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12 Nov ’14
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My wife and I are looking to start Homesteading in 4-5 years. We would like to buy land in the next 1-2 years. We currently live in Huntsville, AL in a suburban area where we are working on our homesteading skills. I’m originally from Chicago. Our first choice of area to move to is the UP in Michigan. We have narrowed the counties down to the following:
-Houghton
-Mason
-Oceana
-Manistee
-Muskegon
We are looking for people who can tell us about these areas in general and homesteading in these areas in particular. Maybe someone we could email our questions to as they come up.
Here is some information on what we are looking for:
-about 20-40 acres with timber and a good water supply that we can become self-sufficient with.
-secluded, but year round access where we can build a small self-sufficient cabin.
-jobs are not necessary as we already have other income.
Thanks for any information and advice you can provide.
15 Feb ’12
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welcome Vonschlcik, we have quite a few members in the area, @ashleigh11 @porkchopsmmm and @jonathco should be able to give you some good advice
18 Feb ’12
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I love Michigan's UP. I'm an avid outdoorsman and I love the hunting, fishing, kayaking, backpacking, and yes, even whitewater kayaking (Ontonogan River during the spring thaw). By the way, Houghton is the only county you've listed that's in the UP. Houghton, Ontonogan, and Iron counties are some of the prettiest places in Michigan.
Having said that, you're picking one of the most difficult places in Michigan to be self sufficient.
Weather is the biggest barrier I can see for self sufficient living. The weather is not very kind. They got more than 2 feet of snow in the past 2 days. That snow won't be thawing until late May or early June. Your frost dates will be 5/31-9/12. You may be past the frost date, but all the snow may not have melted. I've kayaked in Munising Bay the second week of June among the ice flows.
Year round access might be an issue, depending on your definition of access. If you live that far north you'll definitely have to plan ahead. Most people take their snowmobile to grocery shop during the winter.
If I were going to homestead in the UP I'd look into building an earth-sheltered home, an earth sheltered greenhouse, and brush up on my tree felling and woodcutting skills. Your biggest yearlong expense beside your mortgage will probably be heating your home.
As far as water supplies, well drilling is a PITA in the UP. The UP is basically a few feet of topsoil on top of a rock outcropping. It varies depending on where you go, but the closer you are to the shore, the more rock there is.
As far as jobs go, nobody works in the UP so that shouldn't be a worry. Just kidding. Most of the people in Houghton work at, or provide services to Michigan Tech.
Dinner's about to be put on the table, so post questions in this thread so everyone get in on the discussion, unless there's personal info and then you can PM me.
peace,
ash
The following users say thank you to ashleigh11 for this useful post:
jonathco
17 Feb ’12
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I'm originally from West Michigan and I'd agree that the UP is a difficult area to homestead. Winters can be brutal and the UP is sparcely populated in the winters. I'd strongly recommend the north/central part of Michigan. All the same benefits of the UP with milder winters and closer ammenities while having the ability to homestead just as efficiently.
12 Oct ’12
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I'll second Ash's comments. I was heavily considering a move to the Houghton/Hancock area for some time, I even had a job line up at Michigan Tech (which like Ash said, is pretty much the only big employer up there other than Portage Health). I have vacationed up there and it is an awesome location (except for a few key things for those of us interested in homesteading). I backed out after I did my research and realized it just wasn't conducive to what I wanted.
For starters, like was already mentioned, you have no growing season up there. Forget tomatoes unless you have a greenhouse; the growing season is too short and doesn't get hot enough, the same with any corn varieties except hybrids. You can grow awesome cold crops though!
The economy is fairly weak up there, so hopefully whatever form of income you have is not dependent on local buyers/markets. Also, to add to what Ash said, the snow fall is actually now at 36” in the last 48 hours up that way. It is amazing up there, but just make sure you research it and know what you'd be up against before you relocate there.
I have family up in Houghton, so if you have anything specific you want to know, ask away. If I don't know it, I can find out for you.
15 Feb ’12
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that area sounds very similar to northern Maine
18 Feb ’12
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The other counties you listed are some of my favorite places in Michigan. Our family spends a lot of time on Lake Michigan beaches, at the lighthouses, and the state parks in western Michigan. Pretty much any of the counties in west and mid Michigan are great rural counties with tons of lakes and rivers. Personally, I like this part of Michigan the best. Like I said, I'm an outdoorsman and the yearround outdoor activities is second to none.
The west coast counties have a lot of lake effect snow, but your summers will be a little milder. Your frost dates will be from the second week of may-10/1. I know some of the dates on the internet say last week of May, but I've only seen frost later than the second week once. I live in Lansing and I grow greens and brassicas in poly tunnels until Dec. and Jan. respectively. If I put any effort into winter growing I could go year round without too much trouble and expense.
Right now there are still a fair amount of foreclosure properties in Michigan, you might look into that when shopping for a property.
My wife and I are saving for a retirement homestead and it will be somewhere like Lake or Newaygo counties so I can fly fish every day.
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