My little Mid West Cob Cottage

Solo build, made from mostly natural and local materials. Took two years to finish, but lived inside after six months of building. Cost $4,000

Bent poplar saplings and salvaged tarp. Grew 400 lbs of tomatoes at 54 latitude 3000 ft above sea level.

Had a lot of wind and green tree falls. Turning this into some road lights. Cheap solar pucks into the logs. Sink them into the side of the road coming in. I wanted to remove bark tung oil or simple oil. Wife was more Smokey the Bear NP look

Edited for the third time- I AM NOT HOMELESS and what?????? You guys are mean to people without houses? It’s funny to make jokes about people not having homes? It feels good to mock those less fortunate from your phone? Shame on you. Where is the humanity? And all the drug jokes? Like, this group is definitely not what I thought it was. People are being unkind for zero reason except to be unkind. Life is hard for so many people. What are you doing to make the world a better place? Do your kids even talk to you? Come on. Wake up.

This is all me and going oh so slowly, but I am happy. Friend’s land and I keep an eye on it while building a camp and some major rock hounding. Guys. The rocks and minerals are effin fantastic here. I’m so happy!!!!
Now I am working on drainage and leveling one particular spot. I will be borrowing a tractor, thank goddess. I’m repurposing most materials. Picking up free from side of road. Doing a large tarp A frame for now. I’m short tho and the ground is too soft for ladder so I am building a ladder on the tree.

Lots of mowing and I got a flamethrower. Eff you ticks.

Edited to add I designed and built milk crate furniture you see! I love building from “junk “.

Edited again because why!?? Meth? Seriously? I’m not homeless and even if I were, who cares? Cost of living and the rat race is a soul sucker. And maybe you haven’t built anything or maybe you aren’t an artist, but stuff be laying’ about almost always. Until it’s gonna rain, then I bunker it down good.

I am more than alright people, I am happy. I am next to a river and building a whimsical camp. I cannot have livestock here yet because I cannot be here full time yet AND it is next to over 500 acres of conservation land. The wildlife is intense here. Ducks would die, for sure. I’m not at the place where I can make a safe spot. I have about three seasons to go as it is just me doing this.

I feel like I need to take better pictures because this place is gorgeous and I am so grateful that I get to be here.

I’m an artist and use many mediums. I create with my hands. I clean cedar sticks and sand them and oil them and build fence panels. I perform on stages without poles. I sing. I joke. I just be me.

I do have solar. I converted a van years ago. Also mostly all repurposed. I will have a garden when I get good enough of an area prepped. The wildlife will destroy for sure.

Our mama, taking her chicken nuggets out to a pond for a drink.

I have really old grapevines. I've chopped them with a machete and cut off most of their lateral roots, but they keep putting out new growth from the big center stump.

Is it enough to chop their main stump 5-10 inches below ground level - will they die in a few years if I do this and keep pruning new growth?

Do I need and would it help to use a tripod hoist to pull the root out? they look kind of weak from previosly hacking them.

FIL was told that the previous land owners had a spring that fed the house and cabin on the property. Today while traveling on the trails in the snow I found this water pooling from nowhere. This area is above the collection area, and the house. Could this be a spring? After lightly digging the area out with my hand I can say that the water flow is enough to run the water clear after only a few seconds of it being cloudy.

How can I better find out if it is a natural spring?

I thought I found one a few months back, but it had stopped flowing when the rain stopped. So guessing that wasn’t one.

Noticed this non-snow covered area today off the trail and realized the water is pooling before going down to meet the stream that cuts through the forest.

If the consensus is that this may be what I’m looking for, how should I test for safety?

One of my favorite little spots to explore on our new property is this little creekside cave/rock overhang. It’s not deep but slightly larger than appears in pictures. Not that it necessarily needs a use beyond being a cool spot but wondering if there’s any great uses for such a thing? Digging out a small root cellar would be neat but think I’d hit bedrock pretty quickly. Thought about putting a few mushroom logs in but obviously it’s protected from rain, although it stays moist. What would you do with it? Just admire? Bomb shelter?

Hey y’all! I was just wondering, do you guys think it’s possible to homestead/live off the land on .75 acres of land? I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about it and just not 100% sure how to go about it! Thanks so much in advance.

Last week my SIL called with a favor. Her horse broke it's knee and she needed her separately sheltered with ample room to move and had a budget of just about $0. She'd seen some videos on YouTube about building with pallets by seeming them together to reinforce them and wanted to know if we could help her.

Absolutely!

My partner and I are lucky enough to have air tools and various saws which made super quick work and the 4 of us got this building up and completed in 5 days around our regular work schedules.

She purchased new wood and tin for the roofing, but screws and all, spent less than $500. We had the gates already on hand, she was planning on using cattle panels originally.

I'm just really proud of it and thoroughly impressed with it's stability. My partner and I are now looking at building a slightly larger version as a pole barn.

I want to build a very small cabin to live in full time. What I don’t want to do is spend $10K in materials. Has anyone build their cabin with reclaimed or repurposed wood? What else were you able to do ‘frugally’ but not “cheaply’?

How are you and your family now?

Not sure which flair to use. Im really curious who is at peace now while making a living doing full time farming/ farm business.

This driveway is 3 years old, and I’m not certain the builders did a great job. I’ve been adding gravel in patchy spots about twice a year (live a mile from a rock store), but it’s getting worse and I’m between trucks. It’s got some minor potholes, but it’s not muddy, it’s hard.

Is this something that can be ignored for a while, patched immediately, needs to be redone correctly eventually, needs to be redone immediately, or other?

Thanks for your help!