpenter Introduction

[9ball]

Well done Kevin! Now the hard (and fun) work really starts eh?

[kevinc_63366]

Too much to do, but the first thing is to determine what our house will cost.

We had considered putting a cabin in, for weekend use only, and later building a full-time residence. However I'm not comfortable making that type of short-term expense. Yeah, we MIGHT be able to rent it out, perhaps to one of my kids, but it more likely we would just let them stay there free. We think its better to just plan on building my late-life house - even if that takes us several years to be able to afford.

Reality is that I'm 49, my wife is 35, we have a 14 month old daughter and another on the way (yes, thats an announcement!). If I retire around 65, I'll still have kids in high-school, so we need a real house, not a bare-bones retirement place. Well, "Need" is a strong word, perhaps "Want" would be better...

If the house cost too much, we may settle on building something else we will need long term: A barn. I'm toying with something that could house 2-4 draft horse and a couple of milking cows, as well as some farm equipment. In the short term, I suspect we could fix up the animal stalls as rough bedrooms for weekend/holiday use. We have Amish in the area, and they are known for doing outstanding work on such things. Yet another thing to check out.

First real thing to do is to close on the property - in 48 hours that will have been accomplished, then give it a nice long walk and figure out options around where we would want a house. Once thats done, we can draw up the options and start planning gardens, orchards, and the like.

Alas, this Saturday/Sunday is suppose to be rainy and VERY cold, only slightly above freezing Saturday and below freezing Sunday, so I'm not sure how much walking we will do.

[Smallholder1]

Looks like the 'real' work is just beginning then! But I can't help being ever so slightly envious at the thought of creating something like you've got in mind from scratch.

Reality is that I'm 49, my wife is 35, we have a 14 month old daughter and another on the way (yes, thats an announcement!).

And many congratulations on the arrival to, well, arrive!

[kevinc_63366]

Actually, its kinda scary. My soul tells me this is important for the long term survival of my line, but I really hope that is not so. Life is CUSHY now, it won't be if my fears come true.

Kevin

[kevinc_63366]

Hi all... been awhile since I posted. A LOT has been going on.

One tidbit: I've created a webpage for the area: [url]http://www.mysticplains.org There you can find links and read a bit about what the entire area is doing. There is also a link to my Blog which tells a bit more.

Right now the big question is what to do next. I've worked with state and federal conversation people and have a 2 year plan for the land. Some of that work is out for bid now. Personally I need to decide if I want a tractor to do my own work, or to hire that out, and if I buy, how big a one to purchase.

We did get bids for the shell from our log home company: About $95K. To that I would need to add the basement, doors, windows, and roofing to make it weather-tight. Plus a septic tank, cistern, run power and water lines, etc. I figure about $150K total - and that would kill us financially. So... we are thinking of perhaps having the basement poured, putting the sub-floor down, and then temporarily roofing over it. The basement plans had a kitchenette and bathroom already - so if we finish those, we would have a place to stay on weekends. Figure that project at around $50K, which is at least doable, and would include the septic tank, cistern, power runs and the like, and would all be usable when we wanted to raise the house proper in future years. The only waste would be the temporary roof, and I suspect I could recycle much of that material.

Cheers,

Kevin[/url]

[kevinc_63366]

Its been too long folks - lots has happened:

First, my son was born almost a year ago! Ok, took care of the family stuff...

On the farm, we finally have a weatherproof "basement" house. Last weekend I managed to hook the toilet up to water, and two sinks - so we have hot and cold running water now! Most of the walls are just studded, not dry walled yet. This weekend we will be taking out a freezer, refrigerator, and a stove. We are ALMOST ready to move in - suspect hanging a door on the bathroom may get us there.

We also built a playground set for the kids, which they love and spend hours on (odd how that took priority over working on the house).

This spring we burned 60+ acres to help encourage the native warm seasons grasses to grow - that has proven VERY successful. Alas, the variety of plants that have come in make the property look a bit ragged - but such is life.

Very soon we will be launching some fund-matched soil conservation efforts. We will be building 3-4 "dry hole" structures. These are like small ponds, except they have a pipe in the bottom to drain the ponds to a local stream. The point is that during a heavy rain, the water will enter the pond and slow down, dropping its sediment, and not building ditches. In the hours/days that follow, the rainwater will be released to the local waterways. Missouri state is covering 75% of the cost of this work - so its a pretty good deal.

We have also applied for the US Grassland Reserve Program. Here the government will actually pay me a one-time payment of $800/acres (about half of what I paid for the ground) in exchange for a permanent easement on the property. Once under easement, I will be allowed to graze or hay the land, but not build on it or row crop it - neither of which we planned on doing! The funds will allow us to finish our house, built a multi-acre lake, and perhaps pay back some of the land loan.

All but 3 of the fruit trees came back this year, and all of the replacements for those three seem to be doing well. Most of vines and berries are doing well as well, although they are buried in weeds (yet another task for this weekend).

We are establishing a bit of a network in the area. My job, like most in the USA, is less stable than it has historically been - so we are at least exploring options for moving out there sooner rather than later if my job here disappears. Won't be easy though.

Guess that's about it.

Cheers!

Kevin

[Green Aura]

Hi Kevin, and welcome.

I had to smile, as I was scrolling down the page of active posts I saw Bob the builder followed shortly after by what I thought read Kevin the carpenter.

I thought we were starting a new -ish building firm.

Sounds like a brilliant idea to me - just not sure where Maggie the aromatherapist fits in!

[ina]

Hi Kevin, good to see you are still with us. You have been busy...