Posted: 7/11/2014 8:25:21 AM EDT
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I'm planning my move to the country, on a 2 acre piece of flat ground in central California. I'm a city boy so I'm going to need some ideas. All there is now is dirt, so everything will be built from the ground up.
What I'm looking for now is little things that you wish you would have done or had, things to make your life easier, but not crazy expensive. For example a good one might be a concrete pad under your propane tank to make lawn care easier or when they pour your patio have them pour a pad for your chicken coop. Thanks! |
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Oh gosh.... Off the top of my head: Underground cistern. Way to extract water w/o power (assuming you are on a well). Run power lines to "random" places so you can plug in with whatever you need to. Especially a 240VAC anywhere near where a shop or work area may be for a welder. Run air lines to same locations as electrical lines (and make little air/power stations) that connect back to your stationary air compressor. This way you have air and power wherever you may need it. Again, especially where you may have a work area. May as well run some water lines to different places that you will have critters or gardens. I will be doing this at some point. Don't forget expansion when you decide where buildings will go, and prevailing winds. I would print out a satellite view of the property and to scale draw where your buildings will be . Out there, fire suppression and mitigation I imagine would be huge.
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Start slow. Add slow as you learn to manage what you have. Make a list of things you want (garden, chickens....whatever) and prioritize them. When you build something buy once and cry once. My chicken setup wasn't cheap but it'll last through 20+ years of our weather.
Think long term when putting in things like fruit trees, berry patches and perennial plants. Allow the extra space they will need to grow. Meet your neighbors (but unpack your bags slowly) Most importantly take the time to enjoy the place. That's a day to day thing vs prepping. Oh and lastly...leave California |
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Quoted: My county is CA isn't so bad. The vast majority of the population is conservative. We are basically shall issue for CCW. They even sell chicken coops at our Costco. Thanks for the info so far everyone!    |
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I love California, but man, I don't get it. I was watching House Hunters the other day and $500,000 will get you a run-down 800 SF handyman special that would cost about $30K in Florida
Of course that was in the Hollywood Hills but for that price, you could have a decent house on the water in FL or a REALLY nice house inland. |
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Really. Tell me more about your 10 round mags and bullet mag locks and such Quoted:
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My county is CA isn't so bad. The vast majority of the population is conservative. We are basically shall issue for CCW. They even sell chicken coops at our Costco. Thanks for the info so far everyone! Yea, I get that, I do feel pretty secure with my Glock 21 with 10+1 rounds of 45acp though. >10 round mags were grandfathered in, so depending on your ARs setup you can use them (withOUT a bullet button) |
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No way. I've lived in both states. CA has lots of problems and I don't miss it...but I'd live there before NJ. Quoted:
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Leave California... I even have it better in NJ No way. I've lived in both states. CA has lots of problems and I don't miss it...but I'd live there before NJ. I am in South Jersey, big difference from the ratty ass north.... the chicken tractor is the way to go. I would do them here, but the state let lose coyote-wolf mixes... Get fruit trees and berries in as soon as you can. I have solar panels, no electric bill, run AC all spring to fall and made 4 megawatts extra a year, Next is a 3K windplant... it will make 25% of the power the solar do, it will even out the cycles. Subscribe to Mother Earth News, they have lots of info and are moremoney people than hippies. |
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Yea, I get that, I do feel pretty secure with my Glock 21 with 10+1 rounds of 45acp though. >10 round mags were grandfathered in, so depending on your ARs setup you can use them (withOUT a bullet button) Quoted:
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My county is CA isn't so bad. The vast majority of the population is conservative. We are basically shall issue for CCW. They even sell chicken coops at our Costco. Thanks for the info so far everyone! Yea, I get that, I do feel pretty secure with my Glock 21 with 10+1 rounds of 45acp though. >10 round mags were grandfathered in, so depending on your ARs setup you can use them (withOUT a bullet button) You may wish to reread those laws. California's magazine capacity laws and assault weapon laws are not just one law. You can be in compliance with one and run afoul of the other. A grandfathered 30-round magazine placed in a semiautomatic centerfire rifle (that isn't itself a grandfathered and registered assault weapon) effectively manufactures an assault weapon, whether a bullet button is present or not. See PC § 30515 (a)(2) per the flowchart at Calguns: http://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf tl;dr version ... unless you registered that AR prior to the 1992 ban, don't ever put a >10 round magazine in it, no matter the legal status of the magazine itself, even if you have a bullet button / maglock device on the rifle. 22 days and I'm out, moving home to a free state. |
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As a previous poster mentioned, run water and power everywhere you think you might need it.
I have ten acres and I have my garden and greenhouse 75 yds from the house. I have electricity and a frost proof spigot out there. I also have power at the end of my driveway (1/10th of a mile). I also have two frost proof water spigots going up the driveway in the woods next to my burn pits. Think about water drainage and diversion based upon the geography of your land. The one thing I do not have is a way to get water from my well w/o power. I am trying to figure that one out... Storage and or shop is a must. My shop is bigger than the previous house we had at 1600 sq ft. It has a sloped floor with a drain so you can process deer etc in the winter if needed. It has a bathroom and shower in it along with a janitors sink and washer dryer hookups. Think of anything and everything you could ever possibly want, and do it. Before anyone gives me credit for any of this, don't. I bought this place from a bank . I would not have thought of 1/2 the things the previous owner installed. A lot of good information was posted previously in the thread. Good luck, and when you begin building start a thread so we can follow your progress.
eta: I am hooking into county water for the house. I am going to run the house on it, but be able to divert to my well if we ever have a boil water alert. The outside will still run off the well water. It is a complicated setup involving a pressure tank and multiple shutoffs/valves but we think we have it finally figured out. |
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You may wish to reread those laws. California's magazine capacity laws and assault weapon laws are not just one law. You can be in compliance with one and run afoul of the other. A grandfathered 30-round magazine placed in a semiautomatic centerfire rifle (that isn't itself a grandfathered and registered assault weapon) effectively manufactures an assault weapon, whether a bullet button is present or not. See PC § 30515 (a)(2) per the flowchart at Calguns: http://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf tl;dr version ... unless you registered that AR prior to the 1992 ban, don't ever put a >10 round magazine in it, no matter the legal status of the magazine itself, even if you have a bullet button / maglock device on the rifle. 22 days and I'm out, moving home to a free state. Quoted:
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My county is CA isn't so bad. The vast majority of the population is conservative. We are basically shall issue for CCW. They even sell chicken coops at our Costco. Thanks for the info so far everyone! Yea, I get that, I do feel pretty secure with my Glock 21 with 10+1 rounds of 45acp though. >10 round mags were grandfathered in, so depending on your ARs setup you can use them (withOUT a bullet button) You may wish to reread those laws. California's magazine capacity laws and assault weapon laws are not just one law. You can be in compliance with one and run afoul of the other. A grandfathered 30-round magazine placed in a semiautomatic centerfire rifle (that isn't itself a grandfathered and registered assault weapon) effectively manufactures an assault weapon, whether a bullet button is present or not. See PC § 30515 (a)(2) per the flowchart at Calguns: http://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf tl;dr version ... unless you registered that AR prior to the 1992 ban, don't ever put a >10 round magazine in it, no matter the legal status of the magazine itself, even if you have a bullet button / maglock device on the rifle. 22 days and I'm out, moving home to a free state. Thanks. I do understand that fact, that is why I said " depending on your ARs setup you can use them (withOUT a bullet button)" If I have my AR setup without any assault rifle features I can run grandfathered magazines. |
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Thanks. I do understand that fact, that is why I said " depending on your ARs setup you can use them (withOUT a bullet button)" If I have my AR setup without any assault rifle features I can run grandfathered magazines. Gotcha. I had trouble getting a handle on all the laws. It's so easy to become a felon in this state. Enjoy your new home. 
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Doing this, the best thing I ever did was put a camper on the property to have a place to stay while we built and then builging out outbuilding first so we had places to store materials out of the weather and for that matter arms reach as we built.
Other advice, if you are looking at a septic system, think that first before you even think of what or how large a living structure. The county/state will determine what goes where, how much, and how big and its a PIA if you have to shift plans after you already built something. You are at their mercy then. If you didn't think water though, you already screwed up by buying that land without knowing. Next, you going to need a power pole before you build anything. You simply switch it over to your service when the time comes. Allow me to reiterate and especially in CA, your fist stop is the county courthouse to discuss permits and restrictions. Best move we ever made was my bother rather than cheating making his cabin a out building, made it a living structure. He now has an offer where he's making a profit rather than having to sell at a loss. Tj |
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I'm a city boy too. Then I sold the house in the suburbs and bought a ranch with a generous sized house and a few metal buildings. Never raised anything but a dog before and never planted anything in the ground in my life...
1. Of all the books I bought and read, "The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals" by Gail Damerow was the best all-in-one resource that was general enough to be understood but specific enough to be utilitarian in nature. Get that. I did. 2. Contact your county extension agent and just be near them, call them, ask them questions, all the time. I do. 3. Go slow and steady. Most people, myself included, will get a chainsaw and go out and start kickingass trying to implement their plan immediately. Stop. Move slowly. Let a year go by to see what grows there every season. You might discover that cutting all the cedar off the property, in the name of saving water for the oaks, actually exposes more soil to sun and raises the ground temp so much that all the water evaporates and kills the very oaks you were trying to free up more water for. Ask me how I know that one.... 4. Don't rush out and make big purchases. If you want a tractor, go rent one like the one you want to buy, and use it a few times. You might discover, for example, that the tractor that appears to be the wonderful do-all one-size fits all B-series Kubota is actually a glorified lawn mower and will not move brush, carry a bale of hay, drill a post hole, or do anything well INCLUDING mow. I ran out and bought a new L-series Kubota with 12 attachments and it is sweet, but in retrospect, I probably should have bought a used Bobcat for what I do.. I would have known this if I has slowed down and rented first. 5. Prioritize and knock down the list. Think "water, food, shelter" and work from the ground up. Drilling a well and hooking it to solar is an awesome place to start. All your plans will be for shit if you die for lack of water. Overplant a garden and feed the chickens with your lessons. Build a house slowly and with the end result in mind. I've learned a lot being a small ranch owner. Most of it thru mistakes and working when I could have been resting. |
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With only 2 acres, don't even think about livestock. Limit yourself to fowl or maybe rabbits. What grows in your area??? wat? I am raising 4 pigs, 12 egg birds, a large garden and the beginning of a food hedge on one acre. I have three more but I am doing all my learning on just one right now. |
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What is your annual rainfall like there?
If you clear out any of your trees \ scrub brush, you may want to use it to make huglekultur beads instead of burning it or chipping it. They are pretty easy and may save you some water I have not dont them on a large scale, but done them on a small scale and they seem to work decently well so far. http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%BCgelkultur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sso4UWObxXg Good luck man. I hope to get a few real acres here soon instead of doing everything stealthily in my backyard. |