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Found this from 2015. Either more people moved in or the family that runs the trading post expanded. Population..........not many, lol.

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Yeah I’d say it was only about 45 minutes from Scranton. Guns laws are definitely a concern and is one of the reasons I’m just a little hesitant on NY. NJ isn’t even an option.

If you happen to see a little fixer upper on a few acres out your way let me know. We wouldn’t mind being out that way.

Quite a few places out this way. Anything from little little towns to full fledge farms and all in between depending on what you want. Can still find raw land but some of it can be a bit costly. I'm about a 45 minute drive east of State College area. I actually work over just south of that area which is about 52 miles. Depending on what you do for work it can be a little limited but if you work remote or plan to go full homestead lots of options. Lots of things available with local farmer markets and Amish and Mennonite farms. Property taxes aren't too bad depending on where you are. If you want PM me.
 
Quite a few places out this way. Anything from little little towns to full fledge farms and all in between depending on what you want. Can still find raw land but some of it can be a bit costly. I'm about a 45 minute drive east of State College area. I actually work over just south of that area which is about 52 miles. Depending on what you do for work it can be a little limited but if you work remote or plan to go full homestead lots of options. Lots of things available with local farmer markets and Amish and Mennonite farms. Property taxes aren't too bad depending on where you are. If you want PM me.

We intend to go full homestead as best we can, but we know we’ll enough that’s a long term goal.

Right now we’re debt free and looking to buy a place outright to stay that way. We don’t have six figures to work with, but we don’t need a lot either. My first time in the merry go round I bought 40 acres of undeveloped land to homestead. This time we’re looking for 5-10 with at least some kind of infrastructure there, even if it needs some work to bring back.

My wife is flexible and can work anywhere. She also qualifies for disability so there’s always that in a worse case scenario. I’m in the power industry but don’t intend to stay in it. We’re trying to set things up financially so that in the worst case situation we can still get by on her disability and me doing at least part time work just about anywhere.

Thanks for the input. I’ll send you a pm later in what we hope to find and what our price range is.
 
@Roo I don't know how you feel about Arkansas. I went through there for the first time not long ago and it is certainly different than what I thought about it from taking the interstate! Doing a www search there are lots of lower cost homes and land out in the country. No clue on the employment.
 
@Roo I don't know how you feel about Arkansas. I went through there for the first time not long ago and it is certainly different than what I thought about it from taking the interstate! Doing a www search there are lots of lower cost homes and land out in the country. No clue on the employment.

I used to live in SW Missouri not far from the Arkansas border just outside of Branson. I have peeked at quite a bit of property in the Ozarks and did see a few of interest. We did consider it. We’ve looked all over.

My only hesitation is that a far move like that will cut us off from a lot of family. We don’t mind a little distance from them (not always a bad thing lol), but we do want to stay within a 6-8 hour drive away at the most, and preferably under 5 hours.

We have 4 kids (with more planned), 3 on their own now. We wouldnt see them much, along with extended family, if we went too far. With all we expect to do on the homestead, I dont think getting away to vacation back east for visits will happen often.

But it is nice down that way. If it were just my wife and I, we would go in a heartbeat.
 
I understand being too far away.
Had my sights set on Maine for years and still haven't been there.

If we can’t find what we’re looking for at the price we’re looking for up this way, then we may eventually go further to get it. We’ll go where we have to to do what we want to. So who knows.

One thing that has been holding me back from returning to Maine is that it’s nearly impossible to find timberland property that hasn’t been select cut. You look at aerial photos, you’ll see lines throughout all of the trees, which are logging roads.

I wanted to go back to build a cabin and have enough to supply my own cordwood. But Those logging companies go in and take exactly the trees you would want to find to build a cabin with: big diameter, nice straight trunks, etc.

They do leave trees behind that are 6-12” in diameter, but you’ll need 2 or 3 times as many trees to build With or supply a decent amount of cordwood. 5 or 10 acres select cut isn’t enough. You need 40+. As far as I was concerned, anything less than that and I’m just buying trees to look at and pay taxes on for the next 20+ years. lol.
 
If we can’t find what we’re looking for at the price we’re looking for up this way, then we may eventually go further to get it. We’ll go where we have to to do what we want to. So who knows.

One thing that has been holding me back from returning to Maine is that it’s nearly impossible to find timberland property that hasn’t been select cut. You look at aerial photos, you’ll see lines throughout all of the trees, which are logging roads.

I wanted to go back to build a cabin and have enough to supply my own cordwood. But Those logging companies go in and take exactly the trees you would want to find to build a cabin with: big diameter, nice straight trunks, etc.

They do leave trees behind that are 6-12” in diameter, but you’ll need 2 or 3 times as many trees to build With or supply a decent amount of cordwood. 5 or 10 acres select cut isn’t enough. You need 40+. As far as I was concerned, anything less than that and I’m just buying trees to look at and pay taxes on for the next 20+ years. lol.

Roo, maybe change your plan to correspond to todays world. Its hard to find wood in the wild when so many people are buting it from the stores. Just a idea.
 
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Roo, maybe change your plan to correspond to todays world. Its hard to find wood in the wild when so many people are buting it from the stores. Just a idea.

That’s exactly what we did. That’s why we’re looking for a little fixer upper cabin or cottage instead, fishing for reclaimed wood and other materials and so forth. Makes more sense for us.
 
That’s exactly what we did. That’s why we’re looking for a little fixer upper cabin or cottage instead, fishing for reclaimed wood and other materials and so forth. Makes more sense for us.

Thats great and hope yall speedy progress on this venture or is that 'adventure' if its not yet it will be,we cmped on our little piece of land for months. Like ebing back in time for awhile. .
 
Thats great and hope yall speedy progress on this venture or is that 'adventure' if its not yet it will be,we cmped on our little piece of land for months. Like ebing back in time for awhile. .

I roughed it through 2 Maine winters in an uninsulated one room school house while building a small cabin. I lived within 5 feet of my wood stove for months!
 
I roughed it through 2 Maine winters in an uninsulated one room school house while building a small cabin. I lived within 5 feet of my wood stove for months!

Did you get any pictures of the cabin? I bet it is neat.
 
Did you get any pictures of the cabin? I bet it is neat.

Wish I did. This was 25 years ago. Didn’t have a cell phone or a camera. No computer. Nothing like that. I think all I had was a little battery powered radio.
 
Just to let you know I refer to my oldest daughter as "Roo" here on the forum. I have been calling her that since I joined PS back in 2012 (she was born in 2011). Please don't think I am delusional if you see me mention "Roo" in my posts. I am not referencing you. ;)

But welcome and enjoy the rest of our nutty family here.
 
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