My family and I currently reside in the suburbs north of San Antonio. Now, eight years ago this area was largely undeveloped and in fact was still so much in the country that I harvested two deer from within a half mile of my house using a bow. It was just that secluded at the time, which is why we chose to specifically build here.
Fast forward 8 years. The subdivision in which we built is now completely full, and in fact two more subdivisions within a stone’s throw have also been built out. A Walmart popped up overnight not three miles from us, as well as a ton of other fast food joints. And scariest of all is the large number of monolithic apartment complexes that are showing up along the interstate within 5 miles of our house. The traffic here has already become a constant crawl in many areas. And once all of these apartment complexes are complete and occupied? I shudder to think of what the traffic will be like!
A little about me
Homesteading has always been in my blood. I was organically grown in the wooded farmlands of north central Missouri, and growing up, most of what I ate did NOT come from the store.
(my brothers and I (me on the left) on a typical summer day on the homestead in central Missouri)
We trapped, we fished, we did a LOT of foraging, we gardened, we raised livestock...and we only went to the store to get our peanut butter and what not.
(me at 15 with the first two muskrats I caught all on my own!)
(the first two beavers I caught on my own! Circa 1984)
Since moving to Texas back in 1987 as a 20 year old father of two, my military income as an E-3 did not allow for the luxury of anything but the smallest and crappiest apartment money could buy.
(me as an EOD Technician with my grandpa, mom, and grandma, circa 1988)
(Me fresh out of basic training, holding my firstborn son for the first time in two months!)
A few years after separating from the military and the only skill I had at that time (bomb disposal), I embarked upon the path of becoming an IT specialist. That was a very long path for me, because I held no degree. But, my aptitude to retain almost everything I learned allowed the doors to slowly open so that I could teach myself the rest of what I needed. That slow, long path also meant that my earning capacity grew slowly as well, and it wasn’t until ten years later when I could actually afford to own my own suburban home. I swore to myself at that point I would never go back to an apartment, and I haven’t.
(Just some of my and my wife's total brood of 12 offspring and 5 1/2 grandkids)
(...and a few more of them :) )
But now that I’ve reached the top of my earning capacity as a programmer, it is time for us to leave the suburban life behind for good as well. It’s time for us to finally procure our own homestead.
The Search is ON!
Now don’t get me wrong; homesteading truly is a frame of mind, not a physical place. I have done a LOT of homesteading while living in the suburbs, believe me (check out this post for a few examples of our suburban homesteading efforts)! But, it is now time for the real deal. It is time for a place of our own where we can step outside at night and see every single star in the night sky, rarely if ever hear a car engine, and our nearest neighbor is far enough away that they won’t hear me fire my rifle for a full ten seconds. It is time to move to a place where all of the micro-experiments we have been doing these past 8 years can be implemented at more of a macro level. For instance, the young trees I sowed in pots will be planted into what will become a true food forest. The small solar experimentation we did in the small pvc hoop greenhouse will become a complete backup power system for a portion of the house and will be used to power whatever guest cabins we build. The tiny gardening experiments we did in order to learn what to grow and how to grow it in our zone 9a climate will be expanded to a size large enough to not only sustain our family, but to provide enough extra to can and preserve for the winter months. The three to five hens we raised in our backyard (in complete violation of HOA rules...HOA’s SUCK, my friends!), will become a flock of 30 or 40 breeding birds. Yes, we have always lived our suburban homesteading lifestyle with an eye towards the future. The future, for us, is now.
Our Homestead Criteria
Our criteria, at least presently, is fairly simple:
- It must be as far into the middle of nowhere that we can go without exceeding a two hour perimeter of San Antonio, Texas;
- It must be at least 20 acres, ideally 40;
- It must have a decent home on it already, preferably at least 1500 square feet minimum;
- It must have a mix of woods and open fields;
- It will ideally have at least one working well;
- And it must be within our price range, which at this point is a maximum of $395,000.
Please Join Us!
And so as we embark upon this journey to find a homestead we can love and that will love us back, I invite you all to join us! In fact, I need for you to join us, because there is absolutely wisdom in crowds, and as we evaluate properties, your input will prove to be invaluable to us. So please, subscribe to my blog, live vicariously through us, and let’s find that property together!
Take a walk through the first property we evaluated!