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New From Minnesota
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frenchriver
Northern Minnesota
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3 Feb ’17 - 4:27 pm
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Hi Everyone!

I'm Aaron from Northern Minnesota.  My girlfriend and I purchased 40 acres of land with a combination of timber, river frontage, and open hayfield about two years ago.  This past summer we started building our first small home on the property which will eventually become a woodworking shop once our family outgrows it.

We are new to homesteading, but I've often dreamt about a more self-sufficient life and all that entails.  We have a lot of learning to do, so we wanted to follow along with the experiences of other like minded individuals.  Thank you in advance for all of your wisdom!

The following users say thank you to frenchriver for this useful post:

jl

"Adversity elicits talents which, in otherwise fortuitous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Follow along as we build our homestead at frenchriverhomestead.com!

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K
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4 Feb ’17 - 8:31 am
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Welcome aaron! What building method are you using?

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frenchriver
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frenchriver
Northern Minnesota
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4 Feb ’17 - 9:36 am
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Thanks K. 

 

Right now we're building with traditional stick framing but we utilized passive solar with our building layout and materials and we invested in closed cell spray foam insulation.

As our family grows and we start looking to build a second house I would really like to build a timber frame house with cordwood or bale insulation. There's just something about a timber frame that I can't envision my forever house not being. 

Even though that means a higher cost of construction, I'd rather build a smaller, more manageable house that was built of materials of quality. 

The following users say thank you to frenchriver for this useful post:

jonathco

"Adversity elicits talents which, in otherwise fortuitous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Follow along as we build our homestead at frenchriverhomestead.com!

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jonathco
Michigan
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5 Feb ’17 - 9:09 pm
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Welcome to the board Aaron! I've always heard northern Minnesota is a great place to homestead!

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frenchriver
Northern Minnesota
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6 Feb ’17 - 4:08 pm
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Thank you!

I might be biased because I was born and raised here but I couldn't imagine being anywhere else; I love it in Minnesota. 

"Adversity elicits talents which, in otherwise fortuitous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Follow along as we build our homestead at frenchriverhomestead.com!

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jl
Green Horn
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6 Feb ’17 - 6:12 pm
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seeing these makes me want to try it out for at least one eyar 

https://www.google.com/search?q=minnesota+in+winter&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=946&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPtMDmy_zRAhWILhoKHRk7DJAQ_AUIBigB

 

don't know if I could take more than that 

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frenchriver
Northern Minnesota
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7 Feb ’17 - 9:31 am
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Haha,

Its funny that you shared that because we just got 3 inches of snow last night with another 5 expected today. Seriously though you get accustomed to it; it's a part of life here that everyone just deals with. 

As long as you can put up with temperatures below freezing for half the year and you invest in a plow it's really no big deal!

"Adversity elicits talents which, in otherwise fortuitous circumstances would have lain dormant."

Follow along as we build our homestead at frenchriverhomestead.com!

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K
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19 Feb ’17 - 8:32 am
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I love snow, but this last week tested me, we got about 30 inches up here in Maine, the dogs can now walk over our 3 foot fence

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