RE: Pictures Today Around The Homestead - SUMMER IS HERE! 📷 [PICTURES INSIDE]
We are locked into our lot because it is 100% paid for and my wife is happy here. and researching our property we found a copy of the original land grant. The certified copy we got from the bureau of land management has a lot of interesting wording. The grant was created in 1834 and Iowa was still called the Louisiana purchase, before it became known as the Iowa territory then later Republic Of Iowa. We are still researching the document and it is still listed with the BLM as active. Interesting what you find if you look. Explanation of the whole thing can get lengthy and take more time than this comment. I'll be posting a blog post on this topic at some point but Cognitive Dissidence might keep you from believing it. If I could get five or ten acres for a homestead in the Ozarks I would be happy, we just do not have any liquid assets at the moment to make a move like that.
A homestead with that history must make you feel rooted in place. That's not a bad thing since being happy where you are counts for a lot. Better there than to try and survive on a place you don't have roots on.
This property I am on at the moment is a 75'x175' lot sectioned off the original 160 acre homestead plot. Eight people that received a 160 acre plot land grants that bordered each others property got together to form the town in 1830 that my property currently is located 4 blocks from the town square. And my property is only a sliver of one of an original plot. I was thinking of buying up all the property that made up the original grant then make a formal claim and update the grant. which according to the wording in the grant would mean the county and state government would not be able to charge property taxes on it since the owner came forward with proof of claim.
My wife and I talked last night at length about @mericanhomestead 's comment above and we have decided to give a full year to steemit to see if my blogging would produce enough income that we could purchase 10 acres if that happens then we would go for it.
I have always given highest priority to adding any land that adjoined mine. When a parcel was placed up for sale, we made every effort to acquire it. It was a stretch at times, but once it was joined to our original purchase, we could almost feel the additional "breathing room" and have never regretted the five additional purchases over the years. "Lebensraum" is living room for the soul!
A friend of mine owns 100 acres about ten miles from me, he did the same thing. Purchasing his original acreage then as the neighbors hit hard times, he would make a deal with them for him to buy a portion of their land, so they could keep their house. If they sold to him he in exchange gave them permanent permission to hunt all his land and rent the grassing pastures from him as needed.
That is a great way to keep neighbors in place and to make deals that may otherwise not have happened. None of my additions had homes on them: one major piece was nothing but stumps and mutilated landscape. After ten years and a lot of work, it is smooth ground covered by pine and sweetgum. It's satisfying to compare then and now.