Bethany Dutch

Heather Staas wrote:Goodness, so many naysayers and cliches about what people do and don't want,  what they will and won't do!  

Hey,  if someone makes this I'll sign up.   I'll give it an honest shot and see how it goes.   Worse case,  nothing happens, nothing lost.  Best case,  people meet people and make friends!  I've had my heart broken but not my spirit and my optimism.   Lots of options haven't been a good fit for me personally  but that doesn't stop me from looking for new ideas and trying new things.

Someone recently said to me "you meet who you love doing what you love"  so yeah,  permaculture connections and more options for finding people sounds GREAT to me.  Unfortunately for me my main hobbies to date  have been female dominated lol.

I agree, it does sound great! I wonder if maybe in today's day and age we just need to be more intentional about setting up opportunity to make connections. I think it is SO difficult to make connections online.

I've been a part of the primitive skills community for a few years and every time I go to a gathering I feel like I wished there was something like that JUST for singles. Which, yes, I think would be somewhat unfair and would definitely limit the scope of it, but wouldn't it be so wonderful to have like a weekend or even week-long camp out where you could learn homesteading, primitive, permaculture, etc type skills and surround yourself with available likeminded single folks while you're at it? I feel like THAT would be such a primo way to do it.

Chris Richardson wrote:Well I would rather just call a kettle a kettle..  I have the resources to do my own thing. But, have looked into and tried to speak to those that claim they are looking for a partner or merely looking for help.   Those I have tried to speak with are those I thought I would be a good fit.  In fact a few of the contacts were to me. Then they don't carry thru with any type of interaction (email, text, phone calls); even though they claim that is what they want.  So back to that kettle, the single females here are not serious, it's more that they like the {idea}; of having good man.
I'd even say they toy with the idea (experience). And those who are looking for help starting a homestead or getting it on the right track, want to offer someone a place to stay rent free? That's it?  Where's the incentive?  Stay rent free until a person says or does something the owner doesn't like and boots you out? As if people get along..  
    Because my thoughts were that if I could find a lady that has property, and ready to go.  I have funds to move it ahead. Same as a home stead help.  But noone is real on the subjects...  So the idea sounds good on paper, but the end results will be the same..

Ever considered it might be because of reasons other than that they aren't serious?

Just to clarify - I am not looking for a seedless melon, because as so many people have said, it wouldn't be able to reproduce! I'm looking for something that has maybe 20-30 seeds instead of thousands of them. Still plenty to reproduce with, but way more "eatable."

Having said that, I think I may just start on that project here in my new garden! Who knows, maybe in a decade or two I might have one!

I don’t know if this is even possible - but has anyone ever developed an open pollinated watermelon that doesn’t have many seeds? Or - could it even be done with careful selection?

Dave Edmunds wrote:Sorry, you COMPLETELY misunderstood my post. Maybe it was too long - sorry about that.

A $90K house is basically worth $90K on the market as a HOUSE.

However, if you have a large garden, chicken coop, goat pen and fruit orchard, it's not a just a $90K house ... it's micro-farm. People can buy a $90K and build their own micro-farm, or they can buy a working micro-farm and start living that lifestyle immediately.

Many people who want a micro-farm aren't simply looking for a HOUSE to buy. They are willing to pay for a micro-farm. That means they will have to pay more money than the HOUSE is worth.

THAT'S what I'm asking about. When people are willing to pay $150K for a working micro-farm (and the lifestyle), but the HOUSE is only appraised at $90K, that's a problem.

I was asking if appraisers add any value that the farm elements bring (not just the farm infrastructure, such as a barn).

And yes, there are people who aren't looking for just another HOUSE. They want a micro-farm and are willing to pay extra for that.

I don't think I misunderstood, but maybe didn't respond clearly. Maybe it would help if we know why you're asking the question - do you have a property like this you want to sell? Are you thinking about doing a modified home flip?

Appraisers don't add much value to farm elements, if any. They will assign value to structures such as a barn, shop, or detached garage, but I don't think (I'm not an appraiser, this is just based on observation) that they would add value for things like established gardens, orchards, chicken coops, etc. I have been watching my local market for a few years and noticed that there wasn't really anything given in terms of value for those things. Those are more the "curb appeal" things - things that might make someone want to choose your place out of all the homes they are looking at. This may be something you might want to check with an actual appraiser in your area about.

All in all, I agree that it's kinda dumb that they don't appraise for things like that, but ultimately again it's all just market driven and appraisers appraise for banks and the average Joe, and the average Joe doesn't care about most of the micro-farm stuff and is certainly not going to pay extra for it, so it isn't given a whole lot of value.

So in your case, if someone did want to pay $150k for a property that appraises at $90k (which isn't unreasonable given the scenario you've described, since it would save a massive amount of work for them to have everything all set up) they would still have to make up the difference on their own. The bank isn't going to go above the appraisal because on their end - if they lend a higher amount than the appraisal, and they have to foreclose and then sell the property, they would be out a ton of money.

I just recently sold my place and moved to a new state, am waiting to move in to my new homestead in the next couple weeks. So I've been both on the buyer and seller end just recently.

Honestly - the bank just straight up isn't going to value what you value, and the price you can get is determined by the market. Almost never will you get your money back on infrastructure and amenities. From a buyer perspective - I didn't see a ton of price difference on places that had nice infrastructure vs none or little. Go take a look at recently sold houses in your area, look at acreage, house quality, and infrastructure. I'm betting you won't see a huge price difference between, say, a house on 10 acres vs a similar house on 10 acres but with a barn.

The thing is - while I can see people willing to go above appraisal in a market where there aren't many homes available on the market, that's quickly becoming not the case anymore. At this point, most people who have $150k to spend won't spend it on something appraised at $90k, because they could get more for their money and get something that appraises at $150k. Bank appraisals are generally relatively in line with the market because they are based on what similar homes & properties have sold for recently. So a lot of that is really just determined by the market.

In other words - even if your place is absolutely perfectly set up and push button ready to go, there's a very good chance that someone who has $150k would rather get more for their money if your house appraises at $90k, because unless there are very very few properties on the market, chances are they can find something that appraises at the $150k range which would then offer more (more acreage? More infrastructure? Bigger house? Who knows).

It's also a poor investment for someone to pay $150k for something that is only worth $90k on the open market. We saw a lot of that in the last two years because of the crazy seller's market that Covid and whatever else put us in, but that's not the case anymore.

Now - I ended up buying a house with no infrastructure. I will be developing it out, building barns and paddocks and whatnot and I DO intend to sell it again in about a decade once my kids are grown and graduated, but the infrastructure I put in for myself and my own use. I know that in 10 years, all the work I will have put in won't really be valued at what I put into it, but I'm doing it for me so it doesn't matter.

Jay Angler wrote:The OP mentioned ticks overwintering in leaf piles - there are certain breeds of birds that are known to be good at tick control, but I suspect just about any chickens in Mike's set-up will control ticks well enough!

I've know too many people hurt by tick-born diseases to "just put up with them", particularly if you're in a deer-rich area. Deer ticks only spend part of their life-cycle on deer - in my area both rodents and certain amphibians host part of the tick life-cycle.

This is what I'm thinking too! Granted - I am hoping (perhaps naively) that after a few years I can establish systems that will significantly reduce ticks on my land, both with planting perimeter beds of aromatics, keeping things short and tidy, sulfur which apparently works great, and a few other things. But I don't want to create habitat for them, that's for sure!

John Wolfram wrote:

Bethany Dutch wrote:This is beyond the "lay them out and run the mower over them" volume level, I think.

Have you considered a souped-up lawnmower like a BCS or Grillo tractor with bush hog?

Oh... a bush hog! Didn't even think of that. That would work, I think!

Mike Haasl wrote:My chickens shred wet leaves better than dry ones...

They spend the winter in a protected run.  We put all our fall leaves (primarily maple and birch but some oak) in a bunker in there that is 4' by 4' by 16' long.  They start out dryish to a bit wet (wetter the better).  2+ times a week I dig a hole in the pile with a pitch fork and throw in coffee grounds from a coffee shop.  Of course the chickens are scratching and pooping on the pile too.  Each time I dig the hole in a new place.  By the time I'm back to where I started, it's starting to break down and heat up (compost).  By spring it's definitely broken down a bunch but not yet compost.  Although that could be to our excessively cold winter temps fighting the composting process.  By mid/late summer it's ready for the garden.

How interesting! Sounds like mechanical means may not work here efficiently, but I wouldn't mind letting birds do the work. When you say "bunker" what do you mean by that? Like a fenced area to keep the leaves enclosed inside the chicken run?