The Top Five Things You Should Consider When Looking For A Homestead

A homestead is more than its parts. However, those parts need to work well together, and that’s why you need to know what you’re looking for. Any homestead can work, if you put enough work into it, but that doesn’t mean that you should settle for a parcel with more banes than boons. You should be looking for something that at least gives you a fighting chance, and so therefore there are some things you should be looking for. With that in mind, here are some things that every good homestead should have.

A River Runs Through It

Every homestead needs water, so let’s start there. The ideal choice is having a river going through your property, as it provides power, food, and, of course, water. You can hook up hydroelectric generators to a river, and most rivers have fish, which provide additional protein. Another consideration is that game animals tend to gather around natural water sources. However, you don’t necessarily need a river, or even a lake; you just need to know that the land has water. Some land is positioned well, with a high aquifer under it, while others have some sort of underground river going for it. In short, if you can at least dig a successful well, the parcel is fine for homesteading.

Through the Woods

Trees represent a resource that can make or break a homestead. By harvesting the wood, you can save a nice amount on wood. With wood you can build things, or at least their framework (in the case of greenhouses). It also represents another fuel source, albeit one that can be burnt for warmth and heat (the two are different, for our purposes, in that one that can be used for cooking and warming people, while the other can be used for forging). In short, with the right tools, a few trees on a parcel can represent an additional factor that can help in the success of the homestead.

Amber Waves Of Grain

You should also be looking for plenty of grass. Obviously, if you’re planning on plenty of livestock, grass helps, but it also means plenty of flat space, or at least close to it. Flat space, in turn, means that building things will be easier; you won’t need to level surfaces so you can build or figure out how to properly leverage the buildings. Flat space makes life a lot easier for you, even if it’s at a slight slope. Sure, you can build on hills, but the flatter it is the better. Strictly as a side note, it also means things won’t roll downhill on you. So looking for a place that’s flat with a lot of grass is a good thing.

Location is Everything

There are three issues here: access, shipping, and emergencies. While legally no one can stop you from accessing your land, you don’t want to deal with easements in the long term, especially if the neighbors you’re driving through are prickly. You also don’t want to have to go to town to deal with shipping, but this is really a minor issue if you’re going to town a lot anyway. However, the big one is emergencies: If you’re too far away from civilization. you’re going to need to drive in; it’s just going to take too long for ambulances to get to you. In short, make sure that the location is acceptable before signing on the dotted line.

Are The Problems Worth It?

There are, of course, plenty of other issues that may come up. Marsh land comes with plenty of water, but is hard to farm and build on. Owning a mountain sounds great on paper, but it’s only useful if you can build it into a tourist destination. Beaches sound good, but they come with a wide variety of minor problems, not the least of which is all that saltwater and sand. Islands just increase isolation issues and there is the potential of being marooned there. Deserts come with little water, high heat, and little arable land. Again, debate the problems before signing on the dotted line.

With all of that in mind, it should be easy to find the right parcel for you. Again, sun-optimum acres do not spell the end of the homestead, just that you will need to work harder. Plenty of people have made desert homesteads work, for example, but they took more planning and preparation than one in the woods. Regardless of which parcel you choose, remember that you need to love it; just because it’s perfect for most doesn’t mean that it’s perfect for you. Ultumately, go with the acreage that you love rather than what people tell you is good and your homestead will be perfect.