This is my first post. If there's a better place for this thread, feel free to point me that way! Anyhow, I'd like to begin working towards my goal to live off grid. I'd love people to network with. I have five acres out near Randle, WA. beautiful property but on the flood plain, so probably not good for year round use . I need ideas of where in the state to look for land, and other general info and support. This site looks great, glad I found it!
Hi and welcome to our forums! Lots of Northwest folks here and quite a few in WA. I'm on the dry side of WA. We're a suspicious bunch at times so it may take some 'getting to know you' before you get a lot of responses with personal information.
Many are here : Forum - Solar Electric Power Discussion Forum by Northern Arizona Wind and Sun Can be a clicky crowd , ~~~~
Sloth, I don't have a clue where your font problem is coming from. I don't have any issues with blurring.
Momma and I are from WA, originally, but got tired of the Kommiefornia Liberals moving North, and making WA a Blue State.... So we left, and moved to Bush Alaska in '91.... We are "WAY Off-Grid"..... Welcome to the Monkey Tree....
Yeah, I am definitely not ready for Alaska, lol! I'd love to visit though, I've had friends stationed there who loved it (and a couple that really, really didn't like it, hah!).
Bumping this for a what would you do? Buy a house on a couple acres and sell 5 acres you have which is good for growing and keeping animals on, near good hunting and fishing, but not build able (flood plain- many others near there use their land for horses, goats, etc..) OR keep he acreage and buy a small cabin just out of the flood zone and travel a fairly short distance to and from to care for animals/ garden. I would be able to stay there part of the week while my kids are with their dad. Is this a weird question? Lol. I may be overthinking things. The way things are priced/ situated in my area I can't afford enough land for generating much income or producing much in drier areas. I want to sell goats (milk, meat, for breeding or pets), chickens, rabbits, and would need space for a garden and stuff as well. Or do you all think I would be able to do more with 1-2 acres than I'm thinking? My brain hurts, lol.
You could always build an elevated house in the flood plain. Not a perfect solution which would be to have the same area, more isolated and still retaining the hunting, fishing, availability to water, and good gardening.
I can't get a building permit which would be fine if it was just me- I could build a cabin and be fine (there are other off grid-ers along the river who live in cabins with small footprints yer round), but I have three kids so we need an actual legal house, lol! Maybe a plot of dry land with a MH on it to start, and I could work towards putting a more permanent structure there? Hmmm.
If you are seriously thinking of keeping the flood plain land and keep animals there, you need to think what you'll do with them during floods.
I'm not going to have a ton of animals. I would have to find somewhere with a big enough lot for me to keep animals at temporarily and go pick them up if needed. Most small houses or cabins Im looking at have enough room for me to keep them temporarily in a pen until they can either go back or be transported to stay with relatives who have more land. Also this is 100 yr plain- not something that floods with every changing season. There's no way I'd deal with that lol. Goats would be the biggest issue.
Looks to this observer, that if you are in a 100Yr FloodPlain, in, or around Randle WA, that if you built a cabin, on the HIghest point on the 5 acres, and used a 4-6' above Grade, foundation, like SonoTubes that you should be fine with the WX the last two years. A smaller cabin with a Sleeping Loft for the girls, could be within a smaller budget. Put the garden lower down on the lot, nearer the river, so that when it floods, the new soil deposited, can be tilled, into that years rebuilt garden. Just remember what the Old Farmer did... He had a RowBoat tied up to the Front Porch, sitting on the Dry Grass.... New Citified Neighbor asked him why he kept a RowBoat, in the front yard? He replied, "Wait till Fall, and you will Know, WHY."
Raising the living spaces would certainly work, and is being done as we speak in the (newly extended) flood plains of the Susquehanna River where it passes thru the area downstream of Binghamton, NY. The problem for @Leeuhhh will be building permits (septic tanks float, ya know) and flood insurance.
BT yea, the permits are the issue. Boo! My first plan was to build two small cabins near each other with a breezeway connecting them- one for sleeping quarters for all of us, and one for living space, but then I read the states info on permits and realized it wouldn't work. If it was just me I could probably get away with it, but the girls would make it too hard. I will be getting a row boat and building an elevated cabin at some point if I keep the property, and probably some kind of elevated platform for the animals in case something crazy ever happened and I wanted to stay there an extended period of time. There IS a build able lot not far from my cabin (within walking distance) which is 5 acres of pasture land. I'd need a special permit for an elevated foundation to build there.
Bump! I think I found a small field on my property off the floodway just big enough for an emergency shelter and an area livestock could go in case I had to get them somewhere dry. I still like my current cabins location, but glad to know I'd have somewhere to go if there was flooding.
