I have great plans for this property but so far its been nothing but trouble.
It all started back in 2006. Which was a really rough year for me. My youngest son was born in January....then
Just to make things a little more difficult my mom's father left his entire estate to the church and not my mother. My mother was furious with him. That didn't help the year go by any more smoothly.
But what does that have to do with a homestead?
Well, when my father and his father died that means that a portion of my father's inheritance passed to me. About $40,000. My last name is Terrace and it happens that I think Terrace, British Columbia is a beautiful, remote place. $40,000 was more money that I shouldn't waste but not enough to buy something durable. Or so I thought.
I went looking for property at that time and there is a rural community about 30 minutes north of Terrace called Rosswood. In Rosswood I was able to buy 56 acres of land for only a little more than 40K. I thought to myself "What better way to honor my Grandfather's legacy than buy land in an area with his name on it".
So I bought those 56 acres.
Now Rosswood is beautiful
It is located on Kalum lake which is enormous and very deep with lots of fish.
and here is another picture of the lake from about 5km north of the above picture.
side note: @saffisara you said you like lakes, mountains and trees. Those above images are for you. I did tell you I'd take the pictures when I got there 😉
It is surrounded by mountains on all sides with lots of trees and wildlife.
However when the realtor showed me around the property and I fell in love with it and purchased it there were problems.
First problem was that the land the realtor showed me was not the land that I actually bought. At least not all of it. When the government put in the roads they didn't actually put the roadway to my property. They showed on the map that there was a road to my property but it actually was about 5m too short.
Luckily that has been fixed now and here is the roadway to the property.
Can't tell where the property is? How about this from this image.
Here's what it looks like now after much work and many conversations with the government about the road not going to the right place.
Now originally the realtor told me that this road led through my property. It was a very old road (Old Rosswood Road) but I figured it was good enough to access both the front and back of the property.
However, while the road starts on my property and continues on my property it actually goes through my neighbors property and my neighbor will not let me use it 😔
So instead of going through this to get to the back of my property
I have to go through this
and this
Eventually I had to put in a road on an easement through the other side of the property to get access to the back 40 acres and that cost $20,000 that I didn't want to spend 😓 But now I have two property access points. This is the other one.
Now in the intial stages the entire property looked pretty much like this:
and had no road access so I let it sit for almost 8 year doing nothing.
Or so I thought. I later found out that my neighbor was accessing my lot to harvest mushrooms and firewood. Also local teenagers were using it to party. Unfortunately poachers were also using it to illegally hunt for bears. When I learned that the conservation office had to come out and someone left a wounded bear to die a slow painful death on the property I knew I needed someone to watch the property.
So... I found someone who wanted to homestead on the property. I entered an agreement with them that they could stay and use the property for 7 years provided that they:
In return they would get access for $5 / year for the first two years and pay only the property tax and $500 / year thereafter (more or less).
However, after 7 years I wasn't happy with the work they had done. They never tried to find others. They brought a lot of garbage onto the property. In general they made my life difficult and in the end I had to pay $8000 to get rid of them 😓
However, at least they introduced me to a local who was able to clear about 2 acres of land for me and another local who was able to build a lean-to so I could get electricity to the property.
Now I have a nice cleared spot where I can dream of the future.
The shed I built myself.
And the lean-to with the enclosed space was built by Gary.
Now Gary was a great guy but unfortunately while I paid to have a finished area to live in...He had an aneurism before he finished the job. I had paid for the full job as he said it would be completed in a week but I got an unfinished job 😔
Luckily I've found Ben .. a neighbor .. who will be finishing the project so all going well I'll have a space to stay in a month or two.
In addition to that I'll be putting up a container home which I HOPE goes well. As I said I've run into problem after problem. Hardeep is my contact person there and yesterday we had a groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming build.
The property has some gorgeous views.
Some thick forested wetlands with gigantic trees
But there is a lot of work to do to restore the Old Rosswood Road...
But there are a lot of flat useable sites for other homesteaders or campers and I still like the idea of a Co-Op.
and there is proof that people did live on the property before.
With some areas being more open than others.
But from the looks of this car that was a long time ago.
Also there are a lot of wildlife that live in the area. Some less than friendly so I'm stuck having to have a gun while I develop the land and live there.
My son is more enthusiastic about the gun than I am.
So that is the place that I hope to spend my retirement. I'm hoping to spend the next 10 years or so putting in nature trails so people can visit and see the beauty of nature. I'm also hoping to clear out some of the flat/dry areas and maybe encourage some people to enjoy the property with me.
Plus also hoping to life a self sufficient off grid lifestyle while on the property.
However as you can see from the pictures that is a long long way from being a reality.
But I hope you enjoyed the glimpses of the property. Even if it isn't ready yet.
And a quick shoutout to @monica-ene ... think how much work this would be to get cleared and working.
to @jmis101 this is why I haven't given a good justification to how you can eat on tight budget.
to @anttn I envy your location to start your homestead. It looks far more realistic as a homestead site than this one. However, I thought you might enjoy the nature pictures.
Thanks for reading everyone.
Side note: Most of the pictures were from the upper 40 acres (dry, flat, predominantly pine). I hope I can get some pictures from the lower 20 acres and post later (wet, sloped, with Hemlock, Fir, Spruce and others). The lower 20 is useless for homesteading but gorgeous for nature walks.
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