Country Life

Why I Think My Dream House Would Be Small

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I think my dream house or cabin would be as small as possible. As a single guy, I don’t need a lot of space, just room enough for a small table, a place to put a futon-style bed, a dresser, some room to hang clothes, have a stove and sink, a small propane heated shower, and a toilet or shitter bucket to take out to the outhouse.

I don’t really want or need a lot of space, because the more space you have, the more you need to clean. More space means more need for heating, more need for lighting and more room for stuff that will break. Fewer things, mean fewer things to fail and break and a simpler world to live in.

I look at horror with marble countertops and fancy carpets. So many things to break and fail. So many things I don’t think add much value to life. I don’t like complicated wiring or all that technology – especially nowadays when you can do almost everything on your laptop. I do like the big screen and a standalone keyboard but those aren’t something that take a lot of room. I doubt I’ll ever want internet at home, except maybe through my Smartphone.

Moldboard Plows

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And why they aren't very common these days, and why John Deere is discontinuing it's model of the Moldboard plow, the venerable 3710. Switch plows are being manufactured, and some dairies like Moldboards for occasional use, just because they can get nutrients further into the ground, so you don't have stratification from manure and crop residue.

Things I liked and disliked about that rural homestead next to my parents house 🏚️

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Probably heading up to the Adirondacks to beat the summer heat plus the issue of fire insurance on the building next to my parents house sealed the deal of me not getting that property but I wanted to write down what seemed to be my concerns and the things I liked so I would have the list when considering future properties.

Things I liked.

  • Great price when you consider the cost of rent over ten years and you’ll recoup some of the cost when you resell it especially if you’ve fixed it up
  • Chicken coup, horse barn, outdoor sink and overhang for butchering livestock outdoors
  • Relatively small size of the house
  • Single floor and a relatively low slung roof that could easily be maintained by a short ladder
  • Relatively new roof and windows
  • I could have paid for it with cash and had the title in hand, then only paid homeowners insurance and property tax

Things I disliked.

  • It’s in New York State with the burn ban and the bad gun laws
  • Being rural and having to commute each day to the city
  • Werid shaped property with one of the neighbors’ properties inset within the land
  • Have to be careful what I burned due to being a residential neighborhood
  • Vinyl siding, which was covering up obvious wood rot below it
  • Grid-tied, an ancient oil burner which if it was still functional probably wasn’t energy efficient
  • No wood stove
  • No forest land to use as a wood source if I were to burn wood
  • Cost of property taxes, homeowners insurance, and commuting would exceed my current rent, while getting nothing back in return — investments in stock and cash are
  • So any unknowns …
    • No guarantees I’d be able to get insurance on the property until I moved in as it would be a cash purchase
    • Power is turned off as is the water, so don’t know if there are shorts in the building’s electrical, if the well and septic work. While I would have a home inspection done, that’s a bunch of unknowns and I would have to put up a bunch of cash not knowing what I would get in return.
    • Floor is collapsing in one area. While it doesn’t seem serious as a one story structure, the whole foundation looks to be mostly of uncemented field stone, and I’m not sure how secure the whole building is without a full home inspection

Farm Land by New York State County in 2021

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Farm Land by New York State County in 2021

Montgomery County is a classic example of an MAUP ... it's almost drawn to capture all of the agricultural areas along the Mohawk Valley without the hills and poorer soils of surrounding counties. Probably this was done historically not by accident.