Hello All! My name is Craig and I have a dream that I’m sure I have found the right place to talk about. I am a 29 y/o M, and I own 53 paid off acres in central Maine. This is the perfect remote property. The property has 3000 feet of stream front, 5 wilderness ponds, is all woods (recently timbered unfortunately) with a 5 acre clearing in the center. From the center clearing, there are swaths that have been cut that lead to all edges of the property. The property is surrounded by other wilderness, and there is not a full time resident for 6 miles. I am looking at purchasing an adjoining 47 acres, and I have two like minded buddies very close who also own 50 acres each. All of our property is 6 miles from the pavement, down a maintained gravel road, and through two gates.
My vision, is to have a central building for community activities such as cooking, eating, playing music, crafts, entertainment, and just hanging out. Also, close to this building would be a central bath house, laundry area, greenhouse, and garden. Then, sporadically scattered through the property could be individual living quarters, cabins 200sq ft or less, built on skids. All buildings would be off grid, composting toilets of some type would be utilized, gray water recycling, and wood for heat (probably rocket stove mass heaters). I was thinking of a rent, or lease, or tuition, or some other fee of about $150 per person per month, to live here full time. Each person would be in charge of building and paying for their 200 sq ft cabin, and could take the cabin with them if they ever chose to leave. This way the experience could be anything from full-time future living, to experiment type living to try it out. We could have a small hobby farm that could support the homestead.
My place would be open to all people from all walks of life, as long as you are open minded, have a bubbly personality, and share the same dream of being self sufficient. Please, this dream is in its infancy at the moment, however, the land is bought, some cleared ready for planting, and there is a 16×24 common area already built, so I am open to opinions and hope to make this a happy, hopeful, sustainable, and realistic plan. Thanks for reading!