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Land Hunting Entries

Mission Accomplished

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

It is 12:41 AM on November the 3rd. The year is 2012. Tara is snuggled up next to me, fast asleep. I am awake and programming, busy overhauling the internals of our website in preparation for the upcoming release of Tara's first book: Bike. Cam...

Land Hunting, Part Fourteen: We Did It!

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

I'm fast asleep in the passenger's seat. We're somewhere in Ohio, and Tara is nudging me. Without a word, she hands me the phone with a smile, and continues driving. I'm groggy and confused, blinking away a hazy veil that has been drawn over my ...

Land Hunting, Part Thirteen: Our Final Offer

Friday, September 16th, 2011

We've decided to go for it! We just made another offer on the Maple Hill Road property, and this one is five thousand dollars less than the last. We're hoping the difference will be enough to cover the septic permitting process. Bonnie (the real...

Land Hunting, Part Twelve: A Solar Survey

Friday, September 16th, 2011

For the last few weeks, Tyler has been in contact with Solar Pro, a solar hot water heating company in town. Last night, he called to see if they had time for a last minute appointment, and our contact, Karen, agreed to meet us at 10:00 AM! We've...

Land Hunting, Part Eleven: A Rainy Day in Vermont

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Tyler: The sun is hiding behind a sheath of steel blue skies this morning. A damp chill hangs in the air, leaving the world without any measure of doubt: fall is here. As we lay in our tent, listening to the rapidly escalating sound of raindrop...

Land Hunting, Part Ten: Re-Engaging

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

As the sun sinks toward the horizon, we pull off the road, wheels crunching over the rutted dirt drive of a lakeside "Fish and Wildlife Area," hoping to find a secluded place to sleep. There's a truck parked near the shore, so we sit for a few min...

Land Hunting, Part Nine: Empty-Landed

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

I'm having second thoughts about our spur-of-the-moment road trip this morning; it's clear that dropping everything to drive out here again was not a sensible decision. The thirty acre property which inspired our impromptu departure was a let-down...

Land Hunting, Part Eight: Back to Vermont

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

Before the proverbial ink has dried on our contract cancellation, we've scoured the internet once more, and found a promising 30 acre property—it's just a few miles from the one on Maple Hill road! (How did we miss it the first time through?) Wit...

Land Hunting, Part Seven: Backing Out

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

In 1998, twelve test pits were dug on the Maple Hill Road property. Results indicated that the soil was definitely unsuitable for a relatively inexpensive leach field system. If we were able to get permitting at all, it would be for a mound-based...

Septic Systems: Part Two

Friday, September 9th, 2011

So far, the quotes we're getting from engineers to take an undeveloped piece of land through the process of soil investigation, percolation testing, land surveying, septic system design and finally, state permitting, have ranged anywhere from three...

Septic Systems: Part One

Friday, September 9th, 2011

For the past few weeks, we've been waiting to hear if the land we're hoping to buy will support a legally permitted septic system. Mostly, this has entailed waiting around for an engineer in Vermont to make an assessment for us. In the meantime, ...

Land Hunting, Part Six: Making an Offer

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

After much deliberation, we decided to jump in head-first and make an offer on the land we found Vermont. The sellers were asking $69,000, so we offered $50,000. A day later, they countered with $63,000, and we countered their counter-offer with ...

Ingrid & Yves in Amish Country

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

We've driven all night and all morning. Gone are the cool days of green New England, exchanged for the heat and rolling hills of rural Ohio. Windows open, driving westwards, it feels like like we're in a convection oven (our car does not have air...

Land Hunting, Part Five: The One?

Saturday, July 30th, 2011

Today is our last round of land-hunting; it is another hours-long marathon of calling realtors for information, punching distant addresses into our GPS, driving up and down winding dirt roads, and ultimately, finding disappointment. We've been to ...

Sheila, Kai, & Their Tiny House

Friday, July 29th, 2011

After land-hunting our way through most of western Vermont, we ended in the state's largest city, Burlington, at the home of Sheila and Kai, the thoughtful, socially-aware, and environmentally-conscious couple behind the website, 2cycle2gether. We'...

Land Hunting, Part Four: Scouring Vermont

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Waving goodbye to Mike and Eliza, we take to the road with gleeful anticipation. As we drive over the Green Mountains, bound for the western valley of Vermont, I'm busy plotting a circuitous route to connect the many properties we're planning to v...

Land Hunting, Part Three: Another Map, and a Plan

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

When we weren't working, leaping into rivers, sailing, or berry-picking while cat-sitting at Mike and Eliza's house, we were poring over another map, this one of a single state: Vermont. With some land-hunting experience under our belts, and our p...

Land Hunting, Part Two: Much to Learn

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

It was in Ray's office that our romanticized, starry-eyed plan began it's transformation to concrete, complicated reality. In spite of all our reading and research, the list of things we didn't know about how to purchase a piece of land was still ...

Land Hunting, Part One: Finding Vermont

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Earlier this month, we packed the car and hit the highway heading east on a road trip across the country. Bound for a two week stint of cat-sitting in Maine, we left nearly a week before we were scheduled to arrive. Our intent was to travel slowl...

Getting Out the Map Again

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

If a self-sufficient lifestyle was the only goal for our next project, we could probably make do on a quarter acre of land just about anywhere. What we're really yearning for, however, is a quiet spot in the woods—a place where we can be intimatel...

Dreaming of Our New Life

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to lead a self-sufficient life. As a child, I was inspired by children's book author and illustrator Tasha Tudor. I wanted to follow in her footsteps, living off the land, growing lush gardens and caring...

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